Lemons

Ahhh, well it has been quite a while since I made a blog post here. I know I always promise to do better but it really is hard with all the things I have going on. I’ve continued to paint, its just that not all the paintings have made it here.

This painting was done in Strathmore 400 series Multi Media paper. I will admit that I have used this paper befor and dont remember having such trouble. Perhaps that it was that I was much more the beginner. Right now, I have to say that if I never paint on this paper again, it will be too soon.

Having said that, I really enjoyed painting these lemons. I accepted the challenge of the paper and tried to make these look as great as possible. I think i really accomplished this.

The biggest drawback for me is the leaves. I don’t know if I had too much water or too little or maybe a bit of both, but I think they came out a bit wonky. Well, here they are anyway. I hope you enjoy them. I had a great time painting them. Hope you enjoy viewing them.

If you want to watch how I painted these, follow this link

Camellia

Ahhh the lovely camellia.  Such a nice flower.  I wanted to paint one and and thought this would be a good time to do some graded washes.  Well, I accomplished both of those things with this painting, but I don't think I did either really well.

The painting is OK.  There really isn't anything wrong with it, though its a bit banal.  I could really have punched this up by doing a couple of things.

See, in watercolor to make a dramatic painting you need to have lights next to darks, and darks next to lights.  Well, I've got lights next to darks with the petals.  you can see how the center is lighter and the tips darker.  This makes for a nice petal (here its a bit bland, but nice).  But Ive also got a background that is the same intensity as the petals.  There is no room for light and dark to touch, both edges are dark.  Hmmmm what to do...

Well, I could just as easily put on another row of petals (this would have made the flower look fuller too.  Right now its a bit small).  The outside row of petals would have been all light.  That lightness would have served two purposes.  First, it would have ensured that they looked as though they were behind the petals in front, then it would have allowed me to make my background as dark as I wanted.

Well, there is always next time.  I think its a good project for tonight, paint this one again.

If you have interest in seeing how I did this one, watch the video below.  Thank you.

 

Oriole

I must be on some kind of bird painting kick.  Here, I've painted an Oriole.  He is sitting on what appears to be a broken branch.

This bird was really fun to paint.  The vibrant orange color is made from a couple of different reds, and a couple of different yellows.  I did use a pre-mixed grey (payne's grey) but I augmented it myself.  I don't usually use the grey right out of the tube.  It's mot a bad color, just a little bit flat.

I've given the bird just a few indications of feathers.  Just enough to enhance the shape of the bird.

He sits on a  stick that has obviously seen better days.  Its got some pitting and dents in it.

The background was originally going to be a bit more mottled, but I think I forgot to mix another color into it.  As it is, the colors are phthalo blue and ultramarine blue.  The green parts are windsor green and viridian.  The blue behind the orange really makes this bird pop off the page.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the painting and the quick read.  If you want to see how I painted it, check out the following video.

Thank you.

Christmas Card - Poinsettia

As you have seen in an earlier post, I've started on my Christmas cards a bit early this year.  I didn't want to wait until the end and then have to rush to get them done.

Yes, this is essentially the same card I did last year, if you were lucky enough to receive one of those, but with a couple notable exceptions.

Even though this years cards are not really what poinsettias look like they are much closer than I got last year.  Last years had much longer thinner leaves/petals.  This year, I've moved to a bit more of a realistic flower, but not too far.

This flower, as you can see, has red petals, but each petal also has a healthy dose of yellow also.  The effect gives the petals a lot of life in them.  They look much better than just a plain old red petal.  And if you look closely at the second level of petal, you will see that not only is there yellow in the red, but the shadow color is actually green.  3 colors in those petals!!!   Finally, the green leaves aren't just green, they have a bit of yellow in them as well.   Just enough to bring them to life a bit.

Well, thats probably more than you wanted to know about how I painted this christmas card, but since you asked.  Oh, wait, you didn't?  Well, I wanted to tell you anyway.  And don't forget, if you want to watch me paint it, you can do it below.  Thanks for the quick read, and take a look at the video, it's really pretty good.

Don't forget I've got some social media accounts.   Check them out below.
Links: Youtube   Instagram   Twitter

Halloween Pumpkin

Here is a pumpkin for your Halloween pleasure.  It obviously hasn't been picked yet, but I wouldn't expect that to last.  This on looks good enough to carve up and put on the front porch.



Also, it comes with a video.  See link below.

Truckin' through a field

For some reason, I felt the need to paint another old truck.  I just cant seem to get enough of rust and faded paint.  So here it is, an old Ford sitting in a field.  It looks like its been here for about a dozen years or so.  No wheels at all, so it is never gonna move.

I love the effect of the distant trees in this painting, and I can live with the sky.  I only wish I had painted the truck in my usual way.  One piece of sheet metal at a time.  It usually allows for nice breaks in the painting and I don't have to paint the joints between the panels.

Well, I like this and even the field seems to have a lot of texture to it. Enjoy.

Oh, and by the way, it comes in video too.  Check it out.

More of those pesky coneflower

 I actually meant to make a video about these.  I sat down and started painting last night, but the paper and I were feuding a little.  Or maybe it was the paint or the water.  I don't know but whatever it was, I wasn't feeling confident enough to make a video about these.  I am hoping that I'll feel it more tonight, but we'll see.

At any rate, I hope you like them.

Practice Agapanthus

This is an agapanthus.  We have them all over here in California.  I was asked to attempt to paint these.  This is a first attempt.  It's ok, i suppose, but it dind't quite turn out how I wanted.  I think my paper was too wet, and got too much run in my colors.  I'm gonna revisit this and see if I can't do something a bit better.

Coneflower

I painted a few flowers on my lunch hour today.  They are just quick coneflower, not the most detailed, but for me, thats ok.  I want to give the essence of the flower, not an exact copy of it.  I think they look great and were a lot of fun to paint.  (yes, I realize I forgot the splatter on the first one.)

Hope you enjoy.  (oh, and you might see a video of a coneflower soon.)

Fresh Green Peppers

Garden fresh, totally delicious green peppers.    Mmmmmm I love summer.  All the fresh local fruits and vegetables.  I offer to you, two versions of a pepper I painted.  They look so gook, I think I could just eat them off the page.

I painted one of these with my daughter, and one for a video.  You decide which is which, or just watch the video.

Thanks for the view.  I hope you enjoyed the picture.

More Bougainvillea

I know that I recently posted another bougainvillea, but they look so nice and add such a nice punch of color to my yard that I had to paint another.  There is a slight twist to this one.  I MADE A VIDEO ABOUT IT!!!

True story.  I have had several people ask me how I paint my flowers.  It seems that that is what people think I paint best.  So I finally did it,  I broke down and started filming.

Don't expect Scorsese quality filmography.  This is me were talking about after all. But I kinda had fun doing this, so I'll probably make a few more, and we'll see how it goes from there.

Hope you enjoy this flower,  I'll put up a post when the video is up and then the secret will be out.  LOL.  I'll keep you all informed

Too Red Poppies

Two things I really like.  One, for some reason, painting poppies. 2 painting where I don't have to stay in the lines.  This painting checked both those boxes for me.

I did one thing a bit different with these poppies that I didn't do with all my other paintings of this style.  Normally i'll start by putting down some color in the general shape of the flower, making sure that all the color flows from the bottom of the petals, and gets lighter and less intense as it goes up.  then I redefine the shape of the petal on a second layer of paint.

On this particular one, I didn't worry so much about keeping the bottoms intense.  I really let the paint and water go where it wanted to on the first layer.  As a result I got a fairly uniform layer of paint.  Albeit a layer that still had not a lot of shape or definition to it.  As before, I went back with a second layer and defined the petal edges.  The only difference is that on this one, I tried to then go back to the base of the petal and put in some intense red and let it diffuse to the now defined petal edge.

Not entirely sure I was successful.  But from looking at the picture, I wasn't completely unsuccessful either.   Enjoy.

Splatter Splatter

I love a good splatter painting.  It can be very cathartic to literally throw some paint around.  You get to be messy and sloppy and it all works out in the end.

You can probably tell that I painted these in the same session.  They use the same colors, the same positioning, and generally the same feel.  Usually I will have included a few buds in the painting to allow for something a little more natural, or as natural as a splatter painting can get.   My head must not have quite been in the game when I did these, or I'd have included a few.

Well, anyway, they have nice colors in the, and aren't too hard on the eyes.  Enjoy

Conehead

I've gotten some kind of fascination with coneflower lately.  I don't know if its the big ball head on it or if its all the leaves around the sides, but they seem really nice to me right now.

I've tried to put the yellow in the background to make your eyes travel to the top of the painting.  I didn't like the green on the bottom, so, instead of trying to fudge with it too much, and overwork it, I'd rather just move your eye away from that.

I'll bet you didn't really even notice it until you read it, but now that you have, you notice that your eye just naturally drifts up in the painting.

Well, enjoy the painting.

Quick Flowers

Well, I have been able to get back to the studio a bit lately.  I'm working on a few larger projects, but I still have been able to do a few quick sketches.  Some are good, some, not so much.  It doesn't matter, they are all fun to paint.  Hope you like them.

A Couple of Coneflowers

Ok, for some reason, I can't seem to get away from flowers.  Here I have two different cone flowers.

I don't know what it is I like about these, but since I saw the first pictures of coneflowers, I've had a thing about painting them.  I must have painted a dozen coneflower or more (some of which have made this blog.)

I apologize for not having a good story to tell about painting these paintings.  Its been a long day, its late at night, and I'm about to go to bed.  So, since I don't have a lot to say.....   Hope you enjoy these paintings.

A Rose is A Rose is A Rose

A nice loose rose for the weekend.  I had a little spare time and I decided to paint a few things.  You can see a painting so close to this that I couldn't crop it out.

I don't know if I like painting flowers or if I think I am good at painting flowers, but.... since I think I do them better than most other things I paint, I just keep bringing them.

Not sure I totally got the top of this, where the petals open up.  But  I'm not sure it really distracts from the overall painting too much.   There is just enough going on to make you a little distracted.

Actually, I bet you look right at the middle of the painting more than anywhere else.  I put in just a bit of yellow to warm up the painting in the very center.  It really does make your eyes kind of hang out there.

Anyone else notice this?

Water Lily

For any of you who don't know, I moderate a Google+ Community.  We all paint the same pictures so we can see the many different styles in which everyone paints.  A few weeks ago, the challenge was water lilies and lily pads.  I didn't like how mine turned out at all.

Last night, as I was painting away on other stuff, I thought I just might take another crack at this water lily.  The results, while not astounding, are much better than my initial attempt, and much more in the "Michael" style.

Just a quick post to let you all know I'm still here.   Thanks for the view and I hope you enjoy the artwork.

Iris

Two quick iris tonight.  The first one on top is a 5 minute study.  Don't give yourself time to overthink what you are doing.  Just get your work on paper.   It makes me try to get to the essence of what I am painting very quickly.  There are some things I really like about this.  The yellow petals stand out quite a lot.  It's easy to see how defined they are, and the red/orange petals morph from the yellow.  I like the transition.  But..... Ugh!  that pencil line.  hmmm, well, it was a quick study,  I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

The second one, i really like with one glaring exception.  The yellow is so muted next to the red and the petals have almost no definition.  Ooops I guess that was two thing.  But I like the composition, and the flow in the second one.  I wanted the two flowers to almost meld into one across the painting and that is exactly what happened.  I drew a few veins in the petals, just enough that your eye will pick them up.  And look, no pencil lines.  I drew the petals with yellow and red watercolor pencils, and the stems and buds very lightly with a green one.  They washed away as soon as water went over them, but left enough for me to know what I was doing.

Wait, did I just say I knew what I was doing?  Ha, what a joke,  What I meant to say what that I did what I intended to do.  Which is distinctly different from knowing what to do.

Well at any rate, hope you all like them, and thanks for the read.  Enjoy

More Practice

Just a little bit of sketching from last night.  I really do think that I am mastering the roses.  Now I just need to master the leaves.  And a few more poppies.

Hope you like them.