Peonies - Pastel

Peonies - Pastels

6x6, soft pastel

Day 7 of 30, this little vase of peonies was a practice piece completed while taking an online class with Desmond O'Hagan...a very talented artist indeed!   His style is distinctive utilizing bold and passionate strokes in a very painterly way.  I learned a lot...but still need practice to minimize the details!  It's hard to be painterly!

Peonies - Oil

Peonies - Oil

6x6, oil on board

Day 6 of 30..."Peonies in oil" is a second attempt at Desmond O'Hagan's vase of peonies from his online class.   I don't know if I'll ever be an oil painter but practice makes perfect....right?  I thought pastels were a bit messy but they're nothing compared to the cleanup necessary with oils.  That said,  I love the texture and rich color I'm getting with oil paint...so maybe I'll keep trying.

Peaceful Morning

Peaceful Morning

12x16, soft pastel

Day 5 of 30...this is the finished larger piece.  No oil painting today...just enjoying this one for a bit then on to the next larger piece!

Yellow Belly - Pastel

Yellow Belly - Pastel

6x6, soft pastel

Day 4 of the 30in30.  Yellow Belly in pastel (loosely again).  This time I did manage to get the yellow reflection to read more green-yellow as it should be compared to yesterday's oil version. I don't know if it's any better...but on to another boat!  Painting the same scene in a different medium (so far) has been an interesting process.  

WIP Update:  The little dingy "Peaceful Morning"....80% there.

Yellow Belly - Oil

Yellow Belly - Oil

6x6, oil on board

Day 3 of 30...this closeup of a boat in the harbor is as "loose" as I can paint.   My tendency is to paint too precisely and (you would think) painting precisely would be harder than painting loosely...but au contraire...not the case at all!   So, the next time you see a painting that's painted loosely...consider the difficulty and admire the artist's finese!    A little tidbit....the boat's lettering really wasn't FYI in really life...but I liked it, so it stuck.  A little FYI about this piece.

Warm Sail - Pastel

Warm Sail

6x6, soft pastel

Day 2 of the 30 in 30...the same boat as yesterday only this time in pastel.  I like the warmth of the sails lit by the sunlight beyond the trees.

WIP below: I continue to work on the larger piece "Peaceful Morning".  I've painted it twice before...no, three times before in different sizes.  I love this particular boat scene because its just so peaceful to look at and I want it on my walls (eventually if I don't sell it first).  Below is a shot of a closeup...notice the smudge on the back wall of the boat?  That's an example of what NOT to do while  painting with pastels.  Sometimes I will blend with my fingers in certain areas and for this piece I like the waters blended a bit...but using fingers is hazardous.  If there's pastel dust on them, going over a light section like the railing here can result in a fingerprint....(I like to leave my mark on a painting...but not my fingerprint).  Fortunately, a harder pastel such as a Nupastel applied lightly over the smudge can "erase it away".  Interesting that the colors in the painting above are very similar to the one I'm working on below.

Warm Sail - Oil

Warm Sail

6x6, oil on board

This marks the first day of the January "30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge".  My primary goal for the "30in30" is to experiment with oil painting (I've only painted with oils once before...many, many, many years ago).  After I finish a piece in oil, I may sometimes paint it again using soft pastels.  My second goal for the month is to paint four larger pieces (most likely boats in soft pastel).  They'll be created in anticipation of an upcoming show in April at the Initial Point gallery located in Meridian's City Hall building.  I'll share my WIP (work in progress) below.   So....here we go!  

Peaceful Morning

12x16, soft pastel

First a quick sketch:

Then I start laying in values...I have a tendency to put too much detail in this stage even though much of it gets covered up with multiple layers of pastel.  I hate losing the placement of the boat's boards and background ships...so I do it anyway.  This is how far I got...more to follow tomorrow.