bottle with clementines 6x8

wrench, Pez, bottle 11x14

poppy 6x8

My apologies for the glare in this one. Dark paintings are a challenge for me to photograph.

teapot with dandelion 11x14

dandelion with wrench 8x10

My students all think my paintings start out sloppy. I'm trying to teach them the virtues of doing a loose under-painting and then gradually refining the color and the drawing. I like to get the initial drawing down pretty accurately. It's hard to make major fixes if the initial layout isn't generally accurate. I like to do the under-painting with a transparent wash. Sometimes I thin my paint with Liquin and sometimes I use turps. The Liquin seals the panel with a pretty tough film that doesn't lift when I paint on top of it and I generally like that. as you can see, my under-painting is pretty loose and essentially a value study.





















If I want to keep working on the piece I will dry the under-painting with a blow dryer and then start blocking in the background and more color. While I do this I continue to refine the drawing.





















Here's the finished product.

dried dandelion

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dandelion #9 6x6

'The dandelions are blooming and its supposed to get up to 90 on Sacramento tomorrow. Spring is here.
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lemon with bottle 5x7

mirror ball and bottle 5x7

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dandelion #8 7x5

This afternoon there was one lone dandelion in the small lawn next to the parking lot at school. I didn't have a small enough bottle in my classroom so I had to transport it home for tonight's painting.
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glue bottle 5x7

There was a meeting of district art teachers out at Foresthill High School today. I hadn't done a painting yet so I decided to do one there. Rachael's room is a lot neater than mine so there wasn't very much junk to choose from, however, the orange cap to this big jug of glue caught my eye.

thistle #3 5x7

I ended up using a little magenta lettering enamel to get the color of this flower right.
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sunflower #4 5x7

A student brought in this nice blue bottle. She has been waiting patiently for me to paint it and I finally found someting nice to put in it. Most of the flowers in our garden are starting to dry up.
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small sunflower 5x7

My students are starting to bring me things to paint. I've got a bunch of stuff from the school garden lined up on my table at school waiting. I hope I can get to it all before it wilts or rots!
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zinnia

This is from the flower garden at school. Thanks to Jill Mendelsohn for the great suggestion. I really like the burnt orange color of these flowers. This little antique hot sauce bottle is getting painted quite a bit lately. I'm going to have to invest in some more varied glassware soon.
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bottled pepper 5x7

I have been painting every day for two years now. I watch less TV than I did before I started this project and I pay more attention to how I plan my days. I'm very happy to be painting consistently again. I'm starting this one off at just one dollar. Thanks to every one who visits this blog!
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calendula #9 5x7

There is just a riot of flowers at school right now. Painting intimate little still lifes like this is a nice break from landscapes. Time is not such a big factor. I can sort of putter around with it over the course of the day instead of racing the sun.
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calendula #7 5x7

calendula #6 5x7

Another calendula picked on a cold, windy morning. Nothing else blooms in conditions like this! This one is in an antique ink well.
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church key 5.5x7

I didn't have the energy to put this one on eBay last night. I was out late cruising the galleries in midtown Sacramento. Every second Saturday they all have their openings. The highlight was stopping by Terry Miura's studio. I came across his work on the internet and just loved it. I found out later that he is from this area. he's a very nice guy and his work looks even better in person.
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