Bull'n

5x7 Oil on Board

Just a little diddle that turned into a full 6 hours of painting.  More time was spent studying where I went wrong with the figure than the painting.   If you scroll down the blog you will see that there are not many if any human figures painted here.  Trying to change that.

Ah.. Yes.. someone asked where have I been painting wise since I have not posted one for about two weeks. (Gee, has it been that long?).  The answer is trying to paint still life.  Not to much success at it as real life tends to have more color and variety than photos.  I am at a loss right now on how to paint it realistically without putting everything I see in it.  That is the tough part. I hope get handle on it soon.  Right now it is taking up all my painting time just practicing.

Lil' Filly Redo

They say you should paint what you know.  In the case of the little filly, there were issues.  I asked a horse friend to look and see what was wrong with the painting.  He was kind enough to be blunt.  She looks like she has a cows nose and little baby horses are like children, their features are nothing like an adult horse.  The fact that I know cows, but not horses is evident.   
Back to the drawing board and the palette.
This one is much more representative of young filly.  It was painted over so the strokes are not as painterly as I would like.  But an improvement and another lesson, not just art but life.

Apple and Pear, a study in life

Oil 7x7 on board

     Jim's class Oil Painting In Cowboy Boots 101  has been pitching me fits, the 2nd  assignment was to paint from a still life set up as close to his photo of one he posted for us to paint (First assign. a few posts back.)
     I found that painting from photos is so much easier than painting from life.  I know the camera only sees 4000 colors..  but you would think some of the shadows would have the blues, pinks, golds, and greens that are in real life would at least show up!  Not!  The camera shows none of the dynamics in a shadow.
After setting up the still life.. And three attempts later I finally asked Jim for a bit of insight.  Trying to paint all the colors was frustratingly overwhelming!  How to put them all in?  When you try to put them all in it turns to mud.  His advice.   Squint..  and quit when it looks pretty..  :-D  So.. I did and here is the result.  Still has issues but it is really pretty.
Btw.. pears don't last to long under the light!  Even Joe won't eat them.

This is the set up.  Notice the top left of the pear is a tad bit brown. lol.. I had to paint from memory as the skin of the pear changes in hue and saturation.