Monday, October 29, 2012

Lily Pads

The challenge of a windy Saturday morning in the park. The reflections in the water kept on changing so rapidly that I had difficulty "to freeze them in time". The fun of painting on location is to put down what is in front and not touch it anymore - even though a million temptations are creeping up..... The key is working rapidly or only for an hour or two if it is a bigger painting and come back another day at the same time and weather condition. I really like the water plants and sky reflections on the water. I plan to come back for those.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Tangerines

Still working with the acrylics. Those juicy fruits are looking even more tempting with the complimentary colored background. Thanks everybody for the support and positive feed back that I have received over the last few weeks. It is very much appreciated. Happy painting to y' all!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Pears in a Cup

... and more acrylics ... I like how the greens of the pears came out. The complimentary color set up is similar to the previous painting, which makes it vibrant and interesting. I plan to paint more fruit and glass still life, hopefully later today. In the meantime a happy day to everybody!!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Prunes in a Jar

Here again acrylics at work. Who can resist the appeal of complimentary colors? Totally fun!!!  I like that the faster drying paints force me to mix the colors more on the palette than on the painting. I feel I have to be more decisive with the values and colors right from the beginning....

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Waiting Waffles

My 100th post on this blog!!!  Yay!!! It's time to add something different .... well ... the "something different" is the addition of a new medium: acrylic paints. I thought I give acrylics a try as a collection of donated tubes with acrylic paints accumulated on my desk over time. When people hear that I paint they remember the unused paints they have sitting in a draw. I welcome all donations... and here I am. I added acrylics to my blog's title to reflect my new experiment. Being used to working with oils, acrylics feel stickier and less blendable because they dry faster. The greatest thing however is the clean-up - so fast with water and no smells of paint thinner. Clean-up is the big deal with the oils... so far I still want to explore the acrylics some more but I will not give up the oils. The thing I love about them is what everybody loves: the richness of color, excellent for blending and the consistency.... smooooooth!
Today's subject are 3 left-over waffles from breakfast. They are sitting on a kitchen towel waiting to be eaten with strawberries and whipped cream - sinfully good!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Getting Ready

... and more painting horses in the park under huge oak trees that offer plenty of shade. This horse got saddled and is now waiting to go for a morning ride through the woods. I admire the dedicated horse owners who transport the animals, hay, water barrels and all, to the park every week-end. The county park set up a shaded fenced in area for simple pony rides or longer trips through the woods on special trails. After the horses came back from their excursion it was fun to see how much they liked sliced water melon for a treat.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Crepe Myrtle

These flowers from a shrub turned out to be a challenge in terms of front and back. I learned from observing this still life that it is very important to nuance the colors according to back ground, middle and foreground. When I sat in front of this still life, the pinks of the flowers seemed the same. Now looking at the finished painting I see that different tones, cooler in the back and warmer in the front could have made this mass of pink more three dimensional. Wow, flowers are so amazing!!!