4/27/11

Today I painted from a photograph I took while I was at the park of roses. This bench really attracted me, perhaps because of how it is framed by the dark shapes of the pine tree. I thought about this picture daily for at least a week and finally gave in to paint it.Also, I decided to not smear and blend any color with my hand. Color mixing is all by pastel stick.

4/25/11

Today I worked on my shelves underpainting again. Today I went bold with the alizarin crimson and linseed oil. Basically I coated the shelves and floor with them. It is thick like honey and amazing to paint with. I let it ooze and drip in some spots. I also began to play around with the ceiling by adding some swirls into the wet paint. I plan on doing some stylized branches (like art noveau) that transition into three dimensional branches coming out of the walls. Dont worry, many more surprises to come. 

4/22/11

Did a close up of my umbrella bonsai today. I just wired her and gave her a serious hair cut on Wednesday. Also in a book I am reading I am supposed to pay attention to small beautiful things this week so I thought about my trees cool trunk. I left the leaves off (I didn't cut them all off) so that I would focus on the trunk.

4/20/11

I decided to paint last minute tonight and was at a loss for something interesting. I have lots of photos but couldn't find one that would hold my spastic attention. So I grabbed a piece of foliage out of a vase of beautiful flowers (from Emily) and painted it. Keeping is ridiculously simple here but I like it anyway.

4/18/11

Today I worked on a conceptual piece that I started the other day. This is still the under painting. I am working on building textures and deep shadows before I add light to it. Right now it is a room full of shelves... much more content to come later. This canvas is super huge 40 x 40 which makes things really fun.

4/17/11

Painted plein air today with Carol and Bridgett at the park of roses. It was really windy out there today but I am so glad that I braved it and made a painting. I could not help but fall in love with this tree. It had such an amazing color of foliage against super dark branches. Made me melt when I saw it.

4/14/11

Painted this today after work. It is of a co-workers pond at their farm. It is a beautiful location that I hope to revisit. I really liked the trees in the foreground how they branch apart into three.
The strangest thing though, these giant fish were beaching themselves in the marshy grass and swimming half in the water and half out. They kept making crazy flopping and gasping noises. I think they were spawning or something. Crazy fish to keep me company!