Quiet Contemplation

This painting was my second summer challenge in that I wanted to try painting human skin tones in hopes that at sometime I would paint a portrait. Many artist friends have told me that portrait painting and human skin tones are the most difficult to attempt because of the many values (color variations) and shadows. I am reasonably pleased with the result which I call "Quiet Contemplation". I thought for my first attempt at this subject I would choose a side view and not attempt to paint a face straight on. Currently I am working on a painting of Block Island Light after another painting by Thomas Kincaide. This work is being done in my weekly painting group supervised by the same artist, Marie Stabile, that I worked with last winter.
I feel that working on this seascape with lighthouse has many possibilities for learning values, brush strokes and composition. As usual there is a great deal to learn. I continue to attend my weekly Nashua Artists Breakfast Club meetings where I am like a sponge absorbing tips and ideas from the varied and more accomplished artists in this group. Conversation is always lively and the pastry and cappuccino is a bonus reason for attending. I hope either late this summer or early in the fall to attempt a "plein air" painting as another challenge... I will post a picture of the lighthouse when I am finshed with this latest challenge.

Well it has been a while since my last post, not because I have stopped painting but because I have procrastinated posting. In summer that is easy to do and I have been busy officiating at weddings in my other role as Justice of the Peace. As I mentioned in my last post I was working on a painting of my two toy daschunds, Gracie the small brown female and Budso the black and tan male. I found this task more difficult than I expected but it was a challenge I wanted to accept. I found that painting the eyes was particularly difficult for me. The end result is that I think I produced a reasonable representation for my first try at animal portraits.

Lazy Summer Sail

In the last few days I have been working on a painting of my two dogs Gracie (the little brown female) and Budso (the larger black male). My first attempt at painting dogs and one that I have found to be frustrating. I particularly had a great deal of trouble with their eyes. In the meantime I painted this 5X7" oil on canvasboard which I call "Lazy Summer Sail. I will post the dog painting in the next few days because it is finally nearing completion.

Red Barn in The Snow

This is another of my half-hour paintings which I call simply "Red Barn in the Snow" This workshop really got me to produce using pretoned canvases and without laboring over the under-drawing before starting to paint. Such a workshop helps a painter to not be intimidated by a blank canvas because of the time constraints that are imposed. A wonderful learning experience that I highly recommend to new painters and to those who are used to spending many hours on their paintings.

Winter Snows

The third of my half hour paintings is a 8X10 oil on canvasboard which I simply call "Winter Snows"

Spring Arrives

Another of my half hour creations is this 5 X 8 oil on canvas which I entitled "Spring Arives" A simple woodland stream at the beginning of the spring after a long hard winter.

The Fishermen

In April of 2009 I attended a workshop led by Steve Previte of the Nashua Area Artists group which Steve held at the Jaffrey Civic Center in Jaffrey New Hampshire. During the course of this day we produced the beginnings of five paintings each painted in one half hour. The purpose of this exercise was to loosen up the painter's style. Many of the paintings produced were in a more impressionistic style than I had previously worked on. This painting which I simply call "The Fishermen" is one of my paintings from this day. It is a 10 X 12 oil on canvas.