Abandoned Painting

I thought I'd make a post about a little frustration I've had lately. I spent dozens of hours working on a second burlesque painting and became frustrated with the direction it was heading. I had a vision for it and it headed south. I then decided I would abandon it and start over and proceeded to try to scrape down the paint to salvage the expensive linen (22"x11"). That didn't work since too many areas had dried too much. Now I'm left with a nasty looking unusable canvas and no painting. I did take some shots of it through the progression (regression) and here are the last two stages.

"Burlesque" Painting

Here are my efforts from the last few days. This painting will be a part of a burlesque theme art show in January. I still hope to do one or maybe two more pieces. This one is 14x11, oil on linen but I might still have some touch-ups to do. My wife is the model.

Plein Air 11-19-11

This one's from this morning on an overcast day at the river. 8x10, oil.

Figure Drawing 11-15-11

A couple sketches from last night's figure drawing.

Figure Drawing 11-8-11

Quick sketch from last night's figure drawing.

Boiler sketch

Here is a really loose oil sketch of our boiler (from yesterday)...nothing much more really than a thin underpainting. I'd like to revisit the subject with more time and a larger surface. 12x6, oil.

Utility Sink

Here's a quick oil sketch I did today of our utility sink in the basement. 12x6, oil.

Bed study

This is a quick study of a bed I did today. Oil, 6x8.

Plein Air 10-18-11

This one is from this morning. 6x6, oil. Rocks and water are always elusive and seem to draw me in to study them. They can be fun to paint or down-right frustrating.

Eakins Copy

Here's a quick copy of a Thomas Eakins drawing I did yesterday. Pencil. I need to keep doing master copies...they are great practice.

Plein Air 10-7-11

Can't help but be outside and paint with this fabulous weather we've been having. It won't last long. 8x6, oil.

Plein Air 10-6-11

10x12, oil. This one is from this morning.

Figure Drawing 10-4-11

A few figure drawings from tonight. One is of a fellow artist whom we sketched while we waited for the model.

Salt Fork River Art Festival

I participated in the Salt Fork River Art Festival with my mom at Sleepy Creek Vineyard down in Oakwood, IL this past Saturday and Sunday, sharing a booth. We had some very turbulent weather between the cold, wet, fog, and clouds. I did get a chance to do some painting since it was rather slow at times. Here are some pics. This small study is looking through at Frontenac grape vines at the vineyard. 8x6, oil.

Raccoon skull study II

Here's another raccoon skull study I finished up today. 4.25"x8.5", graphite pencil. This one, along with another skull, and one of my nocturne paintings will be in a local halloween exhibit. I'm having a real difficult time photographing my drawings. The darks always tend to photo a bit grainy, the mid-tones end up being one value, and the lights end up being too dark...closer to the lighter mid-tones. The drawings all have a close value range for the most part but it gets frustrating. My assumption is that since graphite has a metallic looking luster, it has a reflective quality. That, along with the fact that this is on a smooth hot-press bristol (reflective also), my marks are bouncing light around in a strange way.

Plein Air 9-22-11

This is from this morning and is more or less an experiment. I'm trying out some different brushes along with still using the old ones. My old ones are long mongoose flats which do a great job with thin fluid paint as they are soft long hairs. The new ones are bristle flats. These are coarse hog bristles which are much shorter than the others. They have more spring and can lay down impasto brush strokes. I think working with these will help me with confidence out there, both in color mixing and in application on the surface. The other brushes, I usually tried to sneak up on things with gradual washes. Anyway, I'd like to try to incorporate both types of brushes into my arsenal to get the effects I want. 8x6, oil.

Plein Air 9-15-11

From this morning at the Fox River. 6x8, oil.

Plein Air 9-1-11

Plein air, oil. 8x6. Did this one this morning.

Raccoon skull study

Here's a little skull study of a raccoon I finished today in graphite pencil.

Plein Air 8-29-11

This one is from this morning. 8x6, oil. 8-29-11. Same limited palette as recent days.

Plein Air 8-28-11

Plein air 8-28-11. Oil, 8x6. I did this one at sunrise this morning. A lot of purple for me but I didn't mind. I used the limited palette again and this ended up only being about a 40 minute painting. Very simple, but that was my approach. I worked on keeping the design simple, the number of colors simple but still harmonious and then painted what was in front me. I haven't painted one I've like since July so I'm rather pleased. Ask me again tomorrow and I might hate it!

Plein Air 8-25-11

Here's an 8x10 plein air oil from this morning. I'm still trying out the limited palette (white, cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue).

Lake Geneva Art in the Park

This past weekend, Saturday and Sunday, I participated in Art in the Park. I've never done an art fair before. It was pretty exhausting and overall a good experience. I ended up receiving a certificate of merit for my work. I was the only painter to receive an award so that felt good.

Figure Drawing 8-16-11

Quick sketch from tonight's figure drawing.

Plein Air 8-3-11

8x8, oil. Plein air 8-3-11. Quick sketch from this evening.

Plein Air 7-30-11

8x10, oil. Plein air 7-30-11. From this afternoon. I'm not sure why I went with this scene today as it's rather blah, mid-day lighting. The field was full of Queen Anne's Lace which I liked because it helped add depth to the rather flat lighting. The sun for the most part was straight up but slightly to the left and behind me.

Door County, WI Plein Air Festival

This weekend (Thursday-Sunday) I took my family to Door County, WI for a big plein air event. It was actually a week long adventure for the featured artists there.


8x6, oil. Plein air 7-21-11. First night Door County, WI.

12x10, oil. Plein air 7-22-11. Peninsula State Park.

8x6, oil. Plein air 7-22-11, right before dusk.

8x10, oil. Plein air 7-23-11 (Door County, WI). My rock study at the dock-side quick paint competition. 2 hours start to finish and frame. A very humbling, exciting, and intense time. I rarely run into people while painting.....during this, hundreds walked by and dozens stopped to chat. Got through it and enjoyed the experience. Once in the zone it's difficult not to just paint. I felt star-struck meeting a lot of artists I look up to and it was exciting to see all their great work.

Plein Air 7-18-11

8x6, oil. Plein air 7-18-11. Gray, wet morning but super hot and humid.

Plein Air 7-11-11

12x10, oil. Plein air 7-11-11. This one was done from 8 to 8:40 pm tonight during which lighting changed dramatically. It was a race against the clock.

Plein Air 7-4-11

6x8, oil. Plein air 7-4-11. Early morning at the river with a nice fog lifting. Happy 4th!!

Plein Air 7-1-11

8x10, oil. Plein air 7-1-11. Study of a Silver Maple at the river's edge this morning.

Plein Air 6-28-11

10x8, oil. Plein air 6-28-11. This one was done at the Fox River this morning.

Yatsubusa Elm Bonsai

This is my most recently acquired tree. I'm really excited about this little fat elm.

New American Hornbeam Bonsai

Here is a collected American Hornbeam that I recently acquired this spring.

Barberry literati bonsai update

Here's some spring growth on my barberry literati. Slowly putting on the growth after a lot of root-work from early spring. Link below will take you to that early spring post prior to foliage:
http://bodyrender.blogspot.com/2011/04/barberry-literati-bonsai.html