White Onion - Paintng #3

White Onion - Painting #3

Not happy with this one, although it does seem to look a little better in the photo than in real.   Most paintings do, and I'm not sure why?  White is hard to paint and so are onions!  What color is white?  I was trying to think of the light side as yellowish and the shadow side as purplish.  But, I couldn't actually 'see' the white in a yellowish color so was hard to do.  I know for white, you just kind of have to choose what type of  'off' white color you'll use, and then use the compliment for the shadow side.  According to the late  Helen Van Wyk, one of my all time favorite painters, when you paint onions you;  invest in a lot of color, put it on horizontally for the most part,and then blend it vertically to give you the onion skin look.  I needed to invest a lot more color and not overwork it with my vertical strokes so much.  I think I'll paint a yellow onion tomorrow to see if I have any better luck.

Oranges - Painting #2

Oranges - Painting #2

I'm not crazy about this painting but I'm going to post them all.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  My goal is to not fuss, but just do it and try to keep it limited to under two hours.  After two hours I get tired.  The old Lana, would have wiped this off before finishing because the orange color did not look orange until I added the background.  Weird how that happens!   I am using a limited palette;  Cad Yellow Light, Alizeran Crimson, Ultra Marine Blue, and Transparent Red Oxide.  Plus Titanium White.   Color is overwhelming to me, and I think a limited palette makes it a little easier.  I use the Transparent Red Oxide to tone my board and for my drawing.

I am going to try to post one new thing I've learned after each painting.  After all, that's the reason for painting small and often.  To learn quickly.  I've learned to start with my bristle brush to lay in the color, and finish with my sable brush.  I use the sable to work the edges and add more color on top.  I'm trying to think of my start more like a 'coloring book'.  Who's afraid to color in a coloring book?  Once I get in my base colors then it's kind of fun to mess around and put in my additional colors.  Right now I'm pre mixing all my colors before I start painting.   I tweak them as I go, but I think this also simplifies and makes it easier instead of mixing each color from scratch when it's needed. 

It was hard getting started today because I was making excuses already of what I needed to do before I could settle in to paint.   I guess you can see by the date, that I already missed posting yesterday!  Not a good way to start.  But, I did do some work in my studio yesterday.  I'm working on  a large abstract.  I need something for a bare wall in my bedroom.  Abstracts are not as easy to paint as they appear to be on YouTube and I'm still not happy with it.  I'm going to re work it this weekend and if it turns out OK, I'll post.

Pear - My first painting

Pear - Painting #1

I'm so inspired by Carol Marine and her blog, that I've decided to do it my self.   Check her out if you haven't already.  Carol decided to paint one small painting a day, post it and blog about her journey.  I've been 'thinking' about this for a while now, and have decided I'm just going to DO IT!  I am going to schedule it in just like a job.  1 p.m. (or earlier)  every afternoon with my only excuse being if I am actually busy doing something else.  I am a realtor and also 'flip' houses.  But, if I'm home, I WILL be in my studio by 1:00.

I have about 70 small 4x6 masonite boards cut and gessoed and ready to go.  I plan on painting all of those before I go bigger.  Mostly still life, but then I would really like to get into landscape.  Landscape interests me the most.  I want my style to be somewhere in between realism and abstract.  So that's what I'm aiming for.

 I started painting when I was about 12, but I go through looonnng stretches of not painting at all.  Like years!  You can't learn to be a great painter unless you commit a lot of time to it.  "A masterpiece was never created by a lazy artist."  My kids are now grown, I have my own studio and I now have time to do it.  It's scary for me.   I stress over each painting!  This pear took me 3 or 4 tries and hours to do.  For some reason I avoid going to my studio.  Why?  I guess it's the fear of failure.  I can paint one good painting, and then I seem to  forget everything I've ever learned about painting with flop after flop that makes me depressed and wanting to never do another painting.

My goal is to find the 'joy' in painting again like when I was a kid.  I envy painters who paint effortlessly and joyfully without the fear of failure.  I hope to one day get to that stage because there is nothing in this life that would make me happier and feel more complete and satisfied in my life than to be a professional painter able to make a living from my paintings.

So, stay tuned for painting number two tomorrow....