"Juniper Cow" 8x10, while re-modeling

 

A series of minor disasters over the holidays had me running around for a bit. Total net change for the last six weeks of life is that I gained a nice vacuum cleaner, and I lost my car. Since New Year's I've acquired a nice new easel, too, which has required a full week-long tear out/clean/re-organize of my studio space.

 

I finally made use of a cow-shaped butter dish I picked up at German Deli, which is nicely located right up the road (in Texas terms) from my residence. The juniper sprig is a clipping from a decorative tree in the parking lot of the Costco where I bought the new Dyson.

"Title" - 8" x 10" oil on Ray-Mar linen panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

The Bear is Back. "Chrome Bear On Red"

 

Here again is my holiday friend, the strangest ornament ever to grace a Jo-Ann's shelf, the Chrome Bear. The berries were trimmed from a bush in downtown Grand Prairie just across the street from the farmer's market, and I have no idea what they actually are. I think the red is out of my system now, and I'll work on blue paintings for the next week or so.

"Title" - 8" x 10" oil on Ray-Mar oil-primed linen panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

Back just in time for Thanksgiving.

 

I hate long haituses (hiati? haitii?). I've been squeezing art into the cracks of chaos whenever possible, but fortunately things seem to be settling down around here. I have some temp work coming up between now and December, meshed in with the usual end-of-year reorganizing and resupply.

 

The first thing I'm pulling off of the "Things I've Done Since July" pile is called "Three Sizes". These apples were indeed wee, nae'-sa-wee, and f-in' HUGE! I have some Scottish heritage, but you won't find this sold at Everything Scottish. It's up in my shop instead.

"Three Sizes" - 8" x 10" oil on Ray-Mar linen panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

"Jade Buddha's Apple"

 

My schedule is still a bit volatile at the moment, which makes it difficult to set up still life paintings with perishable subjects. At the moment apples are the only thing around that last for more than a couple of painting days. Here again is my little jade buddha figurine (difficult to depict as ever) with a "Southern Rose" apple.

 

"Title" - 8" x 6" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

Six Weeks, Second Job, "Plum Buddha" 8x10 - SOLD

 

Six weeks plus is far too long to go without posting... I've picked up a job after eight months of looking and that has bitten into my painting schedule a bit.

 

I purchased a 10-pack of 8x10 double oil primed Ray-Mar panels last month and I think I've fallen in love with these things... They even smell good. It's frustrating to finish a painting and have it not seem as good as the surface deserves. I've painted a bunch lately but there are only a couple of survivors that I'm not going to immediately recycle through the "Paint Over This" pile. I picked up this Buddha statue at Whole Foods, of all places, and right near it was a bin full of "Texas plums". The plums tasted awful, but they were good subjects.

"Plum Buddha" - 8" x 10" oil on double oil-primed Ray-Mar canvas panel

SOLD!

 

"New Lily" sketch to get back in the swing of things - SOLD

 

That creaking noise is the sound of rusty artistic gears beginning to turn again... I've been away due to lack of supplies, and some time well spent with other people socializing (gasp!) this past weekend. I'll have pictures of that event up on Flickr later. In the meantime here's a leftover mother's day lily - really a quick painted sketch of a late blossom, painted cautiously with some new paints:

"New Lily" - 6" x 8" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

SOLD!

 

"Single Red Rose"

 

Another "title says it all" painting. Somehow I forgot to list this one, I had everything uploaded and ready to go, and then I was interrupted and forgot to go through with the posting.

 

Unfortunately I am currently nearly out of supplies. My next round of panels and paints are on the way, and I will be back to more regular posting shortly.

"Title" - 6" x 8" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

"Experimental Rose"

 

Title says it all. My inexpensive single roses were coming to the end of their service life. I decided to try a fast sketch on an old 6x6 board by building in deep color from back to front, painting directly without much of my usual pencil drawing on the board - sort of a compromise between direct painting (which doesn't work well for flowers in my experience) and careful build-up. I also went heavy and almost random on the color choices, not a lot of mixing, just picking stuff straight from the tubes.

 

"Experimental Rose" - 6" x 6" oil on Ampersand Gessbord

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

"Single Peach Rose" and some photos

 

The local Upscale Market had some single roses on sale, which were a godsend as I'm all about saving money on supplies and subject matter, and I've been on the hunt for flowers that cost less than an Andrew Jackson. First up this week is an individual peach rose, which have special significance for me for reasons I won't disclose (she knows who she is). Happy birthday J!

 

"Single Peach Rose" - 8" x 6" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

I've also been adding some photos to my Flickr. I thought this one was of artistic interest:
 
I swear I didn't pose anybody in this photo. It looks like a painting by somebody who's name I can't recall.

"Wednesday Rose" for a Friday

 

I may be approaching my goal of "not terrible" with flowers. They are a challenge, or perhaps I'm trying to paint out of a rut... I'm not sure. Maybe I should blame the warm muggy weather. In any case here's the second one this week that I'm almost satisfied with (almost - since complacency is an artistic sin!).

 

"Wednesday Rose" - 6" x 8" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

"Tuesday Rose" for a late, unhappy Thursday

 

Title says it all. I'm not happy with most of the week's work and this was the first one I thought was even worth posting... And that's all I have to say about that.

 

"Tuesday Rose" - 8" x 6" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

"Snapdragon 2"

 

Only a few minutes ago it was Thursday, and now it's Friday, so here I am making a Friday post... I'll be away for the weekend, and will hopefully have a chance to post more new work right after I return. In the meantime here is the second Snapdragon. I had to rush a bit to complete this one as one of the blossoms died on me while I was painting, and then the photo didn't turn out so great... I really need to invest in a reliable setup for photographing my paintings as soon as I have the money.

 

The plant itself cost me $2.15 total, and is thriving happily out on the porch with plenty of new flower buds on the stalks, so I should be able to re-visit this subject in a week or two. I am pleased with the large painting return on a small monetary investment, and I look forward to the test and comparison between "old" and "new" paintings.

"Snapdragon 2" - 8" x 6" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

"Orchids Old And New" for a Late Wednesday

 

A follow on to the subject of the first "eBay Thursday" (now available on Etsy, by the way): the second painting of Philaenopsis Orchids. I had to pause and leave the painting mid-way through completion, and when I returned later in the week to finish it, one of the orchid blossoms had perished and collapsed in a sad, floppy heap. I decided to paint what was there, instead of faking the complete blossom in the background. I find that I don't have any objection to painting shriveled, dead blossoms... In fact I rather like the contrast they provide. Flowers are finicky, delicate things, and they die just as they live, so that's how I like painting them... It's either that, or I'll have to go old school and start putting skulls in my arrangements!

"Orchids Old And New" - 8" x 10" oil on Ampersand panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

Post-holiday "Sunday Roses"

 

Some roses for a post-Sunday Monday - a relatively quick & loose outdoor sketch of some white roses that the lady of the house received for her birthday, painted "live" out on my porch on my plein aire gear. These were actually painted a couple of weeks ago. I meant to post this (and several other works) before the holiday weekend, but on Wednesday & Thursday I actually didn't have enough light to photograph paintings due to inclement weather. At least the random cold snaps have stopped, which means the flowers I'm painting are that much less likely to perish before I'm done with them...

 

The trouble for the outdoors-minded painter is that there are only three basic seasons in north Texas, "Ungodly Hot", "Stormy", and what I as a Yankee transplant describe as "Ludicrous" - Ludicrous being the fitful, random, non-sensical transition between the first and second seasons, a sort of perpetual manic fit of conditions that alternates between a beautiful spring and quasi-winter. At this point I'd normally expound at length on how I strongly believe that a properly structured world should have four seasons, but I'll let it go, and just close by saying that I'll have some new work up tomorrow!

"Sunday Roses" - 6" x 8" oil on Ray-Mar canvas panel

Available on Etsy Now - Click Here!

 

Pansy Wednesday... And my cat, and some changes.

 
A couple of pansies for tonight, both of them on Etsy, both 6" x 8" on Ray-Mar canvas panel, both painted relatively quickly in the great outdoors from a live source. I apologize for the crummy photo of the first one:

 

"Purple Pansy" at Etsy

 

"Orange Pansy" at Etsy

 

Over the next couple of days I'm going to close up my Ebay store and move everything over to Etsy. I will still post items on Ebay occasionally, but fees, costs, and general downturn have made Ebay non-cost-effective. I'm also working on some fun stuff aside from the regular painting routine, a small preview of which is visible below, cleverly concealed within a gratuitous cat photo:

New Direction

 

There have been some big changes going on behind the scenes here, but they don't make for terribly exciting reading. The important development is that I will soon begin posting daily oil paintings for sale through my shop on Etsy. My goal is one painting a day, sold for about $100 shipped, and I've spent the last couple of months setting up and starting this new venture. I'll post the paintings here with commentary. I also have quite a bit of digital housekeeping to do. There are accounts to set up, graphics to be made, and layouts to be adjusted.

 

"Daily Painting" is a petite phrase, but it contains an entire Operation Overlord of change. I have re-arranged my office/studio, researched the market, purcha$$$ed a painfully large pile of $$$upplies, acquired materials for setup and lighting, discovered (or re-discovered) the ins and outs of producing good work in a hurry, and then of course there is the ever-present trial-by-fire in which the brush hits the gesso board, and planning meets reality. Of course, none of this is revolutionary - or news - but for me it's a very moving process. A new artistic start is simultaneously fun and excruciating, and unfortunately I don't have anyone to share it with, except you, the reader. Hopefully daily sales will mean traffic, which will mean comments and communications with other artists? That's what it's all about, in the end, I think... Work produced, and ideas shared. Progress!