Scotch

Laphroaig and Glass

10"x8" oil on canvas panel

What to paint in winter? Thinking about Valentine's Day coming up I got out a bottle of brandy and a couple of glasses. Hopefully you'll see that painting in a few days. I thought I should practice first and so grabbed a bottle of my favorite scotch, Laphroaig, and a single glass.

I set up the still life next to a window, with a black backdrop and a white linen napkin as the base. and took a few photos since the light was changing fast. Here are a few process shots.

Value under painting in yellow ochre and ultramarine blue

 Putting in the darks

First pass of color (note the change to a purple background)

Painting the background a different color than what I could see was of course not such a great idea. I  immediately knew that the bottom of the glass was now too dark. So the next morning I went to JoAnne Fabrics and bought a piece of purple fabric to replace the black.

Notice also that the bottle leans a little in the process photos and the ellipse at the top of the glass is crooked and bigger on the bottom then the top. So I had to fix all that. For a discussion of how to get the ellipse correct in this kind of painting, see this great post by my buddy Carol L. Douglas.

Pumpkin and Friends

Pumpkin and Friends

5"x7" oil on linen panel

I'm getting behind on posting, due to forgetting to photograph the paintings. This one is from last Thursday and introduces my new favorite apple, the Autumn Gala. I hope they still have some when I get to the farm stand tomorrow, because I've eaten all of mine!

If anyone has any tips for photographing paintings with very dark backgrounds, I'd love to hear them. I'll try retaking the photo once the painting is dry.

Blueberries and Watermelon

 Blueberry Pie

10"x10" oil on cradled board (sides painted - no need to frame)

$200

#165

Watermelon

10"x10" oil on cradled board (sides painted - no need to frame)

$200

#164

to purchase, click here for the email and telephone number

Does your kitchen need sprucing up? Here's an easy way to do that and to help a great cause. My two paintings of garden produce are available at the online Tidewater Farm benefit run by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Half the proceeds go to the farm (and half to the artist). The sale ends on September 2.

If you’re ever in the Portland Maine area and want a beautiful place to paint, I recommend this saltwater farm. I love teaching my plein air class there. Let me know, and I’ll go with you. Here are a few posts of paintings of the marsh on the property. There are also buildings, the garden, and additional marsh views.

http://bobbiheath.blogspot.com/2015/09/marsh-at-tidewater-farm.html

http://bobbiheath.blogspot.com/2015/09/tidewater-greens.html

http://bobbiheath.blogspot.com/2015/09/tidewater-in-secondaries.html

http://bobbiheath.blogspot.com/2015/09/tidewater.html

Watermelon

Watermelon

10"x10" oil on cradled panel 

$200 at the Taste of Tidewater event in August

My second painting for the Tidewater benefit is called Watermelon. I liked the idea of the round subject from the pie, and thought that pulling out a piece would improve the composition. And then there are the colors, red/pink and green are complimentary, which is a great combination.

When you read this I’ll be in London, and will be off on Sunday night with members of the Wapping Group of Artists, on their summer painting trip to France. I joined them in 2012, and am looking forward to this year’s trip. I’ll try to post from France.

Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie

10"x10" oil on cradled birch panel

$200 at the Taste of Tidewater Event in August

As I’ve said before, I enjoy painting for a cause I believe in. Tidewater Farm in Falmouth Maine and its community garden is one of those causes. Their Taste of Tidewater event is coming up in August 20th, including a sale of over a hundred paintings from local artists. Last year I did well with a food painting, and so I’m continuing that theme this year.

My first painting for this year is of a Maine specialty, blueberry pie. I made the pie using a recipe from our cousin Ann, and was dismayed to find that I’d used the wrong one. Like any good Mainer, Ann has two blueberry pie recipes, one for a topless pie, and one for a pie with a top crust. The scribbled recipe I found stuck in the front of our New York Times Cookbook turned out to be for the more juicy version with a top, not what I had in mind for this composition, where the missing piece of pie is key. I was ready to make a new pie, and then had the idea of putting this one in the freezer on a tilt. It worked! Sorry about the bad photo, I'll replace it with a better one once the painted sides dry and I can stand the painting up for another shot.

And for even more fun, I’m teaching a plein air class at Tidewater farm again this year, It will be on Tuesdays, August 9th, 16th, 23rd and September 6th and 13th, 9am – 12pm. Check it out here.

For those of you who can’t make a class every week, I’m also teaching a plein air workshop for River Arts in Damariscotta on July 13 and 14th. More info on that is here.

A Good Teacher

Pomegranate with Square Brass Pot

6"x6 oil on Raymar panel

I’ve taken a lot of art workshops, with some very good teachers. And often they're teaching along a similar vein. But sometimes we have to be at the right place to hear it, or maybe we need to hear it many times. This spring I decided to try and find a teacher near me, whose work I admired, who appreciated the same painters that I do, and from whom I could learn over a period of time. And I think I’ve done that with Rob Abele. I take a weekly class with Rob, and as new people join the class, it’s great to hear him very consistently giving the same advice to each of us, whatever our level. Whenever he does a quick demo for someone, I wander over and watch too. Twice I’ve had a private lesson, which is very helpful. In those lessons Rob sets up a killer still life that will take me out of my comfort zone.

Below is my painting at the end of our session of still life #1.

Below is Rob’s. Note that we are painting at the same time, so we don’t have the same viewpoint.

I love the gestural way that Rob paints!

Below is my painting of still life #2 after “improving” it at home. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo at the send of the session. One thing I've learned is that I'm best painting alla prima, and finishing the painting in one sitting. Going back in, I usually muck it up.

And below is Rob’s version. Wow!

I was a whiner on this last one, having somewhat of an aversion to the fun house mirror aspect of the reflection in the rounded brass vase. So when I got home I set up and painted the still life shown at the top of the post, including the shiniest object I could find.

I know I’m learning something with Rob's approach and the consistency that studying with the same teacher over time brings. Thanks Rob!

Sunflowers VI

Sunflowers VI

4"x4" gouache on paper

The sunflowers are glorious now, and I love to paint them.

"Gift Box" - Day 2 of Leslie Saeta's Workshop

"Gift Box"

8"x8"

oil on Gessobord

Day 2 of Leslie Saeta's palette knife painting workshop was a great learning experience. We are all getting a better feel for the knife in our hand, and learning to hold it up to the painting and I'm lagging behind. Afterwards, Leslie made dinner for all 14 of us, which was a very special treat!

"Poinsettia II"

"Poinsettia II"

5"x7" oil on linen panel

$150

click here to purchase

Poinsettia II before final editing

Poinsettia Sketch

Here's another go at the Poinsettia. I've actually cut off the small red leaves in the middle on all of these, because otherwise the center is just a mass of red, and I like having some dark shapes there. Can you see the differences in the sketch and the final painting? The lifting of the bottom left leaf in the draft painting, made me want to lift the right one as well. Don't you think that helps the composition?  I've taken to going for a walk or doing something around the house for a few minutes and then coming back to check things before cleaning up. There's usually something I want to change!

Wouldn't this one make nice wood cut?

"Poinsettia I"

"Poinsettia I"

6"x8" oil on Raymar panel

$150
click here to purchase

Poinsettia I Draft

Before I made the final edits

Poinsettia Drawing

I couldn't let my effort on the Many Minute Poinsettias go to waste, so I got to work on a larger version, with no time limit, at a suitable aspect ratio for a future Holiday card. I'm surprised how hard these are to paint. I don't think it's the red, because I don't have any trouble with the multiple reds in apples. And I thought because of all the pointy leaves, it would be great from the composition perspective, lots of angles, etc. Perhaps the problem is I'm not looking at the flowers enough, concentrating too much on the painting. With the 10 minute version there was no time to fuss!

Here's great quote on this problem: "Look three times, think twice, paint once." - Robert Genn

"Double Mandarins"

"Double Mandarins"

5"x7" oil on linen panel

$150

Click here to buy

After painting the four 10 minute mandarins, I set up this pair connected by a bunch of leaves, and went for it. I think the practice on the four 10 minute guys made a huge difference in this painting. I'll try to take a picture with less glare in the daylight.

"Honey Crisp"

"Honey Crisp"

6"x8" oil on linen panel

$150

This is my final painting for Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I've painted 30 and shown you 28 of them (2 failed quality assurance!). I want to thank you all for your patience and perseverance, and for all the wonderful comments. I do have a question, for a potential next time. Were there too many posts? Would fewer posts per week with more than one painting in each make for better viewing? Thanks so much for your help.

The 6"x6" and 5"x7" paintings done in September will be priced at $100 through October 1st, and on the 2nd, will go up to the normal $150 price.

Paint Night at the Gallery - Saturday, August 23rd

Paint Night Sunflowers Try 1

14"x11" acrylic on canvas 

Paint Night Sunflowers Try 2

14"x11" acrylic on canvas

Sunflowers Try 2 drawing

In conjunction with our show opening Saturday at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery, which includes three large sunflower paintings, we're doing a Paint Night at the Gallery. I'm teaching it, so I've been practicing sunflowers in acrylic, and trying to come up with a composition that anyone can manage, while sipping their wine.

The top image is my first try (not counting the one where I used a hog brush - such a bad idea with acrylic!). The gallerista and I though this might be too complicated. So Try 2 is a simplified version. Both are much simplified over my 20"x16" Sunflower oil painting in the show. The bottom image shows the drawing for Try 2, where marks are made to indicate the middle of each side, the top and bottom, and also the center. That's part of the approach I'll use to teach the drawing.

I'd like to send a big thank you to JanettMarie, who gave me some good advice on how much to simplify the painting.

If you'd like to participate in Paint Night at the Gallery, please call the gallery at 207-846-7777 to register. I'd love to have you join us!

Beach Roses

Beach Roses

6"x6" oil on Raymar panel

Some nice women who attended the Ocean Park "Meet the Artists" event, expressed interest in flowers. I found these near the beach on Porter Road. I'd like to paint more of them, it's quite a challenge!

10 Minute Apples in Pastel

The final apple

10 minute apples

8"x8"

Pastel on Sennelier black sanded paper

Pastels on the boat

As readers of this blog will know, I've been experimenting with pastel, and enjoying it a lot! There's so much to learn moving from one medium to another.  And I'd like to be able to include pastel painters in my upcoming daily painting class at River Arts, in Damariscotta.

It took about 11 minutes for each of the first 3 apples, and about 15 for the last one. And for even more fun, I did this on a boat, while taking a short cruise in Penobscot Bay.

"A Summer in Maine" at the Artist Cottage

"With Pie"

8"x8" oil on Raymar panel

$300 framed

"Lucky Lady III"

10"x10" oil on Raymar panel

$385 framed

I'm delighted to let you know that two of my paintings have been accepted for the "Summer in Maine" exhibit at the Artist Cottage on Cousins Island in Yarmouth, ME. The cottage is a summer rental and event venue filled with art for sale on one of our Casco Bay islands accessible by bridge from the mainland. A beautiful spot for a bike ride or a beach walk, if you can't stay overnight.

"Two Sunflowers"

"Two Sunflowers"

8"x8" oil on Raymar panel

SOLD

I love sunflowers, and buy them at the farmer's market and the grocery store. I've had a couple of beautiful bunches in vases here for the last couple of weeks, but last weekend at the farmer's market there were no more.

"Peppers"

"Peppers"

6"x8" oil on canvas on card

Another painting for the show that opens on June 1 at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery.

Mandarin with Ragged Leaf

Mandarin with Ragged Leaf

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

set up (with room light on and lamps off)

This time of year, the beautiful mandarin oranges arrive complete with leaves. I couldn't resist this guy with his bedraggled leaf. The painting was done on a panel Suzanne deLesseps had made up one year to use on a trip to France, it's very thin and weighs almost nothing. I set up the still life in a closet, backed by black fabric, with an octopus light shining one bulb across the front of the set up, another pointed at the painting surface, and a third at the palette (sitting where the red box is in the photo). The photo shows the setup with the room light on, but it was off, and it was dark outside, when I painted this. The black-ish background came from mixing alizarin crimson and viridian.

Does anyone know why the mandarins are available with leaves in the US, and other citrus fruits are not?

And, I did have trouble photographing this, it has been very dark and dreary here. When I have some more light, I'll try again.

Lemon #7

Lemon #7

4"x5" gouache on paper

Now I'm back in my comfort zone with lemon #4 re-described in gouache. I've done quite a few small paintings in gouache, it reminds me most of painting in oil in terms of consistency and color mixing, but of course, dries much much faster. I used some dry brush here, which I'd like to learn to do in oil.

Thanks very much to Sally Dean and JanettMarie for recommendations on great lemon paintings:
- Sally recommends Robin Rosenthal's "Egg and Lemons", it's great. And check out Robin's other work. I also like the next painting on her blog, "Bananas and Teal Jar".
- Janett Marie recommends Julie Ford Oliver's "More Lemons", and if you look at Julie's posts in May of 2012, there are a lot more, just scroll down a bit. And don't miss the sunflowers in the polka dot pot, I love that one too!
- Do take a look at my dear friend Joelle Feldman's "For Limoncello", it is one of my favorites.
- And finally, Julian Merrow-Smith has done many lemon paintings, "Lemon and Cup" is my all time favorite of his, though I have to confess, the pottery mug (David Garland, I think) in this painting grabs me too.