One of a Pair

10 x 20 oil on canvas

Good start on my macaw to accompany the one I painted on June 19.  Hopefully I can sell them as a pair but failing that I have a special spot in my dining room for them.  I have much more work on this as the bottom is too "busy" for me right now and I need to work on tail feathers, etc. but overall I am pleased with today's progress.

Daily Paintworks Challenge - Hands

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel

This was the Daily Paintworks Challenge for the week and was it a tough one.  Hands are THE hardest thing to paint for me.  I started off real tight and tried each time to loosen up.  After I had finished I was trying to juggle my IPad and the painting and dropped it, smearing the top right hand - I was too tired after all of the struggle to go back and "clean it up".  That was the hardest hand for me also :(   

People Practice

8 x 8 oil on stretched canvas

Practicing faces today - saw this in a newspaper .  The color in paper wasn't good so I tried to add a little extra -- fun session at easel today.  I love to paint people, just wish the skin tones were easier for me....practice.....practice.....practice!

Finished Parrot

10 x 20 oil on stretched canvas

Finally!  I was able to finish my parrot today.  We went to Atlanta for the weekend but prior to that, the day I started the parrot, I came home from painting and found that my refrigerator/freezer had quit working and it was jammed packed with food.  The frozen had already mostly thawed (I was gone all day) so I had to start cooking.   Between that and packing and getting ready for Atlanta and shopping for the "grands", I was worn out and had no time to finish.  I like the way the parrot turned out but had to just make up the background because the actual photo was way too busy.

Initial session on parrot

10 x 20 oil on stretched canvas

I started this today but it needs one more session and hopefully I can complete tomorrow.   I spent most of this session getting the parrot's colors down and his body shape in proportion.  I haven't decided what to do with the background yet, whether to stay with photo reference or make something up....

Behind the Scenes

11 x 14 oil on gessobord

In a slump - just experimenting......