Puppy Study

 6 x 6 oil on canvas panel

I found this reference photo and wanted to try my hand at painting a lab puppy.  The photo was so blah that I tried adding more color to perk things up.   I must have used every color on my palette for this one.

The Old Mill Challenge

6 x 6 oil on canvas board

This is my submission for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge.   We were given a photograph of a mill scene and we could crop, edit, etc. however we wanted.   Lots of cropping and editing on this one. I think that's why landscapes are so tough for me - too much information hitting me at one time and trying to figure out what to cut!  

Study in Umber

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel

This was painted for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge - VERY challenging!  The only color allowed was burnt umber - no white!   The oil painters had to use turpentine and wipe off color down to the canvas for white with whatever you could figure out - mostly q-tips!   A friend who went on a mission trip to Africa took this photo while there and I loved the look on the young girl's face and had saved the photo to paint later, thought it would fit for this challenge but the features weren't very clear, so I had to use my imagination.  

A Change in Direction

 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

Today was almost a total wipe-out but I was determined to come up with something for all my previous failed efforts.  I'm ok with this one but maybe because the other two were so bad.  This started off as a beach scene that morphed into a pair of sandals which I then transformed into this outside play scene.  Lots of wasted paint and paper towels in this morning's session.

Chair #2

 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

Chairs have always been appealing to me.  My attic is full of them and my husband keeps threatening to pitch them.   Back in my antiquing days, I would pick one up and think I would get around to working on it someday but somehow I never did and they are just gathering dust.  I can't bear the thought of getting rid of them.   I started off thinking I would paint this with really thick paint but in the end I caught myself thinning with linseed oil - a bad habit of mine!

Challenging Text

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel

This is my latest entry for the Daily Paintworks weekly challenge.   This is the first time I have painted in 4 or 5 days and I had a rough start.   Someone had taken this photo in New York of a lady texting and we were all to do our own interpretation.   I'm a pretty literal person so mine is pretty much like the photo however some really had some neat "takes" on it - like just  her lips or just the side of her head or wild colors!   It's fun to see each artist's version.

Bedtime Buddy

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel

This photo was taken at night of a very sleepy Buddy!   He roused long enough for me to snap his photo.   Buddy belongs to my son and daughter-in-law who live in Marietta, GA.   

Swamp Scene

 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

This was painted on top of a black underpainting, black gesso actually.  It's the first time I have ever painted on a black canvas but it was pretty neat - sort of like painting in the negative.  I had taken the photo for this behind an office building in Jackson.  There is this beautiful swampy area behind the building.  It is really picturesque but you have to watch out for snakes and alligators!  I didn't stick around long enough to see any but I hear they come up on the grassy area all the time.

Give Me That Fish

6" x 6" oil on canvas board

This was painted today in my Tuesday painting group.   There was nothing I could find that I was dying to paint so I selected this fish photo from some of my files.  It was a challenge trying to stay loose and not paint in the individual scales on the fish.   

German countryside

6" x 6" oil on canvas board

This is my yesterday's daily painting.  Because of the storms that rolled through,  it was so dark by late afternoon that I couldn't get a good copy in natural light, which is the ideal for photographing these.   The glare of morning light has sort of washed out the right side of the canvas but this is my entry for the latest daily paintworks challenge.   Two photos of German roads were submitted to the challenge and we selected the one we wanted to paint.  I selected this one because I liked the shadows in it.   You won't see too many landscapes posted here because they are the ones that give me the most "fits"!   Hopefully I will have another painting completed by this afternoon and can post it since this is Monday's painting. 

Amsterdam Street Scene

6" x 6" oil on canvas board - SOLD

We visited Amsterdam in the summer of '09 when my sister was still living in Holland.  This is one of the more famous tourist areas but the inhabitants of this street really don't want you photographing them.  I sneaked a couple in though.   

Cotton Fields Back Home

8 x 10 oil on canvas board - SOLD

The recent Japanese Challenge on the dailypaintworks site has had me stymied.  We were supposed to submit to the challenge by painting a picture of what comes to mind when we hear the word "home";  these are to be auctioned online and the proceeds go to the relief efforts in Japan.  When I think of home,  I immediately think of cotton fields and levees and I can't seem to capture the beauty of what I see and feel when I view them.    Go to the website:  dailypaintworks.com and see some of the entries, there must be close to 300 by now!

San Antonio Girl

6 x 6 oil on canvas board

I took the reference photo for this when we were at the Alamo.  It went pretty smoothly until I got to the reflections in the sunglasses but overall I am fairly happy with it being looser than some of my other studies.