Roadside Daisies

Roadside Daisies

6x4"

oil

Daisies are blooming along the edge of the road because the county has cut back on roadside trimming in our neighborhood.  I'd rather see wild flowers than short grass.  Picked these when I walked the dogs early in the morning.  Found the bottle in a local antique shop.  Had to paint the flowers first because the petals were wilting fast. 

Plein Air Painting

Chadwick Park

6x8"

oil

Painted with the Englewood Plein Air Painters, sometimes known as the Lemon Bay Painters, and occasionally and affectionately refer to themselves (me included!) as the Plein Air Heads.  This is an early morning view across the Intercoastal Waterway, Lemon Bay in the distance. 

Underpaintings

Vanda Orchid

8x10"

oil

This was painted on top of an old painting I didn't like, some of the texture shows through, which worked well on the stucco wall area.   But I attempted to paint it like a plein air, outside in the lani.  Unfortunately, the subject was far to complicated to finish in a few hours.  Had to finish it inside from a photo.  I was ready to toss it (wait for it to dry and paint still another painting on top) when I decided to push the colors and change the background.  

Old Version

Made the background color on the left, lighter and cooler.  Strengthened the patterns of the leaves and basket and pushed the flower color.  It's a keeper for now... until I decide to paint another painting on top. 

NYC Weekly Challenge

NYC Lady

6x6"

oil

My entry into the Weekly Challenge at: 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges.

Just Peachy

Just Peachy

4x6"

oil

A trip to the food store can be an artistic adventure.  Always searching for stuff to paint, I tend to look at things differently, sometimes staring and squinting, considering the colors and shiny bits.  Shopkeepers rush to help me, maybe thinking I need stronger eyeglasses.  When I arrived at the checkout with one tiny jar of baby food and a package of size 2 baby diapers... they asked if my grandchild was visiting.  I nodded and smiled, letting them think I was also hard of hearing.  Didn't want to explain that the jar was to paint, and the diapers were for my geriatric poodle who can no longer hold it in. 

Jarring Series #5

DMannion, JELLY BEAN JAR, 4x6" oil

SOLD

Actually started with a larger jar and more beans...  The danger of edible still life painting!

Pineapple Demo

Pineapple

10x8"

oil

Finished painting, demo: http://dianemannionpaintings.blogspot.com/  

The setup: EasyL paintbox, north light from window.

Roughed in general shapes in middle value.  Only colors used throughout were ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, napthol red, and white.  About 20 minutes.

Worked out main "players" in leaf pattern.  Worked warm glow in background.  

About 30 minutes.

Painted leaves with warm and cool colors, darks and lights.  Left brushstokes with thick paint, blending as little as possible.  About 60  minutes.

Worked base and fiddled with leaves a bit more.  Finished painting.  About 40 minutes.

 Total time: About 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Jarring Series # 4

Bougainvillaea

6x4"

oil

Posted a demo of this painting... click on the Alla Prima tab on my blog page.

http://dianemannionpaintings.blogspot.com/

Jarring Series #3

Frog Jam 2

8x6"

oil

On the last post, I painted with ultramarine blue, scarlet cadmium, and cadmium yellow pale and NO WHITE, just to see what would happen.  For this painting, I used WHITE, cad yellow pale, ultramarine blue, and changed the red to napthol red, instead of cad scarlet.  I found that the cad scarlet was too orange to mix with blue for a strong purple.  But napthol red and ultramarine rocked purlple!  Notice band on label.  

And again, this is for the Color Challenge at:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges .

If you haven't seen my last post, FROG means figs, raspberries, oranges, and ginger.

Jarring Series #2

Frog Jam

8x6"

oil

Killing two frogs with one stone, I painted this for my Jarring Series and The Color Challenge at: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges  Found this jar at a local market stand, Amish FROG JAM is actually figs, raspberries, oranges, and ginger (for those with a weak stomach).  Haven't tasted it yet... gave it to a friend, so I'll have to buy another.

I only used ultramarine blue as dark value, cadmium scarlet as middle value, and cadmium yellow as light... AND NO WHITE (not even the white of the gessoed board).  Just wanted to see what would happen... has a nice, froggy glow. 

Englewood Paintout

Englewood Lion

16x20"

oil

Painted with Ringling's Englewood Art Center today.  Started this at 9 and finished at 1... phew!  I'm more comfortable with 8x10 inches.  That's the painter Judith Hamm in the background who finished one and started another!  Maybe she was using bigger brushes.  The shop in the middle is the Englewood Frame Shoppe and that's one of John's cabinets in the window.  I sold a big painting there last week.  The worst part of this competition, and this is my third year, is that artists must paint in assigned spots.   I  got lucky to be in front of our friend's shop.  The paintings from the paintout will be on display at the Art Center for a few weeks.   I'll give more details tomorrow.

Gerber Jar

Gerber Jar

4x6"

oil

For fun and practice and because I'm obsessed with small jars lately... I'm doing A Jarring Series.  Think this started with the Dailypaintworks ten minute challenge when I painted a little jar.  I also love to paint glass.  Sold a large painting yesterday (yay!) and had some extra change in my pocket so I ransacked all the neighborhood antique shops for old bottles to paint.  Have an inspiring collection that will keep me busy for weeks.  The Gerber jar was just an old one my husband kept spices in.  I've searched all the cupboards for interesting specimens.  Found a great ginger jam jar at the food store.  Oh, and this morning... found FROG jam!  Fig, raspberries, orange, and ginger jam.  This Jarring Series will be great on toast.

Patio Plein Air

Pot Sketch

6x8"

oil

Painted on the patio courtyard of Southern Design Living with the Englewood plein air group.  Too many good things to see, paint, and buy!   Great way to "spend" the morning with a nice group of busy painters, chatting, painting, and shopping combined. 

Landscape Remembered

Morning Jog

6x8"

oil

Finally caught up with the DailyPaintWorks Challenges!  A photo by Carol Marine, taken in Germany, was to be painted and redesigned any way we wanted.  The scene reminded me of early morning jogs with my friend when I lived Upstate New York, so that's how I painted it.

 We chatted like birds every morning, our mouths running faster than our feet.  Was great having a running buddy meet me at the mailbox at 7am. 

Chicken Challenge

Funky Chicken

6x4"

oil

This weeks challenge:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges .  Check out all the wonderful chicken paintings!   My Funky Chicken came with a house we once bought and has moved with us ever since.   Serves as a garden ornament and sometimes a doorstop.  John painted it in his Caribbean style and his colors are brighter than mine, couldn't match that blue.

I'm way behind on daily painting, sometimes illustration work has priority. 

Rainy Day Landscape Project

Palm Path

8x6"

oil

This was the project I had my class do today while it rained outside.  I gave them a selection of black and white landscape photos and before painting they did a few notan (value studies) thumbnails to redesign the photo.  All color had to come from memory and imagination.  We had a great time painting the afternoon away.  My palms were a paint-along-demo, a Venice Beach scene transformed with a lot of transplanting and relandscaping.  One artist redesigned a photo from Germany to resemble the hills of Kentucky, another had Germany looking like the Canadian countryside.  The photo from Germany was taken by Carol Marine for this week's dailypaintworks challenge:http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges.

Morning Still Life

Tear Drop Vase and Lobelia

6x4"

oil

The lobelia bushes in the back garden survived another brutal Florida winter and are starting to bloom again... periwinkle blue.  Impossible to catch the exact, painfully beautiful color of this flower.  Every time my Velcro poodles brush against these bushes, they parade back into the house festooned and decorated with gorgeous, sticky blue flowers.  Now that I look at this painting on the computer, I think the blue would have seemed stronger if I had painted a warmer colored background, more orange.  But it is fine as it is and I'll just move onto the next.  

Carved Orange

Carved Orange

4x6"

oil
SOLD

Found this lime and orange in the refrigerator gracefully carved after garnishing cocktails last night.  The cosmopolitan was pink and the strips of orange were tied with a knot on the end, almost...  almost too pretty to drink.  A lovely time was had by all!

Saki and Flower

Saki and Flower

6X4"

 Dailypaintworks has raised over 24,000 for Japan so far!  I still have one painting left in the auction.  Thank you for the generous interest in my Venice Dunes for Japan painting that sold last night for a healthy sum! 

The little Saki and Flower painting above is a new daily painting.  I've recently been accepted into two daily painting groups (news and addresses later... applause now please!).   I've also been very busy in the illustration world (a secret life), so, well, I'm quite happy!