Morning Palm

Diane Mannion, MORNING PALM, 6x6" oil

      Some mornings, it's too beautiful to think about walking the dogs, going to the gym, or even painting.  Just happy to look across the street and see the sun rise behind the neighbors house.

Cowboy Boots

Diane Mannion, COWBOY BOOTS, 10x8" oil

    

Step-Pop passed away this summer in San Antonio, Texas and my husband inherited his boots.  Andrew Wyeth's SEA BOOTS and TRODEN WEED paintings, (also had to do a western theme painting for the art center) was the motivation and inspiration for COWBOY BOOTS.  I didn't want the painting to be too somber, Step-Pop was always full of energy and good humor.  A happy man that led a brave and adventurous life.

Cowboy Boots, value study/underpainting

  Egads!!! What was I thinking using quinacridone magenta for a value study?   Made four puddles of paint from dark to white and used four brushes.
      Sometimes, when painting a landscape I use magenta as an underpainting.   It shows through the green trees and everything else... little spots of magenta accents unify and give energy to the final painting.  But this value study got out of hand.  Used thicker paint with a lot of white.  To use this as an underpainting, I either have to wait for it to dry (no patience) or blot most of it off.  I've read that old telephone book pages work great for this.  

   Blotting with phone book pages worked great.  Was able to finish the painting right away.

      This monochromatic value study was my entry for the weekly challenge by Liz Wiltzen at Daily Paintworks.

Up Early

Diane Mannion, UP EARLY, 8x6" oil

      This magnificent sky caused me to rush back inside and grab a camera!  Took lots of reference photos.  Changed roof line on neighbors house from flat to high pitched to make room for a lighted window.  Light's always on early across the street.

      My Artist Bootcamp Workshop started in Punta Gorda today with a good group of talented artists. 

Manatee Zone

Diane Mannion, Manatee Zone, 6x6 oil

      Another gorgeous day on the Intercoastal Waterway near Manasota Key.  This sailboater didn't have to slow down too much for the "minimum wake" manatee zone because it was already puttering along nice and slow.  For sailboaters especially, it's the journey that counts as much as the destination.  No need for high speed, take it easy and enjoy the ride.
      Sometimes, I feel the same way about daily paintings... whether it takes an hour or four, the pleasure is in the act of painting.  And it's an added bonus if the results look good.  If not, well it's just practice for the next one.

Woman With Colors

Diane Mannion, Woman With Colors, 8x6" oil

      Venice Art Center's portrait studio started the new season yesterday with this beautiful model.  Painted this on top of a half finished plein air landscape turned sideways.  I liked the colors (the reds are an underpainting, and the light yellow and blue above her head are the sky and the Gulf's horizon.  The scene was in Boca Grande, some palm trees show on the left.)  Pleased with how the colors gave the portrait personality and spirit, the background took on a new meaning and I'm glad I didn't paint it out.  Also left the thickly painted brushstrokes alone without much blending... pushing technique.

Shark's Tooth Hunter

Diane Mannion, Shark's Tooth Hunter, 6x6" oil

      A familiar sight on Venice area beaches... the perfect shark's tooth hunters form!  John was much happier posing for this than the Piggly Wiggly Tee position from yesterday's post!  Shark's teeth, FOSSIL shark's teeth... to make that perfectly clear, are shiny and black.  Some are three or four inches long!  But those are not easy to find.  A good day at the beach means having your pockets filled with twenty or thirty, quarter to half inch teeth.  Three-quarters is a real find.  And then, remembering to remove them from your shorts pockets before the laundry is done.  Have fished jars of these things out of the washing machine, one of the perils of the Floridian life style.

Piggly Wiggly Tee

      Diane Mannion, Piggly Wiggly Tee, 6x6" oil

My entry for the Paint Your Pig Challenge by Carol Marine at Daily Paintworks.  The only pig I could find around here, except for a chewed up dog toy, was a Piggly Wiggly shirt John brought back from a supermarket in Georgia.  He wasn't too thrilled about modeling it this morning... and it shows.

Old Iron

Diane Mannion, Old Iron, 4x6" oil

David and Carol Marine lost their home in the Texas fires.  David created the Daily Paintworks site, and Carol is a fabulous artist.  Artist friends are rallying around them and have set up a fund for their needs.  Please follow the link below to help out.  Thanks.

  DAVID AND CAROL MARINE FIRE FUND

      My daily painting, Old Iron, is an antique my husband and I found in Maine over ten years ago.  We had just given most of our antiques to our daughters and moved to Florida.  But the colors on this iron attracted us like a bug to a windshield.  At first we said, NO!  But weakened and lugged the heavy thing home.  It has since performed remarkably well as a doorstop.  And recently as a still life object to torture my students with (I make them sit in a circle and play spin the iron... and have them draw it from every angle). 

      The odd little tank near the handle once contained and explosive liquid used to heat it with.  And some poor soul's fingers wore spots of paint off the handle.  Have never used it to iron, in fact there's no need to iron in Florida... just step outside and the humidity drops the wrinkles.  Wish it worked for skin.

Salt Jar

Diane Mannion, Salt Jar, 6x4 oil

SOLD  
      For fun and practice, painted this jar in 291 strokes.  The drawing was painted using ultramarine blue thinned with linseed oil....and was NOT included in the strokes count.  Only used a dab of linseed oil as a medium, and paint directly from the tubes.  No mineral spirits used at all.  Tried to lay the paint on thick with a minimal amount of blending.
      This is excellent practice for brushwork.  Used number 4 and 2 bristles only.  And aimed for less than three stokes for each loaded brush.  Wiping (pulled paint off with paper towel and linseed oil) and changing color often.
      My palette colors were a warm and cool of the primaries:
Cad yellow pale, cad yellow dark, Winsor red, permanent alizarin, ultramarine blue, and
cobalt blue hue.  And titanium white.  All Gamblin or Winsor & Newton artists quality paints.  (Just a reminder to my students... stay away from student grade paints!) I also like many other brands, artist quality of course.
  Video Demo: The Salty Jar

Foul Weather Pants

Diane Mannion, Foul Weather Pants, 8x6" oil

      Study of man from my painting, Bait Boat (post before last).  Still in love with those yellow pants!  There's something about his stance and the way he's looking out to sea that fascinates me.  When I enlarged my photo in Photoshop, I discovered he's wearing orange work gloves, what a treat.  Made my first video demo while painting this!  All future videos can only get better.  Watch FOUL WEATHER PANTS here!

Pond Mermaid

Diane Mannion, Pond Mermaid, 8x10" oil

      This charming mermaid was in the Koi Pond, at Selby Gardens, Sarasota Florida. Another rainy day here, perfect for catching up on studio paintings and getting ready for upcoming shows.

Bait Boat, Sarasota Bay

Diane Mannion, Bait Boat, Sarasota Bay, 9x12" oil

SOLD

      This painting took a long time to finish.  Painted the underpainting in burnt umber and it sat around my studio for a year.  Meanwhile, every time I looked at it, I saw something else I wanted to change.  So finally... finished it today.

      This old boat captured my attention one morning when I was painting at Selby Gardens.  It came out of a side channel, the captain waved and headed out to the bay.  A cast net was on the bow for capturing either bait fish or mullet.  I liked the spray-painted letters and numbers on the side.  And loved the turquoise pipe used for a fender.  And the way the light lit up the red plastic buckets... oh, joy!  And the yellow foul-weather pants... an artist's delight.

     

Request Wind

Diane Mannion, REQUEST WIND, 8x10"oil

Couldn't resist painting this for the http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ challenge!  The theme is superstitions.  Perfect.  This is what happened on Friday the 13th, August, 2004 when hurricane Charley blasted up Charlotte Harbor and crossed Florida leaving a trail of destruction.  This seedy old boat yard is infamous for feral cats and rotting boats.  We drove by the day after the storm and saw this sailboat, unfortunately named- REQUEST WIND!

Sunstruck

Diane Mannion, SUNSTRUCK, 6x6" oil

      Rather than being struck by lightning, I decided to paint Sunstruck inside, instead.  Here's a demo about my process... click to enlarge:

       Diane Mannion, Garden Shed Rose, 6x6" oil

Birthday Bougainvillea

DMannion, Birthday Bougainvillea, 6x6" oil

       Painted for Carol Marine who had a birthday this week and we painted to celebrate on the Weekly Challenge at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges.   

       A friend asked me how I like painting small works.  While painting this little one I thought of a few reasons why.  Coming from a background in illustration, I'm comfortable with small spaces to work in, and using small brushes.  Trouble is, I want my work to be "painterly paintings" and not tight illustrations.  I took a workshop with Sally Christianson at the Venice Art Center.  She looked over my shoulder and said, "I think you need to use larger brushes."  That bit of advice helped a lot!  I now use the biggest brushes possible, even on these small works and then work with smaller ones to finish it off.

      So here are a few good reasons to work small:

                 1. Small enough to do one a day and still have time for other projects.

                 2. A way to explore techniques without using much paint.

                 3. Improve ability faster by painting a lot of small ones rather than a few large.

                 4. Each painting doesn't become "precious" allowing for experimenting.

                 5. Eases "fear of big, blank white canvas."

                 6. Portable for working en plein air.

                 7. Useful for illustrating (almost) daily blog posts.

                 8. Less expensive to frame.

                 9. Make perfect gifts.

                10. Can quickly develop a portfolio.

                11. More easily decide what your favorite subject matter is.

                12. Best paintings can be used as reference for larger paintings.

               

Time For Tea... Painting Fast or Slow

DMannion, Time for Tea, 6x6" oil

This was painted for the dailypaintworks.com Paint your Mug Challenge.  I had painted my favorite mug a few months ago using a tight technique that took a few days.  Thought I'd try a looser style with this one which took a few hours.  Here's the first mug:

DMannion, MY MUG, 6x6" oil

There's a movement among the daily painters to paint fast and loose.  Spent some time last night looking at Carol Marine's paintings and watched her video.  She makes it look so easy.  Sigh.  But I learned a few things by watching her paint!  It's not that I want to paint just like her... but somehow grasp a few of her concepts to merge with my own style.   Painting is a never ending learning process... good thing it's so much fun.

The Breakfast Club

DMannion, The Breakfast Club, 8x6" oil

      Egrets waiting for breakfast bait snacks early in the morning.  Their big yellow feet look like they're wearing rubber boots.  This fisherman was casting his net for tiny silver bait fish in the Gulf, Venice Beach, Florida last winter.  Painted from a snapshot that I changed a lot, but the birds were actually lined up like that.

      Back in cool, SW Florida after a grueling week in San Antonio, Texas.   Had packed my watercolors but funerals are not the most inspiring time to paint.   And it was well over a crisp, one hundred degrees every day.   So this week is daily painting make-up time.

     

Blue Heron

DMannion, Me and My Shadow, 6x6" oil

      

      This heron was taking his daily stroll along the edge of the Gulf one morning, searching for a friendly fisherman to toss him a shrimp or two.  Sometimes, little boys like to chase and toss shells at him, but he just flaps his wings and moves along to stand by the next fisherman.

      I'm traveling to Texas for the next few days.   Packing my watercolor box, no oils, and may get a chance to post from there.

Alla Prima Floral

DMannion, Beach Flowers, 6x6" oil

      These purple flowers were growing near the pavilion at Venice Beach.  I was struck by their translucent color and how they glowed in the overcast morning light.  Used naples yellow blending towards permanent rose for the sky.  Amazing designs and shapes in the leaves and vines.  This plant is a morning glory, blooms in the morning and dies in the afternoon... except on cloudy days when it may live and dance in the wind until evening.

Weekly Challenge

DMannion, Blue Moon, 6x6" oil

      Another entry for the Daily Paintworks Weekly Challenge.  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ .  Although I don't like working from other people's photos, I changed this around enough to make it feel like my own work.   Belinda Del Pesco's challenge painting is gorgeous and I love her title, "He Hung the Moon for Me."  Her black and white reference photo that was part of the challenge, a value study.  Judging values from the photo and inventing the color from imagination.  The photo had a dreamy, romantic quality and I kept thinking of the song, Blue Moon... thus my title.  I'm caught up with all the Challenges, that is until next Saturday when the next Daily Paintworks University homework is assigned.