Still Life Painting

My Mug, 6x6" oil

My favorite coffee mug, can't start the day without it.  A still life set up in the corner doesn't take up much space and it's good having something in the works at all times.  With all the speedy plein air paintings and fast portrait sketches I've been doing lately, it's like taking a break...  painting slower.   A daily meditation, wish I could remember which artist said, " painting is like a prayer."

After a quick Google search came up with a couple of quotes, not the artist I'm trying to remember but worth sharing:

Sister Wendy Beckett, "All great art is a visual form of prayer."

Wassily Kandinsky, "The word composition moved me spiritually and I made it my aim in life to paint a composition.  It affected me like a prayer and filled me with awe."  

(Found this quote on Robert Genn's, The Painter's Keys: http://www.painterskeys.com/ ).

So get busy and set up a painting shrine next to your yoga mat!

Here's a link to the fabulous potter that made my mug:www.sanantoniopottery.net , Jack Boyle.

Weekly Challenge Portrait

My Painting Hat, 6x6" oil

This is my entry to the Weekly Challenge: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenge .  Carol Marine was right,  she said, " a self portrait is frickin' hard!"  Loved the way my hat came out so had to finish it...  I'm really much more beautiful, younger and thinner.  After awhile it became an illustration of me instead of a portrait, more of a caricature. 

Spanish Point Boatyard

NANCY'S FANCY, 6x6" oil

Couldn't resist painting this boat because of the dramatic light hitting the stern.  Locked in  light areas first because they never appeared the same way again.  The dark workshop area in the background provided great contrast for the sun-dapples.  I took reference photos of this scene but the camera could not capture the true quality of light and color that I saw while painting outside.  The camera could not capture the colors and contrasts that I witnessed with my eyes.  This is why it's a good idea to paint things from life once in a while.  It will help you adjust what the photograph is missing and the camera cannot see when you do use photo reference.  Eyes see much more than the camera.  Painting on location also captures the feeling of being there, a spontaneous snapshot of a moment in time.  SOLD

Venice Plein Air

Shade Pavilion View, 6x6"oil

Painted this one during my lunch break on the same day as yesterday's post.  I was careful to avoid the deadly piece of concrete, although I did notice a bloody sidewalk.  Half-crazed from standing in the sun all morning, the cool shade of Venice Beach's new pavilion felt wonderful.  Problem was, I'd left my paints and linseed oil in the car and was too lazy to walk back over.   So painted this without any medium and used the leftover colors inside my paintbox.  Nice thing about oils, stays dry inside  my EasyL pochade box for days, even weeks.   And the town of Venice is constantly planting new palm trees, these still had the wooden supports attached to hold them up, but using my artistic license left them out.

Beach Painting

Venice Beach Looking North, 6x6" oil

Beautiful day last week painting with the Plein Air Painters of Florida group.  Clouds and waves made perfect patterns.  Two artists rushing around to great everyone, stumbled over the same piece of concrete at different times and were terribly bruised!  How they suffered  for their art.  One stood painting for hours with an ice pack on her face.  Painted with the same artist today and noticed how that face planting has bloomed as it heals into every shade of magenta,  puce,  and pea soup green!

Lovebugs!!!

The Hermitage

6x6"

oil

 

-->

Lovebugs have been flying like slow, drifting clouds of black snow here this week.  Painted with a group of artists at The Hermitage (an artist retreat in Sarasota County).   Many artists fled, but I stuck it out while the lovebugs stuck to my palette.  

Here’s everything you should know  about lovebugs while watching them smash into your windshield.  And remember to wear sunglasses and keep your mouth shut, or hold your teeth closed like a grill, especially while riding your bike.

Urban legend.  Lovebugs are synthetic!  A genetic experiment that went wrong at the University of Florida to fight mosquitoes.  

Lovebugs... Plecia nearctica Hardy (honeymoon bugs, kissing bugs), are small black flies about a third of an inch long.  They invaded Florida sometime around 1947 from Central America through Texas and Louisiana.  Useful in the larval stage, eating rotting vegetation, but when mature have two flights a year which last about four to five weeks.  They swarm in the thousands, flying in tandem while mating for several days.  Females only live two or three days and can lay up to 350 eggs. 

They don’t bite or sting, just tickle when crawling on your neck.  They are attracted to light colors, especially fresh paint (see photo of my palette!  White is their favorite color).

They seem to be attracted to auto exhaust and hang around highways and intersections.  They spatter windshields and obscure visibility.  Turning on windshield wipers will only smear them worse.  They can clog radiators, screens in front of grills help, or driving at night (they only fly in the day).  They should be washed off cars immediately because the acid in their bodies can damage paint.  Some people use baby oil or WD-40 on their fancy cars so the critters will wash off easier.  I just drive an old wreck with a good film of dirt.

At least there was one good thing about the lovebugs yesterday at the Hermitage, we got invited back to paint again on a less buggy day.

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.