Just for Fun

Did the Daily Paint Works Spooky Tree Challenge today,  just for the fun of it.

                                                                  Available at DPWs

Getting the spirit of Halloween.  Sometimes getting the paint brushes out should be just for fun and play, life is short and way too serious!

Mary

Rearranging objects with oil paint

I am taking another oil painting class from Timothy Widener this year, an excellent artist and instructor.  But today I just was not in a classical painting mood.

Oil, 12 x 16 inches

 

I got to class and as usual he had some beautiful still-life set ups ready to go.

I looked them all over picked one that interested me, set up an easel and couldn’t get going. 

 So I pulled out a sketch book I had in my bag, ( full of abstract designs) and one simple layout caught my attention.

When I fill up a sketch book I always paint the cover :)

Looking at the still-life and the sketch I got my brushes moving, and started having some fun. 

 But the best part was when Timothy came over to see what I was doing, actually had him at a loss of words for a few seconds. But then I got a smile and chuckle from him.

What I had decided to do was combine the colors from the still-life, the layout of my sketch, and try and represent different surfaces, like the glass, something fuzzy like a peach, and metal.  It was a fun experiment for the day.

   By the way Timothy has an excellent book available; "Painting Light and the Impressionist Method"

Mary

Schiros_Art 

(I also have a book on Blurb, of Still-life paintings)

Over and Under

I have the bug to paint some dramatic sky scenes.  I also want to try some new techniques.  After doing several black and white studies, decided to start with the one I liked best.  Did an under painting, but instead of the traditional earthy umber color, used black, red and gold.  

16 x 20 acrylic gesso on wood panel

Almost stopped here, really love the abstract look!  But decided I can always do more, so laid in the over painting.  The under painting was done with colored gesso, the top in oil.  The painting is now resting in a spot I can view it and decide if more needs to be done or not.

 

One thing I have decided there is a series here…..

 

 Mary

Schiros_Art