A Flower for You

6 x 6 inch oil on canvas

                                     Available on DPW

I thought I would share the process of making this painting.  This is another in my small character still life paintings.  I have a collection of odds and ends, including some beanie babies that I use for set ups.  This one is a simple set up just the stuffy and a flower.  I set up the objects to paint on a surface that has some shine, so I get reflection and shadow to incorporate into the painting.  I use a goose neck lamp to get a direct light on the set up, moving the light around until I like the shadows.

Set up to paint

Then I do a quick drawing on paper as a reference for the painting.  I do not draw on my painting surface.  

quick sketch

Next, I do a rough, almost abstract under painting, using a dark oil color thinned down a lot with odorless thinner. In the under painting I am looking for a few main things; lights, shadows and lost edges.  The lost edges are places the outline of the object merges with either the light or dark around it.

The thinned paint is easy to correct because it can be wiped off if needed and adjusted.

not the best photo but here is the under painting

After that dries over night I proceed to finish the painting with color and details.  This isn't the way to do all oil painting but this method works well when doing still life painting for me.

 Mary

Schiros Art

Thrift stores and still life

Cool Savings, 8 x 10 inches, Canvas panel

Available on DWP

      Ever second hand shop?   I love to visit thrift stores, second hand shops, the Goodwill, Salvation Army store and look for odd and interesting objects to paint.  I use them for a while, then donate them back. That way I can enjoy them, then pass them on again. I have gotten some strange looks, because I will actually pick up a few things and spend some time right in the store setting them up in a still life arrangement. 

    The piggy bank in this painting is one of those things I found.  The little guy caught my eye and reminded me of when I was young.   My first bank was a glass pig that I slowing filled up and later opened my first bank account with those savings.  I wonder if kids still do that now?

    With this little painting I wanted to create something classic and childish at the same time.  

   Just thought I would share my thought process on this one.

 

The Look

Completed oil on Ampersand panel 14 x 11 inches

                                            Available in DWP auctions

Painting involves a lot of time spent just looking.  Looking at the subject, understanding the light, shadows, shapes and colors, because after all those are characteristics make a good work of art. 

    Often, after finishing a painting section, I set the painting somewhere to view easily.  And after looking at it for awhile,  I decide it is done, other times there is a growing feeling something is missing.  Having the painting somewhere I can view it at different times of the day, under different light and with different moods the missing part becomes obvious.

   This painting is an example, I loved the subject and the colors and thought I was done, but after a few days got that feeling it was missing something.  Then it became obvious the composition was missing something…balance.  I added the flower and it felt complete.

   So take time and really look at your work, it sometimes has more to tell you.

Before...

and after.

   Here are the before and after pics...

Painting and Dance

10" x 8", oil on canvas panel, still life, price $40

I had an interesting insight today, while reviewing one of my latest paintings.

This is an oil painting, so it is easy to make small changes during the long drying time.

I softened a few hard edges, and added a little bend to a few lines.  While doing that, my mind was wandering of to memories of dancing.  I studied Ballet for about 15 years (many years ago) and small moves were very important.  The tilt of the head, the bend of the back, or just the way fingers touched each other, all added to how graceful a move looked.  I guess it doesn’t matter which art form it is, little aspects accumulate to strength the overall quality.  

 Just my thought for the day. 

Mary Schiros

 

Being true to yourself

Just a jar painted week 2 of an oil painting class

This is week two of an oil painting class I am taking at the Flint Institute of Art and just wanted to share the process.  The class is formal classic painting and so far I am loving it.  Class started this week with a short lecture on thumb nail sketching, before we were turned loose to paint a still-life.  There was a lovely well lit still-life waiting to for us, that I sat and stared at for about 20 minutes while everyone else was already putting paint down.  Just past the set up was an off white jar set not part of the set up on another table.  My eyes just kept going to that jar as if it was calling me.  So I made a few quick sketches of it at the bottom of my canvas paper and just decided it was what I wanted to paint. After a while the instructor came over, took a deep breath and said “ok I can work with this” and gave me some suggestions. 

    The story here is be true to yourself and still be wiling to learn. I know this is going to go well 11 more weeks to go and looking forward to each one.

Mary

A classic set up to paint

The jar that caught my eyes

Full picture of the painting and the sketches at the bottom.

http://mary-schiros.artistwebsites.com

http://www.zazzle.com/mbschiros 

Second Ink

 

 

 

Acrylic on paper, 20 x 16 inches

     Still working with the quick ink sketches I posted last time.  This is the second one.
Worked this up on red gessoed watercolor paper, and pick only primary colors to experiment with.
This is just one option, and I plan to try different variations to the way I paint it, but you need to start some where.  While I was painting, the thought of  "disconnected  conversations" kept popping into my head. I may later follow up on that idea.  It is always a good idea to jot down the ideas that can give a future work a direction to follow, that can be as important as the sketch.
Hope that sharing this process, encourages new ideas and gets painters to get those brushes going:)