Study for studio painting

Landscape Study

This is my current work. It is a small painting (5" x 7") which I did as an experiment. I am trying some new colors: especially laying in the underpainting with cobalt violet. Since I like the effect, I am doing this painting again, only larger. Also I will work on some compositional problems when I do the larger work. This is why it is good to do small studies.

Oh, in case you have not had your daily dose of cuteness today, I have baby geese!

 As you may know, I live in a beautiful place. I am in an upstairs loft condo at the edge of a lagoon.

Well, yesterday morning, I looked out the window and there were two Canada Geese with 13 baby goslings, right below my deck!

See how they come and get under their mother's wing to get warm... So cute!

Of course, Oscar, the wonder cat, was on the case right away!

Here he is, hanging off the edge of the deck to get a better view!

After awhile, the parents took their little ones into the water, and they all swam away.

Here is Oscar, looking very disappointed... Poor guy.

Low Tide

...Low Tide...

oil on canvas - 6" x 12" 

Here we have stillness, and glowing light, and San Francisco Bay. And each sunset is wonderful! The distant mountain is Mt. Tamalpais, or Mt Tam, as it's called locally. The second little hill is an island. It looks like I painted this with only two colors, but I actually used about five! (Limited palette) I used a lot of layers, and it was interesting to see how it developed, as it changed with each new layer! Reminder to self:  Take photos of each layer and post them...

Oscar is happy that I put down a "placeholder" for him so he knows where to sleep!

Actually, this is an empty frame that I use to view works-in-progress in the studio. I never just lay paintings flat on the floor, and now you know why!

Storm Break

...Storm Break...

oil on linen panel - 12" x 16" 

I love problem solving, which means I had a lot of fun with this one! Originally, I challenged myself to do the whole painting in black and white and only have the three spots of bright blue in the sky. But when I did that, it was basically a gray painting, and it was rather dull and uninspiring. I like the dynamic shapes of the clouds! They seem to be having a scrimmage in a gentle U-shaped bowl composition. So, I reworked the painting, putting more color in the shadows. Now I am happy with it. For some reason, the idea of two clouds duking it out, makes me smile.

Meanwhile, Oscar watched the whole thing from his high perch in the corner of the loft. It is hard for me to find a place to put paintings to dry, because he goes everywhere. I'm thinking of putting up some narrow wall shelves (too narrow for a cat!)

Oscar, Upside Down

...Oscar, Upside Down...
Oil on canvas - 6" x 6"

It has been so long since I've done a pet portrait that I had to learn how to do fur all over again. In fact, I've never done fur as fine and fuzzy as Oscar's. The fur seems to suck up the light and obscure the shadows, so it is a real effort to maintain the value pattern and give the form a 3-dimensional quality. Of course, the tabby markings don't help.

Oscar was not aware, when I bailed him out of the hoosegow, that his duties as studio cat would include modeling. But being a good sport, he decided to go along with it. This is a pose he strikes quite often, especially when he is about to be fed. He thinks this is a very successful painting, my best yet! He'll say anything for a tuna treat.

"Nestled In"

6" x 6" - oil on canvas

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I just adopted a cat from the animal shelter. He is an adult neutered male, about 1 1/2 years old. Of course, with an animal from the shelter, you wonder about their past history, and what happened that they ended up there. Well, at first, "Oscar" acted afraid of me, but he got over that very quickly and has now nestled in. (And I bet you were wondering why I was talking about the cat, when this painting is obviously an apple!) Well, the apple has a gesture of being completely relaxed, leaning up against the side of the bowel.

And here is Oscar, completely relaxed on my desk, head leaning on a sketchbook...