Holiday Card Contest-Entry #1 "Winter Playground"

For the last 3 years, Rep. Pete Beck has invited artists to submit artwork to be used for his annual Christmas card to constituents-I have not entered before, this is my first year-the theme is "Ohio's Largest Playground". What bigger playground in Warren County is there than Kings Island? I decided to add in the Great Wolf Lodge-I had to use a little artistic liscense to get the KI skyline in the background-but if you get in just the right place you can get close to this view. I worked in Live Shows at Kings Island, the summer before I went off to college-best job I ever had! We played Cowboys and Indians all day long on the train ride, in costume, with real guns loaded with blanks-it was a hoot and we were well paid. I had to audition with thousands of other actors for the job and was so excited when I was hired-that was back in the days when I was a theatre major-before I became interested in art.I still love theatre and now and then get to use my painting skills creating scenery.

Tomato #185

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Deep, Prussian Blue and Titanium White.

This is the final in the series and emphasizes the Prussian Blue. I thought about doing this with more of a green bent but this was working so well I kept going. The background color could be great for shadows-what a great gray: it has a lot of red and a small amount of the other colors and white. Not much yellow is visible on the tomato but I did use it to green up the Prussian and to do the lights. I think a lot of these resulting colors could be useful in painting water. I am happy with the cools and warms as well as the lights and darks and reflective lights. This is a variety of tomato I've not seen before.

Painted September 30, 2010

Tomato # 184

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Deep, Prussian Blue and Titanium White.

Second in the series, with yellow being the dominant color; true to form, this one happened quickly. Maybe it's the Cad. Lemon-it is a good yellow to use for vegetables, it brings light and can be cool, unlike most warm yellows. I managed to get all three colors to make a visible appearance. Notice that the straight Cad. Lemon applied to the top of the tomato looks warm in comparison to the rest of the yellows on the tomato. It's all about context. There is a lot of red in the shadows-again not to be expected-at the moment I am satisfied with the result.

Painted September 29, 2010

Tomato #183

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Deep, Prussian Blue and Titanium White.

I don't know what my problem is with red. This is the first of this series and I did not start out focusing on the red, I just started out painting a tomato not knowing where I was going, which was my first mistake-they say you should always have a plan for your painting. After putting down some color, and getting some interesting muted aquas, I decided to take it in the red direction. I just couldn't seem to get to a red that worked with the subtle blues and grays. After way too much time and a lot of yellow and white, I reached an acceptable result. It could be better but I think I had too much paint on it and the idea is to complete these in one sitting.

Painted September 28, 2010

Tomato # 182

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Deep, Sap Green and Titanium White.

This tomato is the last of this series and focuses on yellow. It is very subtle-the shadow side has warm red and cool green, but I am not sure it will show up when I photograph it. The lights are cool, and  the cast shadow and background are warm-there seems to be a little more warm/cool pushing going on here, which I think make for a more interesting result. This tomato also has a glow or radiance and I can't explain how I achieved it. Yellow seems to work well for me-I am more consistant when using it in these applications.

Painted September 27, 2010

Tomato # 181

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Deep, Sap Green  and Titanium White.

This tomato focuses on the Sap Green. I ended up using a lot of the red and really not much yellow. The background has a strong red presence as do the shadows. I didn't use as much green as I could have, not sure why, I didn't have to and it appears green. It might have benefited from more green on the shadow
side, but when you achieve a pleasing result-stop, so I did. Sap Green and Cad. Red Deep can produce a wonderful warm red brown and when white is added it makes a warm gray. In this context, the Sap Green can be quite cool if used alone or with white.

Painted September 26, 2010

Tomato #179

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Rd Deep, Cerulean Blue and Titanium White.

This is the last of this series, yellow is the focus. I was looking forward to doing it because the yellow ones frequently turn out well. I'm not sure why. This one is interesting, it has a glow that I usually get when I use my Radiant paints from Gamblin. If you look closely this one has very subtle color in the shadows. It has a very cool light and feel to it. I tried to add some warms using more red than visible, but it didn't add as much as I hoped. It does have some reflected light on the shadow side and overall I am satisfied with the final result. Believe it or not, I used a lot of Cerulean Blue here.

Painted September 24, 2010