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

Tomato #178

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

This is the second in this series, emphasizing the Cerulean blue; a little less time than the red (#177) spent, but it still took too long. I started with a blue/purple and then began adding the yellows and then a reddish background. It got really interesting there for a while, but as I worked a little further it became more traditional. I almost stopped and photographed it and now I wish I had just to see how it looked in a photograph. This is an acceptable result, but not as exciting in the color and cool/warm ranges. The overall effect is green rather than blue, but that's to be expected with a less intense blue like Cerulean.

Painted September 23, 2010

Tomato #177

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

This tomato looks a little dull to me, but this time, at least, I stopped. Cerulean Blue  does not seem to work as well as Ultramarine in this application. It turns gray quickly. I just had trouble getting this to show color, Maybe I didn't work hard enough or I started out with too much gray trying to put my darks in first-I guess sometimes rules should be broken. There are a few good areas, mostly on the front of the tomato. I'm wondering if the yellow in this series works out better-we'll see tomorrow...

Painted September 22, 2010

Tomato #176

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

This is the final in this series, focusing on the blue and another exercise in-I should have stopped 30 minutes into the painting. Early on it was really interesting with the colors very strong and delineated, but I overworked it, got it again and overworked it again. I might like to put more light green on the front bottom, but I had to stop or I would have been at this all day. I used a lot of all three colors-the red is not as visible but kept it from being a screaming green. In a sense,  having to work it so much was a good exercise in greens considering that I need to work on doing foliage-after tomatoes that is my next venture. When I look at this tomato as a photograph I am very pleased with the outcome of cool and warm, I love the reflected shadow on the shadow side at the bottom front. Lots of interesting color.

Painted September 21,2010

Tomato # 175

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

The second in the series, this tomato was really fun to do, and it took little time as opposed to #174. The violet background may be a bit too much but it was exciting to see how many colors came out of this combination. I think I have an easier time with yellow. Compare it to #174 and you wouldn't believe I used the same colors. I mixed a gray-green then went to yellow and put in a gray-purple background. This exercise is what I had in mind in when I set out on this color study venture-lots of color on the subject. All of the colors used are visible on this tomato and some cool/warm contrasts.

Painted September 20, 2010

Tomato # 174

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

Another exercise in frustration, this tomato nearly made me give up. I used too much Galkyd-I was trying this medium out and I'm unsure as to why it dried before I could work into it. Again, I nearly had it and it got away from me. I need to learn when to stop! This turned out ok, but the cast shadow is too contrived and I couldn't work back into it and decided to let it go. Cadmium Red Deep can give you some beautiful strong reds, the ultramarine and cad. red can make a deep rich brown in this context. I used a lot more yellow and blue than the eye sees here-more practice with this red should help.

Painted September 19, 2010

Tomato #173

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

This tomato seems much more muted when not under an Ott light. I tried to focus on the Prussian and what surprised me is the reddish-brown shadows that came out of this. I also put a lot more red in this than you see. The Prussian and yellow are the colors that advance-even though this tomato started out red and purple in an attempt to keep it from being too blue-I guess that worked. Everytime I do one of these I learn more about how each color reacts to another-and the more I learn that I have a lot to learn.

Painted September 15, 2010

It's My Birthday-

so, I'm taking the day off, doing some values sketches to prepare for:

Tomato # 172

Cadmium Orange, Quinacridone Red, Prussian Blue and Titanium White.

This tomato is the second in this color series. I focused on the Quinacridone Red. It has a glow like colors produced when using the Gamblin Radiant series of paints. I'm not sure, but I think it is the Quinacridone Red in these combinations that produced this luminous result. I started with Prussian and Q. Red making a purple, I added more red, then started adding white, the heat came later when I began putting in the orange, I then went back to putting in more of the red and white. I tried to blue up the background some, but it didn't take on much, just muted it. I am quite pleased with the end result, even though there doesn't seem to be a strong representation of cool vrs. warm.

Painted September 13, 2010

Yes We have No Tomatoes

The last two days I have been painting furiously to finish my entry in the juried show to be held at the Greater Loveland Historical Society beginning September 18, 2010. The show entitled "Images of the Past, Visions of Today" is based on selected images of Nancy Ford Cones (1869-1962); an internationally recognized photographer. The image I chose is "Stolen Porridge". I am posting the original image and my painting "Margaret and Mabel".
When I saw the prospectus and photographs, I was excited and knew I wanted to participate. I lived in Loveland until I was 12 years old and having taken piano from Margaret Cones, daughter of Nancy  Ford Cones, I immediately felt connected. Miss Cones was quite the proper lady and it amuses me to picture her as the young girl in this image. I recently lost my sweet kitty Mabel to feline leukemia, so in choosing this image I am able to honor them and their memory. I chose to paint this with little alteration. I am touched by its beauty and simplicity. The lighting is strong and dramatic, reminiscent of the Dutch masters, inspiring me to recreate it in that manner.

MobileMe Gallery - freshART 2009

MobileMe Gallery - freshART 2009

Tomato # 171

Cadmium Orange, Quinacridone Red, Prussian Blue and Titanium White.

This one took too much time. I started with Prussian Blue and Cad. Orange, which gave me an olive green, and the rest came so quickly- it was there and once again I tried to add just one more light and guess what...I ended up wiping it off and starting again-this time with purple- then it went to green and blue. I just kept going and this is the result. I set out to make orange the dominate color-so I did get there through a very circuitous route. At one time the shadow side was Prussian Blue-it took a while to bring it down. This tomato has a lot of paint on it. I am satisfied with the end result, but getting there took too long-these are intended to be color studies-not masterpieces.                                                  
                                               Fall down 7 times, get up 8- Chinese Proverb.
Painted September 10, 2010

Tomato #170

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Thalo Turquoise and Titanium White.

This is the last of this series-yellow is the focus. I seem to have an easier time with the yellow dominant tomatoes. This one took no time at all to paint. I started with a purple and moved to yellow. I like that you see the blue and red in this, but it is still yellow. Like # 169, this tomato is not as warm as I would like-leading me to the conclusion that this combination of colors tend to cool. It is contrary to convention that the red makes the shadow on the side of the tomato-you would expect the blue. The background is a combination of all three colors and white.

Painted September 9, 2010

Tomato #169

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Thalo Turquoise and Titanium White.

Lots of paint went onto this one. I started with a purple gray and then intense green, a few more strokes and I almost had it. Unfortunately, I had to tweak it a little more, which ended up taking way too much time. I don't think the foreground has quite enough heat or maybe the shadow is not cool enough. There isn't enough cool vrs. warm going on here-it is all cool. It's all about color relationships.

Painted September 8, 2010

Hamri Matisse

This is the first pig I painted for The Big Pig Gig in Cincinnati in 2000-he was positioned at City Hall-I miss him. He was sponsored by Amgen for the Barrett Cancer Center.

Tomato # 168

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Thalo Turquoise and Titanium White

This tomato started out shrieking bright green. Thalo Turquoise and Cadmium Lemon result in eye -popping, intense color; add Thalo Turq. and Q. Red and you get an intense purple. What I started with was high drama. I ended up with another soft and subtle tomato. Nice pink/coral lights and purple/coral shadows. The cast shadow is a much cooler purple. The background is a warm green made of all three colors-mostly yellow and white. I think the way the warm lights and cool shadows work are successful here- color harmony being the end result.

Painted September 7, 2010

Old Friends

I was going through some old art supplies to see if there was something that my daughter could use-she has a rather large list of art supplies for her AP Studio Art class. I have always been crazy about color. Every time I cruise through the school supplies or go to an art supply store, I have to restrain myself from buying just one more new box of anything with lots of colors. I'm a color-holic. Crisp new boxes of perfectly organized, perfectly sharpened crayons give me chills, so when I found this old box of pastels and realized what they were, I was a really happy camper. When I was around 10 years old we took one of our million mile trips -this one to New England. We stopped in Rockport Mass. and I remember being rather taken with it. We must have visited lots of galleries and an art store because I insisted on buying these with my own money. I know somewhere at my mom's are a few of the sketches I did with these-even though I had no idea how to use them.

Tomato #167

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Prussian Blue and Permalba White

This tomato took an unexpected turn to purple and green. I wanted to emphasize the Prussian without it being as blue as #163 so it makes sense that it would result in a green tomato. I did not plan on using so much purple but it seemed to work in shading and they are complementary colors so I headed in that direction. The yellow is what made it interesting even though you really don't see it. Yellow produced the green and white cooled it. Prussian and Cad. Lemon make a very intense green-almost like a Permanenet Green, so the red and white softened the effect. The actual painting is very dramatic and the light intense. This time I was able to cover the Cad. Red Lt. ground with the Permalba White.

Tomato #166

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Prussian Blue and Permalba White

Second in this series-painted on a Cadmium Red Dark ground, this one focuses on the yellow. I started out very green-then I started putting on a small bit of yellow and white mixed with the green- mixed all three and put in the gray background. I think I painted almost the whole thing without really cleaning my brush, which gave it it's mellow feeling. I used Permalba white as it was already on my palette. It does not seem to have the opacity of titanium white-I could not get it to cover the ground, even adding a small bit of Prussian to cool it. I used very little paint- this one seemed to complete itself with ease. Very mellow considering the strong colors used in this.

Painted September 5, 2010

Tomato #165

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Prussian Blue and Permalba White

I painted this on a Cadmium Red ground. This one started out to be very dramatic-I might should have stopped there, but I didn't and my end result is a much softer, gauzy representation. In fact almost all of my more recent tomatoes are "gauzy", much softer edges. Warm light and cool darks are visible here. I was reading about color harmony in the book ALLA PRIMA by Richard Schmid and I was trying to apply some of the principles here; cool lights-warm darks and vice versa-did it work? I can tell more when this one dries. I am going to try to make this a series of three, but I am wondering about doing this with Prussian Blue-it is so strong. I did successfully mute it here. I love using Q. Red and C. Lemon-such juicy color.

Painted September 4, 2010

Tomato #164

Cadmiun Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Cobalt Blue and Titanium White

I painted this on a Cad. Red Lt. ground-some visible through the white foreground. This is the third of this series, with yellow being the focus of this tomato. It could have been more of a yellow-green tomato but it ended up with much more orange. I used a lot of blue; on the shadow side, background and cast shadow, but with the addition of a small amount of the other colors it becomes a wonderful gray. This tomato has more of a cantelope coloration. I did not use as much orange as you see-cadmium orange is just very strong and dominates the colors.

Painted September 3, 2010

Recent Paintings

A Slice of Still Life

   oil on canvas
     10"x10"

    

                                                        Zinnia Perch

                                                        oil on board
                                                           4"x 6"
                                              

Tomato #163

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Cobalt Blue and Titanium White

Not your average tomato- I've yet to see this variety, but this second in the series focused on the Cobalt Blue. This was fun to do and was not difficult. To get the lights I used the lemon and cobalt mixed with white, more cobalt than lemon was in the mix to keep it from turning green. Some of that green is on the shadow side, but it is tempered with orange. When painting this I ended up with some really nice colors that could be ussed in foliage and ocean waters. The warm blue-gray cast shadow is a mix of all the colors. This was a very valuable exercise because of all the colors yielded in the mix used to paint this tomato. One note-Cobalt does not seem to have the strength of Ultramarine Blue or Prussian to create strong darks.

Painted September 2, 2010

Tomato #162

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Cobalt Blue and Titanium White

The first of this series shows how Cadmium Orange can dominate. I used a lot of Cobalt Blue on the shadow side of the tomato and unless it is used full strength, mixing with the orange takes it to a soft brown. I haven't used Cobalt Blue enough to know it's strength but in this exercise it becomes a muting factor. I used a fair amount of Cadmium Lemon in the light areas always with white, which cools it some. The background is a mixture of all colors with white which makes a very warm gray. The cast shadow has all colors too with a blue overlay hoping to cool it, but I'm not sure that the blue didn't actually warm it.

Painted September 1, 2010