"And Now For Something Completely Different"

I'm working on a painting right now, but it's going pretty slow.  Since it's not ready to post, I thought I'd show you something I did last month, when I started playing with oils again.  My goal with this painting was to stay loose and colorful, and try not to blend.  It takes a lot of concentration for me to paint like this.  Normally I paint on autopilot, but I have to be completely conscious and aware the whole time in order to stay loose.  Even so, it was quite a fun project.

"Lesli"

12" x 12"

Oil on Canvas

New Oil Painting

I  recently started playing with oils again.  The idea for this painting just popped into my head.  I don't know why, but some people think it really happened.   My daughter was my willing model for this painting, and she wasn't actually stood up.  It's just something I made up for fun.

"Stood Up"

36" x 48"

Oil on Canvas

Upside Down Walker

When I saw this week’s upside down challenge on the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog, I quickly decided I would do it in pastel. I often paint upside down and knew that it would be easiest for me in pastel. My husband pointed out that it was supposed to be a challenge, and this was a perfect opportunity for me to try to paint loose.

He did have a point. Painting it upside down would take my brain out of the process, and maybe I could paint it loose. I decided I would draw it out first. This seems counter-intuitive, but I think when I don’t draw it first I’m so obsessed with getting everything correct that I can’t concentrate on how I’m painting. So I drew out my composition (upside down, of course!) and went to work. I didn’t like how the reference photo made the woman look like she had laser vision or something, so I changed the background a bit, and flipped and cropped the original.

We’re allowed to spruce it up a bit after we turn it right side up, but I decided not to. I didn't want to re-work anything and take away the point of the challenge. It was a good learning experience (even though it would have looked better in pastel!).

Here it is, painted entirely upside down except for my signature.

7"x5"

Oil on Board

U.S. Capitol

If anyone wonders why I want to learn to paint loose, last week’s Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge is the perfect example. This is not something that I would normally choose to paint, mostly because of all the detail involved. It would just be too tedious.

When I saw the reference photo, I was determined to paint it loose and expressive. (That actually happens every time, but this time I knew I would do it!) I chose a small board and didn’t sketch it out first, didn’t even allow myself a paint sketch. I just picked up a brush and started blocking it in. A perfect recipe for loose, right? An hour later I had to laugh at myself. Loose and expressive clearly isn’t my thing. And I’m not going to get frustrated anymore because it isn’t. It is what it is.

What I did find, though, is that giving up my expectation of painting it loose and expressive did free me up a bit, so that’s worth something! I didn’t worry so much about it being perfect. If it wasn't smooth enough, too bad. If I accidentally put things in the wrong place (and I did!), I just let it be. And it did turn out pretty loose, for me. Painting it was a liberating experience, even if it wasn’t as loose as I wanted it to be.

Maybe I’ll surprise myself with this week’s challenge and truly paint it loose, and maybe I won’t. Either way, I’m okay with that.

6"x6"

Oil on Board

An Alabama Cow

24"x18"

Oil on Canvas

This is my submission for this week’s challenge on Karin Jurick’s “Different Strokes From Different Folks” blog. Once again, my goal was to do something quick and loose. I failed on both counts. It’s somewhat loose, but not quite my goal, and I messed with it way too long.  I thought you might like to see a couple of WIP pics of my process.

I started out fine. I did a loose and sloppy sketch with thinned out paint on a toned canvas:




Then I slopped some paint around:

Then I did too much refining. After my husband looked at it and said, “What happened to loose?” I went back over it and slopped some paint on it again and tried to be messy.

Maybe somewhere between picture 2 and 3 would have been a good stopping point. I’m finding it very frustrating that I can’t seem to do loose well, but I’m not going to give up. Yet.

New York Stock Exchange

This is my version of Karin Jurick’s photo of the New York Stock Exchange, painted for the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. This was a good challenge for me. It is something I never would have chosen to paint. The photo is a huge scene of the NYSE, and I had no desire to paint the whole thing! I cropped the original picture a few different ways, and chose the one I liked best. But I really wanted the guy with the red coat, so I changed things around and painted off of two of the crops. I purposely chose a small surface for this painting, so it would be impossible for me to obsess and paint too much detail. It was a bit of a departure for me, but overall I’m happy with the way it turned out.

"Wall Street"

6"x6"

Oil on Board

(SOLD)

The Bean

I painted this for last week’s challenge on Karin Jurick’s “Different Strokes From Different Folks” blog. For some reason, it hasn’t shown up on the blog, though. Karin asked me if it was a digital painting, which isn’t allowed, so either she didn’t get my answer or she was just busy and it fell through the cracks. It is not a digital painting, though. It’s just me trying to paint loose!

“Cloud Gate”
11”x14”
Oil on canvas

This has to be the strangest thing I’ve ever painted. It messed with my mind. I thought I had shapes painted correctly, but when I’d walk away and come back to it, I would realize I didn’t. After repainting the buildings a couple of times, I had to resort to painting it upside down or sideways, just to get my brain to let go of what it thought was correct. It was a fun challenge, though!