Today I uploaded two new paintings to this site: the finished Magnolia, which you've followed throughout its creation, and a landscape called "Our Afternoon Song", which was inspired by an afternoon spent with my son, Michael, who has always been a photography enthusiast. While he was taking photos, I was wandering around and happened upon the scene that became my painting. Let me know what you think!

As promised, I sent a digital image of the draft copy of the painting to my client, who was delighted and felt sure that his wife will love it! A painting always has to sit for a day or two, and that allows you to see it with a more objective eye. I noticed that the draft copy composition was too cool, being largely blue and green. I also felt that the values were too much in the mid-range, so I strengthened some of the darker tones with burnt sienna. I also highlighted th

I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Enjoy your time with family and friends, and be safe if you're traveling!

It's so nice to have finished this painting and feel that it has turned out nicely! I'll send a digital image of this painting to my client, in case there are changes he might like me to make, and to give him a sneak preview. It will have to dry, of course, before it can be packaged and mailed. I had hoped to have it finished by Thanksgiving, so it's better still to be a bit early! I always like to be ahead of schedule, if at all possible. It's been fun sharing this painti

The focus today was on the last remaining part of the painting that had only a wash apolied to it: the central "seed pod". I'm not a plant expert, so I don't really know whether or not this is really a seed pod, but that's what I'm going to call it. There was a basic purple wash over this area, thinly applied, so I knew I wanted to overpaint it using Cad Yellow. I mixed a tint and set that aside. Then I took a portion of that tint, which I mixed with a bit of Quinacridone

Today, I began by mixing a range of warm and cool greens. I've included a shot of my palette so you can see what I've got going, using the same limited set up that I mentioned in previous posts. It's definitely coming along! I'm still using bigger brushes, trying to keep the strokes distinct. The mid-tone greens really help to establish the three main areas now: background, leaf masses and the flowers themselves. I want to maintain some looseness, keeping an interchange

Since I addressed the darks last time, I want to strengthen the lighter value areas today so they'll stand out better against the darker background. I've thinned some Cobalt Violet, to use in the shadowed areas. For the highlights, I've mixed Quinacridone with Titanium White as a pink tint, as well as a yellow tint. Those two work well together. Here I begin to address the question of form and value, so what began as a line drawing will now become three dimensional forms.

My intention today is to establish some darks, distinct from the main image area, which is largely high key. So I'm using the same palette that I did in the initial wash, but those colors are a bit strudent in their natural state, so I added a bit of Burnt Sienna to each, which gives me a softer look. I thinned my paint with Turp and worked the colors around the entire painting, keeping it loose, knowing that any detail will come much later. Once I got the background large

I've prepared a panel for the magnolia painting and have painted some acrylic washes to give it some color. I'm using a limited palette for this wash of Cobalt Violet, Viridian, Quinacridone and Cobalt Blue.