Oil Study...peppers

5x7 Oil on canvas paper

I finally painted these habanero peppers...I have had them for a month in the frig! It felt so good to sling some paint with a brush on canvas after painting B's room yesterday. I forgot how much I like painting in oils, even tho I painted outside last week. I might paint one of these with a bottle of Tabasco that has habanero sauce in it tomorrow. DH loves TABASCO! He has at least three different kinds.

Another Rose

I love the delicacy of this rose. It's another cloudy day today. (sigh) I was hoping to go outside and paint a study with the sun shining, so I could practice getting the values right with all the greens. I have some habanero (sp?) peppers I might do an oil study sometime this weekend, if I find time. I bought paint yesterday for B's room...I'm wanting to repaint it before she moves back home in 2 weeks.

Oil Study...Creekside

I did this quick oil study outside along the creek today before it started raining. It was very windy and cloudy, so there is not a big value change in the colors. I need a lot of practice mixing greens. It needs a lot of tweaking, so I'll let it dry some and then add some changes. This is my 3rd plein air study in oils for this year.

6x8 oil on canvas panel

Flowers

I haven't posted anything for a few days, so I thought I would post another picture of flowers in our garden. I love the purples, pinks and greens in this picture. I have been practicing mixing colors...especially greens and I did two pencil sketches today, hoping to get out tomorrow and paint an oil study of at least one of them.

Figure Study...male torso

I have been working on the human figure in graphite and charcoal focusing on getting the right proportions. I didn't want to offend anyone, so I took the picture without his private parts showing. I'm hoping to start a 10 week life drawing session in the fall, so I need lots of practice right now. In life drawing you have to be able to work quickly. My goals at the moment are to sketch people from life at least once a week...yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble (before I ate lunch with my sister) and did a quick 5 minute sketch of a man sitting at a table and today, I did another quick sketch of a girl sitting at a computer in the library. I plan on painting a oil study once a week outside...today I did a quick pencil composition sketch of a barn across the street, so hopefully I will paint it in the next few days and I'm still working with pastels inside. Phew, lots to do!

Oil Sketch

I decided to venture outside today and paint a quick oil sketch before it starts raining. I haven't used oil paints in over 6 months. This is a terrible photo of the trees I sketched in my front yard. Oils don't photograph well when they are wet and this is very wet! It takes days to dry and they are not completely dry for at least 6 months! This sketch is 8x6 on a canvas panel and I only worked on it for about 30 minutes. I haven't mixed colors since I started working with pastels...last night I was reminding myself how to mix. I only used ultramarine blue, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow light, cadmium lemon and white, so I had to remind myself how to mix green, purple and orange and then the rest just fell into place. The only thing I don't like about oils is the setting up and cleaning up!

Here is a picture of my set up that I use for painting outside with oils...all of my equipment fits in my art cart and I just roll it back in my closet when I'm finished and it's ready for my next outing! As you can see, we have a lot of trees...behind my set up is a berm and then the creek.

I'm hoping to get out at least once a week and paint an oil study and I also want to go to a public place at least once a week and do some quick sketches of people in my sketchbook. I'm planning on going to Starbucks tomorrow to sketch. I'm still working on my pastel figure study...I'll post my progress in a few days.

Nest

There's a nest in our garage and here is the Mama bird sitting on her eggs. I was afraid she might come out of it and start pecking on me because I had to get really close to get a good shot of her. She made this nest on a shelf that is attached to the wall. I don't know what kind of bird this is...if you click the picture, you can see it larger.

On My Easel...Figure Study

I have been teaching myself how to draw the human body, so that it will be easier to add figures in my studies. On my easel is a line drawing of my youngest daughter fixing to open the door to Chili's restaurant. It was late in the afternoon and I was able to capture her shadow in the door. I'm hoping to finish this in pastel...it's 14x11 on gray canson paper. The line drawing needs some tweaking before I start adding pastels. I used 4B charcoal pencil for this line drawing.

Day Lily

I've been watching my day lilies for the past couple of days...just waiting for one of them to pop open. Well, here is my first day lily of the season! I'm looking for a few butterfly lilies to plant in one of our new flower beds...just haven't found any I like.

Tuscan Sun

DH has been home the past four days...he just went back to work today. We have been working on two new flower beds for the past couple of weekends and finally started planting flowers on Friday. We are not finished planting, but here is a rose from one of the rose bushes we planted yesterday...it's called "Tuscan Sun". I love the color!

What Is This?

Friday, we boiled crawfish...of course Chance had no idea what they were and kept sticking his head in the cooler checking them out. We put this one on the ground to see what he would do. He was not afraid of them at all!

A Sign of Spring

We have a Dove's nest in one of our trees. I took this picture of her sitting on her eggs...she sits there for hours! I had the hardest time holding my camera with that long lens on it...my arm was shaking! I need to take my tripod outside next time.

Anniversary

Today is my parents 51st wedding anniversary! This is the only picture they have that was taken on their wedding day. My Dad's uncle...who was a justice of the peace married them in Brownsville, Texas.

Reflection

Clear Creek after about 6 inches of rain!
Me standing in water!

Yesterday, we received about 6 inches of rain! I love to put on DH's boots and splash around in the puddles of water like a little kid! lol If you look close in this last picture, you can see my reflection and if you click on the photo you can also see the raindrops in the puddle. I had to keep putting my camera under my shirt because it was still lightly raining.