'Dirty Apple'

8' x 10' Oil on panel
SOLD!

White is a surprisingly difficult color to paint. It sounds easy, but when you really look at all the colors and values going on in the folds of a white cloth, you realize that there is a lot more to it. With this painting, I concentrated more on the folds of the cloth than I did the apple.

I should probably reiterate that I'm not tying to paint realistically. I'm not a fan of realistic painting...I agree that it takes a certain skill to perfectly recreate a scene, but I believe there is more art involved with impressionist painting, or the suggestion features through tonal values, lines and edges, etc. Not that I'm always successful at it...

Which style do you prefer?

'Tomato Basil'

11" x 14" Oil on Panel
$150

Half way through this painting I was ready to wipe it and chalk it up to just not feeling it. But, I said screw it, I'll just see what happens and I started laying in color without really thinking about it...Turned out to be one of my favorite still life paintings that I've done so far.

Had some trouble with the basil though - I snipped it from our monster basil plant on the back patio and it was beautiful for about 20 minutes. Then it wilted into a puddle of itself. So I kind of had to imagine what it would look like...Overall, one of my favorites. Hope you like it.

'Corn and Peaches'

11" x 14" Oil on Panel
$150

"How often have we all come to that crucial point in a painting where it is practically "begging" us to stop before we ruin it? We have all had that experience and we risk failure, or at the least mediocrity, if we ignore the voice in our art." (Richard Schmid)

I reach this point in every painting and the hardest thing for me to do is to listen to that voice that tells me it's finished. I wouldn't say that I overworked this one, but it did have a more spontaneous look to it that I ruined when I tried to perfect some things that didn't really need perfecting. I want to be better than mediocre...

Richard Schid

'Okra and Tomato"

8' x 10' Oil on Panel
Sold!

I painted this one on Monday, but I've been too busy to blog it. I made a makeshift shadow box (out of a box) by cutting a rectangle in the top of the box and spay-painting the inside flat black. I can shine an adjustable lamp through the top and control how much light enters the box and the direction it comes from. The front of the box is open so I just set up whatever I'm painting inside. Very professional.

I like the way the okra turned out, but I got a little muddy with the tomato. Still, it's not bad. Here's the deal: the first person to leave a comment for this post can have this painting for free.

'Cherries and Wine'

From New Paintings

8" x 10" oil on panel
$100

The wine glass was a tough subject, but I think it turned out well. Lot of glare in the photo even though I took this one outside...I have another show coming up in August and one in October so I'm trying to create few to choose from. They ARE for sale though so let me know if you want one.

'Cherries'

6" x 8" oil on panel

SOLD!

On the advice of another artist's website, I tried taking my photos outside in the shade as opposed to inside under artificial light. This does seem to cut down on the glare, but the colors still do not come through as bright as they are in person. Even after adjusting them with Picasa. I love the turquoise against the crimson...

'Sliced'

9" x 12" Oil on Canvas
Sold!

Guess there are worse things I could do while the wife's away. I did eat a pretty large sandwich with prime rib, pepperoni, hot peppers, provolone, and marinara...And the other half of that lime - I stuffed it in a beer. By Erik Time standards, it's gettin crazy over here...

Ran out of 8" x 10" panels so I had to put this on a 9" x 10". This would look really nice with a thick black frame around it. As usual, the photo looks like it was taken with a disposable so imagine clear, bright colors and no glare.

'Lean on Me'

8" x 10" oil on panel

Sold!

Or, 'lime and orange on aluminum pan under track lighting,' if you prefer. Again, my photo is horrible...too much glare and the painting looks ten times better in person.

Painting a subject first hand as opposed to staring at a computer screen is much more challenging and, as a result, much more rewarding. I'm beginning to think painting first hand is more artful (if that's a word), as well. I think I'm going to try and shift more toward outdoor painting and still life. I'm looking into travel easels at the moment. In fact, I need to up my bid on ebay...

'Recent Framed Paintings'

Framed paintings below are $150 plus shipping. Leave a comment or email: bohnec@gmail.com for purchase.


'Coreopsis'

8" x 10" Oil on canvas

SOLD

'Tangier'

8" x 10" Oil on canvas

$150 with frame

'West Leigh and Hancock'

8" x 10" Oil on panel

SOLD

'The Golden Road'

8" x 10" Oil on Canvas

SOLD

All above framed paintings are $150 plus shipping. Leave a comment or send an email: bohnec@gmail.com for purchase.

'Alaska Highway'

8' x 10' Oil on Panel

Sold!

I Went with a monochromatic color scheme of Phthalo Blue and white to create a dreary, wet sort of feeling. The photo that I worked from came from my wife's photos from her tour of Alaska last summer. I like how the road curves to the right and the mountains extend to the left suggesting that the road probably follows the base of the mountains.

'Porter 2.0'

11' x 14' Oil on HD Canvas
Commissioned - Sold

I couldn't sleep last night knowing that you were unhappy with Porter...I was totally discombobulated. But, I really worked to see your point and I think I understand. Pets are members of the family. I know because I have a dog of my own. Painting dogs/pets is a touchy business, maybe more so than painting people. If the glint in the eye is not perfect, it's still a dog, but it's not YOUR dog...It took me a while to come to grips with this, but I understand. With that said, I'm not sure what else I can do aside from repainting the background purple once the yellow dries.

What I did was remove the highlights along the gum - I agree that they took away from the teeth, which should be a center of focus for a German Shepard. I moved the gum up a little and toned down the highlights on the tongue because they distracted from the teeth as well. I increased the size of the teeth, brightened the highlights, and darkened the area around the teeth to make them more visible.

I tried to make the snout appear longer by pulling Porter's smile back and adding some highlights along the side of the muzzle. But the portrait is not a side profile so it is tough to make the snout appear as long as it is. Aside from that, I softened some lines around the edges and added some more yellow highlights.

Hope you like it better this time...Otherwise, I'll have what I consider a beautiful portrait of Porter hanging in my house...

'Porter'

11" x 14" Oil on HD Canvas
Commissioned -Sold

What can I say? Some paintings just paint themselves...This is a little more realistic than I had intended and the background may not be the color that you want it to be, but I don't know what else would work...I really like the way it turned out.

I can paint your dog too!

'King George's Farmhouse'

9" x 12" Oil on panel: $150

I nearly drove past this place last Friday after a day of site acquisitions on the Northern Neck of VA. It was early afternoon, I was heading west on route 218 between Stafford, VA and the Route 301 bridge over the Potomac River - in a hurry to reach I-95 before traffic ramped up. I blew past and saw the red roof shining out of the corner of my eye and the clouds peaking over the hill and I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get some pictures.

Some things I like about this painting and some of the usual pitfalls. I'm happy with the use of lines, shapes, and colors to create a sense of distance and elevation change. I'm never happy with the photos of my paintings, but that's a given - if you're on the fence about buying something just keep in mind that they all look better in person...And I'm constantly working to overcome my obsession to work and rework paint.

A radical idea (as far as Erik ideas go) occurred as I photographed the little farmhouse on the hill. What if I painted this place and mailed the painting to the owners of the house, free of charge? Could be a waste of time and money, could be the start of something...I enjoy painting regardless of whether or not I'm compensated for it so it's not a waste of time. Maybe I could spread the joy and build a following at the same time? Guess I'll have to paint something worth hanging up first...

'Them Apples'

8" x 10" Oil on panel

Sold!

How about them? I think they are an improvement on my past still life paintings, but I'm still struggling to put down the paint and leave it alone - it's so tempting to keep messing with it if it doesn't look exactly the way you want it to, but continually working and reworking the paint only leads to muddiness. It was even tougher to leave it alone given that I was working with natural light. Natural light constantly changes and even though it only took an hour or so to paint, the light changed a lot and I found myself altering shadows to match.

Hope you like.

'Purple Thistles'

8' x 10' oil on panel
Not for sale

This is a birthday present for my mother-in-law. I know she wonders why I haven't offered to paint her anything yet, but I've been waiting for the right scene and hopefully, she's not offended by the fact that the right scene is a bunch of thistles...Thistles are basically weeds that pop up in cow pastures and highway medians...But, if you see them in the right light, they are really beautiful. Let me clarify that the nature or notion of thistles in no way reflects my opinion of my mother-in-law :) I should just stop writing now...

In all seriousness, she is a great lady and I only give paintings to special people in my life, of which she is one.

'Cookie Face'

12" x 12" Oil on HD canvas
Name yer price!

This is what Sammy looks like when she wants a cookie - only a lot more colorful. I took my time, drew this one out and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The background gave me some trouble as I thought it would...I repainted it three different times. If you don't like it I can always paint over it.

I can paint your dog too -

'Sammy Sketch'

8" x 10" Oil on panel

I sketched this one out in about half an hour this afternoon as a practice run on a portrait that I'm doing for a family member (not OF the family member). I didn't even draw it out beforehand, I just piled on the color. I'm trying to get my colors worked out before I start the final painting. The only thing I'm not sure of is what to do with the background. I like the turquoise, but I'm not sure if I want strait turquoise or a mixture or what...

Don't worry Jennifer, the final painting will be better than this. Let me know if you have any ideas.

'My Favorites'

8" x 10" Oil on panel

My wife, my dog, the river...What more do I need? Maybe a photography class to teach me to take photos that actually resemble my subjects (i.e. paintings)? And while I do love the subjects, I'm not so sure about the painting. It felt like a paint by numbers, like I was just matching colors and painting a photo. Is it more virtuous to paint in nature, face to face with a subject than to paint in a studio from a photo? I know that every artist uses photo references, but I'm struggling a bit with this idea. To be continued when I'm not so tired...

"River Day-lilies"

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

Sold!

Made it down to the river-house in Mathews County, VA for Memorial Day this past weekend. We had an amazing time - there is really no way to paint or write about this place that can adequately describe it.

For this painting, I worked from a "color-capture" photo that my wife took of some of the day-lilies that are scattered throughout the field and along the lane leading up to the house. She captured the reddish-orange of the day-lilies so that the lilies are the only colorful part of the photo, everything else is black and white. I think this helped me to capture the correct values in the painting - I painted it first in different shades of burnt umber (dark brown) to match the values and then mixed colors to match the values and painted over the browns.

I like this one - hope you do too.

Goin to the Show!

The 17th Annual Reston Juried Show that is...My painting "West Leigh and Hancock," was one of 44 works selected by judge, Daniel Wise, a fine artist and charter member of the Washington, DC Society of Landscape Painters, to hang in the exhibition this year. It's an honor just to have a painting selected to appear in the show because there are a large number of submissions from all over the DC Region in every available medium, not just oil or landscape. Wish me luck!

If you're in the area and you'd like to stop by and check out the exhibit, here's where and when:

DATES & LOCATION:
June 7th – July 6th , 2010

JoAnn Rose Gallery
Lake Anne Reston Community Center
1609-A Washington Plaza
Reston, VA 20190