Windowsill Apples

Windowsill Apples
8" x 16" oil on canvas
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I've been getting a lot of page views the past few days. Russian hackers or legitimate viewers?  I'd love to know...

Apples in a Bowl with Brown Bag

Apples in a Bowl with Brown Bag
5" x 7" oil on panel
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As usual, I had a hard time getting a good photo.  Upgrading to the new iPhone any day now...

Apples in a Bowl

Apples in a Bowl
8" x 8" oil on board
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Apples and Bananas

Apples and Bananas
11" x 14" oil on canvas


From time to time, I paint something that feels like a breakthrough, and this is one of those times.

I've written over and over about my attempts to focus on values and the relationship of shapes while ignoring details, but I struggle mightily to employ this practice in my painting. The temptation to paint too fine too soon is usually just too strong. I find myself breaking out the tiny brushes well before I should, and this results in muddiness or distorted values because I haven't even blocked in the masses. I feel like there's pressure to make things perfect, but there's not. I mean, who the hell even looks at this blog? So I said screw it, picked up the biggest brush I could find, and squinted. And I had a much more enjoyable painting experience.

I'm not calling this a masterpiece, but I like the clean colors and shapes, some of which just happened because I felt like they were more appealing than what was actually there. There aren't a lot of fine details in this painting, but I don't think there needs to be.

I painted this over an older painting, and you can still see some of the underlying textures - you can even see the relief of the old signature in the top right corner...Also, I didn't repaint the sides of the canvas, so if you're tempted to buy, just beware. You'd probably want to frame it anyway, so the exposed sides wouldn't matter. They're kind of an off-white, similar to the off-white in the top right, so it's really not a problem.

Apples with Cerulean Cup

Apples with Cerulean Cup
5" x 7" oil on board


Like a lot of my recent paintings, I painted this one quickly while Camlin was taking nap; sort of like how I'm writing this blog post...I guess it's good practice to get your thoughts down quickly.  Or maybe it's a shame that we have to cram everything into its own little window, even creative opportunities.

Green Apple

Green Apple
6" x 6" oil on board
$40 plus shipping
Getting bored of the blue, red, yellow color scheme, so I'm trying out some new ones.  I think I used dioxazine purple, viridian green, and cadmium yellow light for this one.  I think.

Pink Ladies

Pink Ladies
5" x 7" oil on board
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I alternate between loving my paintings and hating them. How did painting become my passion? I'm not even sure. I don't have anything new to say or innovative to offer, so why do I do it? I wonder if I should focus my energy on something worthwhile like being a good dad or a better teacher?

I painted this on one of the many days sprinkled throughout the year that remind me of death and the brevity of life. In this case, the anniversary of my dad's death, which sometimes coincides with Mother's Day, reminding me of my mom's death.  But instead of cracking a beer and sitting on the couch in the dark, I painted.  And I thought about life.

'Two Apples Reflecting'

16" x 20" Oil on Canvas
$75 Plus Shipping

I set this still life up in my makeshift shadow box with glass in the bottom.   As usual, the photo doesn't do it justice - for some reason, the shadow at the bottom of the painting shows up a lot darker in the photo than it is in person.  I took several photos and this is the best I could manage. 

I'm happy with this painting - it's clean, meaning that there are no, or few, overworked, or muddy sections.  My main focus right now is cleanliness...I want to make one brush stroke and leave it because it's the right brush stroke. 

'Refridgerator Apples'

8 & 1/2" x 11"
Watercolor on paper

Sarah and I were bored last night so we painted some watercolors...Sarah painted an apple tree and I painted apples. She won't let me post her apple tree even though it's awesome.

I've only used watercolors a couple of times and usually I'm not a fan, but I like the way this turned out. I think because I wasn't taking my painting seriously and I was just kind of throwing on color and wild strokes it has a nice, spontaneous look to it - something I feel like my oil paintings are lacking of late.

It's hanging on the fridge if you want a closer look.

'Graves Mountain'

9" x 12" Oil on Panel
$75:

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This is Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, VA, just east of Shenandoah  National Park and about 40 miles NW of Charlottesville, VA.  My wife and I went apple picking here last weekend on our one year wedding anniversary.  I haven't done a lot of world traveling, but I've been all over the United States and the area just east of Shenandoah National Park at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains is as beautiful as any land I've seen.  I recommend checking it out.

This painting took some work, but I think it turned out well.  I tried to create a contrast between the dry, late summer look of the foreground and the cool blues and greens of the mountains.  The middle of the painting and particularly the left, middle has the greatest contrast and sharpest lines so hopefully that's the main focus. Here is a closeup of the middle of the painting in case it's tough to make out the detail:

'Dirty Apple'

8' x 10' Oil on panel
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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?

'Them Apples'

8" x 10" Oil on panel

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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.