Red Pear in Low Light

Set this still life up in low light using a 15W light bulb.  Hard part was lighting the panel and palette without influencing the set up.  I had to make alot of adjustments to the color on the wood slab and the cast shadows.  What is normally a dark mixture is not dark enough for a low light condition. 

This is a 5x7 Oil on Linen Panel. 

Hey, Made my first sale. The Village House

So, I brought the painting by the house that I painted.  They made an offer I could not refuse.  Nothing crazy, but fair for a journeyman artist.  Kind of embarrassed by the praise.  Told them I was happy when the framer recognized the flowers even thought they were painterly.

Gooligan and Friends

Went to the Farmers Market yesterday.  Decided to grab some little pumpkins and gourds for painting.  Always an opportunity to practice my drawing skills.  One of my goals was to paint a white object convincingly.  As always, shadows were frustrating.  In keeping with a cool light warm shadows, I made use of Trans Red Oxide for the orange pumpkin and a warm grey for the white. 

8x10 Oil on Linen

Market Sunfowers

The Market in Syracuse is full of Sunflowers this time of year. My inner Van Gogh could not resist trying my had at a botanical arrangement. The use of live flowers certainly makes for motivation to complete in short timne. I tried to keep a little loose while capturing enough detail to work on my sketching.   I tried to reduce my palette this time, by using only one blue and no greens. Deciding on shadow color was tough. I tried three different schemes before settling on a transparent red orange to keep it warm.  Still having a hard time discerning shadow color.  I am told this comes with time.  Sure it does!?  Just like I'll start seeing the world in Henche color study blocks too!.

Village House

Drove by this place a few times, I thought if the sun poked out this morning, I would head there and paint. It did; and then it rained; and then the sun came out again. I hid under the SUV hatchback and kept the umbrella over the easel. The owners came out and took my picture.  Said they wanted to see it when it was done.  I'll go back. 


10x8 oil on primed panel.

Couple of New Paintings

"View from the Crew House"...8x10 oil on Panel

Set up by the Syracuse Univ crew house. Looking down river to Onandoga Lake. Thought about painting the crew boats, but fear got the best part of me. The green already had me vapor locked. 


"Morgan Road Farm" 8x10 oil on Panel

Road past this washed out barn on my bike, came back and painted it from across the field.

Red Jungle Fowl Rooster

This was certainly a fun experiment in using paints; lots of palette knife work.  The reference was of a red jungle fowl from a farm in Kauai.  These birds sort of lend themselves to be painted impasto.   I took some liberties with the extra color throughout the canvas for balance