#8, #9 and #10 One-hour paintings

I am learning that I have a lot to learn about oil painting.


Each of these paintings are 5" x 7".
I thought my red Lamy Safari fountain pen would be a simple subject to paint, only to realize that I was concentrating on detail way too early, then when I photographed the pen I realized how important the brush strokes are in oil painting, all I see is glare because of the direction the stroke went. Anyway, I'm assuming that is the reason, because I see it when I look at the painting also.

#9 is a small wooden bird that I usually have sitting in my kitchen window. In this painting I forgot about the shaded side of the bird and didn't allow for the light that hit the birds head and part of his back. Only one of the issues with this one ... whats with the pink back ground. It was sitting on a white counter.

I was starting to be happier with #10, a fresh pear. Yet I didn't block in the shaded side like I wish I would have. And again with the brush strokes .... I eventually hope to paint in a painterly style, which has so much to do with brush storkes, yet when I'm painting I find I'm still thinking detail and color. Color mixing is not coming easy for me.

The last day of the month and I've completed 10 1-hour paintings. I think so far I'm content with working at the goals I've set out to accomplish.

I am working on my mailing list even though I've had major computer problems and had to completely start over with my address list because most were lost when the computer crashed. (I may have learned the hard way to back up everything) I should have it pretty well set up in an Outlook program before long.

My first (ever) oil painting

For some time now I've thought I'd like to try oil painting. I had some 8" x 10" canvas boards, (I'm not sure that is the proper name for them), and a few brushes I thought may work. I purchased some oils, some linseed oil and found some helpful step by step instructions on Joe's blog. In the first photo you see where I've toned the panel with a mixture of cad yellow and aliz. crimson, plus some white acrylic. That was as close to the yellow ocher Joe used in his instruction's. Also you see a photo I was using as a reference.

This photos shows where I have done a rough sketch of my picture (and I use the term very loosely) with my homemade vine charcoal.

At this point, in the photo above, I was suppose to be blocking in the major shapes. I think this is where I start to get overwhelmed and begin to think that I've not done my blocking in correctly. I was already beginning to get nit-picky.

This is where I've stopped for the day. I can't seem to get a close-up of it today because of a glare when I photograph it ... maybe tomorrow it will be a little dryer and I'll edit this post with a finished photo.

I'm pretty satisfied with my first attempt, but feel I may do some touch-ups tomorrow.

I still need to:

1. Learn what brushes to use where. I seemed to want to use only one brush and had to force my self to try one that would work better.
2. Remember that I can use either the thinner or linseed oil to mix with my paints to aid in painting. I think I used way too much paint, when I could have used a thinner application.
3. Learn not to mess up my whole pile of paint to mix a color.
4. Figure out what to do now with the paint left on my palette that isn't used.