Daily Painting #24 'Open Iris Flower' 4x4"

My Mum and Dad in law are coming for Sunday lunch. I wanted to get a little painting in before they came and before we started cleaning the house! 
I lit the flower but I ended up turning it off half way through as it made it too complicated with the lights and shadows. I tried not to fuss it too much as there were lots of fiddly bits but so I simplified with strong brush strokes. Maybe it would work on a bigger scale. I will try some other flower heads soon.

Daily Painting #23 'Lemon on Blue' 6x6"

I decided to be bold and put a strong blue against the yellow, I love this colour combo! I really tried to observe the different colours and tones of yellows, I wanted it as rich and zingy as possible.

This is the 3rd time I have painted a lemon, the 1st time was on 'day one' of my daily painting, I can see progress which pleases me :-)

Daily Painting #22 'Blue Milk Jug' 6x6"

A simple still life so I could focus on one object. I liked the reflections, shapes and colours in the jug. The board I used was rougher than usual which gives a looser finish. I tried not to 'clean it up too much' and leave the fresh brush marks visible. 
I found this jug on eBay - its from the 1960's called Woods Ware pottery and its the Iris Blue colour. I have already brought teacups and a little yellow jug in the same range... :-)

Daily Painting #21 'An Iris Flower' 4x4"

It was good to try the iris again, a close up small painting. Easier to focus on the colours and tones when there is just a single flower. I had 'learnt' the subject yesterday so it was familiar today and therefore a lot easier. I enjoyed using the rich violet colours and dashes of yellow.

Daily Painting #20 'Iris Flowers' 10x8"

These flowers took me ages! So much so Matte, my dog asked for food and attention while I was taking the photo of the finished painting, see pic below. 
Tricky subject again, next time I'm doing a simpler one! I thought the Iris flowers looked a bit like butterflies. I struggled with the background colour, I chose a muted yellow and it looked horrid so I scraped off and put on off white, it's better but it looses some of the spontaneity. I haven't really painted a bunch of flowers before, lovely colours and I will do more...

Daily Painting #19 'Bananas' 10x8"

This was a difficult subject to tackle. I started it on a square board - as many still life's work better square but changed it to landscape as it wasn't working. I mixed many colours and tones of yellow. I'm pleased with the subtle changes of tone to describe the banana shape. Although it was challenging I was totally focused and enjoyed it. I wouldn't have tried this subject at the start of my daily painting, so it feel like progress :-)

Below is my palette and the colours I mixed as a starting point...

Daily Painting #18 'Little Braeburn' 4x4"

This a the smallest painting I have ever done. And it caused me quite a lot of angst! The aim was to make the brush strokes as loose and confident as I could, without going back and fussing it. The hard bit is to describe the shape and details without loosing the painterly feel. During most of the painting I thought this isn’t working, I'm glad I persisted though as it turned out ok!

Daily Painting #17 'Orange Pepper' 8x8"

A different style composition. I enjoyed painting with these colours, it feels like I've brought a little taste of the Mediterranean into my winter studio! I worked on getting the undulations of the pepper sides without just putting a line down to describe it.  It was also fun to work a bit bigger being 8x8" instead of 6x6". 

I was out early this morning, I did a quick sketch of a view across Bramshott Common, nr Haslemere.  I see this view everytime I walk my dog and have been wanting to capture it for a while. At this time of the year the sun rises just behind the two trees. I will go back and do a painting outside when the weather is right.

Daily Painting #16 'Mixed Baby Peppers' 6x6"

I took an overhead view as I wanted to see the shape of the peppers. I lit it from behind so the shadows were towards me. 
When I first started the daily painting I hadn't really done still lifes before and two elemements I found the hardest were composition and shadows. Today I enjoyed painting the shadows, seeing lots of colours and reflected light from the peppers. 
Before I start to paint I use my viewfinder to look for an interesting compostion. Here is a photograph of what I could see...I muted the yellow background a little as it was too bright and overpowered the little peppers.

Daily Painting #15 'View from our Bedroom' 6x8" Oil on Board

My first landscape Daily Painting! These are Larch trees, a deciduous pine, lovely shaped branches, with rich orange against the winter sky. I have missed painting landscapes and really enjoyed this one. 
I usually have Classic FM on for company in my Studio, painting this there was silence apart from the birds singing and my animals snore! Matte, my dog was in the bed and Miffy shown below was interested in my palette!

Daily Painting #14 'Two Plums and a Saucer' 6x6" Oil on Board

It takes a while to set up a still life I'm happy with, up to about half an hour of changing objects, moving them around, and different eye levels, and then what size and shape board to paint on.

This painting I'm looking down on the subject, which I've not tried before. I enjoy mixing and painting the two different plum colours.

One of the things I'm working on is having a loose and painterly style, which I found harder on this small board of 6x6" something to practise!

Daily Painting #13 'Blue Jug' 10x8" Oil on Board

I want to keep experimenting with each daily painting and not have a set formula I stick to.  So today I tried out 3 background colours (painting them in), a radical red, yellow and the one you see. The muted colour seamed to work better and not compete with the blue jug.

Every painting seams to go through the stage of pain! With thoughts of  abandoning or wiping the board clean and starting again. I had that a lot with this painting, until near the end when it came together and I'm relatively happy with it. It does remind me of Greece, the colours, the shape...

Daily Painting #12 Tea Cup Study 7x7" Oil on Paper

I painted this as an aid for my students for our oil painting class next week.

Using brown and blue - (Burnt Sienna & Ultramarine) mixed together makes wonderful colourful greys.

We will be working on a loose style and a thin application of paint.

Daily Painting #11 'Vine Tomatoes' 6x8" Oil on Board

Up until yesterday I haven't painted tomotoes before and they are suprisingly satisfying to paint! I also havent really used red and it's a fun colour to work with, so rich and strong.

I mixed lots of warm red colours from yellow to burnt orange and deep crimson, I thought I may have put too many into the painting but when I finished the tomotoes off with there stalks and highlights they came together :-)

The turquiose blue (blue-green) is the complementary of red-orange, which makes the colours zing together.

Daily Painting #10 'Tomato' 6x6" Oil on Board

I have been teaching Oil Painting this morning, so it was good to be able to start and finish a painting in the afternoon!
My husband and I built a Light Box (Similar to Carol Marines Shadowbox) which is to display my still life objects within. I can control the light source and height. See picture. I used it for the first time today :-) It worked well, with a few tweeks I'm sure it will help with my painting.
A little painting of a tomato, I wanted the colours to be rich and complementary - reds and greens and a simple composition.
I'm going to try another one tomorrow...

Daily Painting #9 'Poinsettia' 7x7" Oil on Paper

I used lots of sweeping brushstrokes and rythmical marks.

Lovely leaves to paint, I kept it very loose and free.

I didn't use much white in the red leaves (as they'd go pink!) Instead I mixed the red with yellow to lighten it and keep it vibrant.

Daily Painting #8 'Aubergine' 6x8" Oil on Board

The composition was set up with the aubergine and coloured papers, I then moved myself around to find a good viewpoint and height.

I looked through my viewfinder to draw with a paint brush onto the board.

Althought he aubergine is very dark in tone I worked on getting a good tonal range throughout.

It was fun to use a big brush and sweep down the body of the aubergine.

Daily Painting #7 'Lemon & Lime' 7x7" Canvas Oil Paper

 I wanted a citrus feel, with fresh colours and loosely applied paint.

I enjoyed painting two objects together and also got excited about the colours.

I can see how painting still lifes could be addictive as you can choose what wonderful colours to have in them :-)

Daily Painting #6 'Red Onion' 8x8" oil on board

I went for a square format and bigger size than previous daily paintings.

I raised my subject a lot higher as I like the onion roots. (see photo no.2)

I also thought more about the composition and placed colour paper under the onion to make nice shapes, which also toned with the onion. This helped me paint the background as there was something there to paint!

Below is my studio set up for may raised onion (on art books!) and palette of mixed colours I started with.

My husband is kindly making me a box for my still life subjects it will be lit inside and therefore more controllable e.g. It will also go up and down in height.

Daily Painting #5 Pink Gerbera 5x7" Oil on board

I decided to paint the flower head in thick luscious strokes, making each stroke count and not to fuss around with it too much.

It's a little clunky looking but I am excited to do more in this way. It feels out of my comfort being less perfect and less detail than I'd usually put in, but I like the style and its fun to paint.

I painted the board beforehand called a 'colour ground' with a dull, Burnt Sienna/Ultramarine mix.

I used the complemantary colour Red-Violet (pink) and Yellow-Green. The Yellow green is the background but doesn't show up in pic.

Daily Painting #4 'Little Jug' 5x7" oil on board

I enjoyed painting this little jug in a tonal colour theme with Burnt Sienna (Terracotta colour) and warm yellow Ochre.

I tried to keep it loose and not fuss over the detail to much, as I wanted a fresh, lively finish.

Daily Painting # 3 'Gerbera' 5x7", oil on board

This single flower was painted with some excitement and a little trepidation as I have not painted gerberas before or a single flower.

It turns out it was fun to do and I will be doing more of them!

I put in a pale blue background which doesn't show up on the photo, the two tone green stem I put in last so it sits well under the flower head.

Daily Painting #2 'Orange' 5x7" oil on board

I painted this in a similar way to the 'Lemon' but the light direction was slightly different and it changed the shadow shape. I want to experiement with using the lamp to light the subject in a pleasing way before I start painting!

I had more expectations than painting no. 1 with the Lemon, so it was trickier to do.

But it still got me out into the studio painting when I probably wouldn't have considering we had family commitments.

Daily Painting #1 'Lemon' 5x7" Starts Today!

I was given a wonderful book for Christmas from my husband. It's called Daily Painting, by Carol Marine a USA painter.

It's really inspired me and helped focus in what direciton I would like to go with my work for at least the next 12 months.

I will endeavour to paint as often as possible, completing a small painting in one go and doing everything from life. A massive variety of subject from still life, fruits and veggies to flowers and going outside for land and seascapes.

I had been specialising in landscapes, sketching in nature but then painting back in my studio. Some of my previous works took 4 weeks to complete. So I'm really excited to try painting in one go with thicker, richer paint.

I will post on this blog every time I do an new painting. Please feel free to comment on any.

Today I tackled my first little painting. It's 5x7" - the smallest I have ever painted and of a single lemon (oil on board). I brought a lamp and a daylight bulb to light it from the side which helped to see the colours and the shape of the shadow.

The first of many paintings! It's going to be good year :-)