#67 'Quality Street' 4x4"

I have been poorly this week (with a nasty cough) , so I was only up to doing a small painting today. 

These chocolates were surpringsly tricky to paint. The colours are quite intense, I used my artifical colours like Pathalo Blue & Green and Magenta. Lots of reflective surfaces with highlights and shine. Many colours are in the shadows too. I did paint the background a pale pink but change it as the chocs disappeared, the whiter background makes them pop out.

The chocolates are: The Purple One (Hazelnut & Caramel), Green Triangle (Noisette Pate),
Vanilla Fudge.

#53 'Terry's Chocolate Orange' 4x4"

This is my "Easter Egg' from my husband so I thought I'd paint it! - and of course eat it later :-)

Some tough areas to work out, simplifying the silver foil wrapper but still showing the complexity and tones of the crimples. I haven't painted chocolate before, to get the rich chocolaty colours but also show the segments. I especially liked doing the label and the rich yellow-orange of the wrapper. The writing on the label only needs to be suggested and not properly written as it still looks like writing when it's a squiggle!

My dog Matte has been really poorly after his op last week hence not much painting, he's now hopefully on the mend.

#52 'Yellow & Blue Jug' 4x4"

A small painting today as I am looking after my dog who had an op on Monday. 
Loose brush and emphasising the shape of the bellied pot.
I used Blue-Violet and Cadmium Yellow Pale, plus some Cad Red, limiting the colours helps to add harmony.

Matte in my studio with his red electric blanket!

#48 'Mushrooms' 4x6" and 4x4"

These paintings are an aid for my students in next weeks class. They will be painting mushrooms and practise mixing greys and browns from the 3 primary colours - Red, Yellow & Blue and focusing on tone, the light and shade of an object.

They were a good challenge for me too! Observing subtle tonal changes and I enjoyed the rounded shapes and cut in half mushroom :-)

#44 'Sky Studies' 3x4"

These two little studies I painted from my studio window. Great light, with scudding clouds across the sky, although each time I looked out to observe them they had moved! I quickly sketched the main shapes in with the lightest tone and then built from there.

Fun to do and will do more, it's great practise to paint skies from life.

#41 'Vinaigrette Bottle' 4x6"

With each painting I do I try and challenge myself, whether it is with composition, colour, being outside...today I decided to do my first pattern on my subject. There was a pattern on the bottle but I took it sa a starting point. I painted the pattern first (so there was no going back with putting it in!) See pic below. I did the basic leaf shapes and then at the end painted lines over the leaves to bring them to life. 

It reminds me of Raol Dufy, an artist I studied at art school, he put illustrative lines over colour.

I also was brave with the background colour, using a strong, dark blue-violet, which makes the bottle pop out! I'm happy with how this turned out.

#37 'Orange Studies' 4x4"

I started the top one on a natural coloured board but decided I would do two studies at the same time to experiment with background colours, composition and to compare with a white ground and a coloured ground (see pic below)

I was aiming for the orange to be luminous and fresh looking. I did this by using very little white in the orange mixture and keep the brush strokes to a minimum. The two coloured backgrounds (white/blue & green) give a different feel to each painting.

I haven't cut up and painted fruit or veggies before so it's a good start.

#36 'Little Jug' 4x4"

I have had the 'lurgy' the past few days, bad cold and cough with no painting. So it's good to get back to it today.
I like the shape of this little jug, reminds of something in the Dutch masters time - Vermeer, 'Girl with the Pearl Earring'.
I tried a different board today, no white primer, instead a clear primer to show the original colour of the canvas wrapped around the board. It was a joy to paint especially with the light colours it really showed up. This was one of those paintings that evolved it's self, with a little help from me!

You can see the raw canvas board showing part way through the painting.

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 #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 #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!