Three Pair

Happy Tuesday everyone! In preparation for some upcoming fall shows, I'm working on some small oil paintings this week such as this 8x10 colorful study of pears. I really wanted do paint something with a bold light and shadow separation. In my kitchen I have a large wooden bowl on my counter under one of my windows and the light patterns are always interesting. Here, you can see some of the window pane shadow falling on the pears. I was particularly drawn to the unexpected silver of turquoise reflected light behind the pear on the right. 

The title of this piece is a nod to one of my greatest passions outside the art world: Poker. This time every year, I watch every hand of the WSOP Main Event coverage each Tuesday night on ESPN. I'm not sure if it's my Scandinavian heritage or growing up in the snowbound Midwest (euchre anyone??), but I've always loved playing cards. If I had unlimited funds my days would probably become an amalgam of poker and paint (which for those of you who know poker lingo is also a good thing). In the meantime though better get back to reality and the studio.

I hope to have some info soon on shows, demos, and other events so stayed tuned. Thanks for stopping by--I'm off to the tables.      

Good Day Sunshine

Yesterday I noticed the light levels are really beginning to get much stronger as spring approaches.  In the kitchen, I spotted the sun hitting a plate of pears and took a few snapshots for my oil painting study this morning. I was really drawn to the strong shadow patterns and organic shapes.  As I often do I painted this small 8x8 study on bright red toned canvas board--one of my favorite painting approaches. It's interesting to play with the "lost and found" red edges.     

For this study, I decided to do a quick (30 min) acrylic underpainting to help me map out where I wanted to go with my expressionistic colors. My favorite palette for working on acrylics by the way is the Richeson Lock Box palette. Sure, it could be larger and the donut-shaped inserts are rather funky, but I love the round shape (so I can mix around the color wheel). And it really does keep acrylics quite pliable for at least a few days and I live a very dry climate.  (Just wet the sponge inserts, lightly spray the palette with water and close the lid.)

Why bother with an underpainting for a small oil study? One of my new students is working on a master copy oil painting using the classic grisaille underpainting approach.  This layered classical method had me thinking more about approaching a painting in this way, which is not something I would normally do especially when I only have an hour or two to paint.  But the results can be well worth your patience, so while I've not done a traditional glazed oil painting with a lot of detail in a while and am thinking that will be my next painting.

For more information about my oil painting classes (located in Denver, Colorado) please drop me a line at the email above or visit me on Teach Street (search Scarlet Owl).