Been awhile...

Been awhile since I posted any new paintings.  Finally, finished this one I've been working on for awhile...or maybe it's not finished yet...I'm not happy with the upper left corner and the paper's not taking much more OP.   Not sure about the top part of the leaf on the left side either...it has sunlight coming across it, but I don't I conveyed that very well.  Well, all part of learning!!

Pristine Rose - Final

Okay, I'm going to call this one done.  Darkened the background with some deep blues and a little black.  I like the results!!  I'll probably post one more picture once I get this one matted and framed, but that'll be awhile.  I haven't actually framed any of my work yet, so that'll be fun. 

Now it's back to my oils again.  I'm going to try and finish up the Reflections at Flatford Bridge study.  I've gotta' figure out how refine the bridge so that it...well...looks like a bridge.

Layin' in the background...

Spent about 2 1/2 hours goin' after the background tonight.  I think a little more work on the leaves and I think I may increase the gradient from lighter towards the top and darker towards the bottom.  I've cropped this in my editor (haven't actually physically done any cropping).

I've learned alot on this one.  I've also learned just how much OP that Art Spectrum paper eats up too!!

More work on the Pristine...

Finally, got a chance to spend some more time on the Pristine. Finished out the petals and tested some backgrounds along the top which will be cropped. There's basically four color swatches up top. I'm thinking the two greens to the right, and I think I favor the greens on the far right.

Also, plan to add a faint hint of the stem and leaves below the rose.

Pristine Rose - WIP

Started a new OP last night.  Been looking at this picture I took of a Pristine rose.  Finally, decided to try painting a flower.  This was really hard to draw until I drew a grid. Obviously, still WIP.

Blue Jay - Final (maybe)

I think I've pushed myself about as far as I can go on this without wrecking it.  Debated on whether to tame the bright branches on the right, but they actually show up more in this photo than in real life so decided to leave it.  Had a tough time laying in the berries.  My Erengi ArtAspirers are fairly firm OPs.  I have a few Senneliers which are alot softer and lay over the Erengi's very well...but didn't have any reds for the berries.  Note to self...pick up some more Sennelier's for the highlights!

So I think I'm done on this one (unless I go back a mess with those other branches)  ;-)

Blue Jay - WIP II

Finally, had a few hours free to for painting last night!  More work on the Blue Jay.  This part was scary...I like the Jay and was having problems dialing in the color on the background.  Lot's more work to go.

Blue Jay - WIP

Did a little more on the Blue Jay tonight. I'm just amazed by OP artists that can define such fine details in their OP paintings.  This is a fun painting though...I like working with many shades of blue.

 

Had another "duh" moment...discovered what those little metal tabs were for on my easel...yeah, they do a really nice job of holding onto my canvas without the easel itself getting in the way.  Neat!!

Switchin' gears...going OPs on this one...

This afternoon I sat down to draw with my daughter at the kitchen table.  Didn't have time to setup or cleanup the oils so I grabbed my oil pastels (OPs), found a good picture to "attempt" and got busy.  After the kids were in bed, I did a little more and decided to continue on this drawing to see where I could take it!  So at this stage this go either way...my best OP yet...OR a real OP disaster. I've forgotten just how unforgiving OPs are compared to oils!!

Here's a couple of drawings of some rocks for an exercise on WetCanvas.com, using OPs.

First crack at oil pastels (OPs)

Started playin’ with oil pastels in December ‘08.  I liked them enough that I bought a great 92 color OP set called ArtAspirer by Erengi.  Here’s the first painting I did with those.  I did this based on a monthly challenge on WetCanvas.com.