Gin Bottles again

Block in over old plein air painting, 12x12

oil on linen, 12x12

Can you believe it? No gold screen today. I decided to turn the screen around and use the back side for a more neutral approach. The painting underneath was painted on a grey day and was of old weathered outbuildings and a concrete wall. Somehow it felt better to just keep a quieter outlook this time. I tried rearranging the gin bottles but this seems to be the way they want to work together for now. I added a tea tin and the glass bottle just to add to the composition. As you can see in the block in I was leaning towards a more abstract approach and was going to paint it flat with the bottles being united and through each other. Then I get painting and it all goes away. Maybe next time.

I could not think of a title for this one, so if you have any ideas, I am open to suggestions.

not every attempt is a success

mid-century hand blown beer glasses

A photo sent to me from my daughter's phone; I gave this pair of Weisse Bier glasses to her for Christmas. I believe they are from either the late 50's or early 60's. I grew up with them in our home. They appear to be hand-blown, hence their irregular shapes. I liked that about them. I did get further than this before I decided to wipe it off. Don't ask me why as I am not sure now. Seemed the thing to do at the time.
It is painted over an old plein air painting which is why there are still some dark blotches that don't quite make sense yet. I will be starting it again at some point as I am not to be defeated. Figured I need to post the good with the not so good. It happens...

We 3 Gins, disoriente I

We Three Gins, 12x12, oil on linen panel

I have been collecting odd shaped and colored bottles for years. Gin bottles are particularly fun and just recently a third bottle joined the collection. I really enjoyed painting this piece. The highly reflective gold screen background adds a richness to the scene and the different shapes and colors of the bottles made it pure joy to paint. I am having way too much fun.

You will see more of this gold Japanese doll screen as we move through the month. It is an easy background to put up. My sister taught English in Japan 20+ years ago. She brought this screen home to me thinking I could find a use for it. She had found it on top of someone's trash. One man's trash is another man's treasure...

Put it in your pipe and smoke it

An Odd Trio, 6x8, oil on Masonite

 A quick study done to say I painted this day. I pulled out this slick surfaced piece of Masonite being too lazy to give it a quick coat of gesso. The paint just skips over the surface, so for me with the attraction to big flat colors, it adds a texture whether I like it or not! Again, using scraps of paper to add some visual interest. Here are the much maligned hand-made brass handled scissors from India from a previous post, a mini magnifying glass that was my mother's, and a Meershaum pipe I believe belonged to my brother-in-law. This particular pipe looks like a Scotsman by the use of a thistle on his headdress not visibly apparent in this quick sketch. I had these three object in a can that I unceremoniously dumped things into to save for future use, like now.

I had originally thought I would work on this more later, but I decided I like it as is for now and am moving on.

I went looking for Meershaum pipes online as I was not sure how to spell the name. These pipes are not inexpensive so I am glad I held on to them.

Color play: Three to One

Three to One, oil on panel, 8x6   available

Day Three, so the title seemed apropos. Playing with colored paper and fruit out of the fridge. Serendipity is what I look for as I roll the fruit out on the table. I have a collection of colored paper from years ago that I just rediscovered recently hidden away in the basement so look for more of these as I play around this month to loosen up and just experiment with the detritus of my life that surrounds me.

The job I had until 2001, was in a public school.  I was responsible for the bulletin board in the main hall. Do schools even have bulletin boards anymore? I accrued a collection of leftover paper of all kinds and sizes that I was allowed to take with me when I left. I have used this scrap collection over the years for cards, decoupage and still life! What got me thinking about it again was I volunteered before Christmas in a local jewelry/art gallery to help out with extended hours. The shop had these cases inset into the walls, and they were essentially a white box. The jewelry was mostly silver, displayed on these sandblasted glass necklines and hands. So white box, silver and neutral gray displays. It was killing me. Hard to see, and no one I ever saw looked into these boxes. I took it upon myself to dress these boxes up with color! I dragged the paper, cutting board, x-acto and ruler down to the shop and while the owner was away, I got to work making a few examples pop to see what happened. One of the regular jewelry cases had metal work, displayed on limbs of trees, dark pine cones and leather. Black literally on dark brown. Again, UGH. A piece of that lime green paper in this painting got cut into squares, rectangles and triangles and I popped those pieces right out. Now you can see the jewelry from across the shop. Luckily, not only the owner, but that jeweler, liked what I had come up with. I had so much fun doing this little project that I am bringing it to you. Aren't you lucky?

Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail, 8x8, oil on panel

Second piece for January. We have Virginia Creeper on the fence between houses, and saw this guy alight when I was out in the garden. It was in the shadows so fairly flat light. Amazingly enough no evidence of the Japanese beetles who love to decimate the Creeper yet, so it must have been early summer...

I took the photo with my phone. It was just a perfect subject with it's wings held perfectly still. Looking up what kind of Tiger Swallowtail it is there are lots of examples with their wings out like this, so it is not that unusual. It is a Western Tiger Swallowtail, although the only real difference I could see from the Eastern version is that it is a paler yellow overall. Lots of variety within the blue and reds in both.

January Goal - 30 paintings in 30 days

I am not sure how long Leslie Saeta has been running her 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, but I participated in it last January. Surprisingly I believe I got to 25 'paintings' done (loosely using the term paintings as a few were more like studies), although my goal was anything over 15 and I would be happy. I am not participating in this worthy challenge this year as far as uploading to her website but I am going to do my best to do it for myself as a way to start off the new year.

Sewing Kit, 7.5x4.5, oil on panel

I found this odd sized board and decided to use it for a small study as you see above. I have not had large chunks of time to be at my easel during the holidays so small sounded like something I could accomplish quickly.

In my studio I have a piece I did in one of my 'get a painting done in 30 minutes' period a few years back. Here it is:

Scissor study on sample watercolor paper postcard stock

I have it in a plastic sleeve attached by binder clip to an old cigar box in my studio. During my art open house a month ago, I cannot tell you how many people commented on this little 4x6 painting. My mentor, Kevin Weckbach, used the term "sweet." Seriously. A pair of sewing scissors. I keep it up to remind me how even a pair of sewing scissors can be painted well, and apparently I was right in my assessment.

In my new found freedom of no longer working, I decided to go through my collection of still life items I have in an attempt to use them or see what might inspire. I found a pair of hand made Indian scissors; cool, right? In that vein I had been doing some sewing repairs long overdue so I had all kinds of items at hand that lent themselves to playing with the idea of sewing. I wiped off more false starts than I can mention trying to get these 'cool' scissors to not only look right but be interesting. Long story short, I remembered the attention these little Fiskers got so I pulled them out and threw them in and viola! Problem solved. I think the bright orange plastic handles are just more fun then dull brass but I am not giving up on them as subject just yet.

Does anyone even use pin cushions anymore or sew for that matter? I still have some wooden spools of various sizes and shapes and I think they might lend themselves to some fun this month, too. TBD