stripes-almost done

This is almost done. For the wetcanvas competition I'm in. I still need to work on the reds of the stripes...it looks so patchy it's driving me nuts and the right handle needs to be tweaked, as well as the apple.

flowers-still life

This is the finished piece after, trying my textural technique. I painted on all sides of the canvas so it doesn't have to be framed.

This is the front view of this painting, I'm thinking of titling it the bee. My next piece is I'm going to try have a frieze effect, probably using molding paste

candystripes

I'm working on this for a competition on Wetcanvas.com and I really it looks interesting to me.

The first stage I drew the painting onto canvas, and laid in the underpainting.

In this stage I layed down stronger colors and values to create the tone and mood of the painting. The right side of the kettle doesn't look symmetrical to me and that will be fixed by the next post.

flower-still life

I've been working a set of still life images. They are 6 x 6 inches and I'm exploring new styles and textures of paintings. I'm using acrylic for now and I will try oils on a smaller scale when I get to use these media again. This is a further search to find my creative voice.

This is the first stage where I laid out the color and values.

This the second stage, where I began using a medium from Liquitex called Pumice Stone, I used it to bring out the texture of the flowers in the background more into the foreground. I want it touchable. Almost like a frieze. However I don't want to overwork the painiting since it's so small with textures.

I'm getting to the finishing stages of this painting. It's turning out really well. I want to add more color to the leaves, they look kind of dull and I will finish the flower on the top. I like how some of the flowers go off the page and guides the eye front to back and right to left. I tried to create a triangular composition, Hopefully it was achieved.

My group art show

I have a group art show going on in the South Shore Cultural Center, in 70th South Shore street, in Chicago, IL. If anyone leaves in chicago take some time to check it out. There is some real talent there. It goes on till December 28th.

Mother continued...

The turmoil and great thing about oils is how long it takes to finish....sometimes. I like the way the foliage turned out so far on the vase. I added the mother and baby in the background to point out that not everyone woman who's had an abortion doesn't end up having a family. That's it's a decision that is not and should not be made lightly and it's a decision that every woman has the right to make for herself. I think the juxtaposition of the real baby and the images of babies born or unborn were necessary to show the full message of the piece. The edge where the wood cast a shadow needs to be more clearly defined. I like the way the wood turned out and I'm still tweaking it. The skulls on the edge of the vase has been redone, yet again. I'm still thinking about adding teeth or living them as they are. So I'll save that decision for when I'm finished with the rest of the vase. The shadow effect of the mother and child turned out quite well. I'm not quite happy with the background on the left yet, so it's going to be a little lighter. Looking at the baby resting on his mother I feel he needs hair.

mother continued....

I didn't like the skulls, it appeared too flat to me. So I've begun repainting it to give it more dimension. I also wasn't satisfied with the other ribbon of hieroglyphics on the right side, so I'm going to repaint that as well. I added stripes of color to match the bottom of the vase and darkened the talons on the feet. The faceless babies on the top of the vase, have been painted with a mixture of viridian green and naples yellow. To show the children that never were. So far, I like the curvature of the top and bottom of the vase and middle is still a work in progress. The bottom stripes were done in yellow oxide, naples yellow, pthalo blue, cobalt blue, titanium white, and van dyke brown. So far so good.