Number 5 started out as something completely different. I spent an hour and a half working on that painting before finally deciding I hated it and wiped it. I’ve only wiped a canvas once or twice before, so it was a really hard decision. The Kraken bottle was a lot more interesting to paint…
Category: Still Life
January 2018: 30 in 30 Challenge – Days 1-4
I finally started a real 30 in 30 challenge. I will paint one 6×6 inch alla prima painting every day for 30 days. I waffled back and forth about whether to start now or wait until February. February is when Leslie Saeta would be hosting a challenge, but I had already made my plans…
2017 Year in Review
2017 was a very productive year for me. By far the most productive year I’ve ever had, and that includes my school years. This year, I completed 43 paintings and have grown considerably as an artist. To compare, I finished 26 paintings total in the last two years and probably less than 10 in…
Master’s Touch Oil Paints Review & Gun Still Life
I promise I will get to the review, but first, a new painting and the reason for the review. This painting is a birthday present for my husband. I’ve never painted anything specifically for him before so I asked him if he was interested. He jumped at the idea and we came up…
Third Alla Prima Pumpkin Attempt
Ok, the ugly truth is I haven’t yet succeeded in an alla prima painting yet. I have made some serious progress toward it though. This one was done in less than two hours and only two layers. The part where I really saw the improvement was the second layer. It required a lot less fixing…
Two Bell Peppers
I fell in love with the block in for this painting. I loved it so much that it took me a couple of weeks to paint over it. I wanted to leave it as it was so bad, but it was just too unfinished. I couldn’t not finish it. I loved the loose brushwork…
Jalapeños and Habaneros
Another quick still life to keep me motivated while working on other projects. I used a new red for this painting called Azo Coral from M. Graham. It came free with the Titanium White I bought so I gave it a try. Based on the packaging, I thought it was going to be more…
Second Attempt at an Alla Prima Pumpkin
Happy Thanksgiving! I decided I needed to quit being lazy and get a holiday-ish painting done this week. And since I need the practice, I also tried to make it another alla prima painting. For my second attempt, I chose a similar but slightly more complicated pumpkin subject. I’m really happy with how it eventually…
Another Pepper Painting
Call me crazy, but these peppers are really fun to paint. I think it might be that since the pressure to produce a painting every week is off, I’m allowing myself to enjoy these a bit more. Plus, I’m working on some more difficult paintings right now and these are a very welcome relief. Both…
Attempt at an Alla Prima Pumpkin
Since I put off painting a pumpkin until a few days before Halloween, I thought it might be fun to attempt an alla prima painting. I normally paint in several thin layers, so it’s a bit of a departure from my normal style. I did better than I expected, but didn’t manage to complete…
Painting a Little Bigger This Time
I started these peppers about the same time as the commissioned peppers I finished a few weeks ago. I just loved this photo so much and had an odd-shaped canvas I didn’t know what to do with. It was meant to be. Since I wasn’t a fan of painting the barn wood in the commission,…
Pepper Spray
This was just a quick painting I knocked out while trying to warm up to work on some other paintings. After painting those artichokes, this was a welcome relief from so much detail and I love the reds.