Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 31, 2022)

Here is my painting-in-progress as of New Year's Eve, 2022. I am working on refining shapes of flowers and leaves, working in small sections. This photo shows progress in the cluster of flowers and the leaves at the top of the canvas

Wishes for a Bright Year Ahead

I made this little video on my iPad with the Procreate app, which captures a video replay as you draw.  I am sending this out to everyone with wishes for a bright year ahead

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 30, 2022)

Time was short today, but I worked on this painting for a while.  I am still refining the shapes of the blossoms and branches, especially concentrating on the placement and curves of created by the vine against the adobe wall. To be continued. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 29, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today, concentrating on refining the major branches as well as shapes of blossoms, leaves, and stems on the right-hand side, with the wall in the background. I am taking care with the lines created by the branches in front of the wall.  To be continued. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 28, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  I am fairly satisfied with placement, so I got out a smaller brush and started refining the shapes of the leaves, starting on the right -- with the adobe wall in the background.  

"Pergola at Long Hill" at the Beverly Historical Society

Here's my oil bar painting on display at the Beverly Historical Society in the show "Icons, Myths, and Legends of Beverly." The show was on display from October 21st to December 17th.  I took this photo at the closing reception.  The painting was hung on a red wall, almost the same color as the pergola.  

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 26, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today, still refining the position of the major blossoms and branches. I am concentrating on the way the branches hang across the wall.  I spent time measuring and also spent time painting with the canvas and the photo reference both turned upside-down.  Sounds like a crazy thing to do, but it always helps.

Holiday Greetings from Squirrels and Birds (Digital Drawing)

My previous post was a video replay, created on my iPad, of holiday greetings from squirrels and birds.  I used the Procreate app, which creates a stroke-by-stroke replay as you draw. This digital drawing is the final frame of the video, but cleaned up a bit on my computer, using my Painter program.  Now I can send it out to greet friends and family during the holiday season.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 25, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  I was concentrating on the right-hand side of the painting, checking and revising the placement of major branches and the general shape of the negative space.  I wanted to improve the shapes of some of the curving lines. In the process, I changed the background color again.  I think it is getting closer to the final color.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 24, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  I printed out a larger copy of my reference photo to make it easier to see detail, and then made revisions. You can still see some conte crayon on the canvas where I am changing things.  I made the background darker, for more contrast so I can see better, but fear not, this is not the final color.  

Holiday Greetings from Squirrels and Birds

I made this little drawing replay video today using the Procreate app on my iPad.  Squirrels and birds say "Enjoy the Season," and I agree. Whatever holiday(s) you may be celebrating this weekend, I wish you happy times and safe travels.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 23, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  There is more to do in terms of placement, but most of the major lines and shapes are where I want them to be.  I still need to refine the shapes, but today I worked on color, repainting the yellow blossoms and the background.  These are not the final colors, but are getting closer. Making the colors brighter is making it easier for me to track where things are.  To be continued.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 22, 2022)

This is my current painting as it looks today.  I am still working on placement, at this point using light and dark green to establish the position of smaller branches and leaves.  These are not the final colors.  At this point I just need contrast so I can see what I am doing.  To be continued. . .

 

Dachshund Menorah by Guest Artist Melissa Pepper

I hope you enjoy this wonderful drawing as much as I do! This is by guest artist and my cousin Melissa Pepper.  

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 16, 2022)

Here is my painting as it looked at the end of the day on Friday.  Changes reflect some concentrated work on placement, first of clusters of blossoms, then of the five main branches, and then of smaller branches where there will be clusters of leaves.  I am measuring locations on the canvas against the grid I have drawn over my reference photo, just figuring out where things go on the canvas.  This method is slow and methodical, and it is beginning to pay off. At this point, the shapes are rough and I using colors mainly to help me clearly where things are on the canvas.  Modifying shapes and colors will come later. To be continued. . . .

Sunflower Menorah (Digital Drawing)

Yesterday, for the first night of Chanukah, I posted a video showing sunflowers transforming into a menorah (in tribute to Ukraine).  I made the video on my iPad with the Procreate app, which captures a  replay as you draw. Today I took the iPad drawing (the final frame of the video), and used Painter to clean it up a bit, and here it is. Now I can send this out with greetings for family and friends. 

Sunflower Menorah (drawing replay video)

Yesterday I used the Procreate app on my iPad to create this little video. Press play to watch this little transformation.  Hanukkah is about freedom, so it seemed fitting to create a little menorah in honor of Ukraine.  Sending this out to say Happy Chanukah to those celebrating, and to wish everyone a little more courage, a little more freedom, a little more light.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 15, 2022)

Here is my current project as it looked two days ago.  My focus was still composition.  I revised the placement of the main branches and the main clusters of blossoms by measuring (using a grid) and comparing to the position on the reference photo. I redrew the lines of the main branches, using red so the new lines would be easy to see.  As I made changes, I repainted the background in a lighter color. This is still rough, but getting a bit closer to what I want to see.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 14, 2022)

Here is my current project as it looked on the first painting day, December 14th.  I am painting trumpet vines on an adobe wall for my long-lost friend Marcia. My goal on the 14th was to "rough in" a general idea of the composition, using my photo reference as a guide. Although I worked quickly and the painting is indeed very rough, as advertised, I was happy to get started.  The colors, the composition, and, well, just about everything is going to change.  To be continued.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Sketch for Painting Dec. 13, 2022)

Here is my sketch for my current project, a painting of trumpet vines for my long-lost friend Marcia. Here I am just sketching on the canvas with conte crayon. I am trying to get the composition and placement right. I set up a rough grid on the photo reference as well as on the canvas. The key is to get the placement of those five key branches to work. A big part of making art is just working through a series of mistakes. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Photo reference for painting)

My friend Marcia sent me this photo of a trumpet vine and I am going to paint it for her.

Reposting: Estes Park Memory (Acrylic Watermedia)

This is the second of two of my paintings now on display in the lobby of Porter Mill Studios as part of the annual December show of Porter Mill Artists.  This is acrylic used as watermedia on Aquabord 16 x 20 with a 2" edge.

Reposting: Layers of Green (Acrylic Watermedia)

This is the first of two of my paintings currently on display in the Porter Mill Lobby as part of the annual Porter Mill Artists show. This is acrylic paint used with water on 16 x 20 aquaboard (with 2" edge).