untitled (victorian lady)

(click to see image large)

untitled (victorian lady)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price available upon request

two day painting
I repainted a one day painting I did last month.
I've included a "before" picture as well.

from a victorian "carte de visite", a calling card.

girl (madeleine)

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girl (madeleine)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price available upon request

two day painting
I started this last month as a one day painting, but it wasn't quite getting at what I wanted.
Original, it was black and white, a harder expression, and flatter application of paint.
Picked it up and repainted it last night, I'm happy with the diaphanous quality of light.

Often, I completely destroy a painting when I try to work on it "just a little bit more".
I'm pleased when I take the leap of faith and risk of painting over a piece that's kind-of sort-of working, and it does turn out better.

mourning dove

(click to see image large)

mourning dove (profile)
acrylic on panel
5" x 7" x 1 3/4"

woman with loose hair

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untitled (woman with hair loose)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price upon request

this started as a 20 minute figure study, at a life drawing session.
finished it off in the studio tonight.

rosalie (2)

I wasn't happy with the way the portrait came out yesterday...
it was nagging at me.

painted it out, and began again -
it's much closer to the beautiful expression in the original photograph.

rosalie crutchley

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rosalie
acrylic on panel
9" x 12"
price upon request

I'm a sucker for masterpiece theatre/bbc/costume-y and english mystery channel 9 type fare. I was watching a corny agatha christie type mystery (the kind with a manor house, where everyone has a motive and is a suspect for five minutes).
There was an older actress, in her late 70's, I was noticing how beautiful her face was.

Sometimes, I like to look at the faces of old people, and try to see in their face what they looked like when young.
I found a picture of the actress, rosalie crutchley, as a young woman, a very beautiful image -
unfortunately, the painting didn't turn out very well, the eyes are too close set, I didn't quite capture the expression. Still, it's always interesting to spend several hours studying a face, really looking at it, and trying to capture something about it.

winter jay

(click to see image large)

winter jay
acrylic on panel
8" x 10"

pug

(click to see image large)

safe to say, the freakiest painting I have ever done.

I'm not sure why, but I had been hankering to do a painting of a pug dog.
Originally, I had wanted to do a black pug dog against a black background.

I started it, and a little bit in, it occurred to me it would be really interesting, as an exercise, to set a limit on brushstrokes - to allow myself only 300 brushstrokes, no blending, glazing, smudging, mudgy-ing, as I usually do.

I was really fascinated it, until toward the end, when I realized the drawing was very bad - the eyes too close together, the nose too low...to my horror, i realized it looked exactly like an evil little gnome. In order to save the patient, I had to let go of the idea of the 300 brushstrokes.

It still looks weird to me, but at least not gnome freaky weird.

pug
acrylic on panel
6" x 8" x 1 3/4"

goldfinch with teasel

(click to see image large)

goldfinch with teasel
acrylic on panel
5" x 7" x 1 3/4"
sold

woodpecker (profile)

(click to see image large)

woodpecker (profile)
acrylic on panel
5" x 7" x 1 3/4"
sold

warbler and persimmons

(click to see image large)

warbler and persimmons
acrylic on panel
5" x 7"

painting of the day - oriole

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oriole (#2)
acrylic on panel
6" x 8" x 1 3/4"

painting a day - bluejay

I'm starting back my painting-a-day (more or less).
I also have a backlog of paintings to post...I'll try and get those up on the blog.

starting off with a little jay.
(click to see images large)





jay (#2)
acrylic on panel
6" x 8" x 1 3/4"
sold