MORE FLOWERS?

Yep, more flowers. This time its Zinnia. My wife plants a bunch of zinnia in front of our home each spring and by June they fill in and look amazing.  A sea of color...anyway, I'm not sure why I'm painting flowers a the moment, but its been more fun than expected. Here are some process pics of this painting.

this last pic is a little washed out... in it's frame it looks pretty good!...well, at least better than the pic!

Holly hocks finished

I took a few pictures of some holly hocks that were growing close to my home last summer.
They were amazingly beautiful.  I actually saw them for the first time while I was passing them in my car, and I made mental note to come back and take some photos.  I don't usually paint flowers, and I've been trying to paint more from life, but these flowers just needed to be painted.

Chuck Taylors progress pics

Started another small 8X10 painting.

Here I am trying to sketch things out and blocking in some value.

...and this is as far as I got with the time I had on the first night.

Here is where I got last night...hope I can keep going and still make it better. I would like to loosen it up a bit, maybe try to add some subtle color into this. We'll see.

This is how it turned out. I'm pretty happy with a few aspects of this painting...just need to keep working and I'll get better. I have a friend that used to say, you can't even call yourself a painter until you've painted 100+ pieces.  I may still have a ways to go, but I'll get there.

Finished, Framed, and SOLD!

Tangerine SOLD

Here is how this one turned out. I was surprised to see that this one sold for the highest price at the dinner/art auction fund raising event the other night (highest out of my four paintings that is). Congrats to the new owners, you bought one of my first paintings from my "restart" in 2016. Thanks!! I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

salt and pepper process

 here are a few pictures of the stages of this painting. I've been trying to loosen up...but it's still a struggle. There were moments while painting this that I felt I was making some progress, but the more I work on something, the more I tighten up.  Can't seem to paint thick and loose.  Maybe in time.

gift for my daughter

"Fall's first color" is a painting of maple mountain which is located just a little south of my home.
I tried to loosen up on this a little and I'm somewhat happy with the results...I hope my girl will like it when she sees it. It definitely has a Utah mountains feel to it, so that should make her happy.

Finished Pepper

5x7 oil on masonite. quick little study of a anaheim pepper. I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out. I tried to leave some brush strokes...I'll get there maybe.

Pepper

Here is the start of a simple little pepper. 5X7 oil. It's fun to paint these little guys. Just what I need to hopefully build my confidence while I learn/remember what I'm trying to do here.

Art Auction

It's been a while since I've tried to sell any of my work. A neighbor of mine has asked me to participate in a dinner/art auction fund raiser for her non profit nowIcan foundation. This piece, "Strawberry Jam" will be auctioned off this week, then the dinner will be Feb 9th and I'll have 3 more works available for auction that night. Should be fun.

Progress on my Tangelo

Here is a progress shot of my little 8X10 tangelo painting. I know this is rather simple, but this little painting represents some real breakthroughs for me.  This has been really fun to paint and I have managed to keep it much looser than my normal paintings. My goal is to paint realism, but still have it look painterly.  This is hard for me with my illustrator background. I tend to want things smooth and clean, which somehow takes the life out of a painting for me.  I'll keep pushing...wish me luck.