Spring fling

I've openly stated (many times!) when I've been frustrated and felt like I'd lost the ability to paint. And so it's so nice when you finish a piece and just feel...happy!

This didn't start out so well. First it was a painting of my bleeding heart flowers. Really bad. Wiped it down. Next it was a lush yellow tulip. That went south faster than the bleeding hearts. After another good wipe I almost left the studio thinking it just wasn't in the cards and then I decided to try a portrait. There was no one around to model so I flipped through some old magazines and found a number of photos reprinted from the 30s and some of the people caught my eye. They were yelling: paint me! So I complied. This one, as they say, fell off the brush. To me I imagined this dress was soft yellow and she was off to a dance where there would be lemonade and sweets. I'm going to try more in the coming days.

6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $75

Twisted apple

Okay...so today's painting is a piece in transition. It is not yet finished but I am a bit stuck on where to go with it from here. It started out well: atmospheric and subtle, and then somewhere I took a wrong turn and couldn't find my way back : ( I did have a number of fellow artists give me ideas (if only they had all agreed! ; ) so I just have to stand back from it for a while, think on it, and then find my course. Perhaps the best advice came from Cathy, my mentor (Catherine Gibbon - see link to the side) who spoke about deciding on the colour of light, and remembering values. I have a fair bit left to do on this piece and will post it again when I'm not feeling so annoyed with it!