Finding Paintings In Random Photos

I find that I am always taking my camera with me, wherever I go, looking for inspiration. Sometimes I just take random pictures as I am passing by, especially if there is interesting light, shadows, colors, or shapes that catch my eye. I am always excited to get back to my studio, download the pictures and revisit the images I took, often not knowing what I will find...as in the above photo.


It wasn't until I started looking closer and cropping that I found the beautiful light and shadow play, the wonderful color palette and the peaceful image of someone enjoying tea on a lovely afternoon with a close companion! AND THEN it wasn't until after I started painting that I noticed the person sitting in the shadows, on the ground petting the dog!

10"x 10"
acrylic on canvas
Available at Paradise Perks

Late Fall In Downtown Portland

8"x 10"

acrylic on masonite

This painting is of a street in downtown Portland, Oregon. I thought it would make a nice compliment to the two previously posted paintings of San Francisco and New York City. I was struck by the very different color palettes of the cities.

8"x 10"
acrylic on masonite
San Francisco

8"x 10"
acrylic on masonite
New York City

After The Tree Farm

8"x 10"
acrylic on masonite

Out in the Hillsboro, Oregon countryside, a favorite seasonal tradition for many is to go to the tree farm, find the perfect tree, and stop at McMenamin's Rock Creek Tavern for one of their fresh brewed ales, a hearty meal, and a roaring fire in a down-home, log cabin atmosphere. The history of the Rock Creek Tavern dates back to the mid 1920's when it started as a small country store. "Bombed in the 1930's, closed up at the end of the '60's, run over by a car in the late 1990's, and twice destroyed by fire over its 80+ years, and yet, here Rock Creek Tavern stands...". Thank goodness! Cheers!

Satsuma

5"x 7"
acrylic on masonite

Satsumas are widely available in the stores now and a family favorite!

Shadows and Saturation

8"x 10"
acrylic on masonite

One of the fun things about the current image from Karin Jurick's DSFDF challenge, was all of the red I found in the figures after enhancing the saturation in photoshop. Playing with the saturation and hue in photoshop has helped me to look for and see color where I hadn't before and as helped me to expand my color usage in my painting.
For this painting I used: ultra marine blue, cobalt blue, yellow ocre, hansa yellow, cad red lt, napthol red lt, and raw umber and titanium white. Oh, and a litte green gold!

Different View

Karin's original reference photo

5"x 7"
acrylic on masonite

There were two things that I particularly appreciated about the current painting challenge from Karin Jurick's DSFDF. First of all, the reference photo provided a new subject matter with a multitude of cropping options. Using someone else's reference photo gives me the opportunity to see through different eyes and broaden my artistic view.
Secondly, I ended up using a limited palette of colors: cerulean blue, burnt sienna, hansa yellow, a little raw umber, a bit of ultra marine blue and white.

Challenging Cupcakes

Karin's reference photo

Okay, so Karin Jurick posted a photo of colorful cupcakes to paint for the current Different Strokes for Different Folks Challenge. I thought, "How fun! This should be easy." Not so! It was hard. But I loved it!
What I loved about it was that Karin referred to the artist Wayne Thiebaud who is one of my favorites. It was a good reason to pull out my book and notes about him.
He uses incredible color in his paintings, but I also noticed that he spend a lot of time looking at positive and negative shapes, and shadows, and pattern/repetition....so I decided to go in that direction.
The drawing was hard! (I think it was the frosting!) And then I wavered between using two or three values or pencil or ink.....I tried them all and ended up with this. The end result may not reflect all of the time and thought that went into it, but it was a very valuable process to me and I enjoyed the srtuggle!

A Bunch of Beach Cruisers

16"x 16"
acrylic on canvas

I'm working on a series of paintings for a show At Paradise Perks in Irvine, California on August 29th. Because I'm painting for Southern California, I get to revisit my roots and reminisce. After living in the pacific northwest for almost 20 years and being surrounded by many serious cyclists, it's been fun to remember the lazy summer days of my youth and paint a bunch of beach cruisers! However, cruising the boardwalk in Newport Beach is considered a very serious sport by some!

'09 Volleyball T-Shirt Design

Original art

front of shirt

back of shirt, right shoulder

Because my husband is the head girls' volleyball coach at Sunset High School and my daughter is on the team, I get to design a volleyball t-shirt for the camp each year. It can be intimidating, frustrating, and fun!

Intimidating because I want to create a design that girls and boys ages 12-18 will like. The timing is perfect, however, because I can look through the back-to-school ads to see the latest fashion trends.

It can be frustrating because I'm not savvy on the computer and do all the art by hand, hoping that I give the printer enough information and they can figure out what I want! They did a fabulous job!

Fun because it is so different from the other art I am doing and my kids get excited and involved and I see my t-shirts all around the school!

I used watercolor paper, ink, a dip pen, water sprays, salt and splatters for texture.

No Way!!!

San Francisco Street
8"x 10"
acrylic on masonite

I just spent the last four hours frantically(?) trying to start and finish my painting for submission to Karin Jurick's DSFDF challenge by 3:00pm PST. I didn't get it submitted until 3:30, was sure it was too late to be posted, but wanted to turn it in anyway.
I emailed my image to Karin and apologized for being late and she emailed me back and said it wasn't due until next week. :)

NO WAY!!!

I realized how hard it is for me to try to paint faster.

When I took life drawing classes and we drew 2min., 1min., and 30 sec. poses, I got good at quickly capturing the essence of the figure in a gesture drawing or a mass drawing. However, I have not practiced painting faster and had to find another way to get the painting done quickly.

Edit.

I don't need to include every detail. What is the minimum I need to make the painting work?

Simplify.

I can simplify how I paint the elements I choose to include. Squinting is very helpful here!

Okay, so, I didn't finish by my perceived deadline and the painting may not look very edited or simplified, but I was reminded of the importance of practicing quick sketches AND quick painting to see gestures, masses, value, color as a whole and not get too close and get lost in the details.

I have to admit, I'm very tempted to work back in to the painting and "finish" it.......hmmm...