…practice

… more metallic surfaces. Adding colors is purely fun.

Wee bowls

My step-mom, Betty, was a potter. People now say ‘ceramicist’, but I will use the term she used. She made many useful items, including all of the dishes we used every day. She also made decorative things, vases, and even a full chess set once! No other potter I had seen the work of carved into their pots the way she did. She made many interesting patterns.

Here are a couple of tiny paintings I did to record my step-mom’s sweet little bowls.

metallic surfaces

Stainless steel-yikes! This one actually metal. I was hesitant to try it, definitely fine over an old painting. ‘You have to start somewhere department’ as my mother might have said.

#allaprima #allaprimapainting #twohourstilllife #paintingpractice

Differences

When the King tides photography project came up, I remembered these rocks painted during a normal high tide. It was a foggy, grey day, but these rocks jumped out strongly while everything else was in the background and soft. I felt a little bit of color would make it feel more “welcoming”. Hey-it’s my painting, I can do whatever I want with it!

#landscape #landscapepainting #waterscape #oilpainting #hightide #contemporarypainting #californiacoast #bayarea #shorebirdpark

Pontessieve Village from a Winery

This distant view of Pontessieve Village was one I started while on my last trip to Italy. There were a lot of foggy, overcast days, but they sometimes make surprisingly interesting moods. This day had started out with a complete whiteout, but then lightened a bit as the day went on.

You can buy this little painting on Daily Paintworks, it is featured today https://bit.ly/3uhZLEM

a portrait series…

This has been turning into a series. Not a series related to each other in any way other than that they are all of children loved by others, who would like to see their dear faces frequently. I feel a bit Beatrix Potter saying “dear faces”, but that is kind of how you feel, especially as a grandparent. While in the midst of parenting, I know it is much more difficult to see the forest for the trees. Sadly, but there it is!

a young lady

While I often paint using a limited palette this young lady required more colors. She is so fair and blonde, her features become just mildly prominent. I like to try to get a feeling for the person while painting, and, to me, her face seems to shine kindness, fairness, even-temperedness, and I’m sure she is all of those things!

a goat among the grapes

This vineyard painting was beginning in an abstract way, but I didn’t know where to go next. I thought of completing it as a traditional plein air painting, but I really liked the graphic stripes that were there — so I split the difference and added a goat painted in a loose way, with some unusual colors.

a Fainting Goat

the here and now

Guard at the gate at Golden Gate Fields. I liked the simplicity of this scene, and simplified it even further. Midday. This is a lonely job these days. Many people pass on the new Bay Trail section which follows the shoreline just a few feet away, but few go up the hill towards the race track, mostly trainers, vets, other support people. We chatted for a short time, his wife is an artist, but paints only horses, and more horses. I think he hopes she’ll branch out and try a new subject some time. I may work on this more, add some detail, or maybe not, it is ok with me.

Guard at the gate.

July 30faces30days-completed

July #30faces30days from Sktchy was an awesome way to learn more about procreate and drawing the human face. To see them “closer up” check out my sketching instagram @2minuteeggs. Sktchy has a session each month, with great teachers. I loved all the different styles, some specializing in cross-hatching, some gouache, cartoon or comic style, or a restricted color palette. It was sometimes hard to get started on the day’s drawing, and it was interrupted by five days out of town, but I got through it!

30 faces closer to 500!