a-painting-a-day in oils

[Seedling]

Shiny, transparent, and round, and painted while listening to a documantary about China. I’m noticing that like with practicing music, I can inadvertantly cause the memories of stuff going on during a practice session or painting to be permanantly attached to the piece. If only I could figure out a way to make this a useful skill.

I’m now all caught up. 54 paintings done in 54 days so far. I intend to keep this up until February. Here’s hoping.

[Seedling]

I shrunk my morning painting time down to a pitiful smidgeon because I had a sudden craving for eggs. So this mysterious object is now even more mysterious, and unintentionally ugly to boot. It’s a Chinese couch-potato food, a boiled and oiled nut, the name of which translates as “buffalo horns”. I was told to crack the shell with my teeth, but I have a weakling jaw, and succeeded mostly in hurting myself. If you ever get the chance to eat these nuts, use a nut cracker.

[morningbloom915]

Fantastic! The first bottle painting is my favorite of this last batch. All of them turned out very well, though. The buffalo horns, while mysterious and slightly unattractive, still reads very well as a horned sort of object. I've never seen the nut before though, so I dont know.

Keep it up!

[Beonarri]

Bubble wrap would be way too hard for me to paint.

Here's some digital bubble wrap.
http://www.urban75.com/Mag/bubble.html

...and suddenly the thread stopped.

[morningbloom915]

Bubble wrap would be way too hard for me to paint.

Here's some digital bubble wrap.
http://www.urban75.com/Mag/bubble.html

...and suddenly the thread stopped.

You really did stop the thread Beonarri! The people demand paintings! I dont know what to do with my afternoons if I cant come look at your paintings, Seedling!

[Beonarri]

I know it's crazy!
Behold the power of BUBBLE WRAP!

[chaosrocks]

I paint while listening to Project Runway podcasts.....

the transparencies are getting better,, the baby food jar doesn't quite line up right. buthe bubble wrap is cool .. challenging
chaos

[Coen]

Hey Seedling great stuff man, I like the faces, you should do some more.
I love the helmet too, cool reflections there, keep going man

[Tigermilk]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...1&d=1159797344
such beautiful colors
keep us updated,
tiger

[Bojee]

You have some really nice paintings here, they've gotten progressively better as you've gone along, the only thing is they're starting to seem a bit formulaic. Maybe try to mix things up a bit so you don't always know what to expect, a different color background, a different pallete, play with your edges, maybe push your values, or paint more than one object. The only reason I say this is because it seems like you've got this pretty much down, these are nice but I think you've got more in you.

PS It's very cool you writing about the industry.

[Seedling]

Sorry. . . it's October, and Octobers always make me cranky, so I put down the brush for a few days. I'll be back soon. . .

[Seedling]

Okay. . . I must not allow myself to fall back out of the habit, even if that means painting itty bitty simple subjects. . .

I’m four days behind right now.

[Seedling]

Morningbloom – I’ll have to take another crack at that nut sometime. I didn’t do it justice.

Beonarri – LOL. You dirty thread-stopper you.

Chaos – thanks, good catch on the asymmetrical jar.

Coen – thanks. :-) I do intend to do more faces at some point. Perhaps when I am feeling a bit more energized.

Tigermilk – thanks! It was strange; the longer I stared at those glass objects, the more colors I saw. I wasn’t sure if I’d captured them well, though.

Bojee – Thanks for your observations! The formulaicness is somewhat deliberate – I’m varying my subjects to explore different materials and colors and shapes in a somewhat controlled way, so that when I’m fresh out of bed with a brush in hand there’s only so much newness confronting me. But you are right, I do need to make sure I’m not repeating myself pointlessly. Writing the industry stuff has been a lot of fun, and I’m delighted so many folks have found it to be useful!

[morningbloom915]

So good to see you back in the paint again. Both of your latest look very good. Especially the shadow on the red ring.

[bradley]

that wee nut is great, have you considered trying out some mechanical stuff like engine parts, could get some great texture and shapes happening. great work

[Beonarri]

Glad to be a service as a menace to the general welfare of the community!

I think it's the ol' Imp of the Perverse sitting on my shoulder making me post things, distracting things.

I think you should crack out those spider pictures and paint them. I know, I know, it's not from life directly, but I could be fun practice in painting interesting things. Plus, it will throw something different into the mix.

[Bojee]

I think the ring is really well seen. Sorry if I through you off for a bit. It was just an observation and you know what your looking for in your paintings more than I do. Keep them coming.

[Basil]

it's October, and Octobers always make me cranky

same here, but it's so easy to lose the rhythm of painting something every day and then it's hard work to recapture it! i should be the one to talk, having posted nothing all last week

the paintings look great as always!

how long do you spend on them usually? if it's less time now, how long did you used to spend?

[Seedling]

This turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. It also didn't melt over the 45 minutes it took to paint it, which was a surprise.

[Seedling]

Hi guys! Thanks for all the encouragement. :-)

Bradley and Beonarri – I plan to do both of those things at some point. Stay tuned. Thanks!

Bojee – Naw, you didn’t throw me off. No worries!

Notspecialist – One hour is my usual time. On weekends I let the time go longer sometimes by an hour or more, and on some weekdays I can’t get myself moving fast enough to get a full hour in.

This morning’s pie was not as successful as last night’s ice-cream. But I baked it myself, from an actual pumpkin! First time I’ve ever done that.

[Mitchell]

Great oil paints in here! I started laughing when I saw the peanut one, I don't know why I thought it was so funny. good job though!

[Bojee]

Somebody's got a sweet tooth.

[Jason C-M]

hooray for homemade pumpkin pie!

You could do a cool series of sweets -- head over to a choclatier and pick up some of those beautiful bonbons and truffles, and paint some beatiful tasty sculpted paints.

Of course, you'd have to eat them when you were done, but we all make sacrifices for our art.

[chaosrocks]

the pie is kinda floating.....very light and fluffy?
need some of tha heavy gravity pumpkin
nice work as usual
chaos

[Beonarri]

The ice cream is nice. I that one of those frozen milky way/snickers thingies.

The pie gets a little spongy on the top...the pumpkin pie I eat is usually smooth on top, but it's not usually homemade.

The shadow looks a little funny. It at a weird angle, it makes the area below the pie look inclined. Or like the shadow is falling over...that sounds weird. I know that's probably what it actually looked like, but I would have either turned the pie so the shadow was different, or painted the shadow differently.

MMMMM...punkin pie. *drools*

[Andy P]

Yeah, this thread is delicious, no joke. The candy bar was great! Somethin's a little off about the pie's shadow, looks great otherwise.
Yum.

[Rich Pellegrino]

OK, this is going to be long winded so be prepared. Also, I hope I don't come off as harsh, since that is far from what I mean to do. I can never tell if someone is being mean or not since there is a lack of personal connection, so I wanted to say that first.

In my opinion the red ring is your strongest work to date. The warms and cools are all working. value hiearchy, contrast...its all there. I think what that piece posesses is what the others are missing.

BUT. That may not be what you are going for. In the peanut one. I get a alot of mood... a sort of rainy day feeling. I like the absence of edges. it gives an airy feeling. Great work and composition.

The devil dog has too much contrast for me. it feels more like a study and doesn't have as much weight as the last two. It is painted well but it is missing that "something" Which is something I struggle with in my work. If you get any clues help me out too! lol.

The pumpkin pie for me seems the least succesful in all of these departments. It doesn't have the same care as the others. I think it is because it smelled so good or you may have wanted to eat it! lol! I know that's what my problem would have been.

Anyway, I admire your dedication and I have begun my journey on the painting a day bandwagon. I think you're starting a trend here! and a damn good one too!

If you have time check out my card I did for Fantasy Flight Games in the Finally Finshed section. It should be floating around on the front page. I'd love to hear what you think on it.

Rich

[crimsoneye]

Hey, I love your paintings. I seen the videos and everything. You inspired me to switch from a nightmare of a medium called acrylic(due to it drying time and my slowness as a painter) to oil paint. But getting back to your paintings, I really like how you handle them.

[Seedling]

Skeiff – lol, thanks!
Bojee – yes, I do have a sweet tooth!
Jason – you’re a mean mean man to tempt me so! ;-)
Chaosrocks, Beonarri, Andy P, and Voodoo – you’re right, the pie is not quite right, due in part to the shadow. I also couldn’t get the color right as it reflected off the top of the pie. Instead of shiny pie, it looks like toothpaste. Oh well.
Voodoo – Woot! Long crits make me happy! What am I going for? I’m still not sure. I’m just marching through subject matter trying to figure that out. Ooh, you’re joining the fun? Please let me know when you’ve got your dailies posted somewhere! Oh, and I will check out your recently finished piece soon. Thanks!
Crimsoneye – thanks. :-) Are you speaking of Duane Keiser’s videos? I’m not him, I’m just a beginner trying to learn the craft. Good luck with the oils! Acrylics have their uses, but if you want the look or feel of oils, only oils will do.

This weekend I absolutely must buy a shop light. The sun has dipped a little too low in the winter sky to be useful as a direct lightsource, and I am sick of trying to get decent light from lamps that were made for mood lighting.

Yet another painting hampered by not enough sleep and crappy lighting:

[Seedling]

I need to buy more orange paint now.