30 in 30 - Day 30 - Garlic Emerging with palette knife

"Garlic Emerging"

Oil, 6" x 6" on gesso board.

$100.00 

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2 years ago I took a workshop with two fabulous painters, one painted with bright, transparent colors and the other with a palette knife. I did great with color and I was horrible with the palette knife.  In spite of the demos I couldn't hold the knife or move the knife correctly - I had palette knife block!  Since this 30 days of painting had a lot of experiments in it, I thought I would try another emerging painting using the palette knife and I loved it!  So, Leslie Saeta, it only took two years but I now "get" the palette knife.  Thank you for this 30 Day Challenge and for your patient palette knife training long ago.

30 in 30 - Day 29 - Gerbera Emerging

"Gerbera Emerging"

Oil, 6" x 6" on gesso board.

$100.00 

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For a while I have been thinking about doing a painting where the object looks like it is materializing out of the background. I made a few piles of paint in different shades and then painted the flower in first, starting with lightest shade first.  After I put the flower in I started on the background, starting next to the flower and working out to the edges of the board.

30 in 30 - Day 28 - Wicked

"Wicked"

Ink

Print Available.

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I was interested in exploring  some other colors in the Halloween palette - olives, grays and black. The other day I was wearing green and black with striped socks and a friend told me I looked like the Wicked Witch of the West.  Perhaps that is what inspired this piece.

30 in 30 - Day 27 - Pumpkink

"Pumpkink"

Ink

Print available.

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I wanted to see if I could do a combination of drawing in ink and the abstract and this is what I came up with.  I applied the drawing first and waited for it to dry before I added the abstract elements. At some point it reminds me of stained glass.

30 in 30 - Day 26 - Painting on Furniture

"Audrey on Red Stool"

Oil, 8", on wood stool.

This 30 day challenge has had me doing a lot of experimenting.  Today I thought it would try using furniture as my canvas.  The flower is a small version of a large piece I did earlier this year. The stool is 8" across and 9" high so it it pretty small. Painting on this piece was a bit awkward at first as I tried to figure out the best angle to paint at and where to put my materials.  What do you think about furniture as a canvas?

30 in 30 - Day 25 - Pears on Tile

"Pears on Tile"

Oil, 4" x 4" on tumbled tile.

Today I decided to try using a different surface for the painting, tumbled tile. I used a smaller brush to accommodate the reduced surface area.  The bumpy surface was definitely interesting to work on.  I let some tile peek through the blue background and left it exposed around the edges. I had no idea what to expect but I now have some ideas about next time!  

30 in 30 - Day 24 - Green Shades

"Green Shades"

Oil, 6" x 6" on gesso board.

$100.00 

Click here to purchase.

I was reading about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's opening today, "50 Years of Collecting Islamic Art". With the story, an image was posted of a circa 1700 tapestry from India, "Chand Bibi Hawking with Attendants in a Landscape". The detail in the landscape is beautiful - hills of cream, brown, pink and green - so many different shades of green. The many greens in that landscape are what inspired this abstract piece.