PEACHES AND CHERRIES ARE BACK IN SEASON

It makes me very happy that peaches and cherries are back in season, because I like them, both as a snack and as a subject for quick sketches made during my lunch hour. I set up a little cardboard box and lamp in my office at work again.

The background for these first images is a navy blue reusable grocery bag that I turned inside out to hide the store's logo. Thinking about it, maybe I should do one with the logo showing. These are all oil on canvas panels that I made.

7 May, 2014 Peaches 8x10"

12 May, 2014 Cherries 8x10"

13 May, 2014 Cherries 8x10"

 I wanted to use a different background color, so I raided my wife Leslie's supply of quilting fabrics for a piece of yellow cloth. She'll never know I took it, because she hasn't worked on a quilt in several years. And she never reads my blog. Then again, no one reads my blog.

14 May, 2014 Cherries 10x8"

On this last one from May 15, I tried to soften some of the edges in the receding cherries a bit more. I was reminded that I had too many sharp edges in the May 14th study. (Thanks, Bruce!) I should probably revisit the May 14th one to play with the edges before the paint dries. I like the look of the red fruit on the yellow background.

15 May, 2014 Cherries 10x8"

END OF 2013 - BEGINNING OF 2014 PAINTINGS

Some of the most recent quick sketches in my watercolor moleskin, using casein paint. The images are each about 8x5"

I didn't know I was doing a rotting fruit series, but the 3rd image indicates that apparently I am... I really need to eat my apples before they get to this stage, but they do make interesting subjects when they look like this.

I've also been doing small studio still life studies in oil:

clothespins 8x10" SOLD

Clay Pots 9x12"

Floral Still Life 11x14"

The dark green background for this 11x14" oil of an enamel coffee pot full of flowers was my windbreaker! 

I was unhappy with the way I painted the background for this Chianti bottle. Although it was an accurate representation of the color and shadow as I saw it, I thought it was too warm and too distracting; it drew your eye away from the focal point. I revisited it a few weeks later. I was much happier with it once I made the background cooler, and darker overall. It made the bottle and grapes pop .

On the left is a jar full of dark home-roasted coffee beans, and on the right is one of the last remaining bottles of my late mother's homemade tomato juice. Both are 10x8" oil.

Before the weather got cold, I did a few field studies.

Bull Creek 8x10"

Boggy Creek Farm 9x12"

Antique Rose 8x6"

Falls at Bull Creek 12x9"

Rustic Farmhouse 9x12"

 Chevrolet at Michaelis Ranch 8x10"

I seriously hate the way the Blogger interface works. I can never get the image layout to do anything close to what I want it to do.

MORE LUNCHTIME DAILY PAINTINGS

Over the last few weeks, I've been continuing the habit of doing a small painting during my lunch hour (most days). These are a few of the most recent ones. I have a small lamp with a daylight bulb clipped onto a cardboard box, and I set up a small still life inside it. I made these panels by gluing the last of my primed canvas onto masonite.

19 August, 2013 Figs #2 6x8" oil

The composition of this next one would probably work better if it were cut down to a 6x6" panel.

21 August, 2013 Figs #3 8x6" oil

26 August 2013 A Single Pear 8x6" oil

This painting of M&Ms was painted on a canvas made of hemp, which has a pretty nice texture, much like linen. I primed it with acrylic gesso, then rubbed some burnt sienna acrylic onto the canvas to tone the surface and keep the gesso from soaking up the paint too much. Painting candy on a canvas made of hemp really opens me up for jokes about "the munchies" so I'll let you take a moment now to make one.

28 August 2013 M&Ms 8x10" oil SOLD

The next model came from a bakery near my office. They make incredible kolaches and cinnamon rolls, and I struggled as I tried to decide to eat it, or paint it first.

29 August, 2013 Kolache 6x8" oil

10 September 2013 Granny Smith 6x8" oil

LUNCHTIME DAILY PAINTINGS

For the past several weeks, I've been using my lunch hour to paint small still life setups in my office at work. I clipped a lamp onto a cardboard box, and placed my objects onto a piece of fabric. I used a converted cigar box as my easel. It is small enough so that a piece of cling film covers the paint and keeps it from skinning over between painting sessions. I put a few small bottle caps of clove oil in with the paint. This also keeps the paint soft (and smells nice too).

simple still life stage

Peaches and cherries have been in season, so they have been my main subject. I paint them, then eat them. These paintings were all done in about an hour.

9 July 2013 Texas Peaches 8x10" SOLD

10 July 2013 Rainier Cherries 6x8"

11 July 2013 Rainier Cherries 6x8"

12 July 2013 Rainier Cherries 6x8"

17 July 2013 Texas Peaches 6x8"

29 July 2013 Figs 6x8"

30 July 2013 Figs 6x8"

5 August 2013 Apple and Cherries 6x8"

6 August 2013 Fruit 8x10"

8 August 2013 Cherries 6x8"

13 August 2013 Bottle and Grapes 10x8"

I've owned this pewter goblet for years, but this is the first time I've ever painted it. The perspective got a little wonky, making it lean slightly. I'll have to try again.

14 August 2013 Goblet and Grapes 10x8"

WATERCOLOR SKETCH BOX & CIGAR BOX POCHADE

I recently made a small watercolor box to take outside with my sketchbook during lunch. I made it out of an  older Altoids tin with a smooth top; newer ones have the name embossed on the lid. I had a bunch of tubes of Winsor & Newton watercolors at home, otherwise I would have just bought a set.  I used a section of a mini ice cube tray for the wells, chopping it off a with a Dremel tool. It's an extremely tight fit, and probably wouldn't need any glue to hold it in;  I glued it in anyway. I sprayed the lid with white appliance epoxy paint.

Altoids Tin Watercolor Box

It's a nice accompaniment for the cigar box pochade I made last year for small oil sketches. The box cost $1.00 at a local cigar shop and the palette and brush holder were made from scraps of 1/8" plywood that I had in the garage. I glued some 1/4 round molding to the palette so it snaps onto the side of the box without any screws. The brush holder is held on by a small thumbscrew with a plastic knob, and a box lid support keeps the box open if it gets windy. A 6x8" panel is held in place by a piece of spring steel from a picture frame, even when the lid is closed. A 1/4-20 nut in a small block of wood connects it to a tripod. I painted the inside of the box, and added a piece of glass for my dabs of paint. I found a small US Army map pouch at a surplus store that fits the box perfectly. It also holds a mini tripod that I got at the local Big Lots store, but that one is a bit flimsy, so I use a regular one most of the time.

Cigar Box Pochade mounted on a tripod.

This is the box I used for my pochade.

U.S. Army map pouch

Bottom of Palette

Everything but a full size tripod fits in the bag. 

LUNCHTIME PAINTING AT BULL CREEK

This painting of Bull Creek in Austin is one of my 45 minute "lunchtime paintings." I keep coming back to this same area because it's close to my office (about 10 minutes), and if I work quickly, I can get back to work in a little more than an hour. We had several days of rain, and the creek was full.

2012-03-21 Bull Creek 10x8"

I've circled the place where I painted. I stood in the shade, just under the bridge.

LUNCHTIME PAINTINGS JANUARY 21-27

I only made it out to paint a couple of times at lunch this week. It poured down rain and hail one day, and Thursday was Australia Day, so a group of us went to Boomerang's here in Austin for some Aussie pies.

As usual, I try to get finished in 45 minutes so I can get back to the office. The first one was done the day after we got 3" of rain dumped on us overnight. It still threatened rain, but it was a good day to go out and get some poison ivy on my wrists. No idea how, since I was wearing long sleeves.

2012-01-25 Cat Mountain 6x8"

The second one was done today. I walked around a park for a while trying to find something that I wanted to try to paint. I found nothing and was about to give up and go back to work when I looked down the road I was on and found a subject.

2012-01-27 Lakewood Drive 6x8"