Thursday, April 16, 2015

Back to School, Part 4

Erev Shabbat (sabbath eve) in Tsfat (Safed) Israel, 16" X 20" oil painting on stretched canvas. I enjoyed working on this despite my difficulty with greens.  The teacher and my classmates were all very helpful. You can buy a card or print directly from my website. The original is also for sale. More information is available on that site too.

One thing we all agreed about in class is that no matter how hard you try to photograph or scan an original painting, the colors never quite look the same as the original.  I have two monitors and when I look at the same JPG photo, it looks different on each one even though the monitors are from the same manufacturer.

I haven't been writing every week as I have been busy with the Passover holiday, my painting, family and gardening. Now that winter is (hopefully) finished here, I have lots of cleanup work in my yard to catch up with. I cleaned my vegetable patch and planted some onion sets. They are very hardy and will survive another frost if we have one more.

Meanwhile, I finished two more paintings.


Monarch Amid the Mums, oil painting on canvas board, 9" X 12". I painted this from a photo I took several years ago.  The monarch butterfly was kind enough to stay long enough on my flowers that I had time to grab my camera and take some photos.


Birches at First Connecticut Lake, 9" X 12", oil on Ampersand panel. I found it more difficult working on the Ampersand panel instead of canvas.  I have ordered a few different types of panels to try out and experiment with. I enjoy trying new processes and playing with new art supplies.

Meanwhile, I have started two new paintings with ocean/sea views. One is of the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach with Pelicans on a big rock. I am doing that one with a palette knife.  I only have one more class left in this series, so I may not get it done by the end of the semester.  I also played with colors and did a small painting based on the colors in a scarf that I like.  I don't know if I'll do anything to finish that one, or just use it as a background for a card later one.

The other painting I started is a view from Caesaria (Israel) of the Mediterranean Sea. I had done that one before in a very abstract manner. (It was done on Yupo paper)  The oil painting will be a little more colorful and realistic.

Happy Spring!




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