King of the hill

So here's the latest. I struggled to find a composition I liked.... even had one completely roughed in that I hated so I wiped it clean and started again.

I've started using mediums. No, not the I-see-dead-people kind of mediums... the oily kind. For the paint. Trying the fat over lean train of thought. Not sure if it's working for me or not but I'm making an effort to at least try all the possibilities I read about. Since I normally work on small pieces that are finished in less than 24 hours (ie before anything dries), it's probably not necessary. Seems more relevant to larger, long term paintings.

Like the wallpaper? I imagineered that myself.

The photo is not a great depiction but the phone started ringing and frankly, I'm too tired. If this ends up in the shop, I'll reshoot.

18/50

King of the hill
14" x 11"
Oil on canvas

Shady doodles

Not feeling the painting bug this past day or so. I've become a blob on the couch, devouring season after season of Stargate SG1 with occasional doodle breaks. See above.

Guacamole Prequel

This is the final version

This is a painting of an alien cyclops head dissection. No... wait a second. I was thinking of a different project. This one's a sliced avocado.

I always get those mixed up.

I'm going to let this one dry and retackle the background. The shadows look a bit of a mess to me. Too many indecisive strokes? I dunno. Can't decide.


SOLD
Guacamole Prequel
8" x 8"
Oil on Masonite


17/50

Sergeant Major

"Marching up and down the square not good enough for you? Right. Off with you then." Michael Palin's Sergeant Major in The Meaning of Life always cracks me up.

Sergeant Major
8" x 8"
Oil on masonite

The great stone face

Buster Keaton was a comedy star of the silent film era. I've been enjoying watching some of his clips on You Tube this week.

According to Wikipedia, he made his own hats. His famous pork pie hat is actually a Stetson with the top cut off and the brim stiffened with concentrated sugar water. Apparently he went through at least a half dozen per movie (his physical comedy was hard on hats). He and his third wife Eleanor made thousands during his long career.

This painting is the result of the last few evenings. I'm happy with it but as I mentioned to a friend, I'm ready to try some larger canvases -- especially when painting people. Trying to do facial detail with tiny brushes in a couple of square inches of space can be aggravating.

The great stone face

Oil on canvas

11" x 14"

Vase still life

I didn't feel feel like fussing much over the photo of this one so it's a shoddy photo of a shoddy painting. Making it was great, though. I went to my friend Nick's studio last week. He set up this still life and we had a crack at capturing it. In the early stages I got hung up on the vase detail and was discouraged when it didn't turn out as planned. The rest of the painting is made up of impatiently applied blobs... which ended up being slightly more interesting than the vase. The piece needs more work but I'm walking away from it. I can't be arsed.

Nick is an accomplished painter and a patient teacher. You should go buy something from his shop. At least give it a good browsing.

I don't think I mentioned it yet but I've set goal for myself to do 50 paintings by the end of the year.  I think this one makes 14. So far, I'm on track.

Yes, the crap paintings count.

Fruity bouquet

I couldn't decide between painting an apple or painting a bottle.

SOLD
Fruity bouquet
Oil on canvas
11" x 14"