Garconne

Louise Brooks

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$100

     I have recently been fascinated by limited palette and have examined several. For this painting I used the most limited I found: ultramarine blue, alizarin permanent, and yellow ochre (and white, of course).

     I am so amazed by the unity and range of color. I struggled with the painting and the process went haltingly, but I am pleased and eager to try another soon. 

     As for Louise Brooks, she is very cute with her bob, little bitty straight eyebrows, and pouty lipstick. They called the look Garconne. Louise is from the 20's, an earlier period than I usually use, but I like her very much. 

     The image from the internet that I used was not good resolution. She was a little out of focus. Maybe that is just as well.

Ava's Hat

Ava's Hat

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Ava Gardner--pure beauty. They say she had auburn hair and green eyes. I like to think she was also nice and smart. I have painted her before and will paint her again. But those Hollywood photos are so manipulated with back light and fill light that you cannot get a good light source effect, so I just make it up the best I can.

Not Gene

Not Gene

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

 

     Painting these little faces is my favorite studio time. I always start with someone specific in mind, but as I paint, the face so often turns into someone else. That someone seems so real to me that I allow it to be and enjoy it instead of fretting over not capturing the likeness I had in mind at the beginning. I realize this kind of thinking would not take me very far if I were in the portrait painting business.

Floppy Roses

Oil on Canvas

8x8"

$128

     We have roses at our new place, and they are where the deer cannot get them. I am hoping for many poses from these roses. 

     This little painting took four tries. I just knew it could work out although I decided to give it up over and over again. I really expect a lot from my canvas to withstand the scrubbings it sometimes has to go through.

Simone

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     So many faces, so little time.

Stella 6

Oil on Canvas

6x18"

$100

     Another little magnolia. This time on an extreme rectangle.

Dark Glow

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     I will not point out the specific flaws that I now see. There are probably plenty that I still do not see. I just cannot see everything.  If I keep looking, maybe I will get better at seeing. Our own faces are not perfectly perfect either. I still think she is beautiful.

Lauren

Oil on Canvas

6 x 6"

$100

     Faces. Without doubt, my favorite thing to paint. I am currently choosing the black and white photographs of the actresses of the 1940's. The lighting is usually interesting, and the poses are a mixture of allure and innocence or pure sophistication. I prefer that to the broad, heavy-handed treatment of sex-appeal that is so often used these days.

Three Galas

Three Galas

Oil on Canvas

12 x 12"

$288

     Bill enjoys Galas and I enjoy Fujis. He says tomaytoes and I say tomahtoes. In any language, red apples, upside down or right side up, are wonderful to paint.

Post Office Poppies #2

Post Office Poppies #2

Oil on Canvas

6x18"

$110

     A host of bright red poppies! How to paint each one and yet give the image a focal point. I think the thing to do is to make some of them touching to create a shape that draws the eye, leaving the others as supporting cast. Now I think of that. I painted what I saw and forgot I could move things around if I wanted to.

Post Office Poppies

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     There was a riotous display of these Oriental poppies in the planter along the parking lot at my post office. I took lots of pictures, just random shots, not knowing if anything could come of it. There were hundreds of poppies, but I chose just these few petals to paint this time.

Library Poppies

Library Poppies

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     These poppies grew in the parking lot of my local library. The way the front petal dipped over was as pretty as a picture. Poppies are delightful with their pure bright color, but the trouble in painting them comes in choosing a background color. Nature usually provides the perfect complement, but in painting nature, my work sometimes looks...not so good. Here I kept the colors mainly in the same family instead of going complementary. Maybe not so bad.

Yellow Scarf

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Painting from photographs can be tricky. The camera does not see as well as our eyes do to discern subtle variations in color and shadow. But when you try to paint from the black and white glamor photos from the 30's and 40's, it gets even trickier. The photographers would use back light, fill light, and I don't know what else. It is hard to know where the light source really is. Very tricky. But the beauty and glamor is thrilling to paint. I think I will never tire of it. Meanwhile, I get to work on my color theory. Nothing in a B&W to influence and confuse me.

 

Greta

Oil on canvas

6x8"

$110

     As time goes by I hope to do better with likeness. Sometimes it comes so easily, and other times, not so much. I loved the angle in this pose. I naturally want to straighten and line up the features as I paint, but I did a pretty good job of leaving them on an angle this time.

My Mannequin

My Mannequin

Oil on Canvas

8x6"

$96

     This week's Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint something that is beside your easel. I looked around and did not like the pots of brushes and trays of paints. What could I paint? Then I saw this little friend who holds my color wheel. He has never helped me paint a figure although I think that is the intention of this little tool. I just think he is cute and I like having him around. So I painted him. Here he is.

Sunbath

Sunbath

11x14"

Oil on canvas

$308

     Imagine how restful it would be if all you had to do right now is lie in the sun. I liked the way the sun hit that little foot tucked underneath her with her other foot and tail hanging loosely and relaxed in the shadow. I almost chose to do just her face, but her whole pose captured my deeper interest.

In Blue

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     If anyone were to ask me who this is, I would have to decline to answer. That is because I did not get the likeness and they would know I fell short of the mark. I did not try to fix it because I always worry about overworking the paint, and besides, as she became someone else I started to like her.

 

Loy

Oil on Canvas

6x6" 

$100

     Each face I do becomes my favorite face. I am enjoying this so much I have forgotten my original goal which was to try for abstract expression and value-color choice over local-color choice. By saying that I remind myself to pay attention to my intention. We will see if I can do it. Abstraction! It is so difficult.

     Loy. What kind of name is that? Nora Charles I understand. Is it Irish?

Claire

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$100

     Claire Trevor was always interesting to watch. The photograph for this painting must have been taken when she was seventeen. She was as flawless as an angel. She looks a little mad here, but she really was very pretty. I loved her in Key Largo.

Miranda

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Carmen Miranda, the girl in the "Tutti Frutti Hat."  She is very adorable. I dreaded painting her teeth, but I could not avoid it. So many of the glamorous ladies of the period had the sense to keep their mouths closed, but Carmen could not contain her personality. She was great fun to paint, teeth and all.