Orange Bouquet Daily Painting

Orange Bouquet
Oil/Acrylic on board
24" x24"

So here it is - pretty much finished - but not a great photo. "Not great photos" seems to be a current theme, that needs to change. I wonder how and why I have gotten so bad at taking photos? Maybe it's because I have been lazy about taking them downstairs and out on the porch to photograph like I used to. Maybe - but anyway  it's too wet still to go running through the house with it. I did not go where I wanted to go with this painting, that is for sure. But it is a happy painting and for that I am glad - it will make someone happy too. I have someone in mind for it.

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Still underpainting today

I wasted a ton of time today. I think out of fear.

When I did finally mosey into the studio I  was grabbing at smoke again, so I just started painting. Using acrylics still. I am afraid that if I switch to oil now I will begin picking away and noodling - maybe. Probably. After I took the photo I decided I had lost all the drama of the light and threw this diox purple wash over it.

Now maybe I am sorry I did that. I don't know though. I do know that this is NOT going where I was hoping - although it isn't bad and I can probably pull off a pleasant enough painting from it.  I hope tomorrow I don't waste so much time and I get right to painting in the morning before I have to go to work.

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Underpainting on the easel today

Underpainting for something
acrylic on board
24" x 24"

I am posting the photo of what is on my easel, even though it is just a start, just an underpainting. Maybe it will be interesting to see how it develops.You may want to skip the rest of  today's blog. You've been warned. If you continue, prepare to be bored. This painting and this blog post is for me and might not be a so very interesting rambling.

I have a restlessness going on inside that I can't explain, and it is not new. I enjoy painting the little birds, and pears, and still lifes, and portraits. I enjoy it - but it feels empty and kind of meaningless to an extent. The abstracts have much more substance for me actually. But they are so darn HARD to do and I can never tell if they are good or not. I can't judge them like I can the traditional "realistic" stuff. I mean a pear looks like a pear, a bird like a bird and if you don't get it right - it's obvious to anyone. How do I know if I don't get an abstract right? Blah, blah, blah. Ok, now I am boring myself.

I found myself flipping through books and magazines - looking at painting techniques and styles for the umpteenth time. I know I had an idea in my head and I wasn't seeing it or finding it anywhere I looked. Is that looking outside of myself for inspiration? maybe that is the issue. But as usual, the idea I had in my head, the image that was floating around in my head, was vague and ethereal. It is always like trying to catch smoke. I know it's there, it's real and yet unattainable. And like smoke, when I go after it, it shifts and changes and slips just out of reach, reforming, eventually dissipating.  Out of frustration I decided to just go paint - just start and see what happens. I knew I had some photos of the orange flowers that I loved and that was as good as anything for now. And I knew I wanted to do something larger. I started by drawing with charcoal thinking I would try to preserve some of the drawing and then the next thing I knew everything was covered up with paint. I used acrylic as I didn't have a lot of time and I knew it was just a start. My intention is to finish in oil - but we will see. Now the idea has dissipated again, and I am not sure where to go next. I have ideas - but I am not sure which one to go with, and they are all vague anyway. I guess it will just happen.
One thing I learned from Bob Burridge is to write down my intentions, composition and color scheme etc right at the start so this doesn't happen. But how do I write down smoke? Once again - a struggle of passion and substance - or the lack thereof maybe...with a touch of ADHD mixed in for good measure. I want thick juicy paint with a good amount of texture, rich, intense bright color. More abstract than representational. Directional, dramatic light and shadow. Interesting line work.  Something to shoot for tomorrow. I am also eager to get back to the Joyful project - maybe I can work on both tomorrow. Maybe....



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Daily Painting - Another Blue Bird

Blue Bird 2
8" x 6"
Oil on board

Here is today's little painting. Not much to say about it - it's OK I guess. It's fun to paint but I think I don't like the "pose" - I may have to redo it from a different angle tomorrow, or maybe not. We will see tomorrow.



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Daily Painting - Blue Bird

Blue Bird

6" x 8"

oil on board

I have these cute little resin blue birds, which I bought because I love birds, but also because I thought they would be fun to paint.  Then for some reason I decided it was stupid and cheesy, and stuck them in my closet. Why? Sometimes there is just no 'splainin' me. I painted this yesterday, but when I went to photograph it, my camera battery was dead, then by the time it recharged it was too dark And that is the way it goes around here. Again it is really too wet to photograph and will have to be redone - too many highlight speckles from the wet paint again.


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Daily Painting - Shell

 

I haven't done a knife painting in quite a while and I loved doing this. I forgot how much! This may be my favorite way to paint actually. There are a lot of little highlight speckling in this photo, as it is still on the easel and really, really wet. I started out thinking I would do a companion piece to this other shell (see below), which I did last year I think. As usual, the painting just took it's own path, and while I am pretty happy with it I wouldn't call it a companion piece. One is a knife painting and the other is a brush painting - lots of difference in textures. Guess I will have to try again.

By the way - did you know you can double click on the photos and they will open larger? Yep, try it - you can see a lot more detail that way.

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New Cupcake Image

I shot a new photo of the cupcake image and here it is. Still working on learning my new camera - it is a simple little thing - but it seems to be tripping me up. So here it is - now it seems like the blue of the back ground is rather pale, but this is it. It is pretty close. I also sent it in to the Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge site.


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Didgeridoo Guy

Over the weekend Rick and I went down to Art-walk on the Bay at Seaport Village. It was a beautiful day. While we were there we encountered this guy playing a didgeridoo. I have never seen or heard one before, although Rick had on his recent trip to Australia. This is unedited - which I will apologize for in advance - you will see why - LOL. It 's just that I have a new camera and have no idea how to do the video thing, and well, when you are in a public place, you just can't control what people do either.
Not know anything about didgeridoos I looked on Wikipedia and learned that, among other things, that playing the didgeridoo requires circular breathing, which means you are breathing in through your nose while at the same time breathing out through your mouth...and that is can reduce or stop sleep apnea and snoring.



view on you tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5pV7IaMjSU

This man played for very long stretches at a time, and played much more interesting sounds and tunes than what I have recorded here - and had little kids dancing up a storm, but as I said I don't know how to work my camera and I thought I was video recording when I wasn't So I hope you enjoy this - I sure did.

Oh! I just found an even better video of him on you tube - check this out!



Or view the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3iBe6J8lrY

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Cupcake Oil Painting Today

Cupcake
5" x 8"
Oil on board

I did this painting for the Different Strokes From Different Strokes web challenge. I may have to rephotograph it though. The background color looks nearly perfect as well as the shadow colors - but the frosting looks too blue. Thank you to Dominique Eichi for reminding me about the challenge. I really enjoy doing it and it's fun to see how many different ways there are to interpret the same thing. It felt so good to paint again, to do a sort of traditional oil. I may do a couple more before I return to my abstract experiments.


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Determined!

Yep - that is what I am. Determined to get back on track creating daily. So I didn't get to paint today but - I did make my first ever banner - for my Etsy Shop. I am not crazy about it but it is OK for now. I also assembled a bookshelf for my painting studio and started reorganizing a little bit, worked on my Etsy shop and some behind the scenes stuff on my web site, and a bunch of other piddly annoying little tasks, as well as fighting a headache. So while I didn't paint - I was certainly working...




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This is what happens -

Yep - this is what happens when I don't paint for a long time - I will call this a start. Why in the world is it so hard to get back into a routine that I love after being disrupted for a while? I mean, I can see struggling if it was something I didn't want to do - but that is not the case at all. I am plugging along trying to get reoriented. I have so many things I want to do, so many ideas for paintings. I figure about the time I get regrouped and back in the groove of things it will be time for another trip to Ohio to check on my mother and the house there. It takes me forever to recover mentally, emotionally and physically from those trips. There is just something about Toledo that sucks the life out of me.

By the way - I have gotten a fairly acceptable web site up and running. It still needs a lot of work and editing - but it is OK for now. Check it out - I am open to suggestions for improvement. I am to the point of hiring someone to do it for me if only I had some money!
nathaliedavis.com



Have you visited me here?

I May Not Be A Genius, But...
Nathalie Davis web site
Nathalie S Davis Blog