"Habanero Peppers"

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"Habanero Peppers"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Board

I started with a dry brush, I took the drawing a bit further than usual which helped to get my local tones in there right placements.

I applied a very thin passage my first go around, I went from the mid tones to the lighter tones.  I did the same with the stems.  You can see that I left the lightest lights untouched, I didn't add any color to the area.  I figured there's nothing whiter than the canvas itself so it gives me a good indication how the lights will look in the final result.

I then proceeded and filled in the base and background, I applied thin paint to just get a general feel what colors I'll be playing around with.

I then put more information with the base and went around the peppers and handled the edges in different manners.  I went back into the peppers and started to add the smaller shapes work on the highlights and subtleties.  I was about to leave it in this stage and call it a day but thankfully my girlfriend got a look at the painting and said the dark edges of the peppers where to hard.  I agreed with her 100%, thats why it's a good idea not to work on a painting straight through, well for me it's not.  I think its better when I take a mini-break and come back to it with fresh eyes and see what I have to improve on.

This is the finished painting, I messed around with the colors in photoshop to bring it as true as I can to the original.  I think the original looks better but I guess that goes with any paintings you see in person.  This was a fun painting to do overall, I usually don't work on the weekends but today was just a laid back day and wanted to produce another little painting.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Thai Eggplants

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"Thai Eggplants"    
12 x 12 in

  Oil on Canvas Board

I started the same way as I usually do with a dry brush and took the drawing a little further.

Then I added the local color and did a little bit of big form modeling, primarily I keep it loose in this stage.  I did the same with the stem but did not add any of the mid tones or lighter tones, I figured with the slight hint of the darks should be enough to give it form.

Then I added the local color to the base and started the background as well.

After adding the local colors overall I then went around the edges of the eggplants and made some areas blurry and some hard.  I did the same with the base, then I went back into the eggplant and worked on getting the modeling right with the big forms.  If the forms are not turning no matter how much paint you put or highlights you add its just not going to look right.  After I felt comfortable with the big forms being modeled I then moved onto the stems, I applied the same level of attention as I did with the eggplant.

This is the finished painting, I went back into the eggplant and smoothed out some areas added a couple details that gives these little guys their character.  With this painting I was constantly pushing the edges further than what they were to give the illusion of going back into the distance and coming forward.  Usually I do not like having hard edges with my paintings, once you have a hard edge it becomes a highlight your eyes are constantly going to it.  Now don't get me wrong there are some areas in the painting where hard edges are a must, but you have to know when to use them.  Hope you enjoyed this one!

"Pepper"

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"Pepper"

6 x 8 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started this one with a dry brush, and essentially I paint all these small paintings in this manner.  I use no mediums for these quick paintings, which has been interesting so far.

I love the beginning process of these paintings because I am not concerned with blending it too perfection, I just paint freely and try not going to tight.  

After I get it to a mid level I move onto the stem of the pepper.  At this stage I am introducing the local colors and modeling the bigger forms.

I then filled in the background and the base, again just keeping it loose to get the local color and model the big forms.

This is the final painting, I took the base further as well as the pepper.  I had a lot of fun rendering this painting, I learned a lot and how to keep things in a certain stage and take things further without looking too over modeled. 

"Holland Baby Eggplant"

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"Holland Baby Eggplant"

8 x 6 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

Since I am not able to film my process, I have gone back to recording it through pictures.  I started the same way I have done all my other paintings with a dry brush to get a rough estimate where everything is going to be placed.

I would usually fill in the background before painting the subject itself, but this time I opted to just paint the pepper to get a rough feel of it.  The picture does not pick up the correct colors and value, but I did not go to dark in order to fill it in towards the end to avoid sinking in areas through out my painting.

As soon as the big form modeling is done with the pepper and stem, I then filled in the background with a light blue.

After filling in the light blue in the background I then covered the base where the pepper rests on.  This picture shows it darker than it needs to be, now I have all the information I need to go further and add the smaller forms and finish the painting.

This is the finished painting, I added a lot of smaller forms where it needed to be put.  You can tell the colors are really different from the previous pic, I put it in photoshop and brought out the true colors that the camera for some reason does not pick up.  I'm really happy with this painting and enjoyed painting this delicate pepper, hope you enjoy!

"Tomatoes"

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"Tomatoes"

8 x 6 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

This was a quick painting I did for a video I filmed, but to my disliking I was not able to upload it to the iMovie on my mac.  I was very excited to edit the video and put some nice music but I guess it was not meant to be.  I want to paint more tomatoes in different views, this was a very quick painting and got the feel I wanted, hope you enjoy!

"Foot in the Door"

This was the entrance to the "Foot in the Door"show, it was held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  The line to get in was about a 45 minute wait, and it wrapped around three rooms.  Their was so much artwork that it overflowed to the outside of the gallery as you can see in this pic.  

There was so much artwork and people it was a little overwhelming, I could not find my piece in the sea of art.

Found it!

Ivan!

My wonderful girlfriend, Ivan and I!  

I have to say when I was looking for it I was a little nervous that they would have placed it to high for anyone to see, but it was placed perfect at eye level.  This is the first time I have shown my ball point pen drawing in a public show, I'm very proud and pleased with the result.  I hope you enjoyed it!

"Red Onion"

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"Red Onion"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started with a dry brush approach which I usually do with my other paintings.  Pretty straight forward just drawing the shapes, don't wanna get too detailed with the drawing or it'll take away from the painting.

I filled in the background as soon as the drawing was done, at times I like to paint the object first then the background.  Wanted to have the background a little dramatic with the lighting, just stating the overall colors not going too dark or light in the first phase.  I am also keeping the paints pretty thin at this stage, if you go too thick in the beginning it makes it harder to shift the value and chroma.

After the background is at the middle stage I then move on to the onion, worrying about big forms first then making the shapes turn and having the right chroma and value.  Then I start to add a bit more of the smaller shapes after the bigger shapes are stated.

At this stage it starts getting more meticulous with the smaller shapes or the details.  Remember the details are the supporting casts to the whole picture not the leading role.  I started adding smaller shapes to the wood and also to the onion leafs.

This was the original final painting, then I got a good comment that the background was not good enough which I agreed.

This is the finished painting, I went back into the background and stated the lighter colors in the shadows, also made the lights brighter to give it that dramatic feel.  I also went in and stated the darker darks in the onion and the wood, hope you enjoyed this one!

"Tangerine 2"

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"Tangerine 2"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

With the beginning of this painting I was more in tune with the drawing for some reason.  I guess because I started a ball point pen drawing yesterday and when that happens I usually tend to draw the same way with the brush.  You can see that I went straight to the background worrying about the overall temperature.

Once I have my background filled in I moved towards the base, making sure I get the correct chroma and value.  Once that is in the correct place I then move to the tangerine, at this stage I go into big form modeling.  You can see that I go dark into light with the modeling, I don't go too dark with the darks I leave that till the end of the painting.

Once my big form is modeled to my liking, I move on to the leaves.  I'm only filling in the darks with the leaves the same way I handled the tangerine.  Then when I am done with the modeling the big form I move onto the smaller forms, I start adding the subtleties and also the placement of the highlight.

This is the finished painting, you can see after I added the smaller forms with in the tangerine I moved towards the leaf's and did the same.  There is no mediums used through out these paintings so it's interesting to see how they react to the surface and through out the duration of the painting.  Especially the darks, when I started this painting the darks where stated but not to its fullest dark, towards the end of the painting they were already sinking in.  The lights were also fun to do, you can be so expressive with the lights, it's hard not going into them in the beginning of the painting.  Hope you enjoy!

"Zug"

"Zug"

9 1/2 x 11 3/4 in

Oil on Canvas Board

This painting I have had for a while but forgot to post, I have the process of it on my youtube video section.  This was done in Zug, Switzerland it was a lot of fun to do.  I am not much of Plein Air painter but this really made me wanna do more, being in Switzerland and soaking up the beautiful scenery was just breathtaking.  The mountains were so inspiring too paint it was hard to paint indoors, every where you looked was a painting waiting to happen.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did!

"Squash"

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"Squash"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Belgium Linen Panel

I started this painting with a dry brush like I always do unless its more of a complicated setup.

I did not fill in the background, I went straight into the squash.  Did not go to dark with my darks, wanted to just have a general feel of the value and chroma.  

After establishing the big form modeling with the squash, I went to the base and moved to the background as well.  Always making sure to keep everything soft.

After the background is filled in, I started to work on the smaller shapes within the squash.  Again always squinting not worrying too much on details, although they are attractive you have to ignore them at this stage.

This is the final painting, this was more of a challenge in the end to finish.   There is so much details within the squash and subtleties that it's visually tricky to pull off.  I learned from this one a lot and wanted to go more into details, but kept myself back because details are not the answer.  Squinting and getting the general feel too me is more important.  The details serve as a supporting role not the lead.  Hope you enjoy!