"Ranunculus 2"

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"Ranunculus 2"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to paint another version of these beautiful flowers, as stated in previous post these guys remind me of peonies thus the reason I like painting them.  I've been so busy lately doing other paintings its always good to come back to these alla prima's and have a fresh eye.  I believe doing alla prima paintings are essential for painters, it keeps you fresh and allows you to experiment with your own technique.  I've been painting flowers for a good while now I have to say its taught me a lot with my own approach to painting.  Flowers have an abstract shape to them to me thats what makes them so beautiful, once you think of them as abstract shapes then it becomes easier to paint.  What I like about these ranunculus it seems as if the lights radiating from the middle of the flower, it's all in the coloring of the flower and how its dispersed through out its body.  It's amazing how mother nature conjured up all these wonderful flowers.

I started with usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber on the brush, I didn't want to get to detailed since I'll be adding most of the flowers in the later stages.  After the drawing stage is complete I stated the general colors with middle values, I don't want to add highlights or darker values just a a general statement.  The colors I used for this stage is titanium white, quinacridone magenta, naphthol red, viridian, and raw umber.

Then I added the background using yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, and titanium white.  Adding the background at this stage allows me to get a general feel of the colors.  I can now start adding darker values and their specific forms with the first batch of flowers.  The colors I used are ivory black, raw umber, and ultramarine blue.

Then I add lighter values and their specific forms, the colors I used for this stage is titanium white, quinacridone magenta, and naphthol red.  Once thats completed I start on the other section of flowers and repeat the same process.  I also use the same colors as I did before, I start adding middle and darker values and their specific forms.

Then I add lighter values and their specific forms.  I'm constantly going back and forth between values and adjusting them to the right look, this always happens when adding a new value.  Once the flowers are taken to a close finish I start on the stems and vase, I start on the middle to darker values and their specific forms.

Then I add the lighter values and their specific forms and take it to a finish, I then go back to the flowers and tweak some highlights and darker values.  Once I've taken the flowers to a finish I take the painting to a completion.  As stated before in the beginning I truly do love painting flowers they teach me so much about painting and its textures, it's great practice overall and enjoy every second of it.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing!

"Ranunculus"

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"Ranunculus"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Todays alla prima painting is of ranunculus, these beautiful flowers resemble peonies to me even though I know there not.  I went to my favorite coffee place in town and met up with a couple friends which I'm glad I did because I ran into these beautiful flowers.  They were sitting right on my table and instantaneously I fell in love, the movement within the petals and rich colors made it more of a reason to paint.  I thought I was going to be done with painting flowers for a while and suddenly changed course again after seeing these beautiful flowers.  That's one of the reasons why I love doing these alla prima's, you never know what your next painting might be and if you do it can change in a split second.  Inspiration comes from everything I see and what moves me is what I enjoy painting the most, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I've finally published the video of the portrait demo I did at dick blick last Saturday, thank you to everyone that was able to show up I greatly appreciate it and had a lot of fun.  I have the video on youtube you can see it by clicking here.  

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber on the brush, again not spending to much time on the inside of the drawing just stating the general shapes.  After the drawing is complete I start on the background the colors I used are ultramarine blue, naples yellow and titanium white.

After the background is complete I state the general colors and keep all the edges soft, I'm not concerned with details or the darkest values just the general statement of colors.  I keep the paints really thin at this stage this creates a base for when I put more paint it'll glide easier and blend better.  Then I state the darker and middle values and their specific forms, I start narrowing down the shapes at this stage still keeping the edges soft and subtle.  The colors I use at this stage are quinacridone magenta, viridian, cad. yellow, titanium white and ultramarine blue.

Once the darker and middle values are close to completion I start on the lighter values and their specific forms, I'm able to take the whole section of the flowers to a finish when painting this stage in.  I'm constantly going back and forth between values and adjusting them to their specific look that's why I get to a close finish with the darker values, when I paint the lighter values I can really take the whole area to a finish.  After the flower section is complete I start on the vase and also darken a bit of the lower section of the background to have more of a fall of light.

I sharpen a bit of the edges on the vase and add highlights which brings that section to a finish, then I go back to the flower and tweak certain highlights and shadows.  I'm glad I was able to run into these flowers today and paint them, I had fun doing so and learned something new.  I hope you enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by and viewing!

"Peonies Fuchsia"

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"Peonies Fuchsia"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I've been wanting to paint just fuchsia peonies and glad I did so, they have so deep colors within them I wish I had all the colors in the spectrum to render their beauty.  As stated in my other posts about peonies they are not easy to paint and especially when painting with the color fuchsia, you have to be careful in the way you apply lighter colors to the mix.  Peonies have such beautiful textures to them thats one of the main things I enjoyed the most about them, playing around with the brush and experimenting to see what kind of textures you can get is beyond fun.  With this painting I also decided to paint some baby peonies, they look so neat from there beginning stages all curled up and when they blossom they are even more beautiful.  To have baby peonies together with the full blossom ones gives a nice feel to the overall painting.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using a bit of raw umber on the brush just to get the main placement of the drawing down.  I was not concerned rendering every petal at this stage I wanted to just concentrate on the overall composition and how sat within the canvas, later I'll be able to render the peonies to finish when the base is applied.  After the drawing is complete I stated all the colors at once from the background to the stems and peonies, reason I did that is to have a general feel of the painting.  When working on such an intricate composition and there's so much going on its good to see the color harmony between each object.  I keep the paints thin at this stage I try not to get to thick, keeping the paints thin creates a base so I can easily maneuver around with my darks and lights in the later stages.  The colors I used are quinacridone magenta for the peonies, ultramarine blue and cad. yellow for the leaves and stem, and ultramarine blue and naples yellow for the background. 

After the general statement stage I move on to modeling the forms with the peonies, I make sure not to go to dark at this stage just to get the form turning in a subtle way.  The colors I use to mix with the peonies to turn the form is ultramarine blue and ivory black.  Then I start adding the darker values and its specific forms using the same colors as stated before.

Then I added the lighter values and its specific forms, at this stage I'm bouncing back and forth between values and adjusting them to the right look.  The colors I used for this stage is titanium white, naphthol red and quinacridone magenta.  After the top peonies are close to completion I them start on the bottom ones, I first add the darker values and its specific forms as I did with the previous stage.  I'm using the same colors as I did with the other peonies.

Then I add lighter values and its specific forms and take them to a close finish, again using the same colors as I did with the top peonies.  Then I work on the leaves and stems, I start to emphasize the darker values and its specific forms.  The colors I used in this stage were ultramarine blue, viridian, yellow ochre, cad. yellow pale.  After finishing the leaves I then went around all over and started softening edges, doing this effect pushed some peonies further back and in turn left the other peonies in focus.  I know I've said it in the past how important it is to soften edges and keep some sharper, but I cannot stress it enough.  Edges can make or break you'r painting its vital to understand them and pay close attention to them.  With my initial stages I like to keep all the edges soft this allows me to gradually build up in values and keep the form turning.  The later stages I start to add sharper edges to show more focus or where I want your eye to lead.  Edges are important in many ways they are fundamental from rendering and turning the forms to finishing the last touches in you'r painting, never lose sight of them and experiment as much as you can with them.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing, I hope you enjoyed this one!

"Fuchsia Peonies"

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"Fuchsia Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to mention that today is the one year anniversary of winning the Daily Painters contest, cannot thank all of you enough for making that happen.  It has been such a blessing in winning that competition and just every moment after that, it was one of the toughest times in waiting to see if I would win or not and glad it went the way it did.  Apart from the contest I've painted so much more prior to it, its taught me so much discipline and shown me how much fun one can have painting these little gems every day.  I enjoy the concept of discipling oneself to paint for a certain time of the day everyday (if you can), sounds so simple but yet it can be very complicated depending on one's schedule.  Not only they're fun to paint but they've taught me so much outside of the schooling I've had, to paint in a consistent manner every day you get to learn from your mistakes and try so many different approaches to your technique.  I thoroughly recommend it to anyone wanting to push themselves to that next level.  I think of it as sketching in your sketchbook every day you do it because it warms you up and it gets you better, the more you practice the better you'll get.  These alla prima's have been a blessing to me and truly feel so lucky to be able to get up every morning and paint these jewels.

    These peonies where a lot of fun to paint, I especially like the arrangement in composing them on the canvas.  The color pattern and fall of light on the peonies where just to good not to paint, as stated in the previous post when I painted another batch of peonies they can be very challenging to paint.  Aside from the challenges, it was a lot of fun playing with different textures and impastos.  I also enjoyed playing with the composition and getting the right movement that I can through out the picture.  Painting the bright fuchsia colors was a bit challenging as well, a beautiful color all around though.  Peonies are such beautiful flowers to paint and enjoyed every bit of it, I hope to do more of these in the future.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber on the brush, I kept the drawing pretty loose since painting flowers you can only go so far with the drawing.  I believe in certain flower paintings you concentrate on the drawing more when you paint it rather in the initial drawing stage.  Then for the next stage I decided to lay in all the general colors at once, from background to peonies and the leaves.  Reason I did that is to get a general feel of the overall color pattern since there is so much going on in the painting, it would be hard to imagine it one stage at a time. I keep the paints rather thin in this stage so I can easily build upon it in thick passages if need be.  

Then I concentrate on the fuchsia peonies first starting with the darker values and stating their specific forms.  Then I add the lighter values and their specific forms, I keep jumping back and forth and adjusting the values to look right for the finish.  The colors I used for the for the fuchsia peonies are quinacridone magenta, titanium white, ultramarine blue, ivory black, and titanium white.

I used the same color palette in the middle peonies, I started again with the middle to darker values and their specific forms.  Then I added the lighter values and their specific forms, I didn't take it to a finish yet I wanted to add the rest of the painting and come back to it.  There's enough paint on there where it won't dry in certain spots it'll stay wet for a while.

Then I stated the white peonies with the middle and darker values, stating their specific forms as well.  Then I added the lighter values and their specific forms, I kept jumping around and adjusting the values to the right look I was going for.  The colors I used where cadmium yellow, titanium white, ultramarine blue, quinacridone magenta and raw umber.

Then I stated the leaves and their whimsical shapes, the colors I used where ultramarine blue, cad.yellow, yellow ochre and ivory black.  After finishing the leaves I was able to go back to the middle fuchsia peonies and soften more of its edges and adjust its values, doing so I was able to take that area to a finish.  I was also able to add thicker impastos in the lighter peonies, those areas where so much fun to paint to let the paint do its job and not really manipulate it was great.  I always enjoy the impasto areas you get to be gestural and really get beautiful textures with the paints.  Overall had a lot of fun with this painting and really happy with the outcome, thanks for stopping by and viewing hope you enjoyed! 

"Elektra"

"Elektra"

14 x 11 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This is another quick alla prima portrait painting, this one is different than what I would usually paint.  The model was great she didn't move one bit and had a classic stare which I tried capturing.  I went to my buddies studio and painted from there which is the reason why this setup was out of my control, not to say he didn't ask for my input but I didn't want him to change the whole lighting because of me.  Truthfully I liked the lighting very different than what I'm used to but its a great challenge and something I learned a lot from.  It was interesting painting in the darks so much, kind of hard not to make your palette go muddy.  Overall had fun painting this one can't wait to do another!  Thanks for stopping by and viewing. 

"Portrait Study"

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"Portrait Study"

14 x 11 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This is a quick 2 and half hour portrait study I did at the Lack Atelier here in Minneapolis, this is an alla prima portrait painting.   I wanted to warm up and get back into portrait painting, It's been a while since I've painted figures and portraits and have to devote more time to them especially the direction I want my main body of work to go.  It was great to be in an environment where other artist where creating and be inspired by them.  The model was great as you can see his beard was just to much fun to paint and his facial structure was perfect to paint.  I'm excited to do more of these in the near future apart from my usual alla prima paintings. 

I wanted to remind you guys that if anyone is in the Minneapolis area this Saturday the 18th, I'll be giving a portrait demo from 1-3 p.m.  Click here to get more information about the demo and directions to it.

"Sliced Tomatoes"

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"Sliced Tomatoes"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to continue on the theme with these tomatoes and play more with their inner beauty.  The inside of these tomatoes are neat looking from such a smooth and watery state to some areas that are really texturized with subtle highlights.  The smell I wish I was able to translate onto the painting, it was such a strong delicious smell it made it hard at times to paint instead of eating them.  It was fun painting the insides because they're not anything i've painted before, they have an abstract look to them and really neat trying to paint its textures.  The value shifts within the colors also made it fun to capture, they are subtle but delicious if done right.  The wooden base was also a neat one to paint, the watery texture coming from the tomatoes mixed with the wooden textures made a nice blend to paint.  

I also wanted to let you guys know if anyone is in the Minneapolis area this Saturday the 18th, I'll be giving a portrait demo from 1-3 p.m.  Click here to get more information about the demo and directions to it.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber on the brush.  Once the drawing is complete I stated the background first to give some color to the overall painting.

Once the background is stated I started on the first tomato by just stating the general colors, at this stage I'm not worried about details and stating the darkest and lightest values.  I just want a general statement and also concentrate on big form modeling.  Then I state the darker values and its specific forms and take it to a close finish, the reason I don't finish all the way is because the surrounding hues are not stated and once they are in they effect that particular value.  

Then I adde the lighter values and its specific values and take that area to a finish, with the lighter values I am able to finish because it doesn't really change with the surrounding hue's.  I then state the stem when applying the highlights and lighter values.  Once the first tomato is complete I start on the second tomato by repeating the same process as I did with the first, state the general colors in the beginning and not worry about details.  Since this has more abstract shapes in it and not so much of big form modeling, I try to just think of like that and concentrate more on its values.

Then I state the darker values and its specific forms and take it to a close finish, I do the same with the lighter values and its specific forms.

I repeat the same process with the third tomato once the second one is complete.

When the third tomato is complete I start on the wooden base by just applying the general colors.  

Then I state the darker values and take them to a finish and do the same with lighter values.  Now I can go back to my tomatoes and adjust any value shifts that need to be changed, having the wooden base allows me to judge all the values together and make any necessary changes.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did, thanks for stopping by and viewing! 

  

"Tomato Colors"

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"Tomato Colors"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I really liked the color assortment of tomatoes they had at the grocery store, my eyes always go straight to the most colorful fruits and vegetables out on display.  Tomatoes are fun to paint with their smooth skin, their stems are also neat they have a gestural movement to them.  I noticed when painting these tomatoes how rich their colors are, especially with the orange one it has such deep colors from dark to light.  When arranging them I wanted to create a subtle movement between them while still representing their beauty.  

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber on the brush, I forgot to take a picture of the drawing stage I apologize for that but I think you can get the picture with these initial pics.  Then I stated the background and base with the general colors, the background can easily be taken to a completion since its just one passage.  The base in the other hand has its general colors stated first then I start to fill in the darker values and its specific forms.

I then add the lighter values and their specific forms and take the base to a finish.  After the base is complete I start on the first tomato, I first state the overall general colors not stating the lightest and darkest values.  Stating the general colors at first gives me a base to work with and it also lets me work on modeling the form.

I then state the darker values and when thats complete I add the lighter values and their specific forms.  I add the stem to the tomato when painting the lighter values, the stem is so small I just paint it one take.

I'm pretty comfortable with the level of completion with the first tomato and move onto the second one, I repeat the same process as I did with the first.  I state the general colors at first and just worry about modeling the big form.  Then I state the darker values and their specific forms.

Then I add the lighter values and their specific forms and take it to a finish.  I then start on the final tomato by repeating the process, state the general colors first and worry about big form modeling.  I make sure in this stage to not go to thick with the paints, I wanna have a nice thin film so I can easily build up the paints if need be.  I'm not saying its bad to go thick in the beginning because their artist who paint in that manner and it looks great, for my approach and technique I know it'll get muddy and uncontrollable if I go to thick. 

Then I add the lighter values of the third tomato and take it to a finish.  I approached this painting the same as I do with the other paintings, I did however decide to approach the tomatoes individually than to just paint them all at once like i've been doing with previous paintings.  I do like painting like this by paying attention to one section at a time and taking it to a finish.  Anthony Van Dyke painted like that and was considered the fastest painter in history, he was able to finish a portrait in five days.  I find if I'm able to concentrate in one section at a time then I do not have to go back and make any other corrections, and the painting goes by much quicker.  Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoyed!

"Charles Darwin"

"Charles Darwin"

5 x 4 in

Ball Point Pen

Contact me if your interested in purchasing this drawing.

I know this is not an alla prima painting but I wanted to share one of my ball point pen drawings that I love to do, its a good break from the alla prima's that I enjoy so much.  This drawing I did a couple months back and finally I'm posting it, I was able to get a good scan of it and show it to everyone.  These ball point pen studies really are done for practice and I hardly even think of them as show pieces.  There is no particular reason why I decided to draw Darwin other than the fact that I came across his portrait and really loved the texture in his skin and decided to just render the heck out of it.  I really enjoy doing this drawings I apply what I learn to my paintings, I strongly believe that drawing and painting are so closely related.  If you'r a good draftsmen than painting will not be so difficult for you, a lot of people overlook drawing as not important but in reality its everything.  I always love to go back to drawing and brush up on the fundamentals.  I hope you guys enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by!

"Leaning Basil"

Click here to purchase this painting at my Etsy shop

"Leaning Basil"

12 x 9 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This basil I've painted is in recovery mode, my girlfriend got it from her sister and has restored it back to good health.  It sits right in our kitchen next to the window and gets the best lighting in the whole house, I know its in heaven with all the natural light it gets.  Basils are tough to paint due to their leaves they can be grouped up in one area and have a somewhat pattern to their shape, this painting was not easy in no ways from beginning to end.  The colors is another factor they seem simple because they're just green, but they absorb colors that surround them so you get a lot of blues and yellows in the leaves.  I haven't painted basil in a while and glad I did so I hope to revisit these guys more in the future.

One of the benefits of painting all day is not going outside, sometimes thats a benefit at other times when its beautiful outside its not.  Today I must say it wasn't bearable to go outside it got to be 102 degrees fahrenheit, oh did I mention I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota!  They say on Thursday and Friday the highs are barely even getting into the 70's, I have to say living in this state has shown me the extremes in weather.  Beautiful place to live you just have to be ready when mother nature decides to throw you a curve ball.

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and a bit of raw umber, after the drawing is complete I state the general colors and the fall of light.  I keep the paints fairly thin at this stage not going to thick.

Then I state the darker values and a bit of middle tones, I work on all the basil leaves at once when completing each stage.  Once the darker values are stated I start to work on the lighter values and highlights and work back and forth between each stage to bring it to a close finish.

Once the basil leaves are taken to a close completion I start on the vase by stating the middle to darker values.  Then I state the lighter values and take it to a finish.

For the finishing I state the background and soften the edges around the basil.  As stated before this was another challenging one to paint in one session glad I did so, I learn from every painting that I do and apply what I learn to the next one.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing hope you enjoyed this one! 

"Peonies"

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"Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Being on vacation has its benefits but the downside is that I wasn't able to paint for a while, it was nice going back home and relaxing it lets me clear my head and come back with a fresh slate.  I cannot believe its been a week since I last painted I don't like that I had to do that, since coming back from vacation I've just been so busy with everything and finally had time today to paint again.  It feels so great to paint again it just puts all your worries away and I just dive into my painting not thinking of anything else, its pretty therapeutic.  I always say to myself after not painting for a while how I can go so long, I seriously go through withdraws.  What can I say I'm addicted to painting!

Peonies are intimidating to me their pedals are so complicated to paint and there's not a set way to paint them.  To say that I went out of my comfort zone again is an understatement, especially being the first painting back from not painting for a while.  Usually I like to paint a couple pictures before I dive into something so complicated like this, but today I just decided to go at it.  Peonies are just so beautiful in their subtle colors and how each pedal has so much character to it.  Other than being intimidated to paint the pedals I was also excited because I can be so gestural with the paints, usually I'm not able to do that but with this painting I went to town with it.  The subtle colors and gestural strokes made it so much fun to paint, I'm really happy with this painting and how it came out I hope you can see how much fun I had with the process photos.  Now time to get back to the grinding wheel and start painting more again!    

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and just a bit of raw umber on the brush for the drawing stage.  I kept the drawing pretty simple didn't want to get to detailed since these flowers are pretty complicated with each fold.  After the drawing is complete I went in and added the general colors of the peonies, not worried about details at this stage just the statement of color and how it wraps around the form.  I also do not add the darkest and lightest values, I wait to do that in their separate stages.  

I start on the first two peonies working them at the same time, I only paint the middle to darker values.  When that stage is close to completion I start on the lighter values and highlights, this stage was so much fun.  Since each pedal has a gestural look to them I decided to treat them in that manner, I went very gestural with each stroke I didn't wanna make it to abstract just enough to give the sense of movement.  When filling in the lighter values I bounce back to the darker values and adjust the intensity if need be, usually it does.

Once they are done I move onto the next two starting with the middle to darker values, I wish I can say my approach to painting peonies is the same as my other paintings, it's not.  There are some similarities but peonies are so complicated with each pedal, they are so mushed in together its hard to just render each pedal one at a time.  When adding the lighter values and highlights I also go back to the darks and adjust their intensity, and also go back to the lighter values and do the same.  When adding the lighter values I notice I need to add the darker values around the peonies which are the leaves, they frame the peonies and give them their shape which is important so I can take it to a finish.  I keep working on the peonies for a while bouncing back and forth from darker to lighter values, I'm also getting thicker with the strokes in the lights.   As stated before I'm being more gestural with the strokes to indicate movement and texture, I can not lie it was so much painting like this I was able to be gestural than usual.

Then I filled in the background after finishing the peonies, stating the background now is important so I can address the edges and push certain areas further away.  When stating the background I also fill in the  stems and clear vase, once that was complete I go back into the leaves and take them to a finish by adding more chroma and lighter values in certain areas.  This painting was a lot of fun all the way till the finish, playing with textures and movement of the paint was a neat thing to do.  I'm looking to implore more of that in the future with my paintings.  I hope you guys had a lot of fun with this one, thanks for stopping by and viewing!