Row of Cherries

It took me the longest time to figure out a composition for these cherries, mostly because I kept eating them! They were so delicious!!!

In all seriousness, I managed to get a better lighting for these ones and kept a good ratio of light and dark tones. I especially love how the skin of a cherry can reflect so much light. These almost look like Christmas ornaments, which is quite fitting I would say. And their lovely dark red color makes it all better.

Row of Cherries, Oil on Wood, 6 x 6 in., 2011

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Gala Apple 3: Demonstration

I figured I should shoot pictures of the process for at least one of these "Apple" paintings, just in case anybody out there is interested. I have been painting these on some new wood panels I bought recently. The main difference between these and the old ones and that these are raw wood and I take care of the priming, which I like in this context.

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Gala Apple, Oil on Wood, 6 x 6 in., 2011

Gala Apple 2

After my Thanksgiving break, these apples were the only thing left in my fridge. So I painted them before I ate them!

I had never painted one of these in this position before. It was tricky and I should definitely do it again in the future. The multiple sources of light also gave it a nice quality (although they did dime the dark tones a little bit) and allowed me to use the shadows as elements in the composition.

Gala Apple, Oil on Wood, 6 x 6 in., 2011

I think this is going to become a good template for future still life paintings. I like the minimalistic quality of this composition. Maybe I should go grocery shopping and get other kinds of apples, too! That's an interesting idea...

Gala Apple 1

I was going to eat this apple yesterday and then I started to look at it, analyzing its shape and color patterns. I like Gala apples the best because of their flavor, but I also enjoy looking at their pinkish peel, that fashions little touches of red and yellow. It is definitely a challenge to paint, something that might take some practice to get right.

Gala Apple, Oil on Wood, 6 x 6 in. 2011

As of now, I just want to keep it simple and relatively fast. One sitting, minor retouching. One thing I noticed is that I had been using lots of photo references lately, so I decided to do some real life alla prima paintings to keep my depth perception chops in check.

Seascape 8: Waves

I'm trying to capture the magic of Impressionism more and more with these little seascapes. They are becoming freer every time, and I dig how they almost look like abstract paintings when looked at up close but reveal themselves when looked at from a distance.

Seascape 8, Oil on Wood Panel, 8 x 8 inches, 2011

I love the combination of oils, bristle brushes and wood panels! These seascapes are so rich in texture and color. And they look pretty cool, too! I definitely like where these paintings are taking me. I love realistic work but I also love modern and more synthesized approaches of representation. These are paintings after all! Let's see the strokes, the textures, the purity of the pigments. There's plenty of room on this blog for all of it!

And of course, there are some more realistic paintings in the works, too!