Green Apples Day 3

I obviously love the color of green apples!  My favorite paint colors to achieve this is to use Sevres Blue and Indian Yellow.  It makes the brightest green ever!  It also made it fun to paint the blue in this  bowl.  This would be another great one for the kitchen.  Anyone ready for apple pie?

Green Apples Day 2

Isn't it fun to have a little art to spice up your seasonal decorations?  More and more, I have seen art in kitchen spaces or layered with other decor.  I'll title this Green Apple with Pumpkin Colors.  Where would you place this little 6"x 6" square?

12 Days of Green Apples

A Touch of Black

Fast forwarding from a year ago when I made my last post!  Time flies when you are having fun! 

I recently began a self-challenge to paint 12 green apple paintings.  The purpose was to give them away at our neighborhood Bunco event that I was hosting in September.  It was a great challenge and got me the closest ever to becoming a daily painter. I hope you will follow and enjoy the series. They are all 6"x 6" canvas, painted in oils with a palette knife.  Now if I can just post them in 12 days!

My sweet friend explained when she got this painting she wanted just a touch of black in her kitchen.  

Voila!

Crushed Velvet

Crushed Velvet   9x12  Oil

This unique old chair sits at the entry of Deep South Deli and Pub here in McDonough.  It really gets the attention when the sun streams in during the early part of the day.

I took a photograph with this orange, crushed velvet chair back in February in preparation for a painting workshop with Anne Blair Brown in Nashville.  The workshop focused on 'Painting the Interior'.  She is a master at this craft and an excellent teacher, but I struggled so with composition and values, that I didn't finish even one painting!  Nonetheless, I packed it up for another day.  

The sunlight, angles, and shadows were all a challenge, but I was fairly happy with the finished piece.  I hope to finish the other paintings that I began in this class.  So many ideas to work on!

Old Yeller

 

Old Yeller    12x12     Oil with Palette Knife

This painting will be available at the Hapeville Gallery Crawl on Saturday evening!  Message me for information and come join us for this fun event. Sometimes my inspiration for my paintings is a photograph.  This is the case for this painting.  I love the look of old, rusty trucks!  This was also made fun by the way I could use my palette knife. The frame I found for this is made of galvanized tin and it makes for a fitting setting for the piece. 

The Bourbon Series - W.L. Weller

In this painting are the beloved hydrangeas, an old basket that has those wonderful bourbon colors, and a friend's suggestion of her husband's favorite bourbon, W.L. Weller.

I used the ValueViewer app again to work on the photograph to see both values and composition.  Glass is both a challenge and a delight to paint. I felt that I had struggled to find the exact bourbon color that I wanted, so I did a little more pre-mixing of my colors this time. All of these refinements added to the success of this painting.

Please suggest what bourbon should be painted next.  These would make a terrific addition to a bar area or for an astute gentleman on your Christmas list.  I am looking forward to doing a series of them.  Good thing I don't need to drink the bourbon to paint them.  ;)

Oh!  My friend bought this painting for her husband, but I can promise you I will paint it again!

The Bourbon Series - Blanton's

A few of my favorite things.... sunshine streaming though the window, hydrangeas showing off their finest hints of fall color and the color of Bourbon.  Yes, I am not opposed to the taste either!  This one is special, not only for it's smooth flavor, but for the exquisite glass bottle and the horse and jockey posed on the stopper.  It gets even better.  Each of the figures has a stamped letter at the base- one for each letter of the Bourbon's name BLANTON'S.  The horse and jockey are in different positions as they race out of the gate on the B and by the time you get to the S, the jockey is pumping his fist in the air as the finish the race.  Very collectable.  This is the S figure and the only one Benny has... so far!

An artist that I follow often paints Bourbon bottles.  Claudia Hammer's work is wonderful and I even sent her an email about Blanton's.  She of course knew about it and posted her painting of it the day after my email.  You never know where inspiration will come from.  You can see her work at http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com. "Straight Up Blanton's" is her painting. I don't know if there is something between artists and bourbon, but that is a discussion for another day. 

After taking photographs, I used the ValueViewer app to lay out the grid lines to help with my composition.

Using ValueViewer, you can look at color, grayed tones, or Notan - which translates your photograph to simply black or white.  It helps with composition and values.

Next, I drew out my composition and used mostly Prussian Blue to create a value study.

I was quite please with the outcome.  There are still some refinements I want to make, but I think this one works quite nicely with an old frame that I had.

Blanton's   Oil     8x8   $125

Message me or see http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/elaine-ford-5747/artwork

for purchase information.