Two New Paintings, Four New Frames

"Three Chicks" - oil on panel, 5" x 7" , purchase here


"Magpie" - oil on panel 5" x 7", purchase here

I am having a lot of trouble with my neck and shoulders over the last few months. I have only been able to paint for a few hours a day if at all. I have a plan now, though and hope to be back up to par soon. The regimen of ice and Advil are only covering the problem, so on to a real solution. "Diamond, Ringleader of the Spring Revolt" is staring at me daily along with the Harpy painting having only a shadow of a face with two black holes for eyeballs and now two more strong ideas are invading my mind, so I am anxious to be able to really focus on painting again rather than the discomfort I am in while painting.

I bought four beautiful frames from Jerry's this week. They arrived yesterday and I am going to put the canvases in after a trip to the hardware store. If you need frames, Jerry's is the place to get them. You do have to buy four of the same size at one time, but that is why the price is so great.

Artist takes a few days off....

I took a few days off last week to run some errands and have coffee with a friend. I did paint three painting by Wednesday, so I didn't feel too bad. I had to go to Michael's, which is bad enough when it isn't Christmas time because they usually have one register open. At least they had another open. It is their busiest time of the year, so it was packed. Somehow, I always pick the wrong line to get in with my giant canvases. I have a knack for picking the line where the lady in front of me is returning all manner of imitation greenery and doo-dads. Always. By the time I got to Michael's I was already a bit roughed up by having to go to the post office on the way. No need to say what the post office is like this time of year. There I was surrounded by people with stacks of packages, little slip of paper in hand to pickup a missed package.
Then when I got home I had two rejection letters in the mail. One on a proposal and one for a juried show. I really can honestly say that this was not as annoying as the line thing....

I am finding it difficult to get into the swing today. We are in the process of buying a house, and everything we looked at over the weekend was awful. We came away quite disappointed yet enlightened and now must reassess what is realistic for us, but it means the loss of some things I had in mind and heart. I am a little down, I guess and for me that usually means apathy.

Painting of the day: Parakeet

oil on panel, 5" x 7", $90 includes shipping, purchase here

Painting of the Day: "Kid"

oil on panel, 5" x 7", $90, includes shipping, purchase here)

I am back on a roll with this daily painting thing. I have taken a big break over the last month or so to focus on getting some large paintings completed for a few proposals and juried shows.

I have a bunch of photos on file to paint, and apparently I am super motivated to do it. It is a bit of a break from my other work that I am so emotionally invested in.

Painting of the day: Shrike

(oil on panel, 5" x 7", $90 includes shipping, purchase here)

A beautiful bird found mostly in Asia.

Painting of the day: Mottled Cochen Chick

(oil on masonite, 5" x 7", SOLD)

My dad raises chickens over in Norfolk and recently he has lost almost all of them to a lurking strange beast over the last few days. He often catches foxes in the act, but this predator is much larger and bolder. He goes right into the pigeon house and snatches the hens off their roosts along with a few unfortunate pigeons. Probably a coyote. So, on a friday, mourning over the chicken massacre, I painted this little guy. (5" x 7" oil on panel)

New Painting

Often, I run into a sticking spot on a painting and that has happened with our friend, Diamond, so I have set him aside for today and started a new one.

This is a Harpy eagle, or Harpia and the largest eagle rivaled only by the Phillipine eagle, though in researching I found the bird nerds have a lot of animated disagreement about the this subject.
At any rate they are massive and powerful, so I really wanted to have the privilege of painting one, so I begin........where the story goes from here is not yet revealed. And of course due to my love affair with chiaroscuro, I will have another painting that is difficult to photograph.

Today's Painting: Diamond

Dark paintings are so difficult to photograph and this is about as good as it gets today. They reflect any available light and the paint tends to be dull in appearance. I zoomed in on Diamond as he was my focus today. You can actually see what I worked on, the feathers, because the darks are really dark until tomorrow when the will be drier and thus duller. I am not really satisfied with the antlers below, so much work to be done there still.
As for further info about this painting, I found out today that Diamond is a "ringleader" of some renown.

Today's painting: "Diamond"

This is Diamond. At this point in the work he hasn't told me much about himself, but I am certain as we get to know one another he will open up. Today Diamond did tell me that his name might not actually BE Diamond, which would be problematic since I saw him with a diamond for an eye.