Last Of the Winter 2020 Oil Paintings -- Maybe

My oil painting this winter centered around pleasure.

I didn't try to improve or push myself.

I just painted what I wanted, in a way that gave me joy.

I am probably done for the year -- unless the rain, cold,

and corona virus keep me penned up.

Wildflower on Bookcover

I haven't done many oil paintings this winter,

but I have done a few.

Oil Painting -- "Spoonful Of Cherry Tomatoes"

Oil Painting #22 -- "Amana Orange"

I don't know if I will ever grow tired of painting tomatoes.

This was on an old book cover.

Oil Painting #21 -- "Yellow Beefsteak"

I am totally stuck on tomatoes right now.

Such gorgeous colors.

Oil Paintings 19 & 20 -- "Pink Ponderosa" and "Apron & Tomatoes"

 I don't eat (or grow!) tomatoes,

but they are so gorgeous.

I did each of these paintings in a day.

6"x6"

 The pink ponderosa was OK.

And only took about 30 minutes,

which was awesome.

This one took a couple of hours and is my favorite so far.

I didn't "overdo" any parts of it.

And I like the red, white and blue colors in it.

Oil Painting #18 -- "Atomic Red Carrots"

8x10.  I didn't do them justice.

They are so beautiful.

I don't plant veggies, but I am planting some of these this year.

Oil Painting #17 -- "Purple Iris"

I'm not in love with it.

But I do like the cheerful colors.

Oil Painting #16 -- "Red Veined Cabbage Leaf"

I didn't like it so much,

therefore I spent way too much time trying to make it "better".

Maybe 5 hours.

Oil Painting #15 -- " Red Cabbage"

Definitely my fave so far.

It only took about 2.5 hours and

I enjoyed doing it.

Oil Painting # 13 -- "Nine Eggs In A Carton"

This one only took a couple of hours.

I did it on a torn-off book cover and enjoyed doing it.

Oil Painting #14 -- "Hen & Shoulders"

I ended up really liking the head.

The body seemed a little flat and two dimensional.

I forgot to erase pencil marks before taking the photo.

Oil Painting #12 -- "Parrot Tulip"

If I were only interested in making a buck,

I would paint flowers all day long.

This only took a couple of hours.

I enjoy it, and they come easily to me.

Unfortunately, I am interested in stretching myself --

so will only paint flowers 1/6 of the time.

Oil Painting #11 -- "Bracket Fungus"

Weird subject matter, but actually bracket fungus

are very beautiful. (I do have a thing for moss and fungus).

 I didn't do them justice.

Oil Painting #10 -- "Bluebird In Winter"

Four hours, which was too long.

I never did get the blue right.

Oil Painting #9 -- "Brown Eyed Susans At Sunset"

It took my usual four hours,

and even then I wasn't very happy with it.

The backlit flowers were tough.

And the fading background was surprisingly hard.

Oil Painting #8 -- "Carton Of Eggs"

I think this turned out well.

4-5 hours.

A good exercise in light and shadow.

I see more paintings of eggs in my future.

Oil Painting #7 -- "Fuschia & Teal Rooster"

 I did the rooster in four sittings of one hour each.

The photo above is after the third sitting,

just needed to complete the background and some details.

The completed painting.

I did fuschia and teal to do an exercise doing values in 

colors other than the "real" colors.

Oil Painting #6 -- "Rough Greensnake"

Oil Paintings 4 & 5 -- "Loose Cut Flowers"

 I spent 4 or 5 days (1-2 hours a day) 

painting the one on the left.  I decided it would

be a good exercise to do the same thing in just one hour.

I named them "Loose Cut Flowers" and "Looser Cut Flowers".

 And which one did I enjoy the most?  Looser one.

And which one do I think looks the best?  Looser one.

 

This is the "tighter" one.  And really,

the only parts that I was actually happy with were these two flowers.

8-10 hours for "eh".

 I like the palette knife background of the looser one,

and paper wrapping (three minutes instead of

an hour and three minutes.)

 This is my favorite flower on the looser painting.

I think if I spend more time pre-planning,

doing the background color well,

and doing composition well -- it will pay off,

and I can get away with loser painting.