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Friday, July 31, 2009

Blues, 6x6 Oil and a Failure

No time to sign this blueberry painting - I was SPEED painting this morning! Got to the studio early, and by the time I walked Paco, met the other dogs on the bike path, turned on all the fans and opened the windows in the studio, selected the paintings for the Duxbury Midsummer Show (2 larger pieces and 20 BARGAIN priced Daily Paintings), I got down to work. Primed the board with alizarin crimson, sketched out the design - 3 times), blocked in my darks, got paint on the blueberries - the phone rang and it was my son - I needed to come home NOW so he could take me to pick up my car - SO I slapped on the two tones of the shadows, and the yellow background - no time to sign! - and high-tailed it back across the two bridges and home - by 10:45 a.m. OK! Done for the day!

Below is the painting for Outside The Box at North River Art in Marshfield. I really am not happy with it and decided NOT to enter it (sorry Mary C - I'll reimburse you for the gatorboard!). I intended to work 'outside the box' by prepping the surface with a couple of coats of absorbant ground, and doing an acrylic painting with lots of washiness. But an error in drawing led to more layers of paint to fix it, and then all the washes were covered up - so I decided to do it in palette knife (which I dont' usually do, either). Which I ended up not liking. Sorry I yak so much. Thanks for looking, thanks for commenting!

13 comments:

  1. hi kelley!

    wow! youa re amazing! i love the blueberries and their story of how they came to be! how do you do that?

    your watermelon slices are wonderful. i love the lighting, colors and textures. i really think you should enter it.

    :) melissa

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  2. You should enter the slices. I thought you were doing plums...
    Great berries.

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  3. Kelley, we just talked about this painting and maybe you misjudged it. I would go with the voters and enter it. You'll sell it to someone who loves watermelon (Strawberrie Faire come to mind?).
    The blueberries are beautifully composed. Look what you can do when you're rushed!

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  4. Both of these are beautiful and the watermelons are making me hungry! So bright and cheerful!

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  5. The blueberries are amazing. I hadn't been on your site for a little while, it's so apparent how devoted you are to your painting because it just amazing. I would SO enter the watermelon!

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  6. The blueberries look positively edible! Crazy how being in a rush is sometimes just the ticket!!

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  7. I think the rush on the blueberries led to good things, because I'm loving that lush yellow background!

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  8. Kelley, I too loved both. The blueberries look like you could pick them off the canvas. Love it!

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  9. Kelley, Blueberries are great and the watermelon are edible. You should put them both in the show. I love the yellow with the blueberries. The watermelons are delicious. I did squash this morning a 6x8 acrylic. I will photograph it and get it on my blog. I am now starting a white patty pan squash. Good day here but the rain is coming. Jeanne

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  10. Love both of these but particularly the blueberries. Really wonderful thick strokes and strong shadows. Those colors are perfect together. Great composition too!

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  11. Kelley, these are both fantastic, really. I LOVE the blueberries!!!!

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  12. You guys are great. You know, I took your advice and put the watermelon in the show. (The wonderful person who did 'intake' said such nice things about Paco's blog!).

    I just wish I could paint like I painted the blueberries on a CONSISTENT basis. That is my goal, let's see how long it takes me...

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  13. Blueberry story is very funny and all too familiar!

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