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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Out Of The Box Prep Work (and a Plum Thief)

There's an event coming up (sooooon) called Out Of The Box, at North River Art Society in Marshfield, MA, that I'm working on a piece for (OK, grammar queens & kings - I know I shouldn't have ended the sentence with 'for'...). You get an 8 inch square of gatorboard and you are to do something different FOR YOU. (Get it? Go outside of YOUR own box!) So I took a board, to try out some stuff and made a couple of fruit arrangements. The board was gessoed, but I added Golden Absorbent Ground - 2 layers, and the plan was to use acrylic paint thinly, making it like watercolor washes.
I also added some Golden Modeling Paste to the plums. This whole time I was being watched intensly by my studio assistant, Paco. (sorry to those who wish I'd leave the puppy out of it - this story involves him!)
Here I'm losing that washy feeling with the plums, and struggling with the yellows on the cherries....
Well, the washiness is gone, and.... I looked down and... HEY! Two plums! What happened to the third? Slowwly I turned and...

Paco says "Why are you looking at ME?" Ahem.... I was looking at the FLOOR behind me - with JUICE all over it and - what's that? A plum pit! No set up is safe from my little fruit bat. I'm going to give the cherries another go tomorrow... When you haven't used acrylics in a while it's like learning all over again!

11 comments:

  1. I like the painting as it develops but I really like it in its raw stage...I love your drawing technique...This happens to me all the time too, losing that feel that initially gets me going on a painting. For what it's worth though, I like the plums.

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  2. I do like the plums, Kelley. Are you doing 2 pieces for this event? I did mine in colored pencil...

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  3. Paco!!!!

    If that were my dog and he just ruined my still.......well, let's just say you're an understanding soul, Kelley. Dogs will be dogs I guess.

    I like how you painted four still lifes side by side on one board.

    But.....

    What happens if you want to sell one? What would you do then?

    Wouldn't cutting the board up into fours potentially ruin the image?

    Is there a reason you didn't cut it all up before you started painting?

    Just curious.

    -Dean

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  4. Paula, that's a lifelong struggle for me - I love to draw, but the painting takes over... Pat, I'm doing one, these are just 'trials'... Dean, yeah... I wasn't so patient here, there was a lot of cussing going on! I just used this board as a try-out - and I probably will paint the whole board over with a white or something, and use it again, like scrap paper. I hope if something came out great, I could replicate it (yeah, right!):)

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  5. I think that this is so beautiful! I love the vibrant colors especially the yellows and reds together - the painting just reached out and grabbed me when I first saw it. I was thinking about trying out my acrylics - fear stops me. Maybe I'll try them out a little! Also . . . better for Paco to eat fruit . . .

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  6. Oh, Kelley, these are really nice. My favorites are the cherries with the white ground. The shadows and reflections are beautiful. I love that watery,loose look of the last cherry painting.

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  7. LOL!
    I love Paco! he is very stealthy!
    what a wonderful painting!
    xoxox
    melissa

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  8. Love the process and the painting!
    As for your assistant..... he's totally cracking me up!

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  9. Really juicy colorful paintings here and interesting exercise. The adorable pug is sooooo cute.

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  10. Hahaha--I love hearing about Paco's exploits in your studio. You're doing some great painting lately!

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  11. LOL'd at the photo of Paco after hearing about "slooowly I turned..." hahaha, thanks for the laugh. :)
    Really beautiful job on the plums and cherries anyway!

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