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!

Still Life With Wasp, Oil, 6x8

Go with the flow... this morning, after breakfast, I was enjoying looking at the leftover watermelon (I know - leftover WATERMELON?) in the sun, and I decided to paint the plate. As soon as I got set up this wasp or bee or whatever decided this would be HIS breakfast, and no amount of shooing would dissuade him. So... I stuck him in the painting (no, not literally). Such a glorious day, but it turned so windy that in the evening I had to hunt for this painting as it had blown off the front porch where I had left it to dry - it was face down in some grass, so IRL it has bits of fauna sticking to the paint! (which will just flake off when the paint is dry).

What was interesting to me was how light the sides of the melon were that were in the sun - mostly lighter than the plate, and all the colors in the shadow side of the fruit... as well as the plate.

Two Pieces Left, Oil 6x6

SOLD

I'm watermelon-obsessed!  I actually tried one day last week (Thursday?) to paint a stack of thick sliced watermelon, but couldn't do it justice... a wipe-off.  I love the many, many reds you use in painting this stuff, not to mention the yellows and pinks.  I'll miss it when the season's over.

And Happy Birthday to Paula Villanova!  Check out her blog and wish her a happy day!

Who Wants Watermelon? Acrylic 6x12

SOLD

Strong light in the late afternoon and a plate of watermelon slices just 'says' Summer, doesn't it?  

First Bite, 6x6 Acrylic

SOLD

A little bit of glare, as you can see, but this was a particularly tasty watermelon and I had to paint it! Seedless, and I find often that these don't have quite the flavor of the seeded ones. It was great to paint today, after taking the week getting ready for the Beacon Hill Art Walk, which was yesterday. I think this was my last BH Artwalk, as bad weather and low sales combined two years in a row to make it not quite worth it. We'll have to see. It was fun to be with Mary Sheehan Winn (see side bar for bloglink), Joan Brancale, Nancy Colella and Tatiana Sink.

I'd like to mention here **** that the July/August issue of American Artist features my buddy Nancy Colella in a great article, and **** in the Spring/Summer issue of Cape Cod Life/Arts Edition there is a beautiful article about my girlfriend Joan Brancale and her work - check them out!

******************edited for better photo of painting***************