Life Figure Class - Carol

 

Vine Charcoal on 18x24 Canson Mi-Teintes paper 

 I've been so busy lately I hardly had time to paint! I'm working on a few things at once but nothing done enough to post so here's something I worked on at the Academy in the Life Figure class. We had 2 days to work on this pose and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

The Figure - Bargue study

 

Vine Charcoal on Canson Mi-Teintes paper

I finished my 4th and last line drawing last week, the figure. I am now moving on to drawing the sphere and shading to show form.

Yellow Car

 

 Oil on 6x6 wrapped canvas

 I wanted to do something different today. I found this picture on my computer from our trip to Provence a couple of year ago...has it been that long already?? I'm sure my sister took it, she has a way with photographs and getting great compositions!

A Sunny Bike Ride

  Oil on 12x12 wrapped canvas

 The kids' school canceled today as we're getting freezing rain! I took that time to finish a painting I started in my painting class last night. A nice bike ride down the road in Belgium in what looks like a beautiful sunny day!

Latest Bargue study

 

 It's been a busy few weeks, between spring break and my daughter's birthday, I'm hoping to paint a little today! With freezing rain and snow in the forecast, there won't be much to do outside!

 This Bargue study is the one I finished just before spring break. I'm working on my last line study before I move on to the sphere!

Final Day of Portrait Class and my Monet!

 

 I finished the portrait in class today! I'm very happy with how it turned out and was satisfied with my first portrait class at the Academy. I can't wait until the next one! Below, I took a picture of the drawing with the model although the light is kind of bright but I thought it would be interesting to see the two together.

  

  

The Thames at Westminster (from Monet) 

Oil on 8x10 

 I finished the Monet painting for Painting from the Masters. It really looks easier than it is because of all the fog...I actually found it quite hard to paint but certainly learned a lot and that's the point!

Portrait Class - Day Two

 

I went to school today and finished one of my Bargue studies. We also had portrait class this afternoon and I started shading in for the values.  I have one more class to finish this portrait.

Artichokes and a Lemon

 

 Oil on 6x6 wrap canvas 

Click here to bid on this painting

I was going to go to school today but ended up staying home with my son who is not feeling 100%. No big deal, I took out some artichokes and a lemon out of the refrigerator and made it a still life!

Red Farm House

 

 Oil on 8x10 wrap canvas
SOLD

I finally finished one of my paintings today. This is from the pictures from Belgium, I just love those trees along the winding road and the bright colors!

Portrait Class - Day One

 

Charcoal on paper 

I've been so busy lately...I actually have 2 paintings in progress but nothing done enough to post!  I decided to post what I worked on today at school.  Day one of portrait class.  I'll have 2 more classes and will post my progress.  I was working on just getting the drawing "correct" today and will start shading in next week.

Golden Leaves

 

Oil on 8x8 wrap canvas
SOLD

My brother and sister-in-law live in Belgium and these are pictures my sister-in-law took last year. I thought the colors were just beautiful...I must have needed to paint some colors because of all the snow still on the ground here!

Laundry Day

 

Oil on 8x10 wrap canvas 

SOLD

This is from a picture we took in Barjols, Provence.  I loved the colors of the shutters agains the wall and the line of laundry hanging out in the sun.

Lime and a Half

 

Oil on 6x6 wrap canvas
SOLD

Two Lemons and a Lime

 

 Oil on 8x8 Wrap Canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

Worked on a still life today to change things up...

Bargue Studies

  

 
 I'm so excited, I have decided to start studying at the Academy of Fine Art in Denmark, Wisconsin starting this week! I'm going to start out studying the foundation studies of Bargue sketches and cast drawings.  I practiced a little today just to get used to vine charcoal.  I'm sure you'll see lots of my studies on this blog and I'm hoping that by the end, we will see vast improvement!

Sailboats on the Loch

 

 Oil on 12x24 wrap canvas

 This scene is from Scotland from a few months ago.  We drove to the Highlands and coming back drove by this Loch.  I thought it was so pretty with the perfect reflections in the water!

The Basket of Apples (after Cezanne) by Karen d'Angeac Mihm

Oil on 16x20 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

I finished my Cezanne painting this morning. It was a lot more detailed than it first looked! It was a fun painting to study.

Cow in the Pasture

Oil on 12x12 wrap canvas
Will be at Arts Unlimited Exhibition in April, 2013

I've been working on my Cezanne painting for a few days now and just had to do something fun and not so detailed! This cow was just the thing!

2012 Highlights

I played with the collage again today but this time I went through the paintings from 2012. It's fun to see all of your favorites from a whole year together side by side!

Join us! Painting from the Masters

Cezanne's Basket of Apples

February Challenge for Painting from the Masters blog

Please join us in our new blog challenge of learning from the the Masters!  Monthly challenge of painting a Master painting and posting it on this blog.  Great learning experience and opportunity to network with other artists!  Please join us, email me at kdmpainting@att.net and I will add you to the blog member list.  

River Boat

Oil on 8x8 Wrap Canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

It's become such a habit that I did end up painting yesterday! This is from a picture in the Canal du Midi on a river boat cruise in France a few years back.

Challenge Collage

It's the first time I've done a collage on PicMonkey and I love it! It's nice to see all the paintings at once and it was really easy to do!

Day 30 and Final! Annecy River and Taylor

Oil on Paper - Approximately 9x12
NFS

I'm so glad this is the final day of the challenge. I'm also so happy that I did 30 paintings in 30 days, wow, what a challenge (for me anyway). I did like the fact that I painted a lot more than I would in a normal month. The thought of having to post a painting for each day was so nerve racking that I didn't want to get too much behind or it would have been impossible to catch up. I even painted when I was sick...that tells you something! What I found most challenging was to have a final "as good as it gets" painting every day. I would normally take a couple of days to think about anything I wanted to change in a painting before I would call it final. To get through that, I decided to take the pressure off after a couple of weeks and started painting on paper. That meant two things: first, I wasn't going to sell it so I was free to experiment, not take it so seriously and have fun; second, I wasn't wasting a canvas so who cares if it's not a masterpiece? The next day would be better!

This painting is from a picture my sister took in Annecy, France a couple of year ago. I've been meaning to paint it for ever! I also tweaked the painting of Taylor a little bit, see below.

Day 29 - Taylor I

Oil on Paper - 8x8
NFS

I worked on this today but still want to work on it some more tomorrow. It's a study of my daughter from last year. One more day in this challenge! What a month, very productive and I feel so good about all the practice I've gotten!

Day 28 - St. Remy

Oil on Paper - Approximately 18x20
NFS

I worked on this scene before. I want to make a really big painting of it so I did a study this morning on paper. I like working on paper as it lets me be more carefree since I'm not using a canvas and expecting to put it up for sale but at the same time it ends up being a little bigger than what I wanted to paint this morning!

This is from St. Remy in Provence, France from a couple year ago. Beautiful estate turned hotel that we stayed at. The path to the hotel lined with trees was just gorgeous! I understand why so many painters went to Provence, the colors are amazing.

Day 27 - Barjols

Oil on 12x24 Paper
NFS

I finished the Barjols painting today. Only 3 more days and the challenge will be over!!

Day 26 - Barjols Part 1

Oil on Paper - Approximately 8x8
NFS

This is only part of a 12x24 painting I've been working on all day. There's still a lot to be done and I didn't want to rush through it so I decided to post a part as my daily painting. This is the upper left hand corner and it's pretty done but I may touch it up before the painting is final. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Both my kids had the stomach bug yesterday and I hope my husband and I don't get it...crossing my fingers! Thank goodness, they're both better today....this winter has been brutal for sicknesses...I hope all of you are staying healthy!

Day 25 - By Vermeer

Oil on Paper - 12x12
NFS

I was inspired the other day by Azra Iqbal to copy the work of a master to get practice. I decided yesterday to do this one by Vermeer and worked on it all day. It's definitely not as good as the original but I enjoyed just working on the strokes and seeing what he originally did.

Day 24 - Barn

Oil on Paper - 9x12
NFS

This is the view from the back of my house. I know I've painted this barn in the past and I'm constantly looking at the row of trees in the background...it looks so different depending on the weather, time of year, or time of day.

Day 23 - Barjols II

Oil on Paper about 9x12
NFS

I haven't decided what size the final painting will be. I think I'll go with a big one such as a 16x20. It's interesting painting on paper for these studies, the paper soaks the oil paint up and it almost feels dry very quickly.

Day 23!  It's been hard at times to keep up with Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 day challenge but I have learned something very important:  even if you don't feel like painting right then, still go to the studio and start painting!  It's amazing how quickly you start enjoying the process!  I probably won't keep up the weekend painting as much but I think 5 paintings a week will be a good number after the challenge.  How about you guys?

Day 22 - Barjols I

Oil on Paper
NFS

This is the first study for a painting I want to do of Barjols, a small town in Provence, France.

Day 21 - Cup

Oil on paper
NFS

I hadn't been able to paint for a few days so I caught up today doing some studies for a painting I want to do soon. Worked on 3 paintings on paper today.

Day 20 - Hand Sketch

Day 19 - Hand III

Oil on 6x6 wrap canvas
NFS

Day 18 - Hand II

Oil on 8x8 Wrap Canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

Worked on a couple more hands these last few days.  They seem to be getting harder to do but at the same time a little looser which I like.  Not sure if I'm done with those yet, I'll see how I feel tomorrow!

Day 17 - Hand and Paintbrush

Oil on 6x6 Wrap Canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

I painted my hand again but I learned my lesson from the day before and I took a snapshot of it with my phone so that when my hand got tired or I needed to back up and inspect my painting, I could then go back to the snapshot and finish it that way.

Day 16 - Hand

Oil on 6x6 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

I never thought how hard it would be to hold my hand out and paint it.  It seemed easy enough when I started yesterday but after half an hour of having my hand extended to the side and not able to move it, it got very tiring!  I've been wanting to do some studies of flesh so I started with a hand and may do a few more...

We're over the hump of this 30 day challenge!  It's been great so far, tough but so glad I've stuck with it.  Definitely forces me to get down to my studio and paint something and not wait for extreme inspiration to hit me.

Day 15 - Amaryllis Still-Life IV

Oil on 8x10 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

I wasn't going to do another flower today but I went in my studio and another flower had bloomed and it was just so pretty I had to paint it again.

I did go on to do another painting afterwards so I'm good for tomorrow! This has definitely been a challenge to do a painting a day and I'm so glad I stuck with it. Half way done!

Day 14 - Amaryllis Still-Life III

Oil on 8x8 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

 I've enjoyed painting this flower the past few days. I think I may move on to something new tomorrow but I do like forcing myself to stick with one subject a few days in a row...makes you look at it in different ways and try new things to make each painting its own.

Day 13 - Amaryllis Still-Life II

Oil on 8x8 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

I painted a smaller one of the flower today. It's funny, this is a much smaller painting but I struggled with it more...maybe because it was a close-up.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Day 12 - Flower Still-Life

Oil on 16x20 Wrap Canvas
Donated

We were given this beautiful flower as a New Year's Eve present. The flowers just opened the past couple of days and they're so beautiful! I spent all day on this painting and I may do a few more small studies of it.

Day 11 - Lemons!

Oil on 6x6 wrap canvas
SOLD

I'm finally feeling almost back to normal. It was a pretty bad cold...haven't had a fever in years! I got to the studio late today so it was dark outside and I had the hardest time seeing the colors on my palette! It's really hard to adjust your eyes to painting at night and I'm just wondering what some of you do when you paint at night?

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and thank you for all of you taking time to comment, I really love hearing what you have to say and knowing that we're all painting and in this together!

Day 10 - Three Lemons

Oil on 8x10 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

I really tried making the lemons today a little looser and I think it worked.  It doesn't come naturally to me, I almost have to go back once the painting is almost done and loosen it up!

Day 9 - Lemon with Bowl

Oil on 8x8 wrap canvas
Click here to purchase this painting

Doing a painting a day is certainly a challenge...I've liked the fact that I force myself to paint and once I'm in the process I enjoy it but it's definitely taking a lot of time!
I find that it's easier to keep the subject simple and explore different ways to look at that subject.

Day 8 of 30 Day Challenge - Lemon 2

Oil on 6x6 wrap canvas
SOLD