New at this painting thing

I'm so excited about painting. I just started in the spring. I took an oil painting class through Mainline School Nights and really enjoyed it. It was a 10 week class and I only finished 2 paintings. The first was a still life which I really did NOT enjoy working on and you can tell by the outcome.

It took me the first 2 hour class to lay the foundation of dark and light, then the next 2 classes to put in the color. I don't think it's horrible for a first endeavor, but clearly I'm not a "natural" at this. This was done on a 9" X 12" canvas.






The next project I worked on was from a photo. My Uncle Jim, artist extraordinaire, had painted this photo when I was a little girl. It was hanging on the wall at my grandmother's house all throughout my childhood. Unfortunately, the painting was destroyed when the city he lived in (before he died) demolished his dilapidated house without contacting my mother first. So we didn't have a chance to clean it out and we lost a lot of sentimental art and antiques. Such a shame. My interpretation of this photo - W. Eugene Smith's "Walk to Paradise Garden" - is nowhere near the beauty that my uncle was able to show. I'll probably work on it more as I get better. There are elements that I truly love and am proud of for it only being the second painting I have ever attempted (I love the little girl and the pathway) and there are elements that I can't wait to get my hands on and "fix" (the tree). This was painted on a 22" X 28" canvas.
I didn't paint anything on my own during the break from May to October - I didn't have enough courage to attempt anything on my own. So class started up again in October. I'm a little quicker now. I've finished 4 paintings in 5 classes. My first was from a poster of the legs of a dancer wearing legwarmers. I was surprised at how well I did on this one. It took me 2 classes to finish it, but I am very happy with the results. I'm very proud of how the ballet slippers came out. This was painted on 18" X 24" canvas board.

My second painting from this 2nd class is a lighthouse that I painted for my father for Christmas. It's a real lighthouse that is on a barrier island off the coast of MS (Round Island). My dad grew up in Pascagoula, MS and used to ride out to this island in his boat all the time. The lighthouse was destroyed a few years ago by a hurricane (Georges I think). I hope he likes it. I'm thinking of framing it in a frame made out of driftwood. This was painted on 18" X 24" canvas.

My teacher was getting frustrated with a couple of us "newbies" and how long we were taking to finish a painting. She challenged us to just sit and paint and not think about it and finish it quick. So on a Sunday afternoon, I took her up on her challenge. I painted something simple - cherries. I'm happy with the outcome. I realize that my photography skills need some work - so I'll post better pics later. For now, this is what I have. This was painted on 11" X 14" canvas board.

And last and possibly least is a painting where I was focused on the "values" of the colors rather than the actual colors. It's a still life of sunflowers but I only used Ultramarine Blue, Raw Sienna & White. The teacher wanted me to focus on "light & dark", "warm & cool". I tried. This was a hard one. I really struggled with the flowers and focusing on light and dark, bright and dark, etc and not worrying about the shades of yellow. This was painted on 11" X 14" canvas board.


So these are my paintings up till now. I'm anxious to really improve my work and to paint real life images rather than from photos - although I have a lot of family photos that I'd like to translate into paintings.

I follow the Daily Painters and would like to join them one day when I'm good enough to sell my work.

Until next time....