Back to the Table

I finished the tomato - signed it on the vinegar bottle. Did a few small adjustments to the salt & pepper. Next week I'll varnish it. And in a couple of days I'll paint the sides with a dark gray color I plan to mix.
Spent the rest of the day working on the Met. All over it, but notably the glass, a few more layers on the pasta, the table edge, a reworking of the salt and pepper, the fork got an upgrade, as did the knife and bread, and the chairs. Actually the only things I didn't touch were George Washington and the sketchbook. In a few days I'll tackle the lettering on the museum map.

It was so good to devote a day to the brush. I did check my email periodically and fax an invoice. But this was a sweet, sweet day.
Tomorrow I'll work on the new Venice drawing. After I check it carefully I'll probably spend the whole day mixing my start-up colors.

Still painting, though every day is prettier than the day before

Here's the last version of the tomatoes. More refining to come, especially around the lettering and the salt and pepper, but it's close.

Here's a somewhat blurry and blue-ish (shot late in the day when the light was almost gone) photo of the Met painting. I've added the background chair, more layers to the tile and worked on Washington. The pasta is slowly coming into focus. I'll probably do the glass next. Much, much more to do here.
I'm going to go running in the morning - definitely need to keep those endorphins rolling in. And yes, I did work in the yard today, if you can call admiring the bells on the snowflake flowers and the butter yellow of the minidaffodils and the leaves busting out of the climbing hydrangea 'work.'

Presidents and Tomatoes II

Here's the Met, with the olives and tomatoes popped in, and the first layer on the portrait of Washington that's on the cover of the paper museum guide. Here's a close of that detail. It's still splotchy and vague, but it's 'lying down' on the page which is a big deal for me.



Another round on the tomatoes, this time the balsamic label. I had fun with that because I didn't paint the letters. I painted the dark shapes around them. Of course I'll paint the words too, in due course, but there is something magical about painting dark curves and angles and having letters appear.

Presidents and Tomatoes

Good painting morning, so I thought I'd upload two that are on the easel so you can see the progress. First, the tomatoes. This week I added the place for the lettering (on the left side of the book cover (the book title is like the place in a church where they post they hymn numbers) and refined the tomato surfaces and plate edge. When it's drier I'll work on the balsamic label and intensify the salt and pepper. The author's name goes in big letters across the top. I'm thinking about putting my name on the balsamic label.


And this is what I was just working on - a lunch I had at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. This is really early in the painting - I don't even have all the white of the canvas covered yet - but you can see where it's going. Today I added the red caran d'ache pencil and it really pops. I'll wait until I've got one layer of paint on everything before I decide whether to dull it. Gave the sketchbook another layer of blues, filled in the fork and the salt and pepper. Yesterday I started the pasta. The spaces have olives and sun-dried tomatoes in them, dark rich colors, so I'll wait for the pasta to dry before I go in again there. Maybe work on George's face next or the glass reflectins. I've got another chair to add behind the table, and am thinking about dimming the tile floor with several layers of glazes.

Eat Pray Paint

Day before yesterday I started the priest's laundry painting. I'd forgotten how good it feels to create specificity and discreet texture. I painted until four and got three quarters done with the under-painting, which pleased me. Not that I'm going for speed. There will be many layers and glazings and tweaking of colors and edges to come. I got lost exploring the melting world of the luminists and feel I've come home.
It's drying a few days before I go back in with the inky color of the priest's clothes and the dark green and shadowed doors. Probably tomorrow.

Today I worked on the tomato painting. I guess I'll call it the Lamott tomato since one of her books of essays on faith is anchoring the left hand side. This moved fast too. I have learned more than I realize. It's still in the under-painting stage and until all the white of the canvas is covered up I won't be able to discern exactly how I'll push certain values.
Here's a work-in-progress photo. The bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar are in place, minus the complicated lettering of the vinegar label. Also untouched are the book, a cut-glass salt and pepper set, bread, a fork, tines down, on the plate and silver knife with a pearl handle.


I have taken next week off for vacation and hope to empty my mind of verbs and nouns and paint.