Spin takes shape

The last day of 2009 found me in front of the easel, and the painting going quickly. Of course it will be different when I'm painting the strands of corn silk.
First I blocked in the background with mix of Asphaltum, Burnt Umber and Ultramarine blue.

After a nap and a pot of tea I did some work on the wheel. Iron Oxide, Burnt Sienna, Ocher, Indian Yellow, Cad Orange and Titanium white.

I'm using three references; one for the shapes, another for the color along with looking at the same photo on my computer, which is brighter and more detailed than the print.
It's a lovely spinning wheel, an antique from Canada on loan from a friend.

Since pretty much everything is variations of reddish brown. I'm saving the green of the husks and yellow of the corn silk, yarn and gold coins for dessert.

This was a good day.

A good end to a good year

Finished a 24x24" drawing of the spinning wheel making gold thread out of corn silk. The background is three yards of brown velvet, and the wheel is old polished wood, so the overall effect is very chiaroscuro, all dark with the gold of the corn silk and thread picked out. The wheel is cropped in to weight the focus of the painting to the silk. I don't think the drawing will show up very well, but here goes.

Did a smaller corn in the grinder drawing - 12x16 - that I'm okay with but not as excited.

Figured out what was wrong with another composition - a basket of vegetables - peppers, squash, tomatoes - in front of tilled rows of a garden with espaliered trees in the far background. The garden photo was taken in October and has cabbages ( I think - maybe broccoli or Brussel sprouts) in the rows, whereas the basket of vegetables came from a group I shot this summer. The garden and the produce clashed - wrong season. I've made a list of October vegetables - cabbage, onions, carrots, Swiss chard, radishes and kale for example - and am going to reshoot it. It's funny, I couldn't tell what was wrong, but something kept nagging at me. Then, all I once, I saw it.

Went for a walk in the park with Robert & Parker, came back, and after a nap I did a little more on the Harrow.


Had an email from HHFA, saying I'd sold the painting of Moochie, 'In the Kitchen.' A good end to a good year.