Bee Sweet

SIgned today!
I added a bee on a fold on the left hand side. Here's a close up.

Sweet and UV bulbs

Yesterday I did a bit of the texture on the wood, and some of the detail on the honey comb. Today I worked on the sugar bowl, spoon and sugar cane. I need to rework the drapery, smooth it out, just get more paint on it. It will have to dry another week first.



Drying may be quicker because Robert built me a drying box; an aluminum foil-lined, 30x40" box with four UV bulbs attached to the sides. 'The windows of the drying room now glow a lurid violet. Apparently they are the same lights pot growers use to raise marijuana in the basement, so I should brace myself for an unscheduled visit from the DEA. heh.

Silk drapery, part deux

Painted all morning, placing the drapery down the left side. Took fierce concentration. Most of the time it looked like random streaks until everything connected at the end and I smoothed out the edges - all 10 zillion of them. But then I was very pleased.

More Sweetness, and the tribulations of white.

Painted the silver sugar bowl this morning. The cool thing about silver is you don't paint the color silver, you paint what it reflects, so there's a swath of mahogany, a corner of sugar cane and lots of highlights. One of my favorite places is the curve of the base, which reflects the bottom of the bowl.


White, the most essential color, is a beast. Doesn't cover well, needs multiple layers, takes forever to dry. Robert has built me a drying box which is lined in aluminum foil and has 4 UV light fixtures. The box is built, just waiting on the UV lights, which he ordered over the Internet. Won't be starting that snow painting until it's functional.

Just ate my (late) breakfast. Now going to tackle the honeycomb.



There's a world of drapery waiting, but I am going to set this aside for the rest of today.
Stripes require careful attention, concentration, and more hand-eye coordination that I have at this point.

Sweet

Here's the start of Sweet. This is one of a pair of paintings. My relationship to all things sugary is complicated.


Today I worked on the drapery, sugar cane and the spoon. It's a spoon that specially made for sugar, and the bowl is in the shape of a shell. It's only roughed in.



Among other things, this painting gives me the pleasure of painting silk drapery, for which I have a weakness.

More snow predicted tonight.