I've been really BAD (like those shouty capitals) about posting blog entries. It seems I have the most energy at the start of the day, but the lease amount of time. I have more time at the end of the day, but I'm too tired. I really must figure this out!

I have been painting shells again (among other things, see other blogs). Below is a piece I've been working on off and on. The photo posted is none too good - dark morning, but you get the drift. I am drawn to "rondo's" lately, the containment appeals to me and the way the eye moves around. You are forced to focus and examine the items in the circle, find the connection, and move around some more. In a rectangular painting the items have to have their own pull, either through color or shape. In a rondo, the edge of the circle does the job for you. Cool! I can be as bad a designer as I want to be and the edge still moves you around the picture. The circle also acts as its own center of interest, another plus. You don't have to pick and choose and find a focal point if you're not sure of the concept, the circle does it for you.

So, now all I need are more round containers. Must have interesting edges, but not too difficult.

Shell Games: The Exhibit

I'm so excited! A show of many of my paintins all together. And they look awesome!

You may not be able to tell, but I have reworked this. I added a darker shadow around the shell and at the outside corners. I am trying to make the shell "pop" more and catch your attention. I was also thinking about depth. I wanted the shell to be sunken into the sand a more and there to be a little ridge of sand around it. I also lightened the middle of the shell to give the shell itself more depth, so the center will come towards you. I also added some more darkness right at the edge of the shell. I tried to avoid making look like it was outlined, so I made it intermittent. Usually the place where an object sits on a surface has a thin dark area right at the edge between the object and the surface.

When a painting gets down to the finer details, the changes aren't all that dramatic, but the tweaking ultimately affects the whole quite a bit. It is at this point that I use some glazing medium, usually Liquin or Medium No. 2 (8 parts odorless thinner, 1 part damar varnish, 1 part stand oil). This extra transparent glazed layer is crucial to how the light refracts and resonates. However, once it is used, any brush strokes added later without medium, will look dull and chalky and need some additional glazing on top. So essentially, if your pretty certain of the painting, go ahead and add some glazing to give it some more depth or to shift a color hue in another direction.

It is now time to let the picture sit and "percolate",  and me regain a fresher eye, before I work on it again. It is by no means done. There is a shell at the bottom right that looks like a wad of kleenex tissue!

I've returned to painting shells recently and started a piece with a sand dollar in the center. See below. It is unfinished, but I'm liking it. The colors aren't quite as yellow as in the snapshot and there is more contrast.  It's a little on the "pretty" side. Hmmmmm. Maybe I have a pretty side, lurking.