Pineapple Painting Work in Progress, Getting Closer

Added more color and detail to the body of the pineapple today.  There is more to do to get the darker crevices correct and need to start on more contrasts.  I haven't gone back to the blades much, but I think they will start looking a bit more real when the shadows are put in.  The paint in the background and blading is now dry to the touch.  For some strange reason, I want to finish the body of the pineapple before the blading.  Tomorrow may come up with another corny approach.

The palette for the painting is earthy: yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt umber, terra green, sap green, burnt sienna, and the brighter yellow light and yellow medium.  I plan to use a small bit of blue in the mix when shading the blades.  Also will be adding a bit more yellow ochre and siennas to the shadow side of the fruit.  I want the pineapple to look more ripened than what it is now.  I painted until the studio got too warm for me.  We are having a heat wave in Texas, so I paint early in the morning and back at it in the evening. 

Keep the folks dealing with the hurricane on the USA east coast in your prayers,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Pineapple Painting Work in Progress, Update

This is where I stopped for lunch today.  I have to get on with this painting as Carolyn wants to eat the pineapple I bought for the model.  There is a lot of canvas to cover on a two by three foot surface.  I like to block in the entire canvas with the background and subject before starting on much detail.  In this painting I did the background first to cause me less grief with painting the greenery blades.  The pineapple looks very bright at this point because I am going to add the detail and shadows last.   There is paint on the entire surface and should be dry enough to work on tomorrow as I am using liquin as my oil medium and this first layer on the subject is thin.  The background was layered on with brush and palette knife and has varied thicknesses for texture.  I want the end result to be very three dimensional with a realistic pineapple and an impressionist background.  This painting is already spoken for, but I would be happy to accept commissions for another.  Giclee prints will also be available.  

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie@jimmiesart.com 

Work In Progress, Pineapple Painting

This is a from scratch oil painting of a pineapple on a handmade stretched canvas.  The canvas is 3 x 2 feet and 1.5 inches deep for gallery wrap with edges painted  A huge painting for just being a pineapple.  I cut the stretcher bars out of select pine 2 x 6 inch material, stretched the canvas, and penciled in the sketch yesterday.  I painted (at left) this morning and took some pics for those that may be interested in watching progress.  As the painting progresses, I will post more re. palette, brushes, and such.  Please feel free to comment.

We got some much needed rain.  Praise the Lord.

Let us pray before we paint,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Lighthouse on the Beach, Palette Knife Painting

I painted this small alla prima oil painting using a couple of palette knives.  This type of painting is relaxing and good for exercising the creative side.  I planned it as I went and used the knife to blend color and build texture on the canvas.  It gets a bit wetter as the paint layers are added.  The lighthouse was kept simple and I also scratched in some birds.  The canvas is an 8x10 gallery wrap with edges painted for hanging without a frame.
The heat wave is still pounding us here in Texas.  We need rain badly.

Use the blog search labels to see more of my other lighthouse paintings in this blog.  Contact me if you wish to purchase this painting.  Thanks for visiting.



Join us in praying for rain,

jimmie@jimmiesart.com

The Fishing Pier

The Fishing Pier, Oil Painting, 18x24 on hand stretched gallery wrap canvas is finished.  The previous post shows the start of this painting as a work in progress (WIP).  The paint is still wet and will not be ready to handle for a couple of weeks.   The Pier will be for sale when the paint is dry.  I had a grand time with this one exploring the neat effects of light and shadows created by the sunset bouncing light on the water and pier.

We have two indoor shows this month.  The first one is this Saturday at the El Campo Civic Center and the next one is in Halletsville on the next Saturday in the KC Hall.  If you are in the area, I hope you can visit us and the other vendors.

I hope you like the Fishing Pier.  All comments welcome.

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

New Painting, Work in Progress, The Fishing Pier

In spite of the heat in South Texas, painting is still going on in my studio.  I finished the bluebonnet last week and switched back to oils for The Fishing Pier as the acrylics were hard to work with in this extreme heat wave.  This painting is completely from scratch as the stretchers and canvas were made and stretched in my shop.  I added another coat of gesso to the canvas as I like a clean white surface for water scenes.   This work is on an 18 x 24 inch gallery stretched canvas and will have the edges painted when finished.

The inspiration for the painting came from a weekend rv camping vacation on the Colorada River at the LCRA park.  This is a beautiful place as it is located where the river flows into the Gulf of Mexico.  The river and the beaches are full of sea life and activity; perfect for an old painter to take some time to reflect.  Our rv camper has a large window in the back of the trailer in which I spent a lot of time relaxing and looking at this pier.  We took numerous pictures and I chose this one to paint as we got lucky and captured a beautiful sunset striking the pier and river's edge.

The first pic is where I left it yesterday and the second is when I stopped today.  The temperature in the studio was approaching 90 degrees and I was hungry.  The painting is basically undercoated and roughed in at this point.  I prefer to get the entire canvas undercoated quickly, so I can see my foundation and where I want to go with the composition.  The construction of the pier components took more time than the rest of the painting.  Man made objects always seem to take more time.  When undercoating, I like to use thinner paint washes and lay in some detail at the same time.  The thinner paint doesn't completely cover my tracing lines and builds a base to paint on during the refining of the images, color, light and shadows.  I trace the image reference points on the canvas as light as possible and spray a bit of pastel fixative over it to prevent smudging of the lines.  Dark  lines can be hard to cover and show through the paint.   During the next sessions, I will be adding more color and working on the water.  So far, the palette includes white, cobalt blue, d.purple, magenta, deep orange, warm white, van dyke brown, terra green, cad yellow light, raw sienna, and payne's grey.

I hope you found this little tidbit interesting.  You are welcome to make comments re. the post and painting.  If you find any paintings on the blog you would like to purchase, check my website http://www.jimmiesart.com/  or contact me for availability.  We also have most of the paintings available in giclee' prints.  Thanks for stopping in.

Let us pray before we paint,

jimmie@jimmiesart.com 

I don't warrant any of my painting processes discussed in my posts, but they work for me. 

Bluebonnet Painting 20x16

I needed another original bluebonnet painting to take to shows and decided to take the study I had done on 16x12 and paint it in acrylics, rather than oils, on a larger 20x16 format and hopefully make some improvements as compared to the previous study.  My biggest obstacle turned out to be the summer heat.  My studio a/c running full blast could not stay ahead of it during the day.  So, I painted furiously in the early morning and late evening and even then, it seemed I spent more time keeping my acrylics wet enough to paint with, than actually painting.  The humidity was also low which made the paint dry quickly.  I am switching back to oils for the next couple of paintings.

I should be in the doghouse for not posting much last month.  Most of my efforts went to rebuilding my website, where you can use paypal to purchase originals and prints of my work, and painting on the Bluebonnet.  Please check out http://www.jimmiesart.com/ .  I will be posting more paintings and prints on it.

We have two indoor Arts/Crafts shows next month.  On August 13, we will be in the El Campo Civic Center and on August 20, in the KC Hallettsville Market Day.  I hope those of you in the area will visit our booth.  We got some rain today.  I pray for more.

Let us pray before we paint,

Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Garden Gladiolas

Garden Gladiolas, Original Acrylic Painting, 16x12 inch Gallery Canvas

The Garden Gladiolas was fun to paint.  The beautiful reds and varying light created some nice contrast.  This stem of flowers came out of my wife's garden.  The palette was mainly cad red med., cad red lt., cad red deep, yellow ochre, umber, sap green, tad of cad yel. med., and white.

In between trying to keep up with painting, my computer crashed and had to replace it.  I like the windows 7 on it, but---there is always a but, some of my older programs do not work in it.  I am rather displeased, as my old website editor will not work in W7 and I can't update my website.  I am trying out several trial versions of web editors on the market to see which will work best for my site.   If anyone has some suggestions re. web editors, I would really appreciate the feedback.

I hope you like the painting.

Let us pray before we paint,

jimmie@jimmiesart.com

The Cornfield Barn

Original Sold, Prints Available at www.thebartlettpair.com

This is an acrylic painting I did today on a 9x12 gallery stretched canvas with edges painted.  This beautiful field and barn is located in South Texas on hwy 111 between Midfield and Lake Texana.  The weather is very hot and dry and the field looked like it could really use some rain. I used a bit of impressionism for the field and took artistic liberties with the barn.  I really liked the way the tall corn was crowding the barn and the colors blended like a storybook scene.  This was another one I knew I had to paint.  I hope you like the painting.

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com

Mexican Sunflower

An acrylic painting of a Mexican Sunflower, 14x14 gallery stretched canvas, edges painted.

This was painted as a still life setting in the studio.  The flower was my grandsons graduation class flower as it brightly displayed the Van Vleck Leopard's school colors.  Each graduate presented their mother with a Mexican Sunflower in appreciation of their support.  I figured if it represented that much of an honor, I would paint it so it would last in memory.  Besides, it is a pretty flower.  I enjoyed working on this painting.
 
Prints are available if you would like to purchase one. 

Let us pray before we paint,
Jimmie@jimmiesart.com