Daily painting #100: My studio

To mark my 100th straight day of daily painting, I thought I’d show you where I do a lot of my work — my little studio, in my basement. When I paint a still life, I often use my easel light, a spotlight on the subject — and no other lights. So it’s bit dark, especially in the evening. I tried to convey that here. I was going for a sort of medieval atelier ambiance.

I’m going to take a break from daily painting now, as I have some longer-term art projects (I haven’t forgotten you, Tup!), plus the start of school in a couple weeks. But I’ll still be posting here, as I have plenty of stuff I haven’t gotten around to showing you all yet. Thanks for reading!

Geoff Watson, “My studio,” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Daily painting #99: Water bottles

One peach got eaten and the other went bad, so no more peaches. So instead I painted some S’well water bottles. (Water has been a theme this month: several glasses of water, and now some water bottles.) I didn’t finish this, but it’s a decent start. Not sure whether I’ll continue it or start something new tomorrow.

Geoff Watson, “Water bottles (in progress),” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #98: Peach school

I love painting peaches, but I’ve always had trouble with them: they aren’t shiny, so they’re harder to model than, say, apples or grapes. True to form, I struggled with these peaches today. (I like the water glass in the background better!) I may paint more peaches tomorrow, just for the practice.

Geoff Watson, “Peaches and a glass of water (in progress),” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Daily painting #97: Glass of water (cont'd)

I spent more time with my glass of water, trying to improve the drawing, edges, and lighting. I think it’s better, but I will step away from it for a few days to think on it. I’m certainly getting good practice with foreshortened drawing!

Geoff Watson, “Glass of water (in progress),” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Daily painting #96: Glass of water

It was a beautiful day out, but I still felt like painting glass and water, so I stayed inside and set up yet another little still life. I spent only an hour on this, but I think it’s an interesting start. The drawing needs a bit of work, but I like the light.

Geoff Watson, “Glass of water (in progress),” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Daily painting #95: New view (cont'd)

I made some progress, but this challenging scene still needs work. I’m going to put it aside and come back with fresh eyes next week. If the weather is nice tomorrow, I think I’ll go outside to paint!

Geoff Watson, “Tableware (in progress),” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Daily painting #94: a new view (day one)

I kept my little scene intact, but I stood up to paint it from a different — and more challenging — vantage point. Nothing is harder than painting extremely foreshortened objects! But I wanted the practice. This is an okay start, but things are kind of vaguely-defined still. I’ll work on it more tomorrow.

Geoff Watson, “Tableware (in progress),” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Daily painting #93: Silver pitcher (cont'd)

It sure is fun painting all these shiny surfaces! I’ve finished a “first draft” of this little still life, and I like what I have here, but I might like to take it further. I’ll let it dry for a few days while I think on it. I have some fun ideas for a new still life tomorrow. (Incidentally, I llightly Photoshopped the background of this image to eliminate glare.)

Geoff Watson, “Silver pitcher (in progress),” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #92: Silver pitcher (day 2)

It occurred to me that this object is really more a pitcher than a “pot,” as I wrote last time. Anyway, I continued with the picture, this time focusing on one of the glasses behind the pitcher. I had only about an hour to paint, but I made decent progress. On to the other glass tomorrow.

Geoff Watson, “Silver pitcher (in progress, day 2),” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #91: Silver pot (in progress)

I posted some compositional sketches for this little pot last week, and today I finally got around to painting it. It’s a challenging subject, so I’m not close to finishing, especially as I haven’t even begun painting the two glasses in the background. But it’s a good start. Here’s a look at just the pot:

Geoff Watson, “Silver pot (in progress),” detail, oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

And here’s the whole picture, with placeholders for the two glasses behind the pot.

Geoff Watson, “Silver pot (in progress,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #90: Veggies

Thanks to my lovely family, we have lots of yummy fresh vegetables in the fridge. I decided to paint three of them. I like the result, except that I wish I’d put them on a plate or bowl or something, to provide context. But it sure was fun to paint all those reds and greens.

Geoff Watson, “Veggies,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #89: The canal from Rehoboth to Lewes

I painted this exact scene two years ago, but I did not look at that painting again before stepping up to the easel and trying again. I didn’t want to be influenced by the earlier picture. One thing that changed was my canvas: I chose a wide surface this time. Another difference is that this time I painted it all in one go, in about two hours; last time I worked on the painting for three full afternoons! So the “old” one is somewhat more detailed and refined, but the “new” one has its merits too. Here’s today’s effort:

Geoff Watson, “The Canal from Rehoboth to Lewes,” oil on linen, 6” x 12,” 2019.

And here’s the painting from two years ago. I blogged about it, briefly, here: https://www.geoffwatsonart.com/blog/2017/8/2/boat-on-the-rehoboth-lewes-canal?rq=Lewes

Geoff Watson, “Boat on the Rehoboth-Lewes Canal,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2017.

Daily painting #88: Flowers at the pool (day 2)

I spent more time working on the flower pots at the pool, this time adding … flowers. And water to the pool.

Geoff Watson, “Flower pots at the pool,” oil on linen, 8” x 10,” 2019.

Daily painting #86: Rehoboth Beach

It was a day at the beach! I sat with my family on busy Rehoboth Beach, and I dug out my oils and sketched the scene in front of me. I didn’t want to lug an easel or tripod, so I just had the linen panel and palette on my lap.

Given the challenging circumstance, I wasn’t expecting to paint a masterpiece. My plan had been to put in a few basic strokes, photograph the scene, and finish back at the house later. But I got enough done that I decided just to leave it the way I painted it on location. Neither of the two photos below quite does it justice, but they should give you the basic idea.

Geoff Watson, “Rehoboth Beach,” oil on linen, 6” x 12,” 2019.

When I was photographing and editing the picture, I inadvertently applied some sort of filter to it. Here’s what it looks like. Kinda cool!

Geoff Watson, “Rehoboth Beach,” oil on linen, 6” x 12,” 2019.

Daily painting #85: Canal

Our rented house in Rehoboth Beach looks out on the Rehoboth-Lewes Canal. It was raining all day, but that didn’t stop me from setting up under an awning and painting the scene. I wanted a better view of the canal, so I “pruned” a few bushes with my brushes.

Geoff Watson, “Rehoboth-Lewes Canal,” oil on linen, 6” x 12,” 2019.

Daily painting #84: Nocturne 2.0

Again it was too hot to paint outside during the day, so I waited until evening and then took another run at the house across the street. I had more time this evening than I did when I first tried this subject, so the drawing is a bit more careful. I’m getting closer to the look I want, but not there yet.

A big challenge is seeing the canvas and the palette. Sometimes I just couldn’t see what I was doing, and I lathered the paint on too thick. I do have a nocturne easel light, but I cleverly left it at home, so I had to make do. Great fun, in any case.

Geoff Watson, “Nocturne,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #83: Stuff on the kitchen table

A great watercolorist, Charles Reid, enjoyed painting still lifes that captured what people left lying around, rather than still lifes carefully composed by the artist. He suggests just pointing your brush at stuff and painting it. So I did that today. I painted my brush at stuff lying on the kitchen table.

Geoff Watson, “Stuff on the kitchen table,” oil on panel, 6” x 8,” 2019.

Daily painting #82: Nocturne

We arrived safely at Rehoboth Beach, which is suffering through a blistering heat wave. I can’t really paint inside our rented house, so much as I’d have preferred to do a still life in the air conditioning, I had no choice but to look outside. I waited until it was a mere 88 degrees, at 10:30 pm, and then painted this little nocturne. It’s not as dark as this photo suggests, but I hope you get the idea.

Geoff Watson, “Nocturnal window,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #81: Compositional sketches

I set up an interesting still life scene, and then I spent two hours ineffectually trying to find a good composition. Here’s the scene itself:

“Still life setup,” July 2019.

I sketched various combinations of these objects, and I still haven’t found an arrangement I like. (I also need to wash the glasses!) I couldn’t include any live objects, like fruit, as we’re about to leave on vacation for a week. Anyway, here’s one example of a possible composition:

Geoff Watson, “Study-sketch for a still life (in progress),” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Here’s an earlier start, focused on the pitcher with the other objects receding into the woodwork. It’s okay, but I think I’ll go with the vertical composition above. I have a week to think about it, as I’m not bringing these objects with me on vacation.

I will, however, be bringing my paints. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so at most I’ll post a quick sketch, but starting on Sunday I’ll be painting Rehoboth, Delaware in all its glory. Weather permitting. :)

Geoff Watson, “Study-sketch 2 for a still life, in progress,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.

Daily painting #80: Caesar (day 2)

Painting these sculptures is great practice. I often find it harder to get a likeness with a sculpture than a human figure. I think part of it is the tiny size of this sculpture; the tiniest error is magnified. But part of it is that living, breathing models seem easier to draw, even though they move. I wonder why that is.

Anyway, this one is coming along. I may continue tomorrow, or I may start another still life. One thing’s for sure: I won’t be going outside to paint in the 98 degree heat.

Geoff Watson, “Caesar (in progress), day 2,” oil on linen, 5” x 7.”