Daily painting #31: On the couch

I don’t know what possessed me to try to paint a figure in an extremely foreshortened pose! The result is not my best work, lol. Normally I wouldn’t post a flawed effort like this, but the idea of daily painting is to share your failures as well as your successes. If nothing else, this principle usually induces me to work harder to avoid failures! But today I was tired and declared victory as the sun was setting. At least the warm light is kind of cool. :)

Geoff Watson, “On the couch (study),” May daily painting #31, oil on panel, 8” x 8,” 2019.

Daily painting #15: interiors

I painted this little scene from my kitchen, looking into my darkened dining room, with warm light in a window beyond.

Geoff Watson, “Interiors,” May daily painting #15, oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.

Jolene

The lighting at today’s life class was confusing because we had to deal with three light sources. (1) A warm spotlight; (2) slightly less warm overhead lights; and (3) behind us, a wall of bright windows (covered with ineffective curtains) casting cool light on the model -- and glare on my painting surface. I found these conditions difficult.

Anyway, I did my best. We had the model in front of us for a couple hours (minus breaks). But I confess I spent a half hour touching things up after class at home, working from memory with no photo reference — not a great way to improve the likeness. At least I had my new Revelite easel light illuminating my panel properly. "Jolene," oil on panel, 11" x 14."

Geoff Watson, “Jolene,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.

New Year's art resolutions

Happy New Year! I’ve been busy preparing to return to teaching this semester, but I still plan to paint or draw every day. My New Year’s resolution is to paint 50 pictures this year — but to paint them more carefully, with more attention to detail. I will experiment more with converting plein air studies and other reference material into finished studio landscapes. I’m reading Michael Chesley Brown’s book on the subject now.

In general I don’t paint exclusively from photos, but I’m not a fanatic about it. I did the painting below as a commission, using the client’s photo reference and other photos. It was fun!

Geoff Watson, “New light,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2018.

Orange lemon

Today I painted a lemon, but I put a very warm spotlight on it, and the painting made it look too orange. Also, there’s lots of glare on this photo. I will work on it more tomorrow!

Geoff Watson, “Lemon (in progress),” oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2018.