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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Vacationing is trumping painting, but I still managed time to sketch a couple things, and I started a little oil study. First there was this scene, on the main street in Rehoboth. I drew this in about 10 minutes, while sitting in an outdoor table at a Mexican restaurant.
Geoff Watson, “Sketch of Rehoboth skyline,” ink on paper, about 2” x 3,” 2019.
I also started this little oil sketch of flowers at a swimming pool. Uh, I didn’t get to the flowers! So yeah, it needs work. We have one more day here, so maybe I’ll return to it tomorrow.
Geoff Watson, “Study in progress: Flowers at the swimming pool (with no flowers yet!),” oil on linen, 8” x 10,” 2019.
Just for grins, I wanted to see if I could recreate the mysterious filter I inadvertently added to my beach scene yesterday. Maybe?
Geoff Watson, “Study in progress: flowers at the pool, with no flowers yet,” oil on linen, 8” x 10,” 2019.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
I had very little time to paint today, as I had other obligations, so this was a pretty rushed start. Next month I’ll be getting busier, so once I get to daily painting #100, I’ll probably declare victory and work on longer-term painting projects.
Anyway, I started painting a tiny little 4-inch statue of Caesar. Here was my lay-in, with just transparent red oxide, using a small round brush, in about 20 minutes.
Geoff Watson, “In progress: Caesar,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.
I made progress on this still life, but I’m not sure I’m finished yet. Everything could use a bit more polish. Then again, polish sometimes sucks the life out of paintings. Will think on it! (Photoshopped the background to get rid of glare.)
Geoff Watson, “Garlic & pottery (in progress),” day 2, oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.
I set up this composition so that the objects are almost at eye level. It gives them a somewhat dramatic cast, I think. I’ve got work to do, obviously, but it’s a pretty good start. Back for more tomorrow!
Geoff Watson, “In progress: Garlic & pottery,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.
This statuette is even smaller than the statue I painted a couple days ago, but I couldn’t resist the colors and pose. The composition is a work in progress, but I’ve had fun with it so far.
Geoff Watson, “In progress: statuette,” oil on linen, 5” x 7,” 2019.
I painted this view of the Potomac from Swains Lock campground. A couple of nearby campers took an interest in what I was doing, and they seemed to like it, even though I was hogging a good campsite for a couple hours! I was especially interested in the strange little tree that seemed to be growing in the middle of the river.
Also, I found some relatively inexpensive linen panels, so I’ll be using those a lot over the next few weeks. I think I paint better on linen, but it’s ordinarily prohibitively expensive, so I’m excited about the switch.
Geoff Watson, “Potomac Tree,” oil on linen, 9” x 12,” 2019.