shaving brush

shaving brush
4x6" - $35

This brush came as part of a shaving kit that my wife got me for my birthday last year [I think that's right], and this was my first time to really make use of it. [seriously, my dear, it was a great present - I will try to start using it from now on]

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

nuts and bolts

nuts and bolts
4x6" - $35

Highlights can bring a dull painting to life. Honestly not much work had to go into this painting. After a quick pencil sketch, I blocked in the different shades of gray. Then added the blackest blacks, then added the highlights. That was pretty much it.

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

dry cereal

dry cereal
4x6" - sold

Having a toddler around the house gives one plenty of new inspiration - stuffed animals, peanut butter sandwiches and off-brand Cheerios®, all make great subject matter.

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

apples and oranges

apples and oranges
5 - 6x6" (1 3/8" thick canvas) - $40 a piece

I painted these colorful squares the day before the art show yesterday. These would be wonderful on the wall of someone's kitchen, especially as a group. Click photo to see the details easier.

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

tortie and white

tortie and white
5x7" - framed - $55

I painted this from the photo on the wikipedia entry on tortoise-shell cats. I had never heard of torties until recently (I thought they were all just calicoes). This one is technically a tortoise-shell-and-white, as true tortoise-shells have no white.

As this post is going up (Saturday, February 9th) I will be at the North Shore Art Market with this painting, so those at the Art Market will have first call on this one. If you're in the area, come on out!

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

paint tube #2

paint tube #2
4x6" - $35

Please leave me a comment. And if you're interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you're interested in - first come, first serve. Don't forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

calligraphic pens

calligraphic pens
6x4" - $35

Please leave me a comment. And if you're interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you're interested in - first come, first serve. Don't forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

dragonfly #1

dragon fly #1
6x4" - sold

I found this nice striking-red dragonfly online and just had to paint it for this series. I call this dragonfly #1 because I'm definitely planning to paint at least one more dragonfly [they just fit so well in this small format].

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

curious pups

curious pups
4x6" - sold

These were two of the puppies from our chocolate lab's litter - we still have the black lab, full grown now.

Please leave me a comment. And if you’re interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you’re interested in - first come, first serve. Don’t forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

scissors, needle, and thread

scissors, needle, and thread
4x6" - $35

This one began with just the pair of scissors - a primitive looking pair of scissors, at that. I didn't think I'd ever get it detailed enough to make a decent painting of it, so I decided to work a little longer before finally giving up and painting over it. But the more I worked on it, I found, the more detail began to show itself. Finally, pleased with how the scissors appeared, I could tell it just wasn't complete. The composition needed something more, something to add interest and movement to the piece - excitement, even - to the lonely pair of scissors. So, with a few careful brush strokes, I added the needle and thread, and that made all the difference, I think.

Please leave me a comment. And if you're interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you're interested in - first come, first serve. Don't forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

paint tube #1

paint tube #1
4x6" - $35

Okay, first Painting-A-Day painting. Simple subject matter painted in a simple monochromatic color scheme. Paint tubes are readily available around here, and I ended up doing two of these (I'll post the second in a few days). I completed this in a single sitting. It took somewhere around thirty to forty minutes, all told. I started with a quick pencil sketch to make sure the tube was positioned properly. Working with these tiny panels, I find that positioning is even more critical than when painting on larger surfaces.

Not to get even more obscure with this background information, but when I was working on the final details of this painting [or 'sketch' if you'd prefer] - adding in the faux text and faux graphic design elements printed on the tube - I was pleasantly recalling the Graphic Design classes I took many years ago at LA Tech and the entirely absorbing exercises we'd have to do, reproducing whole magazine pages using this "faux text" technique with markers. The idea is to give the faux text the same "weight" as the original text - in other words, balancing the "faux letters" and the "faux negative space around those letters" to the same degree as that of the original letters [and the original negative space around those letters]. Good times. Anyway, more to come.

Please leave me a comment. And if you're interested in purchasing this or any other postcard painting, contact me with the name of the painting you're interested in - first come, first serve. Don't forget to include your name and email address. I will email you back with further instructions. Thanks!

Painting A Day Series

We'll see how this Painting-a-Day series goes. I will attempt to post a new painting every weekday (and possibly on the weekends - we'll see) for most of February, beginning Monday Sunday, February 3rd. This is starting to sound more and more like a stunt, isn't it? Like I said we'll see how it goes.

All paintings will be available for purchase. They will be painted on 4x6" Masonite panels, signed, unframed, and priced at $35 a piece (I will cover shipping costs). Make sure to come back often and leave comments when you do! Also accepting reference photos from which to paint (keep in mind these are small paintings and therefore detail-dependent photos might not work as well). So, please email me any photos I could use (wess at wess foreman dot com). Thanks!