mason #1

Posted on February 20, 2008 by Wess Foreman

mason #1
6x4" - $35

flag-pin

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Wess Foreman

flag-pin
4x6" - $35

Yesterday was President's Day in the United States, and although I admittedly don't go all out for this national holiday [what does one do on President's Day, anyway?], I had the slightly-belated thought of painting something patriotic. So, here you go, a day late, the little flag-pin that lives in my sock drawer and usually only comes out for certain holidays [the ones that should probably be celebrated more often]. Happy President's Day!

hanging brush

Posted on February 18, 2008 by Wess Foreman

hanging brush
6x4" - $35

storefront

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Wess Foreman

storefront
4x6" - $35

The reference photo I used came from The Library of Congress's Flickr page [see previous post about that, where I used this very reference photo, in fact]. As you can see, I had more fun with "faux text" in this one. Anyway, this one came out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

valentine

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Wess Foreman

valentine
4x6" - $35

This one is dedicated to Tammy, my wife, who always reminds me when Valentines Day is on its way and whose jewelry I sequestered to compose this red and pink painting. Thanks, Dear.

Oh, this painting is for sale, by the way [I figure, it's not a Federal Holiday, so commerce continues].

shaving brush

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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]

nuts and bolts

Posted on February 12, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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.

dry cereal

Posted on February 11, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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.

apples and oranges

Posted on February 10, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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.

tortie and white

Posted on February 9, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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!

paint tube #2

Posted on February 8, 2008 by Wess Foreman

paint tube #2
4x6" - $35

calligraphic pens

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Wess Foreman

calligraphic pens
6x4" - $35

North Shore Art Market

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Wess Foreman

This Saturday is the NorthShore Art Market in Covington, LA. I'll have a booth there once again and I'm looking forward to it. That's all - come out if you can!

dragonfly #1

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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].

curious pups

Posted on February 5, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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.

scissors, needle, and thread

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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.

paint tube #1

Posted on February 3, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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.

Painting A Day Series

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Wess Foreman

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!

cotton swabs

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Wess Foreman

flickr: Library of Congress

Posted on January 25, 2008 by Wess Foreman

The Library of Congress has recently uploaded over three thousand photos to the online photo-sharing site, Flickr.com. These are amazing full color images from a time before I was around. In lieu of attempting to get all the facts right (and probably missing something), I'm just gonna link to The Library of Congress Blog post (did you know there was one?) and here's The Library of Congress's Flickr page.