egret

egret, 7x5", SOLDThe painting itself is a bit "softer" and less grainy than the photo above turned out. I should really have a disclaimer that every photo is slightly different than the painting itself, even though I try hard to get the photos very close.

bluebird

bluebird, 7x5", SOLD

dragonfly

dragonfly, 7x5", SOLD

cotton fields, small

cotton fields, small, 5x7", SOLDThought I'd do a smaller version of this cotton fields painting. Another painting tomorrow.

seashell

seashell, 5x7", $40

gumballs

gumballs, 8x10", SOLD

creole tomato

creole tomato, 6x8", $40

waterlilies, painting process

Thought I'd post a few photos of my painting process here---not that this is the best example painting to use (it's a bit too simple, I think, to perplex very many people as to how it was done), but it might just simplify and demystify the process for anyone thinking of picking up a brush and painting their own piece of artwork. So feel free to pick up your own brush and paint along!

Step one, fill up the canvas with paint. I usually just go with colors similar to the reference photo I'm painting but it doesn't matter much at this stage. This is acrylic paint, by the way, which dries pretty quick.

Step two, position everything where they need to be. I try to stick to a large brush as long as possible---this keeps me from putting down every precious detail only to have them be in the wrong place in the painting. Position everything first---doesn't matter how messy and imperfect everything is.

Step three, when you can't stand it anymore, go ahead and switch to a medium size brush (though some of this looks like brushstrokes from my smallest as well). In this step I will work on foreground objects as well as background, alternating as needed, to refine the shapes of things. In some ways I like how the painting was at this stage better than the finished product---maybe I should have left it more abstract like this.... Maybe next time.

And in the final stage. Detail work---though again, this is not a great example since I decided to leave the strictest details out of it entirely---and, as you can see, final color correction and alteration (I wanted more blue in the final piece).

waterlilies, 8x10", $75

Contact me to purchase this painting (as always, click above picture for larger view). Come back often to see more of my arwork. I'll be posting a new painting every day this month! Follow me on twitter to keep up-to-date on the day to day (@wessf) and if you aren't on my email newsletter list and would like to be, just contact me and tell me to add you! Thanks for stopping by!

jockey

jockey, 7x5", $40

Hong Kong Vegetable Market

Street Vendors, 5x5", SOLD

dancer

dancer, 6x8", SOLDThis little painting was completed in three different sittings and probably took me around three hours all told. I tried not to overwork the piece [leaving plenty of raw brushstrokes to prove I was involved with its creation]. Last thing I added was the business in the background of the painting---lines that hint at equipment and the back corner of the room---and that otherwise insignificant addition helps ground the subject, the dancer, to her world and makes the scene more believable. Contact me if you're interested in purchasing this painting on canvas. See you tomorrow for another one.

housefronts

housefronts, 5x7", SOLD

n. o. street car #12

N. O. Streetcar #12, 5x7", SOLD

Happy weekend! This is one of my frequently re-painted images, mainly because it's one of the few strictly New Orleans scenes in my repertoire. This is painted on masonite board. Another painting tomorrow!

coffee and spoon

coffee and spoon, 7x5", SOLD

Painted on masonite board. Standard size (will fit many photo frames). Another painting tomorrow.

Artichoke

artichoke, 6x8", SOLDPainted on canvas with painted sides. Contact me if you would like to purchase this painting. Another painting tomorrow!

blue crab

blue crab, 6x8", SOLD

This is painted on canvas, by the way, with painted sides so it can be left unframed if desired. Thanks for taking a look, and as always, contact me if you would like to purchase this painting, and come back soon---I'll have a new painting everyday this month!

cotton fields

cottonfields, 8x10", $75 (framed)

First of May. Here's the first painting. The reference photo was taken near Ferriday, LA, when the fields were full of cotton. This is a smaller version of a previous painting I did. It comes premounted on a frame.

Tomorrow there will be another painting :-)

Trees ablaze

trees ablaze, 18x24", SOLDIn preparation for my painting-a-day series in May, I've been . . . well, painting. Here is one I completed today---it's a scene I've painted a few times before, an old standby for me. The reference photo, years ago, was of a stand of cypress trees in midwinter, their needles a rusty brown, flaring red wherever the sunlight hit them. The painting quickly became a generic parody of itself, if I can call it that---a loosely interpretted stand-in for the real thing, where the trees are no longer really cypress trees but storybook trees with no real genetic ties to anything authentic. All for the sake of a pretty picture. It is eye-catching, isn't it?

painting-a-day announcement

For the month of May, I am committed to painting and posting a painting every single day on this very website. Check back frequently to see the new stuff and if you see something you'd like, send me an email to claim it (first come, first serve)---these will be small paintings and therefore easy to ship and affordable for everyone. I am doing this for many reasons---people enjoy seeing new stuff, and I get good practice out of it, and I don't have a big inventory of small paintings to show or sell at art markets, and I could go on but you get the idea. Please pass this info on to anyone you think might be interested---I could use the publicity.

To be notified every time I post a new painting, you can follow me on twitter---@wessf. Wish me luck and please leave comments so I know you're enjoying the artwork. Thanks!

gesso session

I'm spending part of today preparing masonite panels for a painting-a-day series I'll be doing next month right here, every day in May. I took one large masonite panel, which can be found at most local hardware stores, and cut it down to size---I came up with thirty 5x7" panels and eighteen 8x10" panels and one or two 18x24" panels. Preparing masonite for acrylic or oil painting is simple enough---cut to size, apply one or two coats of acrylic gesso and perhaps give it a quick once over with sandpaper between coats. I'll be coating both sides of the panels and I try to get the edges as well, though that's not necessary.

Don't forget to check back next month for my painting-a-day series, and follow me on twitter---@wessf---to get updates on future posts on my website and on my life. Happy painting!