Venice Afternoon

Venice Afternoon, 7x5", SOLD

this old shed

Old Shed, 22x28", N/A

green bottle

Green Bottle, 18x11", SOLD

Shadetree

Shadetree, 11x14", SOLD

Clothesline

Clothesline, 14x17", $150

Had a day of no rain and our dryer went out. Clotheslines are usually an inviting colorful subject matter---too bad I don't take advantage of it too often. Anyway, here's a clothesline painting.

Red Streetcar, large

Red Streetcar, 18x24", SOLD

untitled colorful landscape

untitled colorful landscape, 24x48", $600

I spent a good deal of time on this one---I don't know exactly how long, maybe eight or nine hours all told, over the last couple days---and the style and particulars of the landscape changed drastically as the painting process went on. I should have taken photos along the way but I was too busy painting.

Returning to a large painting after so many small ones---and an abstract after so many "normals"---I found myself re-exploring the process all over again. Trying out new color patterns, changing the way the shadows fell across the hills and the lightness of the sky, etc. All these infinite possibilities and only a finite few could ultimately be chosen. And the final product (I think it's final, anyway) is pleasing to me, though I'll probably hang it in the living room awhile to see if anything wants to be changed.

The piece is painted on canvas and mounted on heavy-duty, two-and-a-fourth-inch stretcher bars with black-painted sides and would look great as a centerpiece in a large family room.

The only thing I'm not so thrilled about is its lack of name. Please leave any suggestions for a name in the comments! And, as always, click the photo for a larger view. Thanks.

wasp on window pane

wasp on window pane, 8x10", SOLD

Alright, this one catches me up today on my painting-a-day series for May. Last one in this series will be tomorrow (thereafter, I'll just keep on painting and posting).

red streetcar

red streetcar, 8x10", SOLD

Still need one more painting today to catch up on my painting-a-day series for May. This one was a fairly quick painting. It doesn't have much detail but is instantly recognizable of course. As always, click the photo for a larger view.

mississippi river dock

mississippi river dock, 10x8", SOLD

This is the make-up for yesterday's painting-a-day series painting (almost caught up). I took the reference photo on the way to the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas this weekend. Don't be surprised if I paint fish paintings soon. Or jellyfish. Or penguins.

crawfish

crawfish, 5x7", SOLD

This is Sunday's painting-a-day painting. More to come!

three lemons

three lemons, 5x7", SOLD

My painting-a-day series this month was interrupted by the New Orleans Arts Market in Palmer Park, which zapped all my time that day (Saturday) and zapped all my energy for the next day (Sunday)---then, my family made a last minute decision to take a mini-vacation to New Orleans which ran through Monday---so, that happened and now I'm back to make up for missed days.

Here's a little lemon painting. I'll call this one Saturday's painting, and I'll probably post another later today to make up for lost days. More to come!

fishing gear

fishing gear, 5x7", SOLD

orange peeled

orange peeled, 5x7", SOLD

This one took longer than anticipated, to the point where I considered raising the price of the piece [but did not]. The finished product, however, makes it all worthwhile in my book.

off the vine

off the vine, 8x10", $75

Update on 2012-05-23 18:51 by wessf

I repainted the background a couple of times, and this one turned out the best so I stopped messing with it and called it good. But I'm still not a hundred percent in love with the background as it stands---it's not a deal-breaker; the painting isn't about the background afterall. Someday I might cut this panel down to a smaller size, removing some on the top and a bit on the left. That would make it an odd size panel, but it might improve the overall piece, focusing the attention where it belongs, on the tomatoes. Until then, I'm all right with it.

boiled shrimp

boiled shrimp, 5x7", SOLD

waterlily in bloom

waterlily in bloom, 5x7", SOLD

birds on a wire

birds on a wire, 8x10", SOLDMost of my paintings are derived from photographs, at least initially. This makes it easy to return to old favorites when I have no idea what else to paint. So it was with this painting. This isn't cheating, but it does fly in the face of the idea of this painting-a-day project---just in the sense that this should be an excercise in trying out new things, new ideas, and specifically painting more from real-life [not that this was ever the goal---there really are no rules here].

All that to say, I like this little painting all right. It's pretty cool. Another painting tomorrow!

captive audience #14

captive audience #14, 11x14", SOLD

This is a series I return to from time to time. It has its fans as well as its confused on-lookers. Some can't seem to make heads or tails of these Captive Audience paintings---I've heard some call them bottles and some call them cupcakes---but they were just meant to be a grouping of faceless people, a crowd. I see them as a crowd anyway. I don't mind what you see in them. As always, click the image to see a larger version.

flag

american flag, 5x7", SOLDI've painted American flags in the past, but this is the smallest version(s). Actually I painted two paintings at the same time, in the same style and size. I didn't find it necessary to post pictures of both, they are visually close enough that one photo will suffice, I think. If you're interested in purchasing both, I'll give you a deal and call it $70 for both.