Oil Painting #16

This is for the August Landscape Challenge at WetCanvas.

My first instinct when there is a lot of green is to panic first then to mix up a green and use it everywhere there is green. Anything beyond that is progress for me. Guess I could work on branches too.

8"x10", oil on canvas.

Oil Painting #15

Another Landscape Challenge from WetCanvas. This one was for July, but I did not get around to it until the first of August.

5"x7", oil on canvas.

Oil Painting #14

Another for the WetCanvas! May Landscape Challenge.

This baby is completely free-handed! Okay, I was too lazy to draw it out, and I got lucky and close. Usually I avoid buildings because of all the windows (me lazy? yup!). They are in the painting but lacking a bit of detail. Adding people was something new for me, and I blew it, but I tried.

5"x7", canvas pad.

Oil Painting #13

This is for the WetCanvas! May Landscape Challenge. After uploading this image, I see a number of places that need adjustments, but I ain't gonna do 'em!

While playing with pastels, I have neglected other media, but I have learned so much with the pastels. It's wonderful how experience with one medium translates so well to another.

5"x7", oil on canvas pad.

Oil Painting #12 - WetCanvas! February '09 Landscape Challenge

Yup, tried another Wetcanvas! challenge.

I have noticed that I have the same sequence to my artwork.

1. I can do this.
2. This is not going the way I want.
3. Keep trying.
4. This is awful.
5. Keep trying.
6. Hmmm. There are one or two acceptable areas.
7. Keep trying.
8. It's not getting better.
9. Fiddling does not help.
10. Give it up.

5"x7", oil on canvas pad.

Oil Painting #11 - WetCanvas! January '09 Landscape Challenge, Second Choice

Several photos are usually offered in the WetCanvas! Landscape Challenges, and I decided to try another of the photos offered this month. If anyone is interested, the Landscape Challenges can be done in any medium.

I must be learning to chill out about painting with oils. If I'm not pleased with my color mixtures, the composition, or how I painted something, I look at it as practice and a learning experience and move on. I wish I could get the same attitude with drawing and watercolors with which I still freak out when the least little thing goes wrong.

5"x7", Artisan oils, canvas pad.

Oil Painting #10 - WetCanvas! January '09 Landscape Challenge

Another WetCanvas! Landscape Challenge try. Done enough! After cleaning my palette, I spotted a few more things to do, but it was time to give it up. This is my tenth oil painting, and I am still amazed the oil sticks to the canvas.

There's so much to remember at the same time, but it's easier than my first oil painting. Some of the how-to's are beginning to sink in.

They offer a total of three landscapes to try, and I may try another.

5"x7", Artisan oils, canvas pad.

Oil Paintings #7, #8, & #9

My computer died the end of October, though I did not receive the final bad news until this past Friday, so now I'm using my really old computer. Between my ADD and my slow, old computer, I may wander away before completing this post.

One would think that I would use the time without a computer to practice drawing and painting a lot, but I did very little. Reading how-to art books took up some time, and I hope I absorbed some of the information.

These paintings were done from photographs in The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oil. I did not try to do them like the paintings in the book.

All 5"x7" on canvas pad.

Since these have been drying for two or three weeks, I tried scanning them instead of photographing them. The oil colors are much closer to the originals than when I scan watercolors.

Oil Painting #6 - Landscape Challenge Oct. 08

The WetCanvas! October Landscape Challenge led me to try another oil painting. Most of this was discouraging and frustrating, but I need to keep trying in order to learn.

The image uploader at WetCanvas! is on the fritz. Since I could not upload my painting to the Challenge thread, I left a glowing, extremely favorable, totally untrue description of my artwork. *cough-cough* That was the most fun I had with this painting.

5"x7", canvas pad.

Oil Painting #5 - Another Landscape Challenge

Another try with a WetCanvas! September Landscape Challenge. This one was not published in the WetCanvas! thread, but it's here because I toss everything on my blog. I gave up on this one, but it's okay for a learning experience.

5"x7", canvas pad.

Oil Painting #4 - Landscape Challenge Sept. 08

Deciding to jump in over my head, I tried the WetCanvas! September Landscape Challenge. For a first attempt with a landscape in oils, I'm okay with this one.

5"x7", canvas pad.

Oil Painting #3 - Garlic

Finished another one, and it is time to start counting these little rascals.

This is also 5"x7" on canvas paper. Right now I am more interested in becoming familiar with the brushes and the paint, but I may switch to canvas panels soon.

Oil paints must be doggie-fluff magnets! My magnifying glass and pointed tweezers got a workout with this one.

EDM #161 and Painting with Oils

EDM #161 - Draw Something That Smells Wonderful.

Have you ever walked into your kitchen and been surprised with the wonderful scent of ripening cantaloupe? It's more fun if you've forgotten the cantaloupe has been awaiting your attention. A nice quarter slice is sufficient, and I prefer mine at room temperature. The remainder is cut into chunks and placed in the refrigerator for future nibbling.

I tried oils again, though I'm only at the stage of becoming familiar with moving the paint around. Very simple compositions are all I can handle for now. Before I tried the cantaloupe, I pulled out the apple that I tried previously and made a few changes. I like the revised apple best (bottom image). 5"x7".


How am I supposed to store my practice oil paintings? Don't they need access to sunlight to prevent yellowing? Then there's the time it takes to dry. There's nothing worth framing, but I would like to keep them awhile as a reference against possible future improvement. I keep my watercolors in notebooks or in a box, but I cannot do that with these oils. So far I have finished two 5x7's, but I don't look forward to these things multiplying and drying throughout my home.

My Sad History with Learning Oil Painting

Near the end of 2006 I learned about water-soluble oil paints and decided to give them a try. I quickly discovered how little I knew about paints and mixing the colors. Numerous times I had to find my notes on mixing browns and greys. How hard can that be?!!



Above is my first try with oils. It's unfinished because after all my work with the browns and greys, I realized I didn't have a clue about doing the kittens' fur properly and mixing good whites and creams. I gave up.

Near the end of my attempt with the kittens, I cleverly decided to try a portrait.



This is as far as I went. My first realization was that I had forgotten how to draw eyes and that painting them would be even worse.

So, off I went to work on drawing. Watercolors were also part of my education only because I had tried them once before and I had a stash of old watercolors, brushes, and paper.

With the watercolors I became familiar with the color names, attributes, and mixing. Huge learning curve! There's so much more to learn, and my watercolor skills need a lot of work.

Although I'm still working on drawing and watercolors, I decided to pull out the water-soluble oils again.


I know this is bad, but the paint is on the canvas (canvas paper! *lol* the others are on stretched canvases), and it has a bunch of mixed colors that I could not have done before. No pre-planning for this one -- I drew an apple and everything else just happened. Now I'm comfortable enough with colors to pull out the oils occasionally for a bit of practice.

The photo of the apple is not sharp, but after 15 shots I gave up. The auto-focus did not like the fresh oil, and my eyes are not good enough for manually focusing a digital camera.