Some Recent Work

Here are a couple of paintings that I've done over the past couple of days. Both utilized some Acrylic underpainting, but are essentially "Oil paintings".

The sunflowers were started yesterday and finished today. I had added Alkyd medium to the Oils to speed the drying, so that it was virtually dry over-night. That made it easy to glaze and brighten the final highlights this morning.

The barn was tackled in the same way, Acrylics underneath with Oils over the top. The difference is that I was able to get the amount of detail I desired without having to wait for it to dry, so it was all done in one sitting.

I use this approach quite often, (more and more, it seems ) and it is one of my favorite ways to work. It eliminates a lot of the drying time associated with Oils and literally cuts the "working time" in half.

Acrylics, Alkyds and Oils,....................... is that mixed-media? And does that matter? Not to me. It's still predominantly 90+% Oils, so I still call it an Oil painting.

All I know is that it works great for my style and work pace.

My New Blog at Jerry's Artarama

Jerry's Artarama has asked me to post a weekly topic on their new blogazine, "SPLATTER".
For the most part, it will be different entries than what I post here on my personal blog, but there may be a few times when there'll be a "re-run", if it seems like a deserving topic to both sites.
There are a few other artists sharing their thoughts, as well, so check it out!
www.jerrysartarama.com/blog

"POLAR BEAR"

This is a painting from a couple of days ago. Although it's in Oils, it started with a toned canvas using a blue-gray Acrylic gesso. ( like my previous post, "WINTER STREAM" )

Being an animal-lover, I can always find an excuse for rendering a magnificent creature such as this.

The challenge here was getting enough contrast and definition because essentially it's a white subject on a white background. The blue-gray snow shadows and the "off-whites" of the bear were all adjusted until the bear popped out from the background. There are not a lot of darks in this painting and it is what's referred to as a "high key" painting.

Every painting presents it's own set of challenges and the artist has to study, analyze, tweak and adjust it until evertything falls into place.