Saturday, April 26, 2008

Front & Center, oil on gessoboard

" Honey Tangerines "
Oil
6" x 6"
This is my 100th painting for my Daily Painting Blog! I am amazed and so happy! I began this journey in late October '07 and though I did not complete one a day this is still huge accomplishment for me. I have seen great improvements in my painting that I'm surAe would not have happened in the same way working only on large oils. It's an amazing process. I want to thank all the artists and my collectors who have been following along and taken the time to comment. Your support is so appreciated.
Now for the second 100! I do have two summer shows to paint for but will post the large paintings here as they are finished.

20 comments:

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Congratulations on such a milestone, 100 beautiful paintings no less. I'm in awe.
You do fabric better than anyone.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks so much Mary. As for fabric, I think the trick is not to give up so soon. I know there are artists like Carol Marine who can imply fabric with a few brushstrokes. For me, I lay in the basic light, mid and shadow colors, blend very lightly. I go back in again and again to describe the little color and value shapes I am seeing. For the stripes in this painting I mixed a dark and a light of each stripe color, applied them, finished blocking in the underpainting. Made more adjustments, bumping up the light values, darkening the darks here and there. I have a wipe out tool to lift paint revealing the toned board, another value revealed very quickly, plus a bit of detail. The Daily Painting challenge has gotten rid of my fear of fabric!!!

Terry said...

Again congratulations, on both reaching 100 paintings and on such a lovely painting to mark the milestone. I agree with Mary - your fabrics are just wonderful. Thanks for the description of how you do them.

Frank Gardner said...

Happy 100th daily painting! This one is real strong.
I like the last post too. You say you had some trouble with the green on the oranges, but it came out great. All of those colors in that one work for me.

Christine Mercer-Vernon said...

congratulations on your 100th painting! i really really like this one. the stripes in the fabric are fantastic, but i really like how the dark background keeps the tangerines and the stripes in the foreground and adds some wonderful depth. i went back and looked at all your posts from october & november to see how much you're painting has progressed. and i must say your paintings were great then, but i see a more mature handling of your brush and a definite increase in depth in your handling of shadows. congrats!!

georgiana ewing said...

Wow. These oranges are luscious---------and yes, the fabric is great. Congrats on #100! What an accomplishment! Also, your dog is adorable and I love his name.(My husband's name is Jack.)

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks Christine,
I'm glad you see improvement..isn't that what keeps us painting? Never satisfied, must do better on the next one. But, more importantly, I want to improve my "seeing" and work towards loosening up the interpretation of what I'm looking at. One thing that has helped me is to use a pretty large brush on these little paintings, using the tip, the edge, the corner, etc. That has helped be paint faster and more freely, too.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks Georgiana,
Most Jacks I know are very likeable guys! Glad you like this painting. It has a shiney smooth skin that was so much more fun to paint than a regular orange.

Takeyce said...

Congrats, Jennifer! It's a great accomplishment.

I love the richness of you paintings. This piece especially.

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks Takeyce,
I'm glad you like this one..I do love rich color and this fabric had a rough texture so the colors in the light areas weren't washed out. Thanks so much for stopping by.

sandy said...

Wow, so beautiful, the colors, texture of that cloth..

sandy

sandy said...

The way you paint cloth is so beautful!!

I'm enjoying your art.

s

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Sandy.
I suppose my history with fabric is coming through in my paintings. More likely, I am fearlessly using fabric..I used to shy away. It is the best prop for leading the eye around the painting. It just takes some studying to see the value shapes and blending a bit, and layering of color, wet over wet.

Unknown said...

Congratulations on your 100th painting for the daily paintings!
Quite an accomplishment.

I love this one...it's very south of the border looking.

Here's to 100 more!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks for the good wishes, Cindy!
It does feel good. What will the next 100 bring? Read a little sign today: "Life is all about how you handle Plan B".

Dean H. said...

Congrats on reaching the 100th!! I know where you're coming from about so much painting bringing about improvement. You are creating fantastic paintings!

ArtGirl said...

I love coming and seeing what's new....Do youplan on doing another hundred, or two? ;-) It certainly is a way to develop...I wish I could do mine more regularly, but I still find that each one is a learning experience, sometimes on what NOT to do! Beautiful work, as always!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks, Dean and Katie May, I do indeed plan on doing the next 100 daily paintings..with time out to do larger paintings for shows.
I was espressing to my writer friend my joy in these daily paintings and the more frustrating large paintings that can take weeks or months. She equated it to poetry vs prose. Poets can accomplish something in a short while, prose can take years.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Jennifer thanks so much for generously explaining your process. I've had fear of fabric and fear of folds and fear of finishing and fear of framing and it all keeps me working towards fearlessness.
It IS about seeing and if you slow down enough you see better. Love Your work!

Jennifer Bellinger said...

Thanks Mary, Seeing is key. Really looking at something, asking yourself where is the lightest light, darkest dark? On fabric you will have the lightest part of a fold next to the dark shadow. There is light bounced back into the fold, too. Very light blending by barely touch the paint..I do a little zig zag motion, not a dragging. It is easy to loose all the character by overblending. Also, I go back in more than once and add more light/darks each time more texture is layed down. I use a soft sable to blend, too, as bristle can be to rough and lift the paint. Look for sublte shapes of color/value change all over the fabric. I lay in the darks first.