Little Red Leaf

Today was one of those slightly cold and gloomy days of the fall season. I was feeling blue and grey and all the other boring colors. I was moody until mid afternoon when I got a text from my friend. It was picture of a tree in a park with a hilarious little red leaf hanging out all by himself at the bottom of the tree trunk. He was so jolly compared to his surroundings. I smiled and laughed. So today I thank my friend for sending me this little moment and I thank God for the little red leaf. It is a reminder that if you take a second to look around for God you will find his glory and be filled with joy.

Plated Pies

Knowing when to stop painting is hard. There is a delicate balance between knowing when to stop or when to put more work in. For me, I tend to look at it for a few days. Sometimes I'll hang it up on the wall so if feels more final. If I look at it and I only want to change one or two things, than I leave it alone. If I hate it beyond a reasonable doubt, then I put more work in. I always have been drawn to a more Impressionistic style. When looking at Monet's work I specifically enjoy his river boat painting or his haystack series. However Monet's haystacks are obviously painted very maliciously yet they exude effortlessly beauty.  I don't think I could ever compare my work his masterpieces.   When I study Monet, I'm just fascinated and maybe understand art a little bit better. I digress...  I think I finished my pie painting. I'm semi satisfied with it. Most importantly I hope it is well received by its new owners. 

Sketching It Out

Here is the rough idea for my pie painting. I quickly sketched out six plated pie slices on a muted blue background to start. I feel like I always need to add blue for some contrast to my earth tones. I tend to make everything little two yellow or pink. Now that I have a general composition laid out, I can really focus in on making this painting about a joyful summer afternoon.

Pie Tones

When thinking about what to paint for my wonderful friends I thought back to a moment we shared together eating pies. We traveled all the way to Brooklyn to try the Four and Twenty Blackbirds famous pies. We bought one slice of each kind they had. Then we displayed them out on the table before we dove in. Their arrangement looked so pretty that I didn't even want to disturb them. The dark table against the white plates and the yellow crusts were just lovely to look at. A perfect composition. I had that thought for about a second because the salted caramel slice was calling my name.

Before I start my pie inspired painting I need to mix my pie colors, my pie-tones you might say.
I started with yellow ocher, alizarin crimson, lemon yellow, raw umber, and venetian red. These mixed with titanium white will be my mid tones.

New Project

I'm starting a new project for a beautiful married couple. They are in their mid twenties and have lively personalities. They love traveling the world and helping people in need. They recently acquired a summer cabin and want me to make something to put on the wall.

I'm going to see if I can document the process of making this painting as I go. I constructed a 20 x 30 inch canvas today. The raw canvas look is so nice so I had to take a picture of it before I put the gesso on. I still need to figure out what exactly I am going to paint for them. They have a wide variety of interests. Let the brainstorming begin. 

New York City Sky Line

I made this painting for my friend who wanted a sky line picture in his living room. Many depictions of the New York Sky line tend to be a little too gray and stark. I wanted to make something with warm ochers and earthy reds. I think this will hopefully bring some life and variety to my friends living space.