Oil painting on primed card 6x4"

Another little compositional study completed on Wednesday- two sick children to look after now - hence the lack of paintings! I’ll be back soon...

Oil painting on panel 5x7"

I've got an ill child again unfortunately - just a virus, poor little thing, but she's been ill for a few days now so I'm back to trying to paint and write late into the evening.  
I made this little study last night, the objects have crept round to the other side of the shadow box where the light is a little different again.  I like the strong diagonal shadows on the objects, but am not happy about how close they are to the drapes at the back.  I was thinking of painting the backgound entirely black but I think ill leave it as it is and try something different next time. 
I painted this pretty quickly, and only with sable brushes just so that I could try out the composition.  Ill be doing a few more quick studies like this as I'm planning on trying some larger still life pieces.

Not going to attempt to paint tonight as I finished this one so late  night last and got woken up a few times as well.  I feel a bit odd not painting on the days I can't paint, like something really important is missing.

So far I've managed 43 out of 64 days which isn't bad considering how little time I get.  Its definitely improved my painting a lot.

Oil painting on primed card 6x4”

The shiny red skin of this apple makes it an irresistible subject to paint - however high chroma objects like this are quite difficult to render. It’s impossible to match the chroma in the lighter values, so I add in a little cadmium yellow medium which takes the hue around towards orange but keeps the chroma quite high. The values in the mid tones and lights are pretty compressed as well. I’d love to hear from other artists how they get around the high value, high chroma problem in their paintings.

Original oil painting on primed card 6x3"

Left it a little late to get started tonight and then my youngest woke up from a nightmare while I was in the middle of painting this clementine.  Ended up being a late one!

Original oil painting on primed card 6x3"

I'm sneaking a bit of summer into January with these strawberries.

Original oil painting on mdf board 9x7"

 I wanted to see if I could bring some of the experience I've gained lately of working swiftly en plein air into painting a still life. I selected a 9x6" panel as this is what I've been working on a lot outdoors lately and set up a still life using some objects I have already painted to give myself a bit more of a chance. As usual I worked from the back of the set up to the front. You can see some progress shots in the slideshow below.

I tried really hard to work as directly as I could, aiming to lay down each stroke with the right colour and leave it without any further adjustments or strokes over the top. I didn't manage this over very much of the painting, but I did find that my concentration and decision making had improved a lot.  After 1.5 hours it was time to stop as I had to pick up my youngest daughter from nursery. Very frustrating as I was so nearly done. I'll finish off tomorrow as long as the light is ok. 

 Original oil painting on canvas covered board 8x6" available from Newbloodart

I decided to have another go at the russet apples - I had a bit of painters' block this morning, so I decided to try a slightly different approach to help me get going. I picked an 8x6" canvas covered board and started off with my larger brushes.  It felt good to work a bit more freely after working on such tiny paintings for the last couple of weeks. I might try another this size tomorrow.

Original oil painting on primed card 5x4"

This russet apple was another find at the greengrocer's.  I love the colour and the matte appearance of their skin. They are also more of a flattened sphere than other varieties which makes an interesting change.
I felt frustrated to have to stop as I can see a few things I'd still like to work on, but unfortunately I can't keep painting all night..

 original oil painting on primed card 3x5". Available from my Etsy shop

This Chinese pear caught my eye at the local greengrocers this morning. I love the smooth pale skin. I'd love to make a larger painting with a few of these when I get time.
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oil on card 5x3"

My first week is complete - although I only just made it today! 

I'm really pleased that committing to doing a painting a day has made me squeeze in so much more time behind the easel than I would have done otherwise. I've tried out new subjects, and learned to work a little more loosely than I would normally. I'm feeling the benefits after one week so I am really excited about the remaining fifty one!