Smiling and Sebbie

I've been practicing painting smiles.  It's really tricky to paint a smile and have it look natural, so I've been doing quicks studies of the expression and variations thereof.  The one below is really only a half smile.  Also!  I've finished (or just about finished, I want one more look in the morning to see if there's anything else I want to tweak) "The Sandcastle"... I'm already plotting the next Sebbie.

          Half smile study:

           "The Sandcastle":

Lotton Gallery Anniversary Sale

Lotton Gallery, who represents my work in the midwest, opens its anniversary celebrations tomorrow. Here's a blurb from the website:

January 26th, 2013- February 28th 2013
Lotton Gallery Anniversary Sale

Join us Saturday, January 26th to kick off our new year! We will celebrate with Charles Lotton in attendance and will be serving fine coffee and pastries!


For more information, directions, etc., please see their site. 

Daily study hide and seek

 I haven't been doing my daily studies quite as daily as their title suggests, which is okay by me, because my neglect of said studies is due to other paintings I've been working on, and not to a lack of painting time. I do, however, mean to keep at them, even if they are only really brief and small, because quick studies keep me fresh, they keep me looking and searching and on my toes--which is so vital for good painting. Today I did a short study of cyclamen, dark magenta ones this time, right on the same panel I'd done the white ones a few weeks ago. I spent more time working on the leaves than last time, with much success, but I didn't quite nail the vibrancy of the flowers.  Can you spot them, on my busy studio wall? 

Top right corner, of course:

Baby paintings!

And by baby paintings, I mean, of course, not paintings of infants, but paintings in their infancy. When I was in Venice, in September, I did a small study of a boatyard that I enjoyed immensely and I knew I wanted to complete a larger work of the same subject. I finally started it. And here it is in its infancy: 

Also, I've started a new Sebbie piece. I'm silly in my excitement about this one (I think I might always be with Sebbies, that may be why I keep painting them). It's going to be called "The Sandcastle" --I can't wait.  Infant Sebbie:

In which we give up on photographs...

I've been working on this painting for months, well, on and off for months anyway, and it's finally getting to the end.  I was so excited when I started it, old cameras hold so much fascination for me--that we, human beings, developed them, and that they work, is marvelous, and blows my mind a little.  Modern cameras are marvelous too, but the romance is lost for me in all the circuits and digital bits I can't see or appreciate in quite the same way.  So it's kind of funny to me that I'm having such a hard time getting a decent photograph of this painting.  The two below came out the closest, but you rather have to split the difference to get the painting.  The painting itself isn't quite finished, nearly though.  I thought I'd post it anyway.  

June bug portraits

Der Rauchermann

Here is something else I've been working lately: der Rauchermann--a smoke (well, incense really) blowing Christmas decoration I picked up in Leipzig, Germany a few years ago (and have been meaning to paint ever since). It's still really beginning stages yet, but it's a great object to paint with all the textures--smoke, bushy beard, shiny painted wood, less shiny wood.  I've been working on this one in the evenings with artificial light--seeing as daylight is so short in the winter. In the past, I haven't really liked working with artificial light, but this subject lends itself much better to the light than those I've used before, and, so far, I'm much happier with this painting. 

On the easel

This one's rather self explanatory, really: an in-progress picture of one of the paintings I'm working on.

Sebbie!  Almost done.