Portrait of a Beautiful Woman

Today's daily painting was painted directly from life, with a standing model. She was wearing an antique kimono, in reds and corals. This 9" x 12" canvas was from an hour + pose. I hope to continue next week with more visual information. I tried to concentrate on the forms of the face and leave the rest of the painting loosely painted. Hopefully we will have an additional hour with our beautiful model next week.
What would an artist do with another sitting? With more time you can check proportions, add stronger values,make sure edges are how you want them. Edges help to define her character, (soft edges on the form and hard edges for cast shadows.) I need to check the size of the back of her head....I have a tendency to not give the back of the head enough space, so I'll take a look at that, it feels a little short.I will even out the eyes and check the vanishing point between her horizontal eye-line and the horizontal line of her mouth.
There is a point in portrait painting when all the shapes are correct and the whole thing "locks in". I'm not quite there yet. After that you can feel freer about applying more paint and worrying about color shifts, texture, paint strokes, and painting across the form.

Seated Woman, Nude study

Today's daily painting is a figure study, oil on linen panel 7" x 10" It is painted direct from life. Always fun to figure paint especially with a great model. Available.

Daily Painting, Old French Key

Daily paintings are a nice way to start the day with a cup of coffee and a little canvas. Here is an early morning 6 x 8" oil on panel. I found this old key in France at a french junk store out in the countryside, like a french Funk & Junk! There's only so much a person can pack in their already crammed suitcase,n'est-pas? Available on Etsy

Mr. Smith, Pet Portrait

Here is the charming, Mr. Smith, the little soulful dog. Today's daily painting was painted over a couple of days. It is a 24" x 24" oil on canvas and a surprise Christmas present. Occasionally I do pet portraits, they are great fun to do. I hope to capture the look and a bit of the personality of each pet.
If you have an interest in non-traditional pet portraits, let me know!

Portrait of a Dancer

Today's daily oil painting is a portrait of our local dance instructor, Linda Downs. She is much prettier than I have painted her, I wanted to show her introspective side. 6" by 8" oil on panel. Available.

Standing Pose

Today's daily painting is a 20 minute standing pose painted from life. It is 7" x 10" oil on linen. I cut several pieces of gessoed linen and taped them to a drawing board to have ready for each pose. Linen is such a nice surface to paint on, not as slippery as a panel, it holds the paint better. Available.

Green Zinnias

Each year I try to grow green zinnias, some years are better than others. Today's daily painting was developed from a pastel sketch done earlier in September. I liked using a pastel sketch as a reference for this painting. Pastels have a painterly quality anyway, and they are so quick when you don't have time for the whole painting rigmarole.....Oil on canvas panel, 12" x 16" Available at Funk & Junk.

Brushes in old milkcan

A perfect winter day to build a fire and stay warm in the studio. Here is today's daily painting, a 11" x 14" still life of my paint brushes in an old farm milk can, just how they are on my work table. I'm working up to doing a large painting of all the brushes on my window sill, helpful to get the feel of of them before starting in on a bigger composition. Available

Plein Air in December, Mt. Baker

A rare treat to be painting outside in December. Today's daily oil painting is a morning outdoor view across to Lopez Island and Mt. Baker. 6 x 8" oil on panel.
I also have a photo of my outdoor set-up, with palette, basket, brushes, rags, latte' and french easel. This method is typical of the outdoor painting workshops I will be teaching this next summer. Available. Thanks for looking! Annie

Nude revised

Here is today's daily oil painting, one of the small studies from earlier in the week, only repainted to work better. It is a wonderful thing when a painting works right off the pose. Most often, a painting needs some compositional improvement. This morning I changed this one to read better. I am also beginning to indicate warm and cool shadows. A 20 minute pose isn't really long enough to gather complete information. In that amount of time you are just getting the feel of the pose, especially with paint.I do like the challenge of a speedy pose, and the way it makes forms become more abstracted. Size 6 by 8" Available

Trashion Show Dog San Juan Co. Fair

Today's daily painting is an oil painting of part of our entry in the 2007 San Juan County Fair Ist annual Trashion Show. My brother and I beach-combed bags of plastic junk that floated in to South Beach and Jackson's Beach on San Juan Island. We made a blue tarp affair with flotsam and jetsam. The little dog was part of the accessories: a hat made from a Frisbee and old fishing gear, a purse made from a crab bait jar complete with apartment key and credit card, and even decorated shoes that separately floated in AND fit our model. The dog was made from old fishing floats. Such a great event!!! Cards coming soon, at Funk & Junk!

Figure in Chair, with Red Robe

Today's daily paintings are from our figure drawing group. GREAT model with her red robe. Here are small oil on panels painted from life. Available on Etsy Or, contact me at 1 866 374 4272.$95. each + $5.shipping
Thanks! Annie

Dream Keyper Key

How nice to get something nice in the mail. The DreamKeyper girls sent one of their keys! The little card says, "DREAM, your wish is your command" Check out their blog & project. Keys for good luck to those who send their dreams to the Dreamkeyer website.
This is a little 5 by 7" oil on canvas panel.

Pots of Paint

Here is today's daily oil painting, a 7" x 10" oil on canvas panel. These are my acrylic pots of paint, stacked up on my work table. An oil painting of acrylic paint???? Also a close-up of the paint tube, so you can see my typical thick (impasto) paint. Sold. Thanks for looking! Annie

Buttons, not painting

On this stormy gloomy day, I put together a bunch of button brooches from my stash of old buttons. Not paint, but fun to be creative with color. These will be available at Dominique's friday night holiday show this week here in Friday Harbor. Or, otherwise at Funk & Junk and on Etsy.

Winter Visit to Shaw Island, Barn

Luckily I had my paints in my car on a visit to Shaw Island. I had painted at this spot on Blind Bay earlier in the year, though facing in another direction. This huge old dairy barn sits up on a hill, with an old apple orchard leading down to the road. Here is a 6 by 8" oil on panel, a plein air...which means painted on location. Here is a photo of my initial sketch. I often do a quick sketch before painting to think about composition, and edit what I see.
Available.

Session with model, 2 portraits

At a figure drawing group typically things get started with quick 1 minute sketches, then poses are held for 5 minutes. Finally models hold 20 minute poses or longer. Sometimes a pose is held,and models are given breaks and then they resume the same pose. The longer the pose the better for most artist! We typically have 20 minute poses to gather as much visual information as possible. Here are 2 6 by 8" portraits directly painted with oils on small panels.

Doll Clothes

You would think as an antique dealer I might collect something important...I have a collection of miniature doll quilts and vintage doll clothes in my laundry room. Here is a daily painting of one of my favorite vintage doll clothes pinned to an old doll quilt.
Available on Etsy
Oil on panel, 6" x 8", $95. Thanks for looking!

Hey Sugar

Today's daily painting, an impasto (thick paint) oil on panel of my jadite sugar shaker. 6 by 8" a companion to yesterday's salt & pepper painting. $95.
Available on Etsy

Salty and Peppy

Today's daily painting, my old jadite salt and peppers. The painting is an oil on birch panel, approx. 6 by 6".
Sold, Thank you Deb! Email or phone for inquiries at toll free 1866 374 4272, or (360) 378 2638. Thanks, Annie

A Painter's Brushes

A freshly painted oil on canvas of my brushes. I have cans of them on the window sill. No flowers this time of year here, so a bouquet of brushes. The edges of the 5 x 7" canvas are painted so you can put it right on a small easel, or frame it.
Available on Etsy Sold, Thank you Suzy!
Email or phone for inquires at 1 866 374 4272 Thanks! Annie

First Posting on Daily Oil Painting

How nice to have a model who is pregnant! 8 months and counting. My first daily painting posting is a 5 x 7" oil painting on a small canvas of a wonderfully pregnant woman, done from life.
If you have an interest in this daily painting, please email me, This painting is $95. unframed.

Or, my tollfree number is 1 866 374 4272, which rings into our Antique shop, Funk & Junk Antiques. I hope to do some vingnettes of cool retro junk here at the store.

Available.

Frame is $25 and shipping only exact amount to your location. Painting will be bubble wrapped for safe shipping.

Other artwork can be viewed at my webpage, (click to it at profile)