A Painting in the Process

So I'm sitting at our desk, it's 10:23 and Jacob is asleep. To some, Friday nights = date night; apparently to Jacob and me it means nap time. We totally fell asleep at 6:30.
Alright I guess we did do something. Jacob met me at work after his bike ride (which is soo uphill from where we are, awe so sweet) with my favorite: a veggie burro from Diego's. (We are dangerously short of having an addiction.) Once I got off, we ate at an outdoor table - chatting and chilling. So there, we aren't totally lame...right?
Anyway, I woke up, he's still out. I was looking through pictures to give me some inspiration because blogging does NOT come easily. (But we have a striking audience of Jen, Andrea, and Michelle whom we must entertain! ha jk). And I saw some before/after shots of a couple paintings I've done. I thought it might be neat for some non-painters.





And yes, there are things in the first painting that I wish carried through to the final product. But that is okay, paintings have a mind of their own.

While I'm on the subject of paintings, can I just express a pet-peeve of mine regarding other people's taste in art? I hate how people only like paintings that look picture-perfect, like a photograph. Don't get me wrong, if a painting can achieve that while maintaining a 'painterly' style... where up-close especially, you can tell it is a painting, see the brush strokes and yet the further you move back - the more realistic it becomes. And when an all-out impressionistic piece achieves that, that is GREAT... pure talent. But when a painting looks like a computer, not a hand, created it? Gross! And yet that is the art many people 'appreciate.' Yeah that takes skill, but accomplishing realism in art while presenting it as a painting, not a photograph, takes far more skill in my opinion. Besides, I love art rough and messy. (yeah, abstract doesn't really cut it for me either, but you get my drift). So the next time you buy a painting of flowers, or Christ, or a landscape, look up close: Can you see the brush strokes?

In the first painting, I mainly mixed my colors with turpentine (paint cleaner/thinner) to get a thin layer over the entire surface: It makes painting much less intimidating to get all that white out of the way.
In the second painting, I really got some color in there. I love autumn colors, thus the theme of the painting.
In the third, I made really simple changes... detail touch-ups. Mainly, I added some highlights. Lights and shadows make all the difference in any painting, with any colors.

And I just have to brag: I am freakin proud of this painting. It is a "Glaze" - which means, in short, there are a good 50 layers of paint on this baby!!! Yeah, I'm telling you, the painterly ones take work:) (not the case all the time, but whatev.)