Painting #7 Study in Orange

What a wonderful day! Traveled to Dayton to one of the galleries I am in and while in town we took advantage of the American Chronicles.....Norman Rockwell exhibit at the DAI. Fabulous! It sure put me in the mood to want to paint people again.  That will wait for another day, though, when I can devote more time.

The first attempt today was a "wiper"....so I did just that and started over. Entire new set up. I was able to settle down and thoroughly enjoy the process............whoops, where did the time go? I love that part of the creative process....time has no meaning.

Looking forward to tomorrow...maybe I will do the spur again?????

Painting #6 Jailbird Feather ( in umber)

Okay,,, you are probably wondering where in the heck I got that title.  Funny story! For those of you who know my husband, Claude, you know he is pretty quiet and not much on the "sense of humor".

Recently we were on vacation out west and had stopped on our way back from Tortilla Flats to explore this little ghost town. Upon exploring the old jail cell, there on the floor lay this black bird feather. I collected the feather to put in my newly adorned cowgirl hat. As we headed for Cave Creek I said to my husband, "I wonder what kind of bird this came from", not  expecting an answer from him but I got no response at all...then he turned to me and very seriously replied...."It must be a jail-bird feather!".
I cracked up!!!! One of the best one-liners he has ever come up with. Now, I can never part with that feather.

Jailbird Feather    5 x 7" oil on panel 

Today I also went a step further with my viewfinder.. I decided to cut a piece of cardboard with an opening to match the size I was painting on; 5 x 7".  Then I fastened it to my Stanright easel and moved it around until it had the composition I wanted. This really helped as I could move much further away so I didn't get caught up in details right away.

I also decided to try gridding it off with string to match how I grid my canvas. I love it! I usually do that with photos, so I love being able to solve the issue when painting from life.

Here is a distant view also....

Until tomorrow....... 

#5 painting,...Calling the Spirits ( in umber)

Setting up became very time-consuming today, as I am esp. easily distracted by so many things that need done. Finally, I found a design that I liked then to set up to paint. Last night my neck and shoulder really caused me some pain, making it difficult to paint, therefore today I decided to try to eliminate some of the aggravating factors.

One is holding up the viewfinder, constantly tensing up the muscle that attaches to the base of my skull. We joked about solving this issue in Carol Marine's workshop but I thought...why not try to really solve it. So I thought the issue through and came up with this;  

I used a piece of bamboo to hold the viewfinder, cutting notches in it with a utility knife. Then I inserted the bamboo piece into the opening of my Stanrite Easel post. It worked great!

  I played around with the position until I had it right in my line of sight.            

You can see my composition in the photo on the right.

 I am loving these panels and can't get myself to move beyond the beauty of working in umber. Today I used raw umber. Love it! Using less medium today and that seems to suit my style better.

Calling the Spirits         ( in umber) 5 x 7"

 
I will eventually do this in color, as I bought this turqoise vase because of its wonderful color. Let me know if you have any questions....

Painting #4 ( 30 paintings in 30 days)

Dress Spur in Umber

After a strenuous day of hanging photography for the gallery's upcoming exhibit, I still needed to go grocery shopping and fix supper, eat, let the dog out....all before I could ascend the steps upward to the studio.

Usually, I would just wimp out and tell myself ":you can get to the studio tomorrow". With this bet with Kristen Dukat though, I am not caving in!!! Shoulder pain or not, I managed to choose a subject that I could get into; the spurs my hubby bought for me while we were in AZ recently.

With new paint, new panels that arrived in the mail, I was ready. After choosing my palette of earthtone pigments, I chose to tone the panel with raw umber, then proceed to draw using it without thinning it.
I liked the look so much that I just chose to continue and do a monochromatic rendering of one spur. I rather like it.

Thanks, Kristen for "spurring me on"!!!

Painting #3

After working a full 8 hr day and cooking a quick supper, I drug myself up the narrow stairway to my studio. This is the discipline part. I really wanted to wimp out, as I was certainly not feeling creative. I was just plain tired....excuse #????

So I painted..............it was not a waste of time or paint or canvas.............as it showed me my weaknesses. It is so very much different from my normal method of slow, involving all the smallest details. But this is how we learn.  ( so they tell me!)

Here is tonight's attempt.............maybe tomorrow will be a little easier.

Art by Ruth Ann Sturgill: Painting #2 poor lemon

Art by Ruth Ann Sturgill: Painting #2 poor lemon

Painting #2 lemon w shadow

Guess I am making lemonade today in the studio, that is, after I paint it! I was planning to make a needed trip to a gallery in Dayton to pick up some of my paintings, so I never quite got into the right brain. Add several distractions, well, you know...

Hopefully, I will get a chance to redeem myself tomorrow, after I work on installing the photography show at Artspace/Lima.