Nested Pear

Nested Pear, 10 x 8", Oil on Canvas by Tracy Feldman

This painting is the second in my series of pear paintings.  I realized that I wanted to do a piece where I featured just one piece of fruit.

Because I worried that it would look odd just sitting there on its own, I wrapped it in a nest of white tissue paper to create the impression it was a gift that had just removed from a carefully-packed fruit box.  It was fun playing been with the rounded shape of the pear and sharper angles created by the crinkled up tissue paper.

As usual, I'm selling this small piece at auction in my on-line gallery on dailypaintworks.com.  Check it out!

Cranberry Cordial

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Go to my Facebook Page to see the watercolor sketch I also completed today.  It is called Cranberry Cordial.

Winter Pears on Silvered Platter

Winter Pears on Silvered Platter,  10 x 8", Oil on Canvas
 by Tracy Feldman

I have been experiencing a block when it comes to doing what I need for my art.  So to inspire me, I am reading Carol Marine's book "Daily Painting".   She advocates that people paint small and often to grow as artists.  She also encourages her readers to blog and sell their work on-line.

Watercolor sketch
of the same topic

I have not finished the book yet, but I can tell it is starting to help get me moving again with my art because I created two small paintings today.  I am calling each "Winter Pears on Silvered Platter" because they are of the same topic.  The pieces aren't identical, however.  One is a watercolor and ink sketch on paper.  The other one is an 10 x 8" oil on canvas.  If you look closely, you'll notice I changed the composition in the oil painting and added directional lighting to add dimension and interest to the piece.

         It felt good to feel more productive again. That doesn't mean it is not scary to do the second type of activity Marine recommends: blogging about, and posting the work for sale on-line.  Wish me luck as I post the oil on dailypaintworks.com and offer it for sale at auction.  Eek!

       If this piece interests you, check out my auction in my dailypaintworks.com gallery!

Another Batch of My Self-Portrait Sketches

Me, On a "Fine Soft Day"

Me, My Pretty

Me, Right Profile

Me, With Glasses

Me, Left Profile

         I've been busy continuing to work on my 30 days of self-portrait sketches.  To keep it interesting, I've been challenging myself by choosing poses and situations that are different.  In this batch of drawings, I thought about different ways to see me that just head-on.  So in Me, On a Fine Soft Day, I painted  myself at a distance, hiding my face under an orange umbrella on a gray and damp day.  In Me, My Pretty,  I thought it might be fun to play with perspective (and give myself an opportunity to draw hands in perspective.  I was thinking me as a Brobdignagian (from Gulliver's Travels), but what I got seems to me to be closer to the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz -- maybe I was unconsciously inspired by the fact that this is the month of Halloween. 

           The final three sketches are normal portrait type of sketches, but they capture me from a different angle than most photos of me do:  specifically from the side or with my glasses on.  I normally wear contacts instead of glasses, so most people don't see me in my glasses unless they are overnight guests at our home, or I'm sick or have a problem with me contacts.  Me, With my Glasses  is that view, and while I like the sketch as a sketch, I have to admit it's me minus 15 pounds and years.  I was feeling a little guilty about that, and maybe that's why another sketch I like, Me, Left Profile, ended up (I think) adding pounds and years to my normal look.  

      Doing this 30 day personal challenge has been good for me in a number of ways.  First, it is challenging me creatively.  Second, it's helping me hone my drawing skills.  Third, it's an exercise in self-honesty. What I mean is that normally when I look in the mirror, I see myself as younger that I am, but working to draw what I see (no matter how successful that effort is) forces me to look at me so much more closely -- which is useful, but illusion-shattering.  Speaking of creativity.  I'd love to hear any of your suggestions for poses.

Beginning the Exploration of Me on Paper

       This weekend, I decided to start something that combines two things that  I've heard are good for art artists.  For the next month, I want to do a sketch of me each day.  It will be good drawing practice, and will challenge my creativity.

            

        Since I want the practice to be interesting for me, I'm going to working from pictures and try to capture me at odd times and at different angles.  The first image I used was a selfie I took very close up, and from an odd angle.  Even in the photograph, I almost don't recognize myself.  I like the attitude I have and the unusual angle, as well as the face that the right side of my face is so heavily shadowed.  It adds a nice third major value to the piece.

                                                                                                     The second drawing is based on a picture my husband took of me when I was sitting in bed and texting a sponsee (I'm in a 12 Step program and I sponsor).  Arny has pictures of me talking to sponsees at monasteries, castles, beaches, etc., so he thought it would be neat to take a picture of me at home doing the same thing.  

         The third day's sketch of the challenge to myself is of me at a mid distance.  It's from a picture Arny took of me at Longwood Gardens.  (It's a world-famous ornamental garden within an easy drive from us -- I LOVE I can do that.)   I am in a watercolor sketching group, and I decided to try out a technique I learned there and applied to a floral sketch I did yesterday.  After I laid the basic shapes with pencil, I used washes to define and add depth to the piece.  I then went in and used a Bick fine-line marker to give some final definition to the piece.  I discovered something important for the future if I use that technique again.  I did realize that the paper was still wet in the area of my face, so when I went to define my mouth, the ink ran --making me look as if I were trying out for the role of "Joker" in a Batman movie.  I thought about the material I had and made a great discovery -- a combination of the the white (and later the orange) "Inktense" pencil covered a lot of the offending run areas.  Yea!   I like the wash and pen combo, but from now on, I'll either wait for the washes to totally dry or use a permanent marker.  I'll periodically post my self-portraits over the month. Check them out!

Flowers for Betty, WC on sketch pad
by Tracy Fledman

I'm working on sketching more, and here are two watercolor sketches that I did yesterday.  I had committed to bringing a meal to a friend who was getting an operation. As I shopped for ingredients at Costco, I ran across these flowers, and I thought, "how nice to bring some flowers to cheer her".  Thus, I bought some to give to her and draw.  After buying, them, however, I realized I didn't know if she or her family had flower allergies, so I split the bunch in two, figuring 3 blossoms would cause fewer problems than I whole bunch.  That gave me the opportunity to sketch "Betty's flower" and "My flowers".  I experimented with this putting down color first and then adding ink from a marker to better define the shape.  I love that when people do that.  It was neat, but I realized that using an ultra-fine tip marker would have worked better.  

Flowers for Me, WC on sketch pad
by Tracy Fledman

    The funny thing is that after I left the meal and flowers on my friend's stoop, she called me and explained she wasn't going into surgery until Wednesday. Oops!  I feel a little like Winnie the Poo when he did all that work to build a home for Eeyore -- only to later discover that the pile of sticks he found to build it were already the "home" the donkey had built for himself.  Fortunately, like Eeyore, my friend appreciated the outcome -- even if the effort was a little off in some ways.   I used my inexpensive sketch pad to do the drawings, and used watercolors, a Bbic marker, and a white gel pen.

Oil Sketch #2 for the Dahlia Commission

Dahlia Sketch from the front -- 16 x 20 Oil on Gallery-wrapped canvas

 This is the second of the Dahlia oil sketches I created as part the process for my last commission. But because I wanted to focus on the large commission, as you can tell (by comparing the sketch to the left to the painting below),  I decided to put aside this piece until now.  Creating the piece wasn't a waste of time --even at this stage of its development, the work helped my client realize which version of the image most appealed to her.  

Dahlia of My Heart (commission)

 I'm really happy I kept the unfinished sketch at the studio to inspire me as I worked on the final piece. It also proved very helpful when I met with my client near the end of the painting process.  The meeting's purpose was to find out how she wanted to have me finish the work-- specifically how she wanted me to handle the 1.5" sides of this gallery-wrapped canvas.  

I explained to her that I could go two ways. If she wanted the work to have a more traditional presentation when hung, I could paint the sides black and she'd have the painting framed.  If, however, she wanted to have the work have a modern feel, I'd wrap the image around the sides and put a hanger on the back of the piece.  I explained that if she wanted the latter,  she'd be able to have a beautifully finished piece -- without needing to think about framing. And I was able to use the sketch to show her what I meant.  She quickly decided on the more-modern look; then we went on to talk about why this type of Dahlia held so much meaning for her and her family.  But as we spoke about other things, my eyes kept on returning to this sketch.  I couldn't understand why until it dawned on me.

Dahlia Sketch from the right side 

If you look that this photo of a side view of the sketch, you may be able to spot what it took me a while to notice.  The petals wrapping around the right side of the painting were wrong.  I had truncated them -- as if the flower ended long before it would in real life.  Thus, when viewed from that side, the image felt wrong.  I pointed that out to my client, and assured her that that wouldn't be the case on the finished piece, and it wasn't.

After the Labor Day weekend, I'm going to be working on this oil sketch again.  It will stay a "sketch" so I won't dilute the uniqueness of my client's piece. Because it is a sketch, I'll be able to sell it for about half of what I'd charge normally for a work -- which will be great for some lucky buyer. 

As I said earlier, the piece will cost substantially less than I would a standard work on my site.  If you are interested in buying this piece before I put it up on my gallery on dailypaintworks.com, email me at tracyfeldmanartist@gmail.com.

   

Yum ... Late Summer Veggies!

Yum .. Late Summer Veggies! - 10 x 8", Watercolor on WC Paper

I'm in a watercolor sketching group, and I have not been contributing much to it for much of the summer.  Today, I went to our local Amish farm stand, and found these beautiful peppers and tomatoes.  I particularly love the look of the heirloom ones.  They remind me of gigantic gooseberries.  I placed them on blue-green placemats I have because I knew the color contrast would make the veggies pop.  I used ultramarine blue for the shadows, and love the water-like impression it creates.

It is so neat living so close to where this food is grown.  And, it is neat to have gotten to know the family who run the farm and the stand.  Our sales girl today is a favorite of ours.  We've know her since she was 11, and she is smart as a whip.  She not only can easily do calculations in her head (a dying art since the advent of calculators), but she's feisty and a natural saleswoman.

Living in an academic family for so long, part of me aches to think she's already left school: she had to or be shunned for getting too much education. But, she seems happy, so recovery has helped me realize that she can be quite happy living a life with her family and in her community.

I haven't put an unmatted watercolor on paper up for auction in my DailyPaintworks gallery for a long time, so I'm going to do that with this small piece; and I'm going to make the starting bid a real bargain: $10.  If you are interested in it, check it out.