#16 - Glass Jar

January 2014 Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

Glass Jar 
6x6" oil

I used the board I wiped off  so many time the other day.  Busy day today, so I tried another little jar. 

 The Art of Comics  

Comics = art + a great sense of humor!

#11 - Jarred

January 2014 Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

Jarred

4x4" oil

I decided to go back to a simple still life set up.  I had planned to use the 30-day challenge to get back to painting from life.  I take a photo of the object before I paint it just in case something gets moved.  It is amazing seeing the difference from looking at the photo to looking at the real life object.  The depth, color, darks and lights just don't translate the same no matter how good the photo.  

I thought I'd give glass a try this time.  I bought a piece of dark blue cloth to use as background, but didn't like it with the little jar.  So I went back to my sophisticated still life set up... a plain cardboard box.  

#4 - HoHoHo

HoHoHo

6x6”, oil on board

This year the holidays flew by so fast it seems like the decorations just came out.  I'm not quite ready for the holidays to be over so I decided to paint this little Santa before I put him away.  He sits on a spring so while I've been painting every time I touch the table he dances around and makes me smile.  He proved more challenging to paint than I'd anticipated. I'm still struggling with warm highlights on red that don't look chalky...anyone who has any tips let me know. 

Like many of the artists doing the 30/30 challenge, I think it is a good time to experiment a little so I'm planning to try a few different things on these "quick" (don't I wish) studies.  For my last 3 paintings I started with white gessobord, brushed on burnt sienna + a touch of linseed oil, then wiped it down leaving the board toned and very little linseed oil.   I used a Kemper wipeout tool (one of Dreama Tolle Perry's favorite tools) and drew into the wet paint.  Normally I also use it to wipe out some of the highlight areas.  For small canvas its easy to make corrections...just brush out as needed.  

Check out the other artists doing Leslie Saeta's 2014 January Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days.