Blue Funk Day

According to Katherine Tyrrell on Making a Mark, today is considered to be the most depressing day of the year, and it certainly was a blue funk day in the studio. I started and stopped, painted and wiped off. All of my still life "props" had softened to the point of near rotting - except for the onion - and it was too cold and frosty to go out to the market for more.

Three Pears on A White Plate
16 x 20, Oil on Linen

The above painting is one I set aside more than a month ago thinking it was finished, but I wasn't happy with it and finally took it out and tried working on the colors of the pears and the edges. I really prefer to paint wet-in-wet and finish a painting in one setting, maybe two if I haven't used a medium and the paint stays workable. But I've only recently started painting still life and I'm learning with every painting. I wish I'd been more knowledgeable with my edges on this painting, but the newer work is much better and one day I might do another like this because I like the composition.

Vietnamese Pot Tied With String
22 x 28, Oil on Linen
@2008

This painting is the large studio version of the small sketch I posted here a few weeks ago. I did this after I painted the Three Pears painting, and I am much happier with the edges in this painting. I never thought I would enjoy doing still life, but I'm finding them so much easier than the struggles I constantly have with the landscape. I know that it's because I am actually painting from life with these paintings, and if I ever expect to push my landscapes to a higher level I will have to do the same with them and stop relying on photo references. Oh...but that means going out in the cold...maybe I'll think about that in the spring.