Something a little different for No. 23. (aka The Three Amigos). For this one I actually did three paintings – little ones – that are designed to go together. They are each 4″ x 4″ on very tiny stretched canvas.
I love painting these peppers. The color and shapes just work and doing them together like this was a little bit of a challenge. Here is a shot on the mantle so you can see them together…
The petals are so thin that the light goes through them and you get these translucent shapes where they meet. The shadows are not formed by the shape of the petal – it’s this series of overlaps that make the shadows.
The other thing about this painting is that it’s much larger than the ones I have been on working thus far. This is a 12″ x 12″ which is more than double the surface area of an 8″ x 8″. It was more of a challenge but it feels good to get into some larger paintings.
This is No. 21 – it’s a pepper. The thing is, it was supposed to be a grapefruit. I started the grapefruit on Monday, worked it carefully this week and tried to finish it last night but ended up totally screwing it up. Which sucks.
I almost decided to give up go to bed but then realized that my whole problem is that I keep trying to work these things too much. I had the pepper lined up for this weekend and so I got it prepped, knocked it out and 30 minutes later was done.
This is a lot better than the grapefruit and took 1/10 of the time. It makes no sense but who am I to argue with El Habanero?
I’ve been at this now for 10 weeks and am finally starting to get it. I hope. What I learned on this one is that instead of focusing on painting a specific object I should only focus on painting.
Every object in the world is a random series of weird shapes and blobs of colors that our mind translates into an apple, pear or landscape. Up to this point I have still been painting what I think something should look like instead of what is right in front of me.
The truth is almost always weirder than what you assume something looks like and without that weirdness the paintings don’t snap together.
Now that things are warming up and starting to green around Atlanta I wanted to get up-to-speed on landscapes and flowers so that in a few weeks when everything is really in bloom I can capture it.
So, here is number 19. I had done some watercolors years ago of dogwoods and loved how they turned out and so I decided to start this new area with my old friends. This is an 8″ x 8″ original oil painting on stretched canvas.
If you are interested you can purchase the painting from my Etsy store at this link. See you Sunday…
Upfront warning that this is a little heavy. You may need to go watch My Little Pony or something after reading this…
One thing that drives all painting is perspective. Normally this involves one point, two point, etc. but I think it also involves where you are and what you bring to an object.
This is a painting of a pair of shoes. But to me, this is a painting about how fast my daughter is growing up and how there’s not a lot I can do about it. That’s what I see.
Then, this weekend I go and watch my friends bury their newborn son who died a few hours after being born. They are not thinking abut him not growing up so fast – they’re wishing he was here for one more day.
Perspective is what helps us see who we are and what’s really important. Like a little pair of shoes.
This one felt a lot more natural than the other two. Having done them twice I am getting used to the textures and colors. It was nice to start painting a little larger as well.
So there you go. This 10″ x 10″ original oil painting, done on canvas board, is available for purchase on my Etsy store at this link.
I had this basically done yesterday but after Mom and Leslie saw it they both said it needed more color. I originally painted it almost totally with white and Payne’s Grey which made it feel almost like a black and white photo. So, tonight I worked more of a butter yellow and some blue into it so it has a little more life.
You need to be a massive Led Zeppelin fan to catch the title reference. Ah, Presence – an album that was recorded the year I was born and continues to get better and better…
You can buy this 8″ x 8″, original oil painting from my Etsy store at this link.
Adam Houston is an American impressionist oil painter. He lives outside of Athens, GA and paints the landscape of the surrounding country. In 2010 he began the blog 100 Paintings by Adam where he documented his progress as an artist.
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