Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes

6x8 Oil on canvas panel

©2011 Deb Kirkeeide

Speaking of journeys in the last post... I journeyed to Utah for a visit with my daughter. It was great to get away. We mad a couple trips up the canyon to cooler temps and spent one afternoon on the patio watching the skiers. Yep, they were still skiing as of June 29th!

I've painted a few small pieces lately but I've been a bit behind in photographing and posting. This little piece makes a nice little companion to an earlier piece.

Sunkissed

6x8 Oil on canvas panel

Both paintings are available. Each priced at $130.00 + $12.00 S/H. If you are interested in both, I am offering both for $230.00 and free shipping. Happy Summer!

If interested in purchasing these or any others please visit here.

"Ranunculus 2" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Ranunculus 2"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to paint another version of these beautiful flowers, as stated in previous post these guys remind me of peonies thus the reason I like painting them.  I've been so busy lately doing other paintings its always good to come back to these alla prima's and have a fresh eye.  I believe doing alla prima paintings are essential for painters, it keeps you fresh and allows you to experiment with your own technique.  I've been painting flowers for a good while now I have to say its taught me a lot with my own approach to painting.  Flowers have an abstract shape to them to me thats what makes them so beautiful, once you think of them as abstract shapes then it becomes easier to paint.  What I like about these ranunculus it seems as if the lights radiating from the middle of the flower, it's all in the coloring of the flower and how its dispersed through out its body.  It's amazing how mother nature conjured up all these wonderful flowers.

You can see the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

Light on the path

Light on the path

About This Painting:
Daily  Painting  Landscape
This was painted at the Marsh in Minnetonka Minnesota. It was great too get out .
We're finally have some sunny weather after a week of  rain and cloudy days .


Media: oil on linen board
Size: 8 in X 10 in (20.3 cm X 25.4 cm)
Price: $100 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $100 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

http://www.judithmandersonfinearts.com/

"Ranunculus" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Ranunculus"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Todays alla prima painting is of ranunculus, these beautiful flowers resemble peonies to me even though I know there not.  I went to my favorite coffee place in town and met up with a couple friends which I'm glad I did because I ran into these beautiful flowers.  They were sitting right on my table and instantaneously I fell in love, the movement within the petals and rich colors made it more of a reason to paint.  I thought I was going to be done with painting flowers for a while and suddenly changed course again after seeing these beautiful flowers.  That's one of the reasons why I love doing these alla prima's, you never know what your next painting might be and if you do it can change in a split second.  Inspiration comes from everything I see and what moves me is what I enjoy painting the most, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I've finally published the video of the portrait demo I did at dick blick last Saturday, I have the video on youtube you can see it by clicking here.  

You can see the making of this painting at my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

It's all about the journey...

Misty Morning in French Regional Park

8x16 oil
© 2011 Deb Kirkeeide

This is the result of a paint out with a few OPM members. It was a a pretty misty, grey day and it was early, but it was close to home and I decided it was time to get my butt out there and paint. I haven't

painted en plein air for over a year. I'm really glad I did. There were only four of us but it was a great way to spend a few hours on a Saturday.

In three separate conversations, the phrase "it's not about the end result, it's about the journey" came up.

Three times! That to me, is a definite message from the Universe to pay attention. Also mentioned was the book Art and Fear, which has prompted me to revisit that book. I'm only partway through it but I'm realizing a few truths here  - stayed tuned... I'm expecting a big awakening here!

I have to admit, this Saturday, I let go of the results and just enjoyed the journey. And I have to admit I've gotten a great response from this painting.

Hope you all are focusing on the journey and havin' a blast!

For more paintings visit my website and blog

"Peonies Fuchsia" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Peonies Fuchsia"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I've been wanting to paint just fuchsia peonies and glad I did so, they have so deep colors within them I wish I had all the colors in the spectrum to render their beauty.  As stated in my other posts about peonies they are not easy to paint and especially when painting with the color fuchsia, you have to be careful in the way you apply lighter colors to the mix.  Peonies have such beautiful textures to them thats one of the main things I enjoyed the most about them, playing around with the brush and experimenting to see what kind of textures you can get is beyond fun.  With this painting I also decided to paint some baby peonies, they look so neat from there beginning stages all curled up and when they blossom they are even more beautiful.  To have baby peonies together with the full blossom ones gives a nice feel to the overall painting.

See the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

"Fuchsia Peonies" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Fuchsia Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to mention that today is the one year anniversary of winning the Daily Painters contest, cannot thank all of you enough for making that happen.  It has been such a blessing in winning that competition and just every moment after that, it was one of the toughest times in waiting to see if I would win or not and glad it went the way it did.  Apart from the contest I've painted so much more prior to it, its taught me so much discipline and shown me how much fun one can have painting these little gems every day.  I enjoy the concept of discipling oneself to paint for a certain time of the day everyday (if you can), sounds so simple but yet it can be very complicated depending on one's schedule.  Not only they're fun to paint but they've taught me so much outside of the schooling I've had, to paint in a consistent manner every day you get to learn from your mistakes and try so many different approaches to your technique.  I thoroughly recommend it to anyone wanting to push themselves to that next level.  I think of it as sketching in your sketchbook every day you do it because it warms you up and it gets you better, the more you practice the better you'll get.  These alla prima's have been a blessing to me and truly feel so lucky to be able to get up every morning and paint these jewels.

    These peonies where a lot of fun to paint, I especially like the arrangement in composing them on the canvas.  The color pattern and fall of light on the peonies where just to good not to paint, as stated in the previous post when I painted another batch of peonies they can be very challenging to paint.  Aside from the challenges, it was a lot of fun playing with different textures and impastos.  I also enjoyed playing with the composition and getting the right movement that I can through out the picture.  Painting the bright fuchsia colors was a bit challenging as well, a beautiful color all around though.  Peonies are such beautiful flowers to paint and enjoyed every bit of it, I hope to do more of these in the future.

You can see the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

"Peytra" by Jonathan Aller

"Peytra"

14 x 11 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This is another quick alla prima portrait painting, this one is different than what I would usually paint.  The model was great she didn't move one bit and had a classic stare which I tried capturing.  I went to my buddies studio and painted from there which is the reason why this setup was out of my control, not to say he didn't ask for my input but I didn't want him to change the whole lighting because of me.  Truthfully I liked the lighting very different than what I'm used to but its a great challenge and something I learned a lot from.  It was interesting painting in the darks so much, kind of hard not to make your palette go muddy.  Overall had fun painting this one can't wait to do another!  Thanks for stopping by and viewing. 

"Sliced Tomatoes" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Sliced Tomatoes"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to continue on the theme with these tomatoes and play more with their inner beauty.  The inside of these tomatoes are neat looking from such a smooth and watery state to some areas that are really texturized with subtle highlights.  The smell I wish I was able to translate onto the painting, it was such a strong delicious smell it made it hard at times to paint instead of eating them.  It was fun painting the insides because they're not anything i've painted before, they have an abstract look to them and really neat trying to paint its textures.  The value shifts within the colors also made it fun to capture, they are subtle but delicious if done right.  The wooden base was also a neat one to paint, the watery texture coming from the tomatoes mixed with the wooden textures made a nice blend to paint.  

I also wanted to let you guys know if anyone is in the Minneapolis area this Saturday the 18th, I'll be giving a portrait demo from 1-3.  Click here to get more information about the demo and directions to it.

See the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

"Tomato Colors" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Tomato Colors"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I really liked the color assortment of tomatoes they had at the grocery store, my eyes always go straight to the most colorful fruits and vegetables out on display.  Tomatoes are fun to paint with their smooth skin, their stems are also neat they have a gestural movement to them.  I noticed when painting these tomatoes how rich their colors are, especially with the orange one it has such deep colors from dark to light.  When arranging them I wanted to create a subtle movement between them while still representing their beauty.  

You can see the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

"Leaning Basil" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Leaning Basil"

12 x 9 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

This basil I've painted is in recovery mode, my girlfriend got it from her sister and has restored it back to good health.  It sits right in our kitchen next to the window and gets the best lighting in the whole house, I know its in heaven with all the natural light it gets.  Basils are tough to paint due to their leaves they can be grouped up in one area and have a somewhat pattern to their shape, this painting was not easy in no ways from beginning to end.  The colors is another factor they seem simple because they're just green, but they absorb colors that surround them so you get a lot of blues and yellows in the leaves.  I haven't painted basil in a while and glad I did so I hope to revisit these guys more in the future.

One of the benefits of painting all day is not going outside, sometimes thats a benefit at other times when its beautiful outside its not.  Today I must say it wasn't bearable to go outside it got to be 102 degrees fahrenheit, oh did I mention I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota!  They say on Thursday and Friday the highs are barely even getting into the 70's, I have to say living in this state has shown me the extremes in weather.  Beautiful place to live you just have to be ready when mother nature decides to throw you a curve ball.

See the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

"Peonies" by Jonathan Aller

Click here to bid

"Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Being on vacation has its benefits but the downside is that I wasn't able to paint for a while, it was nice going back home and relaxing it lets me clear my head and come back with a fresh slate.  I cannot believe its been a week since I last painted I don't like that I had to do that, since coming back from vacation I've just been so busy with everything and finally had time today to paint again.  It feels so great to paint again it just puts all your worries away and I just dive into my painting not thinking of anything else, its pretty therapeutic.  I always say to myself after not painting for a while how I can go so long, I seriously go through withdraws.  What can I say I'm addicted to painting!

Peonies are intimidating to me their pedals are so complicated to paint and there's not a set way to paint them.  To say that I went out of my comfort zone again is an understatement, especially being the first painting back from not painting for a while.  Usually I like to paint a couple pictures before I dive into something so complicated like this, but today I just decided to go at it.  Peonies are just so beautiful in their subtle colors and how each pedal has so much character to it.  Other than being intimidated to paint the pedals I was also excited because I can be so gestural with the paints, usually I'm not able to do that but with this painting I went to town with it.  The subtle colors and gestural strokes made it so much fun to paint, I'm really happy with this painting and how it came out I hope you can see how much fun I had with the process photos.  Now time to get back to the grinding wheel and start painting more again!  

You can see the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com

Hydrangea Tree

Hydrangea  Tree

About This Painting:
Daily Painting Landscape
Free shipping within the Untied States!

Price: $100 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $100 USD
Or, send me an email
http://www.judithmandersonfinearts.com/