LMacfarlane

copy of Woman in Black

This is my copy of Gabriele Munter’s painting, Woman in Black. Something that drew me to this piece was how there seemed to be a softness in the eyes, even though they’re kind of just blobs of black paint. I wanted to learn how Munter could capture something as refined as a soft look inContinue reading “copy of Woman in Black”

small potted plant

This piece was inspired by a small potted plant I keep in my art room. I love the pronounced lean to the left. Many of the livelier elements here weren’t part of my original plan, but developed as I painted. I love it when paintings grow that way. Oil on panel, 5×7 inches.

no room to work

My latest piece was inspired by my own desk at home, which didn’t take long to evolve from a work surface to a storage surface. There’s never enough room.

ceiling fan

I love the colorful funkiness of this piece. Oil on panel, 5×7 inches.

flowers in a blue vase

It was a relief to get back to painting after a brief break for garden work and puppy raising. This piece was inspired by a floral arrangement I put together last fall. (I love the flower section at the craft store.) The colors of the flowers here closely resemble the colors in my original arrangement,Continue reading “flowers in a blue vase”

neutrals color study

For this color study I used only ivory black, raw umber, and white. I love how the colors and tones work together. I also think I’m getting better at creating intentional design within these assignments. So far I’ve liked almost every color study better than the one I did before, which is a trajectory I’mContinue reading “neutrals color study”

studying Slobodkin’s illustrations

I love this illustration from the book The Hundred Dresses (page 14). The original artist, Louis Slobodkin, actually studied as a sculptor before finding his way into illustration. I had to warm up with a colored pencil sketch and then a still-not-very-precise study before I was ready to try copying the whole illustration. My finalContinue reading “studying Slobodkin’s illustrations”

cicero the cat

Meet Cicero, my cat. The day I started this I was full of disappointment about a different piece, so I decided to start pouring all that energy into something new. It started with a sketch in pastel pencils and grew into a cozy-feeling oil painting. This is my second no-gesso painting. Oil on hardboard, 11×14Continue reading “cicero the cat”

davinci face copy

This is my work so far on an assignment to hand draw a copy of a DaVinci drawing. It is painstaking work. And for the next step I’m supposed to make second copy, this time without looking at the reference while I draw! I can look at the reference before I draw, and I canContinue reading “davinci face copy”

portrait in red and green

This is my interpretation of a portrait done by Gabriele Munter, one of my favorite painters. To imitate her style of painting on un-gessoed cardboard, I painted this on the un-gessoed back-side of hardboard. The texture is a little intense so next time I’ll try sanding the surface before painting. But other than that, IContinue reading “portrait in red and green”