I Put a Spell on You

No painting for me for over a week!  We are getting our house painted and I had to run around getting paint and other supplies and then it's impossible to concentrate and paint with a lot of interruptions.  So finally I'm back at it today.

Another in my series of black cat closeups.  Always interesting to paint all the colors in the eyes.  Cat's eyes are so beautiful!  This one is in oil, 7 x 5 inches on canvas board.

You can find this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page here.

Black at Midnight

Today's black cat painting is called "Black at Midnight."  Love to paint those black cats!  This one has a really pretty twilight blue background.  Another painting that was hard to photograph!  This one is much nicer in person : - )

This 7 x 5 original oil painting is available here on Ebay and you can also see it at my Daily Paintworks Gallery page here.

Black Tuesday - the Painting that Wouldn't Die

Too bad it's not Friday, because Black Tuesday sounds a little weird for the title to this painting.  I should call it the Painting That Wouldn't Die because I attempted this one three times!  First I painted it and I didn't like the range of values - too many higher values.  Then I narrowed the value range but the painting ended up all purple and blue - UGLY.  So then I figured it was just a "wiper" and I wiped most of it off with turpentine - all except the eyes because I really liked those.  Well, after having those eyes watch me for a week, this morning I thought I would have another go at painting this black cat.  I stuck with a mostly really dark black (which of course is not black out of the tube but a mix of alizarin crimson, viridian and indigo), with just the tiniest bits of grey to indicate a few features.  So it is all eyes and whiskers on this one, and I finally really like how it came out.
Here is the final version ...  I'm calling it Black Tuesday.

 This was the original attempt ...

 And the attempted correction ...

 The "wiper" with the haunting eyes ...

 The photograph all this madness grew out of ...

 And once more, Black Tuesday.

If at first you don't succeed, keep painting until you go crazy!!

The Girl with the Green Hair Number 2

I painted another version of the Girl with the Green Hair.  Same size as before, but a slightly different pose.  I am enjoying painting faces (or this one face).  I think I will carry on with this series for awhile.  This is painted in oils on Ampersand Gessoboard - love the stuff.

It's funny, but my husband said that yesterday's version of the green haired girl looked like a young Hilary Clinton and I think today's version looks like Salma Hayek with a green wig!  LOL

I posted this painting for sale on my website, Pandora's Parlor and also on ebay here.

The Girl with the Green Hair

I've always been a big fan of the old Night Gallery TV show and today's painting was inspired by spending a lot of time in the dark watching every creepy episode as a child.  This is The Girl with the Green Hair.  A slightly different take on portrait painting : - )  I tried hard to capture the far away look in the eyes and the creepy doll-like face.

You can see this painting on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page, and it is available here on Ebay.

Mickey Sue and Ophelia

I have two really lovely sisters - and a wonderful family!  Today's paintings are of my sister Nancy's two dogs, Mickey Sue and Ophelia (otherwise known as Oaf Pie).  First I sketched them out on the 6 x 6 inch black primed gessoboard.  Today I used Ampersand's gessoboard and I really like how smooth it is.  I used the 1/8 inch flat.  I had been using a canvas-covered board, but I think I will be using a nice smooth masonite in the future.  Anyway, as you can see from the picture, I like to draw a grid so as to get the sketch as accurate as possible.  I have been reading my dad's Andrew Loomis books and Loomis used a grid system.  Also, one of my painter hero's, Frank Brangwyn did the same.  So if it's good enough for them ...

 The lovely Oaf Pie.

 The adorable Mickey Sue.

 

Then, I painted them both in oils, looking for areas of color - not trying to "paint a dog," per se, but just blocking in the values as close as I could.  I find it really helpful to paint right in front of my monitor.  That way I can mix up a color and then hold it right up to the screen and check my value and color.  Today I painted my modem with a nice bright splotch of orange - whoops!

 

 I should have made Oafie's head a bit smaller so they would work better as a pair.  Oh well, I'll bet I end up painting this dynamic duo again : - )

These cuties are for you Nancy!

More Whiskers

I just couldn't stop painting today, so I did another whisker study.  Who knew it was so fun to paint whiskers?  I painted this in oils on a black gesso panel.  Man oh man, do I love painting in oils!  I'm not sure I will be going back to acrylics.

I guess it is obvious that whiskers would be light on the side where the light is hitting and darker on the other side - but I found that interesting : - )  Painting is all about close observation.

More Whiskers can be found at my Daily Paintworks Gallery page here.

Whiskers

Today's painting is a closeup of a black cat with blue eyes and nice, back-lit whiskers!  Very hard to photograph the painting though once it was done because of all the reflections in the darks.  It looks much nicer in person!  I am enjoying painting black cats : - )

This painting is 8 x 10 inches and done in oils.  You can find it here on my website, Pandora's Parlor and also in the Gallery section of my Daily Paintworks website.

Still Life - Creepy Doll Head with Teeth

Another slightly twisted still life today!  This little creep not only has scary teeth of her own, but she is posing next to a pair of plaster teeth!  I worked a little larger today, 8 inches by 8 inches (yeah I know, that's not large!!)  LOL  I originally attempted this painting with acrylics, but I can't paint flesh tones with acrylics to save my life - so out came the oils for this one.

Here was my reference photo - one I took of an antique wax doll head that is for sale on my website.

You can see this painting and all of my others on my Daily Paintworks Gallery page here.  You can purchase this painting from my website, Pandora's Parlor, here.