Yellow Rose 3 (#28)

Yellow Rose 3 (#28) (7"x5" oil on panel)

Third rose in this series . . . can't tell if they're getting better . . . but I am enjoying painting them.

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Yellow Rose 3 by Marjorie Jordan

Yellow Rose 2 (#27)

Yellow Rose 2 (#27) (6"x6" oil on panel)

This is the second in my yellow rose series . . . got hung up again in the bowl and got too complicated . . .  so, try, try again!

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Yellow Rose 2 by Marjorie Jordan

Yellow Rose 1 (#26)

Yellow Rose 1 (#26) (6"x6" oil on panel)

My first attempt at the yellow rose . . . I feel like I got too busy with the bowl . . . one of my goals is to learn to simplify . . . I'm fairly happy with the results nonetheless . . .

Thank you for viewing my art!

© Yellow Rose 1 by Marjorie Jordan

Peony 4 (#25)

Peony 4 (#25) (5"x7" oil on panel)

This is the 4th and last of my current Peony series . . . tomorrow I begin with a yellow rose . . . have learned a lot with the peonies . . . most importantly, that I can define the flower with shapes of color, rather than line . . . in this image, I like the way the light hitting the leaf worked out . . .

I've been out of pocket for a week, working on the preliminaries of buying a condo . . . still have a lot of hurdles to cross, but I hope the end result will be a small condo in the Va-High neighborhood of Atlanta, GA . . . I'll keep you posted . . . 

Thank you for viewing my art!

© Peony 4 by Marjorie Jordan

Peony 3 (#24)

Peony 3 (#24) (7"x5" oil on panel)

This is the third in my series of a white peony as it opens . . . each painting has gotten more difficult . . . I lost this one several times and brought it back from the brink . . . in so doing, I believe I overworked it . . . but that's how it goes sometimes.

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Peony 3 by Marjorie Jordan

Peony 2 (#23)

Peony 2 (#23) (7"x5" oil on panel)

This is the second in a series of paintings of a Peony from Susan's garden as it opens . . . my first post of the 'opening' peony was on April 23rd . . . 

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Peony 2 by Marjorie Jordan 

Yellow Flowers (#22)

Yellow Flowers (#22) (6"x6" oil on panel)

The last few days I have been working more slowly and deliberately and am happier with the results.

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Yellow Flowers by Marjorie Jordan

Peony 1 (#21)

Peony 1 (#21) (5"x7" oil on panel)

It took me several tries to get the drawing (see below) before I could begin to paint . . . At first I tried to paint each section of the flower, but wiped that off and began by laying in broad area of lightest color, then added flower shadow areas . . . that was a breakthrough for me.

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Peony 1 by Marjorie Jordan

Peony Drawing 1 (#21) (5"x7" oil on panel)

Hot Pepper (#20)

Hot Pepper (#20) (5"x7" oil on panel)

Today continued working in a more 'painterly' and fluid style . . . I loved the color and shininess of the pepper against the blue background . . . even though the process is taking me much longer than I want . . . I believe I'm moving forward . .  .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Hot Pepper by Marjorie Jordan

A Pair (#19)

A Pair (#19) (5"x7" oil on panel)

Began the day by watching Carol Marine's ArtByte painting demo which included apples, hoping this would set me on the right path . . . her skill is such that she makes it look easy . . . but for me it was quite difficult to make the colors work and I painted and repainted . . . in the end I was pleased . . . not just 'an apple a day' but, two apples today . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© A Pair (of apples) by Marjorie Jordan

Strawberries (#18)

Strawberries (#18) (5"x7" oil on panel)

Delicious . . . a good day!

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Strawberries by Marjorie Jordan

Orange Pepper 2 (#17)

Orange Pepper 2 (#17) (6"x6" oil on panel)

My second 'daily painting' attempt at an orange pepper . . . afraid the photo is too red . . . it really does look like a dark orange pepper, I promise . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Orange Pepper 2 by Marjorie Jordan

Navel Oranges (#16)

Navel Oranges (#16) (5"x7" oil on panel)

Oranges look easy, but for me these were hard to paint . . . I fussed over them for hours . . . falling back on old habits, rather than putting down a stroke of paint and leaving it alone, I blended and repainted in my former fashion . . . I am beginning to surrender to the way I paint 'naturally' which does involve blending and 'fusing' . . .  I've decided what I am aiming for is 'painterly realism' . . . so, I am happy with these oranges, even though I think they are a bit too 'tight' . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Navel Oranges by Marjorie Jordan

Lemons (#15)

Lemons (#15) (5"x7" oil on panel)

I love the color and shape of these lemons . . . trying to lay down paint in as few, accurate strokes as possible . . . still did a bit of blending, rather than just leaving paint where originally laid down . . . but happier with the process . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Lemons by Marjorie Jordan

However, the biggest news is the birth of my first grandchild . . . Chelsea Miranda Wise, arrived 4/1/2012 at 1:19 pm, weighing 5 lbs 7 oz . . . born to my daughter-in-law Stephanie and my son Wilson . . . and we are all over the moon about the news!

Chelsea Miranda Wise and Me

Daisies (#14)

Daisies (#14) (5"x5" oil on panel)

Yellow!

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Daisies by Marjorie Jordan

Apple (#13)

Apple (#13) (5"x5" oil on panel)

Began the day by viewing Carol Marine's Apple Painting Demo art byte . . . . in my effort to paint more directly and loosely . . . then, onto painting my own apple . . . still working on surrendering to bold, loose, yet accurate brush strokes I see in the work of people like Carol Marine, Cathleen Rehfeld, David Shevlino . . . it looks easy when I see it done, but it is a real struggle for me . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Apple by Marjorie Jordan

Giant Strawberry (#12)

Giant Strawberry (#12) (5"x5" oil on panel)

Found big, red, juicy strawberries on Sunday at the Farmers' Market . . . my first attempt at painting . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Giant Strawberry by Marjorie Jordan

Pink Tulip (#11)

Pink Tulip (#11) (7"x5") oil on panel

Inspired today with a tulip from Susan's yard . . . not as gestural and loose as I'm aiming for in my painting . . . but liked the way things turned out nonetheless . . . 

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Pink Tulip by Marjorie Jordan

White Azaleas #3 (#10)

White Azaleas #3 (7"x5" oil on panel)

Changed my background cloth to red and had more fun with the painting today . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© White Azaleas #3 by Marjorie Jordan

White Azalea #2 (#9)

White Azalea #2 (7"x5" oil on panel) (#9)

This must be my blue period . . . though that's not what I'm trying for . . . discovered David Sevlino's work today and love his painting color, style, fluidity, mastery . . . viewed a couple of his YouTube videos before beginning to paint . . . that's what I'm aiming for . . . still long way to go . . . in the meantime, I'm enjoying Atlanta spring flowers . . . doing my best to paint them . . . 

Thank you for viewing my art.

© White Azalea #2 by Marjorie Jordan 

White Azaleas (#8)

White Azaleas (5"x5") Oil on Panel (#8)

It's Spring in Atlanta . . . there is a whole row of white Azalea bushes in my front yard that are just coming into full color . . . I want to paint these all week before they fade.

Thank you for viewing my art.

© White Azaleas by Marjorie Jordan

Orange Pepper (#7)

Orange Pepper (5"x5" oil on panel) (#7) 

I began today by viewing Carol Marine's video of her painting a bell pepper (which I have watched numerous times) . . . her drawing is done with correct placement of lines to create proper proportion and volume with an economy of brush marks . . . next, she puts down clear, concise strokes of clean color, each stroke of color stays where initially laid down . . . so, I'm thinking 'that's easy enough,' now, let me try . . . ha! ha! ha! . . . so much harder than it looks . . . obviously her skill has been won over many years of direct painting . . . I, on the other hand, have a long way to go to be able to mix paint to the correct color and value and to be able to lay down paint with one stroke, without blending . . . but, still trying  . . . 

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Orange Pepper by Marjorie Jordan

Palette and Color Mixing (#6)

Palette and Color Mixing (#6) (12"x12" oil on panel)

For the last few days I have been reviewing Carol Marine's ArtByte about color saturation and color mixing . . . and experimenting . . . the attached is my attempt at a couple of the exercises she mentions . . . mixing colors for a color wheel . . . and mixing a variety of oranges, greens and purples using all the combinations of the various reds and yellows, blues and yellows and reds and blues contained on my palette . . . Not a good image, don't yet have the setup to photograph 12"x12" . . . need stronger lights . . . I tell myself, since there's so much to learn "just one small step at a time" . . .  

Yellow Squash value study (#5)

Yellow Squash (value study) (5"x5" oil on panel)

Today I practiced doing a value study of two yellow squash (a lesson taken from Carol Marine's ArtByte about value) . . . I only used burnt umber, but the photograph makes the squash look yellow . . . It took a lot of 'fussing' to get the values right . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Yellow Squash by Marjorie Jordan

Lemon (#4)

Lemon (#4) (5"x5" oil on panel)

This lemon marks the beginning of my 'daily painting' practice . . . clearly there's a lot to learn, not only with painting, but with photographing and uploading as well.

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Lemon by Marjorie Jordan

Navel Orange (#3)

Navel Orange (#3) ( 5"x5"oil on panel)

I am really enjoying looking at Carol Marine's and Cathleen Rehfeld's daily painting blogs . . . love how (seemingly) effortlessly they define still life objects with dynamic, loose strokes and saturated colors . . . that's what I'm working to learn . . . was fairly happy with the colors today . . . but can't seem to stop my hand from wanting to blend . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Navel Orange by Marjorie Jordan

Daffodil (#2)

Daffodil (#2) (5"x5" oil on panel) 

I began with a more complicated set up  . . . decided to simplify and painted the flower alone . . . Carol Marine says one should begin by making 500 small daily paintings to learn enough to make one's first 'real' painting . . . I think this is good advice . . . I'm just learning 'direct' painting . . . still feeling like I'm all thumbs . . . only 497 more to go in order to get comfortable with this new method of painting!

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Daffodil by Marjorie Jordan

Daisy (#1)

Daisy (#1) (5"x5"oil on panel)

Trying to get the looseness and correctness of strokes  . . . a little better than yesterday . . . but a long way to go . . . working with backgrounds . . . the blue needs to be darker . . .

Thank you for viewing my art.

© Daisy by Marjorie Jordan