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One sunny day lately I ran around Langley taking interior photos while the sun was streaming in. Some of these shops are so artfully put together that they are still life paintings just waiting to be done. This display at the Chocolate Flower Farm on 1st Street was begging to be painted. This was a joy to paint. Once in a great while a painting just kind of falls out of your brush. This is one of those. Of course I had to fuss a bit about values, but not so much on this one. I also feel I used fewer brush strokes to say what I wanted to say. The little jars and bottles are just a a couple strokes each...a light side, a dark side, a lid. You can look at details in these paintings by clicking on the image when you are looking at them on the blog. An artist friend of mine said "you can almost see the dust motes". I love that comment. The Ray for the Day is "Chocolate Flower Farm".
Good Cheer is the name of Langley's thrift store. The stuff just goes round and round the community. Studio 106 often buys props, plates, glasses there for still life set ups or open studio events. Most people I know have bought cherished items of clothing there. This little doll in the sunshine really captured me. I hope someone has purchased her. Again, value is my mountain. I like very dark darks and very light lights. The midtones need to make a believable bridge for the darks and lights. I am working toward saying more using less strokes. I am really happy with the coat hanging in the background. I didn't paint a coat. I painted shapes of dark and light. And voila! a coat! It's very hard to do when you see things with all their details to reduce them to a pattern of dark and light shapes. It is thrilling for me when I accomplish this. The Ray for the Day is: "Offerings at Good Cheer".
A popular Langley cafe and used book store, The Commons, is the perfect place to begin my new series, "Langely Inside Out". All three of us at Studio 106 have been very industrious during this beginning of 2013. We crank up the music and get lost in our paintings, taking breaks only for a bit of critique or a quick lunch (during which time we talk about art and stare at our paintings and do more critique). At the end of the day we often pour a bit of wine and do more staring and talking. For me it is the perfect set up. The challenge in this painting was of values and of cools and warms. I wanted the cool outdoor light to come into the warmth of the room without cooling down the room. It is always surprising to me how dark the value of white wood can be when it is back lit. I cannot think "white woodwork", I have to think shape and value only. It took awhile, but I got it.The Ray for the Day is "Common's Conversation".
This playful acrylic painting was made from a photo I took in Mexico of an owl in a collection of folk art owned by a friend named Annie. Apologies to Annie and the owl, but I had to shorten the legs to make the owl fit on a 6" x 6" panel. I also added the little blue bird to make the composition more pleasing. I painted this to help cheer up a friend of mine who recently had surgery. She has a small collection of Oaxacan folk pieces, and I thought this would fit right in. It wasn't intended, but it looks like the blue bird of happiness is about to fly up Hooty's nose. This is a playful diversion from the series I have begun for my 2014 calendar which I am calling "Langley Inside Out", paintings of interior scenes from Langley buildings. I have completed 3 of those which will show up in the next few days. The Ray for the Day is "Whatta Hoot!".
