Miniature Landscape Oil Painting

Hazy Day
6" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Panel
$75

When I lived in California, one of my favorite hiking and painting locations was the Santa Rosa Ecological Preserve.  It was located south of where I lived on the way to Temecula near Murietta.  It comprises 900 acres of rolling grassland filled with Engelmann oak woodlands. There are riparian wetlands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, bunchgrass prairie, and vernal pools as well as more than 200 species of native birds and 49 endangered, threatened or rare animal and plant species. The paths are easy to navigate.  No matter how many people you may find there, it is easy to lose yourself in its peace and quiet. I took rolls and rolls of film there (before digital) and still have many of those reference photos.  Still, even if I didn't, the place is indelibly marked in my memory.  The Oak trees were, and still are, my favorites.  Over 400 years old, they stretch wider than their height - which is no mean amount.  Many of them are over 60 feet tall.  They provide luxurious shade on hot days and shelter from rain in the winter.  If you have a chance, visit the Preserve, and send my regards.  This small study for a larger piece is a view from one of the trails.

To purchase and/or view on my website, to go www.susanspar.com.  

Oil Painting of Cloud Scape

"Salt Flats on the Hood Canal", Oil on Linen Panel, 36" x 25"

I've started a new series on cloudscapes in the Northwest recently. This is the first in the series. I used to do a lot of landscape but got away from it in order to pursue the figure and still life. However, recently I was asked to do an in-kind trade with a charity in exchange for some publicity. It seemed like a good idea.  But I wanted to be sure that the painting would have a good chance of selling for them. Landscapes generally do better than still life in the sales department so I figured I'd do one of the local Sol Duc Falls. But then I have a student who has expressed a strong interest in painting clouds and so I decided to try my hand at doing a cloudscape for the charity and that way my student could watch the process.

I'm very much attracted to salt flats and river basins. Perhaps it's the dreamy look or the interesting shapes that they take or maybe just the color of the grasses. But I had the idea to use some photo references I had of the Hamma Hamma River basin/salt flats in Washington and combine them with a cloud reference from my overflowing box of photo references that rarely gets used. In order to avoid getting stuck with the color in the photos, which rarely looks good, I put the two photos together on Photoshop and then took out the color and adjusted the values. Then I built the color that I envisioned for the piece. Hope you like it. 

Oil Painting of Sea Shell

"Sea Gift"
Oil on Linen, 6" x 8"

A class mate at Georgetown Atelier, created a very large beautiful still life of a huge conch shell the year we graduated. Of course, I've never forgotten that shell and the work that Holly put into it.  This can't hold a candle and it's quite small to boot. But I'm still happy with it.  I framed it in a beautiful arched frame that looks spectacular with it and will be hanging it at Gallery 9 this September. I plan to do a series of these small paintings in arched frames. Eventually, I should have enough to do a whole show of them. Fun!

Female Nude

"What Dreams May Come"
Oil on Linen Panel, 8" x 6"

The figure is my favorite subject. I never tire of painting the nudes or even costumed models. Once a week I sponsor a figure drawing group at my studio and together we pay for 2 1/2 hours of a model's time. This model in particular is a dream to work with. I knocked out this little study the other day. She's for sale. To view the auction or bid, click here.

Painting of Three Pears, 6" x 8"

"Conquering Hero", Oil on Linen, 6" x 8"

Pears always make a good painting. There's something about their shape and the variety of colors that they come in. I painted these cute little fruits in a more layered technique than usual, using glazes and a bit of scumbling. I generally paint small pieces as alla prima works, or works done in a single sitting for Daily Paintworks, but my sessions kept being interrupted by one thing or another and so it evolved into a longer painting with more passes. The title came to me in a heartbeat when I put them on the cloth, turned around for a second and then turned back to arrange them and they had arranged themselves. Cute huh?  

Plein Air Painting of Estuary

"Morning at Salt Creek"
Oil on Linen Boad, 8" x 10"

This Plein Air painting of Salt Creek Estuary was painted on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. We have it all - from soaring mountains and placid lakes to roaring waterfalls and ocean beaches. I painted this small painting on a summer morning when the air was cool. It heated up quickly and I finished in just under two hours before the sun reached my easel. 

The blues appear quite intense on my screen but are in reality more subdued.

You can visit this painting auction on Daily Paintworks by clicking here.

Floral Still Life, Oil on Paper Mounted on Board

"Asian Influence"Oil on paper mounted on panel

I've been heavily involved heading up a local event here in Port Angeles for the last five months. The event, "Paint the Peninsula", was a plein air competition which lasted five days and included a barbecue kickoff, a wonderful cocktail party at Camaraderie Winery and a Gala black tie event and show, all culminating in a Quick Draw competition and mini festival. That, in turn, was followed by a three day workshop offered by Ned Mueller, our judge. It was grueling as I not only helped to run and coordinate the event, but hosted two house guests and participated as well. Twenty years ago, this wouldn't have been a problem. Currently with a fresh back injury, it was like running two marathons back to back. I'm done. Stick a fork in me. 

Anyway, with all this work on my plate (no pun intended), this weekend was the first time in a few months I've actually had to get in my studio, turn out the overhead lights and just paint. No phone ringing, no other work to do and no students. Just me and the set up and the quiet. This photo doesn't begin to capture the light in the painting. It has a bit more contrast in this photo too than is in the painting which I've tried to fix on Photoshop, but then I lose other stuff. Darn. The camera is still new to me and I'm a poor student of photography. Well, I'm going to have to cave and take some lessons. I did better with my Canon, but the Nikon is a little trickier. 

I work under north light from a large cathedral style window which brings in soft, cool light. It's more noticeable when you see it live, but there's some broken orangey color in the background peeking through that helps to give the painting an airy feeling. Still working toward achieving that special quality of light that evokes a soft moodiness.  I'm coming more and more to the point where I copy less of what I see and add more to the painting of what it needs. I'd like to get to that place with portraits as well. All good things in their time. 

A Measure of Success

"Just a Little Tin"

Oil on Board, 5" x 7"

Well, this was fun.  This started out to be a small exercise in value and temperature - my favorite subject for exploration, and ended up taking more than a few hours to get right. Still, it was a lot of fun and the results were worth it. What's really surprising to a lot of my students, though, is that it took me as long as it did. They've seen me whip out larger pieces in half the time. But these days I'm taking a bit more time with my work in tweaking things.

I think the lesson here is that we are our own worst or hardest critic. I'd like to think that I'm learning to be a hard critic of my own work. Sure I can find a lot wrong with my work, but more importantly, I'm better able to answer the question; "did I achieved what I was after?" Starting a painting without a concept in mind is a lot like taking a road trip without a map. Sure, you may get to a lot of interesting places, but you won't necessarily get anywhere you started out wanting to go. So these days, before sitting down to paint even a small thing like this little ditty, I try to have a clear goal in mind. That way, I can answer the question, "was the trip worth the goal?" If I've actually learned what I was after to find out, then even if the painting is a dud, I've been a success. 

Oil Painting of Tin and Pewter

"On the Edge", Oil on Board, 9" x 12"

Not having a clue what I wanted to paint the other day, but knowing I needed to paint, I grabbed these items off the shelf and plopped them down on my still life shadow box. Sometimes when I'm in that place between inspiration and the need to just push some paint around, I'll try to make the most of my time by giving myself just an exercise to do. Something with a goal in mind that will focus my attention and give me a lesson at the same time. 

I knew I wanted to do something that wasn't high contrast but that was in cool light and would challenge me with subtle temperature shifts. The background of my wood shadow box is painted a kind of Naples Yellow Light and generally I drape fabric or colored paper over it. But this time I decided to try something with just the creamy yellow background. Yellow can be a challenge when it becomes shadow because it can go in a couple of different directions -  from orangy to brown and often green. Finding the right relationships can be a challenge so I was pleased when this worked out. Pulling the yellow into the pewter and tin pieces brought the painting together. This is easy when there are reflective objects present as they'll do this anyway. I liked the negative space formed by the balanced tin cup and the lost edges too.  How do you like the brushed surface of the pitcher?

Still Life, Red Cherry Pitcher

"The Cherry Pitcher"Oil on Linen




 

I purchased this pitcher mainly because I liked it's color and wanted to challenge myself to paint it. Red is a particularly difficult color to do well. Too much background color in it and it looks dull or muddy, too much Naples Yellow or White on the lit side leads to pasty looking pink. Although it's not so much the exact color/temperature that gets you there, it's the color/temperature relationship. Either color used in isolation will look off. It's when they're juxtaposed to each other that they come alive and it all sings. I was happy overall with the way this painting turned out, I felt my edges were working for me and the shadows on the lace were just right. What do you think?

 





Still Life of Chocolate Pot

"The Chocolate Pot"
Oil on Linen on Board

I recently assisted a student in setting up a still life for a graphite drawing she will be working on. I liked the set up and decided it would be a good exercise for me to work on. 

I've just finished a five month project for a client and was eager to get back into painting smaller projects of my choice. This was a good one to get started on. It's monochromatic appearance and subtle half tones appealed to me. I'm still playing with how to crop it. 

Practice and all that Jazz

Here's a little portrait I did for practice the other day. Her name is Bridgette. She's a friend and former student and has perfect bone structure. I enjoy doing these little portraits because I can get them done quickly. I took a break from a very large project I've been working on for five months. Haven't gotten much else done but I'm almost finished and it will be good to get back to smaller projects that are more speedily completed.

"Bridgette"

Master Copy of Rembrandt's "Man in Armour"

Well school is finally over. Hooray, Yay! We had our graduation on June 30th. "Man in Armour" was the master copy I chose to do for one of my final projects. I'm quite happy with the way it came out but I plan to do quite a few more. I learned a lot from this painting and it taught me how much I can learn from doing copies. 

I'll post a couple of other pieces I did during the final months of Georgetown Atelier but then I'm on to my own projects and I'll be posting those here. I plan on doing some weekly (if not daily) paintings again that I'll be posting for sale as well. Stay tuned and thanks for sticking with me through the long drought.

Portrait, Oil on Board

"Thoughts of Spring"

Every artist has a favorite model and Amber is without a doubt, mine. She has beautiful bone structure and at the same time a certain softness about her that makes her a pleasure to draw and paint. I did this portrait from a photo that was taken some time back when Amber was pregnant with her son Joshua. It was a rainy, cold day and Amber was standing at the window on a short break. It was the perfect shot so I asked her to hold still while I adjusted the camera. I took hundreds of photos that day but this one was the best. I prefer to work from life, but often my budget or time do not make that possible. Photos can sometimes lead to a stiff or an unnatural looking portrait. This is because when you work from life, the model moves. So the work tends to be a composite of many poses which come together to lend the portrait a certain sense of life. Photos, on the other hand, don't move and this can cause the eye to focus on each portion of the photo separately making for a hard lined and fragmented painting.  I think, however, that I managed to retain Amber's special qualities as well as her quiet moment of hopefulness in this portrait.

Portrait, Oil on Linen

Portrait of Jenna

This small portrait was originally meant to be a two or three day study. The model was sitting for a three or four week pose and my intentions were to do a couple of different studies from different positions. For this reason, the lay in was done in paint rather than taking the time for a careful drawing. However the block in came out so well that my teacher suggested I follow through with it and make it a three week full portrait. I can see changes I'd like to make on it now, but over all it came out pretty well. I love working from life but the reality is that it's hard to do unless you have several people willing to help pay for the pose. Three to four weeks is a long time. I suppose as I improve, it will take less time.

Male Nude

This piece was done during the school year and was one of my first limited palette paintings. The model is "Hoagie", a gentleman who poses for most of the schools and ateliers in the Seattle area. While I still have a ways to go here, I felt that I was beginning to turn the corner with this piece.

Venus de Milo

One of the projects we had to do at school before starting on Limited Palette, was a cast study of warm and cool light. At first glance, this appears to be a black and white painting, but if you look closer, you will see warm orangy tones in it. Done with an extremely limited palette of burnt sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Naples Yellow and flake white (no black), my job was to paint as accurately as I could, the values and the relative temperature changes I saw in the cast. The project took about a month or two and marked the end of my mostly monochromatic months at the atelier.

Reclining Nude, Oil on Linen

"Imaginings" Although I've been turning out a lot of studies and small pieces for school, I haven't produced anything I deemed worthy of posting. I liked this piece though. It's the last monochromatic piece I produced before heading into a limited palette and warm/cool temperature studies. It was four weeks in the making and I hope you like it. I'll be making some changes later based on suggestions by my instructor and I'll post them once I do. I have 12 weeks left until the sumnmer break and I'm feeling a lot like a horse headed home to the stable. I'll be glad when the summer comes.

Impressionist Painting of Dogwood Flowers, 8" x 10", Oil on Canvas

"Dazzle"




It's really been a long while since I have found the time to indulge in a small floral. I'm a little rusty but once things got moving, the flowers flowed off my brush. I chose these Dogwoods because I enjoy the crisp white blooms that stand out against a darker background. I put in the yellow tablecloth to brighten things up a bit. With the Seqim Arts Studio Tour coming up in July, I have to start getting things framed and some new work complted. I've targeted Saturday afternoon for that task and hope to put out some new landscapes as well before the awaited date. I'm keeping to small formats for these, but framing them with wide mats and thin gold frames. They look spiffy.

As we get closer to the date, I'll start posting work that will be exclusive to the show and also links to maps and guides for the tour. The studio tour is being held during the Sequim Lavendar Festival. It's a huge event and we have all kinds of wonderful things happening from wine tasting to Jazz in the Alley scheduled for the long weekend. Anyone interested should contact the Sequim Chamber of Commerce.

Oil Painting of White Orchids and Red Tapestry, 13" x 21.5", Oil on Unstretched Canvas

"Balance"
I've been meaning to do a wall hanging for some time. A recent trip to Korea gave me the nudge I needed to get started. I chose some unstretched canvas for the job and then got busy. This painting is not yet for sale as I need to add the fabric and tassels that will complete it as a wall hanging. To see how this painting was done, to www.musensbysusan.blogspot.com and follow the links.