A Few New Paintings

One large:

"Ponte Vecchio" 24 x 30

One small:

"Brewer's Blackbird," 6 x 6 oil on panel

Lucy

Lucy, 6 x 6 oil on panel

This girl, a Scottie-Westie rescued from her career as a puppy mill producer, is just beginning to emerge from her shell and is learning to play like a normal dog. It's fun to watch her scamper around with her stuffed monkey in tow. From a painting perspective, mostly-black dogs are a challenge, and photographing this was difficult because surface textures produced by oils are so reflective. (And it's just those textures that make oil painting so much fun!)

Bid at Daily Paintworks.

Portland Bungalow

Bungalow 6 x 6 oil on panel

Northeast Portland houses remind me of how much personality and character pre-WWII homes have. This one is near the corner of a shady street in Portland's Hollywood district.
Bid at Daily Paintworks

Oregon Coast Studies

Coast Cliffs Study, 8 x 10 oil on linen on board

Lifting Fog, Oregon Coast 8 x 10 oil on linen board

Greens and Blues

Green and Blue Study, 6 x 6 oil on gesso board

A plein air study done at a nature park near my home. I intentionally broke some rules about de-emphasizing chroma of the background elements in a painting. I like the temperature contrasts between the (relatively) warmer greens and the cool blue-violets, and I just can't make myself  "grey" the blues. I appreciate the skills of the photo-realists, but I wanted to bounce those temperature variations against each other. This little study is feeding ideas about a possible larger painting or series.

Fun Run

Fun Run, 6 x 12 oil on linen on board

Barley the labradoodle has crazy fur that is too much fun to paint.

See at Daily Paintworks.

Treat-Seeker

Treat-Seeker, 6x6 oil on linen on board

Jack, our rescue spare-parts-dog, offers up his most hopeful expressions at meal-time. Painting such foreshortened shapes in a pose like this is an interesting challenge, because all you can do is paint "shapes of color."

See at Daily Paintworks.

Summer Hilltop

12 x 12 oil on linen

Fence-Sitter - Siamese Cat

Fence-Sitter, 6 x 12 oil on 3/8" archival panel

This neighborhood Siamese cat perches on a fence at the entrance to a small natural park, where she hones her hunting skills. So far no luck on her part, I think, as I've seen her being chased by an irritated Northern Flicker.

See at Daily Paintworks Auction.

Fishing Boat

Mediterranean Fishing Boat, 16 x 12 oil on linen

These boats, called "lateen-rigged," are used for fishing from Portugal across the Mediterranean to Greece. This one, along with several other brilliantly-colored ones, was anchored in the harbor of Lerici, near Pisa. They've apparently been used for fishing since the second century B.C.

Wetlands Studies and Studio Painting

I painted "en plein air" recently with Bill Sharp, a talented Portland painter, and produced a little study, with the intent on "pushing color," exaggerating the intensity of what I was seeing.

Wetlands Study, 8 x 10 oil on linen board

The painting location is in a Beaverton neighborhood, where a protected wetlands winds its way through backyards (I envy the homeowners the views of the flora and fauna just outside their windows). I brought the painting home and decided to use the color notes I captured to design a new painting with a different format, (this time a 2:1 aspect ratio, one of my favorites). I first painted another small color study:

Wetlands Study 2, 6 x 12 oil on panel

I then started a 12 x 24 painting on linen that I had mounted on board and toned with a light, very warm wash, laying in the initial placement of major shapes:

 

I then added my lightest lights (sky area) so that I could see the range of tones I was working with:

It was at this point that I made a compositional change, removing the tree near the center because I felt blocked from the marshes beyond that were calling to me. The final product brought me back to my initial goal of experimenting with exaggerated color:

Wetlands Morning, 12 x 24 oil on linen on board

Barley's Road Trip

Road Trip, 7 x 5 oil on archival panel

Introducing Barley, my son's labradoodle, a very expressive model. His fur is too much fun to paint. I've been using these small paintings as a way to experiment with subjects that are new to me, but I'm also working on some larger landscapes. Road Trip is my maiden voyage as a Daily Paintworks Auction, priced at $50. Click here to Bid.

Black-Tailed Deer Study

6 x 6 oil on linen panel

This deer (doe?) and some of her friends were grazing near a vineyard in Southern Oregon when I spotted them.

See at my Daily Paintworks Gallery

Mediterranean Harbor Boats

Mediterranean Harbor Boats

8 x 16 oil on linen on panel

The town of Lerici, on the Tuscany coast, is as charming as much of the Cinque Terre, but less crowded. The boats and buildings were a color smorgasbord. 

Pearl's Eyes

8 x8 oil on panel.

Pearl, above, is a study in greys from my limited palette. Her eyes are the only "saturated" color in the painting. 

For many years I've used a very limited color palette - a warm and cool of each primary (red, yellow, blue)  plus white. I've added a couple of earth colors (yellow ochre and burnt sienna or transparent oxide red) because they make color mixing more efficient, especially when painting outdoors when you need to paint quickly, before the light changes. From a limited palette, you can generally mix any color you need, and it's a great way to learn about color. But since I'm experimenting with new subjects and surfaces, I've decided to start really mixing things up and adding some new colors to my palette - maybe even some colors that have no place in the "real" world. Change is gonna come....

See at Daily Paintworks

Barn Swallow

6 x 12 oil on linen on board

This barn swallow was giving my friend and birding mentor the "evil eye" as he got some photos of it. Click here to see it at my Daily Paintworks Gallery.

Tied-up

Tied-up, 6 x 12, oil on linen

Painted en plein air

$125 unframed

This study was used as a reference for a larger painting, which is at the RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon.

Click here to view in my Daily Paintworks Gallery

Espadrilles

Espadrilles, 6 x 6, oil on canvas board. More of my friend Kim's girlie shoes. These were fun to paint because the amorphous straps and details caught the light and shadow at every twist and turn.

Click here to view on my Daily Paintworks Gallery

Blue Boots

I'm a wearer of strictly utilitarian shoes, so I'm always on the lookout for girlie shoes as painting subjects. These boots belong to my friend Kim, a source of some of my most interesting still life objects. To see "Blue Boots," 12 x 8 oil on linen panel, and other work, go to:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/mary-lou-epperson-2996

First Flight

Because I've been having too much fun experimenting with painting ideas to organize any new workshops, I've decided to use a blog to pass on new things I’m learning, and materials and processes I’m playing with. I’ve also been working on small paintings of still life objects, animals and even some fantasy elements, and will make some of those paintings available through online sales.

 I recently discovered a painting panel that's primed on both sides, and 3/8" thick, so it can be either framed, hung without frame, or mounted in a table-top easel. (You can also paint on both sides.) Purchase panels at http://raphaelsap.com. This is my Westie-Scottie mix rescue, Winnie, who was liberated from a puppy mill about a year ago, along with her sister, Lucy. You can see/purchase "Shoe-Chewer," 6 x 12 oil on panel, at:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/mary-lou-epperson/shoe-chewer/76257