12x16 oil on panelAsk Castle Gallery about this painting.Loved the light of this setting. It looks like a fresh spring morning. Much like the one here now. Its actually rather hot in Texas at the moment! We're to have another record high today of 87. I believe spring has arrived. The birds are singing happily and the trees are all budding out. As usual though, after an extremely warm day, we can expect a cold front to move through tonight. Not too cold though. I am not ready for upper 80s frankly anyway!Yesterday, I got to spend a very pleasant afternoon with Jody Hemphill Smith and Mark Smith of Castle Gallery. They are visiting Austin this week and came to my studio to see my lovely (ha!) workspace and picked a few pieces they wanted sent to their gallery - like the one above. I also got to introduce them to my friend V Vaughan when we visited her studio. Its always fun to see the working environment of other artists. I'm envious of those large well lit spaces some have, but comforted to know that most of us labor in cramped, untidy, unused rooms. I think if I had more space, I'd just fill it with more clutter.
10x8 oil on panel
sold
This is a commission I've done for a friend. It was fun to do revisit the scene I painted in the West Village. I bet it looks a bit different now. Wonder if they have snow?
6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold
A view through the window onto the patio of the 1886 Cafe and Bakery which is part of the Driskill Hotel.
Question for the other painters out there.... do you all spend as much time on these little paintings as you could/would on a larger piece? I find that no matter the size of panel, the work takes about the same time. Well, up to a certain size... like maybe 11x14. And given that I have about 3 1/2 hours each day to do this without interruption, you can guess that I am lucky to get one a day painted.
Saturday found our group in the west village at the corner of Bleeker and Hudson, along with a lovely farmer's market and a chilly breeze. Granted, I am from Texas, so 70 sometimes feels a trifle chilly to me. My first painting was hideous. I scraped it off eventually and did the one above on another panel. The trouble with the first one I think was that it was rough linen... and I have grown so used to gesso and clayboard that I could not get the paint to move on that canvas. But I was pleased with this second painting. Though I think the corner needs something - a light pole and signs, etc.
We were apparently very near some bakery that was made famous in "Sex in the City" and tour buses kept pulling up and parking in front of us blocking our views. Eventually, I was looking at the scene from the curb and walking back to my pochade box to paint. Perhaps that is why I left out details like lamps, lights, signs, etc.
Yours truly, stylin' in my apron and gloves, dutifully squinting.
