Plein air painting on an overcast morning

We have a long weekend in Germany starting today. Since there was no hurry to get the kiddo ready for school, I had made up my mind to go outdoors and paint today. Within 5 minutes drive from my home, there are these beautiful poppy fields on either side of the highway. I have been seeing these fields everyday when I drive to the school, but never really had the time to go out and paint. So glad I finally went out this morning. 

My set up and the scene before me.

It was an overcast sky, no sign of the sun whatsoever. That really challenged me in terms of the greys and the greens bordering on grey. Almost every colour that I mixed seem too dark in value and I had to lighten it. It was a great exercise in seeing and observation. 

Finished painting with my set up :-)

I loved being out in the open today with chirping birds for company. I might create a studio painting out of this on a slightly larger size with this painting as the reference. That would be a great challenge too. And I hope to get some plein air done in the next couple of days too. 

Poppy fields on an overcast morning
Oil on board, 5 by 7 inches
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Let me know what you think! 

SOLD - Pink Iris - Original Floral in Oils

Pink Iris
Oil on board, 5 by 7 inches
SOLD

Study in Red #4 - Original Still Life in Oils

My favourite of the peppers so far, hope you like it too! :-)

Study in Red #4
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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Daffodil #5 - Original Floral in Oils

This morning has been very busy. My elder one had a judo tournament and we were all there accompanying her and having fun. It was a great atmosphere to be with all the kids and their coaches shouting and cheering. As a result, I could not paint this morning. I painted this daffodil a couple of days ago and it came in handy to be posted today :-) It pays to be a little ahead in your painting schedule :-P 

Daffodil #5
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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This is the biggest of the daffodils so far. Painted very quickly, biggest brush and bigger strokes. I am happy with it :-) I went it for a more greener background too, as I did not want to make it too dark. Hope you like it.

SOLD - Daffodil #4 - Original Floral in Oils

I am thinking I must get out all my old floral pieces and try to rework at least some of them if possible. All thanks to this renewed interest in painting flowers :D I think I can redeem some of them, let's see. Most of them will end up in trash though. Meanwhile here is the next daffodil, hope you enjoy!

Daffodil #4
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

SOLD - In the vineyards - Original Landscape in Oils

Hasn't it been a really long time since I did a landscape? I guess so. This painting is for this week's challenge on Daily Paintworks. I really liked the reference and jumped right in.:-)

I love vineyards and wine tasting and everything around them. I love wine! I have loads of vineyard references in my library, and this was motivation to get to them too. It was good fun mixing the various greens, in varying degrees of "greyness". I finally touched up the most saturated areas with the palette knife a little bit.

In the vineyards
Oil on Canvas, 18 by 24 cms
SOLD

Click here to see all the entries in the vineyards challenge.:-)

Study in Red #3 - Original Still Life in Oils

I am still in the mood to paint red bell peppers :-) I was a lot more comfortable mixing the reds for this piece. I laid down my darkest darks first and then worked lighter from there. Normally, when I work from lightest to dark, I sometimes find myself in a position where the darks are well, too dark. Since I wanted to avoid that, I laid down not so dark darks first. I guess it worked better. And quicker. 

These are painted based on references that aren't mine. I so wish I could paint them from life, which I probably would sometime soon. I have an idea for a series of life paintings of peppers, and I will get to work on it soon. Until then, these references were too good to let go of. I liked the complementary background better than a greyish one, so went in with the green this time around too. 

Study in Red #3
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
NFS

Study in Red #2 - Original Still Life in Oils

Continuing with my colour studies, this is yet another study in red. Red to me is one of the most difficult colours to get subtle value variations in. In this reference for example, the darks have a lot variety but I struggled quite a bit with them. With two different reds and two different blues, I tried to mix as many darks as I could. :-) 

Study in Red #2
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
NFS.

I wanted to go in for a complementary background with this piece. This was inspired by another artist's still life studies that she shared on Facebook. Do you like this rather saturated background compared to the neutral background the last time? Let me know in the comments.

SOLD - Daffodil #3 - Original Floral in Oils

Flowers are not a subject that I normally paint, they are not a favourite by far. During the spring season here though, when I see beautiful blossoms all around me, it is difficult not to get inspired. So I try to sneak in a couple of florals here and there. Right now what I see all around me are roses and hardly any daffodils. But these references have been lying around too long and I had to get to them :-)

Daffodil #3
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

Here's a picture of all the three daffodils together.

Daffodils
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches each

SOLD - Spring blossom 2 - Original Floral in Oils

Here's the other daffodil that I promised yesterday. I love these white and orange daffodils far more than the yellow ones. These are much more colorful and gorgeous. Oh that orange! They will look great hung together, facing each other. Or even face away from each other :P 

Spring Blossom #2
Oil on Board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

And here's a collage of the two daffodils together. Let me know what you think!

Daffodils
Each - Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches

SOLD - Spring blossom - Original Floral in Oils

I used to paint flowers once upon a time. I did loads of them, had fun while it lasted. But, I used to do them with the palette knife. I have almost never painted flowers with the brush. Somehow today I was in the mood to paint this daffodil. While I was rummaging through my photos, this one called out screamed out to be painted. Once again, I wanted to keep it loose with thick strokes and not get bogged down by the details. I am reasonably happy with it. There's another daffodil tomorrow, stay tuned. 

Spring Blossom
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

Pink Daisies - Original Still Life in Oils

I had bought this bunch of daisies a while ago, and loved the light pink. The colour was so breathtakingly beautiful that I had to paint it. Never mind that petals and their delicate appearance always gave me the jitters. Never mind that I have not painted a flower in ages. As some lovely sunlight shone through my window, it put to rest any doubts that I had in my mind that they had to be painted. I started doing them from life and did an initial layer. I also took a couple of pictures just in case I could not complete it from life. That's pretty much what happened, I did not like the way it was progressing, me getting consumed with the details as usual. Pick up the piece again today and completed with the help of my references. I tried as much as I could to not get finicky.:-) 

Pink Daisies
Oil on Canvas, 6 by 12 inches
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This painting is done on stretched canvas and the sides are painted in a neutral gray. 

SOLD - Study in Red - Original Still Life in Oils, 6 by 6 inches

If there is one thing that I'd like to change about my work, top of the list would be to stop overworking my pieces. There are of course a lot of things that I want to improve upon, but this is number one without a doubt. I just do not convey what I intend to with minimal strokes. It is something that I am aware of and continuously strive to improve. First thing that I did earlier this year was to banish my smallest brushes from the studio. I am now accustomed to bigger brushes, but still not quite where I want to be in terms of strokes. This painting is my first deliberate study in that direction. 

Study in Red
Oil on Board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

I paused before each stroke to evaluate its merit. Made me think and work in a more deliberate manner. I did not count the strokes in this one, I will do it in my future studies.

SOLD - Prep time! - Original Figurative Painting in Oils, 6 by 6 inches

As the warmer temperatures set in, all I want to go to the beach :-) Well for the time being virtually, and then hopefully in real.

Prep Time
Oil on Board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

One step at a time! - Original Painting of Children in Oils

This father son duo was also spotted along the banks of the Alster in Hamburg. The lighting was perfect and I hope I have managed to do justice to it. After painting on 6 by 6 inch panels since a while now, 8 by 8 seemed like it was BIG! And here I keep dreaming of 30 by 40 and the likes. :-) It wasn't that bad though and I quickly got used to the size. 

This painting is done on stretched canvas, and the sides are painted in a neutral colour so that it can be displayed without a frame. 

One step at a time!
Oil on Canvas, 8 by 8 inches
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