Beach Reading Scribble

.... just a bit of an update.

*whew*
Ok, so we're moved, which is totally awesome. And the baby and I are headed down to the beach Wednesday morning, which is also awesome.
But my art everything is hopelessly buried behind a mountain of boxes, disassembled furniture, random things I might ought to have thrown away.... I will do my best to reach it, but the results remain to be seen! I will, however, make sure to take some oil pastels or something to the beach with me and do some plein air experimentation.
Happy spring, everyone! (and boy, is it ever spring. mid to upper eighties al week, and every car in the parking lot is the exact same color thanks to the pine pollen)

Old Man II

8x10 acrylic on stretched canvas

Hitman again.

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone! Ok, it's moving day. As is tomorrow. And the next day. So I will be back... soon.... and when that happens I'll get all caught up. Till then, I hope you're all having a wonderful springtime! (it'll be pushing 90 Friday. so awesome!)

#822

Old Man I

8x10 acrylic on stretched canvas

Those of you not married to artists should be grateful for certain things. You've never had to pull over on the side of the highway in the middle of a road trip because the artist just had to take reference photos of something. Your shelves, walls, corners, and floors aren't hopelessly cluttered with things that might someday, somehow, in someway be useful for a painting. And you've never had to spend as much time with the movie on pause as you did actually watching it because the artist wanted to sketch something on screen. This is from Hitman :)

#821

Striped Eggplant

8x10 acrylic on stretched canvas

Went a bit bigger than my usual daily to try and tackle a strpey vegetable.... my idea was to paint the surface itself, and then glaze and scrumble the highlights, shadow, and reflected light. Never a dull moment around here!

#820

Persimmon IV

6x6 acrylic on stretched canvas

Yes, persimmons are a fall fruit. But I was digging through some reference images on my now-resurrected computer (yay!) and just had to paint this. Aren't the colors awesome? I love orange and lue together :)
#819

Klimt Study II

5x7 acrylic on canvasboard

Was looking through one of my books on Klimt and saw a sketch of his, one of those study-of-a-young-man sort of things, and I really wanted to give it a shot- I don't think I've ever tried a beard before :)

#818

Little Black Dress

5"x7" acrylic on canvasboard

Just having some fun :) Kind of a contorted, but interesting....

#817

Red Pear V

6x6 acrylic on panel

...really, really, really red, in this case. I exaggerated a bit, but I enjoyed it :)

#816

Crescent Moon

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

Sorry about not posting last night, everyone.... Darling Husband was doing some kind of fix-it on my computer that meant it was engaged in internal ruminations and not talking to me all evening and through the night- or at least until the little nuggetness and I went to bed at 2 am. She's a bit of a night owl. But a happy night owl, so it's cool. And so, a nocturne....
#815

Ocean and Clouds

6x6 acrylic on stretched canvas

.... ok, not too creative with the title today, but still. Tried to stay loose and impressionistic with the sky, and I really like the way it feels. Kind of like it was done with pastles or something.... loose layers that work together, you know, hopefully, eventually, creating a finish like Monet's pieces with that wonderful dense crustiness....

#814

The Raven

5x7 acrylic on panel

He was perched on the corner of the local Dunkin Donuts, and I thought it'd make an interesting picture....

#813

Black Cat, White Scarf, reworked

12x24 acrylic on panel

Went back over a lot of this one.... it's a lot "cooler" now, overall. And I think the stripey tights a just a spark of whimsey, I like that. But the chin is weak, there was this reflected light from the scarf and I couldn't quite get it. As I was working on it I realized that covering her legs compltely made a kind of hands-and-face triangle of interest, what with those really being the only colorful areas, and I think that makes it stronger. And all that thinking probably means that I am overthinking....

#812

Mother and Child

6x6 acrylic on panel

warm fuzzies :)

#811

Nude on Turquoise

5x7 acrylic on panel

Hahaha, I'm caught up for the moment! Update on my computer issues: Mark plugged my external hard drive in to this computer, so that should help till the new whatevers get here so he can finish making it all better....
As for this, I know it's a big change in subject matter from what I usually post, but I quite enjoyed painting it, it's a usful challenge, you know? Hope you like it too!
#810

Naomi Nursing

A weird closeup of my perfect little angel :)

#809

.... a couple of sketches

#808

MY COMPUTER DIED

.... and therefore things are on hold for the moment, so far as posting goes :-/

In related news, we are moving April 1st (and I'm going to have most of a bedroom to use as a studio, instead of part of a dining area!), and going to the beach for a few days the next week..... so I'll be checking in, I promise. And I also promise that I'll get all caught up on posting along with the checking-ins.

Winter Light

.... something that I'm trying to decide if it's done or not. I'm leaning toward "Kellie, if you're not sure that it's done, then it isn't". Gr.
#806

Lemon IV

6x6 acrylic on stretched canvas

Pretty, sunshiney citrus. I'm so glad spring finally seems to be here!
In other news- I am going to be doing the Durham Art Walk (in Durham, April 17th and 18th), the Whimsical Women Art Festival (in Chapel Hill, May 1st), and the Festival for the Eno (in North Durham, July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th). They are all wonderful events- if you haven't ever come before, you really should, and I would love to meet you! The Durham Art Walk and the Whimsical Women Festival are both free events, too....
#805

Doggy Rattle Sketch

sketchbook

Happy with how this turned out- I'm going to have to try a real suspension like this! And I've had a few people say I ought to put my pen/ink sketches up for sale.... honestly, I'd love to but wouldn't feel right about it, mostly because they're done with a cheapie bic and I doubt that's an archivally approved sort of product. Really weird question: Are there any nice art pens out there that draw like the cheapie bics?

#804

Horse Sketch III

sketchbook

Thanks everyone for helping me decide on which sketch to base the next painting of Naomi on! There were votes on the poll, comments on the blog, comments on the blog feed to facebook, and I feel great about this- getting started today! Now, paintings either wrap up really fast for me or take a really, really, really long time- we'll see which this is :)

#803

Cherries III

5x7 acrylic on panel

click here to bid

Had sooooo much fun with the colors on this one.... well, with the color. Red. Sometimes they just paint themselves, you know?

And here is my little grown-up girl, now also known as The Tiny Destructive Force, who is five months old today:I suppose it's possible I'm a little bit biased, but she is the most perfect thing ever, and I am enjoying every minute :)

#802

Strawberry

6x6 acrylic on panel

Well.... I was at Whole Foods yesterday. For several good reasons, none of them involving strawberries, but I just couldn't help myself- they looked so delicious and perfect and summery, you know? Or maybe it was this wonderful springtimey weather going to my head, who knows. Either way, I am so wanting to do this again- except bigger. A bright, juicy, sunshiney strawberry about the same size as my head. What do you think?

#801

Self Portrait in Spoon

5x7 acrylic on panel

Something a little different for post #800! (wow, that's a lot of painting....) Now I could be mistaken, but I stalk a lot of blogs, and I don't believe I've ever seen a self portrait done in silverware before :)
And so far as blog-stalking goes, the head count is up over 200 at http://allartblogs.blogspot.com/ . It's really nice to see just how much new posting is happening....
#800

Kitten Sketch

sketchbook

What it's like to be inside my mind: this is someone else's cat, not my Dixon. Because he's solid black and therefore, at least to my mind, really freaking difficult to draw or paint, except as a sort of graceful outline. I've thought, many times, that I'd like to get another cat, just so I'd have one around that you could easily see shadow and form on! Madness....
#799

Apple

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

And more springtime :) Yeah, apples are hardly spring-ey, but the way grocery stores are sometimes it seems like everything is seasonal, you know? Very proud of myself for including the yellow and green bits on this apple- I'm usually quite intimidated by the thought of painting that sort of variegation, but this came out really nice! Oh, and there's a lot more finger painting in this one- remember the gladiola sketch a little while back, when I realized how much more intense the colors feel when you finger paint them? I guess it's because of just how thick the paint goes on..... difficult to get detail, but great for color and touchable-seeming surfaces.

#798

Wine Sketch

sketchbook

Dude, spring has sprung! Mid to upper sixties all week, the sun felt wonderful today.... the cat is driving himself crazy running in circles, and the baby is putting up ever more decisive objections to clothing. Apparently the little nudist takes after me after all :)

Naomi Sketches

one:two:

three:four:

five:

sketchbook

Ok, folks, I need your help here- please vote for which sketch you think makes the best composition! I really want to do a portrait of Naomi in this sunhat, but I think I might be too overwhelmed by the cuteness to figure it out, even though they are just super-rough value sketches....

And the drawing for my painting giveaway was today! The prizewinner is Liana Holt, and she has requested one of my tea paintings :) Thanks everyone for playing!

#796

Two Plums

6x6 acrylic on panel

And back to fruit. A bit looser than my usual, but the colors are perfect and juicy and I didn't want to risk them with further fiddling, you know?

#795

Pink Rosebud

5x7 acrylic on panel

And more reworking :)

cxst tvcvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv7nb t v bbbbbbbbbbbbbb

There we go. I let the tiny human help at the keyboard for a second, she insisted. Goodnight!

#794

Two Irises

5x7 acrylic on panel

Reworking an earlier daily. I should do this more often!

#793

Pink Icing

6x6 acrylic on panel

.... so far, so good- no snow yet. And some silly sweetness as a painting.

#792

Magnolia Sketch

sketchbook

.... what I've always called Japanese Magnolias, and what folks north of here just seem to call magnolias. But since we're apparently entering another ice age (the weatherman is calling for snow again, incredibly enough), I figure I'd better get used to the new world order :-/

#791

White Tulip IV

5x7 acrylic on panel

'nother reminder about my painting giveaway folks- March 6th is coming up fast! Link to me from your blog or your facebook, and let me know about it by emailing me ( kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com ). Couldn't be easier :)

#790

Cupcake Sketch

sketchbook

#789

Daffodil and Blue

2.5"x6" acrylic on paper

And it really feels like there's sun shining through the daffodil, which just thrills me to pieces! Not sure how much of that can be attributed to the crazy blue background.... further experimentation required :)

#788

Sunlit Rose

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

Just reveling in the colors- sometimes flowers can do the most unexpected things, you know?

Oh, and just a btw- I've set something up as http://www.allartblogs.blogspot.com/ , just all the blogs I'm following- it's 132 and counting- so if I haven't found yours yet let me know! I figure that the blogwatch feature is beautiful in its simplicity, a group of bloggers can have something like this without everyine having to post multiple time in multiple places, you know? Check it out :)

#787

Cheesecake Bite

2.5x6 on paper

More with the silly dollar-bill sized paintings :) And I think the little wrapper was as much fun to paint as the cheesecake bite itself.... almost as much fun as eating it... my sweet tooth has really, really been in overdrive lately. So much so that I just finished mixing up and bakng yet another batch of chocolate chip cookies. Think I'll send them into work with the darling husband so I don't eat the whole four dozen by myself....

White Anenomes

5x7 acrylic on board

It's all about the lighting on this one. I had hoped spring had sprung, so to speak, but apparently snow is a possibility tomorrow night.... grrrr! So, spring is here in my artwork :)

#785

Fruit Tart

2.5x6 acrylic on paper

Fruit tarts, much like pears and raw eggs, seem to be something that all daily painters are obligated to paint. Having never so much as looked at one before going on a field trip to purchase this little guy, I have to say they are interesting. The shininess, for instance. There seems to be something.... maybe a clear gelatin?... covering the whole tart. And there was something that I'm sure was meant as chocolate that formed a kind of cradled, shell maybe, for all the fruit... I'm looking forward to summertime even more right now though, getting some proper strawberries and trying to paint them. I actually included the little pale thread leading back into the strawberry from the little seed-points, I have no idea how to describe it better than that but I'm absurdly proud of it.
Oh, and the weird size. I saw a small works competition being advertized, and the pieces could be no larger than a dollar bill. Which seemed so odd I just had to try it, of course :)
#784

Red and Green

sketchbook

Trying to figure out how to portray multi-colored fruit- perhaps not as difficult as I had feared- and having fun doing silly thing like adding the highlight via finger-painting.

And I just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer", and I loved it. Strange thing- I wasn't really sure about it at first, but the book really grew on me as the stories started to weave together and the characters started to take shape. It's the stories of three different people- same timeline, not one of those women-of-multiple-generations themed things that are so common now- set in what seems to be the mountains of Tennessee, and I guess the real subject is the environment, the way it changes and is affected by people. Do you reckon book recommendations are kosher as part of an art blog? Hm...

#783

Gladiola Sketch

sketchbook

More mixed-media-ness, and I actually added the white paint in with my fingers! Everyone should try it, it's really an interesting look and texture, and provides much more immediate opacity if you're going white over a darker background.

#782

Red Pear Sketch

sketchbook

Colored pencils are awesome and all, but I am really in awe of you folks that do complete works with just those little boogers. Seems like it takes forever to build up colors, you know? I cheated, here :) some watercolor pencils, some acrylic.... yay, mixed media!

#781

Peach Slices III

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

My 'different thing' for this painting was bringing one of the shadows forward, over the curve of what is actually a windowsill, and I think I really like the result.

#780