The problem with apples...

Untitled, 5 by 6in, oil on panel

I find the problem with drawing simple objects is that it's so easy to stop observing. It becomes all to easy to arrive at the generic object when assuming no one might guess you are in effect, phoning it in.  A good cure for the laziness is contour drawing, a subject for next time...

Nutty Pot.

"Nutty Pot", 5 by 6in, oil on panel.

I also refer to it as a snotty pot but, yes, I know, it's technically a neti pot, but it does seem a bit nutty. Used for pouring water into your head via a the nostril. It  never gave much relief from my allergies but its occasionally useful for removing  inhaled dust from filing rusty steel or sanding lead paint.  Interesting shape.

A value study on plywood panel - happy accident...

"Vase", 7 by 8in, oil value study

Having plenty of discarded plywood about, I'm experimenting with 

using it as a support.  Here a very coarse piece shows its grain pretty 

dramatically (none of the grain is actually rendered). The scanner 

seems to have exaggerated the effect.

Transition to oils...

"Wineglass",5 by 6in, oil study

Early oil study on canvas paper. Something about working on that stuff is unpleasant, as you might expect. Hard to justify using it since I can probably find something better just laying around the basement.

Oils are tremendously fun. I will try to post my experiments here, including some of the not-so-successful attempts.

"Trailhead", 5 by 6in, oil study

Seeding this blog... watercolors from the past.

Going thru the old notebooks I came up with a few watercolors which survived "the ultimate sacrifice". Trust me, many paintings had to die so that a few should live. I now would consider watercolors to be an advanced medium.  On the plus side, they offer easy cleanup ( I usually used a flame thrower).

"Snowshoeing" 4.5 by 6in, watercolor