Sunday, October 12, 2008

It's a Bear Market!

5 X 7 Oil on Board $100
Includes shipping and insurance
It's hard to stay away from the little paintings because I get the satisfaction of COMPLETING something in a day. The big ones take 3 full days of painting, minimum, and in the case of the two-horses-in-the-water painting, I'll need at least 2 more, uninterrupted days to complete it. That's the tricky part of painting with oil. If you want the "oil effect" of soft edges (and acrylic painters hate this!) you need to work continuously or use mediums (additives) to slow the drying process.
The little paintings are a contradiction in assembly. Under certain circumstances, I wish the paint would dry faster (for instance, I will still need to add a couple more strokes to this one after it dries a bit), but I still want the soft, blended edges that oil paint offers. I have not yet experimented with the new water soluble oils that are supposed to have the consistency of traditional oils, but dry fast (and wash up with soap and water). And it's not because I have that much invested in oil paints. Most of the paints I use fit into a couple small shoe boxes. They are large tubes, but not that many colors. I mix most of what I paint with from the basic primaries of cad yellow, cad red and ultramarine blue. I can make my own burnt umber from those three, but I use it in a tube, too. And titanium white. I have a small tube of ivory black, but I never use it. If I was left on a desert island with those 4 (maybe 5), I would be happy.
Back to the bear. We enjoyed watching this fellow on Bear Lake in Cuchara, Colorado this past summer. He pretty much cleared out the fishing ledge on the back side of the lake - looking for trout along the edge. Trout are fragile and many folks remove them from their line and throw them back, not realizing that unless they are handled VERY carefully, they usually die. And float to the edge of the lake. The bears know this and daily go shopping along the edge, clearing out the fishing folk!
I am also working of a large semi-abstract of this image. Watch for it!
And don't forget the big half-price sale starting November 1!!
Luke 12:37
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Debbie,
interesting post and a great bear.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

I love your posts. Well thought out and meaningful.
This painting is beautiful.
Love the brushwork.