oil painting: pomegranate from life! by linda dalal sawaya

practice, practice, practice! i am happy that i signed up for 30 paintings in 30 days, as it is forcing me to paint every day. i am working in oils, which i have some experience with but no where near enough to be proficient. so even though this is day 14 and i have done almost that many paintings, this is one i feel happy enough about to post here on my blog.

two issues: i normally work from memory and imagination, and in acrylic or water based media. the "juice-iness" of oils is very appealing, and yet very difficult to work with. i painted this from observation over yesterday's painting of a lotus flower that was not too fabulous...and the oil paint was still wet.

i love pomegranates; this one came from my kitchen—a great subject for a still life, quickie painting: did it in about an hour, as it is a small canvas, about 5 x 5 inches square. maybe this one is a keeper? if i eat the pomegranate tonight, i still have two more in my kitchen to use for upcoming practice paintings. what fun!

painting from life! allaprima portland at studio 30

today i had another opportunity to paint from life with some great painters at studio 30 in st. john's neighborhood of portland.  paintings from today including mine are on view at the allaprima portland blog, which is promptly updated by wonderful artist celeste bergin.

most of the time i love to work from memory and imagination, but painting from life and observation is such good practice. i am grateful to be painting with very talented artists and learning, always learning! this was done in a less than 3 hour session with oil on canvas.  as much as i am happy with it, i  love looking at the other artist's work done today and am inspired.

here is my painting done there two weeks ago.