Mountain Lion and Bear Sketches

(click for the full size image)
Pencil on paper

I've been busy with commissions, but will hopefully have a new painting posted soon. Until then, here are a couple of new sketches.

Pecan Still Life Daily Oil Painting by Jeff Ward

4" x 4" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel
$100 plus $7.50 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This was a very quickly painted study-- the goal being a sort of short hand notation in paint of the pecan. I wanted to get the thing down quickly with minimal blending or any extra "fiddling".

Green Grapes Daily Oil Painting

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I knew I would get around to painting more grapes eventually (although this time, obviously ones of the green variety). Grapes are fun-- one of my favorite types of fruit to paint.

Eggplant Daily Oil Painting

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5" x 7" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel

I can't remember ever eating eggplant, but I picked this one up while hunting for things to paint in the produce section. I thought it would be interesting to paint, and it was. By placing it in a cool grey environment, I wanted to contrast the dark violet undertones of the eggplant with the blue greys of its surroundings.

Rose Daily Oil Painting by Jeff Ward

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The rose is an interesting thing to paint, even from a distance like in this case. I think I'll be painting one every now and then... maybe a closeup next time.

Peeps Daily Oil Painting

4" x 4" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on canvas panel
 

I had never heard of Peeps until my wife brought some home. I have to say, they are pretty tasty (this from someone who likes twinkies, of course). Also, it's fun to pretend you're Ozzy Osbourne and bite their heads off... perverse maybe, but it somehow enhances the dining experience.

Lilypads Daily Oil Painting

6" x 6" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on canvas panel
$225 plus $8.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This one is a little different-- more saturation in the colors and loose brushwork. A lot of times with the canvas panels, the textured weave of the canvas mucks up the scan... it just doesn't scan well at all. With this one I put more coats of gesso on the canvas to subdue the texture, and so was able to scan it instead of shoot it with the digital camera.

Landscape Painting... Digital Style

(click image for the full size view)

This is not a new piece by any means, but it is a favorite. I painted this in Photoshop back in 2004 as just a practice piece to try to better my digital painting skills. I was pretty happy with how this turned out and I remember really getting into the zone while painting it.

Painting digitally is different than painting in oils, but there are also lots of similarities. For instance, when painting digitally I use a wacom tablet and (as in oils) start off with large brushes, then work my way down in size as needed. And there is a flow to both that seems to escape acrylics. It seems the digital painting has helped the oil painting and vice versa, of course.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

4" x 4" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on canvas panel 
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My favorite type of cookie. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat this after finishing the painting, since it was painted from a photograph (just another reason why painting from life is better :)

Grape Study

This is something else that I did last year. This little grape was painted as a study for my grapes daily painting. I had never painted a grape, so thought it best to paint a study beforehand. Studies are good because when you paint the final piece, you can do so with more confidence, since you have already worked out some of the problems ahead of time.

Lion Sketch

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Here is a sketch I did last year of a lion. Big cats are interesting to draw and their power, mane and other features seem to lend themselves well to sketching, so this one was fun to do.

Hell's Pitcher

5" x 7" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel
$175 plus $7.50 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I really meant to post before now, but I've been busy with various projects the past couple of months, and so decided it might be best to postpone getting back to the daily paintings. Regardless, it's good to be back and hopefully I will be posting much more regularly from now on.

This painting started out as a Christmas still life with poinsettias included. Needless to say, the holidays past by and I thought it best to change the scene, rather than painting the original holiday version and then waiting a year to post it!

So here you go...

Indian Corn Daily Oil Painting

4" x 6" (10.2cm x 15.3cm)
Oil on panel
$200 plus $8.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I thought it would be nice to add a little harvest flavor to the daily painting offerings, as a sort of ode to autumn (probably my favorite season, although winter is nice too). So here's to cooler weather and the harvest season!

Vase and Fruit Daily Oil Painting

5" x 7" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel

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Apple and Orange Daily Oil Painting

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5" x 7", Oil on panel

Three Limes Daily Oil Painting

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4" x 4", Oil on panel

Red Onion Daily Oil Painting

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4" x 4", Oil on canvas panel.

Pear Daily Oil Painting

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4" x 4", Oil on canvas panel.

A good thing about these daily paintings is the ability to experiment with techniques and processes that you haven't really tried before. For this painting, I started out with a base layer (imprimatura) of burnt sienna. I usually start out on a toned ground, but it's almost always a warm grey, burnt umber, or some sort of grey-green. So, this was uncharted waters... sort of. I liked how the actual painting turned out, but getting the digital file to match the original was a real pain. I ended up using a layer mask technique (more uncharted waters) in Photoshop to blend two different exposures together to match the original. Happily, after much tweaking, I finally got an accurate match.

An Apple a Day Daily Oil Painting

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5"x5" Oil on double gessoed 100% rag board.

Grapes Daily Oil Painting

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4" X 6" Oil on panel

Last week I painted a single grape as a test of sorts, knowing that I was going to paint this cluster of grapes soon. The interesting thing about grapes is their translucency, and this seems to lend itself really well to oils. I'm really enjoying getting back into oil painting...