(Mostly) Finished Paintings...

First off, a declaration: it's 11:44 p.m. and it's still hot. It's still humid. Who needs hell when you have summer in the South?

Now on to the paintings.

Here's Red, 7"x9" oil on birch:

I like the way this one turned out but...that hand! It gave me fits! I ended setting up a small mirror and holding a sketchpad to get the right position. Now that I look at it, I may have to tinker with the color a bit...or maybe I'll just leave it alone so I don't mess it up.

Music Box, 5"x8", oil on birch:

I really like the shape the dancer's body makes, although I will tinker with her face and arm a bit more. I just don't like that "daub" of a mouth and she's kind of muddy looking to me. Perhaps it needs a few more highlights too.

The Bee, 3.5"x4" (more or less), oil on birch:

This is one of those "end of the day" paintings I did just for myself. I found a dead carpenter bee on the walkway in front of the house and I had to immortalize it. I love my bee.

Now that I look at them together, I think it's pretty obvious when I paint from life and when I paint something purely from my head. The life (well, death) one is more painterly.