Painting All Summer!

It's been a summer of slow but steady growth in painting. I'll post a small selection of my favorites from this summer. I'm still trying different surfaces, brushes, sizes and colors. It seems too soon to settle on a formula for my work yet although someday that might be nice. I've been mixing it up, drawing in graphite and charcoal and watercoloring too, to see if it shakes something loose in my brain. I know you artists will know what I mean!

Gothic Girl #1 SOLD

On the Veranda SOLD

Laura as a Fairy SOLD

Arnica #2 SOLD

Girl in a Turban available on Ebay (search my name)

The Direct Gaze SOLD

I've put a few auctions up on dailypaintworks.com---

New Paintings on EBay

I've just posted 20 new paintings for sale in my EBay store. You can go here: http://stores.ebay.com/Melissa-Grimes-Art-Studio
or
just enter my name into the EBay search bar.

Sixth Street Girls

This is from 6-7 years ago and is one of the very first "loose" figures I ever painted.
I had been looking at Milt Kobayashi for technique and watching my friend Gordon Fowler do his painterly style. I finally loosened up. I think confidence is the main attribute required, and a true spontaneous response to the subject.

Another Cabaret Girl

Here is another student model, Laura, dressed as the Cabaret Girl.
It's done from a photo I took. I tried to paint alla prima (all at once) and to blend all the edges and let the brushstrokes show. A strong spotlight really helps in adding drama and also divides to shapes, values and colors conveniently into warm/cool, light/dark,
bright/neutral.

Portrait of Michelle K

This 8x10" oil sold on Ebay yesterday. I used a 1/4" sable filbert brush on gessoed wood. I think this one is very calligraphic: the strokes are like lines. I am still more comfortable with line than with tone. Maybe everyone is? Anyway, it looks a lot like Michelle, and I like it. The brushstrokes show the painting process very well!

Cabaret Girl / Oil Portrait

This small (5x7") oil sold on Ebay today. I love my PayPal credit card! It's such a direct connection between my paintbrush and my grocery bill! The internet will be the gallery of the future I believe; galleries take too high a percentage and can't drive much traffic.

Value Study in Oils

It's a challenge to get ALL the values in the scene before you. Try to identify the lightest and darkest areas and then key all other values to them. Thinking in terms of posterized shapes of light vs. shadow helps to simplify the scene into something paintable. Also using a small canvas and a big brush forces you to see and paint in simpler terms.

Figure Painting from Photos

I was standing on a ladder to get this photo of Bryn Leggett in a red wig. This oil is 8x10", done on a panel I had gessoed with a heavy texture. When faces are in shadow it's important to mix correct values for the whites of the eyes. These may still be a bit too light.

Girl in a Big Hat

This is another small oil painted from a photo of a wonderful model, Bethany. For several years I have been working on paint consistency, learning to handle thicker paint. It still doesn't come naturally! I like the blue-green tones in the shadows here.

Crouching Girl

Still wet! This is 5x7". I'd love to handle paint like Milt Kobayashi. With only oil as a medium the paint goes on thickly and it's easier to blend edges. The trick is not to muddy the color.

Oil Portraits /Theatrical Lighting

It's fun to occasionally light the model from below as Arye Shapiro did for this pose, done at AVAA Austin.

More Acrylic Painting

I love the non-toxic nature of acrylics but the common wisdom is they're not as beautiful/deep/glowing/brilliant as oils. This one's from a photo I took on Galveston beach.

Ruby Lamb Acrylic Painting

Burlesque Girls
are great to paint!
This is acrylic on black-gessoed canvas.
"Ruby Lamb" was posing at the very first
Dr. Sketchy/Austin at Beerland on Red River.

Size is 30x40". Done a couple of years ago...

Portrait Painting

Here's a 15-minute head study of a male model with the craziest peroxide blond hair. It looked pink to me in the light so now it's part of my new "pink hair" series.

Done at Leslie Pierce's "Full Monty" session. Most of my 15-minute paintings end up getting wiped out or painted over.

Figure Painting

Finally I'm starting an art blog!

Here's a 30-minute oil sketch of Jeni Pisa
in her Rave outfit posing at AVAA in Austin.
It's inspired me to paint more pink wigs so stay tuned!
Tips from Jeni:
Spring Love is an awesome rave here this April, and check out the inspired costumes of Neon Emu on Facebook.