Taking photos again...

Haven't had time to paint lately. The quality of the pictures I have taken of my paintings, especially my large ones are not good enough. My old camera took "OK" pictures of my 8" x 8" and 12" x 12" paintings, but when it came to the large ones it really sucked.
I have now bought a new camera, and I have spent time learning the basics, and have also taken new pictures.
I must say that even though not all pictures are perfect, they still are much better and do the paintings more justice. The focus is over the whole painting not only in the middle, and they show more details and more accurate colors. I also got rid of those damn reflections.

I am replacing all picture of my large paintings.

Tulips 1

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I have mainly worked in larger format lately. Posting three of them. The latest 2 paintings I worked on will probably not see the light, I like them stepping back, but I don't like them up-close. That means that I haven't had anything to show for a while.

I have also signed an license agreement with an American company and will work with them, more about that later, it is early days yet.

I did this yesterday and is my first tulips ever. I wanted this one to be a test,  I kept it loose and fresh. My next painting will probably be a larger tulip painting, unless I change my mind.

A lonely tree

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Finally got a descent picture of this painting. It has rained, snowed and the light has more or less been bad. The weather also makes painting harder, since I want to see the painting in daylight too, working with lamps tends to give the impression that contrasts are bigger than they really are. Did start another big painting this weekend, but the lack of light and thought about the direction made me take a break from it. Have to wait and see if I continue with it or not.

Rough Cherries 3

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I have worked on 3 large paintings this week, so I am running out of new paintings to post. I have this "rough cherries" painting that I did a while back, when I went really rough. This not the roughest one, but still loose.

The end of summer 1

Have to have a post with a finished painting too. I have posted the 2nd one earlier this week and now it is time for the one I started with, but finished last. I wasn't sure about the direction at some point, that's why I started a 2nd one. I later returned to this one and reworked it a lot. I could take some chances since I felt I had one painting that I was satisfied with already. I like both, and have no favorite at this point.

Lonely tree - the first stages

This is a first for me, and who know perhaps the only one, but inspired of Karen Boe's posts. This is the first stages of the painting that I am working on. It is an exploration in landscape and nature. The canvas is as big as my last forest painting, but this time it is only one tree. The pictures are not great, but who cares, it is a work in progress.

Orange Lilies 2

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I am not suppose to post this one for several hours, but since it is my contribution to this weeks DPW Challenge I thought I post it anyway. The challenge was make a painting around Pantone's color of 2012, a color called "Tangerine Tango". It's been a while since I did any flowers, so I thought this one was a perfect opportunity to do Lilies. Went looser again, trying to make it lively and a little on the rough side.

Tomatoes and radicchio

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Well, can't post the first "The end of summer" painter the day after I post the 2nd one, so here comes the 2nd painting I did with the colorful vegetable radicchio. I went up a size and changed the composition slightly. I also did some details on this one, compared to the first.

The end of summer 2

 

SOLD

I have painted two larger landscape/forest paintings last week (23.6" x 31.4"). Not sure which one to post first. I started working on one, wasn't sure if I went in the right direction, so I started a 2nd one with the same scene, but with big differences too. I finished the 2nd one first, was satisfied and went back and reworked the first one, making sure that it didn't became a copy of the one I finished.

OK... this is the one I finished first.

Peppers and artichoke

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Tried some new things a week ago. Have never done an artichoke before, so it was a challenge to keep it graphic enough, make it my style and not make it shiny.

Too Many tomatoes, but where else to put them?

I know this is a mad painting. I painted this a while back. Have done smaller and medium paintings that has been close-ups of tomatoes. I wondered how it would look like if I went over the top. Instead of making a chaos, I decided to put some in the background, almost like a wallpaper. I also made areas with same colored tomatoes and put some outside outside the color area, like a yellow tomato on red.

Broken egg

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Finally I got this weeks DPW challenge done. I am not a breakfast kind of guy, and I felt that I got out of my comfort zone. Never done an raw egg before and I haven't found my way to do plates, forks and cups yet.
I decided to go with a broken egg. It is interesting and is a real challenge.

World Of Big Peppers 3

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Here is another of my recent more restrained paintings. I wanted this to have relaxed feeling, but still graphic and crisp.
Right now I have just finished two large painting of  landscapes. They are based on the same composition, but I took them in different directions. I wanted to see what I could do with a more "normal" scene. Where there is more variation and less repetition. Will post them soon.

Tomatoes and radicchio

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When buying fruits and vegetables to use in still life, I found this vegetable that I thought was a lettuce. Not sure if it is or not, but is is very colorful and fun. Did two paintings with it, same actors, slightly different compositions and sizes. This is the first one I did and it is still me trying to keep it simple, clean and not going too loose.

Cherry on top

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This is another of the more restrained paintings I have done lately. I really like shiny fruits.

Peppers and a fennel bulb

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This is one of the new vegetables that I have tried out. I like the shape and the color of it. Had a lot of fun doing this painting, and the composition talked to me right from the start.

Tomato taking cover

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This is the first of a series of paintings where I try to pull things together, be spontaneous, but keep it clean.

World Of Big Peppers 2

Not for Sale

I sold my favorite pepper painting (World of peppers 1). I wasn't sure if I wanted to sell it, but now when it is done, I thought I make another one for myself, the same composition. I didn't want to make an identical copy, so I did it in a larger size and naturally it have more details in it. I love them both, so I am happy with it.

Last harvest of the season revisited

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I have had a period now where I have worked very loose, with rough brush strokes and a lot of spontaneity. I still got a few a few left of those, and I will mix them up with the new things I have been working on. Right now I try to take one step back, keep some of the spontaneity, but keeping it simpler and stricter.

Rough Cherries 2

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I still paint it rough right now, but more restraint than earlier when I did the cherries paintings.

Birch Trees 8

This is a large painting and I did is as a replacement of some of my own old artwork that I have framed and displayed in my apartment. It is a continuation of my first Birch trees painting, wanted it to have the same feel, but with more details. It didn't end like that exactly, at some point the painting did take on it's own personality, and I just went along with it.

World Of Big Peppers 1

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After working on the small side, I decided to upscale things. I don't like to do more complex compositions on small canvases. I rather go up a size so I can let my lines flow. With this one I did go a little over the top with colors. Did tone it down a little in the end, but I still like the glow of it.

Tomatoes From Mars

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This week I thought I do "The DPW Challenge" , thought it seemed like a fun and value lesson. I chose a familiar subject and went for it. Must say that the experience was strange. Not so much with the tomatoes I changed from red to green, or green to red, but the ones that were not ripe yet. I did them in the pink/purple range of colors and I hope they still considers to be tomatoes (even though they look as they come from Mars or something. Some things comes in all colors, the hard ones to change is those things who doesn't. Had a lot of fun.

This is what I worked from. I took some creative freedom when it came to the colors and composition.

One Single Red Tomato

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Well, time to play around. I wanted to try a vague idea I had of pulling back most of the painting and put all focus on one element. I chose an object I am familiar with, and after some trial and errors it ended up like this. I like it, and will explore it more later.