Day 3 - 30 Paintings in 30 days Jan 2014 - Pomegranate on Silver

The goal of these paintings is to do something different that I haven't painted before. So I chose a pomegranate, which I haven't painted earlier. Used a silver dish under it - this was a complete adventure - how do you paint silver using oils? The cloth under it was dark color. So most of the Silver became dark, specially underside of the dish. Does it look like a silver dish to you? I will do something with the same dish in one of these paintings.
Only thing I am in catch-up mode right from day one. Just sketched day 4 painting in the evening. Hoping that I will catch up by tomorrow! Also it is taking me little longer to paint 8x10 size, so maybe I will try smaller size as I had done in the September 2013 challenge.

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Pomegranate on Silver - 8 x 10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Day 2 - 30 Paintings in 30 days Jan 2014 - Together

It is just Day 2 and I am wondering what to paint. Once again started painting fruits - that's the most easily available subject to paint, and I haven't done Pears before. So here is a pair of Pears... Together.
This is painted from live set up right next to my easel.

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Together - 8 x 10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Day 1 - 30 Paintings in 30 days Jan 2014 - Egg on Red

Its been long that I did an oil painting, so here is an end of the year painting. I did this as a warm up exercise for the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge starting tomorrow. It was a very simple setup - a boiled egg on Red cloth - with that good bye December and goodbye 2013!! And now I can go to the New Year's party - YES!!
WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!

Egg on Red - 8 x 10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Lily Pads - Value Study

Another interesting / fun homework... This is one of my favorite subjects too - Lily Pads.
One more study of a figure and then I will be done with my homework part. All images were provided by the teacher - Sarah Parks - her own paintings. Even though it was online class, I enjoyed the instructions a lot and every week there was critique provided by the teacher.

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Bouquet - Value Study

I did this study as part of Homework. The reference image was provided by the teacher - Sarah Parks. It looked very simple to do when I started. But turned out to be challenging, but fun to do. I am happy with the results..  

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Iris - Value Study

This study of Iris flower is done using pencils - 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B.

It looked very easy to do with just pencils, but it was quite a challenge to have correct values in grayscale. I think color study is much easier for me :) 

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Iris - Value Study

Dog Portrait Study

I am going back to basics, trying to learn drawing and sketching!! I am doing online class to refine my sketching skills. It is offered by Artist Network University and taught by Sarah Parks. I am second week into it and one of the challenge homework assignment was to sketch a dog portrait. So here is my study:

 

 

Here is original photo with final sketch:

Do you think I accomplished a likeness with the original photo?
I did it freehand since that's what I want to practice most. Using a grid it becomes much easier to draw and get exact likeness, but doing freehand is challenging for me.
I would appreciate if you have any feedback for me!!