Roses are Red

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Roses and Daisies 9×12 Impasto Oil Painting on Panel by Winifred

I wanted you to see I can paint other than sunflowers. I picked these flowers from my garden. The rose is a carpet rose, in case you know them. They’re not fussy! They will grow in almost any soil and with minimum care. They only want sun. Given that, they flourish. There are several hundred blooms during late June and July and a new flourish of these flowers in late August and September. Combining a few stems of the roses with fresh daisies made a lovely casual bouquet. I very often paint from photographs. This time I had both the fresh bouquet and a photograph to draw upon.

A Single Red Rose 8×10 oil painting on linen covered panel by Winifred

It’s been an enjoyable couple of weeks painting roses, which started with this one. The texture of the linen and the impressionist brushstrokes combine beautifully, I think, with the smoother impasto of the single red rose. I will switch to pink roses next time. The new painting has been designed – and awaits my attention. It will be a larger painting – probably 16×20. Today, I cleaned and reorganized my studio and I’m ready to go. I hope you enjoy the roses. Winifred

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Sunflowers, Sunshine and Blood Oranges

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Sunflowers and Blood Oranges 20 x 24 Oil Painting by Winifred

In my last post I shared the initial paint sketch, for the above painting I had in mind. It was part of a process which really makes a positive difference, though I rarely follow it. A large sketch – about 11×14 was created, followed by the small painting to test color and design (see previous post). The test painting was a long and skinny. I then did a vine charcoal sketch on my 20x 30 inch panel. This required altering the aspect ratio from the small test painting, but knew I could manage this. The idea was not to make the final painting identical to the small painting. I painted the full 20 x 30 painting, which I like, but have decided to crop it to 20×24. Both versions work but the cropped is just a little more impactful. This is my largest painting to date. I will be creating more. Hope you enjoy. Thank you, Winifred

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Back to Painting Sunflowers

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Sunflowers with Oranges 5×12 Oil Painting – by Winifred

My Venice paintings were rather complex – not to say, sunflowers are not challenging, but painting them brings a smile. The above oil painting was particularly enjoyable and was created from imagination. I created quite a lot of paintings from imagination when I painted digitally. I felt I had less to risk if I screwed up. I could throw away a layer – only part of the image, and make corrections. I feel great joy when I look at the above painting, which hopefully means I’ll create more.

Sunflowers in Red Vase -8×10 Oil Painting – by Winifred
Golden Sunflowers – 9×12 oil painting by Winifred
9×12 Impasto Oil Painting of Sunflowers – by Winifred

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Venice in the Rain

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It was two years ago when I visited Venice with a friend from New York. I have now completed a 6 painting series of “Venice at Night”, primarily in the rain. I most enjoy creating figurative paintings which you can feel and which tell stories. I think I have a few such paintings here. During the process, I got to experience the magic of Venice again.

Venice in the Rain 16×20 Oil Painting Panel – by Winifred
Two Women Walking in the Rain in Venice – 12×16 Oil Painting on Panel by Winifred Whitfield
Lady with Umbrella and Others 16×20 on Linen Panel by Winifred
Window Shopping at Night in Venice – 16×20 Oil Painting on Panel by Winifred Whitfield
Lady in Rain in Venice at night. 12×16 Oil Painting on Panel by Winifred Whitfield

To complete the series, I include below the first painting I started with – previously posted. The location is Murano, Italy and during the day.

Weather in Murano 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred

I hope you enjoy these images. Soon I will commence images of the canals and Gondolas.

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WW Haitian Girl Winifred Whitfield Still life WW Red Tree WW Fall Maple WW mom-child WW Portrait S ww-portrait-A

Bunch of Paintings

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It’s been a while – once again, so I’m going to catch you up. There are several more but you’ll see them later.

Weather in Murano 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred
Turquoise Pitcher and Citrus – 9×12 Oil Painting by Winifred
Hydrangeas and Daisies 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
Vintage Pitcher 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
Bowl with Two Apples 9×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

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Paintings Coming 2019

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I’ll make new strides in 2019. No playing it safe – such as with my tomatoes. Painting this was not easy for sure. Each color and tonal variation had to be mixed separately. Oil paints don’t easily blend together and you can see the color variations are many. However, though tedious, I purchased 3 tomatoes and had them to look at. Basically, I painted what I saw – realism.

Winifred Whitfield Paints Ripe Juicy Tomatoes -8×8 Oil Painting

Just imagine, however, you set up a still life, below, but you chose to completely alter the color, textures and even some content – more abstract, more impressionistic. This makes the painting even more complex though giving one the opportunity to stretch the imagination, completely personalizing the style mood, color texture all. I’m will do more if this, attempt to stretch my capability with each and every painting. I hope you will enjoy.

12×16 still life oil painting with oranges by Winifred

There will be times when I work very seriously, but I also believe in play. Below, you can see play!! Grapes, pear and a shadow. This was fun. Thank you for sharing my painting journey and hope you will continue into the future. Wishing you and your family the best in 2019. Winifred

Grapes, Pear and Shadow oil painting by Winifred

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Lots of Foliage

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The common denominator in my paintings this week is primarily foliage. For sure it is not painting style!! That’s fun for me, painting one way and then another as well as experimenting. I will feature 4 paintings in this post – though I may delete one or more as time goes on.

The Old Burl Clock by Winifred – 12×12 Oil Painting

Ever since I can remember this clock has been in my Godmother’s home. Finally she gave it to me. I consider it a treasure. It doesn’t work. There is no glass front and the numbers are worn off. It does have hands. I decided to paint it. I put it off for a long time because of the ornamentation but alas, it was “time”. I wanted to increase it’s creativity and the very moment I had that thought – limes and ivy popped into mind – so here it is!

Foliage and Brass Oil Painting by Winifred

The Geranium: This summer I purchased a 4 inch deep purple and fuchsia Geranium, which I really enjoyed. I wanted to have it again next year and looked up how I might over winter it. It’s easy – just bring in inside, cut it back a bit and place it in a sunny window. It’s thriving. It has no flowers at this time but it’s very green and happy. I brought it into my studio and along with a few other items, this is the resulting painting. It wasn’t important to me for it to become identifiable as a Geranium – only foliage and color.

Foliage and Vines Oil Painting by Winifred

The painting above is an experiment. It’s important for me to not be “safe” in painting all the time. So the bazaar and even the failures come with the process. Sometimes I view them as interesting – other times – just plain weird!!

Tiny White Flowers by Winifred

Tiny White Flowers: I really don’t cherish looking at one of my paintings and thinking of it as “sweet” or “cute” and that’s what we have here. I’m not sure how that happened. I didn’t think of it as such before I added the white flowers but it needed something. I enjoyed the Van Gogh like brush strokes throughout as well as the color and impasto effect and design. There is nothing wrong with it technically, in fact there’s a lot great about it. I’m the only real problem and I am sure there is someone for whom this painting will be just right. ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAYS! I will have much more to show you in the NEW YEAR!!!

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Trying Something New

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Sunflowers Against Red Oil Painting by Winifred 11×14 on Panel

The first paintings and the one below represent a very recent new technique I am trying.  I spread onto my panel a relatively thick layer of  material to serve as an underpainting and then carved my image into it with the and of a brush or palette knife. At that point you can create additionally as much or as little texture through out.  I allowed it to dry for 2 months. I then painted in the dark outline surrounding each element before beginning to paint with loose imprecise  brush strokes and palette knife. 

Sunflower with Fuchsia 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred

 I have created paintings ranging from those as precise as photographs to loose bold  painting strokes and texture like these.  This is one of my favorite styles.  I am very excited about this process and I love the results.  One of the wonderful things about oil painting is that you can never say you are done with learning and experimenting.  It’s endless, if you’re a curious person who loves to try new things and I am one of those people.  

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Still Lifes Between Old and New

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12 x16 Sunflowers and Fruit Oil Painting by Winifred

There will be more portraits to come for sure, but I also want to share with you some still life paintings I’ve been  creating.  They may look a little different and I have created this look intentionally.  I wanted to create still lifes that make me feel what I feel when I look at some of the “masters”.  There are certain, hues, textures and values which give their work a distinctively “non modern” look. 

12×12 Still Life “Bounty” by Winifred Whitfield
Panel

I am aiming to create a look somewhere between old and new.  To do this has required me to refine my own oils, a long and complex learning curve to this –  rather than using commercially refined oils. Refining my own oil gives me thicker, faster drying, less to non yellowing oil.   I make my linen panels (so time consuming), in order to have a nubbier less commercially smooth linen panel. I create hand made paint, by grinding my hand refined oil into powdered pigments I purchase which created a different paint texture. I have about 30 tubes of this paint now – and a sore wrist.  I make medium to mix with my paint, all non toxic, using chalk, marble dust or calcite, oil  and other ingredients, which adds thickness, translucency and stability to the paint. I get more color saturation and increase my ability to work in layers, wet into wet with out muddying the paint because the paint is thicker and more sequestering. 

8×10 Fruit with Blue Plate by Winifred

All of these processes are very time consuming  to make but there was something within me that wanted a grasp of my products and how I could  manipulate them to alter the look and texture of a painting. Many times during the process, studying and creating these products, I have asked myself why I can’t be content with product I could order from the internet – but I just can not – so I just have to live with myself and the added time and effort!!

I do enjoy, for sure, the results I’m getting.  It is definitely a different look from what I was creating with commercial products and I am just getting started!! Thank you for your time. Winifred

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Commissioned Oil Painted Portraits – 1

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 I have not posted for more than 2 months. My previous weekly postings fell away. I will do better. One reason for my absence is the amount of effort and focus I was directing to the series of  commissioned portraits I’ve been working on, as you will begin to see here.  I hope to do better and to keep you more up to date with my work. This is quite a colorful group of oil paintings.

Girl with Floral Vines – Oil Paint on Linen Panel, 12×16, by Winifred Whitfield

 

 The styles of my paintings are quite varied.  I allow the person, the image to dictate the ultimate outcome. The painting thus evolves intuitively.  I am often surprised by the journey and the outcome. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been given free rein in creating these portraits. No direction was given. This allows me to be at my most creative. The inspiration for the floral vine came from floral elements in the families marble table

 

 

 

Girl with Colorful Sky, 12×16 oil painting by Winifred Whitfield

 

I enjoy this rich and colorful sky.  It was breezy when I photographed this young lady. At times her hair was whipping all about her face.  I ask that she just relax and let it happen.  There is always the perfect moment and perfect movement, hence the floating wisp of her hair helping to bring this painting to life. There was not a hint of a sunset –  in fact, yet it appeared in the painting.

 

 

 

12×16 Oil Painting on Panel, ” Little Boy with Hand in His Hair” by Winifred Whitfield

 

 

This is the most colorful oil portrait I’ve ever painted. The family loves intense vivid color.  I thought it would please them and it did.  Freehand painting a patterned background was a bit scary but I love patterns and felt confident I could do it. I am pleased. It’s pretty amazing that with all the color and pattern in the background, your eyes still go right to his eyes.

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