Three Heirloom Tomatoes Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
This is the second time I’ve painted a group of “three tomatoes. I waited until I was finished with the painting above before I looked back on the painting (below) created 5 years ago or so in order that it not influence me. I remembered my first tomato painting, below, was very blended and pretty realistic. I worked hard to make sure this latest painting (above) was more textured and loose. It was taken outdoors with a blue sky shining on them giving the cool highlights and creating significant contrast. Evergreens, form the background.
Neither painting was easy. I remember how difficult it was to blend the slight shifts in gradients in the first painting, below. This latest painting, the one above, should have been easier and it probably would have been had I not worked so hard to be true to the many shapes, ridges and color variations of the heirloom tomatoes. It has much deeper in color, more burgundy with green variations.
Red Tomatoes Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
I like both paintings for different reasons. I definitely like the background and tabletop of the painting above. Choosing a favorite is always complicated. Have a great week. Winifred
Oranges and Grapes Still Life on Pedestal 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred
I created this painting throughout the days of the Democratic National Convention. On each of those days, I went to my studio well before the convention started and ended my painting day well after the convention ended each day. I painted a fifth day as well. I like Kamala Harris. I think shell provide honest, legal and compassionate governance and I will certainly vote for her. This painting, as with all others, have many hours involved in the creation. I’m not a fast painter and for me each and every element requires consideration . If I were to do it again – which I won’t, I would do some things differently. I had gotten pretty far with the painting – nearly finished actually, when I stepped back and saw a big compositional error. The issue was too big to ignore, too big “not to see”. When that happens it’s a big job to make the correction, but I did so. I enjoy these shapes and colors. I always enjoy painting grapes. I used real fruit when photographing this still life set up. I couldn’t get the digital image to look like the painting today and I tried for way too long. The grapes in particular are problematic because of all the choppy little colors on the black grapes in particular. On the painting they are smoother, lower contrast and it looks nice. I tried many things to remedy and eventually gave up. I’m sure there’s a way but I’m tired.
It’s cool and rainy today and the same is predicted for the coming week. To reminisces: August, is a time in the Western part of Washington state, when there are many weddings scheduled – or at least that use to be the case – you could count on August to be sunny, warm and rain-less. It was September or October before the rain might come – but the weather has changed so much. Many weddings use to take place in my gardens – gardens which I created. Before painting with oil, I painted with flowers, shrubs and trees. I’m glad I don’t have to be concerned about that anymore. I was always the self selected photographer for weddings in my gardens as well. After 2 years of my wedding venue and wedding photography activities, I quit the entire operation. The gardens and my photography remained in demand but can you imagine all of this activity at your home each weekend of the summer? But, it’s pretty fun to look back on the photos. The great thing about hosting this activity is some of the long time friends which remain. I sold this property in 2010.
September Wedding at Llama Rose Farm and Gardens 2007
One of many Garden Rooms
Guest Seating for one of the areas.
Above photos, are three of the many places a bride could choose as her background.
Well, that’s it for my trip down memory lane which started with me thinking about cool weather and rain in August. Have a great weekend. GO KAMALA!! Winifred
Big Clay Vase Against Silk Oil Painting 11×14 by Winifred Whitfield
I keep a folder on my computer titled “still lifes to paint”. This image has been in that folder since 2018. I set ip the still life and photographed it. I really like the image. I love the rough looking vase ( I guess it’s a vase) against the multi colored silk scarf over the shinny gold cloth. In no way did I feel I could paint it however. Besides, I found the digital file so pretty, I thought there was nothing I could bring to it anyway. And so, for all these years it sat. Every time I’ve come across it, however, I react to it in an admiring fashion. This week I decided I would try it. Afterall, I’ve been practicing for 7 years now. Unlike with painting roses, I actually enjoyed the process – I wasn’t miserable the whole time. Do you wonder what those orange objects are? I’m really not sure. I tried to make them resemble fruit or vegetables moreso than they did when I took them out of the bag of plastic objects I acquired from Goodwill long ago. Some objects in that bag actually looked like apples or oranges, others were not identifiable. They were shapes, with color and that’s all I really cared about.
You won’t believe what I’ve chosen to paint the coming week. I ‘m going back to misery painting roses. I keep thinking it’s got to get easier at some point. I took photos today and I’ve made my selection, guaranteeing you’ll see another “rose painting” in a week or two. The photo is pretty cute. Bye for now. Thank you for looking. Winifred
Roses from My Garden, Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
Most often, but not always, I paint artificial flowers. This time, however, I went to my tiny garden and cut from my shrub rose bush I’ve had for 4 years. I don ‘t typically cut nor paint fresh flowers. I prefer to leave growing flowers in place. Most likely, they wouldn’t last long enough anyway. Even when I had a huge garden, it was the same. This rose is not such a great one. II’ve had great roses of many varieties but they can grow to be really huge and I have no room for that. My shrub roses are OK, if not great for painting. They don’t have long stems, only weak thorny stems. I cut a few, then wondered how to contain them. I wanted to use my brass cup which has the large opening of a cup. That wouldn’t work – until a smaller container I could insert could be found. It worked. I took photos and used the photos and fresh roses to work from. The already prepped and textured panel was perfect for this effort. This panel was 3 years old just waiting to be chosen. I was ready to go. Above is the painting. II like it. I has a vintage look, helped along by the texture of the panel. I particularly love the green of the foliage – shiny and bright. It makes me think it is a live plant.
Orchids in Red Vase 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
I’ve long wanted to paint an image in this style – an image soft and atmospheric. But, I always chased the detail. In this instance I had blocked in the background enough to know what the color and depth would be. I had painted the vase enjoying the rich color, form and highlight. An initial simple shape of the fruit had been painted. I could turn my attention to the orchids, which had been loosely “rubbed” out of the initial paint layers. Already I liked this painting – it was loose and without too much detail. I only had to finalize all and paint the flowers – or so I thought. The conversation went something like this with my inner voice speaking – really it did.
“YOU’RE DONE WITH THE FLOWERS” What? I said – I really haven’t started on them. “NO. YOU’RE DONE WITH THE FLOWERS – FINISHED”. I wanted to resist – I hadn’t painted the flowers – maybe just a little more paint to shape the petals and to turn their edges, I thought. Resisting, I picked up the brush and put a bit of shadow color on a few petals, and added a bit of highlight color – I didn’t like it. I wiped off the paint. “I TOLD YOU YOU WERE DONE”, said my inner voice, AND IT DIDN’T LOOK BETTER WHEN ADDED PAINT”….. And so I was done.
I’ve never created such soft irregularly shaped, low contrast flower petals in a painting EVER! Look back at last weeks post – hugely different. As a result, I want to create more softness and atmosphere! In general people love contrast. Ask them which image they like and they will they choose the one with the greatest contrast – contrast to them meaning it’s a better image. There’s a place for contrast for sure, but at this time I’m interested in exploring atmosphere and lower contrast, a quality which has alluded my paintings. I wasn’t confident enough to employ this technique, and didn’t really know how to achieve it, and it occurred in this painting, only because I heard a voice greater and louder than mine. I’m pretty excited.
The 5 days of extreme heat – meaning the temperature reached 88 degrees – is over – at least for a while. Finally, I purchased a big air conditioner, and did so before I even knew there would be a heatwave. It was inevitable that the need would occur at some point. Our nights, however, remained cool this time. All is well in Poulsbo. I hope you’re enjoying your summer. I hope you enjoyed my atmospheric painting. Winifred
Study – Sargent “Portrait of a Capri Girl” 1878 – 9×12 Oil Painting
It’s difficult to even find this image on the internet because it’s such an early work painted by Sargent and no doubt it’s not one of his most popular paintings. However, I found it at some point in the past and saved it to a collection of his portraits I keep on my computer as possible references. She was one of his very first models. I have created another study of the other from his set of two paintings of the Capri Girl. It is nearly 16×20 and I enjoy it on my wall. At a point I just quit working on this one and decided that “near enough” was good enough”. After all, it was intended as a study, not a copy, and I felt I’d derived sufficient benefit from the process. I wasn’t sure what that was in this instance, but it’s always useful to attempt Sargent’s brushstrokes. I think, I’ll next attempt a still life. I have some new references. Have a wonderful weekend. Winifred
Lady With Red Scarf Oil Painting 11×14 by Winifred Whitfield
Happy New Year everyone! It certainly *promises not to be boring. This is my first painting of the New Year. The same model as with the last two paintings. I enjoy this portrait. I rarely use such vivid color in my portrait paintings and love the loose energetic strokes in the scarf.
I keep thinking I’d like to paint a floral still life. We’ll see. I’ve also been taking some prior portraits to the studio to make changes. Some things one sees more correctly over time. Sometimes I’m just veering toward adding more detail because that’s who I am. I feel that I’m “correcting” it, whereas in fact I’m just adding more detail and should leave it alone. This is an ongoing struggle for me.
Wishing you health and happiness amidst the chaos. Winifred
Lady Wearing Amber Necklace 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred
Initially I created a painting without significant deviation from the reference photo. She was a lovely model. She wore an olive green velvet spaghetti strap dress. Her hair was cropped chin length. It was a flattering cut for her. The background was plain. Upon finishing this version of the painting, I looked at it and found it to be such an unimaginative painting. I had added nothing. I wasn’t sure what to do but this first version was unacceptable. Before starting a new version of the painting, I went into Photoshop and began to play with possible changes in colors, attire, background and even her hair style. I developed a new vision. I then went back to my easel. I don’t know just how to describe this style of painting, but for me it expresses more of what I want to see in my portraits. Modern portraits and photographic looking portraits really don’t appeal to me even when they’re colorful and full of energy and well done. I’m attracted to the Old Masters, their color palette and their techniques. This painting was pretty complex because ultimately, it’s pretty difficult to create a painting when I’ve decided NOT to follow the reference photo. I do enjoy this painting now.
I am so excited that I’ve figured out how to take a decent photo of my paintings with the iPhone. I have 13 Pro Max and it has Adobe Camera Raw. I can make my own adjustments and I have altered iPhones automatic settings to eliminate the sharpening and contrast the iPhone was imposing on my paintings. I should have figured this out long ago. What a difference it makes and you won’t have to hear me complain any longer.
The last thing I’ll say is that these wars cause me great pain. Truly. Hope you’re enjoying your holidays. Winifred
Lady in Window Light – Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield
I was introduced to this lady by the Master Gardener’s of Kitsap County Calendar Committee in 2006 when I photographed a calendar for the Master Gardeners as a fund raising activity. It was one of those “pretend to be nude” calendars – so long ago. One of the great things that occurred during the process is that the County, or perhaps the State governing body was less than pleased with this calendar concept and require a “BANNED” sticker to be placed on it. Boy, did that increase sales! We had so much fun and raised so much money. As we ended the project, I ask the calendar committee if they knew anyone who would like to have a beautiful portrait created. They all suggested this woman. They spoke of her beauty and elegance. It was true. The photo was 3/4 body length and had a wonderful background by virtue of using what was known as a Virtual Background Machine. I created a large photographic wall portrait for her. She was very pleased. I used only her head as my reference for my painting. I’ll see if I can’t find her to let her see it.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I have lots of smoked turkey left. I wish you health and happiness. Winifred
John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist and was considered the greatest portrait artist of his time (1856 – 1925). If you are not familiar with his paintings, I hope you will look him up and view his masterful works. He was painter of the rich and famous. I wanted to imagine his brushstrokes. This is my study of his study of Rosina Ferra whom he painted very early in his career at 22 years old. She was a frequent model for his sketched and finished paintings.
It is hard to know when working from internet images what the actual colors are in the actual painting and there were so many internet versions to choose from. Accurate and original color didn’t matter to me, as much as did form, values and accuracy of in the face. There was a substantial amount of violet in my painting and in my reference. None of this shows up in this internet conversion. I have little doubt that my version of her sweater falls short of his in many ways. The sweater was far more challenging than the face but I wanted to make an effort. I wanted some semblance of the abstraction of Sargent’s brush marks – marks which will remain uniquely his.The texture of his canvas would have also contributed significantly to the creation of the sweater and all aspects of the painting. Painting her face, was enjoyable and I think the color is in the ball park.
