The Milk Cow

Another entry for the DPW Challenge; I might update the pic with a better version as soon as the painting will be dry, but for now I'm just happy to own a second cow :)

The Milk Cow oil on canvas 8x8 inch

DPW Challenge - The Cow

Such a luck with these challenges...I wonder where I would be and how much I would paint without them...
So. This week challenge is "the curious cow". Here is mine, and may I say is my first cow painting ever:

"The Cow" oil on canvas 8x8 inch

Have a great day everyone!

DPW Challenge - Looking Up

"Looking Up" pastel on canvas 12x8 inch

DPW Challenge - Side By Side

For the DPW Weekly Challenge - The Elephant Challenge.
A pastel made on prepared wood board; the colors may vary slightly due to the different monitor temperature. Actually it looks more vibrant in reality.
I like painting animals and I find it easier than many other subjects.
In this piece I wonder If I could have worked more on details.The fact is that I love the simplicity of it and didn't want to lose that with too much information.

"Side By Side" 18x14 inch pastel on prepared wooden board

 More animal pastels:

"Going Home" 18x14 inch - Sold

"Old Friends" 13x14 inch - pastel on brown paper

Please be free to leave a comment bellow; I would love to hear your opinion.

DPW Challenge - And Some Boats

This week DPW Challenge is about boats.
So I pulled myself out of my creative procrastination and made a pastel, this time a bit bigger than the usual daily paintworks.

"Nightfall" pastel on paper 15x12 inch

I love the final result, and the bigger size of the paper allowed me to get more feeling into the sky.
This is not my first boat painting but I wanted to follow the spirit of the challenge and make a painting especially for it.
Here are some more boats I painted ( including the last one) and you can find them for purchase on my DPW Gallery:

Blending or Not Blending?

I got stumped over this painterly approach to oil painting. About showing the brushwork and never ever blending. So I started a second entry for the DPW Challenge in oil this time, and a sky painted without blending is really a challenge to me.

The problem is that hunting for that artistic brushwork I somehow miss the important elements of the painting itself; I mix the values or I overstep the original shapes I draw. At some point I cannot see lights and shadows and shapes anymore, only a bunch of brush marks.
Of course I end up frustrated beyond words after I agonized half day over a simple sky with nothing to show for. For the sea I haven't had any patience left so I just put some colors in there and finished with it.

And since the painting is meant to be wiped anyway I started blending here and there, then some more until I was sort of satisfied with it.
Here are the both versions of it so you can see the difference (only the sky is modified):

The blended one                  The raw version

Since my problem is that I don't like the un-blended  version, maybe I should understand that painterly approach is not my cup of tea? Or maybe I should keep trying?
Or... maybe I should stick with pastels?

A lot to think about. I would love to hear about your struggles with "painterly' method, if you have any. Or any opinion in general, and of course which version of this painting do you prefer.
Have a great day and a lot of inspiration!

Edit: in the end I decided to post it on my gallery after all; I'm curious to see the reactions.
You can find it here if you are interested.

DPW The Colorful Light Challenge - My Entry

My entry for this week DPW Challenge is a pastel because I just love painting the sky with pastels. Somehow in reality the colors are more vibrant and alive than in picture; but such is the nature of reality :)

"Last Lights" pastel on sanded paper 10x13 inch

DPW Challenge - Second Entry

For the same DPW Wheels Challenge I felt inspired to make another painting. The pastels were still all over my workplace anyway so this is the result:

"Joyride" pastel 12x9 inch

Now is time to return the pastels to their box and try some oil for a change.
See you next post with a new painting!

The DPW Challenge - A Travel Back in Time

I must admit I grew up in a rural place, somewhere in a forgotten Eastern Europe country side. I still remember how as kids we were running after occasionally horse carts, climb on from behind and get a lift for as long as the driver wasn't aware of us. I remember the dust, the smell of horse and fresh cut grass; those were wonderful times. I am only sorry that my kids never had the chance to spend at least one summer like that.

So when the DPW Challenge announced The Wheels Challenge for this week I knew I will not paint a car. Or a motorcycle. Or some other fast, noisy and shinny vehicle. My heart went back to the childhood times and for a little while I smelled again the field in the summer sun.

"Peaceful Roads" pastel 10x12 inch

The reference photo of course is a modern one but I hope I caught a bit of the peaceful atmosphere of a time that is forever lost to us.
I also did some pics as a work in progress of this piece and I will post them soon.
I would love to hear what you think of this painting so don't hesitate to leave a comment.
Have a great day you all!