"His Home," Daily Painting # 48

"His Home," Available (Click Here)

5" by 7"

Oils on Panel

A Galapagos Tortoise

I decided I had to catch the quiet giants (they are the oldest creatures at the zoo) before my Mom and I left the San Diego Zoo on our latest visit. It was twilight and a bit cool. It seemed all the tortoise's had just bedded down for the night, and in such an odd way. At the back of their exhibit is a cave like area with heat lamps and hay that looked perfectly cozy for tortoises to rest in, but none of them were in there despite the cooler night. They were all pulled into their shells, a few of them had wedged between a plant and the edge of their exhibit huddled together, another was just pressed against another wall, a couple were pushed up against each other, but this guy was in the middle of the exhibit just tucked in his shell all alone. He seemed the least tucked in.

We were chatting about their surprising arrangement and to our embarrassment we woke this guy up. He looked confidently at us, like he knew we were there on his time and in his space. We hushed ourselves, duly reprimanded. My camera was out to take pics of them sleeping so I snapped a couple of quick pics and we left this guy and his friends to sleep.

Next

I think I'll do a portrait of one of the apes I photographed on a recent field trip with my husband's Anthropology class. The apes were absorbing, we got lucky. :)

"Whole Piece 11," Daily Painting # 46

"Whole Piece 11," Available (click here)
4" by 4"
Oils on Panel

If your interested in knowing more about this series visit here. Find out how you can get your facial feature painted here.

"Whole Piece 6," Daily Painting # 41

"Whole Piece 6," Available (click here)

4" by 4"

Oils on Panel

30 Paintings in 30 Days! Yeeps.

I'm in the final stretch of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge I joined. I had a total of three days off over the last month which means I have to finish 5 paintings in the next three days. I've done one and a half paintings these last two days. Something has come up both days that has kept me just short of two paintings a day. This is the last push! I do not intend to be beaten. So there.

The Series

I have finally gotten to a new feature! So far for my Whole Piece series I had only done mouths and eyes, but I fully intend to show off every facial feature including important wrinkles and creases. (The Whole Piece series is explained here. To get involved read more here.) This is yesterday's painting and since then I've completed another nose. These two noses were a great opportunity to show similarity and difference between generations as they are of a mother and daughter with the same facial expression.

Next

Another nose as I mentioned. Then a corner of a mouth (Currently in progress!). Then, some forehead wrinkles. That's the plan. I think I shall close out this 30 days challenge with the Whole Piece series.

"Whole Piece 5," Daily Painting # 40

"Whole Piece 5," Available (click here)

5" by 7"

Oils on Panel

A Shadow Cast

Whole Piece 5 Side View
(Without as much glare! I must take some
 time to redo the photographs
 of so many of my paintings that
are tainted with the glare from
bright lights in night photographs.)

The moody gloriously shifting shadows in the reference for this painting drew me to more subtle brushwork than usual. I am intrigued by how subtle an eye can be. In interactions between people we focus so much on other's eyes. It is natural to spend a lot of time understanding the other person through what their eyes tell us, so we think of them as bright and full of contrast and liveliness. Here the shadows cast across the skin and over the eye are much more dramatic in contrast than the eye itself. Because this eye is in shadow I feel it draws my eye to it more, trying to understand it's subtly, trying to read the expression.

Whole Piece Series

I have gotten a few volunteers for my Whole Piece series! ( You can read about the idea and how you can join in here and here.) I believe my next piece in this series will explore a new feature. I'm interested in a few photos I have of noses and forehead wrinkles.


Adventures that Lead to Paintings

I have a trip to the zoo planned for tomorrow! I'm hoping for some splendid new reference. I must spend some time with the monkeys I think, and perhaps some colorful birds. Hopefully something will surprise and inspire me. I will not be able to paint, so I'll be playing catch up for a few days. Wish me luck. :)

"Sisters," Daily Painting # 37

"Sisters," Available (click here) 

5" by 7" 

Oils on Panel

More on this painting tomorrow! It is time for bed. See you all tomorrow.

"Commingled," Daily Painting # 36

"Commingled," Available (click here)

5" by 7"

Oils on Panel

Subtle Color

Out of the bouquet of flowers that my husband brought me I singled this simple one out for an unusual reason, at least for the way my mind works. (A mind drawn to brilliant colors like a magpie to shiny objects.) I picked this flower for its subtle but present color. Then, of course, I couldn't just have it sit in a lovely vase. I went around the house with the flower in mind. I spotted the abalone shell, a shell thought to be gloriously colorful, and liked the idea of showing how similar they are to one another. I wanted the idea and colors of the two organic things to commingle.

Next

Today's painting is begun, I'll leave the rest for a surprise later today. ;)

"Whole Piece 3," Daily Painting # 34

"Whole Piece 3," Available (click here)
Oils on Panel
4" by 4"

Process

I'm excited to do more of these individual feature portraits. (See this post about the Whole Piece series.) My new panels that came in give me a perfect variety of shapes and sizes to play with different feature compositions. This was the first time I've painted on a tiny 4" by 4" panel which gave this painting an intimate feeling of interaction. The subtly of lighting in this piece was a challenge to capture while still including enough value shifts to maintain an interesting compositional flow.

Whole Piece Series Plans

I want to create a large body of these pieces and I'm interested in getting as much variety of features as possible. It would be exciting to get people from around the world to contribute their photos for this series. (*crossing my fingers*) If you are interested in getting a portrait of just one of your features please send me a very clear photo of your face or that feature and if the photo works for me I'll use it for one of these paintings. There is no obligation to buy the painting.

Please email me about the Whole Piece series photographs by email at ambergoulet@yahoo.com.

"Observer," Daily Painting # 31

"Observer," Available (click here)
Oils on Panel
8" by 8"

Always Shifting

Whenever I see these jewel like birds in the aviary near the entrance of the Wild Animal Park they perch briefly, maybe peck and forage briefly, cock their head about and fly off to investigate the intriguing place they spotted. This bird perched a bit longer than usual studying the canopy overhead before flying off with another of her species following. I wanted to capture that focused thoughtful gaze in this painting, as I don't often see paintings of birds that are more than displays of beauty. I hope I achieved that aim.

Sadly I'm unsure of this bird's species. I'm gonna have to start writing these down as I take reference photos! Next time I'm at the Wild Animal Park I'll check, but in the meantime if you recognize the species I'd love to know.


Next

I believe I will do another landscape. I have some lovely moody photos to take advantage of. If not then another addition to my Whole Piece series. I hope to get two paintings done in one day sometime this week as I missed yesterday for a very happy family event. Wish me luck.

"Lightly Perched," Daily Painting # 30

"Lightly Perched," Available (click here)
Oils on Panel
8" by 8"

Something pretty and peaceful was painted in the end! :) This will be a short post as it is coming in under the wire after a much awaited dinner out with my hubby at a new restaurant with scrumptious food!

"Whole Piece 1," Daily Painting # 28

"Whole Piece," Available (click here)Oils on Panel8" by 8"

Face Blindness

Yesterday I listened to Strangers in the Mirror, Radiolab (a podcast and radio show from NPR) while painting and it led me to ponder painting something inspired by people with face blindness. This morning I woke up at "the crack of dawn" determined to take photo reference of my early rising Dad before he got too busy with his day. Then I went onto to the errands of the day and finally towards the end of the day I was able to paint! I've managed to finish it just under the wire.

The podcast featured Chuck Close and Oliver Sacks, two people that inspire me and two people who have face blindness. My impressions is that for them faces are disparate elements, an expressive eye, a twitching mouth, a scrunched nose all dart through their minds but can't be seen as a whole. I wanted to give a sense of how each feature can seem odd but engaging when we concentrate on it in isolation from the rest of the face. I may do more of these individual feature paintings overtime.

Progress

I should be able to post a more accurate photo tomorrow. I pushed the color in this painting more than came out in this late night photo. But I've made it with no gaps through the first eleven days of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days! I feel accomplished, though a bit tired. :P :) 

"Unworried," Daily Painting # 24

"Unworried," Available (click here)

Oils on Panel

6" by 6"

Young Bighorn

Most times when I visit the bighorn sheep exhibit at the Wild Animal Park up on Condor Ridge I find a group of snoozing bighorns of various ages. They have the usual poses of many hoofed creatures resting, bodies relatively upright and necks curved to rest. I captured this image on a hot day, most of the animals were beating the heat by resting, some of the bighorns were even flaked out on their sides legs sprawled. But right in the middle of the enclosure, closer to us gawkers, was a juvenile bighorn carefully laying with legs tucked in and just his chin touching the boulder beneath him, his face was serene almost smiling and the heat did not seem to be stressing him at all. I'm happy to have witnessed this telling pose and to have studied it further in paint.

Process

All I can say is color! I focused on pushing color to enliven this subject. Okay, and I wanted to control the texture and quality o brushstrokes carefully, which I believe I achieved in the end after a bit of readjusting.

Next

Something boldly colorful I hope!

"Lookout" Daily Painting # 22

"Lookout," Available (Click Here)

6" by 6"

Oils on Panel

Brilliant Blue Bird

"Lookout"

Side View

What captured my attention in this bird was that his coloring was bold and gorgeously chromatic and with that seemed to come a boldly stubborn personality. I remember he sat on that branch staring over his shoulder watching people watch him in the large open aviary much longer than he had to before flying away. He was beautiful, but not in a placid gaze in awe sort of way. No, he was beautiful and had personality. He wasn't a bauble. I didn't hear anybody else that was staring at him mention that aspect of his presence so I thought I'd show him respect here.

(Hopefully I'll have a better photo, without glare, for you all to see tomorrow.)

P.S. Does anybody know what kind of bird he is? I've seen him and others of his species before at the large aviary at the San Diego Zoo, but I've never learned their name. 

"Flying Practice," Daily Painting #20

"Flying Practice," Available (Click Here)

8" by 8"

Oils on Panel

Grover

I found a way to paint a muppet! I believe Grover rounds out my fuzzy trio nicely (pink lion, moth, and muppet). I had completely forgotten about my husband's old tiny stuffed Grover. He was up sitting on a shelf clutching a shriveled pumpkin (The story behind Grover and the pumpkin's relationship is convoluted and will be saved for later.) His proportions are a bit different than we usually see on Sesame Street (not to mention this guy is tiny) so with his big head, short limbs, and more rounded body I believe he is a younger Grover. Here he is still daydreaming about becoming Super Grover. The only thing I missed was that amazing nubbly fur that Grover has on Sesame Street. Oh well.

Here is a favorite Grover clip of mine, I watched it earlier to get inspiration.

Next

The unknown...

"Pink Lion," Daily Painting #18

"Pink Lion," Available (click here)

7" by 5"

Oils on Panel

The Lion Dance

The reference photo I used for this painting was taken at the first lion dance I have witnessed in person at this past Chinese New Year in front of the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum. These giant puppets always looked strange and playful to me in photographs with so much texture and detail to take in, but they feel much more like a bizarre animal interaction in person. The giant blank eyes that occasionally blink and the mixture of loping movement and athletic moves are impressive but the true disorientation occurs when the face is so close to you that you can't take it all in. That feeling of being confronted by an uncanny alien is what I was interested in conveying.

Next

The alien features of this fuzzy mask remind me of a particularly fuzzy moth, which then reminded me that I have a lovely photo of a fuzzy green moth. This green moth I have a photo of isn't extremely fuzzy or that alien looking but he's up next!

"Expectant," Daily Painting #17

Expectant Available (click here) 

6" by 6" 

Oils on Panel

Koi Fish

I enjoy the vibrant colors that koi fish display and I've occasionally thought of painting them. I'm drawn to the swirls of color and water that are usually displayed in paintings of koi fish, but I always think there is more to them than decorative elements in a painting. I wanted to show a facial expression, something relatable like the interactions we have with mammals. Of all the decorative photos I've taken of koi I found this photo (from the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum) with this fish asserting its need to receive food from us.

Process

I've only painted fish for one previous project.  I find them both challenging and fun to capture. The smooth edges yet clearly structured bodies sit somewhere strangely between the more obvious structure displayed by many mammals and the obviously fur obscured mammals. A fully open fish mouth I have to say was I think the trickiest mouth I've ever painted. The way their eyes and mouth sit on their faces are so different than a mammal, yet it is just as important to me to capture a fish's facial expression as it would be for me to capture a dog's facial expression.

Next

I have quite a bold painting up next. I painted a large mask from the Chinese New Year celebration today. It is like a giant boldly pink muppet. But, you'll have to wait until Saturday to see it because tomorrow is all errands. :P See you soon!

"Vamoose," Daily Painting #15

"Vamoose," Available (Click Here)

6" by 6" 

Oils on Panel

Young Jake

"Vamoose"Side view for texture. 

I love the proud upright posture a wild turkey takes on as he or she retreats. There is no ducking for cover, but instead an alert charge for cover. I wholly agree with Benjamin Franklin that a wild turkey would have made an ideal national bird. Oh well.

Often on evening walks in Julian we would see a group of them across a small field and watch them peck and move through the field slowly, their heads parallel to the ground making small chirps, and then see them go silent from a threatening sound and commence a most elegant race. This young male (jake) looked barely full grown and was sparring a bit with his small group of other jakes before beating the retreat. (Here's a good video of a wary turkey hen chirping.)

Process

With this piece I was exploring how to portray a sense of motion while still capturing that upright posture that conveys so much personality. There are just so few animals that move at speed in a vertical position. I softened the background details and the jake's legs to help the eye recognize the look of movement. Apart from that I focused on getting the body stance to have a loose natural quality. 

On to More Painting

I've been missing some highly colorful subject matter. Hmmmmm....

"Perseverance," Daily Painting #14

"Perseverance," Available in Auction (click here)

8" by 8" Oils on Panel

 An Unusual Giraffe

"Perseverance," side view for texture

  I've been noticing this giraffe at the San Diego Zoo   for years now. At first the nobs on her head were the only distinguishing feature about her, then over time I noticed she was the only giraffe I had ever seen that had wrinkles, and lately I've noticed that her coat seems lighter on her face almost as if white is creeping into it.

  I don't know how old she is, but her face seems to bely a long and storied life. Her face makes me want to get to know her, so I painted her to know her better through the study and challenge.

Process

To really explore the odd textures that are involved in this giraffe's countenance I wanted to not only work texture in with my brushwork and a thicker application of paint, but also push the color range in her face to emphasize the overall variety in surface.

Next

At the San Diego Wild Animal Park I often see native animals that fascinate me as much as the exotic animals. Mule deer cross through at sunset and engender some hushed excitement, but even native lizards and rabbits draw me in. One of my favorite recent images that I caught at the Wild Animal Park was of a timid rabbit. I must paint her soon.

"Yeah, I'm a Capybara," Daily Painting #12

"Yeah, I'm a Capybara," Available in Auction (click here) 

5" by 7" Oil on Panel

Thinking About Capybaras

I've always enjoyed capybaras. I was quite impressed the first time I learned the world's largest rodent with its rounded sloping body, the capybara, was on average between 75 and 150 pounds. And then of course they reminded me of one of my favorite children's book creatures from my childhood the Wumps of The Wump World.

In recent years they put in an exhibit for capybaras at the San Diego Zoo and I could get a full dose every visit. They have such relaxed confidence with their solid bodies taking up space without any qualms. The goal of this painting and the fun of it was to try to capture that attitude. I'm guessing I'll be painting some of these guys again. (BTW, their profiles are wholly amusing in shape, I must paint a profile in the future.)

Process

I didn't manage to paint this guy in just one day as this was the one painting I managed to get done during the move, but instead in two short sessions that equaled the amount of time I usually spend on a daily painting. That bit of drying time allowed me to have two layers of palette knife work, and to layer brushwork and texture throughout. It was gratifying to play with my interest in surface texture further on a daily painting as I have been focusing on texture in my larger long term pieces.

Perhaps I'll share some angled photos of this painting and others soon so that you all can see the physical texture as if you were seeing the paintings in person.

In the Plans

An old giraffe, another bird, and something colorful.

Not a Fair-Weather Painter

You may have noticed that my "daily" paintings have not been coming everyday.  The reality is that I am moving in less than two weeks. My dreams of painting a new painting everyday, while finishing a large plein air piece, and packing things up just isn't jiving. (I only have access to paint the plein air piece from this property. But! Woohoo I am almost finished with the plein air piece!)

I do plan to try to squeeze these small paintings in, but they won't be everyday for the next couple of weeks. I'll be back at it soon enough with full gusto.

See you soon.

"Taiko Elation," Daily Painting #11

"Taiko Elation," Available (Click Here) 6" by 6," oils on panel

Taiko Drumming

This is the taiko group associated with the
 Vista Buddahist Temple where I attended
this year's Obon Festival.

One of the impressive things about the Taiko players is their radiant smiles as they perform quite physical music pieces with precision. Though I know they are consciously making an effort to smile throughout I can imagine that the drumming itself, the physical sensation, may give them a sense of well being that would bring a smile to their faces. I love feeling the sound emanate off the drums and vibrate my ribcage, it is soothing like the vibrations made when humming or singing with the whole of a choir.

I have been going to this small Obon festival for years and now, although I have never spoken with many of the performers of the Taiko group, I do recognize their faces.  This man's face has always intrigued me and I decided I couldn't go without doing a quick painting featuring him.

Process

I wouldn't recommend painting while feeling nauseous! :P The oil paint smelled horrid to me and usually I quite like it's rounded warm smell. (My studio is well ventilated, so I wasn't dying of fume intoxication. :P) I made a nice simple value drawing in one color of oils and then began painting directly, pushing the color more than I usually do when I use oils for a "portrait." Because this was a quick painting I felt freer in my portrayal a person's countenance.

Next

I think I'll take a nice fuzzy break from Obon in my next painting. (I do think I will get back to more Obon paintings.) I'm thinking a confident capybara proudly situated on panel will be a nice change.