Quick Painting #3: Orange & Easel

This is the 3rd of my recent "quick paintings" - Orange & Easel - 8" x 10" oil on stretched canvas. The blue strap is from my apron that I made myself from some extra denim and canvas (hopefully I translated the denim fabric texture well) This painting took just over 2 hours, time to eat this orange!

Quick Painting #2: Apple

Well, I know I said not every day, at I still know that will be the case but I saw my Granny Smith apple today with a visually pleasing mix of reds and greens and the mason jar with iced coffee that didn't get a spot in the painting yesterday so I thought, what the heck, why not!? So here is number two, my apple and coffee! :) BTW - this one was completed in one sitting under 2 hours.

- Joshua Grabowski

Quick Painting #1: Banana

There are plenty of groups out there devoted to creating a new painting each day (or as close to it as possible). These types of paintings are typically small, simple still life type pieces which they they post on eBay for immediate sale! Great way to generate some money... and interest to your work! One group in particular, the Daily Painters, are definitely worth taking a look at. Most of these artists are well established artists that are working on major works and using these daily small paintings as a warm up! I'm not going to say that I'll be attempting to paint a new piece each and every day, but I think that I'll be trying to "warm up" with these small studies a couple of days a week. Today, I had a banana to throw in some oatmeal with me in the studio, so I painted the solo banana. I got about 1 1/2 hours of work in before lunch, and finished the last 30 minutes while digesting the subject! MUAHAHA! You can see some of the progress shots below. To liven up the composition, I was going to include a mason jar with some iced coffee I was drinking which you can see the outline of in shots 1 and 2; however, I was already nearing the 2 hour time limit I was trying to set for my self.

Enjoy the banana folks! They are basically one of the cheapest fruits you can find in the grocery store and they are so, so good for you!

- Joshua Grabowski

Oranges & Purple Vase

Working on another still life and thought I would share the progress. The image posted below is the current progress on the second day of work, but you can click here to view the work from day one with the black and white acrylic underpainting.

oranges & purple vase - 24" x 48" oil on stretched canvas

There is much more work left to do, but I am trying different methods and getting better and progressing through these still life paintings quickly. I'm going to need to stock up on larger canvases or hardboards since I have come to realize that I truly despise working small! I need the freedom of large brush strokes, even though it takes more paint and materials... ;)

-Joshua Grabowski

Progression - it feels good

I love having my pieces approach completion. Here is a little snapshot of the stage this painting is in currently. Previously I mentioned that I would have this piece completed by today, and even though I didn't meet that self-imposed deadline, I came pretty close. Just a few more sessions of work with this painting and it will be ready for varnish and a frame.

"Lemonade Press" WORK-IN-PROGRESS - 24" x 36" oil on canvas

You might think the picture looks the same as it did last time I shared the progress, but the magic is in the detail now. It's only going to get even better! Enjoy!

-Joshua Grabowski

Wallpaper Duty

I'm sure that laying actual wallpaper with such an elaborate design would be much easier, but probably less gratifying than the end result from working magic with my paint brush (I'm sure I have no business messing around with adhesives and whatever else it takes to put up wallpaper anyways). Today started in a great position with the main design elements blocked in and dry from previous painting sessions - all I had to do was spend 6 1/2 hours painting in the details, and voila!

A little more about the painting:
This still life was inspired from real lemonade freshly squeezed from lemons grown here locally in AZ. Michael and I were walking along picking lemons and grapefruits from the fruit treats in the neighborhood and we spotted the best lemon tree around... many problems arose: water flooding the ground around the tree (which posed no problem for Michael and his braveness), branches that jump out at you from no where (leaving battle wounds on Michael... bless his heart for sacrificing himself for the good of my art and our lemonade drinking pleasure), and seems on the bag we used ripping apart carrying 20 lbs of lemons the size of two fists each back home to introduce them to our new friend... the juicer. After making a mess and enjoying the smell of citrus in the air, the peels just seemed as though they were begging to be painted. Digital camera and shadow box to the rescue! Piecing the idea together and settling into my new studio, I created the design, transfered it to canvas and began working. Three weekends of painting later, I have progressed far enough into the piece to share my work so far. Keep in mind that the only part that is "done" is the background... backward to foreword is how I'm working the painting (in other words, now that the background is done, everything that is "in front" of it will be painted in next). I love the still life so far and can't wait to finish it soon! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Bell Peppers

Somehow time passes so easily between posts on here! I thought I'd share another still life piece. In the mean time I have taken a little trip back to WI, gotten settled into a new studio space, and just been enjoying life. As work progresses, I will always be sure to share the new stuff! Currently I am working on another still life (as well as other projects that pop up). This new still life piece is a little bit "graduated" from the simplistic compositions that I've previously been posting, much more elaborate and carefully planned. Use your imaginations until I share the progress and think, "lemons!"

Delicious! I love bell peppers! Especially of the mexican stuffed variety, and even more so when they are made by my mom!

5x5

As I progress with working with the easily available fruit from the produce section, I have decided to follow in the footsteps of many "daily painters" and work some smaller pieces, in this case 5" x 5" stretched canvas. This is great because I can start and finish a piece in one sitting; however, I find myself trying to paint more expressively under a time limit but tend to work continually until hours have passed and the piece looks more like a photo than an expressively painted piece made of a limited number of precisely placed strokes. Either way, I think this piece is a success and works well for the size... BIG painting on a SMALL canvas.

Look familiar? This is the middle, last row from yesterdays post of the thumbnails. Of course there is more to come. :)

-Joshua Grabowski

Apple Thumbs

After a failed attempt at jumping into a 5" x 5" piece of an artichoke, I decided it would be a good idea to start out safe with a direction this time... thumbnail sketches to the rescue. Twelve 5" square compositions later, I feel like I have at least a few solid ideas that I can translate to canvas comfortably. These are made on newsprint paper in my big sketchbook with drawing graphite pencils and a white prismacolor to highlight. Which one do you like the most?

For those of you interested in art books, I am currently reading a couple that peak my interest:
- "How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist" - Caroll Michels... great book on advice to artists about how to make a career out of your passion, without selling you soul!
- "The Artist's Way" - Julia Cameron... interesting approach to discovering and recovering your creative self, more of a spiritual path, must look at this one with an open mind! Still great!

Also just watched a movie, "Local Color," about a young artist studying under Nicoli Seroff, a great Russian Impressionist. Great movie... it totally touched my sense of artistry and approached contemporary art with near the same views that I myself have. According to Netflix, this movie got my 5 star vote. Feel free to share any books or movies worth checking out.

-Joshua Grabowski

Tea Time

Grabbing things around the apartment to put together a still life piece will naturally include a tea cup or two. The green tea cup I used for this setup is my favorite from the bunch of tea cups randomly found by Michael's dad (funny, and very random story). Going with the fruit-filled still life theme, I setup this composition using an orange that I picked from one of the trees outside. I loved the texture from the odd-shaped rhine. It gave more depth and angle to reflect light on... delicious! However, actually not so delicious, since the oranges hadn't fully ripened at this point... more accurately, very sour!

The picture quality isn't completely amazing. If anyone is interested in seeing more, let me know. Also, BTW... as with most of my art you see on my blog, these recent pieces are for sale. If anyone is interested please feel free to contact me: jg@joshuagrabowski.com. Hope everyone is having a great start to the week enjoying the great weather. Get outside to see the green life! :)

-Joshua Grabowski

A Pair of Pears + 1

Since my recent exploration of fruit still life piece has come about, I've been posting some of the results. Here is another piece that I have decided to add the finished still life collection. There was only one surviving pear; however, the procrastination of throwing it away turned into a fruit fly safe haven. When it finally saw the garbage it looked nothing like the way I've shown it below.

This was my favorite when i was working on the four still life piece at once but the oranges have come out to be my favorite completed piece (so far). As I progress with these pieces, I am getting more comfortable using my medium of choice, which in most cases seems to be oils. More to come soon.

-Joshua Grabowski

Not from Concentrate

It has been common practice for artists throughout time to find an idea that works and reuse that idea until it has run dry. This particular piece wasn't created for the purpose of following my longtime-past concentrations of "oranges" and "faces," but since it is familiar working with the subject of oranges this piece called out to me. The color, the smell, the texture, of course the taste - oranges are by far my favorite fruit! When the orange trees are blossoming, AZ is the place to be! Every gust of wind carries the amazing aroma of sweet, fresh flowers and the trees start to bear large, ripe fruit ready to be picked and eaten! Delicious. If that doesn't make your mouth water with orange cravings, I just don't know what will.

A few weeks ago, I was reading up on some art blogs that I follow and found some postings about the use of a "shadow box" to create dramatic, controlled lighting for still life masterpieces (actual results may vary). Inspired and determined to make my own still-life-masterpiece-creation box, POOF, I was a still life junkie. Four piece later, I am starting to use my creativity more. I've also noticed my comfort with my color mixing, medium use and dilution, etc. I'll post more on the other three pieces-in-progress as they approach completion; however, in the mean time, I'd like to call the oranges finished (of course I will second guess this, over and over, including the possible color correction on the blue bowl... but that is just a possibility, no matter how likely I actually think it is). This picture was the best I could get. You can see the outline of my black shirt against the reflected white wall behind me. Damn reflection! Anyways, Enjoy!

Details about this piece: 12" x 12" oil on stretched canvas.

On a note aside from art, I have been able to run consistently without much pain in my foot! BONUS! The weather has been wonderful and mountain side running just can not be beat. Tax time is here (or at least the dreaded due date) and it feels great to have gotten them done in time and not have to have that weight on my shoulders... make sure to stop out somewhere that has "Tax day specials" and take advantage of the savings! Just don't eat McDonald's, it's plain nasty - unless you are eating chicken nuggets, in which case I say GO FOR IT!

-Joshua Grabowski