Day #5 :: ENAMEL PITCHER :: January Daily Painting Challenge

ENAMEL PITCHER
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The kisses of color on the flowers isn't white like you may see in this image, but instead, are a gorgeous deep salmon-tinged pink. Then again, the angle of my monitor may have something to do with how this painting looks to others. I'm never sure. 

There are parts of this piece that I am in love with: The dark part where the negative space of the flowers meets the pitcher as well as the dark lip of the pitcher. Oooh! I like that part. Also the colors of the pitcher. The strokes are loose and fun not all bound in a straight jacket like I'm often one to do to my marks. 

As much as I love flowers, I don't paint a lot of them. The entries for the past two days have been fun challenges. The good news is that they're challenges. Without a challenge there is no growth. 

For a spell, I've felt something in me percolating. I want to make some hybridized artwork of fine art skill with freestyle design. I'm thinking that pieces like this are my segue. Although as I look at this piece now, I think it's certainly less of the freestyle design/illustration than I may be inclined to go in the future. It's a process and I'm feeling the forward momentum!

When it comes down to the nitty gritty of it -- who are we painting for? I'm often torn. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #4 :: BRIGHT BOUQUET :: January Daily Painting Challenge

BRIGHT BOUQUET
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Many artist-friends are participating in this daily painting challenge and I'm enjoying looking at their entries. Like so many people, I am constantly thinking and wishing I could paint differently --- someone else's palette of color notes, someone else's marks, someone else's subject matter. 

When it comes to challenges like this daily painting one, there are funny struggles for themes and content, etc. I love the pieces I've done so far (all three of them before today's piece) but they aren't taking enough risks. 

This piece is inspired by what I'd like to be snipping from my imaginary cutting garden (imaginary because we live in the woods and don't really have enough sun [or land] for a cutting garden) for a wonderfully whimsical bouquet. 

What do you think? 

And for those who watched, Downton Abbey was pretty fun, eh? I heard a great comment on NPR today that a critic supposed the show has done well because we all seem to like hanging out with these Edwardian people. As an aside, he mentioned that the scenes and camera-work were so lush. I completely agree. The details are sumptuous!

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day 19 :: HYDRANGEA BLOSSOM :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

HYDRANGEA BLOSSOM
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

This pastel is born from some place I didn't know I had in me. I spent the day in hard physical labor in the glorious September sun meeting some fantastic people and chatting and laughing and talking about and selling perennials at a fundraiser. My daughter fell out of bed last night and when I went to check on her she was laughing. I had to be up and at 'em early, so to say the least I am tired. 

The kids in bed, I went into the studio. How odd and lovely to hear the clinking sounds of dishes being finished by my supportive husband so I could get my painting done for today. (I really did marry quite well.)

When I painted the still life of pears earlier in this challenge I spent time working on making something like a pear look painterly and interesting. When the pear was interesting enough I had to then make the bowl and the background also interesting, but not be competitive unless that is what I wanted. The process included decisions, debates, deliberations, trying color, making adjustments and changes.

In class I often discuss how simple subjects can only be painted well by accomplished painters. It's much more difficult to pull off a single anything on a simple surface or background than it is to paint a marsh resplendent in sunlight and shadow in full bloom with reflections and and and and....Like my fun-to-paint colorful full-sun marsh paintings. 

And so I have been thinking of this hydrangea that my dear friend gave me on Monday. She said it was the sole blue blossom remaining on her hydrangea bush. My friend so kindly said seeing it that morning reminded her of my wedding 10 years ago, and she wanted me to have it. 

It's lovely now to have this painting which will certainly last longer than her thoughtful gift which will sadly fade. It gave me trouble as I painted it -- with its simplicity and light and shadow. In the end, what made it a success was not thinking of the process as intently but instead thinking about all that was behind the subject. 

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Green Door

©2013 Kim Morin WeineckGREEN DOOR
original pastel, 15x12"

Talk about tricky! This pastel was painted directly - meaning there wasn't any underpainting - and was a challenge to say the least.

In my classes I've been stressing light and color temperature, groupings and clusters of things like hydrangea blooms, and reflection. This construct has it all and then some. I learned a lot with this and can't wait to tackle another linear piece like this. Usually I do more organic shapes in the landscape, and this was anything but that!

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Small works :: Cyclamen Study

Flowers are a subject I don't visit enough. These cyclamen are on our windowsill and the color against the backdrop of the woods is vibrant and fun.

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
CYCLAMEN STUDY
original pastel, 4x4"

Again I wanted to get messy and work quickly -- I set the timer again. Guesses on how long?

This one I may keep for myself. Or I may go back in and do some more work. Time will tell.
Thanks for reading! ~kmw