"Hunks of Watermelon" Painting and "Boats in Burano"

Today was the last day of my Fall Still Life class. What a great group. Tuesday's will feel a little funny until January classes start.

Watermelon appeared. (Strange season, I know.) Part to be eaten. Part to be painted. The real watermelon setup looked perhaps neater than the cutting board version I decided to paint. This is one of those odd top-down views. It's a little tricky. I may come back to this tomorrow. A sign is that I bothered to put saran wrap over my models and left my palette at the studio. The knife, I know needs work.

Last night, I finished up "Boats in Burano." This one's little (8"h x 10"w) considering the scale of the scene. That's a lot to pack into a little bit of canvas.

By the way, this is a lot of red considering that my principal reddish-orange color on my palette, Cadmium Red Light made from Gamblin has been misbehaving lately. It's got to be coaxed into the right consistency with the addition of Gamblin's Neomegilp and the tube has sprung a few leaks. Just imagine your two hands the color of the top side of each hunk of watermelon. I didn't think it would ever come off. Yikes.

Tomorrow night's the reception at the Great Falls Studios Exhibit at Life with Cancer in Fairfax. See my contributions in an earlier post.

Tomorrow a.m., I drop off my donations for Art Night Out 2010 being held Friday, November 19th at the River Bend Country Club in Great Falls, VA. I'll fill you in on those donations soon.

"Hunks of Watermelon", 12"h x 4"w, oil on canvas, copyright Jill Banks 2010.

"Boats in Burano", 8"h x 10"w, oil on Senso linen, copyright Jill Banks 2010.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435

Donut Painting

After a few days of struggling, I returned to something easier. No pressure. Another donut painting. (See the still life section in the gallery pages at www.jillbanks.com to see more paintings of food, among other things.)

Last year I went on a binge of donut painting ... creating a whole series of little depictions of donuts, cupcakes, candies and the like. They are great for changing gears, easing tensions,  and just having fun.

This one's called "On the Edge Donut." In the last post, I talked about going big. Large canvases. This latest one's 5"x5". How's that for consistency?

If you're near Alexandria, VA ... I hope you make it a point to stop in to see the 'Scapes Annual Landscape Exhibit at the Art League Gallery in the Torpedo Factory. My painting "Rainy Day in NYC" won Best in Show and is hanging in a very nice spot waiting for you to take a look. The show continues until September 6 at 105 No. Union Street, Alexandria, VA.

Register for Fall classes. I'm teaching "Still Life Painting in Oils" and "Portrait Drawing and Painting" through the Great Falls School of Art. Go to my Classes page on my web site for more info. 


I'll write more soon. I painted another little one ... of my sister-in-law Cindy ... today. So maybe you'll see it tomorrow.

"On the Edge Donut", oil on canvas, 5"h x 5"w, copyright Jill Banks 2010.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435

Market Paintings at the Great Falls Farmer's Market

This Saturday, May 16, from 9am-1pm, come celebrate the art of food with me -- as I'll be exhibiting (and selling) some of my Market and Restaurant series paintings at the Great Falls Farmer's Market in the Village Centre (near the intersection of Walker Road and Georgetown Pike in Great Falls, VA. I'll be exhibiting in the Great Falls Studios tent. So, pictured here are some of the paintings you'll see. Some of the paintings I'll be exhibiting are heading off next week to Chasen Galleries, the gallery that represents my work in Richmond, VA... so this may be your last chance to see them in Great Falls. I hope to see you there.




Jill

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435

Pictured from top down: "Rialto Market", oil on linen, 24"h x 36"w; "Limoni", oil on linen, 20"h x 16"w, "Rainy Day Market", oil on linen, 30"h x 24"w; "L'Auberge Chez Francois", oil on linen, 16"h x 20"w. All images copyright Jill Banks 2009.

Pumpkin Pie Painting Finished!

"Pumpkin Pie" is finished ... just in time, too. It will be hanging in a group show on Sunday at the Conscious Bean, a coffee shop in Great Falls, VA that's near the Artists' Atelier (my studio). Seems like the perfect kind of painting for this time of year. "Pumpkin Pie," oil on stretched canvas, 12" x 12", copyright Jill Banks 2008.

See more of my food (and other) paintings ... throughout my blog. See older posts as well!

"Me O My! Donut": Latest Painting of the Day

More food paintings. I'm still on a diet. There's another painting, of four donuts including one of these strawberry sprinkled kinds in an earlier post. For this one, I stood it upright on a sculptor's stand that sits next to my easel. The "O" I kept staring at suggested its name: "Me O My!". 5" x 5", oil on stretched canvas.

These are great little paintings to group together -- and a nice comforting visual for difficult times.

Cupcake Alla Prima Painting a Day

So, "Cupcake" is yesterday's painting a day. It's 5" x 5", oil on stretched canvas, copyright Jill Banks 2008 ... so I'm back to the mini paintings and note: single object only (unless individual sprinkles count). Soooo much faster and easier!

Funny thing about all these paintings of food lately is that I've been on the South Beach diet for the last three weeks. So I get to stare at these goodies and paint them ... but not eat them.

This Painting a Day Took Two

I've been dying to post this one. I painted "Sunday Morning" on Saturday -- all day until my arm felt like it was going to fall off. Then I put some finishing touches on it today.

This is too large a painting for me to accomplish in one session -- at least for this detailed a style. It breaks every rule ... multiple objects, size of canvas, degree of finish. But I loved doing it!

I was tackling this project for two reasons ... my painting a day schedule plus my artist colleagues and I are putting on an exhibit of artwork featuring coffee cups (or teacups) to be displayed at the Conscious Bean in December. The Conscious Bean is a coffee shop across the street from my studio in Great Falls, VA. The Conscious Bean is located at: 10123 Colvin Run Rd
Great Falls, VA 22066. Phone: 571-237-3886

"Sunday Morning", 12" x 12", oil on canvas, copyright Jill Banks 2008. All rights reserved.