Daily Paintings

Daily Painting #28 – Lemon and Mug
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 5 inches — 13 x 13 cm

It’s nice to finally be able to find use for this baby mug! It actually has a pattern on the outside, but I left that out in the painting. I’m sure I’ll paint it again in the future and maybe I’ll include the design then to give it more character.

Daily Painting #27 – Calamansi
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

Another one from our mini garden. I just learned that this citrus, which we call “calamansi” in our country, is also known as “calamondin”. I like the color combination of green and burnt sienna. I think it lends a classic look to the painting.

Daily Painting #26 – Tea and Lychee
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

I’ve always had a hard time painting porcelain — it seems I always make them too dark and too gray. I had to scrape off my first attempt on the teacups and teapot because my Mom said they looked like steel! Well, more practice should do it. I think subtle shadows are the key.

Daily Painting #25 – Paintbrush on My Easel
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 5 inches — 13 x 13 cm

Daily Painting #24 – Lychees
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 5 inches — 13 x 13 cm

I spent a good while moving the lychees around, trying to find a composition that I wanted to paint. I finally decided to eat one and paint the shiny, brown seed.

Daily Painting #23 – Seasonings
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

Here’s a more complex arrangement. I really enjoy painting garlic and the design on the pot was also fun to do. I don’t think I’ve ever used pure ultramarine before.

Daily Painting #22 – Garlic Cloves
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 5 inches — 13 x 13 cm

Another late post today. I was painting up until about 12:30 AM yesterday and cleaning the brushes and palette in preparation for next day’s painting session meant that I didn’t go to bed until about 1:20 AM. As a result, I woke up later than I should.

Anyway, here is today’s daily painting. It’s very simple but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I know most (if not all!) art look so much better in real life than on the monitor and I feel that it is especially true with this painting. I tried to get the colors and values accurate but there is still something about the original that is lacking in the computer image.

Oh, by the way, I love working on squares!

BEHIND THE SCENES: Garlic Cloves
I almost always have paint leftover on my palette after each painting is done. I gather all these leftover paint in piles, mixing similar colors together, and almost always creating mud (I hate throwing away paint!). Sometimes I am able to use the “mud piles” for the next painting, sometimes not. For the background in this painting, I used one of the leftover mud piles. I toned it with some yellow ochre to create a grayish yellow-brown. I think it didn’t turn out too bad despite being just a mud mix. What do you think?

Daily Painting #21 – Chili Peppers and Teacup
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 5 inches — 13 x 13 cm

More of the little chili peppers from yesterday. My Mom and I bought 5 of these just to paint. Although I am not a big fan of chili peppers in my food, I’ve always enjoyed just looking at them. When we had homegrown chili peppers, I used to sketch them quite often.

This is also my first time to try a square format for the daily paintings. All my previous daily paintings had been on 5″ x 7″ board.

Daily Painting #20 – Bird’s Eye Chili Peppers
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

I am posting a bit later than usual today as I wasn’t able to use the internet until a couple of hours ago.

Here is a painting where I tried to make the subjects seem to peek out of the shadows. I don’t think I captured the effect well enough but I do like how it turned out. I have to practice some more with the lighting as well as create a better shadow box. Read this article by Jeffrey Hayes on how he made his shadow box. I think it’s beautiful and really does the job but I doubt I’ll be able to make something as stable as that. I think I’ll stick to foam core for now!

On another topic, I was searching the internet for the proper English name of these little chili peppers. They were known to me only as “labuyo”, but I learned that they are also called “bird’s eye chili peppers” or “Thai peppers”. I choose to call them “bird’s eye” because I think it makes for a rather interesting title, don’t you?

Daily Painting #19 – Red Onion: Half
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

One more painting of a red onion.

Daily Painting #18 – Red Onion: Peeled
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

Another red onion painting. I love painting wood blocks. In the future, I hope to incorporate more “character” to these wood blocks by adding cracks, chips, dark spots, etc.

Daily Painting #17 – Lemons
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

Daily Painting #16 – Oncidium Orchid
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

My first orchids in the Daily Painting series. I hope to do more flowers from my Mom’s mini garden soon.

Daily Painting #15 – Red Onion
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

Another painting where I used the earthy palette — mostly alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and a little ultramarine.

Daily Painting #14 – Grapes on Wood Block
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

Daily Painting #13 – Couple o’ Clips
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

I decided to create an almost grayscale painting because I didn’t have a lot of time to paint the day I did this. Plus, I wanted to try making “real blacks” with ultramarine and the new tube of burnt sienna we just bought instead of the deep violet (ultramarine and alizarin crimson mix) that I usually use for shadows and darks. I enjoyed it and will probably be using this same palette soon.

Daily Painting #12 – Baby Squash
(Click image for larger version)

Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

My Mom bought this baby squash especially for me to paint. I wanted to try something different for the background. Anyway, my experiments didn’t turn out well and I had to scrape it off once or twice until I finally settled on a simple, solid background.

Daily Painting #11 – Lemon on a Shelf
(Click image for larger version)

Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

I’ve always liked earthy colors so I tried using them on most of this painting, leaving the lemon with the only bright color.

Daily Painting #10 – Oranges
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

Trying a different lighting approach.

Daily Painting #9 – Blue Marble
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

Just a very simple painting today. I’ve always liked marbles. I love the different highlights they have when light hits them. I wonder what those colored things are that they put inside.

Daily Painting #8 – Kiwis with Spoon
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

When I was a little girl, I kept this green “kiwi spoon” that came with some kiwis we bought from the grocery. Somehow, I have this impression that kiwis then all came with these little spoons which were spoons on one end and knives on the other! I never realized I would be able to find use for it, but seeing that there were kiwis to paint, I decided to include it in the composition. I tried to be very detailed with this one. Hope you like it.

By the way, I just joined Twitter a few days ago. If you are into Twitter and you’d like to follow me, here is my page: http://twitter.com/faithte

Have a great weekend!

Daily Painting #7 – Green Chili Pepper
(Click image for larger version)

Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

This green chili pepper (fresh from the market) was done on the same day as yesterday’s red chili pepper. It was a joy to paint and I like how it turned out. Hope you like it too!

Daily Painting #6 – Red Chili Pepper
(Click image for larger version)

Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

This one was quite easy and I had time to do another painting the day I did this chili pepper. Two paintings in one day — quite a huge achievement for me! I will be posting the other one tomorrow.

Daily Painting #5 – Onions in a Bowl
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm
Private Collection

Daily Painting #4 – Orange and Knife
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Oil on gessoed matboard
Approximately 5 x 7 inches — 13 x 18 cm

This painting took quite some time to finish but I really enjoyed it. The knife, especially, was a lot of fun. I think it turned out well and it’s my most favorite, so far.