Self Portrait in a Cold Studio

I was just blogging on another blog about an artist who painted herself beautifully in a freezing studio and I was reminded of my own self-portrait from (I think) 2004 or 2005, "Self Portrait in a Cold Studio."Even though my studio is in my house, it's a chilly place. For some reason the radiator has never worked well, and the windows (on two sides) are drafty. In the dead of winter I often work while wearing a hat and puffy down vest, as pictured, as well as long underwear under my heavy clothing and fingerless gloves (not pictured.)  Even so I need lots of cups of hot tea to keep me going! This annual inconvenience makes me feel all hardy and suffering-nobly-for-my-art-ish.  ;-)

This painting "Self Portrait in a Cold Studio" has been exhibited several times in various venues including the Philadelphia Sketch Club, and still lives online on the Robert Genn website.

Snow Man

Snow Man
oil on gilt cardboard, 8 x 6 inches, 2010

Maybe I will start a new blog category: speed painting. The way I am using this term, it is a subset of alla prima painting and consists of getting the image onto the canvas in the fewest strokes possible. We are talking half an hour or less! Speed painting was necessitated in this case by the pain of painting while looking into the white glare of snow...excruciating. I wore a hat to cut the glare but even so...ouch.



My youngest son took this picture of me as I was crouched on the landing painting (I think he was very pleased that I was painting his snowman!) Very circular..taking a photograph of someone painting a sculpture created by the person taking the picture. Am I dizzy!

Snowy Evening

A Very Quick Sketch
from my studio window, just a few minutes ago. About 30 minutes of painting in all. I am challenging myself to paint every day...even if it just a few strokes. Trying to beat the winter blues.
We are actually in the midst of a blizzard as I type, and I had just gotten started when the lights went out. I kept painting and after a few minutes they came back on...yay! I was trying to get a tonal thing going, but I am not sure I succeeded. It was actually easier to see the values when the electric light was not on. This painting might benefit from later glazing or scumbling, but whatever...it was an experiment.

Light in the Window, oil on canvas on board, 4 x 6, 2010

One Persimmon

Vincent's Persimmon, oil on canvas on board, 5 x 7, 2010

My cousins Mary and Keith were visiting a few months ago and brought me some persimmons grown by their friend Vince. The others rotted quickly but this one lasted through my painting of it...my studio is a bit like an icebox that way. Anyway, I just finished its portrait yesterday (the leaf is still intact although the fruit is no longer glossy!)