Juice O Matic No.2

Juice O Matic No.2  |  12 x 12  |  Oil on canvas

With 2014 winding down, I decided to run out the clock with a few smaller pieces. My intent with these is, for the first time, to place them in frames. Karen's "Perch" paintings look so good in frames that I wanted to see how some of my stuff would look framed. I'm going to finish up a small group of these then begin testing out various styles to see what looks best.

I bought this vintage juicer  in an eBay auction a while back and have painted it once before, but I really wanted to do it again. The other paintings in this group will come from old favorite subjects from the past. Once the holidays are done I think I'll get back to something big for the first of the year.

120 Grit

120 Grit   |   24 x 24   |   Oil on hardboard panel

Every once in a while a painting comes along that really kicks your butt, and for me 120 Grit has been one of those paintings. I never imagined when I began this piece that I'd spend as much time and effort on it as I have. I like how it turned out, but getting here was a real challenge. I've taken a number of breaks during the process of getting this done, ie. some house stuff, a trip to Charleston for the mentor show and at least five days trying to get my new iMac up and running. Transitioning from a six year old 24" iMac still using Snow Leopard to a new 27" Retina (which is beautiful by the way) using Yosemite has had me in tech mode practically non-stop. I've got most of the problems licked, but there's an ongoing complication involving Photoshop, my Wacom tablet and Yosemite that's really got me stumped. And, judging by the number of online discussion groups related to this glitch I'm not alone. I'm praying that either Wacom or Adobe comes up with a solution really soon.