Artists Of Texas Contemporary Paintings and Art

Garden Peppers 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Still messing around with my set up from Friday. I added a plate to one side of it and then put these peppers from the garden in there. In keeping with my idea to paint little sub-sections of this larger still life set up, I did this close up of the peppers. The subtle shades of green in the peppers were challenging to paint. At one point I mixed up a color for the peppers and actually had to hold my brush right next to it to see if the color was correct. I'm sure this seems really obvious to do, but it just struck me. It's a real eye opener to how off my color mixtures where until I did this. It reminds me that I must make sure to pay attention to what I am actually seeing and not what I think I'm seeing. Ah, one of the biggest struggles in painting...seeing! To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more...

Orange Bowl 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara I've been playing around setting up a still life that I wanted to paint on a larger canvas. I actually set it up on Friday, but didn't like the painting, so I wiped it off. Sometimes there just comes a point where nothing I do can save the painting and I'm better off just cleaning off my canvas. I really liked some of the parts of the set up though, so I decided to paint this one of just one side, which was the orange clementines against the blue dress of a rag doll. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here .

Senior, Junior and the Third 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara While painting this, I realized I really need to get one of those large painting umbrellas. The whole time I was in direct sun, making it very difficult to judge any subtle value changes and color temperature. I've read that when presented with this problem to make sure both the palette and the painting are in the same light with nothing casting a shadow over either one. This helped a bit, but one thing I would tell other painters is to make sure both are not in direct light, if possible. About halfway through the painting I moved my easel and pallet so they where in indirect light, and, suddenly, I could see what I was doing so much better. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my ...

Anthony's Flowers 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Last night severe storms rolled in, making painting outdoors a doubtful pursuit today. Ever hopeful, I played with the baby and worked on my newsletter. The sun teased all day long, darting in and out of the clouds, but finally my patience won out. There was finally enough steady light to paint these shade-loving anemone flowers. I had to work fast since there was another storm rolling in from the west. My wife came out and asked if she was imagining things, or was it thundering. In fact, it was thundering. But I worked quickly and the painting took shape beautifully. I finished just as the first few drops started to fall. Relieved, I thought I just made it. Of course, when it was over, I could count the drops on the sidewalk and the sun was shining again. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of ...

Summer Blooms 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Yesterday's experiment of using natural light really got me in the mood to paint outside, so I went out and found these day lilies blooming in the back yard. Painting outdoors presents a few addition problems that I don't encounter in the studio, such as the mosquitoes, the wind, and the sun beating down on my neck. I must admit painting indoors has really spoiled me, but this was a fun exercise nonetheless and something I can't wait to do more of. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here .

By The Pound 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara This old scale with a potted plant sitting on it caught my eye at my parent's house. The arrangement was perfect as it was, and to shake things up a bit, I tried something a little different. Rather then using my set up box with it's controlled lighting, I set this up by the window and used the sun light. Although I really liked the quality of the sun light coming through the window, it moved very quickly and my scene changed rapidly in front of me. I had to be careful to not chase the light around my scene and just paint it as close to the original light as I could. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here .

Butternut Glow 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara I have to admit I was pretty amazed when I cut this open to see the wonderful color inside. I knew when I saw it that I wanted to paint it. After struggling with the arrangement for a while I settled on this. I think I was being a little timid with cutting up the squash, which limited me to what I could do with it. After all, I couldn't put it back together if I made a mistake. When I was done painting, I gave the squash to my wife since she wanted to cook it, and then cleaned up the studio a bit. When I went out to the kitchen, I noticed how nice the arrangement was my wife had made on the cutting board. "I've got to get another one these and try this again", was the first thought to run through my head, which was then followed by my best Homer Simpson "Doh!" To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to ...

Meme's Chick 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara This little red is one of the dozen or so laying hens my wife's grandmother (Meme) is raising this year.They are very entertaining to watch. I spent about an hour in the pen photographing them. Obviously painting them from life would be a little harder than I was up for, especially for the first attempt. I think if I do a few more, I may be comfortable enough to try them from life, but for now, my photos will have to do. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here .

Painted Tin 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara I'm very happy to report that this is daily painting number 100 this year! I'm now officially half way to my goal for 2010. As for tonight's painting, this tin is the other item I picked up last weekend (see yesterday's post). I painted a bit more of the detail than the one I did yesterday, mostly because I felt the painting needed it, though, honestly, these details also very hard to resist. After all, it's the patterns in it that prompted me to buy it in the first place. I also took another shot at painting the carnations since they were still fresh. This time I added some dark red ones, which I enjoyed because it allowed me to use stronger, purer colors. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auc...

Carnations 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Over the weekend my wife and I went to a few garage sales to see what type of still life subjects we could find. The picking were pretty slim, but we did find this little vase. For this painting, I simplified the design since I wanted to work on the shape. I'll save a more detailed painting for another time. We had a few carnations around the house, so I added those and then got to painting. I've been keeping a very loose count of my daily paintings, and, according to that count, this is daily painting number 99. I need to double check to be sure, but I've very excited to be just about at the half way point for my goal this year. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here .

First Year Memories 11x14 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Here's the finished painting. Visit my blog for complete step by step progression of this painting. If your interested in purchasing this painting, please visit my auction . My web page: www.georgedechiara.com My Blog: www.georgedechiara.com/blog

Five O'Clock Shadow 21 3/4 inches x 21 3/4 inches Watercolor on paper by George De Chiara I really enjoy watercolor like this, lots of shadows to fill in with color! I used a lot of masking fluid to retain the white of the paper. I did this so I could lay in large washes of color for all of the shadow areas and let the color run through all of them. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com Details on how to purchase this painting can be found here .