Winter evening at Twelve Corners

Winter evening at Twelve Corners, sketch, 12X16 or thereabouts, oil on canvas

I was waiting for my son at Brighton High School and amusing myself by taking photos of the streetlights with a handheld camera. Never thought of the photos as a painting until it was suggested by my friend Pilan. Here it is in an expanded sketch.

Internet meme of the day--that's just crazy talk.

Tinfoil hat, 6X8" oil on canvas

Tinfoil is just not that easy to paint alla prima. This was my second try.

But check out this tinfoil, done with a rather more careful approach, in colored pencil:

http://www.kenygalleries.com/images/ac-tolstedt/tolstedt-bio.html

(BTW, I can make the tinfoil hat itself in less than a minute.)

Baby Monkey Riding On A Pig

Going backwards on a pig, baby monkey...

Unicorn with double rainbow (for my kids)

"Unicorn reindeer visiting my front garden with a double rainbow in the background" 8X6, oil on board.

Today for my one-hour still life I returned to an old idea, painting an internet meme. I could find only half the props needed for “baby monkey riding on a pig,” so I fell back on that old standard, “unicorn” and added a newer element, the “double rainbow.” The unicorn is, of course, disguised as a florescent reindeer because I’ve been dying to paint this fellow.

My palette doesn’t have the gamut for his lovely pink mane. Carmine, naphthol red, quinacridone violet, quinacridone rose—none comes close to sufficient saturation. The blacks are much easier—two lights and two darks, warm and cool, covering the various lighting situations in my studio.

I flipped through my landscape sketches intending to use the first one with sky as the setting. It’s my own front-yard—well, what could be more appropriate? I decided to make it winter, however.

Pretty in Purple

A student left some carbazole violet behind; I did two small sketches in the holiday spirit.

"Mary's shoes,*" 6X8 oil on board

"Happy New Year,"

6X8 oil on board

*To answer your questions: Mootsie Tootsies; silk; for a prom; yes, they were on sale at Kohls; they came in black too; no, you can’t borrow them.