120 Paintings

#316 - House of the Autumn Sun

2011-11-25T15:09:00.001-05:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite Sold

Fall is almost over here in Durham. It was lovely. I painted this from a photo I took in the evening when the leaves were just starting to turn.

#315 - Yellow Daisies

2011-11-23T18:27:00.001-05:00

6"x 6" oil on masonite Sold
I love about anything backlit. Yellow daisies are no exception. I always get intimidated anytime the shadow side of something yellow needs to be painted. Yellow in shadow has been problem for me in the past, but if I stayed away from it then I never get to paint much yellow would I?

Clawed Monet - Pet Portraits

2011-11-10T11:43:00.001-05:00

Speaking of cute puppies, I'm happy to say that I will now be offering pet portraits through the California based non-profit organization Clawed Monet. Here's a little bit about them from the about us page:

"Clawed Monet came about as a result of a desire to help both artists and animal rescue! You can get a wonderful portrait of your pet worthy of hanging on your wall while at the same time knowing a percentage of all sales goes to United Hope for Animals, a rescue group out of the Los Angeles."

#314 - Vigilant Veda

2011-11-09T15:33:00.001-05:00

6"x 6" oil on masonite Sold

This is a portrait I made of Veda, Jim and Jenny’s dog. She's a sweet little sausage and such a pretty girl. I made for them as a house warming gift for their new home and life together. Veda is of course the baby of their little white picket fenced home. Happy new home guys!

I never met a dog I didn’t like. Or at least that’s my version of the old Will Rogers quote.

#313 - Super Fly Jr.

2011-10-13T23:51:00.000-04:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite $42.50 (50% off - end of year clearance sale)

to purchase, email jeffmahorney@gmail.com or
I got a quick picture off of this kid walking down the streets of southpoint mall. He couldn't have been maybe 14, but he was looking (and strutting) like he owned the place. He was definitely super fly.

Speaking of feelin super fly, I'd like to thank artist and instructor Larry Seiler for featuring some of my work (and blog) in a recent Wetcanvas live Webinar (and soon to be DVD). Larry's work and wisdom have always been an inspiration to me. In fact, the name of this blog is taken from his oft quoted mantra that it takes around 120 bad paintings before you know something about painting. Larry's beautiful work, advice, wisdom etc. are part what influenced me to commit to this little experiment in learning to paint. I can't really discribe what it's meant to me (which is everything). So, I wanted to say thanks to Larry. Thank you for sharing your experience, strength and hope over these many years. Thank you for passing it on to the rest of us. :)

Webinar Session #2 "120 paintings" is where Larry describes this idea that no matter what you are learning, the path to success is built on failure. You have to put in your time and show up. The bad paintings that you make on the way aren't unfortunate mistakes, they are equally necessary parts of the journey. The bad paintings are the foundational bricks on which the good paintings stand. It's all connected, the pain and the joy, the bad and the good, even if we can't see it at the time. Have faith that these seemingly random dots will connect and trust that the universe will take you were you need to be. So, relax, take a breath and pick up the brush again. You can't control or predict what will happen, but that's not your job anyway. Your job is just to show up and head in the direction of what you love.

#312 - Magenta Upstage

2011-10-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

6"x 6" oil on masonite Sold

to purchase, email jeffmahorney@gmail.com or
For today's still life, I found a magenta colored material that I wanted to use for a background. Since there is not really a way to upstage a color that strong I just let it be dominant and use the foreground elements to break up the space. I couldn't mix that color with my current palette because there is no chance of reaching that magenta chroma at that high a value by mixing Alizarin and Ultramarine, so I brought in a pinch hitter: a ringer named thalo violet. It's mighty powerful like all the other crazy-ass thalo kids. Can't upstage thalo magenta.

Thumbnail Gallery & Old Paintings (now for sale)

2011-10-09T21:10:00.000-04:00

I’ve recently geeked out on some javascript and was able to set up a new thumbnail gallery. I've been finding it really convenient for getting a quick view overall view of paintings/posts by category. I.E. available paintings, sold paintings or Both. I also added a little embedded widget in that collumn that shows recent available paintings. The thumbnail gallery links (and recent available paintings widget) are in the column to the right but the links are also right here below:
Available paintings
Sold paintings
All paintings

It really gives you perspective when you can quickly scroll through all the paintings you've even made. It's like having a bird's eye view and you start seeing overall patterns of color and subject. Maybe's it's just me, but watching them from above, it feels more like each one is part of a intended and progressive continuum and not so as an isolated or random event as it often feels at the time. More importantly, it makes a grid of fun colors.
_________

While going through all the old paintings for metadata tagging (to make the thumbnail gallery work), I came across a few older paintings that I had been holding on to. I think I loved and appreciated them as much as I could, but times change and I need to make space for new paintings. Plus, paintings want to be seen, noticed, and loved. If I let these go maybe they will find loving homes. I hope so. Goodbye little beauties. I wish you well.
#106 - Missing Piece
#107 - Luscious Apple
#215 - Elsewhere

Today’s random historical fact:
On today’s date, Oct 9th 1514, Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor were married. It didn’t last too long and the rumor is that Louis died of over-exertion in the bedchamber. Hard to believe, but if it is true, I guess there are worse ways to go. Still that doesn’t sound too pleasant for either of them. Maybe they were just too different (he was 30yrs older), but at least they tried (maybe even too hard) Oh well, Happy would-be anniversary Louis and Mary.

#311 - Speedy Green Bug

2011-09-19T19:58:00.000-04:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite Sold
More playtime with color! Er...uh...I mean another experiment in color temperature and color key. "Experiment" makes me sounds more like a scientist right? After all, science is awesome.
With this cute green VW bug (as with the dog painting before it) I wanted to add a background (and foreground this time) of shifting color temperatures that contributed to the overall harmony but had enough variation to keep it interesting. Alas my camera, fancy as it is, still doesn't pick up the subtle color changes that the human eyeball can see. I tried to correct it some in photoshop but let it go after awhile. Trying to get a digital image to look exactly like an original painting? Therein lies madness, my brother. Get it good enough and let it go. It's better to have your hand on the brush than the keyboard.
So anyhoo, the interesting thing to me about this painting is that I get a feeling of speed from the treatment of the bug. Perhaps it's the way I've smudged some of the edges that contribute to a blurry motion feeling. Well, or maybe it's the just the symbol of checkers in the background (like racing checkerboard flag?). Anyhoo, I like how it came out but then again I'm also a big fan of teal teamed up with neon yellowish green. The aqua color ground just seemed to fit as something Intermediary. I found if I made it any warmer and it would start to group with and deempahsize the pretty green bug. Blah blah blah. Yak yak yak. Are you still reading this? I'm not.

#310 - Royal Penance Pear

2011-09-15T13:56:00.000-04:00

2.5"x 3.5" (ACEO) oil on artboard SOLD

I suppose it's good to know that you're never too good for a bad painting. The painting right before this one was a wipe down. A "wipe down" is what I call it when a painting you're working on is just not happening, so you throw in the towel and just wipe it off with a turp rag. It's just the way it goes sometimes. I was trying to paint an orange slice that was a drink garnish (as part of a bar scene). Come to find near the end that could't get it that orange color dark enough, yet chromatic enough in comparison to it's surroundings. What I learned from that wipe down was that if there's a critical area, do that part first and get that color relationship right so that the rest of the painting will be "keyed" to that critical section. I did the opposite so I had nowhere to go when I reached that critical section. You'd think I'd know better.

What do I do after a nice wipe down defeat? I like to go back to the basics (apple or a pear). You know I'm going to say it: When in doubt paint a pear. It always get me back on track and ready to go tackle more difficult things after that. So, as my penance, here's a simple green pear on a royal purple background.

#309 - Good Boy In Green

2011-09-01T19:41:00.000-04:00

6"x 6" oil on masonite Sold

This was an experiment in color temperature and overall color key. I wanted to take this pretty boy out of his environment and put in one that really complimented him. Something that answered what his colors seemed to want.

I used to think the idea of someone's color was a silly idea, but over the last couples years it seems like the color of a person's (or dog) skin really seems to ask for a certain compliment color. This boy seemed to want a yellowish green behind him. So I gridded a new background color into slight color variations to make the background a little more interesting. It's fun to push color a bit in different directions to get a varied background but not push them so far that they step outside of the general range of the over overall color key. I don't want one color block to stick out too much, so they still work together as a group. On the other hand, I wanted enough variation to keep it interesting. I dunno, maybe he'd be ok with the one right color in the background. Hmm, maybe I try that too, but I really like this one.

A little birdie told me that this also has a kind of 3d effect to it. Hmmm, not the story I mean to tell or at least I don't want to distract a viewer away from the color. Love to hear your thoughts.

#308 - The Cow Before The Storm

2011-08-25T23:52:00.000-04:00

10"x 10" oil on canvas Sold

Well I did say as of late that I was looking for some kind of physical or visual weight in my paintings right? Looks like I found that in a heavy frame and heavy subject (sitting bovine). A little bird in my ear suggested the puntastic title of "Ground Beef", but I was too distracted by the way this cow was sitting calmly in the face of an approaching storm. Good for her. Where's she going to go anyway? Hide under a tree? Nah, enjoy your nice green field. Storms always come and go. It doesn't have to ruin your picnic.

BTW-This painting this is actually painted on a thicker canvas frame(pic below) instead of my usual masonite. Fun Stuff! Note to self: Must learn to stretch my own canvas soon. Anyhoo, more experiments to come.

#307 - Retro Robin

2011-08-15T13:16:00.004-04:00

6"x 6" oil on masonite Sold

Ever since I got a better camera for taking pictures of my paintings I've been bitten by the photo bug. It's just so much fun. The speed and ease (compared to painting) at which you can make beautiful images is very intoxicating. But as fun as photos are, I still think of them for the most part, as painting fodder. A DSL is a different world of beauty from a point and shoot, but still you can't beat the convenience of something smaller. Speaking of convenience, I can't get enough of the camera on the iphone. There are even apps on there now that rival photoshop. The iphone app called Instagram ain't no photoshop, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. Lately I play with it all the time. I can't resist the old retro filters! I love the ones with the borders, especially in black. I always like the way they seem to add a feeling of weight, reference and nostalgia to an image. Feels like a border or frame, grounds an image in time and space. It's an anchor for an image, like a period is for a sentence. The style of the frame can be an anchor in time. Remember the way the old family photos (~70s) had those rounded edge? I loved that. How kind were those edges to see and hold compared to the sharp ones? A sharp corner is so definite and sometimes acts like an arrow sharply pointing you away from the image. A rounded edges seem to gently nudge you back inside a photo (or back in time?). Anchors and weight. That's what I've been thinking about lately. That's what I've been missing or wanting in my paintings. I think physical as well as visual weight too. Feels substantial. The next painting I'll post up soon is a 10 x 10 on a thick canvas frame. The size and weight feels good. I'll keep on painting the smaller masonite (and artcard) ones, but I want to play with some bigger sizes. It's fun to stretch out. It feels good, plus maybe it's simply time to get bigger.

#306 - Self-Portrait: Red loves Green

2011-06-29T13:11:00.002-04:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite SOLD

Red loves Green.

It's a more romantic story than just reciting color theory about complimentary colors. I like to think that at the first color theory party, Red and Green spotted each other across the crowded color wheel and it was love at first sight (fierce sight?). It's the same silly love song for Yellow/Violet and Orange/Blue, but it's true. Complementary colors make each other shine. Red is at it's reddest with green. Put them together with a clear edge, right next to each other and watch them shine like stars. But beware intrepid painter! If you cross the boundaries and these compliments are mixed together, they cancel each other out (watch them wither). They make black or a some muted neutral.

As long as we're on the dark side let suggest Alizarin plus Pthalo green. This fierce black is seductively dark and deep.

Red loves Green (like hidden loves seen).
Are we each to each, attracted to our compliments?

If you're a nerd, I'm a nerd.

#305 - Missing Gander

2011-05-23T00:36:00.166-04:00

2.5"x 3.5" (ACEO) oil on artboard MIA

If you really want to know the truth, the problem with little paintings is that they can be misplaced. Let me rephrase that: My problem with little paintings is that I can lose them. Case in point, either this little gander waddled off on it's own or I simply misplaced the little guy. Perhaps it's just as well. I never did get a decent photo of it (this was from my phone), plus it was waaaay contrasty. At least that's the way I remember it. Maybe I just lit the artboard too brightly while painting it.

It's weird, the relativity of colors. When I'm painting in a shadow side, I'm just looking at that side and it becomes the whole world. I don't realize or keep in mind it's opposite side; the light side (light-side family). I find that is usually when I'm in danger of poking holes. That's when I'm in danger of not "holding to the masses" as Hawthorne would say. Ha! The word "Mass" always seems so scientific to me, as if a color mass could be easily turned into energy by dividing it by the square of the speed of light. More importantly "mass" is just fun to say because it sounds kind of fancy, but I always like think of the "masses" as families (or sides). The only thing that keeps these families together ("the mass holds") is because all of the individual color spots of a side stay within a certain color range of each other. If one spot steps out of that range, it has poked a hole.

The spot where I fall in love is usually on the border between the two families. It's on that border where a very colorful note often shines like lead tenor from the choir. But sometimes I'll fall for a subtle note on the shadow side. In that case, the color spot is often the quiet voice of the reflected light.
But the sad truth is that neither of those things happened here for me (but I kinda like the eye-light). I think that's the reason why this gander wandered off (or got lost).

So where is the place that unloved paintings go?
Maybe this place looks like the island of misfit toys where they all mope around, heads sagging like heavy loads (or do they explode?).

Anyway, peace be with you gander. God speed² to your destination.

I'm hungry now. Who's up for chinese? I am.

#304 - Back to Pear One

2011-04-28T13:27:00.004-04:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite Sold

Ah, back to pear one. (can't resist puns)

#303 - Monkey See

2011-04-23T01:29:00.011-04:00

6"x 6" oil on masonite Sold

I don't. I've been lost at sea for about a million years. I just washed up ashore and I'm just now starting to wake from this trance. I may need a few more bonks on the head, but I think I remember what I am supposed to be doing. Now it's time to wake up and begin the seeing habit again. Beware, I'm still groggy (sea sick too) so take it easy on this old primate.

monkey see, monkey do.
monkey sea, monkey deux.

special thanks to those who sent messages in bottles.

#302 - Sunrise Sound

2010-11-15T10:29:00.001-05:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite Sold

#301 - Candy Bird

2010-10-25T16:30:00.005-04:00

2.5"x 3.5" (ACEO) oil on artboard Sold

#300 - Man from the Black Sea

2010-10-22T10:46:00.001-04:00

5"x 7" oil on masonite sold

"Didn't I tell you?

I am the ocean, you are a fish; do not go to the dry land,

it is me, who is your comforting body of water."

-Rumi

I don't really do portraits, at least not on purpose. I really just look for the right shapes of light, the colors and the patterns that they make. I like to think I'm equal opportunity when it comes to subjects. If the light is there, I'll paint it. I'm always just waiting for the light to show up. During an afternoon meeting, the light happened to fall just right on our department director. His name is Mike but I like to think of him as the man from the black sea.

Happy 300th painting to me. :)

#299 - Golden Slices

2010-10-18T22:00:00.004-04:00

6"x 6" oil on artboard Sold

Alrighty, time to get back on the wagon. I've got to get these next paintings posted up so I can move onto more/new paintings. Special thanks to Jean Townsend, a great painter I ran into last week who got me motivated to get off my butt. There is nothing like the daily painter community (my sangha). It can really help you keep the faith. :)

Time for shop talk!

I just wanted to share a few pics of my lighting and capture setup. So, after too much research I picked up a solux bulb (5000K/36 Degrees Black back) and put in a gooseneck adjustable clip-on lamp. This way I can angle just right so it can light the easel I have set up right next to my monitor (which I've finally got decently calibrated with the eye-one display 2 calibrator). The easel is a cheap wooden one painted matter black. On it is a sanded edge piece of glass painted with black gesso on the underside. I'm using the glass now because it's very easy to scrap (razor) dry paint off and I also wanted more space for mixing right next to the painting. I still use my poschade box nearby to hold everything though. On the new light is just a little bit of black wrap aluminum foil around it to keep light out of my eyes but still on the easel. This last pic is of my rather ghetto capture setup. It's just two clip lights placed at 45° to the ground (mounted on a cheap tripod or the pole of a floor lamp). The light bulbs in them are Alzo CFLs (45w, 91cri). The film over them is a polarizing filter that you use in juction with a another polarizing filter on your camera for some fancy schmancy cross-polarizing that I was mentioning in this long post a little while ago. I know it seems like a lot to go through for cutting out glare, but it really does work. On the ground is just some black velvit taped (with gaffer's tape-highly recommended) to the floor. It might not be pretty, but it's been working well. However, I have been thinking about trying to find a copy stand for this, but I need one that can take these cfl bulbs and the polarizing filters. Also, I'm poor so I might have to make one or get a used one.

edit added (10/25/2010):

I thought I'd mention the camera info:

The camera I'm using is the Canon Eos Rebel T2i with a 50mm prime lens on it (and polarizing filter on that). I take the exposures with the camera set to "aperture priority". This is so I can lock it at f5 (which is about the sharpest aperture setting for this 50mm prime lens). This makes the exposure a little long, but it's locked down on a simple tripod anyway so no problem. The photos are always taken in RAW (instead of jpeg) because allegedly you pick up 2 more stops of dynamic range in the shadows and .1/2 stop in the highlights.

Hit me with some questions if you feel like it. :)

#298 - Dark Plum

2010-09-17T09:30:00.003-04:00

2.5"x 3.5" (ACEO) oil on artboard sold
Holy contrast batman. I had a hard time photographing this because it's so contrasty. The light family and the dark family both have value and hue changes within them, but the two are so frickin far apart that it was hard to get the camera to pick that all up. Editing it in raw help recover that I think. Supposedly raw gives you an extra 2 stops in the dark and 1/2 in the light. When in doubt, underexpose eh?

#297 - Pink Drink

2010-09-14T09:31:00.009-04:00

2.5"x 3.5" (ACEO) oil on artboard Sold

Painting these violets and magentas really showed me the blind spots of my limited palette (cad yellow light,cad red,alizarin,ultra marine, thalo blue). I had to literally use magenta and violet oil colors just to reach the amount of saturation. It was just plain outside of the color range of what I could get between mixing alizarin and ultra marine.

#296 - Black Stem Pear

2010-08-31T17:39:00.011-04:00

2.5"x 3.5" (ACEO) oil on artboard Sold

"In a way, reality is uniform. Why do we require a trip to Mount Everest in order to be able to perceive one moment of reality? I think if you could become fully aware of what existed in the cigar store next door to this restaurant, I think it would just blow your brains out! Isn't there just as much reality to be perceived in the cigar store as there is on Mount Everest?"

-My Dinner with André

#295 - Windowside Portrait

2010-08-25T17:40:00.014-04:00

5" x 7" oil on masonite Sold

I'll never get tired of the color shifts within each family (light side and shadow side). The most saturated colors usually pop out furiously like shooting stars right on the light/shadow border. Seems like sometimes the light side has to be so subtle in color shift just to maintain the brightness, but the shadowside has a lot of room to play, during the long ride, on it's way to nothing at all.

I've memorized every single color spot on this painting because I used it to learn how to get consistent results out of my printer and monitor during my color management battle this last month. I should make a memorial from the countless fallen prints that had to die, lying glossy-side-down on the battlefield. New prints could visit the memorial that would read, "Here rest the prints that laid down their lives, so that our color could be true."

btw- made some changes to the paypal buttons to accommodate the new "buy a print" button (edit: had to hide the "buy painting" one because it sold). Any feedback is much appreciated.

Prints

2010-08-25T15:36:00.006-04:00

Well folks, I've finally got my capture and color correction/management system under control, so I'm going to start offering prints.

Information on high quality prints of my original artwork:

All prints are made by me and color corrected to ensure fidelity to the original painting. They are printed with Chromalife100 ink system on archival quality glossy photo paper. All prints are signed and dated by the artist.

5"x7"prints are centered on 8"x10" paper (fits 8"x10" frame).

2.5"x3.5" prints are centered on 5"x7" paper (fits 5"x7" frame).

6"x6" prints are centered on 8"x8" paper (fits 8"x8" frame).

any changes or additions will be made to this post to reflect my current printing practices.

Incidentally, I capture the painting images at a very high resolution, so I'm considering offering larger-than-original print sizes, but I haven't worked out the details just yet. What other sizes would you enlarge a 5"x7" to anyway? I'd love any feedback or suggestions.

Please email me any questions or requests for custom print sizes.
jeffmahorney@gmail.com

:) Jeff