The letter 6"x6" oil

Over years many of you have gotten letters of importance that have changed or influenced your lives.  This was one that did that for me.   It is not important who it is from or why but that it changed the way I felt about life.   The internet has changed that form of communication on so many levels.  

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Jen the redhead 9"x12" oil

In the poses that Jen has done for us in the past few months it seems like she has had her hair up or covered in some way so Friday when she arrived with her hair down I decided to just do a head study. So here is the result of two and a half hours worth of painting.  The last two Fridays I was so unhappy with what I painted that I came home and wiped them off.   I hate when that happens.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Spring is in my studio 6"x6" oil

Adding other things to this composition just did not look right to me.   I wanted to keep this clean, simple composition.  The challenge here was to make the blue grayish background on the left  match in value to the flower petals in shadow.   It took a bit of tweaking.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Good Day Sunshine 6"x6" oil

One of my students left these Daffodils and two days later they still look good so I painted them.   Thought I would make it a study in yellow.   Some of the small changes in yellow do not show up in the photo.   But I like it anyway.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Souvenirs from Paris 6"x6" oil

These dice and playing cards came from a small game shop I came across while walking around Paris. The playing cards were so wonderful with their stylized illustrations of cats, it is my favorite deck.   I think I suffered from nit-pickitus today however it might have started yesterday.... my painting was so bad yesterday that the only thing to do was to wipe it off.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Peasant Girl 9"x12" oil

Jen is wearing the under garments that she wore underneath her Russian costume  that I posted on Feb 11.   These two items were completley hidden.    I ended up painting tighter than I had planned.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Ordering Sushi 6"x6" oil

For some reason it seems to be universal to get one of those sheets of paper to mark your order of sushi, sashimi and rolls when you go to a Japanese restaurent.   And of course there is always the little short pencil.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Reading a thriller 6"x6" oil

It seems like in this day and age reading a book is the old fashion method of reading.   Personally I like to listen to audio books while I paint, cook, sew... you get the picture.   Currently listening to Donald E Westlake's "Money for nothing".   My favorite of his books are the Dortmunder series read by Michael Kramer.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@twc.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Seeing the sewing 6"x6" oil

The current garment I am working on in the evenings requires hours of hand sewing and I love it!  Doing this work and watching movies from netflix is one of my favorite things to do.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com My website: http://claudiahammer.com My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Crossword puzzle 6"x6" oil

Working crossword puzzles was something my parents did all the time and when they were alive I worked them too.   My Dad was still good at knowing the older pat answers even in his last months of Alzheimers.   I worked them for a while but now that they are no longer around I don't seem to have the motivation.   I still love the idea of working it with someone else, the back and fourth.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Journal writing 6"x6" oil

   

In this small journal I wrote about my trip to Provence that I took a few years ago.  The pen  was my mother's. 

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Charting a course 6"x6" oil

The denial of needing to wear glasses seems to be a common thing to do.  Finally after nearly two years of squinting I was on a photo shoot in Miami when I spotted this pair of glasses and I remember thinking that If I had to wear glasses this pair was going to be it.   They looked modern and actually cool!   Not my grandmothers glasses at all!  Now 20 years later my progressive bifocals are the first thing I put on and last thing I take off each day.   I feel I can't even think without them.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

The Thank-you note 6"x6" oil

I love this little thank you note.   Besides being simple and pretty the hand written message was warm and heart felt.   I have had it on my desk pushing it around here and there and just cannot put it away.  Painting it might allow me to let go.   I just happened to have some berries that look just like the ones on the note!     Coupled with my old fashioned calligraphy pen... voila la!

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Sudoku Puzzle 6"x6" oil

Working on a Sudoku puzzle is one of my favorite pastimes.   The one I like the most is called Gattai-5 which is 5 interlocking puzzles.   I try to work one of those every day at lunch.  

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Newspaper reading 6"x6" oil

I keep tightening up.   I tried to be loose and it just wouldn't happen no matter how much my head told me to.   I do like the shadow and glasses and simple palette.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

The better to see you my dear 6"x6" oil

Painted this on Tuesday and I totally forgot to post!   The shadows were varied from a warm grey to a cool grey but grey... dull grey.  I could paint it accurately with the right color value which would be a more academic traditional way but I chose to add color to make it more fun and visually interesting.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Green taffeta dress 11"x14" oil

This green dress is woven with two colors, the warp is violet blue and the weft is lime green so the fabric takes on an iridescent quality and changes color as she moves.   It makes for fun painting, thank goodness she was holding still!  I have tried to keep the focus on the head and shoulders and trying to keep the rest loose and move the colors around the canvas.  

The three hour session goes way too fast and with the model breaks it is more like two and a half hours.   I had to keep from panicking at the end.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Pen and ink 6"x6" oil

This is a pair of tortoise shell glasses from the 1920's.   I have used them a number of years back with an earlier prescription but switched to something else because I was afraid I would wear out the parts and they are probably not replaceable because all the findings are gold.   But they are nice to look at.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

I see shadows 6"x6" oil

You guessed it.   This is not a painting of silverware... thank goodness!   I believe my fear of painting silverware is over, time to move on... to glasses!   At least for a while.  I have been thinking about eye glasses since last August.   I wanted some round tortoise shell frames and I have looked at many and have not found the right ones.   Going through my stash of old glasses I realized that almost all of my glasses are round but out of many different materials.    My favorite parts of this painting are the shadows.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Are you being served? 6"x6" oil

It is so rainy and overcast today that I had a hard time taking the photo.   Serving pieces are the subjects today just in case it wasn't obvious.  To give you a scale the cake server on the upper left is 10.5" long with the serving part being 5" long.    On this painting it all looks small.   Well, the little fork for olives or pickles is small but long.   So far in this series I have polished 43 pieces of flatware... I think I am over with this series.  Will see how I feel tomorrow.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Hannah seated 9"x12" oil

Hannah always poses so elegantly.  I struggled with this one trying to get a balance between cool and warm and not get to buried in detail.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Spooning 6"x6" oil

In my studio I have two large north facing windows and while I use a bright light on my still life I usually get some reflection of the cool light in my shiny objects which gives me the excuse to put in some cool blue specks.   I felt like I was part of Downton Abby today polishing all this silver.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Misunderstood relatives 6"x6" oil

These are the items that I have that give me questions.   Some I know like the gravy ladle and the cake server, the butter knife, but what the heck is the item on the lower left?  it is a kind of shallow spoon server but what for?   One of my students said it was to serve condiments of sort.  This was laid out on a white tablecloth and as I painted I noticed a bit of  pink in the white.

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com My website: http://claudiahammer.com My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

You're going the wrong way! 6"x6" oil

This time I thought I would try to paint the shadows as warm and the silverware cool.   

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My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Yummy golden tomatoes 6"x6" oil

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Snacking on these juicy tomatoes is one of my favorite things.   One year I grew them on a vine out back and every day I would go out and eat the ones that were newly ripe.  Hot off the vine is the best!

My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Nothin but forks 6"x6" oil

Decided to just paint forks today, because of the shadows.  It has been in the back of my mind to document my painting process for this series.   Some of the techniques are the same but there are a couple that are specific to this series.   I finally thought to do this before I started so I could capture the beginning.

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 If you are viewing this on DPW please click on my blog to view demo.

I took a photo so you could see the set up.  

I start with a gessoed masonite panel and paint it with a grey/green mixture of acrylic.   Then block in the silverware with a medium/dark grey and used a grey/blue for the shadows so they stay separate.  I keep all this rather loose and it takes about 10 minutes.

Because the panel is a medium value I go ahead and loosely paint in the lighter background so the whole panel is not covered in wet paint.

As you can see on the left side I have started to carve out and form the tines and details of the forks, paying attention to wether it is cool or warm.   Here is where I get so confused.   I tell myself each time that I am going to paint the forks a warm color and keep the shadows cool because the light source is warm.... makes sense right?   But when I am stareing at the forks I see cools and warms in the shadows and cool and warm on the forks!!   So I nix the plan and go with what I see... sort of.   Maybe someday I will be brave enough to go with the plan.

Now you see that I have completed the more complete block in on the forks.   At this point I am about half done as far as time.

Here is the completed painting and as you can see I finessed the shadows, added more detail to the forks, put in more cools and warm tones, and finished the background color with the brightest being in the upper left corner.

My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Silverware toss 6"x6" oil

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A friend of my suggested I paint a pile of silverware.   I started with a hand full of about 12 and it was a mess and, to me, not very interesting so I tried 5, which is a good number.   Threw them many times and pulled on the fabric and finally came up with this composition.  

I'm happy. ;-)

My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Lady Pisemsky 11"x14' oil

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The model made this costume for a theatre production she was in and uses it in Renaissance fairs.   Her craftsmanship on the costume is very impressive.  There are 5 layers to her costume, eight pieces in all plus the feather fan.   This Russian costume shows how the wealthy dressed in 1580.

My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

How did you get in here? 6"x6" oil

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Just playing around with different arrangements.   In doing a series the challenge is exploring different set ups  and staying interested and excited about it so that the painting does not suffer.   Does that make sense?   Usually at the end of a series I no longer care about the subject and am ready to move on.  It hasn't happened yet with this subject.

My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209

Fork it over! 6"x6" oil

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Moving along in the silverware theme here is another one.   I feel as though I am getting the hang of it although painting the tines are tricky.   I love seeing and capturing the subtle colors in the shadows.   Maybe I should polish the silver... 

My blog: http://claudiahammer.blogspot.com
My website: http://claudiahammer.com
My email: iclaudiahammer@insightbb.com
My DPW gallery: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/chammer-209