Brande Arno Art

4 x 4 inches - NFAC Nibblefest Art Contest Sold This little piece was painted today for the Nibblefest Art Contest and like always, starts on the 20th of the month and bidding starts at only .99 cents.  I probably over did it eating tea biscuits while painting this.

"Amy's First Shoes" 5 x 5 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Collection of the Artist There is a paint copper challenge on Daily Paintworks.  I normally don't paint metal because...well it's difficult and I have enough problems with self esteem.  But the temptation was too great when the metal was copper.  Back in 197_ I decided to get my daughter's first pair of baby shoes dipped in copper and mounted. Traditionally baby shoes were dipped in Bronze.  But I loved copper and it was a choice.  Some people went overboard and got their baby's shoes dipped in silver.  But not me, because I didn't want to eat macaroni and cheese more than the month it would take to save for copper.  Let me tell you...Painting copper is harder than I feared it would be.  But after 4 scape's, I got this and I'm more than pleased.  So thank you, Carol Marine for posting the challenge.  I learned more than I should have! Below is the actual shoes and t...

Yellow Bowl, 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board These are the last three red tomatoes from our garden.  We do have many more that are still green.  Nothing tastes as good as a tomato sandwich made from a tomato you just picked.   I struggled with the bowl in this painting.  I had something in mind that I couldn't quite get on the canvas.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Apples & Peels, 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Panel It's been too long since I've picked up the brush and had studio time.  I missed painting and I'm so glad to be able to get back to my usual schedule again.  Sometimes life gets complicated or busy or worse, both!   I wanted to do something different with these apples and decided to peel one right in the middle. It's no coincidence that it's the middle apple that got peeled.   Hope to feature the last of my garden tomatoes in a painting tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

"Evidence" 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Panel Click here to bid This is evidence of last night's snack attack which included a warm cocoa - made with real unsweetened cocoa and NO SUGAR, a bowl of cereal with peaches and a small biscuit with homemade raspberry jam.  I want everyone to know that I didn't consume all these items at once.  No, I spread it out through the evening.  Not that the calorie counter fairy cares.  That fairy visits almost every night- right after the sandman.  How do I know...evidence...after I rub the sand out of my eyes, I see the fat on my thighs.

Little Green Apples, 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board Click to Bid I took my mom to the market recently and she bought a bagful of the smallest apples, just a smidgen bigger than crab-apples.  Thinking how apples inspire Carol Marine to create magical paintings, I decided see if I could make a painting.  No magic in my studio, what I found was that I had to do a lot of thinking about what makes green...well green.  Now I'm going to peel them and make an apple pie! 

4 x 4 inches, Oil on Board Click to Bid Haven't posted as much as I normally do.  I've been obligated outside the studio a lot of last week.  Today, I finished a commission and went to my strawberry patch afterwards.  The berries are in and I'm very, very happy to harvest them.  I decided to paint two of today's little buggers.  BTW:  They taste better than anything you can get at the market.

6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board Sold!  Thank you Yesterday, my neighbor, Millie phoned to ask if I would like some lilacs to paint.  Mille has two mature lilac trees that produce beautiful fragrant blooms.  She has been faithfully giving me some for more than 15 seasons now.  Thank you Millie! I like the push and pull of the brushwork and pigments on this painting On another note, my wonderful daughter gave a surprise birthday party and it really was a surprise!  I so enjoyed seeing family that live a Sunday;s drive or longer, all gathered together.  The older one gets, the people who attend a birthday party are more valuable than any gift.

4 x 4 inches, Oil on Board I really had a frustrating day today.  This can be traced to having spent too much time doing the same thing over and over on the computer because my first attempts didn't take. So I only had a few hours for painting, or so I thought.  The above painting was painted and scraped, repainted and scraped and painted again two more times before I got it right.  And I thought the small size and single pear would make this a piece of cake...wrong. I'm OK with all the scraping and starting new, because I learned a lot.

5 x 5 inches, Oil on Board The challenge this week for Daily Paintworks is to paint glass.  Well after all I've been through this weekend with my killer migraine, I had to include headache medicine...just plain aspirin, but you'll notice three tablets are at the ready!   The glass is my husband's favorite.  It has a nice aquamarine colored rim and is on the thick side.  I bought it years ago...it's one of a kind like I am...just sayin'

Pumpkins On Pink Matt 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board   I had more trouble painting this piece than I originally thought I would.  Every painting has it's problems that occur as you paint.  The best start can turn into a scraper real quick.  I kept scraping parts of this piece, changing this and that.  Finally it happened!  I love the outcome.

Apple Stack 5 x 5 inches, Oil on Board     The other day, I noticed my mom had several shinny green apples in her fruit bowl.  I decided I was going to paint a couple and today I did.  The pottery was given to me years ago by my daughter.  I might try this again as I like painting apples.

Light Bulb Challenge 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board   Who would paint a light bulb?  I would, especially if it's a challenge designed by Artist, Carol Marine.  I've been trying to create a painting on a regular basis as a result of meeting a weekly challenge offered by DPW.   I cannot put into words how bad I felt yesterday as I tried and tried to paint a soft white bulb.  I had three scrapers and one start that did not look too promising at the end of my studio day.  I just about cried, but instead sipped on a bit of Irish Cream Whiskey.  Medicinal purposes!   Today, I decided to not let this get to me.  This is the result.  Not good enough, but good enough.  Only you artists can make sense of that last sentence.  It's AKA quit while you're ahead.   I so want to capture color and light better than I am doing now.  This will be a goal for me in 2013 and if it gets better before then, I'll have a reaso...

Broken Raw Eggs with Brown Shells 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board This is my first ever (in my entire twenty plus years of painting) attempt at painting broken raw eggs.  If it wasn't for Carol Marine, I wouldn't even think they were worthy subject.  Just goes to show you can't judge an egg by it's shell.   I need to say, I've learned so much while painting this piece.  Mostly with light, reflected and translucent.  I'm also very happy with the outcome.  I know there are some weaknesses, but I decided this is best I could do at this time of my career and stopped while I was ahead.   Below are some images of how this progressed:     This is a shot of the actual setup.  I love Pyrex ware.  I still have my custard cups from...well somewhere in the late 60's     This is the painting pretty far along.  But I wasn't really happy with that black swath in the background, so I adjusted the c...

Pennsylvania Peaches 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board I decided to paint these peaches as my response to this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge, which is The Complementary Challenge prepared by Layne Cook.  No, the peaches are not complementing each other, even though they are hanging out kind of close to each other.   What was planned for this painting, was the use of the complementary colors of green with red.  Well, more specifically a blue-green neutral paired with the warmer dominant orange-red of the peaches.  The cast shadows have all colors mixed on the palette included in them.    I really enjoyed painting this piece.  I love stepping up to the DPW's weekly challenges and hope they never stop.  They are a great source of learning.

In the Pink Oil on Board, 5 x 5 inches   This week's challenge for Daily Paintworks is to paint a rose.  Florals of any type require a lot of soft colors.  Muted colors.  I remember seeing beautiful floral paintings years ago, by an artist who exclusively painted florals and she approached each painting the same way:  Soft  muted colors and brushstroke whispers. Although I almost gave up because my first two attempts were scrapers, I'm glad I stuck with it.  I'm pleased with this painting.  It will be up for auction at www.dailypaintworks.com 

Business & Art Law take two 6 x 6 inches, oil on board http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/brande-arno/business-and-art-law-take-two/77676    Something got into me with respect to my first attempt at painting these two books,  That post is just below this one.  Everything is the same EXCEPT that I scraped off the painting yesterday because I didn't like the out-come. Someone else did like it and asked about buying it.  So I repainted it today.  I was going to repaint it anyway.  

Business & Art Laws 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Board I was fishing for ideas on what to paint today.  Last Saturday, I cleaned and organized my studio.  I had to make decisions on what books I would keep.  I almost gave away my Business Law book from 1982.  I'm going to die with my Max Doerner book in my studio.  So I thought I would stack both books for today's painting. My connection with these two books is the word consequences.  If you break the law, your in trouble.  If you break art law, your painting  is in trouble.  Most of the information in both books is obsolete now.  Although reading either one could cure insomnia, they have strong meaning to me. 

Yellow Greens Oil on Board, 5 x 7 inches, $80.00 I snipped several cuttings from a very old variegated something that grows like crazy and also likes to climb around the house.  I have in mind to re-vamp my studio office, pot up the clippings after they sprout some roots and put them in my studio and studio office Right now, I'm ashamed of what both look like.  If I was to get ready for a visitor, I would have to gather all manner of papers, portable files and what ever has found a resting place in it's confines and put it all in about ten laundry baskets...probably more. Really the major problem is I don't have a enough space and too much stuff just hanging off the hips.  It's kind of like loosing weight.  You have to take in less calories, take in less "STUFF".  I've filled up all my closets, Neill has totally taken over the garage and cellar space.  The attic is accessed by a clumsy ladder.  So I'm kinda like painted into a cor...

Thrown Pot, 6 x 8 inches, Oil  $50.00  This is a pot I got from a fine art and craft show more than 10 years ago.  Probably a neighbor artisan who was a potter..  I love all manor of pottery, especially when the potter mixes the glazes from chemicals and not resort to commercial glazes.  - Brande