Stacy Weitz Minch

6x6, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/30/2015 Another entry for this week's challenge on dailypaintworks.com. I was having a really hard time achieving a convincing color harmony until I started incorporating more violet into the waves. It was another one of those "paint what you see, not what you think you see" moments. Apparently, water can be just about any color it so chooses. Anyway, this little laborador seems to be enjoying it ;) photo reference from morguefile.com

6x8, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/29/2015 I apologize for the poor photo quality--I've managed to lose the battery charger for my nicer camera, so... iphone pics until I find it or order a replacement :)  I got this portable easel for my birthday (in March!)... ...and hadn't had the chance to get out "en plein aire" to paint yet! It was a perfect day for such things today, but I still found it quite difficult to keep track of where my paints/brushes/palette/water/grocery bag for garbage, etc.,  could all be placed in a functional arrangement. And there was just the slightest bit of wind, but it was flipping up the pages of my paper palette and whisking away my trash bag (at one point I even knocked my palette face-down onto the grass, urgh). But all that being said, I DID manage to paint something outside, and I will be better prepared next time I venture out into the great outdoors to paint--not sure HOW I will be better prepared, but at leas

5x7, water mixable oil on panel, 4/28/2015 For this painting I was really focusing on warm/cool colors--something I feel I don't have a very strong grasp on yet. I paint near a north-facing window, so the light coming in is cooler, making the shadows relatively warm. The square glass dish is a recent thrift store find. I love the way it looks, but is it ever tricky to paint with its flared top and organic curves :)

6x8, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/26/2015 Can't help it--I'm always drawn to the mother/child subjects! This is an entry for the "Big Splash" weekly challenge on dailypaintworks.com. I like how these weekly challenges get me thinking outside my usual repertoire of material, and how completing them keeps pushing me to work on painting from photographs. I find when painting from a photo, I can only believe some of what I see, and then fill in the rest (that's the hard part :) photo reference from morguefile.com. 

6x8, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/24/15 I've been reading Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima II  , and gazing at his unfinished canvases has inspired me to give it a try--leave a little bit of the canvas unfinished. I like how the unfinished portions of the painting give insight into the process of the painting's creation. Creating art is a strange confluence of reason, knowledge, inspiration, technique, and so many choices! The past couple days I've really been focusing on making my paintings as true to life as possible--realism, I suppose. I'll be the first to tell you that I have a long way to go, and the kind of concentration it requires to accurately transpose a real life object into a 2-dimensional image is intense (especially if that image moves--I've also been trying to draw my 14-month-old lately)! I'm really quite happy with how this one came out, though. You can never go wrong with radishes :)

10x8, water mixable oil on stretched canvas, 4/23/15 Lilacs have always been one of my favorite flowers--it's the sweet aroma that gets me.

7x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/22/15 This is a little house I happened by while driving my daughter to preschool one day. It was so lovely--from the hedge in front, to the pink blossoming trees, and even the off-center window with only one shutter! I pulled to the side of the road to snap a photo... and here it is in paint. Lately I'm trying anything and everything in subject matter(within representational reason, anyway). And each time I finish a painting, I learn something new about how to approach a painting. With this one, I started with a toned panel, and slowly built the paint around the little house and from dark to light.  Maybe it changes as you go along, but from what I have learned about art so far, it doesn't seem to get easier! My ability to accomplish certain tasks gets easier, but once those are mastered, the new problems my eyes have been opened to are even harder. So I guess that's why it is so interesting and fulfilling. Each p

8x6, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/20/15 This painting is a response to this week's challenge on dailypaintworks.com--to take a reference photo and infuse into the painting a feeling of atmospheric perspective, with the darkest darks being in the foreground. I did this in three planes--the subjects containing the darkest darks, the medium darks in the footprints in the sand, and the lightest darks farther down on the beach where in my photo, there were a lot of busy darks I had to ignore. I think "faking" the feeling of atmosphere really helped with the composition here by drawing attention to the intended subjects.  I'm fascinated by motherhood--though we all do it a little (or a lot) differently, we are united in our love and devotion to our precious cargo. Photo reference from morguefile.com.

5x7, water mixable oil on panel, 4-18-15 These carnations are lasting much longer than most flowers I bring home. I might just have to try them out again today. I've been really interested in learning to effectively represent flowers and glass in paint lately, and this painting incorporates both! One thing I've learned about learning--the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. When I look at this painting--I see so many things I've learned, and so many things that I still want to learn. It's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/17/15  I like the variation of values in the petals of these carnations--ranging from almost black to a lighter, almost pink color where the light hits the edges. Matching the correct value is something I've really been working on lately, and flowers are a great subject matter for value matching--especially because I have to fight extra hard to overcome my preconceived notions of what color a flower looks like--I might think "those carnations are red". But oh, there are so many shades! It's fun to look back at flowers I tried to paint a few years ago and see that I have made huge improvements in my ability to see them for what they are. Case in point: I almost shudder looking at those--but  I believe in sharing the failures along with the successes, because hey, if I had really known a long time ago that everyone starts out churning out horrible attempts at art at first, the prospect of improving my skills w

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/16/15 For a while I had the notion that art should come easily--just flow out of you like a magical spring and onto the canvas. That idea likely stemmed from many of the teachers of art I encountered who seemed to have no interest whatsoever in teaching technique, but simply providing the space and materials and saying "paint." Well, that's an interesting challenge now and then.  The problem with that philosophy is that it led me to believe that that is how the great masters of painting learned to paint--that their talent was just so inherently great that somebody gave them a pencil and paper and voila! A masterpiece ensued. Which also led me to believe that I didn't have what it takes to be a good artist. I figured that since I had tried my hand at it for a few semesters, and not churned out anything spectacular, I just must not have the chops.  Well, I'm finally realizing that art, like anything, takes patien

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/13/15

6x8, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/13/15 I think this little lady has found a new friend :) photo reference from morguefile.com

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/12/2015 I was at Sprouts the other day and found bunches and bunches of Sunflowers on clearance for $1.99! They've been brightening up my kitchen and dining room--and now this painting board ;)

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/11/2015 I guess I've started a little series of these strawberries--first a quartet, then, a quintet, and now a trio! Maybe duet will be next :)

8x6, water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/10/2015 I came across this photo while browsing the morguefile.com. I've always loved mother/child art and I hope to do more of it in the future. There's just something so moving about a mother's love.

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/9/15 The whole time I was painting these, my daughter was standing behind me saying, "Can I have one yet?" Something about these apples being the object of my total attention made them simply irresistible :)

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/8/15 Every time I cut open an avocado, I think I should paint it. I finally did :)

7x5, water mixable oil on panel, 4/8/15 I painted this abstract piece for the weekly dailypaintworks.com painting challenge.  I tend to work 100% representational, from observation. But for this one, I listened to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", pulled out a blank panel and just started painting--with no idea of where I was going. It was an interesting experience, and fun to focus on color, value, line, etc., without the constraints of what the subject "supposed" to look like. However, it may be a long time before I create any abstract artwork again. Not really my thing ;)

Last night I went to a figure drawing session. I spent about an hour and a half on the same drawing, then decided to scrap it altogether and start over. This was about a 15 minute sketch.

16x12", water mixable oil on panel, 4/6/2015 I've been taking a little break from landscapes lately, but I pulled out the photos from our Yellowstone trip last fall, and decided I should give this one a try. I don't know. I'm pretty happy with this painting when I see it in person, but when I shrink it down on the computer screen, I'm not so sure about it... what does that mean?  What I do like about this landscape is that I was able to keep some of the spontaneity I feel working from life, while working from a photo. I've found that if I squint (actually, I sort of slightly cross my eyes, which seems to work better for blurring the image for me), and don't look at the subject too long, then I don't get too caught up in the details. Maybe someday I'll get to a point where working the details doesn't ruin the "fresh" quality I'm going for, but right now, I think I do best when I just quickly record the value and color I

Easter weekend was really nice at our house. It's not often that we have a weekend where not much is going on, and this weekend was exactly that. We went for a couple walks, watched our church's general conference on the TV, and caught a couple of well-deserved naps on the couch.   I pulled out my sketchbook yesterday afternoon while my husband was napping, and quickly sketched this scene.  This next sketch is one of the speakers at general conference. It's tricky to sketch a moving subject--you really have to rely on your memory, or wait until the subject moves into a position that would fit with the position of your drawing.  I remember being in my first drawing class in college, and the professor talked about how when you're drawing older people, to be careful to notice the size of the nose and ears--they keep growing throughout your life. I thought that was the most interesting tidbit of information, and I've found it to be true. The ears and nose a

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/5/15 Click to bid or buy I thought I should give these daffodils one more go before they dry out completely. Happy Easter!

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/3/2015 Another daffodil! This time I decided to try a bit of a closer view to challenge myself :)

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 4/3/2015 Another entry for this week's challenge at dailypaintworks.com. This little guy looks quite fascinated by that dark shape following him around :)

8x6", water mixable oil on canvas board, 4/2/15 Sold I painted this one for the dailypaintworks.com shadow challenge this week. I find it interesting how shadows are so blue during the day--especially on a white sidewalk or snow. I also like the lengthening effect the sun has on my own shadow at that certain time of morning or afternoon--if I could just find a mirror that does that :) photo reference from morguefile.com

8x6", water mixable oil on canvas board, 3/31/2015 Sold