Stacy Weitz Minch

5x7", oil on linen panel Just a quick sketch of a persimmon from last night. Turns out they aren't very tasty (they're one of those fruits that suck all the moisture out of your mouth--and apparently their name means something like "dry fruit" ;). But they are pretty little things. I probably spent between and hour and hour and a half on this (I like to make a note of how long it takes me to do things, for future reference).

Here's where I think I'm going to leave this little portrait of Noah (affectionately referred to as "Nosey" by those who know and love him ;). I've tried to work my paintings in layers before, and it's always been something of a big mess. It seems like this one went a little better, and I think what was different was that I was really careful about the drawing on the first layer and left the paint pretty thin and middle/average mass value, for the most part. So the second layer was more about getting specific about the smaller value and color shifts and building up a little more paint. Working general to specific--it's amazing how these concepts apply to everything ;) Anyway, I'm going to leave it a little painterly for fear of overdoing the "from photo" painting effect, and because my sis likes that painterly look. It helps tremendously to start with a decent photo, which I did--this pup's owner is a good photographer.

5x7", oil on linen panel Another sketch of some little pumpkins we picked up at the pumpkin patch the other day. I left the white one out this time. I don't know why it's so much easier for me to see value and temperature on brightly colored objects, but it is. I guess the variation of color/value on white is probably just a lot more subtle, so your perception needs to be much more fine-tuned. In any case, I'll keep working on that white stuff. With the pumpkins, I'm finding I have to make sure all the darks are connected, and all the lights are connected, or it looks really wonky. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does in my head. And here's a quick sketch of a cat, done from a photograph. I'm feeling the fall vibes, if you can't tell ;) 

4x6" Another quick oil sketch. This kind of thing is just for fun, and isn't that nice? I think I will practice more white dishes next--those subtle shades of gray. I think I need to give the grays a little more color next time, and really study those values carefully (though I may need to spend more than 20 minutes at it)...  My palette was looking pretty crazy, so thought I'd share (and I'm still pretty excited about this silly little cigar box, ha).

16x20", oil on stretched canvas This little canvas was something I started in April (sorry for the weird angle/distortion--I was trying to get a shot without a lot of glare). In my opinion, the composition was way too ambitious for the depth of my experience (I mean, how many more faces, limbs, and hands could I have crammed in there? :P). And in the end, I felt there was only so far I could push it given the existing start. But I had resolved several months ago to bring it to a somewhat sensical point of existence, and this is where I believe it will stay (though I do reserve the right to change my mind ;).  It took a while to work up the motivation to finish this, but working on this painting really has been a good learning experience. I used four colors (ivory black, titanium white, yellow ochre, and cadmium red), and that was something in itself. Simplifying the color scheme helped unify the colors (though there was no way I was going to get the color of that blue ...

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 3/28/16 (sorry for the grainy photo. I'm having the hardest time getting well lighted photos that aren't full of glare lately). There are about a thousand of these things hanging around my house (okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it feels like a thousand). And altogether way too much candy for the composure of two little ones ;) This was kind of an interesting exercise in color mixing. I don't usually paint things with such uniform, saturated colors. And it took a few little experiments to get the colors right (especially the green!). Painting is really hard, and I have to wonder if I will ever feel like I know what I'm doing? I've been a little discouraged about it lately (and haven't been doing much of it). But it doesn't matter. I'm just going to keep on trying--and giving myself little pep talks all the while (I really wish I didn't have to do that, but I do. So I will).  ...

5x7", oil on linen panel, 3/19/16 Alright, so I didn't make good on the few days' break. But this was a quick little painting--nothing too intense. Radishes have such great shapes and colors.

5x7, water mixable oil on linen panel, 3/5/16 This is me trying to not completely neglect painting while focusing more intently on my drawing skills. Quick sketch (1.5-2 hours--or however long Disney's Aladdin runs ;) from this afternoon. Part of me wants to go back over this after it dries and see if I can bring it to a more refined finish. But the other part of me says "don't do it!" I guess I'll see what wins later on. It seems like whenever I try to go for a more finished look, I end up destroying whatever was good about the first go, so I dunno... it scares me a little (not that I have a ton to lose with this... a couple hours and a tiny panel, so maybe I should just go ahead and try?). Which reminds me of Keats again: "I was never afraid of failure. For I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest." I certainly have a long road to travel before being among the greatest, but he inspires me nonetheless :)

5x7, water mixable oil on linen panel, 2/10/16 Just a quick 40-minute study of some potted tulips I picked up the other day. They smell sooo nice and are making me anxious for spring :)

12x16, water mixable oil on board, 1/6/16 It was really hard to get a photo of this painting. If I expose for the sky, the building is too dark. If I expose for the building, the sky is too light. So the clouds/sky are probably slightly blown out in this photo because I tried to find something in the middle. I've loved this building ever since I saw it. It was such a tragedy when it burned down, and I'm so glad that it's a living building again. The grounds look really gorgeous, too. Looking forward to getting a peek at the inside sometime in the near future :)

16x20, water mixable oil on panel, finished 12/13/15 I've been in the mood to finish old projects lately--the dress I started sewing for my daughter (which I'd like to get done before she grows out of it!), a quilt I started 6-7 years ago, and this painting. You can see which of my projects got first priority. An unfinished painting sort of gnaws at me, and I don't really know why... from what I've heard, DaVinci carried around the Mona Lisa for 25 years while he was still working on it--25 years!!! Ha, I don't think I could do it. Anyway, it was that silly white blanket and the proportions on the woman that kept holding me back, and while I am not perfectly satisfied with everything about this painting, I'm calling it good enough (mostly so I can feel good about starting on something else--I really don't like unfinished projects, and this one's been dragging on too long). So I guess all there's left is to do is sign my name ;)

10x8", water mixable oil on linen mounted on gator foam, 12/9/15 "Give a tree its gesture... in a tree there is a spirit of life, a spirit of growth and a spirit of holding its head up." ( The Art Spirit , Robert Henri). I love Robert Henri... a lot of his paintings are really great. I really like the laughing children he started doing later in his career--his quick, bold brush strokes really capture the feeling of the moment. Some of his stuff doesn't really do much for me. I recently saw one of his quickly rendered street scenes in the Portland art museum, and was like, hmmm... but really, I find that encouraging. Everyone has their failures and triumphs (not saying he would have considered it a failure--he was so instrumental in championing art as an individual mode of self expression and a way of living a life, so I appreciate his work anyway, even if I don't find some of it particularly beautiful). Anyway, his passion and enthusiasm for painting are c...

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 12/6/15 My daughter really wanted a watermelon when she saw them at the grocery store the other day, and it really wasn't very good... but at least the color was nice ;)

6x6, water mixable oil on canvas panel, 12/2/15 I don't know why I keep trying to paint these roses--the color is impossible. It's making me think I should start on one of those massive color chart projects to see if I can figure out a way to duplicate what I'm seeing ;) Yes. I should, I should, I should. But I don't waaaaant to. It feels too much like homework ;) On another note, flowers. And painting in general. I'm starting to realize that it's all about simplification and holding back (hmmm, not so successful with this painting--I got a little stroke happy with those petals). Which before this year was something I would have never really supposed (doesn't it seem like when you look at a very realistic painting, that there is so much detail work?). But for the painter, it's all about leaving things out and only putting what is absolutely necessary--eliminating the details (where possible) and simplifying the scene into distinct masses for the v...

6x6, water mixable oil on gessobord, 12/1/15 This little apple balanced better on its side than upright--which somehow reminded me of that silly spin the bottle game I heard all about in jr. high, but never actually played ;)

5x7", water mixable oil on linen panel, 11/20/15 I bought a few of these cute little indian corns (not sure that's a proper pluralization, but oh well) in all different colors at the grocery store a few weeks ago, and just got around to painting one of them last night. It's almost Thanksgiving!!! (I have some family coming into town next week, so I'm getting excited :)

I'm still trudging along on with this painting. I went at this poor lady's head again this week, and I'm feeling a little better about it now (though next time I paint a face, I will make it a much bigger face. 1 1/2 inches is just so small, and if something is off by the tiniest bit the whole face just looks horribly deformed, ha).  Since the picture above, I've scraped out the blanket (again!) and am going to give it another try sometime (maybe soon?). I've had a hard time creating the illusion of depth with this silly blanket, and I think part of the problem is that I'm working from a photograph. The camera exposes for only one gray value, and this blanket was just a little blown out, so I'm having to fudge the values, which I'm not really that great at. So I'm going to try pulling it up in Photoshop and reducing the exposure for the blanket and see if that will help. I may need to bring her feet a little more forward/elongate them b...

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 11/12/15 I could probably paint a pomegranate every day of the year and not get sick of them. I love their rich colors and textures, individual shapes, and characters. I haven't done a lot of painting or drawing the past week... not really sure why. Maybe it's the time change, the change in the weather (brrrr), or burnout from trying to finish that bigger painting last week (I like to start something and get it done ;), or something else altogether, but I've been in sort of a funk the past little while. Having a daily painting habit has made me much more aware of my mental and emotional state, which is probably a good thing... but makes me feel a little neurotic, because I'm much more aware of my shifting moods. It seem like the balance of my life has to be somewhat aligned before I feel like painting, which makes it all the more obvious when something is off (and I've learned it's never a good thing to try ...

6x4", water mixable oil on linen panel, 11/8/15 Today I decided to do a quick sketch of a sunflower for a nice diversion. I don't think it's productive to work on something once you've gotten sick of it, so I'm going to let that other painting sit until I feel like picking it up again (maybe I never will, and if so, I'm okay with that). This one was just fun :) I think flowers are excellent practice for shape, value, color... everything.

Currently dangling precariously between #3 and #4 in the sequence below (and I don't always make it to #6 ;)