Oil Painting by John Kelley

12″x12″ Oil on Canvas

This painting will be available at the Kentuck show October 18 and 19.

SOLD

If you are interested please contact me.

6″x8″ Oil on Canvas Panel

It has really been fun getting back to painting from life. Most of my large landscapes are done from my head. So the challenges of the value and color from life have been exciting and a needed break. Tomorrow it will be back to the larger works as I prepare for two upcoming shows I have done several small “treescapes” this past week that I will post during the upcoming week.

SOLD

6″x8″ Oil on Canvas Panel

The still life paintings I have done in the past have been quite a bit larger than these 6×8 canvases I am working on. Fortunately most fruit makes for simple compositions and a wonderful display of the flow of light. I do not have a green on my palette so it was very enjoyable observing the changes in warm and cool greens in these apples and then translating them with a limited palette.

SOLD

5″x5″ pastel on Kitty Wallis pastel paper (the best stuff on the planet!)

Someone asked me the other day if I ever get tired of these. The answer for the most part is no. They are the most relaxing of all the paintings I do. It has been a challenge over the years to keep coming up with new compositions and color ideas, but that is the amazing thing about these little guys. Even when I try to make them the same they never turn out the same. There is an endless variety to what can be done with pastel even when you are confined to a 5″x5″ space. I will be posting several more of these in the days to come.

SOLD

6″x8″ Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

I hate to waste my still life objects and although I have children who love apples I try and hold onto my perishables still life objects for more than one painting. Anytime I cut open an apple or an orange to paint I am faced with the need to reserve my values. This setup is on a white cloth. When you squint at the subject the value of the inner apple jumps out above that of the cloth. So though my mind is telling me the white cloth should be the brightest value my eyes are telling me the apple stands out as a lighter value than that of the cloth. So I trust what I see rather than what I know.

SOLD

6″ x 8″ Oil on Raymar canvas Panel

Here is number one! My hope is to do a painting a day, 6 days a week until I reach 365. I set aside Sunday for things other than painting so reaching a full year’s worth will take a little longer than one calendar year. I’m sure the normal demands of life will get in the way of painting. I have 5 children so this project may take 2 years, 3 years…10 years….who knows? The “painting a day” concept is a wonderful way to provide my clients with prices that would simply be impossible at the retail level. It also provides me with an opportunity to focus on paintings other than the “treescapes” which I have become known for. Hope you are able to find one you love.

These Gala apples are always a challenge to interpret with paint. There is so much variety in color that the pattern of value can be interrupted by giving to much attention to the local color. Simplification is usually the answer.

SOLD - Can be seen at the 2008 Kentuck Show

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I’ve come up with a great idea to keep myself busy.  Hundreds of artist around the country are now doing a painting a day and selling these paintings at low prices on Ebay and on their blog’s. I thought it would be fun to join the movement and to provide my collectors with some paintings that are lower in price due to the small overhead of the internet and provide a further price reduction by selling the paintings unframed.  I hope you enjoy and are able to find the perfect work of art you are looking for.