I am always painting, or thinking about painting, but not always posting....

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!
I just thought I would show what I am currently working on.   The summer has kept me busy, with beautiful weather, yard and garden work, but I do make time to paint.  This is a larger painting, 11x14 inches. 

I've been wanting to paint these artist models, the skull and the little mannikin, together with some game pieces.  My set up looked like this (photos below)... and I made a black and white sketch of it on toned paper.
 I started the painting on a gessobord, with a drawing and a thin wash of raw umber.  Then, each day, I worked for 3-4 hours on it, and so far so good!  I'm happy with it.  I will post the finished painting when it's done. 

 I left out the pansy in his hand.  It seemed like a fun idea, but it felt a bit distracting, and looked better without it. 

 This is the first stage, with the drawing done, and washes with thinned raw umber oil paint.

I painted the background, candle, and flowers first, even tho I had the lily in a tube of water, the day lilies only last a day, and it wilted quickly.  I also had the photo of the set up to refer to.

 This is the where I have left off, I still need to paint the marble, playing card, scrabble tiles and puzzle piece...   

Thank you so much for stopping to take a look at my artwork today!