Valentine Memories - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Valentine Memories 11x14 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara SOLD When I set up this still life, I made sure to give myself plenty of time to get things the way I wanted. It's amazing how much of a difference that makes for me. I feel more relaxed when painting and generally don't run into as many surprises half way through the painting. I also did a fairly detailed under painting for this one before laying in any color. I don't always do this; sometimes I just make some general marks about where things will go. I'm not sure which method I prefer. The truth is I use which ever one I feel is the best choice at the time. If you would like to see complete step by step pictures of this painting in progress with complete explanations, sign up for my free newsletter at http://georgedechiara.com/email-newsletter. The next issue will come out at the end of the week. Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Sweet Hearts - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Sweet Hearts 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Click here to bid. Here is another painting I did using those small candy hearts. This time I thought I'd do more with the hearts themselves, so I took out the plate and box that I used yesterday. There's a little piece of glass under the candy that gives just a slight reflection. I like to do this from time to time. The reflections give an interesting little hint of color to the piece of paper under the glass.     My wife is clamoring for a painting like this for Valentine's Day, so I think I am on to something here. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Be Mine - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Be Mine 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Click here to bid.  Here's another one in my Valentine series. This time it's those hard little hearts with the little sayings on them. I haven't had these since I was a kid and I have to say the flavor has improved a lot since then. The little sayings, however, have not. I seem to remember almost all of them saying be mine, but I had to look through almost the whole box to find one that actually said it. Of course I found a few defective ones that I needed to eat to get rid of. I don't want those defects messing up my arrangements. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Chocolate Hearts - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Chocolate Hearts 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara SOLD It seems like we just get done with Christmas and the New Year when Valentine's day comes around. I guess it doesn't help that the store have had Valentine's Day gifts out now since right after Christmas. Well, today I finally went down the "seasonal" aisle at the grocery store and picked up a few things to try painting. I bought a bag of chocolates, a box of those candy conversational hearts, and a nice little heart shaped plate. I hope over the next few days to do several small paintings with these objects and maybe one larger piece with some of these things in it. If you're looking for a unique, one of a kind Valentine's gift this year, why not give the gift of an original piece of art? No calories and your loved one can enjoy it for years to come. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Small Coffee Cup - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Small Coffee Cup 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara SOLD I thought today I would concentrate on painting elliptical shapes and purposely set up this still life with as many round objects as possible. Pretty much everything in it is elliptical. I'm not sure why I do these things to myself since these types of shapes give me the most trouble. I guess it's because I know it's the only way I can improve on my drawing of these types of things. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

5 Till 1 - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

5 Till 1 8x16 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Contact me to purchase this painting. I had a lot of fun setting up this still life. For one thing, it came together pretty quickly considering how many objects are in it. I was able to use meaningful objects from around the house, like the little green books in the background. These are my daughter's little books, which are classics I think we all had at one point or another - The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and The Tale of Tom Kitten. The dried flower arrangement is from my wife's baby shower that were made by her mother and grandmother on that day. Finally, the watch was my father's, which was a gift from my mother to him on his 21st birthday. They gave it to me a few years ago. Amazingly, it still runs to this day! To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Jitterbug - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Jitterbug 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara SOLD It's been a while since I painted some of my fishing lures. There's something about them that I really enjoy painting. Maybe it's because I don't get to fish much, but by looking through my tackle box for lures to paint, I get to think about the fish I've caught using them. I make some mental plans when to use this lure or that one again. The downside to rummaging thought the tackle box is I want to run out the store and buy a bunch of new lures since I never feel like I have enough. Of course, the last time I did this I also had to buy another tackle box since my main one will not hold anymore. Well, at least I should have plenty of material to choose from for my paintings even I don't get to use them in the water as much I would like to. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

A Good Match - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

A Good Match 11x14 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara $300 Contact me to purchase this painting.  I started this painting at the end of last week, but didn't finish until today. In the original set up, I had another teacup where the glasses are, but the placement wasn't working for me. To make matter worse, the first time I painted it (yes, I painted it twice), the colors weren't right.  So I scraped that off and painted it once more with slightly better results, but still, it didn't seem right. Over the weekend, I turned it over in my mind, trying to figure out what was going wrong.  Slowly, I came to the realization that not only was the cup still not painted well, it simply didn't fit. It needed something else, something that would help lead the eye into and around the painting.  A pair of glasses, maybe? Bingo! I made the switch and wiped off that dang teacup one last time. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Heirlooms and Oranges - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Heirlooms and Oranges 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara  This is one of the commission pieces I finished right before the holidays, but didn't have a chance to post. Several items in the still life were from my client.  She sent the two rings and the rug hanging in the background, and then requested to use sheet music in the set up, if at all possible. I really enjoy these types of challenges to work in the objects someone wants to see in a painting while still retaining my vision. It's a great exercise, as it forces me to think of new ways to put these objects together.  I am very happy to say that she was thrilled with the result and gave it as gift to a relative. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

The Trio - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

The Trio 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas by George De Chiara If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.  I had started to paint these apples last week when I had a little time, but wasn't happy with my results so I wiped my canvas.  They were still set up in my still life box, though, so I thought I'd try them one more time today. I knew the mistakes I made last time, like getting into to much detail too fast and muddying the colors, so I was careful to avoid those same pitfalls this time. This time I made sure I blocked everything in first, then slowly worked in the detail I wanted.  Additionally, I kept my colors clean along with my palette, which really helps to keep things from getting too muddy. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Pair of Pears - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Pair of Pears 7x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel George De Chiara If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I know we did. Now that it's all over I'm looking forward to getting back in the studio and paint again. With all of the craziness of the holidays, I have hardly had a chance to pick up my brushes in the last 2 weeks, so it felt really good to get a few hours of painting time today. I knew I'd be a little rusty so I tried to set up a simple, yet interesting still life to paint from. Some of the ellipses gave me problems as I worked the rust off, but over all I'm pretty happy with the results. I was fully expecting to have nothing to show for the day and that I'd have to wipe of off and start again tomorrow. These are the kind of surprises I like! To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com