Fresh Clippings - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Fresh Clippings
5x7 inches
Oil on Linen Panel
by
George De Chiara

Win this painting! It's simple, just like my Facebook page and when I reach 200 fans, I'll have a drawing to see who wins the painting. No strings attached, no gimmicks, it's really that easy to win. Currently, I'm at 180 fans, so someone will be winning this painting soon. You can like my page here.

 I've had these flowers growing in a pot out by our garden all summer. Somehow through the 60 plus days of 100 degree weather we've had, I've been able to keep them alive and growing. That is until the other day when I was mowing the lawn and accidentally knocked the pot off the ledge it was on. It flipped over and landed upside down, breaking almost all the flower stems. I couldn't believe my bad luck! When I was done mowing, I went back and cut all the broken stems off and put the flowers in a vase. I originally thought I would paint them that way, but I wasn't happy with the way they looked in the vase, so I finally took them out and laid them down in this arrangement. While this made for a better painting, it did, ultimately, spell the doom the flowers.

To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

Hot Terra Cotta by George De Chiara

Hot Terra Cotta
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

SOLD

It's been a little over a week, maybe even closer to 2 weeks, since I last painted. Raising a newborn and a 22 month old has really started to catch up with me and my wife. We both are starting look a little exhausted and sleep deprived at this point, but there is hope. The baby is starting to sleep longer at night and our 22 month old is starting to adjust to her new sister and slipping back into her routines. 

Anyway, I've been thinking about doing this painting for a while now. It's a commission piece for one of my collectors who wanted a painting to go along with one of the 50 paintings in 50 days pieces he bought. That painting was of cayenne peppers, so to complement it, he wanted haberneros. Habeneros have beautiful variations in colors that range from bright yellows to deep reds when on the verge of being overripe, so they make great subject matter for still lifes. I really didn't think it would be that hard to find a few good haberneros for this painting, but I had to go to 3 different stores before I found any that didn't look like they've been sitting in the produce section for months.  The first two stores only had the deep red color, which, while pretty, doesn't really capture my interest. Finally, I headed to the Mexican market and found what I was looking for. With these colorful peppers in hand, I was anxious to get back to the studio and start painting again.

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.
 

Painting 50 of the 50 Day painting challenge - Tools Of The Trade - by George De Chiara

Tools Of The Trade
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny!

Painting number 50! I can't believe it; I made it! For this last painting, it seemed appropriate to use some of the equipment I've used for the last 50+ days to make these paintings. One of the things that made this painting an interesting challenge is that the palette that everything is sitting on is the one I use every day, so I had to use a different palette while painting today. I didn't think this would matter, but it turns out I've developed a lot of muscle memory as to where each color is on my palette. Most of the time, I don't even think about where a color is, my brush just goes right to it. However, with this new palette I had to stop and think about where the color I wanted was before reaching for it. This made me think about my color mixtures more than usual, thus keeping me on my toes while painting.

To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Painting 49 of the 50 Day painting challenge - Trails Edge - by George De Chiara

Trails Edge
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny!

This painting is based on a photograph I took several years ago while out hiking with my wife on vacation. We were in Oklahoma at the time, following a trail in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge when I noticed this little rock outcropping along the trail we were on. I was struck by the light-colored rocks against the dark background of the forest and snapped a few photographs to remember the scene by. I'm not sure what made me remember this images today, but I'm glad I did. Little landscape scenes like this are loads of fun to paint.

To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Painting 48 of the 50 Day painting challenge - It's A Girl! - by George De Chiara

It's A Girl
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny!

 Well, if you've been paying attention to this challenge, you'll know that I'm actually over the 50 days mark. I had to take a few days break when my wife went into labor with our second child this past weekend. Our due date was supposed to be about 5 days after the painting challenge was to end, but our little girl just couldn't wait any longer and made her début on Saturday afternoon. I'm only three paintings short of my goal, so I'm definitely going to finish it up over the next few days. I've thought about changing the name of the challenge to 50 paintings and a baby in 55 days. What do you think?
 
To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Day 47 of the 50 Day painting challenge - Little Brook - by George De Chiara

Little Brook
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny!

After yesterday's painting of the river rapids I was still in the mood to paint more rushing water. I once again turned to my reference photos to find my inspiration for this painting. This is actually a location not far from our home. The water isn't always running through this little creek, but after a good rain it looks great. I was lucky enough to find this spot shortly after a rain so there was plenty of running water through it. I snapped a couple of images and today I finally got a chance to use them.
 
To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Day 46 of the 50 Day painting challenge - Where the Water Runs Rapid - by George De Chiara

Where the Water Runs Rapid
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny!

Today I painted one of my favorite subjects, white water rapids! It seems like it's been forever since I've done one. I'm not really sure why I've had the lapse, but today I put an end to it. I shuffled through my photo references of scenes like this till I found one that I wanted to paint. This scene is from Medicine Park, OK. My wife and spent a week there a few years ago and had a great time hiking around the trials and sight seeing. We took a hike called the 40 Foot Hole Trail, which follows a river for about a mile and a half and is full of scenery like this. Ultimately, the trails ends at a 40 foot hole at the bottom of the river, which is created from the waterfalls pounding down. Now, I'll be honest, I'm not sure if we ever found the hole or not. It's not very clearly marked which waterfall supposedly caused this, but with a digital card full of images like this one I really didn't care.

To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Day 45 of the 50 Day painting challenge - Pearl Necklace - by George De Chiara

Pearl Necklace
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny.

 Last night my wife came into the studio after I was done painting for the day and mentioned she had an idea for a still life painting. She then set down 3 or 4 bottles of perfume and a pearl necklace. At the time, I didn't really notice how they looked  since I was busy finishing up some other tasks. This morning, I went into the studio to get the day started and noticed the little pile of goodies she left in there. I was immediately drawn the way the bottles looked. I cleaned out my still life from the day before and set up this arrangement. I had never thought to paint these little bottles before even though I see them sitting on the vanity everyday. I suppose that this is a rather pointed reminder to look at the shapes of things, and not what they are when looking for subjects to paint.
 
To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Please note: I noticed a lot of the link to my auctions lately did not work properly. I'm not sure what happen, but I've gone back through them and fixed the links. If you  still find one that doesn't work, please let me know.

Day 44 of the 50 Day painting challenge - Fresh Bales - by George De Chiara

Fresh Bales

6x6 inches

Oil on Canvas Panel

by

George De Chiara

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Opening bid just one penny!

For today's painting, I turned to one of my old plein air sketches for reference. I know a lot of artists work up their plein air studies into larger studio works, but this is the first time I've tried this myself. One of the things it made me realize about my plein air paintings is it's more important, to me anyway, to record more accurate color notes. The drawing can be refined later, but the color can only be captured out there on location. The other thing I need to remember to do is to take a photograph of the scene I'm painting for future reference. Still, it was an interesting experience trying to work from my old sketch. It gave me the chance to address some of the things I wish I had done differently while out painting on location. Plus, I got to revisit a subject that I enjoy painting. I could still recall many of the details from the day I did the initial study, like the heat from the pavement I was standing on while painting and the smell of the horses nearby.

To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.

Day 43 of the 50 Day painting challenge - A Cluck Off The Old Block - by George De Chiara

A Cluck Off The Old Block

6x6 inches

Oil on Canvas Panel

by

George De Chiara

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Opening bid is only one penny!

While painting this today, I realized that the rooster in the background is probably the father of this younger chick. Ever since my wife's grandparents got a couple of roosters last year, their chicken count has really started to increase. In fact, the last time we were there, they had more pullets (young chickens) running around than anything else, including this one. Given the similar coloring and timing, I'd say it's a safe bet that he's the father. That's where the name comes from, rather than a chip off the old block, I changed it to Cluck. Get it? Hmm...maybe I'm spending too much time going over animal sounds with our 21 month old daughter.

To see a complete step-by-step demo of how this painting came to life visit my blog here.

To see more of my paintings and all of the 50 Paintings in 50 Days Challenge Paintings visit my web site here.