Lucky Lemons. Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

sold

I love painting fruit piled up in a glass container. My family and I are heading to the Gulf for a few days of sand, snacks and books galore! I don't think that I will have internet access, so while I will continue to paint, you will have a break from my daily emails. :) Have a great weekend and week! cheers,

Adoration. Lydia Host daily painting a day 12x12

This is another 'sculpture pose'. This one is from an ivory relief by Pierre-Etienne Monnot (1657-1733). I bought this book of Iconic sculpture and art from a thrift store yesterday, and there are so many pieces of art that I have never seen (this is not so surprising actually..). This is painted on a framed board that said something like ' smile you'll feel better' or something in its first life as a mass produced inspirational saying! L.

Devotion Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x16

I am always intrigued by the mother- child relationship. It is such the ultimate. This painting is based on an old sculpture...they were my models. I have the utmost respect for every mother everywhere, its such a hard and self sacrificing job, while conversely being the most enriching rewarding occupation ever. Even the 'bad' mothers out there didn't mean to be 'bad'...that's just the power of the job. I really believe that everyone is just doing the best that they are able. L.

Knight in shining armour. Lydia Host painting a day 5x7

sold

Well sometimes the 'what to paint' topic is easy! I look forward to that one diet coke that I allow myself everyday. Maybe some day it will be discovered that it has healthful properties the way that red wine does....one can always hope. L.

P.s. a friend wrote me about yesterdays post: "Now you and I both know that the mason jar is the real star of that painting. I suppose he is the tired old guy who keeps on putting up with all of her sh_ t.

Floozy. Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

sold

You know the sort; seemingly slightly drunk at all times, stands too close in conversations, careening laughter. And yet somehow you just can't help but adore her.

L.

Decisions. Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x16

This is a bit larger than the norm for a daily, but I am running low on my small canvas', and as I have said before, it feels so good to get larger after painting small for a while. These Zinnias were given to me by my zinnia growing pal and neighbor...I am really going to grow these next year, they are so very bountiful. This painting used a lot of light pigment, I was trying for a 'restrained' palette. Just like with the brighter bunch of zinnias, this pale pink eludes me! L

sweet but aggressive. Lydia Host painting a day 5x7

sold

Mexican Petunias are so lovely. You can just stick a piece in the ground and it grows! Great when it starts, but then its hard to contain. I had fun painting the glass jar, which was the impetus for the whole painting. L.

Party over.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x6

I almost gave up on this one. I wanted to paint the stacked cups, but felt that the teapot should also be in the scene. It felt like a project in shadows and reflections. I am happy with the way that it turned out I guess, although its not the sort of cheery scene that I started out to paint...maybe thats a good thing?

L.

Tuscan Lunch. Lydia Host 8x8

sold

Wouldn't we all love to have this veiw for our lunch time? I have been to Italy one time, Florence, and Milan, and it was grand. Tuscany is a goal for the future. My Parents went to a cooking school for a week, and learned all sorts of delicious things and had this sort of incredible veiw daily. I enjoyed painting and dreaming today. L.

Tea time.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x6

I have made sure that my boys know how to have a tea party. Is that part of raising a wonderful husband for some lucky lass out there? We'll see. L.

Honey dew.Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

sold

My Niece Katy brought me this lovely honeydew melon. We enjoyed half of it for breakfast on Sunday, this half was destined for the studio. How fantastic are natures colors? I found upon my close inspection of this melon that although there is plenty of white, the saturated yellowish-green was truly the dominant color-beautifully restrained.

Baby eggplants.Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

sold

I painted these baby eggplants with Mary Elizabeth this morning. I was going to go Plein aire painting this morning, but woke up feeling yucky, so this just seemed the easier route. I am always happy when my paintings look like paintings, if that makes any sense! This one seemed to flow off the brush which I really needed today.

L.

veiw for a room.Lydia Host daily painting a day 11x14

sold

I started this weeks ago on location, and just finished it in the studio. When we arrived at this location there were not clouds, and as we painted they started to arrive on the horizon, and rise...I am sure that is the way it happens every day, I just have not ever witnessed it before.

L.

Don't be humble.Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

sold

I am painting a REALLY large version of these flowers also (32x48). So in a way this one is my study for the larger piece, although I started the big one first. I really enjoyed toying with the size of objects in my paintings last week, and so am continuing along that line. For me the negative spaces or back ground, is just as important in this painting as the primary focus. The flowers seem sort of 'braced' with in the frame of the painting. When I finish biggie, I'll post it.

L.

chewy life.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x6

sold

Yeah, well I used to smoke, now I just eat more candy when I am a little stressed. Chewy Lifesavers are not on my regular rotation (I prefer Red hots or some dark chocolate)but these were really good..nice bouncy but not sticky texture. As for painting them, I enjoyed the transparency and variation of color even within each piece. Also sticking with my 'larger than life size ' food theme from yesterday.

L.

ship of fools. 12x20

sold

This is a bigger than usual painting for a painting a day...its 12x24 inches. I felt that it had to have a nice long vertical format and didn't have anything smaller. It makes it seem both sillier and more important to have this type of subject larger than life. So much white in its various shades. It was fun and I am not completely finished yet. I will go back in when its a bit dryer. And posting it allowed me to see a few compositional problems, one that I can fix is the shadow in the upper right corner behind the 'boat' that is in alignment with the edge ... it will be changed!ei9thsmwcf

L.

Heirloom tomat's.Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

sold

Sometimes painting tomatoes seems so easy...and other times not so much. The challenging thing is they are so multi-valued and hued and then have shiny skin that reflects light. I love a challenge and I learned something new about painting these guys...for one thing, use a fast drying medium so you can layer color faster than usual. L.

Yearning.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x6

sold

Somehow my colors did not come through the photographic process as vibrant as they are in reality. Every time I paint some glass or a reflective surface I decide I will do more because its so fun. I love these orange rankly Zinnias.

L.

Swell bouquet.Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

Ah ...happy day! Mary Elizabeth has returned from her studies in Europe, and today we painted together while her niece and my son played! My lovely neighbors provided the inspirational matter. We are going through a non-napping phase here ...which has "cramped my painting -a-day style" so today was double lucky.

L.

Sweets for my sweet.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x6

I have been wanting to paint these cookies since I bought them....at Christmas. Very subtle brown value changes made them technically more challenging than I anticipated, bring it on!

L.

Regatta

I keep thinking about how daily painting is like therapy for me, and why...I think a big part of it is that it forces me to focus on a small beauty or interesting thing....and more and more I realize that it is the ability to enjoy the smallest of moments and things that makes me happy... the material goods don't ever work for long. ooh deep huh?

L.

Sorolla beaches.

I had a request for beach scenes and as I was going through my reference photos, I found some beach shots, but wasn't really inspired. Then I thought of Sorolla a nineteenth century painter from Spain that I adore, his beach scenes are so painterly and full of light. I always love that he didn't consider himself an impressionist, but "a painter of light". So today I deleted all figures from these scenes, and loosely interpreted them. I really like the way they turned out. I emailed them to a friend who declared them to be interesting and nice but decidedly not 'Lydia Host' !! Funny....and true. L.

Marina II.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x8

I couldn't help myself. Having too much fun with boats and their reflections. The Circus is in town! This morning we went to see the elephants have a brunch, I thought I'd share an image of this with you as it was completely charming, although hot as hell.

L.

Marina.Lydia Host daily painting a day 6x6

I am working on a commission of boats, and so I went to the marina today to take some photographs as it is really too hot to paint in full sun right now (97 today). I was thinking how charming and alluring the sailboats looked docked in their spaces....and I wondered what feelings a row of cars painted might evoke. Is it the promise of the wind in your hair and salty air beckoning you to sail away...?? Maybe a row of motorcycles or convertibles?

L.

Figure study.Lydia Host daily painting a day 8x8

This is the last of my pre-framed boards that I painted over corny sayings. This is also from last figure drawing class. I am having some computer glitches, and I saw how cheap lap top computers are becoming...very tempting. (cheap is relative in this case!). L.