Sunday, June 28, 2015


"Grazing with mum"
Oil on stretched canvas, 8x10 inch
SOLD

I love to paint longhorns since I live in Texas. If you see a longhorn, you think Texas. Well, at least I do. They are around to see and touch when the rodeo is in town in februari each year. You can also see them grazing if you drive just out of the city.

Because I am painting daily now (thanks to Carol Marine's book "daily painting", she has been a huge inspiration for me), I feel more confident to paint loose and bold. I use bigger brushes and found out that blocking in the background can be done with a lot of color variation to make it more interesting instantly from the start. Greg Nelson describes this technique in his book "60 minutes to better painting", I learned a lot from this book. I love the quickness in his paintings and how he describes it so very well.

I usually tone the canvas with a wiped out layer of burned sienna and block the darks with a darker layer of burned sienna. I wipe out the lights where necessary and I can better create the dark & light values after that.
Now I tried to block in with different tones. Burned sienna for the head, add ultramarine for the shadowparts underneath the belly and burned umber in the neck of the calf.
It helps me not to see an animal but just colortones (in the context of: paint what you see, not what you think you see).
Interesting...

Friday, June 26, 2015


"The house with the flag"

8x8 inch
oil on stretched canvas
This painting is SOLD

I walk around in the streets where I live and I see so many houses that I want to paint. This house was there, in the middle of the green trees and the townhouses. The flag cought the sunlight. Let's say this is house 1 in my house-series. I really enjoyed making it.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Portrait of Nikki


"Portrait of Nikki"
Oil on gessobord, 6 x 6 inches
NFS

This is my Chion, the cutest dog in the world!
I painted this from a picture because she is too young to sit still for longer than a second.
This painting is not for sale.

If you want to see my available paintings, you can go to:
www.etsy.com/shop/DalessiArt



Monday, June 22, 2015


"American schoolbus"
8x8 inch
Painted in oil on stretched canvas (around 3/4 inch thick frame)
This painting is SOLD

The yellow American schoolbusses are lined up at the schoolground. I like the yellow although painting bright yellow busses is harder than I thought. For shadows I used orange, blue and green versions of yellow.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Starting my blog

"With mum"

This painting is 8x10 inch
Painted in oil on stretched canvas (3/4 inch thick)
$75
You can buy it on: www.etsy.com/shop/DalessiArt

I will start my blog with horses. I've  been drawing them since my obsession for them started as a child, and I love to paint them. Painted many, and will continue to do so.
Within the safety of this subject, I feel free to try new things. I always stay realistic though. With this painting I like how the effect of the use of complementary colors worked out. The purple in the background sets a nice contrast with the yellowish horses. I wish the process of all paintings went this smooth.