Welcome to 'Lisa Paints', the small format paintings of Lisa Greenstein.

Saturday, December 18, 2010



FIGURE 50

A recent figure study painted with the intention to bring more color consciousness to the composition. 

Oil on canvas panel

14" X 18"

contact Lisa for current price

Thursday, November 18, 2010

ELLIS PARK GREY DAY

This was mostly done with a palette knife on an overcast morning. The sun was beginning to break, and so it had to be a quick study.

Oil on hardboard

6" X 8"

contact Lisa for pricing

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

SOUTHERN OREGON COAST

This was the view from the balcony of Best Western.
At sunset's last light there was such a riot of blue shadows and hot orange-pink highlights. I would have liked another go at this one.

oil on canvas board

 9" X 12"

contact Lisa for current price

Saturday, November 13, 2010

FIGURE 49

This is a model I have drawn and painted from life many times. I think this captured her distinctive personality better than most of my previous  paintings of her.


Oil on canvas board

14" X 18"



contact Lisa for current price

Friday, November 12, 2010

YACHATS COAST

This was painted along the shore at the Central Oregon coast this summer. It was very overcast and began to drizzle. I guess that kept me from overworking things!

Oil on canvas board


8" X 10"

contact Lisa for current price

Saturday, November 06, 2010

FIGURE 48
 
I've been working with a palette knife more and you can get a lot more paint and color on the canvas, but its hard to control. So, I was fooling with both the knife and the brush here. I like the color and pattern in this one.
14" X 18"
 
Oil on canvas board
Contact Lisa for pricing.




Thursday, November 04, 2010

PETALUMA RIVER

This was an overcast summer morning looking down over the in-coming currents. It slowly went from mostly muddy to a shallow flow of water. I was looking at aerial perspective and the effects of more or less color saturation and color temperature changes with distance.

8" X 10"

oil on canvas board
contact Lisa for pricing info.

Monday, October 25, 2010

 
WATERSHED PATH

This was a sunny summer day at Shollenberger park in Petaluma. Learning to mass areas of color together, especially in the background. 

Oil on canvas board

9" X 12"

contact Lisa for current price.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

FIGURE 47

One of the models we regularly work with at the weekly Berkeley figure group. Color and design were in the foreground of my thoughts when painting this. I was challenged by the flood of light on her, so it was difficult to see the form in its dimensions. We have a lot of conversation with the models, and I think her expression indicates that.

11" X 14"


Oil on canvas board

contact by e-mail for pricing

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

 
GREY DAY WATERSHED
I painted this on a very overcast June day overlooking the field of grasses at the watershed area in Petaluma. As I painted there I could see more and more color variations, maybe due to less light overall. 

Oil on canvas board

9" X 12"

for current pricing contact Lisa

Monday, October 04, 2010

FIGURE 46

She had some attitude and was wearing a 'fascinator'. That's what the head adornment was called in the 1920's, and they seem to be back again.

Oil on canvas board

11" X 14"

contact Lisa for more info.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

HOUSE IN LIGHT

I've been painting, but have lapsed in my posts..
This is was done in Petaluma during my studies with Camille Prezwodek. This house was actually blue, but what I'm learning is to see and paint the color of light and the light key, not the actual local color (the color of the object). Its hard to learn, but well worth it.
Oil on canvas board
9" X 12"
contact Lisa for current price.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

FIGURE 45

I was trying to get a likeness of the model, her coloring, youthful
glow and kind of a buoyant personality.


11" X 14"


Oil on canvas board

contact: lisagreenstein@gmail.com for more info.

Monday, August 30, 2010

PETALUMA PASTURE

This view of a distant house in Petaluma on a grey day was my first landscape in my study with Camille Prezwodek. I will try to post a lot of the paintings as I take this journey in learning from a master colorist how to paint light and form with color. At first it felt like learning Algebra or maybe Chinese, but gradually I'm learning how to see the color, beyond the local color. Its challenging, but so exciting and rewarding. Everything I never learned in art school!
9" X 12"
for more info contact: lisagreenstein@gail.com

Monday, June 14, 2010

'AGUA FRIA REFLECTIONS'















The early morning sky just after sunrise, reflected pink light in the Agua Fria creek.


oil on panel

8" X 10"

for more info: contact lisagreenstein@gmail.com

Monday, June 07, 2010

RUSHING AGUA FRIA















This was painted after the spring rains in the Sierra foothills. The water was rushing over the slate- colored rocks in mini-waterfalls. I tried to get the quality of the light and energy while wondering if any wild cats or bears might be watching!

Oil on board

8 X 10"

contact lisagreenstein@gmail.com for current price

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

RIDGE VIEW














This was a distant view in the Sierra foothills on a Spring afternoon.  I was thinking about the contrast of soft rolling hills and floating cloud with the sharp value changes of the craggy rock ridge-line. I used various shades of conte chalks from black to white on a grey primed heavy weight paper.

Conte pastel on paper

9" X 12"

contact lisagreenstein@gmail.com for current price

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

RED BUD TREE ON A GREY DAY














This is the same view of the red bud tree on a ridge overlooking the Sierra foot hills... painted on a very overcast day. I held my palette knife up to the view of sky, tree and land to really try to get the colors to approximate what I saw.

Oil on canvas board

11" X 14"

for current pricing contact lisagreenstein@gmail.com

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

 RED BUD TREE















I painted this blooming red bud tree on a fully sunlit spring afternoon on a ridge in the Sierra foothills. The orange patch on the distant hill is a field of California poppies. I was trying to match the colors as they appeared to me. 

Oil on canvas board

11" X 14"
 
for current price contact: lisagreenstein@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

 
FIGURE 44

A small painting done in one session with model, Merav. Sometimes fast is best!

5" X 7"

For current price, contact: lisagreenstein@gmail.com

Thursday, May 06, 2010

BLOCK STUDY

This seems simple, but was tricky.  I chose to make the bright blue table cloth increase in saturation in the distance, which is not usually done. Usually with distance, chroma goes down, but I had to work with that bright red block on top and so it needed to match the intensity. I guess you had to be there. Block studies are great for clarifying painting issues and anyway I like the struggle.

Oil on hardboard panel

5" X 7"

Sold

Sunday, May 02, 2010

PORTRAIT OF JUDITH

Since taking Al Tofanelli's portrait class at l'Atelier aux Couleurs in Petaluma, I have been painting some portraits of the models at my Wednesday night group. I hope I got a likeness of beautiful Judith.

11" X 14"

Oil on canvas board






Contact lisagreenstein@gmail.com for current price

Tuesday, March 23, 2010



FIGURE STUDY 43

This was a quick color study of a life-model, Dave, who had a great collection of hats.

Oil on canvas board
9" X 12"

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

PORTRAIT OF JUSTIN

A Study in Grey
Oil on Canvas Board

12" X 16"

I was working on seeing the values and painting edges better in this study from life. I just loved his hair, so much a part of his whole persona.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

FIGURE 42
This was a study in grey tones from my weekly figure group. It was interesting for me to translate her fair skin and red hair into value tones.

Oil on board
5" X 7"

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

FIGURE 41, NUDE STUDY IN BLACK AND WHITE

Oil on hardboard
5" X 7"

Sunday, January 24, 2010

MAN IN HAT
A study in black and white

Oil on canvas board

9" X 12"


Saturday, January 23, 2010

 QUICK HEAD STUDY IN GREY TONES

Another fast one

8" X 10"

Oil on paper 

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

SECOND QUICK STUDY
Oil on Paper
8" X 10"

Thursday, January 14, 2010

QUICK HEAD STUDY 1
I saved some recent 15 minute quick sketches. I like this one.

Oil on grey paper
8" X 10"

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

FIGURE 40
Working in greys to challenge myself to try to portray the light on skin and paint a black hat in light and shadow without color. This was done in one session- so working quickly. I was learning  to start with an overall light tone and an overall dark tone, in the medium range. Then there is room to push the darkest darks and lightest lights, while keeping the overall dark-light pattern distinct. If that makes sense!

5" X 7 "
Oil on board



Sunday, January 03, 2010

QUICK HEAD STUDY    
This is more tonal quick study work. The idea is to do 'lots of starts' and cover many square miles of canvas in order to make progress. This was a 15 minute study and while a little rough, I like it.

Oil on board    
                                                                                  
8" X 10"

Saturday, January 02, 2010

TONAL PORTRAIT STUDY
The next several postings I make will be of the tonal studies that I painted while taking Alfredo Tofanelli's class. In this study was trying to find the darkest darks and lightest lights, the movement of light. The lightest light was on her earlobe, but I had to tone it down for the sake of the painting looking 'right'. This is always an issue in painting- whether to be true to what you see, or true to the correctness of the way the painting reads.

Oil on board

9" X 12"