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

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"

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

'FIGURE 39'
It was an interesting coincidence that we set this up with drapes as prop- and the model, who is also an actress, looks like she is posed on stage. Its rare to find a figure model who is willing to stand in a pose for 2 hours. Bravo!

Oil on canvas board

11" X 14"


Sunday, December 20, 2009

'FIGURE 38'  
I was working on the gesture and flow of the model seated with draperies and pillows surrounding her. 

Oil on canvas

11" X 14"



Monday, December 14, 2009

BOXER AT REST


This was painted from a live model. He brought the 'props' for the part of a boxer. His muscularity and warm skin tones were a pleasure to paint. He told us that his ancestry is African and Native American.
Oil on board
11" X 14"

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

'YELLOW PEAR'                                                                                       
The pear and its reflection on the kitchen counter  caught my eye and so I spent the  morning with my paints and tried to re-create the sense of color and light.

5" X 7"

Oil on board

Sunday, December 06, 2009

'MEHER'
Meher Baba 

The word Meher means compassion. This painting was created for a fundraiser to benefit a rural free clinic in a remote area of India. The clinic was established by Dr. Goher, a close disciple of Meher Baba. She devoted her life to Meher Baba both as his personal physician and through her work attending to the medical needs of the very poor villagers who came to the clinic. Although Dr. Goher has passed on, her clinic continues to serve in the loving way she established it, and relies on donations. Small donations go a very long way.


14" X 18"

sold


Saturday, December 05, 2009

"MEHERANA ROAD' Landscape  Cathey's Valley, California
This was painted on location last spring in the late afternoon. When the sun is low the colors on the ridge across the road become a riot of oranges and reds. 
Oil on board, unframed
11" X 14"

Monday, November 30, 2009

'RED HILLS' 
 Carquinez strait landscape

I was experimenting with inventing a composition using thicker paint, lots of color and working some with a palette knife. This was done during a workshop with Jerrold Turner- a wonderful painter and generous teacher.

9 "X 12"
Oil on linen covered hardboard


Sunday, November 29, 2009

ROCKS AND OCEAN

The Pacific Coast near Asilomar
I saw this view of the ocean from a sea-weedy bluff just south of Asilomar. The composition looks like a Chinese brush painting... I used to own some and looked at them at lot- so they influenced the way I saw this scene.

9" X 12"

Oil on linen covered board

Thursday, November 26, 2009

CLOUDS & WATER

This is the small quick painting I did after 'MAUVE CLOUDS'. The fog was rolling in over the horizon by then.
Oil on hardboard
5" X 7"