One-stroke paintings

This painting is done in "one-stroke" style. It's a practice technique I learned in Kat's painting class that takes a lot of patience (for me) to do, but I always like how the paintings turn out.  It goes like this: every time you dip your brush in your palette, you can only do ONE stroke with it. Then you have to mix a little more and do a fresh dip. It removes the option for too much fussing or fixing or re-working. You also really think before putting any paint down on the canvas. The finished works always look more "loose" and fluid. If it didn't take so much patience I'd paint everything this way! The first one is from a still life:

One-stroke fruit (March 2014, 6x6 gessobord)

This second one is based on a photo of a peeled orange. I really like how the "pithy parts" turned out.

One-stroke orange (Feb. 2014, 8x10 gessobord)

This last picture is based on a photo I borrowed from a random pile in my painting class when I had forgotten to bring one of my own in. I don't know who the woman is, but I really liked the red of the barn and eagerness of the goat.

Lady with goat (5x6 gessobord)