Time to Ride

Well its happened again, I've reverted to being a Sunday painter. Too many other things competing for my time, this painting is 6 x 8 on gallery wrap canvas. The photo reference is from Durango a few summers ago. A fun bright yellow bike near the old clock was appealing to me. I take photos thinking of painting them later. I look for simple elements with a center of interest and a good composition. I try to avoid anything complicated or distracting or flat.

St. Francis Garden

this is one of my favorites from my archives, the painting is 12 x 12 and framed in gold in my studio. A garden in Santa Fe, the shadows on the wall and the surface of the pot with the tile nicho of St. Francis and the petunias was too hard to resist painting. Sometimes on travels, there are scenes that just appear like this and I was glad to have my camera with me. Lighting in the evening is fleeting and dramatic, and we were walking through the city and came through this hidden garden on the way to somewhere else.

Parking at the True Grit

This brings back memories, a historic small town called Ridgeway in western Colorado in the foothills of the San Juans. The old firehouse is now an art gallery, but has maintained its character. A few doors down the street is the True Grit Cafe, a popular restaurant devoted to the fact that this is where John Wayne filmed the movie with the same name. He left many good memories and stories for the residents, many of whom were extras in the movie. Painting is 5 x 7, wish I would have done it bigger. Maybe I will. I seem to put just as much detail into the smaller works as the larger ones, get caught up in the process.

Pond 8 x 10

Pond at 11-mile. This was a photo reference I saved from a trip to 11-mile in the fall. Very abstract composition, the "weeds" floating on top gave an interesting dimension. I tried the Lukas water mixable oil set I just got fresh out of the tube with just water as a solvent. Sticky and gooey. I'm going to try again today, have saved the paint on the palette, and will see if it has seasoned enough to be oil paint consistency. Am trying it under all different conditions, including freezing my small palette from the other day. It's a good way to store paint already squeezed out that is not going to be used for awhile. Under plastic wrap of course. Not to be mistaken for anything edible.

sketching and drawing

Sketching and drawing is the foundation of painting. Yesterday, I attended a figure drawing class where we all did 2 minute sketches of a model. 2 minutes went really quick, but the more we did, the more the gestures we put on paper improved to accuracy. We moved on to 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and finally did 20 minute drawings. By the time we reached 20 minutes, it was possible to achieve some amazing likenesses by observing the way the light fell on the figure because we had trained ourselves to see the figure during the 2 minute sketches. It was a good discipline for me, I'm often in such a hurry to get on to the painting, my drawing is not accurate, and I'm constantly doing correcting as I go. Like they say, anything you do in art helps you with your art.

life goes on

Today (Saturday) I plan to attend another figure drawing opportunity. The last few days have been spent organizing and starting the classes I team teach at the college. It seems my own painting also takes time and energy, and I didn't even start anything this Thursday and Friday. I have a photo reference I really want to start, its a landscape that looks very abstract. It's going to be a busy semester, and it may be "a painting a week" instead of "a painting a day" for awhile. Life is a balancing act, always. Even for full-time artists, I'm sure.

painting a model

Today, I painted a portrait in oil. It was fun with a group of other artists doing 20 minute poses of a model (for a total of 2 hours.) I didn't get a model release to post it on the internet, so I will not include a photo of my painting. I was pleased with it, as I rarely have done portraits. This experience made me want to try again. I have rarely had the opportunity to paint someone sitting still that long, except sketches at airports. I had a friend who lived in a third world country who said when she lived there, she painted people all the time, but didn't get the chance to paint them here, because they moved too fast. A comment on "modern" life.

Looking at Art

today I visited the National Western Stock Show Art Exhibit in Denver. Fabulous work by nationally acclaimed artists. I recommend looking at really accomplished work whenver you get the chance, its a wonderful experience.

Old Depot

Old Railroad Depot in Colorado Springs, it is now Giuseppe's Restaurant. I did an 8 x 10 of it, from a photo I liked because of the shadows and reflected light. This is the secret of painting: you are really painting the light. No matter what the subject, the subject is always light. 8 x 10 original oil painting $300 framed, $200 unframed.

day off

to watch Meryl Streep compete against herself in the
Golden Globes. What a great year for movies, everything is looking "Up!"

Victor Mine-update

Can you see the difference? I added a few more nuances. The truth is, there is hardly any white in nature. The sunlight is what makes things lighter in value, but rarely is there a pure white glare on anything. Even though the fence was highlighted with sunlight from the left, it is actually a purple-gray shade, even in the light, which popped the color against the yellow-green grasses. Learning the color wheel seems like left-brain stuff, but that's really the way we see color in nature. Analogous, complementary, are the ways light and color work together to create "reality."

no white paint!

One from the archives, but had to include it. This was done plein aire on a beautiful fall day I went to Eleven Mile Canyon with a pastel painting friend. I didn't have any white oil paint with me for mixing colors. (Somehow I had neglected to replace the used tube from the previous trip.) I was stuck, as we were a long way from home. I painted it anyway, oil on canvas, and simply wiped back to the white canvas and thinned layers of oil I didn't want as dark as the colors I'd mixed. It worked surprisingly well, kind of like sculpting out the painting. I have used this technique since then on purpose.

Red Engine

This is a new kind of paint for me to try, Lukas Berlin. Buttery. Will take some practice, its really making me paint loose. I think I'll like it once I get used to it. Like driving a different car. Old fire engine from Victor, Colorado. 6 inches by 8 inches.

Victor Mine-almost finished

I have a few finishing touches to add, but the structure is there. I want to make the back hill a little more interesting, and add some variety and color to the fenceposts in the front. And maybe a few more things to the grasses in the foreground. I want the shadow play of the fence to be the main subject. It's always helpful to take a photo of the work, or even to hold it upside down to get another view of the painting before its signed and finished.

Ginger's favorite

I completed this image (11 x 14 oil) in 2008 from a photo reference in Tucson on a previous trip. I will post the finished mine painting that is in progress tomorrow, but this post is in honor of Ginger, as today is her birthday. She has been a great encouragement to me and my painting and is a collector of my work over the years. I would like to thank all my patrons and welcome more of you to join this most cherished group. "Blue Amphora-Tucson" is framed in gold and is available for $500 framed or $400 unframed.

Victor Mine-in progress

A work I just started, 12 x 16. The drawing is more complex than I would normally create, but I loved that fence and its shadows! In fact, that is the reason for the painting. I worked really hard to get this reference photo at just the right time and place to get those shadows just right. Will publish the finished work when it is complete. A lesson here is that you keep drawing (with paint) until the work is finished. I am continually making adjustments until I'm pleased with composition and spatial relationships. I love these panelli panels, they have just the right finish that makes it easy to draw with watered down paint and then apply oil in varying degrees of thickness. They are from Italy. As are many other good things.

Dry Painting

"Dry Painting" is a part of the artist's vocabulary, and it means looking at stuff and letting it soak in. This is part of the process, because, contrary to popular opinion, painting is actually work, even for talented artists. It takes time, and painting really takes place in the artist's brain, not just the hand and painting tools. A good photographer is good because of the developed sense of seeing, and not the cost of the camera equipment. Van Gogh was quoted as saying that he wished he could paint the ideas in his head the way he saw them. "Art is the difference between just identifying and seeing"....Jean Mary Norman. Today I looked and was inspired. I have a plan for a larger work I want to do this week. More to come.

Durango Study

Several years ago I worked for a company with an office I visited for several days at a time in Durango. I woke up at 5 am and walked the historic district with my camera. Still got to work by 8 am. I took a lot of photos for references, and planned to paint them later. This one was fairly complex, and so I did a 6 x 8 inch version of it today. I loved the rose gardens along the sidewalks and the variety of colors and dappled light through the tall cottonwoods. Had planned to simplify it more, but I love those architectural details. $100 unframed, $150 framed.

Water-soluble "Ex-pear-iment"

A new pear, done on watercolor paper. Tried the water-soluble oils really watered down to use as watercolor. It worked pretty well, actually. I like them better as oils, though. Its always fun to push a medium to its limit and see how it performs. Everything you learn in art helps you with your art. So, "ex-pear-iment" every once in awhile.

my new blog at Jerry's Artarama!

I am now writing a monthly blog for Jerry's Artarama. My first article with "Spatter" came out today, 01-08-10. It's entitled, "What is Art?" Articles by other artists contain fabulous information and great encouragement about art. I recommend it to everyone who wants to learn more and keep on doing art. The link is http://www.jerrysartarama.com/blog/ I am including it as a link on this page and my website. Heather Goldstein is the new VP of Artist Relations and is a gem to work with. Did you know there is a Jerry's in Ft. Collins? They have 15 stores nationwide. I've enjoyed their excellent customer relations for many years. Great art supplies. Now I will get back to painting. Hope to get a new one out today, all those photo references from Europe and the Western Slope have been calling to me for a long time! By the way, this painting is entitled, "Laundry Day, Italy." I finished it last month, it took me a week, and it is 12 x 16 in water-soluble oil. $700 framed, $600 unframed. I was in Tuscany in June of 2005. The location of this painting was a hill town we walked to almost every day for coffee or pasta or wine or something. The path took us past vineyards, olive groves, and lavender lined walks. Fabulous. I want to return as soon as possible! Let me know if you are interested in going on a painting workshop with me here this summer!