CB's Nuts and Using a 'Ruler'

Marker Workshop coming up.  Check it out below.

When Doing a Complicated Drawing.....
......I will often find a 'Ruler' to help simplify the process.

 My 'Ruler' is something I find in the scene that I can use as an anchor and guide to make things much easier to draw accurately.  This one was done at a peanut roaster in the area, CB's Nuts.

I first decide what the most difficult thing will be to draw, in this case the bicycle.  The first line, however, was the track the garage door runs in.  The placement of this line is done by visualizing on the page what the resulting drawing will look like and then putting it down with some care.  If you look closely at the bicycle you'll see where the line goes through the hand grip and handle bars and lower down through the frame.  Likely, without my pointing it out you didn't see it because subsequent lines and value tones make those 'errors' unnoticeable.

Then came the outside railing and the bicycle.  From that point it was much easier to line up all the other objects by seeing how they compared to the bicycle.  Where exactly was that table top?  Even with the bell on the handle bars.  Where is that scale?  Directly above the axle of the front wheel.

In "Eric's RV Service" I couldn't readily find a 'ruler'.

Instead, I made the shapes a kind of stand in for a 'ruler'.  I began with the hill in the background and the square front of the old RV sitting in the upper right corner of the drawing.  Then, the fence was used  to get over to the dark bush and house.  Once sketched in that whole section became the way to 'hang' the stuff closer to me.  It made it all easier.

I will be having a one day Marker Workshop at the Winslow Art Center on May 18th, 2019.  We have a lot of fun and learn a ton.  Your drawing confidence will greatly improve once you realize that you can create convincing forms quickly and easily even if the drawing is wonky.  I could easily point out some wonkiness in these two pieces but I find that those things disappear within the cumulative effect.

Anyway, give it a try.  You'll enjoy the process using a minimum of materials.  Click HERE to check it out.

I'll be back.  Thanks for looking.

  

On Not Being Able to Draw

'Checkstand #4'

Every So Often I Get in a Total Artistic Funk.....
.....convincing myself that I've forgotten everything I might have known about painting or drawing.  It starts as a small voice but after a week or so of not doing any art it's pretty much a full out of tune chorus.

On one of those 'funk weeks' I began a Tuesday morning by having breakfast at Whole Foods.  The table I was at was maybe 15 feet from this checkout and after mentally battling the out of tune chorus for as long as I could stand I pulled out the pens and did this quick sketch.

I began with what I felt was the hardest part, the checkout person, looking for something I could visually grab on to.  That 'V' right behind her head where her pony tail was tied was the spot.  After all, anyone can draw a 'V'.  Then the top of her head and down her bangs, then on to the pony tail itself.....and I can't tell you what came next.

Ok, says the chorus, now reduced to a duet, but 'you just got lucky'.  So, for a slap down on the duet,  on the ferry to home I did these two charmers.

The naysayers have now been quiet for a bit so I can finally announce a Marker Workshop coming up on May 18th, 2019 at the Winslow Art Center.  Check it out HERE.

This is a painless one day class that will increase your feelings of artistic accomplishment as well as give you the skills to find sketching both faster and more enjoyable.  Marker Drawing greatly improved all my art after I stumbled on to this technique that uses just a pen and three toned markers.

Hope to see you there.  You get a Free Stress Reducing Sketchbook.  Did I say 'FREE'?

I'll be back with some more drawings.

Thanks for looking.

Intuitive Painting Class

'Oksana'  16x20....
.....was done at her sister's home in January of this year.

I'm posting it because I'm teaching a class called Intuitive Painting that starts this coming Tuesday, March 5th at the Winslow Art Center.  It is filling up but still has a place or two.

The conditions for this painting were difficult.  The light behind her hit me in the eyes causing a glare in both my face and across the canvas.  The more paint I put on the worse it became.  Once the canvas was covered I actually couldn't tell what color or value I was mixing.  I was doing it by the seat of my pants.  I assumed it would be an absolute failure once I got it into good light and could see.

Well, it seems OK,  and reminded me of all the times that when it was the last pose of a model or when the sun was rapidly setting or during a night painting that many painters go into 'automatic mode', painting like a whirlwind and just trusting to gut instinct.  So often the best things happen when we are forced to get our rational minds out of the process and allow our intuition to take over.   Somehow it works.

Perhaps we make painting too much of a intellectual thing, not trusting to all our years of training, doubting our own guidance system.

I haven't taught this kind of a course before so I'm giving it all I have to see if increasing the ability to  use intuition can improve and strengthen our art.  Perhaps getting all our internal 'stuff' out of the way will be a good thing.  By the way, Art and Fear is a good book to start the wheels moving about all kinds of art things, including intuition and trust.

Come if you can.  I'd love to see you.

I'll be back.  Thanks for looking.

Marker Sketches

Marker Workshop Level II....

.....is next Wednesday, May 20th, so I thought I would post some drawings from two days ago to get the juices flowing....yours and mine.

In this one day event we will expand from the beginning workshop to doing more sketching on location and add in some white gouache, markers or pen to increase the sense of  dimension in the work.

I'll show you how to 'scribble' draw and how to use a visual 'ruler' to help your drawings come together faster and easier.  Even better, we will all learn something about how to live with our mistakes...or use them to be more creative in the finished work and look.

In this piece I'll bet you didn't even notice that I neglected to put legs or pedestal under the chair she is sitting on.  She is magically holding up herself and the chairs on that one bent leg....but who cares?

In this one I framed out the stuff above (this was a full page drawing) to add more emphasis on the  person at the table.

Find out how to sign up for this workshop....or other classes.....by checking in with the Winslow Art Center HERE.  Hope you can make it next week.  But if you can't keep it in mind for another time.

Keep on Drawing!!

Thanks for checking in.

An Early Spring, 10x12

I don't remember where.....
.....I was originally headed.  Somewhere between the house and the car I saw this scene at the driveway turn around.  So much for what it was I was originally doing.

The linen that had once held yesterday's problem painting got re-purposed to do this one.  Rather than  canvas on board or stretchers, I've lately been taping pieces of loose cut linen or canvas or paper on plywood boards using packing tape.  I've seen Richard Schmid and John Crump doing the same thing and I liked the way they could just wipe off paint that got beyond the edge, recreating a sharp line around the piece.

This is what I did when in Italy last Fall and liked the way it worked.  As long as I had enough plywood boards to mount to, I could keep just ahead of the ones that were still drying before peeling off the tape.

And I used it Tuesday when I painted a patio scene in Nancy's garden....wiped it off....and today when it was portrait Thursday....and I'll likely wipe those two also.

About wiping off (which I've been doing a lot of lately).   It's easy to think what gets wiped off is  to me a bad painting.  When I was learning, my friends and can tell you that was the case.  It was the swearing that gave me away....  I should have wiped off more, actually.

Now it's about a painting not getting where I need it to go.  It might be technically fine but if it isn't saying something new or adding to my visual vocabulary, there's no reason for it to stick around.  It isn't exciting me.

As much as I liked the scene this painting of early blooms was almost a wipe off.  It turned back from that when I saw the cool light on the shadowed side of the large tree and then saw it again in the blooming shrub.  Not only did that add to making the forms but it set up a warm cool vibration for the eye.

Don't forget the upcoming Oil Painting Class, the Portrait Workshop and the Marker Workshop through the Winslow Art Center (HERE).   ....and the Italy trip in October.

Thanks for visiting.  

Gouache Workshop 2015

Today was the Winslow Art Center Gouache Workshop and.....

.....some of you were able to be there to create beautiful pieces of art.  We got a wall full of paintings and didn't even get them all up for the photo.

This was the demo I did to help cement the concept of painting the big shapes before putting in the 'do-dads'....and using a big brush.  Except for the four individual grapes, the whole painting was done with a one inch flat.  Everyone seemed to get the idea because the last paintings of the day were definitely strong artistic statements.

Here is the wall full of color:

Such a committed crew.....even if they had a hard time pronouncing 'gouache'.  

The Scream Online

A Great Day.....

.....ends even better when you find out you've been published in an international online magazine for the arts, the SCREAM online.  Despite the fact I knew it was coming sometime it took me by complete surprise.  Check it out HERE.  Thanks, 'Scream'!

Marker Drawing, ever since the day I accidentally 'discovered' it, has just been a fun activity.  Pretty soon it led to a handout, then some workshops, then a longer class handout....and then a book which you can find a link to in the above menu.

Many artists use markers for quick sketches to study compositional ideas, and I do also.  But the pieces can go beyond that into sketching on toned paper, recording color notes, and even into printmaking in the form of monotypes and etchings.  I highly recommend it as a way to study painting without hauling around a lot of brushes and paint.

Here is one I did recently in Italy which uses white gouache to help separate values.  Give it a try.  If you are in the area I will be having another Marker Workshop in March 2015.  It usually fills up.  Find out about it at the Winslow Art Center, HERE.

Emma, 18x24

Demonstration paintings....

...are surprisingly fun to do.  Painting 'Emma' was stressful, time and performance pressured and immersing, but because she was such a great first time model we both had a good time.  She was so helpful and attentive I'm giving her the painting.

I had volunteered to do a demo for my class thinking that, because it was mostly interpreting and painting landscapes from photographic reference, that they would like to see me do a landscape....or at least a still life.  But 'portrait' was the vote.

The people there took photos of the process and perhaps if some one of them could forward a few pics of the process I'll post them later.  In lieu of that, here is a closeup.  The demo took a bit more than two hours but that included model breaks and a bit of talking and explaining.

 
Painting classes begin again the last week of January at the Winslow Art Center.  I'll also be teaching a Marker Workshop in early February....plus some other courses.  Come join us....we have a lot of fun.

Rockport Red, 12x14

 

Rockport Harbor.

There must be at least two boats in Maine for everyone that lives there.  They are all over the place, in all kinds of shapes, colors and purposes....and with all sorts of personalities.  They would make a good Pixar movie.

It's hard to pass up painting a red one sitting against the intense blues of a Fall sky reflected in the water.....all those color possibilities....all those excuses to push and pull the hues and find color vibrancy and pattern.  Working boats are a pleasure just to watch bob around in the water.

My classes begin later this month at the Winslow Art Center.  While I frequently revamp what I teach, this year it is a total makeover and I'm going to try to move into areas of instruction I haven't tried before, but I think will help those in the course move more quickly into their own expression and style.  It will be pretty much all day on Tuesdays for seven weeks and will be four (yes, four) hours of instruction followed by open studio.  Come if you can.  We always have a good time.

Find out more about it HERE.  Scroll down until you find "Painting To Your Next Level" and read all about it. 

Alamos Square, 6 x 10

Town Square, Alamos, Sonora

Announcements!

1.  I'm back from Mexico where I ate great food, lived in a small mountain town and painted from dawn to dusk with good friends.  If there was a downside it was that the lady that sold the Tres Leches cake was only in the town square twice.

2.  The Scream Online, an online international magazine for the arts, will be having features on myself and two other artists in their upcoming edition.  The focus will be on drawing...in my case Drawing with Valued Markers.

3.  Finally, for all those who have been asking for it, I will be teaching my marker workshop on Saturday, April 20th at the Winslow Art Center.   I've had wonderful feedback from those who have taken it before so, whether you are a painter, sketcher or dabbler, you'll find something you can use in this course.  It is such a great way to quickly capture the essence of your wanderings in the world.

The drawing above is only two values and white yet so much depth and movement can be expressed.....and in only a few minutes.  I'll be posting more drawings, as well as Mexico paintings, between now and the 20th so stay tuned.

Geraniums, 16x20

 

Last week's class demo.  I didn't quite finish it until that evening but you can see the steps at Diana Kingsley's blog.  I like doing demonstration paintings because an audience keeps me from thinking too much and focused on just intuitively slapping paint around.  Sometimes it works.

This class is about painting from photos and making them believable.  In Diana's photos you can see that I was using two sources to get the most information.  Outdoor experience, however, is the best source.

Cottenwood Down II, 12x14

Hand warmers, toe warmers, long underwear and rain gear....it was still cold but so worth the little discomfort to be able to stand in front of this scene for an hour.

It is now more than a year from that day.  Yesterday I took a workshop in 'gouache resist' from a very talented person with 27 (I think) children's books in print.  She has used this technique for many of them with outstanding results.  Pierr Morgan's website is HERE and her blog is HERE.

There has been a children's book on the way back burner for a long time but I never found a technique that I wanted to use for it until I saw some of Pierr's work.  So I took her one day workshop and played and learned about it.

I've painted with gouache for well over a decade and never heard of 'gouache resist'.  Because dry gouache is still water soluble the whole idea seemed bizarre.  I had to know more.

After several attempts in the workshop I was searching for something else to do when I spied Cottenwood Down II hanging across the room, leftover from the Friday artwalk.  OK.  Now realize that this was my first experience with this technique and there are many things not going the way I expected.....but this is what I got using that painting more as an inspiration than a guide:

Not bad.  Possibility.  Certainly playful.

Here is another from the book idea:

Pretty cool.  Check out Pierr's website for more information on the technique and examples of her books.

Lowtide at the Fort, 10x12

Desperation made me do it.  How many days can I go without painting outdoors?  How much gray can one person stand....

So, since there was a break in the weather, I toddled off to Fort Ward to paint the beach and to find whatever color notes were hanging around waiting to be picked up.  Half way into this it once again began raining and becoming colder.... so the painting got looser and faster as I went.  It looks more like a spring early morning than a gray winter....but I got to paint outside.

My sister used to visit here from Minnesota.  After being here one December she vowed never to come back because she froze here more than Minneapolis at a minus 10.  She's been true to her word.  Must be the moisture.  Yes, I'm whining. 

Fred left. Didn't come back., 12x12

Sun and snow and lots to paint....what a great day!  Is there anything like intense light and color to improve a mood...and mine certainly needed this.

Help me.  This is a junkyard.  Why are used beaten up things so appealing to artists?  If this had been a new truck sitting in the snow I might have painted it....but I would have looked for something else first.  Is it the fact that so many stories are wrapped up in old things?  I mean, I'd rather paint a house from the 1890's than one built yesterday.  Of course, this theory doesn't work for fish.

Painting class begins this Thursday and I hear there are only a couple spots left.  We will be concentrating on painting from photos, exploring the pitfalls and solutions necessary to keep work fresh.  This will include several 'tricks' from the instructor....who has learned them the hard way.  Find out more at the Winslow Art Center.

Relaxed, 12x16

I love watercolor....and I greatly respect anyone who can do it well....which I don't think I do.  It takes more patience and thoughtfulness than I possess.  I think it's my ADD.

This portrait was an accident from a few years ago but I've always kind of liked it.  It was one of those 20 or 25 minute gesture pieces that pretty much painted itself.  Actually I was off getting coffee when my brush started in.  By the time I got back there wasn't much for me to do....luckily.  Think I lost that brush somewhere....

'Everyone Can Draw.  Yes, Even You' is the title of the drawing course I begin teaching at the end of the month.  This is learning to draw without the pain.  My courses are all 'no fail' courses.  Just having the courage and interest to show up makes you a success.  Find out more about this class and others at the Winslow Art Center site.

Four Studies, Plein Air

 

 

Do you live someplace other than the great Northwest?  Go outside.  Bask in the sun.  Do it for me because I'm counting the days until the weather begins changing from constant rain to a bit of occasional sun.

These four studies, done one morning in Maine, are from those glorious sunny days when painting outdoors was actually possible.  Each image brings me back to the scene I was looking at, with warmth on my face and a gentle breeze blowing.....OK, so there was a slight gale that blew over my easel.....I was still outside painting.

'What Do You Do When You Can't Paint Outside' is the title of my upcoming class beginning on January 17th.  While I will have a couple of still life setups around, most of the class will be about painting from photographs.  We will explore the pitfalls of photography and the possible work-arounds that can keep them fresh and exciting.  Open to all levels in oil, acrylic and gouache.  Find out more at the Winslow Art Center website.

This will be great practice for when plein air becomes doable again as the same principles of design, value and color will apply.  Come join us if you can.

Cape Naden, 12x16

Post 5.5 in the 'Make a Comment and Win a Painting' Contest.  (Why 5.5?  Because I have this idea for what #6 should be.....wait)

Dianna Shyne let me tag along at her acrylic workshop for a day and I sat on the beach and painted these.  If you want excellent instruction in plein air acrylic contact Dianna.....she's the best.

The blue boat is the Cape Naden, a 100 foot Alaskan fish 'packer' boat from 1908.  It has been redone with 5 staterooms below and a huge diesel engine.  It's for sale for only $47,000....I should buy it for my roving studio.

'Along the Dock' is only 6x8 and was done with no predrawing....just blocked in the big shapes and carved it out.  For both of these I used only three hues, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Thalo Blue, Primary Yellow and, of course, White.  Amazing what can be done with a limited palette.

Make a comment.  Only one more post to the announcement of the winner.....I promise.

Log Raft 2.5, 10x12

Painting Giveaway #2.5.

For reasons known only to the Facebook illuminaries, my blog entries aren't posting to FB...so lots of people are missing out on this contest.  I'm posting this as 2.5 rather than 3 to see if I've got it straightened out. 

Make a comment and enter to win a free painting which I will draw and announce after I've posted number six.  This one counts for comments but not in the six.   This was painted for the abstract qualities of the shapes.

I'm teaching another plein air workshop this weekend and it promises to be a perfect two days for working outdoors.  There is room for another if you want to join us even for a day.  We are meeting at 9 am at the Winslow Art Center and heading out from there.

To those of you that have posted, keep them coming.  It's fun to hear your comments and you get another entry for that free painting. 

Canning Time, 12x12

 Number Two in the 'make a comment and enter for a free painting' thing begun in the last post.  All you have to do is make a comment via my blog or my email to be entered.  The more comments you make the better your chances. 

This painting has been shown several times, sold once but the buyer changed to a different one, and then recently resurrected with a few color shifts and additions.  You can see the original version on my website HERE.  I remember when I originally painted it that it was an exercise in using a very limited palette.  The color wheel choices I used are on the back of the painting.

When I adjusted it recently I had just purchased a couple new colors I wanted to try out and thought they gave the painting some subtle nuances it needed.  I was pleased and wanted to share it. 

Summer Plein Air Workshop is coming up.  Two days of painting outdoors with all kinds of good instruction about color mixing, simplification of shapes, design possibilities, outdoor equipment choices, demonstrations and much more.  If you want to learn about color dynamics, plein air is the way to do it.  July 28th and 29th.  Contact the Winslow Art Center for details.