March Demo, 18x21

Demos.....
.....I love doing them.  For a while I thought it was 'showing off' but realized that it never felt like that because I'm seldom satisfied with the results.  It feels like my energy and visual acuity levels go up when I've got a bunch of people expecting something from me....and I like to make people happy.

Yesterday.
I began with a ten or twelve minute marker drawing just to scope out the shapes of light and dark masses and get a composition.  It mimics, but doesn't attempt to accurately copy, what I'm looking at. And, while I'm at it, there is still a place left for my Marker sketching workshop on Saturday.  Go HERE for details.

Nancy seems to be my official photographer and took some photos of the process....about two hours.  For the painterly minded, I use mostly Rembrandt paints supplemented by Utrecht, Windsor and Newton and Gamblin where necessary.  You can see me using a large 'egbert' style brush during the blocking because I like the unpredictability of it.  The rest of the piece uses Silver Bristlon Flats in various sizes.  It was done on a masonite panel with three coats of Utrecht gesso applied with a roller and lightly sanded between coats.

Loosely sketching it in.

The 'egbert' establishing initial color and tone.

Competed blockin, moving to value and color adjustments.

Close to the end, just before the final adjustments and doodads.

Every time I think I am going to be more reserved in my color and looser in paint application, this kind of thing happens.  The first plein air painting I completed was at a week long workshop.  I spent the whole week working on it.  I knew I had gotten to the limit of my painting skills at that time.  The instructor, Ron Lukas, came around and, after staring at it a bit said, 'Well, you sure aren't afraid of color.' and walked away.  To this day I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a subtle suggestion.  Ron was like that.

Thanks for looking.  See you out and about.

A Villa Garden, 8x10

'Off the grid' have I been....

.....due to a dance with pneumonia.  I wouldn't recommend it.....but I'm almost 'normal', whatever that means....but  I guess it means I'm interested in painting again.

Anyway, this was the first demo painting I did at the Italy workshop  (plans are afoot already for another next year).  Wanting to do something relatively simple I decided on this.  OK.  To be honest it was the most comfortable seating area in the garden and THEN I decided what I could see to paint.

I taped a loose piece of linen to a board, toned it with some burnt sienna and talked my way through the stages.  It's a quick little piece but I like the way the colors came together.

Here is a pic one of the other painters posted on Facebook about a week ago.  I'm taking the tape off just prior to final touch-up....can't judge it as well with all that blue tape so the refinement takes place with it off.

 

By the way, my Fall 2014 painting classes begin this next Tuesday from 9:30 to 1:30 followed by open studio time.  Open to oil, acrylic, gouache, casein or pastel.  There are a couple of spots still available if you can make it.

Orchestration, 12x16

Ken Auster's words rang in my head.....

.....while I was wandering around the Winslow Art Center during my painting class.  Ken is an intriguing and talented painter from Laguna Beach who said 'good painters paint what they know, not what they see.  What you see is just resource material'.  His website is HERE.

Having dealt with the 'am I a camera or an artist' syndrome myself, I wanted a way to demonstrate for the next week's class what orchestrating a painting could mean.  So, while the class was doing other things, I painted this one when they weren't looking.

I had this panel with me that, for some unknown reason, I had toned green....but it was all I had.  In looking at the still life setup....and this is a picture that doesn't describe the side lighting....the white coffee cup and the cloth around it was by far the most strongly lit area.  That's not where I wanted a viewers eye to go.

Here is the sequence.....remember the photo of the setup is not true.

Sketchy drawing just to place shapes.

Beginning color block in.

Just before 'going for the finish'.

From here I threw in a few lighter portions and called it done.  The cup now takes the role of supporting actor.  The 'Lady Gaga' flowers lure your attention.

My workshop in Italy, Simplifying the Tuscan Landscape: Drawing and Painting, has been officially announced HERE.   Susan Ogilvie is also teaching pastels there a week earlier.  The place is spectacular.

  Also, my workshop in Spring Training for Painters, begins on April 15th....so come get your painting arm and eyes in shape for the summer season.  Find out about that one HERE.

Keep painting.  Summer is coming.....really!

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.

Boathouse, 8x10

Sitting in the shade at the beach.....

.....I did this demo on Sunday for the plein air workshop.  The building was actually a bit more squat and didn't have this saltbox roof....I just made it a little more interesting.   

It was a great weekend.  Saturday at the Bloedel Reserve and Sunday staying cool by Eagle Harbor.  I had a group of serious painters who stretched me....I think challenging me kept them in good spirits because they looked like they were having fun.  One looked like she was even settling in for a long stay.

I asked them to use a limited palette to simplify choices and learn color mixing.  This is Quinacridone Red, Cadmium Yellow Light and Thalo Blue.  The next post or two will have paintings done with that palette.  There is freedom, believe it or not, in such a limited selection of primaries.

Here is a pic of the painting at a sketch stage:

And here is the quick marker drawing to help plot where I wanted to go:

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.

Spring Snowballs, 14x18

Flowers can be so fleeting that several Springs can go by before I get around to painting certain ones.  It has taken a few years to get around to painting snowballs again.  My friend Debbie showed up and took some progress shots....thanks, D.  I'm sharing them below so you can see the steps.

In this painting I drew a little first.  Another demo, but one in which I didn't draw, I posted  HERE.

A few things to note:  When the flowers are drawn in they have square edges that reflect the planes of their shapes.  I then put a single dot where the center of the flower is which immediately establishes which direction they are pointing.

Another is, that since this was a fairly close valued painting, the first note of paint was the value and color of the sky.  From this I could judge what the rest of the values should be to describe the flowers but still keep them in light spring colors.

The photo of the source doesn't accurately reflect values or color....and there is no sky.  The day was cloudy and very cool. 

By the way, I have a plein air workshop coming up in July at the Winslow Art Center. 

Rainy Day Bridge, 10x12

Alone up a dead end road and down into a makeshift parking area I found this scene.  Rain kept interfering with my painting progress but the quiet was worth the annoyance.  For much of the time I had to hold an umbrella over the painting and palette to keep them dry enough to progress.  

I've had some questions so, if a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some answers to the question of  'How do you do this?'  While it has been different every time, this is the general idea:

The Scene:

Initial separation of light and dark with an Isabey badger fitch:

Over the next few steps the image gets created by 'carving' with value and hue:

Finally, after the larger shapes begin to take some generalized form, I can begin to add the details that turn it into a recognizable image:

And that's pretty much it.  Painting is just big shapes and doo-dads... (think I've said that before.....)  Remember when comparing the photo of the scene to the painting that  1) this is a painting, not a reproduction of a photo,  2) cameras lie, and 3) see number one.

White Roses in Two Versions

 

First Version:  3.5 x 4.5 inches, palette knife on paper.  A palette knife painting usually ends up with lots of pure vibrant color as once the paint has been placed it's simply there....no fudging the color with a brush.  It's just mix and place, mix and place.

Second Version:  16x20, demo with a brush on gessoed board.  These paintings were done a week apart.  While the forms are more easily recognizable and the color ended up pretty similar, it loses some of the abstract quality.  I like them both as different expressions of the same still life.  Someday I'd like to do a palette knife painting in a larger size but I'll have to save for some paint as they use a lot.  A bit more like sculpting clay...but with thirty dollar tubes of paint.

Tomorrow will be the announcement of the winner in the painting give-away.  There will also be a surprise coming with it.  I can't wait.