"Jazz Note"

"Jazz Note" will be among several of my paintings shown at City Art Gallery Greenville in North Carolina. The salon style summer show opens Thursday evening, 6/10/2010. (www.cityartgreenville.com)

"Jazz Note" is an on-going series of night life oil paintings started a few years back. I like playing with the different mood artificial lighting brings to a scene compared to natural light. It is 20"x10" oil on stretched linen.

studying background

Leffel's workshop was divided between figure studies and still life studies. During the 1 1/2 days we had with still lifes I focused on "background." David defines "background" as everything not in the light. This definition simplified things for me and helped me focus on creating a solid support for the "light."

12"x16" oil on Claussen #13ddp linen. Still life studies never to be finished because I got what I wanted from these studies - a better understanding of brush strokes and background.

Pochade Box

This week it's finally been warm enough that while plein air painting I have not had to wear long johns, feet and hand warms, wool sweaters, and several other layers but, I still need gloves and a heavy coat. Still with the sun shining sometimes, I was motivated to bring out my little poached box made by fellow plein air painter and part-time carpenter, Denny. This sweet little paint box has a strap on the bottom where I can slip my palm into or, if sitting, strap around my leg. So I tried to escape and do quick little 5"x7" studies and try to catch the spring landscape. Here is a sample of a few I did. Karen and I noticed that even on a sunny day the sky is hazy, not bright blue like we had in Arizona. Is that because in Arizona we were painting in high altitudes??? (Denny also makes wet panel carriers. This one is for my 5x7 panels)

eventually's a myth, just do It

my newest mantra, "eventually's a myth, just do It." Thanks Ellie, you got me out of my procrastination mode/fear of ??? and back into the studio,... although now the laundry is piling up again.

untitled so far
20"x10" oil

Merry Christmas!!!!

"Scalawag Onion" (sold)

I love shopping at neighborhood farmers markets because they often have veggies that I normally don't see in my local grocery. Although green onions are very common these were so wild, fresh, and colors intense that I thought they'd make a nice study. The roots were long and had a life of their own which inspired the title of the painting. This is mostly a palette knife painting although I did use a brush in areas were I needed to tame down the rougher palette knife strokes. 6"x12" oil on linen

"Purple Splash"

The model was doing quick poses all morning. She ran out of the standard poses which was really great because then she got playful and her poses looked natural to her body. I wish it was longer and I had used heavier paint but if it was a long pose I'd would have lost the simplicity. Still wish I'd used heavier paint in some areas to add more of a pow.

12"x6" oil on linen ($145.)

"Along the River's Edge" (sold)

After a couple of days of hard rain I was surprised to find trees with spring blooms. I wish I could do them justice. The spring colors and textures are a fun challenge.

Private Interior

I've been making a lot of horrid messes this past week both in my studio and outside with my plein air efforts. These are the only two pieces I feel are "blog-worthy." But I'm not going to stress about it and after I finish my mega mug of java I'm hitting the streets to try try again.

Here's my/Churchill quote of the day, "out of extreme complexity emerges extreme simpicity."

One of my former roomates use to wisely say, "keep it simple stupid." The stupid part may sound harsh but she directed at herself. But with my many different subject matters; still life, plein air, figures, portraits, I do think it's important to simplify the shapes.

plein air musings plus

The following are some pieces I did outside of my studio. I'm still working on the theme of painting- that -which -normally -doesn't -get -a- second -thought but, I find particularly beautiful.

"Blu Where There Shouldn't Be"
6"x8" Oil










On this morning the weather went from sunny and warm to dark and rainy to sunny and, well you get the picture. It really wasn't the best idea to pick reflections on those conditions. Again I struggle with getting too expressive and loosing the bit of form which gives the viewer a clue as to the fact that it is reflections in water and not purely an abstraction painting.







"River North" (Unfinished)
The sun was out, it was warm for the first time in weeks and weeks so instead of finishing the piece I was distracted by the day.

okay so this isn't a plein air piece but she is "musing" about something.

12"x9" head study in oil w/ a limited palette

can you guess what it is???

Yesterday I finally got to paint this area that I pass by daily but haven't found the time to stop and paint. My primary concern was to create a simple simple composition/design with my subject matter. But now I'm wondering if the simplicity made it too abstract. If so, I probably should consider painting in a more highly realistic manner and minimalize my loosy-goosy style. So, can you tell what it is I painted???

6"x8" oil on linen mounted on 6 ply archival museum board

head study in oil

Definitely my favorite and biggest challenge are these portrait studies. There is so much information to try to capture and also the decisions on what not to paint. I want to get accuracy but keep it "painterly." I took the photos about every two hours to keep track of my progression.

14"x11"

oil on portrait linen

blop,blop, blop

This is a tiny piece and done quickly before the teen bounced off to do whatever these kids do. My hope was to get the size and placement in that bit of light from a side window, as accurately as possible. I'd like to do more of these "blop" pieces and then see if I can successfully make them larger in my studio. I call them blop pieces because that's what I feel like I'm doing, just blop in the values in the right place the first time cause there's no second chance.

6"x4" oil on linen

"Dana"- oil study

My favorite and most challenging subject to paint is portraits. This is a 4 hour oil study. I wish I had had 40 hours. Besides trying to capture a likeness, I wanted to capture the glow of her youthful skin, the feeling of structure- bones, muscles, life, and interesting brush strokes, attention to edges, correct values,... When I get frustrated at my progress I remind myself that it's all a beautiful journey and to enjoy the process.

12"x9" Oil on Linen

Lime Wedge (sold)

I haven't worked on my Bitty Bite series, where I investigate a solitary subject on a square canvas, in quite a while so today I chopped up a lime. Maybe this composition and cropping is awkward??? But I was really attracted to the tactile quality for this painting and had fun using just a palette knife.

8"x8" Oil

unfinished - oil sketch

I decided not to continue on this painting after spending an evening on it because I feel I lost the sensitivity to the concept, lost the soul to the piece. I like how everything, including the light, was arranged so I will definitely try to paint this again but on another canvas.
12"x16" oil

"Winter Brilliance"

Just left of yesterdays painting is a river and little waterfall. The waterfall was what I really wanted to paint with part rushing water and part frozen water. But I started too late in the morning and the bright sun washed out the scene so I used the dam as an abstracted element to hopefully keep your eye from falling out of the painting and lead you into the cool shadows cast by the trees on the far bank.

10"x8" Oil ($190.)

"Winter Passage"

I love to paint. So instead of playing on the computer and keeping my website and blogspot updated, I've been painting. Getting on the computer eats my painting time. Anyone else have this problem?

This painting was done right around the corner from my home. The long cool shadows and the warm brush caught my eye. But someday I'm going to return to paint this elegant corner building. Someone told me it was originally a bar about 100 years ago.

10"x8" Oil on Linen ($190.)

p.s. see Karen Phipps 2/11/09 painting. She's standing about 40 feet behind and down hill from me. I'm in her painting, painting this piece.

"Tea with Lemon"

It's been too cold for me to venture outside and paint. Yesterday it was -24 degrees. So I returned to my tea cup series which was inspired by my daughter. She told me that in colonial days, when a guest had enough, she'd turn her tea cup over and say, "I'll take no more tea today."
11"x14" Oil On Linen
www.hong-sammons.com

The Path Not Taken (North Pond)

Painted this around 2 pm. The sky continued to get a darker gray but the day felt quite light-filled because of the new snow. It was hard to keep the values correct because I kept over-compensating. And yes, it was cold!

10"x8"

Oil on Linen

($99. alla prima oil study)

January (North Pond)

The best way to shake away the winter blues is to plein air paint along a half frozen lake, just kidding - sort of. After spending so much time with wonderful family and friends, January 6 was rather depressing until I started painting again. Even though my toes froze and the wind bite my cheeks, I loved the colors you see on a cold, gray, winter day. The sky had these amazing warm tones however very subtle and the snow reflected the cool light of the day. fun fun fun

8x10

Oil on Linen