in-progress

Almost done with this painting. View post on 1/23/09 if you're interested in seeing the beginning stages.

Oil on Linen 30x40

"Jimmies"

more whimsy

12"x12"

Oil ($199.)

"Pink Icing"

Feeling a bit whimsical today.

12"x12"

Oil ($199.)

still life in-progress

Between temperatures dropping into the negatives and sick kids I haven't been able to plein air paint for a while so I decided to work on some of my new year "resolutions" in my studio. I'm painting on color charts, drawing the figure from life and casts, and working on this larger (large for me any ways) still life. These photos show my progression on my painting so far. There will be a third tulip which extends from the vassel and arches over the other tulips.

30x40 Oil on Linen

"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

studying the human form

Recently, I spent a week studying drawing the human form in a workshop lead by Henry Yau, a master artist from China. It was one of the best classes I've ever had. This drawing is a sample from the workshop. My focus was to concentrate on accurate construction of the figure in charcoal. I worked on several different studies each day from 5 minute gesture drawings to 45 minute extended sketches. It was great to have Henry's expertise to critique my efforts. If I were to make a resolution for 2009, I would try to work several hours a week on just simple, clean, accurate figure drawings.

24"x18" vine charcoal on medium-tooth drawing paper

"January" (North Pond)

This is the same spot as the last post but looking more towards the right. Can you feel the cold? It was just getting ready to snow again so the light was a beautiful silvery gray. This made the colors really pop in an otherwise dreary gray winter scene.

8"x10"

Oil on Linen

($99. oil study)

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)

Milk Glass with Tulip (value study)

Value studies have dramatically helped me create better paintings. I'm using five values only with pure white being my lightest, pure raw umber as my darkest, and then three other values inbetween. I begin by painting all the darkest shadows first. I'm doing a lot of value studies because I'm trying to improve my ability to use chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the painting technique and philosophy of creating shapes from the shadow as oppose to delineating through contours, outlines.
9x12
oil on linen

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

"Reflections"

Started this as a value study using raw umber but quickly turned into full color as I got into the reflected surfaces.
9"x12"
Oil on Linen www.hong-sammons.com

"Passage"

I painted this rather quickly before the snow fell. When I arrived the sun was bright and there were beautiful cool dramatic shadows. Although I set up my easel fast, a thick blanket of dark clouds rolled in and changed the lighting completely to warm shadows (which I keyed up) and compressed values. If I'm not too lazy, I'll walk back to this same spot and paint it again as I'm sure it's now under a heavy layer of snow.

8"x6"

Oil on Linen ($75.)

oil study-Turnip

I want my paintings to say much much more. Fortunately I live in a place where there are several excellent artists willing to share what they know and critique my art. Last night I worked with Michael Van Zeyl, (check out his still life paintings on his website). It would get too wordy to list all the things I learned about my paintings but I will take the time to list the five essential elements for a good painting.

*Compostion

*Value Relationships

*Edges

*Color Harmony

*Paint Application

happy art-making and art viewing!

9"x12" Oil on Linen

"Old Slices" (sold)

I set this up ten days ago but then never felt inspired to paint it. I guess the challenge of painting outside in freezing temperatures was too great. Today I woke to minus 10 so I didn't even think about going outside to paint. Instead I painted these lemons which are starting to

dry out giving slightly different values and colors.

8"x10"

Oil on Linen

"Raw" - value study

Painted, or rather tried to paint, in minus 5 degree windchill. That's why today's value study is a bit "raw." I actually learned more about how to paint in the cold so next time I won't feeze quite as badly. This was a corner in Chicago in the area called Bucktown .

7"x5"

Oil on Linen (mounted on museum board)

On a different note---

I put a still life on ebay, listed on my blog Dec. 4, 08. Part of the sale goes directly to the Breast Cancer society.

Value Study (Claudia)

Once again I painted from life at the Palette and Chisel during their open studio session. This model held a very difficult pose. She crossed and bent her legs and arms. The awkward diagonal thing is part of her arm with her hand tucked under her hair. I think I did better with the values today but I'm not happy with the semi-stiff dough figure. Guess I'll just have to keep going back. It's a journey...

14"x10"

Oil on Linen

portrait study-"John (the Baptist)

(the whitish flecks on the surface of this painting are shards of glass. A lamp broke next to my painting. Once the painting dries, and if it's something I want to save vs. scrape away, the flecks of glass should wipe away clean. A tip for plein air painters in case you should ever have wind blow gravel etc. onto your finished painting.)
This young man posed for a group of us this morning. I need more time, as usual, to finish this portrait study particularly in the highlights.

10"x8"
Oil on Linen

still life/Value study

Painting for myself is so different than painting for a show. And now that my show obligations for 2008 and the beginning of 2009 have been fulfilled I'm enjoying digging into improving my ability to see values accurately. I thought the execution of painting the inside of the orange peel would be difficult but the real challenge was the value relationships of the tabletop to the backdrop. I spent quite a long time scraping away the wrong paint and reapply the correct value. Once that was done the piece came together much better.

12"x9"

Oil on Linen www.hong-sammons.com

City-scapes/Value Studies

It's a luxury to be able to paint for myself. So once again I'm concentrating on value because I feel if the values are off, the painting is weak and spoiled. This is the same intersection, painted an hour apart during the morning rush. I used only black and white oil paints.

7"x5"

Oil on Linen

"Northland Woods"

I spent Thanksgiving week in the very north of Wisconsin. This area holds special childhood memories. This past weekend the serenity of painting in total isolation of these gorgeous woods was curtailed for me because it was opening deer hunting season. I had my gear on for the cold but didn't think about wearing a bright orange vest and hat to avoid being shot. Since I was worried about poachers, I painted very small quick studies. I concentrated on understanding the values. Today I'll try to paint something larger in my studio from these oil paintings.

Oil On Linen

7"x5"

($75.)