Plein Air Bluebells

I don't know if it is safe to say or not, but I think spring is finally here. Despite a drizzly morning I really wanted to paint the bluebells before they disappeared until next year. Of course part way through the sun came out. I'm not complaining. I'll take the rays even if it meant prematurely stopping on my little oil study. Next time, paint faster or rather with better accuracy. As always, this is another value study.
6"x8" oil painting sold

in-progress

It's been crazy busy in my studio which is always a good thing but, I haven't been able to keep up with visiting blogs or posting on my blog. So I'm posting an almost finished painting. I'm still tackling florals. (I also need to tackle documenting them accurately with my digital camera.) These large old fashion roses have a lot of transmitted light through their petals and getting them just right in oils is a huge challenge.
Thank you for all the nice birthday wishes. They helped make me realize it's no big deal particularly when you get to spend your days with a brush in your hands.

50's Nifty

I turned 50 during a record breaking blizzard which created one of my best birthdays. Dear friends send birthday greetings, dropped off flowers, wine, and Cds. Since the storm steadily increase to mammoth proportions I stayed tucked in my studio painting the bouquets (with varying success) and listening to Bach. Life is sweet

Delft and Milk Glass

I've committed myself to focus on portraits and florals during these cold winter months. No more plein air painting for me until the temperatures hit the upper 20s.
So with this painting instead of my favorite dark backgrounds I played with white on white with the additional challenge of trying to use natural light to create a dark, a light, a bright, a dull.

"mello yellow"

I love yellow tulips. I love their warm and inviting color. And I love how they remind me of spring. Unfortunately a few hours after receiving 2 dozen yellow tulips they began to bend and snap 4-6 inches along their stems. Maybe because their buds were large in comparison to their skinny stems??? The following morning I clipped them and put them in water goblets. I think maybe I should have used a different color cloth instead of this khaki green. Any suggestions?
"Mello Yellow" oil on linen 24"x12"

lost momentum

I started and worked on this painting for two evenings prior to a house full of Christmas guest and never got back to it until tonight. When I began the painting, I felt it was going in the right direction but having left it alone for so long I feel like I've lost the original idea. I can't see what I originally had in my head anymore. So I'm going to turn it towards the wall for a month or more and hopefully, once I look at it with a fresh eye, I'll be able to finish it. But if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate the input.
(I prefer to paint on a linen canvas which I already painted on but never finished. In the first few images you can see the remains of a figure oil sketch.)

"Autumn Leaves" oil 6x8

One of my new year's resolution is to be more consistent with my blog posts. This oil study was painted before our first heavy snow. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year. I love the warm colors and cool temperatures. It was so nice to be inside the woods, standing on a thick cushion of fall leaves, and painting just as the afternoon was about to end.
Oil 6"x8" sold

Merry Christmas

I painted this several years ago while studying at The Atelier (Lack) in Minnesota. On this beautiful snowy Christmas morning I would like to share this oil painting and wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

"Hey!"

So I discovered after the fact that the Marion Street Gallery in Oak Park, IL is featuring my paintings with an opening December 1oth. If you're nearby, I hope you can pop by. In addition to the 4o paintings featured, I contributed 2 paintings for the silent auction. Proceeds all go to PADS. Merry Christmas to you and yours

Portrait study of Les

As the weather turns colder I find I'm painting my favorite subject more and more, people. Most of these paintings are quick oil studies done lately at my local malls and cafes. No one seems to mind that I'm creating these tiny figure studies or notices. Also, I've returned to the Palette and Chisel where there is always a model to paint as well as several truly amazing artists to observe. This portrait study was done at the P&C. I find after quickly figuring my size and placement through shadow, I zoom in on the nose and eyes.

just a thought to share

"Fall Walk" oil 8"x6" (sold)
Ran out in the afternoon to try to catch the sunshine because who knows how many sunny days we have left!

If it's not happening on my palette, it's definitely not happening on my painting. What I mean is that my palette has to be load with large blobs of paint squished out and lined-up in my prefer order. And then I need to mix up big puddles of my starting values and arrange it on my palette so that my lights stay on one side and darks stay on their side. Also, if my palette becomes disorganized or looks barely touched, nothing good is happening on the canvas. It's as if my palette is an inner-reflection of the paint process. So of course after struggling with a studio piece for days and having to scrape it away repeatedly, I happened to actually see what was going on my palette and saw that absolutely nothing was going on. I needed to squeeze out a lot more fresh paint as I barely had anything left and the puddles of value I had mixed were nearly non-existent. After correctly this problem my painting started to take shape and the idea in my head was becoming visually evident.

2 Values

As always, my primary concern is value and temperature. So last week I spent my time in Scottsdale, under the tutelage of Peggi Kroll Roberts, studying the figure, well actually - value and temperature. We had 5-15 minutes per pose to lay in the basic shapes and say it in two values. One value for the lights and one value for the shadows. I spent the bulk of my time mixing a puddle of paint for my light value and another puddle for my dark value. With the clock running out, I quickly painted the pose. Towards the end of the week I managed to add temperature changes while being careful not to alter my established two values. After the designated time there was often a costume change and always a pose change. Studying the figure in this manner for five days was a great learning experience and I feel I walked away better able to find and simplify the most important shapes, values, and temperature.

Minimal Palette w/ the Figured

The problem given was - select a blue, a yellow, and a red and then with each different study change your yellow. Minimizing my palette helped me organize my thoughts which were focused on value and temperature. I started with Yellow Ochre Pale, and then tried Cad. Yellow Medium, as well as Gamblin Transparent Earth Yellow.

Ultramarine Blue and Red Oxide 12"x16" value/temperature study from a cast of the Virgin Mary

I'm learning so much from experimenting with different minimal palettes. I can see my shortcoming in values and temperature much more readily so I think I'll continue doing more of these studies.

I'm leaving very chilly Chicago for the warm temps of the Southwest for a couple of weeks. Since it is my practise not to take a computer when off, I won't be blogging until later. Happy Art-making and viewing. Thank you for sharing your comments

Painting Fall

The change of seasons makes it doubly fun to return to my favorite paint spots. All of a sudden it is something completely new to paint. These three pieces were painted one chilly morning last week. It was so cold I had to pull on my winter paint coat and gloves. The added challenge of this morning was that the sun tried to come out but mostly stayed darkly overcast.
Initially I thought I would do a value study using only Ultramarine Blue and Oxide Red but towards the end of each study and added Yellow Ochre Pale. And instead of using my favored palette knife I used a brush. I toned my canvas on location so that I could pull out my lights without adding white to my palette.
(6"x8" oil $99. each)

"Periwinkle Blues"

It's been a few weeks since I've updated my post because I've been in three different group shows in three different states. The intensity of preparing and participating in them has been a great learning experience, very very fun, and I'm happy to report a success on several levels. I've never been comfortable meeting and greeting people at openings but after these shows I feel quite at ease. Now I hope to get caught up on life and back to painting some of our fall colors before the first snow.
"Periwinkle Blues" is a series I started right in my garden. I realized something was eating my blue mystery flowers. So over a few early mornings, I sat with a warm mug of coffee and painted what I think are heather and ???. What attracted me to these scenes was the haziness of the dawn light.
12"x12" and 14"x11" (framed $340. each)

St. Louis Show

I'm in the middle of trying to pack my compact car with +30 paintings. I've come to the realization that I just can't take some of my favorites because they're TO BIG!!! I love to paint large and use a huge bakers spatula because I feel like I've physically stepped into the creating process. This series of 11"x14" will be the bulk of my newest for this St. Louis show and with luck I'll be able to tuck some 40"x30" along.

Enter at Will

"Enter At Will" 6"x8" oil
I've started investigating a new series of plein air paintings which revolves around small openings into ??? I guess it's rather voyeuristic. One of my primary problems has been how to compose these close-up passages. I hope my shadows on the foreground help create the illusion of a flat plan/ground, leading to the door.

Recipe for plein air painting

A great recipe for plein air painting; hot sunny weather & legs dangling near a cool waterfall. (forgot to snap a photo of my paintings)
"Sand Dunes" (5x7, oil) was painted right at noon with the sun directly overhead. With such a bright light the value and temperature were greatly compressed to one end of the gray scale.

art opening-Marian Street Gallery

This Friday night the Marion Street Gallery will hosting their tri-yearly art opening for their gallery artists. I will be displaying several new landscape paintings. This gallery features art made from oil paints, acrylic paints, ceramic, photography, and fine jewelry. If you're nearby I hope you can stop by, say hello, and let me show you the fabulous display of art.
Fine Art, Fine Music, Fine Art
Friday 9/10/2010 opening
6pm
115 N Marion St
Oak Park, IL 60301

Avalon-value and temperature

"Avalon Splash" 5"x7" oil
"Distant Storm" 5"x7" oil
Normally I find the light changes more quickly at dawn than early evening but with a storm on the horizon I had time to crank out two studies of value and temperature. This morning the values were less compressed than the previous posting when I had to deal with haze and fog.