September 16 - Pastures at the Kentucky Horse Park

"Pastures at the KHP" This acrylic demonstrates the layering effects of building layers and veils of color over an underpainting of large shapes like a cartoon. For example the tree started out as a solid area of pthalo green, but at this more finished stage, the tree has been pushed back by a layer of lighter green, another of burnt umber wash, and several other layers of sky color and grayed blue. Acrylics suit this method, because they dry more quickly, and can be built up with luminosity as the layers are added. An original acrylic, 9 x 12 inches, for $100. Available from the Daily Paintings Website for this date.

September 15 - Snowy Pasture and Horse

"Slim Pickins" In demonstrating acrylic textural techniques, how could I not paint snow and a horse? Acrylics lend themselves to such actual tectures creating incredible visual excitement on a two dimensional surface! And this painting is good for another reason--the subtle complimentary color scheme of blue and orange. Original acrylic, 12 x 9
SOLD to Melissa Brown of Lexington, Kentucky.

September 14 - Butterflies on My Nose

"Butterfies on My Nose!" This lighthearted, illustrative creation came off the brushes today as an example of collage painting with acrylics, and it has such a lighthearted feeling that I thought you'd enjoy it. Done on canvas board, it contains hand-made papers, yarn, tulle, gold and copper flakes, iridescent paint and added collage elements. She is the "Lady in Purple" and reminds me of everyone's eccentric great aunt! She originated without planning after the first layer of string suggested the outrageous profile. The butterflies were added and the name suggested itself. Original acrylic, 12 x 9
SOLD from the Daily Paintings for September for this date.

September 13 - Tennis, Anyone?

"Tennis, Anyone?" This is a 10 x8 watercolor on watercolor canvas, which I painted "en plein air"--which means I was looking at the scene while painting it. I was sitting on a porch swing on one of the older houses in Lexington, looking across to the public tennis courts, where three players were exercising and enjoying a late afternoon day of tennis. People and dogs walked by, there were kids on skateboards, and it was just a lovely afternoon after yesterday's rain. The watercolor canvas will be sealed, and can be framed normally without glass. $100 Available from the Daily Paintings for September for this date.
The workshop day went really well, with the students exploring the many ways acrylics and texture can become acquainted, and learning that the possibilities are endless for the creation of exciting illusions and actual textures using this medium. I started a demonstration painting of how texture can work, creating a snow scene I'm hoping to use for the upcoming back cover of Horses in Art, winter issue.  You'll probably see that one finished tomorrow, it is a 12 x 9. After working until 2, we went to the University of Kentucky where there was a show of Landscape paintings, and I gave of my knowledge of design and art history to the students as we saw the Corots, the Monets, the Sisleys, as well as their permanent collection. Nice!

September 12 - Dalmation "Patches"

"Dots and Spots" You all know how much I love dogs, and today's painting is full of the joy of this Dalmatian joyfully running through the snow. The source material for this painting, done during today's demonstration time, was a photo taken of "Patch", the farm dog, on an overcast day after a snowfall. Hard material to make into a decent painting, but acrylics are magical this way. I dropped all the grays out of the plan, and used blues and violets instead! The repetition of the coloration on the dog and the background fencing creates a unity for good design. Putting the dog with enough "room" to run forward is also a conscious decision for good design. This 12 x 16 acrylic painting is already in the hands of collectors Melissa and Bill Brown of Lexington, Kentucky.
Gift to the Brown family of Lexington

September 11 - The Workshop Begins - Cat Demo

"Lesson Cat" Today in the class we studied the importance of values, design and composition. At the end of the day, after the students practiced some of the value exercises, I painted this neat cat by the edge of a lily pond to show them the traditional way of handling acrylic paints. This 12 x 9 inch painting demonstrated the "most normal" expectation of acrylics--that they can behave like oils--and serves as the jumping-off point for the exercises and work that is coming tomorrow and this week. Available for $250 directly from me, but I can only ship it after I return to California, as I have to mount it on board--that's after September 23, but you can buy it from the web site at dailypaintings.com for this date.

September 10 - Black and White Values

I'm here in Lexington and preparing for the week-long workshop in Acrylics "Every Which Way AND Loose" which begins tomorrow, Monday.
There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes of instruction, and I'll share with you some of that these next two weeks, with the resultant paintings. Today's painting is a 6 x 6 black and white value study of the onion I did in acrylics earlier this year. (The colorful image of this is to be found on the June paintings page.) I'm painting this black and white to show the students how incredibly important it is to get the values right, that color can very well be secondary to value and one can still have a strong painting. How can a student even begin to work with issues of designing good paintings without a good understanding of the relationship of values? Many artists want color to work for them and forget that every color has a value that needs to be dealt with as well. This exercise also will give students a bit of adjustment time on the first day of the workshop, and allow me to assess their abilities with paint before we "jump off" on Tuesday with experimentation. I'll also show them traditional handling of acrylics tomorrow, which will be most familiar to them. 
  They will also be exposed to designing the abstract structure of their paintings, too.  Busy day ahead!