Saturday, January 20, 2007

January 20 - Fairmont Park, Riverside, On Location Today


"Fairmont Park Afternoon" What a great time today! I received an email inviting me to join about 15 other plein air (on location) artists for a pot luck lunch and an afternoon of painting at a local park, complete with lake. This 9 x 12 oil is my first canvas, and it was fun to keep "cleaning out the boxes" and using a lot of paint to get the feeling I was after. The fishing folk on the pier were compliant enough to stay put and the palm trees on the right were fun to do with palette knife and lots of paint! Oil, 9 x 12 for $250 after I sign it!

Friday, January 19, 2007

January 19 - View from Our Front Porch, Evening

My camera doesn't capture the true color intensity that is in this piece. I had such an amazing time painting this view that is from our front yard, looking west. The sunsets that have been delighting my eyes for the past few weeks finally manifested themselves in this
painting. The Italian cypress of the neighbor's house always frame the last intense glow as I head out to feed the horse and goats. This is again thickly applied paint, and my paint boxes are still being
emptied. These thick paintings are coming from such a deep place inside me. Oil, 8 x 10 for $250

Thursday, January 18, 2007

January 18 - Black Cat Study, Oil, 7 x 5


More thick paint! Applying the paint this way is as if I'm frosting a gooey chocolate cake! I love the tactile feeling of the marks of paint as they come off the brush and palette knife. Since this is a quick study, the parts that I really like are the eyes and the texture of the canvas showing through on parts of the cat's head, even though there are some really thick passages of paint in the area. Like van Gogh's work, the actual texture of the paint is part of the story within the painting. I get the feeling of looking at a mosaic when I see these, and that brings to mind the rich history of the Byzantine churches. $100

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

January 17 - Onions with a Palette Knife!


Time to clean out the pill boxes! This action generated a painting today that is more what I'd like to do with the texture of the paint adding a distinct lusciousness I crave to see. There's a lot of palette knife instead of brushwork in this one. Hmmm, may have to get into the mindset of cleaning out pill boxes more often! This 5 x 7 inch oil is called "Close Friends" and joins the ranks of breakout paintings. I love it when creativity burps and these little gems appear. $100 from the Daily Paintings web site.

I also have placed the finished boat commission and the Allie and Spunky commission on the January page. There were some final changes made to both of these, and the clients have been notified!

I think I'll experiment more with the palette knife and cleaning out the pill boxes to see where that takes me, unless and until another commission comes in.
Tomorrow I hand the master Plein Air with an ATTITUDE DVD over to the duplication service! I'll be ready to ship next week!!!
Now on to editing the last of the Acrylic Painting with an ATTITUDE into DVD format.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

January 16 - Onion in Acrylic, 5 x 5 inches


Taking a break from the commission (need to clear the cobwebs!), I rummaged around and found this red onion, and one of the specialty canvas sizees for smaller paintings. The canvas is 5 x 5 inches, and this is an acrylic, applied thickly. Nice to take a break from the oils for a day or so. $100

In other news, I finished the Plein Air DVD, and will be sending it off for duplication this week. Next is to see the acrylic one on a DVD master as well!

Congratualtions to a new collector in the form of a well-known physician at the Mayo Clinic on his purchase of "A Bit Mulish" for a gift.

Monday, January 15, 2007

January 15 - Commissioned Portrait, 95% finished


Looking at the painting now is a lot easier on the eyes than a couple days ago. I spent a lot of knuckle-busting hours getting the likeness of the young lady today, and putting the finishing touches on Spunky D. There are still some details that need work, and I will spend tomorrow doing that before calling it a finished work. I need to get away from it for a while, to come back to see it with clarity.
I call that "putting it under the bed for the night". Many artists get to this point in a work, and put it away for a while. Out of sight, the painting sits, allowing the synapses in the artist's mind to connect to the subconscious, creating a fertile arena for those "AHA!" moments upon seeing it again. For an artist to push to work on a painting when the muse has left the building almost certainly sets up a scenario for questioning and groping for the answers to visual problems. Leaving it alone for a while will magically solve most of them!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

January 14 - 75% done on the Commissioned Portrait


Whew. The painting has left the "uglies" now and is heading toward completion. I've made changes to start achieving likenesses in both faces, and still building interest in those areas not the focal point. Note that I have not yet painted eyes, nor done details on the dog's paw (lower right). I will be flicking my brushes over the entire surface, continuing to make corrections from this point forward, and bringing to a finish the painting of Allie and Spunky.

Today with two hours of team water volleyball and filling a three- yard dumpster with cactus and brush, I'm kinda tired out tonight. However I still have computer work to do, sitting here by the wood fire, listening to Prairie Home Companion ( http:// www.prairiehome.org ) with Garrison Keillor. Hmmm, I see I need another walk to the woodpile.