May 19 - Beginning a Draft Horse Painting--the Artist's Mind

I'm beginning a new painting, a 12 x 16 oil, and thought you might enjoy the thinking process that goes into creating the art I do. In this image, you can see the source material--a photograph I took many years ago in Temecula, of the Percherons that were destined for the Rose Parade that year. I always liked the position of the man, and that the morning light was coming over my shoulder--those interesting linear shadows intrigued me. Now it is time to do the painting.

This email might be a bit long, but the thought process in the development might be helpful, so here goes: The first thing I do when planning a painting is to figure out the proportions of the focal point to the size of canvas. I have a 12 x 16 canvas underneath the photo, and the proportions of the horses in the photo are too large to the dimentions of the edges of the photo to please me. So I am making the horses and men smaller in proportion to the edges of the canvas--the sketchbook drawing shows that more clearly. There is a LOT more area above and to the left of the animals than what is in the photo. I find that my reference photos are taken closer in for detail capture, to the detriment of the environment of the piece. That environment is an important part of the sense of place in a painting, and ought not be overlooked. Many paintings done while we learn are planned without regard for this aspect of the creating process. I wanted to be sure you see it here.

In a nutshell, don't copy the outer dimensions of the photograph exactly! I'd suggest expanding the backgrounds to a good balance between the focal point and the environment in which the action takes place.

And finally, at the request of several folks, I've put up a special page for my workshops on my web sites. The September workshop is full, but the fantastic Acadia National Park Color Boot Camp still has a few spaces. Imagine staying on the ocean for five nights and painting all day! And getting a week's worth of the Color System! I can hardly wait! There's a link on the page I've put up for registration and information.
Here's the page:
http://www.elinart.com/pages/workshops.html

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May 18 - Springbok, Finished 48 x 60 inch oil

Finally was able to finish this huge canvas, and get the values right on the focal points of the Springbok. They were too light in the earlier posting, and I had more work to do on the foreground. I hope you like it! It is scheduled for the show at the Colony Theater in Burbank this fall, along with the other large paintings in the African Moments series.


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May 17 - Revisiting an Old One

It is a lot of fun to open one's eyes with new knowledge and find that your knowledge was spot on "back then". When I first encountered the color system in 2003, (before I processed it into the easier to understand system of today), I painted this 12 x 16 landscape. I was trying to pull out all the stops on color, and yet still create something very pleasing to the eye. I do see some rash boldness of experimentation in it, which today pleases me! So older work can continue to inspire, to motivate and to reassure. I do like it when I find an older work that has the spark of what was yet to come!

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May 16 - Morro Rock by Moonlight

The second of the paintings done during the workshop, this one to emphasize the ways one can handle color in moonlight. It is a relatively small painting, only about 6 inches square, but I think I effetively captured the fog and moonlight on this icon of Morro Bay and environs.

Today was the first day that I can say I have an office assistant/personal assistant working for me. What a relief! He will be working on the printing of multiples of selected paintings and also filling orders for the DVDs. Eventually I hope I will have more time for those things I enjoy, and just between you and me, putting together covers/inserts/DVDs isn't one of them! But I still write the personal notes on the orders....


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May 15 - After the Workshop, Oil Demonstration

The workshop was a great success, with 18 people exposed to the Color System and learning new things. I took a picture of the group (minus one) holding their different paintings. Each attendee chose a time of day to work on, and painted from their own material or from mine. I'm so very pleased with the new knowledge they gained, however I'm a bit bushwhacked on the floor in front of the happy group! All in all, a great day. I'll be doing a three-day workshop in February in Riverside as a continuance of the process for new and returning students.

The painting is the little demonstration piece I did in the morning to present the basic concepts about the Color System that I shared while I painted the grapefruit and tangelo from life. Later both fruits were part of lunch!


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May 14 - Getting ready for the Workshop

Getting ready for the workshop tomorrow--all the gear is packed up and sitting by the back door. I have 18 students in this one-day, intensive color workshop, and it promises to be exhausting and hopefully full of validity for the students attending. They will get to choose which time of day they want to do, and I'm providing images and originals for resources. I'll hopefully remember to get a group photo before the day is out to celebrate our successes with brush and mind!

I bring to you one of my older demonstration paintings tonight, as I don't have time to do any canvas justice. This one was done for an art group some years ago, showing the Color System working to depict moonlight. This painting is already in the hands of a collector, so it is not available. It was a 16 x 20 oil. When painting a non-daytime image, one just drops four of the colors from the palette, and being careful with the range of values, it is quite possible to give the illusion of moonlight! Now, don't ask me which ones! I'll hint and say that they are all in the warm family!


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May 13 - Locking Kitty in the Closet

This morning my husband says, "Have you seen Pesto?" and I reply no, but she was probably in the studio asleep on one of the cat tower beds. He said that he keeps hearing her plantive cry, but can't figure out where it's coming from. A short while later we find her in the storage closet where she'd been since last night. Total curious kitty getting in there when I put a jar away!

Right now she's living up to her Pesto name by being upside down wrapped in my shirt with her paws on my face. So what to do but this acrylic on cold-press watercolor paper of a plantive meowser! This measures approximately 8 x 6 inches, and is available, but the next couple of days are crazy busy, so I don't know when I'll get it up on my ebay store. Perhaps tomorrow when I'm in jury duty and updating the web sites.


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