June 16 - Wanna Go There Now!

Well, quite a difference from yesterday's bland painting, don't you think?

I'm pleased with it, as it seems more welcoming. I warmed up the closer sunlit foliage, made the sky more interesting and balanced, and highlighted the ocean with more of that tourquoise yummy water color that one sees in special places on the globe with warm climates and tropical breezes!

I think the only thing that would make it truly finished would be to add a couple of chairs and a small table on the deck... waiting for us to come and sit down, talk about painting, and enjoy the view! Can you get away?


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June 15 - An Oldie But Goodie, Going to get "Partied Up"

Many years ago (at least eleven) I did this 36 x 30 oil as a commission for the Las Vegas "Dream House" decorator's challenge through my friend and gallery owner Randy Holland. It was fun to do these big canvases (there were four), and I still have two of them. I am bringing this one to you as both a lesson painting, and to share with you some of my "checkered past".

Although I was happy with it at the time of its creation, I now know more, and am ready to accept the challenge of bringing it up to the artistic standard I hold today. Unless someone rescues it at a $400 price tag, I'm going to spend some time tomorrow painting out portions of it to present to you as tomorrow's daily. (Then the price will be higher!) I have been asked to share some larger canvases with you, and this seems like a good place for starting.

So many joyful things on my plate right now....just finished sending off the entries for the Harness Tracks of America auction, and working diligently on the editing of the Acrylic DVD. I have ALL the digital footage from the original tapes on four separate external hard drives, and am so pleased that the additional footage dovetails right into the lesson format I want to present to you! I will announce pre-orders as soon as the master DVD is in the hands of my duplication service. You have been SO patient!


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June 14 - An Old One, With some Positive Attributes

Every once in a while, I do demonstrations for art groups, and this painting is a result of such a painting event from many years ago. It is an oil, 16 x 20 inches, and is not on the web sites. It has some compositional flaws in the design that I have never fixed, and so it doesn't get exhibited. Can you tell where the strengths and weaknesses of this painting lie? Before you get too deep into the "tell Elin the bad news" mode, look at this image below. It is a detail of the people in the painting. I show this to you because to me, it is the essence of capturing the human figure with good brush work. The gesture is in place, the story is told, and the communication is strong. Tear apart the rest of the painting, but please appreciate this part of the work for the positive message it conveys!

I'm still working on the DVD for the acrylics, and will continue to share other existing paintings until the editing is finished.

Congratulations to returning collectors Frank Barrese from Temecula on their purchase of "Sunflowers"--the painting that I did while Betty Billups was here.


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June 13 - Acrylics and Alberto

Back with the acrylics, and this is a 5 x 5 study from some photographs I'd taken several years ago at the Wildlife Way Station. I've been working on the acrylic video, and so I've put up the oils for a few days. This little gem will appear in my ebay store in a few days, along with more of my art.

Now, I know you've asked me to share a photograph of the fellow who is working for me, and it is with a great deal of pleasure that I captured a photo of Alberto, standing in the studio about ready to head back to the computer. He is the most charming fellow, delightfully shy and yet not, and so highly paintable! However, he was difficult as a subject to photograph, as he is constantly busy. (I'll try to get a closer image when he isn't expecting it. Then you can tell him he's cute!)




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June 12 - Acrylic 24 x 30 "Snow Feed"

I thought you'd enjoy an acrylic painting (24 x 30) that I did some time ago--long sold, and yet I still love it.
I'm prepping my time for the last bit of digital cinematography I need for the Acrylic Painting DVD, and these images are coming out for that purpose. Called "Snow Feed", this is an example of how beautifully well acrylics handle layering to create atmosphere. As with all my work, if I were to do it again today (hey, there's an idea!), I would probably do it a bit differently!
Oh, yes, you also wanted to see the young doeling. Here's a couple pics of her, one in the feeder (Mom's looking on), and one showing her lovely markings, called "sundgau". We've named her "Uke" a Japanese word for the person who "gives the art" in aikido.



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June 11 - Back in the Routine? Nope!

I decided to finish up a couple of paintings that were started earlier--one is the book cover with the phoenix on it, and I may update that with a daylight photographed image to show the nuances. The other is the one started on location in Kentucky, and is the hillside with all of the texture in the greens. Although the mark-making at this point is subtle, the differences are pronounced in where I want your eye to go. This 16 x 12 oil now has the stronger message I wanted to convey about the light and the atmosphere as I looked across the valley.

On another note, I brought home Heather doe goat and her adorable week-old daughter. Tomorrow I will take pictures! We'll be back in goat milk, and with the chickens that came along, hopefully fresh eggs for quiche and breakfast! I love the sound of a rooster--as long as he isn't under our bedroom! Now, since I know they get up a whole lot sooner than I do, I'm off to get some much-needed shut-eye!

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June 10 - Last of the Kentucky Images

OK, not the last of the last, but the last finished one I did while there. This is a 12 x 9 oil of Grimes Mill which is now the headquarters of the Iroquois Hunt Club, and the third painting I did on location that afternoon which seems already so long ago. I'm glad I had done these, as it has allowed me to spend some time here working on the goat pen and the chicken run--tomorrow I pick up my milk goat and her daughter (yet unnamed), and a flock of chickens from my friend and goat lady Sue. Of COURSE I'll post pictures!

So, what can I tell you about the process and procedure on this one? I can say that it didn't LOOK like this, in that there were shadows on the sunny side that were not very attractive, so I made my own! I like the essential horse-head hitching post and chain in the lower left, and that the renovation kept the millstones, which are in the front lawn filled now with flowers.

Tomorrow I'll finish the 16 x 12 landscape I started as a lesson painting, and present that to you finished. Thanks for joining me on this journey! Of course, all the paintings you have seen are for sale, but I'm working behind the scenes with my assistant (Alberto) to put them all in my ebay store. I'll send out news what that is all ready to go!.
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