Sep 19 - Laying in the Mid Values

I've spent some time laying in the mid-tones on this canvas, and absolutely enjoying the grays I'm making with the Cool Box of the Color System in the shadows and the warm gray-greens in the sunlit areas. I haven't started any details, except to define and locate the masses of the large shapes. And if course I haven't painted the focal point!

The upper edge is fogged in with the glare of the sunlight, as this is so very backlit. That creates an interesting ethereal atmosphere, which will be pulled out and developed on the next session. The interesting mid-tones of the chicken nearest the child, with the green lighter midtones is really easy to discern. Controlling the temperatures of the colors I use is ever-so simple with the Color System, and makes painting like this, so easy.

The shadows are an integral part of the design, too, so they are placed without details in their proper areas, too. There are currently no chicken colors in the warm family on any of the birds. Some look warm though, don't they?

I've also taken a close up of the lower left corner of the painting so you can see the large, loose brushwork. It is fun to paint this way, because I don't have to worry about any details!

This painting is coming off the brushes with an inner strength I had forgotten I had. I'm focusing on the new book, and the next (YES!) DVD on the Color System. I think it is definitely time. The cameras came out today, so I'll be planning the paintings for "Misty and Challenging Lighting Situations, DVD #4!.

The November workshop is half full already, and I'll also be contacting the applicants with the information, supplies list, and lodging paperwork this upcoming week.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Sep 17 - Painting "to the Bone"

Starting this painting is significant for me, because it relives many sweet memories of a time when I didn't have to worry about feeling loved, because I had the love of my parents when I was this size, and that lifelong love is a sustaining strength now, even though they are both gone.

They say that artists paint what they know, and create from their center--their being--and that it is truly impossible to have a mature artist create a travesty or a sham--it reads clearly and comes through as false work--both weak and uninspiring. To be an artist means we are open and receptive to things around us, and we allow ourselves to be accepting of our environment. However, this sensitivity in creating art comes bundled with a vulnerability that can be assaulted and abused. This painting comes to you, unfolding as I am with the emotions of my life, raw and revealing as the canvas on which it is painted. As one of you commented, "Elin, you are writing and painting from the bone."

On the technical side, I am putting in the darks first to shape the design of values--just a rough mark-in to pull together the knowledge of good design into the work. I haven't placed the midtones yet, however, this painting will have the "small light, large dark in midtones" theme as it progresses. Of course the rim light around the girl and her chicken will be the lightest lights, and enhance the focal point which will be developed later.

The November workshop is filling with folks interested in three and a half days of "yellin' by Elin" here in Riverside. Sorry about the link only taking you to past workshops yesterday. Here is the correct link for the two workshops this fall:

http://www.elinart.com/pages/wkshpriv.html

Hope you'll join me for a COLOR BOOT CAMP!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Sep 16 - A New Message and a Thank You

As I begin this new painting, I find that I am more connected to the message of the subject and how it interweaves with who I am as an artist. Gone are the days of struggling with technical issues, and also gone are the "what shall I paint?" scenarios.

Rather, now I MUST make statements and allegory with the work I create. Perhaps that is the sign of an artist in a career point where the work--all of it--truly matters. For today this artist is completely interwoven with her best work, and my last painting of my father is one of those.

This one, too, may well prove to be one of my masterpieces, for I am strongly connected to the unfolding story. We shall see. It is a painting of a small child feeding some chickens. Full of innocence, backlit with her future before her, she is unsullied by the realities and abrasions of relationships and her position within them. So, let's begin this journey together.

It is an oil, 24 x 18 vertical, and the design will have the child in the upper right, and a value pattern of dark shapes coming forward to the viewer representing the line and group of chickens. I tone the canvas, and have sketched in the major shape patterns at this point. I used Australian Red Gold for the toning, and am sketching with burnt umber.

And to the folks who wrote expressing concern about my absence from the blog, please know that I am now strong, now focused, and moving forward with purpose and joy. Thanks so much for caring enough to write.

I've opened the Riverside workshop for November, and also one for October, but that one may not fill because of my tardiness in posting it. If you want a Color Boot Camp experience this year, November 12-15 are the dates. Please check my links below for the Workshop Information page.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.