May 14 - The Back Lit Egret Continues

Sorry about sending this a day early...!

Now the warm circle around the focal point is in, and the basic deeper values of the bird, too. This is a white back-lit bird, so the darks aren't as dark as I would make them if the object were of a different hue. But I think I can pull it off, because the temperature difference between the bird and background is so extreme, even if not in value!

It's fun to scatter the warm box colors outside the "circle of warm" found in backlit subjects as I loosely put in the vegetation at this stage. And it is fun to play with all the greens in this subject. No high values yet, except for the lights in the overhanging moss. Such fun!

Ah. The final day of the workshop. The new Color Boot Camp graduates get their final critique today (individual) and I ask them four questions: What did you find to be most valuable? What will you do with the new knowledge? What goals are you setting for your art in the next 12 months and next five years? Will I get the pleasure of seeing you again? (Actually I ask them what can be improved in the workshop as that last question, but when I say good bye to my new friends and artists, it is very sad for me.)

Tonight I pack my boxes for shipping and get ready for the early morning pickup for the airport. My next post will be from California. See you soon!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 15 - Flyin' Home... Flying with the Egrets, too.

As my plane lifts off for the West Coast and home, three weeks of painting and using the Color System have fired the creative energies, and I can hardly wait to be back in my studio.

The egret painting is finished, and I thought you'd enjoy seeing a closeup of the bird itself (below), and see how the accents of color play out on the canvas. He's only about two inches tall in the 12 x 16 oil, but enough value contrast makes him believable at any distance, even without the details that are the bread and butter of wildlife artists.

I'm actually in the air, in first/business class, with free wireless internet on my laptop. Amazing that 15 years ago, this was nowhere in our reality--stuff of science fiction. Life is good!

I'm having wonderful memories of my East Coast trip, and now am looking forward to new artwork in my studio, and many communications with you, artists and collectors who have read this far.

Sadly, I'm going home to another loss--my Tibetan Mastiff Seiko (the "watch dog) passed away rather suddenly while I was gone. I will miss her, and am wondering how to replace such a gentle giant. Here's an image of her playing with Sparky. Yes, she was huge, tipping the scales at over 100 pounds. She died near this spot, one of her favorite places to watch over everyone. At the Rainbow Bridge now...

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 13 - Backlit River Scene with Egret

In Florida, I demonstrated a backlit scene so the Boot Campers can understand the way the Color System works with this often difficult subject. On this 12 x 16 canvas, I toned the canvas with a warm orange, and then used the complete Co0l Box colors to lay in the large shapes in this spiral design. I'm pointing to the future focal point with the end of my brush, explaining that this area will be done in Warm Box mid tones, to set off the contrast of the cool backlit bird.

The lids of the pill boxes I use are seen at the bottom of the image, with the cool family on the left, and the warm family on the right. With this plein air setup, I have them velcro'ed together on the end and bottoms, to keep them in place on the easel.

This photo and others are courtesy of Maggie whose blog is a great record of the Florida workshop experience. Thanks, Maggie!

On the Georgia workshop, we're winding down to the final day, and tonight will be the famous "BYOF" BBQ on the grass. Ah... so sad to know my East Coast trip is ending. I hope you've enjoyed the journey! Sparky and I fly home on Saturday.
Another image....

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 12 - Finished Painted Turtle Acrylic 9 x 12

Getting good images of paintings can be tricky, and none more so than photographing this image. The upper one is closer to the true color, yet taken indoors under artificial lights available to me. The second image (below) is taken OUTside, under overcast skies.

Taking images of paintings under overcast skies usually dilutes the warms in the Color System, because (as every Boot Camp Graduate knows) there is a pervasive blue in all shadows. That's because of the "sky shine" affecting those areas. So the true colors are warmer in the painting, but compromised in the second one below. I usually take images of my work in the morning before ten a.m., in FULL sunshine. That seems to hold the Color System well.

The last of the three Color Boot Camps here on the East Coast is in what they've dubbed "Tearsday", (as in Monday, Tearsday, Wednesday....) It happens when there is so much useful information. They are processing it and it seems so overwhelming to them. But there are benefits to being on the farm--they got to see a horse being shod in the barn below the workshop space.

This acrylic original with the river story is available for $250 directly from me, in the good color version that's somewhere between these two. Just let me know.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 11 - The Painted Turtle Continues

How do you like it so far? This is the second stage of the painting, where I decide the major colors of the focal point (turtle) and then start to adjust and tweak the background to match it and hold its importance.

Lots of glazing in acrylics, and I'm using the traditional ones on this trip, so they dry fairly quickly and give me room to work on glazes. Now while I painted this one, I was chatting with people and also painting. Yes, there are design flaws, but hopefully I can pull it all together to share with you tomorrow!

Yesterday the rain started around noon and it is overcast today. Great for painting with the Cool Box, no problem as the Boot Campers are doing Morning and Moonlight! Ah well, the Color System prevails... This is turning out to be a fun group--they've dubbed themselves the "Mudder Day painters"... The Repeat Offenders workshop two weeks ago call themselves the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Paints". Lots of laughter, lots of fun!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 10 - More East Coast Wildlife in Acrylics

While enjoying the Art Walk in Florida, I started this painting of the local wildlife (NOT alligators!) from an image I took while it was still light on the Silver River. I so enjoy the painted turtles, as they remind me of my childhood on Lake Barcroft in Virginia.
This is an acrylic, measuring 9 x 12, and I started it with an underpainting of thalo blue (!). Now the Cool Box colors are going over it as I pull it to life, shaping the natural environment in which it is enjoying it's afternoon sunbath. I hope you'll enjoy how it develops.

Here in Georgia after the first day, I'm tired but assured that the "newbies" are caroming into the Color System. Lots of good paintings! We lost one Boot Camper who went to town after class, but several phone calls later and she is safely on her way back to the farm. It is a remote location, but with the natural beauty of the area, it is ever so easy to miss the road signs. Sparky has settled into the routine of my teaching, and he enjoyed a wonderful morning walk with the students, where we captured lovely lighting situations such as the one below. May in Georgia is beautiful!
I'll be using this one for a future demonstration in the blog of that elusive overcast light!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 9 - Greeting the New Boot Camp Recruits

As I sit and await the arrival of the seven newest Color Boot Camp recruits in gorgeous North Georgia, I'll share with you one of the two six by eight inch canvases I did during the other workshop.

Although there is glare on the upper right, you can see the Color System working in the gentler light of the Florida evening. Note the repetition with variety in the trio of duplicate shapes--clouds, palms and shrubs. One might think that it is a no-no to repeat in twos, but in this case it works, as the dark cloud on the left middle balances the weight of the duos on the right. And each of the dual objects is similar but not equal. Design is such a strong aspect of painting; one I'm always considering!

Georgia is cool and lovely this time of year, and holding a sumptuous spring feel, and no better place to enjoy it than Fay's farm. Her generosity in allowing us to descend upon her for a five days is not to be taken lightly, and I'm honored to be considered her friend. Here's an image of the barn apartment upstairs with the balcony where the workshop will be held, across from the main house.

After this workshop, the only one remaining will be in Maine. I do hope to meet some more East Coast artist friends there! Color Boot Camp is special. Here's Maggie's most recent post.

You can see earlier posts from my blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.