Mar 12 - Damage and Replacement

You might remember this painting from my web site, "A Pitcher for Bats", featured on one of Hasbro's jigsaw puzzles some time ago. Well, as sometimes happens, paintings get damaged. This one fell over and had a nice puncture put in the canvas, which if you look over Bats' right ear, you'll see. I can repair it, but see no reason to do so. It's time has passed, and with all the new thinking I'm having, creating a BETTER painting seems like the way to go.

So I started another new canvas, and will be showing the progress of this one in the next few days as I am teaching my workshop. These students are very fortunate in that it is a small workshop, and so they get the full benefit of individualized instruction. We still have the great lunches and snacks, and eat out on the front patio.

Here's the first stages on this 24 x 30 inch canvas, toned in Australian Red Gold, thinned down. Unlike the upper painting, I'm using the Color System to create another painting. I'm making some changes in the design as well, most easily visible by the round table instead of the rectangle of the original painting. I'm dropping the magazine under Bats as well.

The original painting is 40 x 36 inches, and was painted well before I ever collided with the Color System. I can see how I have grown as an artist as this one unfolds. I hope you'll enjoy it, too!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 10 - On Location Again and a Nice Ride

With the PAAR group, I went to the Rancho Jurupa Park on the Santa Ana River for a day of painting. I did two, one in the morning which is on display at the show, and this one late in the afternoon when the sun finally started to dip below the distant hills.  The photograph of this little 5 x 7 oil just doesn't do it justice, as the colors are far more yummy than what you see here. Funny how that happens! 

I love painting on location, and was planning on doing more of it today, but the yardwork got in the way. I've been outside pulling weeds on a steep slope and dumping the results in the sheep feeder. They love them!

Yesterday I took Raindance out to ride in the oh-so-green mountains around the place, and took this photograph from the top of the first ridge away from the studio. Looking out over the open space to the southwest, it is impossible to imagine that my studio is located in "crowded" Southern California. But if all one sees is the media from cable TV and downtown Los Angeles, then one would never know that gorgeous places are here. That's the University of California Riverside in the distance.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 9 - Plein Air with the Riverside Artists PAAR

On location this time, I went as part of the Plein Air Painters of Riverside (PAAR) on their week-long paint out last week. This is the fifth year, and I've been in it several times. The bridge in this 12 x 9 oil is the Union Pacific Viaduct at the Anza Narrows park on the Santa Ana River, built in 1904.

Last year I stayed up in the park where most of the artists were today. This year I wanted a more dramatic view, so Willow and I hiked down into the riverbed and got near enough to the architecture to get the dramatic upward span of one of the arches. Below is a photograph of my setup spot with the almost finished painting on the Easyl. I was fascinated by the graffiti on the uprights of the bridge as a contrasting color to the predominantly blue/yellow ochre of the day.

Done rather quickly (as most of my plein air work is), I now feel as though the sky needs more punch to honor the sweeping shape of the arch. Yet as you can see from the photo below, the sky that day was about as I painted it. Ah, back to the studio for some creative license! This painting never saw the light of sharing at the PAAR event, as I quickly packed up and headed home after enjoying a walk up and down the riverbed with Willow. And I'd signed it, so it stayed in the studio--the plein air competition pieces remain unsigned.

The amazing force of the water through the channel created many dynamic shapes and curves in the river's banks, and Willow and I enjoyed the cool day on the river. I took Willow with me, since I knew I'd be down in the very remote riverbed. Nothing was there on this day, but I know there are feral dogs, pigs and some destitute humans eking out a living in this watershed. She was great company.


The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 8 - Calicobermans Finished

Finished and now on display in Kansas City at the Art Show at the Dog Show! 24 x 24 box canvas, "Calicobermans" won third place in the Other Media category.

As artists we have a supreme obligation to interpret our world around us, and we do so by taking our realities and putting them through our sensitivities and training to emerge in our art forms--whatever those take. As I have said often, it isn't about the end product (nice to have something that works, though!), it is about the PROCESS of creating that is of value for me. I hope it is for you, too.

Art is part of my life--a big part--and sometimes, like a wave, life comes and takes me under for a while. However, I've always been like a cork, rising to the top even in the greatest deluge. I credit optimism, a greater world view, and close friends for my buoyancy. Thanks to you! And Good Things continue to happen--I've been asked to judge the Del Mar Fair's Plein Air event this coming June. I love to do that--going to the fair is always fun, and it's a full day of watching my peers paint, enjoying the funnel cakes and even going on a ride or two!

Here's the new mom ewe with her two lambs--the white one is a girl, the brown and white one is the boy. Although smaller, he's up and nursing well now. And yes, all my sheep wear bells--the beauty of the sound lifts my soul as they graze. Mrs. Redhen watches with interest.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 7 - Calico Dobermans and a LOT of Things!

"Calicobermans" won an award at the Art Show at the Dog Show where it is currently on exhibit, so I'm pleased that the final image came out so well. At this stage, I'm starting to paint the dogs with acrylics as I continue to add fabric to the background. Check out the lower left corner from the last posting. See how I painted over the calico fabric to get the same color as on the right corner? That's also how I develop these unique pieces. They do not rely on the fabric alone!

Where does the time go? Guess I've been under the radar for about a month, and so I'm glad to be back! Lots of paintings to share with you, and I'll pile them up in the blog and have them come out automatically so there won't be another gap like this one. I apologize for the space between postings. However, sometimes artists thrive on "down time" to process and work behind the scenes. I have paintings to share from the Plein Air Artists of Riverside's week long competition and a portrait of a pug dog that has come to live with me. 

And THIS WEEKEND is the Color Boot Camp Workshop here!  I do have a few spaces left for last-minute deciders to improve your color sense!

On other news, the brown and black ewe in the photo to the right gave birth a few days ago and presented me with twins--unusual for a first freshener. She's a Barbado/Dorper cross, and a good mother. The photo is one I took a few days ago when I was out with the flock. That's Willow's shadow at my feet--Sparky was digging and out of the picture. I love my life!

My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.