Mar 16 - Cats coming out to Play!

Finished and here for your pleasure, the 24 x 30 inch oil of "Bats, the Studio Cat", replacing the damaged "A Pitcher for Bats" which now is permanently retired.

In finishing this one, I was more mindful of color choices to keep the wrarmth of the painting and the freshness of the peonies and other flowers. I had no model to go on because Bats decided to ignore the studio today and stay upstairs in the sunshine! And the lemons and apple were out of my head (I aaaam, you know!) and painted from having painted a bazillion of them in earlier times.

I'll also attach the damaged painting again, so you can compare and contrast the differences.  I'd be pleased to answer any questions about this one, just click on over to my blog and post a comment.  And forward this on to your friends!

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 15 - Covering the Canvas, Cat Still Life Painting

Now the painting ia about 80 percent covered with theinherent colors of the major shapes, and I'm having a ball with the wet pigment--pushing the colors with additions of the warm light of morning on this painting. Note the shadows are going toward grayed red-violet, which is enhanced by the clear yellow-orange under painting. This is so much more vibrant than that "old" painting.

So can we improve on our old work? Yes, because now we are "schmartah, wizah, and mo'beddah" with our life experiences and "miles of canvas" which helps us make good choices (heck, after making all those bad choices on learning painting we have to learn SOMETHING, right?).

So after this one is finished, I'm going to share with you some "repaints" of old work--pre Color System, and one even from 1983 (eeek, am I THAT old???)


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 14 - Better Color Choices with the Color System

 The last day of the Color Boot Camp just ended, and I bid farewell to the folks who just spent three days in a very personal interaction with the Color System.

While here, I painted for them this cat painting redux, and fixed two problem paintings of mine, and also painted two dog portraits for the Canine Art Guild's "Mug Shots" online show. So my brushes really took a beating this weekend!

I want to show you how the Color System works in repainting this cat image. Here is a section of the new painting background and the old painting, new on top. Look at the difference between the upper color and the duller, lower color from the old painting. The Color System creates the harmony because using it gives you control over good color every time. The trio of workhorse colors (Ult. Blue. Aliz. Crimson and Yellow Ochre) work very well to depict the background here.

In the second color chip image, look at the "new" lemons and the old one. How wrong that green is on it! Even unfinished, the lemon in the newer painting resonate with the background cloth and shadow. 

Now I am relaxing on this Monday evening with a glass of wine, the wondrous view, and going for a much-needed walkabout to see what's what with the sheep and other outside critters this evening. More tomorrow!

Please write a comment on my blog on this post so I can know if these musings are useful for you. Sometimes I send them out into the ether and wonder if anyone even is listening! Then I get a nice email from someone far away who seems just next door saying how relevant what I write has become for them.  And I puff up with a feeling of being useful again!

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 13 - Studio Cat Floral Continues, Gardens and Workshop

Using the magic of the trio of workhorse colors (Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin and Yellow Ochre + white), I'm putting in the background cools to set off the many warms that are coming along later.  This is fun to do, because there is nothing hard about filling in a flat area. However, please note (you graduates of the Color System!) that I'm using the sixth plan of values in making gradation across this supposedly flat expanse of background.

"When in doubt, gradate!!!" Makes large color areas more interesing when we vary the values across those areas. A lesson to remember, so that the end results of our hard work isn't boring areas for the viewer to land.

On other news, I'm in the second day of teaching the Color Boot Camp, and having a blast. The students are enthusiastic, they're GETTING the Color System and producing some wonderful pieces. Too hard on themselves, they sometimes find it difficult to like what they produce. I see Color System magic in places on their paintings, yet sometimes they want everything to be perfect. Perfection happens over time, and is always elusive! Be good to yourself and find small greatness in major efforts. That's all it takes sometimes to move forward.

And the gardens here at Two Trees Studio are producing gangbusters. Here is an image of the lettuces, kale, carrots and flowering bouganvilla out in the back. That's the gate that takes you out into the oh-so-green Preserve lands behind the studio. Yummy salad tonight. I have one of the wire covers propped up on that back box (filled with Swiss chard) because every once in a while, the rabbits come to dine. These are four-foot square boxes, slightly raised, built out of two 2x6 boards for one-foot deep boxes filled with compost. No fertilizing needed and it is a modified square-foot garden concept. No rows. Just groups.



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.