Apr 9 - Painting Finished and More Sheep

Did you notice the similarity of colors and temperature between the photo of the sheep yesterday and the painting at that point? The painting in its cool box family colors MATCHES the overcast day of the sheep photograph with uncanny accuracy--pointing out yet again the validity of the Color System! I find myself in awe of it, and how well and easily it works for these overcast days. (As well as other distinct times of day!)

But now the painting has come to a completed state (for a plein air piece, which of necessity cannot have too much busy details). The figure is painted, with the cadmium red in the sunlight and the alizarin (cool red) in the shadow of the hat and shirt. The sunlit areas of the roadbed are in, and show stark contrast to the cool shadows of the earlier state of the road. Yes, there is some thalo blue in that sunlit mix!
I enjoyed painting the "blips" of light between the cement staunchions of the bridge on this near side, earmarking and defining those shapes.

The sunlight (warm family) areas of this painting are primarily hovering around the figure--found in the tree on the left, the spotty sunshine on the bridge, and the sun-kissed area of the figure. "Easy-peasey" as a friend of mine would say!

I'm moving forward on the trip back east, making arrangements for critter care and airport delivery, packing a box or two of supplies for the trip, and getting excited about teaching THREE FULL WEEKS of COLOR BOOT CAMPs! Yippee!!

Here's yet another picture of the sheep doing their work. Three of the ewes shyly come up to me for treats now, and I can lead them in new directions with a little grain in a bucket. I have bells on two of them, and I can hear them as they herd moves around the property. Not hardly as headstrong as Vincent van Goat and Heather-Not-The-Momma goat... sheep are 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.

Jul 20 - Colorful Study of a Goat Kid

Ah, the heat is cooking my brain, so I hide out in the cool studio (daylight basement, stays in the 80s when the outside temp is over 105!) and do work here. There are four dogs here, too, and everyone else who cannot come in (goats, horse, chickens) have plenty of shade and water.

Today's job was to organize and sort some of the thousands of photographs I have taken over the years. But (no surprise--ha!), I got distracted! This image of one of the many goat kids I've had and it just asked to be painted. So I brought out a 12 x 12 box canvas (with 1.5 inch depth) and did this colorful study of the shadow sides on this little fellow.

These colors are stated more strongly than some of my other paintings, because it was/is my intent to make the coloration easy to understand. It's a great morning light lesson painting to learn how to mix those shadow areas on a white animal. It's an oil, and painted around the edges, so no frame is needed. Available to a new or returning collector for $295. Got goats?

Congratulations to new collector John Wickham of Los Angeles, California on his purchase of "Sycamore Leaf" from my collection.

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.