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.

Sep 22 - Girl Feeding Chickens

It's almost finished, and I wanted to share it with you, so that you'll have a comparison from the one two days ago. The canvas is completely covered now, and all that remains to be done is to make each of the larger shapes in the composition "stand on its own" in visual interest. If I left those passages Plain Jane, I'd not be happy with it--would you say, "boring"? The variations on those areas may be subtle, but I always think they are necessary to have a canvas that really sends a message of a great work.

I'm sitting in the studio, hunkered down for one of those Santana wind conditions outside--dry, hot, windy weather--the nemesis of Southern California in the fall. But I've cleared the perimeter of our land, and Vincent van Goat and his friend Heather have taken down a lot of the overgrowth outside our fences. Preparation is the key when faced with any calamity, and I run through my mind the steps I'd take if I needed to evacuate--animals, crates, etc.

There are six people in the November workshop so it is a GO (not that there was any doubt!). Got Color? How about a Color Boot Camp? Direct link below.

Speaking of animals, when the hot weather comes on, Seiko (the watch) dog comes into the studio to keep cool. Here she is on the other side of my taboret snoozing away--snoring to the beat of "Beast of Burden" by the Stones. That's 105 pounds of Tibetan Mastiff. We ask her where she wants to go. Good dog.

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

Sep 20 - Continuing the Chicken Girl

I mentioned that this painting is falling off my brushes, and it certainly seems so tonight. I've been working on some of the color notes in the girl's dress, the three lower chickens and the white bird. I'm especially pleased with how the light is coming through the tail on that one, and included a detail image of that part of the painting so you can see how it is done. Cools, with yellow ochre and then going to the warms where the light actually is on the edges. Fun to do! That Color System makes it easy. Who would have thought to put the ochre there? And yet it works.

I've been listening to the Rolling Stones. Somehow soothing to reach into one's past and listen to the beat of those (now) ancient rockers--connecting a lifeline to survival mode. Painting is an escape, a return to knowledge and certainty for me. "Let me please introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste...."

Too bad there isn't a horse in this painting, I might think it ought to go to the American Academy of Equine Art show. I'm having so much fun making GOOD paintings lately.

Here's the detail shot of the unfinished white chicken. You can see how I first put in the larger color notes to hold down the shapes. Of course, the shadowed sides are the Cool Box, and the sunlit edges are from the Warm Box in the Color System! I'll come back and put in the blends, calligraphic marks, and wrap this painting up in the next few days.

My love for painting is only superseded by my gratitude for my dear and close friends out here in cyberspace. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me--you are very special right now!

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.

Aug 2 - Dog Painting Taking Shape Now!

As I continue to paint in the large shapes of the upside down sleeping terrier, I am very aware of the values of each of those big shapes. Notice the difference between the left front paw (in light) and the same white rear paw (in shadow). Values matter!

One subscriber asked, "How can you be sure to get accuracy without a drawing in place?" Good question! As I paint, I am judging the relationships among the various shapes. I learned from Richard Schmid while he painted a portrait from a live model in Scottsdale, that he is always doing comparisons from a known measurement. Sometimes he says it is the space between the eyes, or the diameter of one of the lenses of the wearer's glasses. For me, in this painting, I am measuring the height and length of the dog, and imaginary horizontal and vertical lines across the composition. For example, I'll imagine a line going across the tip of the leftmost paw, and then see where it intersects the other paws in the source material. I'll place the paws (as I did with the hind feet in relation to that left paw) either above or below that horizontal. This is a basic drawing skill, and one that can be learned with a good class in drawing.

For me, accuracy isn't so much about duplicating the source material, as it is about getting the "feel" of the animal and what it is doing. If it is only accuracy, then a photograph with today's modern digital tools would be "good enough". I'm an artist first.

Did you enjoy Frank's illustrations from yesterday? I hadn't seen the one with the Joker. Heath Ledger would be proud!

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.

May 31 - Starting the Still Life in Acrylics

This is a 30 x 24 canvas, and the first lay-in of the large shapes is presented for you in this lesson on painting a still life using the Color System.

These colors are blends from the cool box, and create a harmony of related hues, and every one of them is at least two hues from that box. There is NO pure color at this stage. All of the shapes that are going in are going to play background roles for the coming layers.

I'm also attaching the photo of the setup I'm using, as this is from life. Sometimes the setup and arrangement of objects is just as important, if not moreso, than the actual painting! This is set up in my studio to the left of my easel, and is lit with one 50 watt halogen spotlight. I chose these objects from my "stash" for their unity of color and analogous relationships. It will be fun to see what happens with the Color System and my brushes!

I hope you'll enjoy the journey through this painting with me...


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.

May 24 - Sashaying up to the Details, Percheron Lesson Painting

Now that I have all the larger areas filled with the general color and value, I go back in and start adding the details, going from biggest to littlest. The man's hat was the last thing I added before photographing it at this point.

But don't look there, look at the rest of the canvas. Hey, there's a truck in the shed now! The trees have undergone some modification to give them a fullness of form, and the shadows across the ground have been made far more interesting than in the earlier painting. I have worked on the horses' anatomy and positioning, and adding to their form by varying the lights across the hides. No details of harness yet. That comes later! Rushing to the details can derail many a well-started painting! I also want to keep in mind that the hierarchy of edges also works for the hierarchy of details. Nothing should be as detailed as my focal point. Therefore, details of leaves on trees would be too much for the details on the man's hand and that horse's head.
As an artist, I always want to give a specific target for the viewer to see first.


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May 19 - Beginning a Draft Horse Painting--the Artist's Mind

I'm beginning a new painting, a 12 x 16 oil, and thought you might enjoy the thinking process that goes into creating the art I do. In this image, you can see the source material--a photograph I took many years ago in Temecula, of the Percherons that were destined for the Rose Parade that year. I always liked the position of the man, and that the morning light was coming over my shoulder--those interesting linear shadows intrigued me. Now it is time to do the painting.

This email might be a bit long, but the thought process in the development might be helpful, so here goes: The first thing I do when planning a painting is to figure out the proportions of the focal point to the size of canvas. I have a 12 x 16 canvas underneath the photo, and the proportions of the horses in the photo are too large to the dimentions of the edges of the photo to please me. So I am making the horses and men smaller in proportion to the edges of the canvas--the sketchbook drawing shows that more clearly. There is a LOT more area above and to the left of the animals than what is in the photo. I find that my reference photos are taken closer in for detail capture, to the detriment of the environment of the piece. That environment is an important part of the sense of place in a painting, and ought not be overlooked. Many paintings done while we learn are planned without regard for this aspect of the creating process. I wanted to be sure you see it here.

In a nutshell, don't copy the outer dimensions of the photograph exactly! I'd suggest expanding the backgrounds to a good balance between the focal point and the environment in which the action takes place.

And finally, at the request of several folks, I've put up a special page for my workshops on my web sites. The September workshop is full, but the fantastic Acadia National Park Color Boot Camp still has a few spaces. Imagine staying on the ocean for five nights and painting all day! And getting a week's worth of the Color System! I can hardly wait! There's a link on the page I've put up for registration and information.
Here's the page:
http://www.elinart.com/pages/workshops.html

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If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 1 - Sketches for the "big one", Springboks and Clouds

I'm sending a smaller image to see if the folks missing the emails might get this one. It is "just" one of the pages of my sketchbook, covered in Springbok sketches, as I work out the positions of the herd that will soon be coming across the top of the small ridge in the foreground of the 48 x 60 inch canvas I started yesterday. When dealing with animals, I like to do these kinds of sketches, loosely, to get the "feel" of the movement rather than the details. I can always paint details, and who wants to do them over and over? Called "gesture drawing", this is one of the foundation skills developed in most life drawing classes. Comes in REAL handy when planning imagery!

Those collectors who wrote asking how to get one of the Turf Club cards, I asked the representative if anyone can buy them. He said, 'Absolutely not. These are for the VIPs, the press, the owners and trainers only." I was told that cards can be purchased after the close of the racing season--September 5. Since he was comfortable with the question, I am thinking these are sort of a collectors' item!


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April 30 - Lesson painting on the African Series, Springbok 48 x 60 Oil

Oh Goodness! What a marathon day of painting! I hit the inch and a quarter filbert and went to town on the backdrop for the herd of Springbok that will be bouncing and running across this sky. I'm so pleased with how much I have gotten done, and will be looking to plant those mammals tomorrow. I'll do some correcting on the sky as well when the final layers go on.

I have looked at every Springbok in my files and on the 'Net to where my head's spinning. I know the proportions of leg joints to body thickness, and of course having drawn hundreds of ungulates in my career, pulling off a herd of them from sketches ought to be, well, not quite a piece of cake.

On another note, I received in the mail the Del Mar Race Track's 2007 Turf Club Pass with my painting on it. Every person who purchases a pass for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Racing season this year will have my painting in their hand when they go through the gates! How fun is that? I'm honored to have my image (and name!) on every card for this season.


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April 19 - Laying in the Background on the Commission Dog

This is where the fun begins--not with the focal point, the dog, but with the background, laying in all those interesting thin color layers, using more transparent pigments such as sap green and burnt umber. I'm starting to get those big shapes in place that will be "noodled" later on to be more interesting. Work on the dog? Nawww, not time yet!! I wait, knowing that if I get the background to look interesting, then it will be my goal to make the dog even MORE interesting. If I get the background too important at this stage, then when I go to work on the dog, everything will be screaming for attention. So I lay in the background areas, making them "nice" but not "TOO" nice! These areas you see today don't have the details yet, that also comes later, as I bring the design to a crescendo for the ultimate finish. Hmmmm, a lot like music. By the way, my muse is imaginary. My hubby would never come in scratching himself and saying I could do better!

Complete blog here. You can email me here.

Tomorrow a collector from Canada is coming by for a visit--I plan tea and enjoying meeting Judy, whom I've only known through emails and shipping paintings. It will be a joyous visit to the Two Trees studio!

March 7 - Painting the Cremello

Busy day today! In the morning after breakfast, the three artists gathered to paint the cremello horse (he is SO pretty!) a couple of times while at the barns. It was great fun to exercise the muscles of color on a white horse lit from above and behind. I share with you one of the two paintings I did, hoping that you'll enjoy the entourage of colors that march across the white hide of a white horse in sunlight! This is just a study, not a finished painting, so there is less concern about cutting off anatomy, or not finishing other parts of the image. I was focusing on the shadow patterns and the colors on the white horse... but I did spend a bit of time on my saddle!! Here's a picture of Sabino from which we worked.

February 28 - Cold Finish for the end of the Month - Horses in Snow

I know you have been patiently waiting for the finish on this step-by-step painting of the horses in the snow, and I'm pleased to share with you the work today. A fitting end to the end of February--brrrr!! This part of the painting process was with a focus on edges and details. None of those details or edges were in any way important in the last view of this work (February 25). This part of the painting process is actually a lot of fun for me, as I make decisions aobut what is important, and what isn't. This stage can be the most difficult for the learner, in that without experience, the choices are so many! So may I encourage you to paint more, for there truly is no short cut to making good paintings except the doing of it--the progressing from learner to experienced artist done with miles of canvas under your brushes!
Being experienced encouraged me to add the steam breath of the horses, increasing the feel of cold weather. Entitled "Waiting for Dinner", this 16 x 20 original oil is available for $850 from the here for today's date.

Entire Blog is here.

Congratulations to returning collector Charlotte McDavid of Birmingham, Alabama, on her purchase of the "Pot of Red" from earlier this month.

Now, you all know I'm going to Arizona next week, leaving Friday? I am going to do my very best to post a painting each day for you, but have heard from my friends who are already there that they only have dialup service, which is very slow. I promise to make paintings every day I am there, and will post them as I am able.

February 24 - Plein Air Artists Visit, and the Lesson Continues (Horses in Snow)

It was a very busy day, with the Plein Air Artists of Riverside coming over to paint for a full day, including a pot luck at the end of it. I did manage to get a good start on the two horses painting though, and share it with you tonight (or tomorrow morning, if that's when you get these!)
Although the voting was almost equal for the sketches, I chose the upper right one because of the possibility of making large areas of textural interest in the dormant trees and shrubs. Toning the canvas first to "get rid of the high value white", I sketched in the location of the shrubs, the two horses and that all-important counter balance in the gate on the right.
I changed the location of the darker horse, moving him away from the red one because the negative shape formed by the area between them was odd looking and very distracting. Sometimes designing paintings is more about those negative space areas than the actual subject! Note that the negative space areas (where most of the snow will be going) are all different shapes and sizes. That's good design--making related areas without repetition by an infusion of variety.
Note, too, that I painted some of the three dimensional form of the horses...just can't leave 'em flat. Now that I have the initial lay in with the values established for my dark areas, tomorrow I cover the canvas with lots of paint, getting those big shapes in place.

February 23 - A New Idea for an Equine Painting (LESSON TIME!)

Yippee! We're off and running again, this time with a wonderful image (above) from a nice lady who bought one of my saddles off ebay. Her horses are knee deep in snow in Colorado and she took this picture as they wait for her to come feed in the evening light. Oh boy! This is great source material, however it does have some design issues. Like any regular person with a camera, Pam put ther horse right in the middle of the composition, creating a static equality around all three sides that the viewer (that's you!) might not have noticed. Heck, we all take pictures and we all put whatever we like smack-dab in the middle, right? Problem with that is it effectively cancels out any possibility for dynamic movement or tension--what I call the "Made ya Look" syndrome.
So me the artist takes this great photograph and has to rearrange it a bit for interest. This will be a 16 x 20 acrylic, and hopefully good enough for a show or two. We'll see as the painting progresses. Here is the source image, and here are my sketches (called thumbnails, although they are about 4 x 6 inches) showing some rather more interesting design possibilities. Note I am not "drawing the horses", but am positioning the SHAPES of the horses, fences and bushes to create a better composition.



Hurray! We're off on a new painting adventure!
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here, and thanks.

February 3 - Finished Lesson Painting, "A Bit of a Worry"

"A Bit of a Worry" is now finished. As you can see from yesterday's progress, my time today was spent in adding more details to the areas where I want your eye to linger, and finishing up the loose painterly aspects of the balance of the surface. By this time, the decisions are far more important than those of the first few passes, and how much detail to pull out is crucial. The lessons of learning what to detail up, and what to leave loosely tendered can consume an entire life! I tend to leave a lot of quasi-unfinished areas, that still support he design without taking your eye away form the story. If you squint your eyes at this finished piece and then go back to look at the black and white structure I sent, you'll discover I strayed hardly at all from that design.
Now we have a painting of the backstretch of Del Mar, and one of the daily routines that go on behind the races. Original oil, 12 x 12 inches, US $500