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!

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Jan 8 - Starting One for the Art Show at the Dog Show

I did a demonstration of oil painting for the Canyon Lake Art Association last night, and painted this 16 x 20 oil for their pleasure. I am doing this painting for the Art Show at the Dog Show, and it is a yellow Labrador getting that spring into the water on a retrieve. The source material is from collector Dick's son, who raises these great dogs. And the body of water is Lake Elsinore, near where I lived for many years.

I've prepped the canvas with a base color of what looks like a cool yellow, but is Australian Red Gold--a burnt orange. The lights in the room weren't conducive for good color, which will play out in the other images coming. Sigh. I had one of the members stop me every ten minutes as I painted it, so there will be some nice progression.

If you look at the design of this drawing, you'll see that the splashy water and the dog's head occupy the Golden Mean of this surface. Intentional. The source material wasn't like this, and I've also moved the horizon line down into the canvas to create more distance for the viewer to enjoy. It's good to be back in oils!

Signups continue for the February three day Color Boot Camp here in Riverside! I'm looking forward to the new "recruits" to the Color System. You can go here for full information.

And on ebay is one of my book/kits for painting horses--Walter Foster had a run of these, and they are now sold out. I'm not selling this one, but find it interesting to see them come up occasionally.

My roots go way back with the CLAA, being a life member, so it was fun to visit with them again. Tomorrow you'll see what it looks like (and how I think, in the text) after ten minutes of painting.

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Sep 19 - Laying in the Mid Values

I've spent some time laying in the mid-tones on this canvas, and absolutely enjoying the grays I'm making with the Cool Box of the Color System in the shadows and the warm gray-greens in the sunlit areas. I haven't started any details, except to define and locate the masses of the large shapes. And if course I haven't painted the focal point!

The upper edge is fogged in with the glare of the sunlight, as this is so very backlit. That creates an interesting ethereal atmosphere, which will be pulled out and developed on the next session. The interesting mid-tones of the chicken nearest the child, with the green lighter midtones is really easy to discern. Controlling the temperatures of the colors I use is ever-so simple with the Color System, and makes painting like this, so easy.

The shadows are an integral part of the design, too, so they are placed without details in their proper areas, too. There are currently no chicken colors in the warm family on any of the birds. Some look warm though, don't they?

I've also taken a close up of the lower left corner of the painting so you can see the large, loose brushwork. It is fun to paint this way, because I don't have to worry about any details!

This painting is coming off the brushes with an inner strength I had forgotten I had. I'm focusing on the new book, and the next (YES!) DVD on the Color System. I think it is definitely time. The cameras came out today, so I'll be planning the paintings for "Misty and Challenging Lighting Situations, DVD #4!.

The November workshop is half full already, and I'll also be contacting the applicants with the information, supplies list, and lodging paperwork this upcoming week.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
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Aug 4 - What You've Been Waiting For - Finished!

"Toes Up" Original oil on linen, 9 x 12 $475
There he is, all comfy and totally zonked out. Even the whiskers are in (enlarge it to eight inches to see), and the hierarchy of edges is in place. I didn't detail out the links on the collar, and I kept those values lower. Unlike the details around the mouth and eye, because that's where I want the muzzle to be more important. The pure circle-shape of the collar ring could have been a huge eye-catcher, so again lowering the value helped there. Squint your eyes and see how it melts into the background!

Now look at that rightmost hind foot and how it "reads right" as a gray blue mid value. Even though you saw it earlier and saw the contrast between it and the front paws--can you see why having both back feet lower in value keeps you in the painting? Values are SO important in design. Knowing where to put them to create the composition is a very left-brain thing (although after a couple thousand paintings it can become right-brain intuitive).

News around here...the last couple days have seen a crew on Two Trees clearing the fire breaks for another long season where we worry about wildland fires. Being inside the Preserve means keeping all loose brush/leaves/pine needles bagged up and away. But this year's clearing required heavy equipment and hand laborers. Here's a picture of our blooming bougainvillea on the back fence, now bisecting a nicely cleared area. All that tan stuff on the far mountain is fuel in the form of dry grass. But we're inside a cleared ring around our place. Rain? What's that?

My demo for Ukiah is coming up on August 13, and then the workshop in Sebastopol, ending with a second demonstration on August 20 there. I'm thinking about what I need to take with me for these exciting events!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
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Aug 3 - Pulling in the Details, Dog Oil Painting Lesson

Now that the canvas is covered with all the inherent values and inherent colors of the composition, the FUN begins! This is where the one inch brush is set aside, and the 1/3 or 1/2 inch filbert comes out and starts to dance.

By turning the edge of the brush and changing the shape of the line, I can make a mark that is either thick or thin, depending upon the need. That's how the darks on the muzzle of the dog went in.

I'm literally dancing around the canvas (and please, no video cameras!) while this is being done. I fill the brush with the color I need and then put it in all the places it needs to go. For example, the tan color (done with yellow ochre in the shadows and burnt sienna/cad orange in the lights) is placed in several areas if I've mixed up a batch of that useful hue.

I hope this series of lessons has been useful to you. Comments to the posting wherever you see it is always appreciated, as that way I know you're "out there". And if you have questions, I can also answer them with a reply, providing a permanent place for people to learn. Thanks for doing that.

And just for kicks and giggles, here's a picture of the three studio dogs. Onslow, who is having his portrait done above, on the left. Q or the LBD at age NINETEEN is in the middle, and Sparky the wonder companion is on the right. I think the old girl's doing pretty well for being that old, even tho' totally deaf. She's a German Pinscher, about 30 pounds. All have shiny coats, probably due to what I feed 'em.

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.

Feb 13 - Horse in Pasture, Second Pass, Not Done yet!

Take a look at this canvas and compare it with the last post, and see if you can see what I've done on this 16 x 20 oil. I've spent my time going over the canvas, making those large initial color shapes far more interesting.

It isn't finished yet, but coming along nicely. I'll post it when the signature is on, and I've fixed some of the issues that are in my head about it.

One of the six value plans that I cover in my workshops is called "Gradation in large shapes" and this canvas is a perfect example of that. Every large color shape has been made more interesting with colors that are close to the initial shape's dominate hue, and yet are of a slightly different value, creating the gradations. Note the trees for the clearest example--the horse is more subtle in those variations, yet that's what makes it "look" like a horse.

I'm gearing up for the ten students to arrive later today for the beginning of the first California Color Boot Camp of 2009! They start out this evening with a "meet and greet", and then in the next three days we'll be using the theater for lectures and the outer studio space for painting. It will be incredibly busy! I've even made a new dvd for my lectures on both the values plans and the Color System for my lectures!

The April workshop is full already. I still have spaces in both the Florida and Maine workshops, if you want some "Color Boot Camp" treatment. I just love teaching!

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.

March 25 - The Pastoral Cow Painting Finished

You can see that I kept the grays intact for this one, and held to the complimentary color scheme of purple and yellow green and the mid range of values. The highest value contrast comes in the vicinity of the cows, so that holds your eyes, and there is an implied line created by the direction of the cows (the way they are facing) that brings the viewer into the scene, and allows one to "visit" with the rest of the composition.
This original painting is available for $295 as an 11 x 14 original on my ebay store.

March 23 - How Now Black and Brown Cow? (Oil Lesson, 11 x 14)

Busy day today, getting ready for the get together tomorrow for plein air artists in Riverside to meet Betty Billups and her work here. She's been working prepping the many canvases that will be her four foot by 16 foot plein air mural next week, and I have been catching up on my bookkeeping and taxes. So tonight I started an 11 x 14 oil of a very pastoral scene--which will be focusing on grays. The color scheme will be complimentary purple and yellow green, and the value balance will be midtones. I'm looking forward to how this one will turn out! There will be some plein air painting in between the start and finish... the weather has been fantastic for the last few days--into the low 70s and breezy--perfect for on location painting!
My art instruction DVDs are here.

March 14 - The Morning Wrangler Lesson Painting, Second Pass

The canvas is 98 percent covered now with the colors that will be the basis for the final pass. At that time I'll put in the details and the highest contrasting points of light. Squint your eyes at this stage and you'll still see the abstract composition in there--hidden mostly now by the similar values. If you would like a peaceful painting, make similar values--Edgar Whitney called it "Large Dark in Midtones", and this painting will fall into that value category. But the light passages will make drama, and take it to a different value structure--Small Lights, Large Dark in Midtone. If you're interested in Edgar Whitney's teaching, he wrote a book on (ulp!) watercolor painting. But the section on designing paintings is spot on for any artist. "Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting" is the title.
In this painting I'm finding the most pleasure in mixing the harmonious hues, keeping to the two color families of warm and cool where appropriate, and just enjoying the journey. I hope you do, too!

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 5 - White Still Life

My sister came over to visit for a few hours, and we organized the larger space that will host shows and students. In doing so, sorting the flowers into color groups for display and still life setups was part of the journey. I now have nice vases of reds, yellows, and greens, and this white pitcher of white flowers! It seemed like a fun thing to do to set it up on a sculpting stand and paint it--so here is the 12 x 12 inch oil for your pleasure today! $250
from the dailypaintings.com web site for this date.
When I slightly squint my eyes, I enjoy how the values hang together with the harmonious colors. Juicy, yet very subtle, and the light source is quite obvious! Such fun to stretch the still life muscles. Maybe another one tomorrow, while I work out the last minute details of another commission still here. Gotta get it right, darn it all.

February 2 - Continuing with the Painting Lesson of Horses

Today's work on this 12 x 12 oil got tabled for a while since I was packaging and sending off paintings, DVDs and books.  Took me most of the morning to get them all ready for shipment. I'm glad of that, because sometimes we artists need time to cogitate about the work we do, while not in front of the easel with it looking back at us. I came back to the easel refreshed and ready to make some interesting changes to the design and focus. 
I'd like you to look at the major changes in the shapes of the two flanking figures. (They still don't have brains, yet!)  I cut into them and added outward with the literal "washing up" of the background areas to the positive shapes of the action. The central hoof checker now has a tee shirt, but I need to get some britches on him! No hats yet, as those color notes are pure accents, and ought not to be added until the painting is cohesive without them. No sense in sewing up a hole in rotten jeans with new thread!
 I did go over the background again, bringing in some of the more muted cool colors to break up the blocky shapes of the barn siding and doors.

February 1 - The Lesson Painting of Horses at the Track Continues

Now the painting has gone into what I call "the Uglies". I have covered more of the canvas areas with the color that is the major color for each area, except for the foreground and the middle fellow, and there is not much edge control, nor harmonizing of colors across the board. It looks a lot like a cartoon at this stage. Not to worry, tho', because I'm going to fix all of that in the next "go pass".You can also see that I still have held to that abstract structure as I add more pigment, and I am finding come proportional edges to bring the image back into balance.
 So the dance with the brushes continues.
 If you like dressage, I was shown a link that has the amazing Blu Hors Matine at the World Equestrian Games doing a freestyle dressage event that is nothing short of extraordinary!  That mare just dances!

January 31 - Learning Time Again! Painting Lesson!

Learning time again!  Major changes to bring to you in today's painting, continuing the 12 x 12 oil from yesterday. Some very important things have happened, and I hope I have enough "room" in the message to share it with you! Note how I changed the packground, dividing up the rear space and more effectively placing the figures on a stage with a backdrop. Viewers are more comfortable when  given the illusion that the scene is "contained" for their intimate perusal. The shadowed wall behind, and the openings create that illusion. I cobbled together the new packground from other source photos taken at Del Mar Race Track. Love that tourquoise which is their color!
I have attached another image as an extremely important aspect of painting, demonstrated for you in taking this stage of the painting and manipulating it in my photo editing program. I took out all the color, and flipped it over, with the prime purpose of showing you how important abstract structure is (created in values). Structure is the skeleton of the artwork. Look at the placement and the relationships of the darkest values to the lightest values. And also note that although the background has openings in the wall, they are very close in value to the wall itself to convey the illusion that the wall and openings are further back in the picture. When you look at the upright, colored one, the values don't look that close back there!  I share this with you because one thing I find with many artists is a lack of understanding of how crucially important creating a strong value structure is to the end painting.

January 30 - Back to Equine Painting!

Time to go to the equine art again, and also time to incorporate some of that earlier experimentation with the thick paint on this 12 x 12 inch oil!  I'm bringing you the start drawing, and also the source material, so you can see what inspired my starting this one.

Perhaps the passing of Barbaro (the race horse) brought this out, but the reference is of a vet or trainer doing a flexion test on the left foreleg of a race horse. The groom and perhaps the owner or assistant or trainer are looking on. The background in the source is booooring, so I'll have to spiff that up a bit, and I am moving the left-most figure so the "action" in the middle is more easily depicted. I also do subtle relocations of shapes to make better design. Lots of loose drawing at this stage, no value issues, no color issues ... YET!

January 24 - The Puzzles is SOLVED!! 12 x 16 Oil

What a surprise to receive SO many email suggestions about what to do with the painting! I sent all the quotes out to the list, and hope that many will come to see the end result. Elin, you lost the horse? Yes, but there's a reason--on location, there was no horse. I imagineered him into the scene, and never felt comfortable with the end result. I loved the gate, which also was not open when I painted it. So the solution was to partially open the gate (the horse left, of course) and create a pathway and a brighter field beyond the opening. I added brighter, more pure hues to the area where the center of interest lies, and "rebuilt" the wall on the left. Adding the large oak tree was a natural extension of the concept, creating shadowed areas on this side of the wall, and also metaphorically hiding the unknown future beyond the gate. It looks good from here. 12 x 16 oil, $250.

January 23 - Puzzles for You to Solve

Here's a bit of a pickle for your entertainment today! This is an on-location painting that I started over a year ago, and found while looking for another piece that had been bought. This 12 x 16 inch oil has some really nice things going on in it, and some unfinished areas (like the palomino horse) that still need work. I know what I'm going to do to finish this piece, and I'm wondering if you have some ideas as to what I've decided to do, and more importantly...WHY. If you'll write back, I'll compile a list of suggestions to go out in tomorrow's email with the finished painting. So please share in your thinking about what YOU would do if this was one you needed to finish up.