September 9 - Georgia on my Mind, Workshop!

Life is wonderfully good right now.

Imagine if you will, an early morning in September, in the piney woods of North Georgia, on the back of a good, 17-hand horse headed out for an early morning ride. All of that is what happened for me this morning, and here's a photograph of me on "Sister" --now I hope you can see that she is a white mare, because the flash of my grin may blind you a bit!
I'm in Georgia, on the Sunday beginning a week-long Color Boot Camp tomorrow, along with my hostess Fay, doing a welcome this evening for 12 attendees. I'll be posting my demonstration paintings for all the Color Boot Campers out there who want to see more examples of how the Color System works in this light.

In this photograph, you can see the Georgia mist rising--it was a glorious morning!

Again, thank you for allowing me to come into your life a bit. As I close, here's an image of the some the trail we traversed... beautiful.


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September 3 - Last of the Maine Paintings, I think...

I have been busy, busy, busy! Freeing up time from the daily effort to produce a painting has given me opportunities to create in many ways. I've been doing the podcasts for iTunes, and have the first month of daily paintings online--October 12 through November 10, 2005, and will have the rest of the month up and running by this weekend coming up.

The painting for you today is one I did with acrylics, showing noonish light, and it is from the Somes Sound area in Maine. This is mostly palette knife, and done to clean out the acrylic boxes before coming back home. I really laid it on thick! It is being shipped back to Gail Ribas, who is in charge of the Acadia Workshop Center, and she will be adding it to her collection! It measures 9 x 12.

I received the Harness Tracks of America auction catalog in the mail yesterday, and one of my paintings is featured on the cover! The auction is online here, where you can scroll down and see my painting bottom center. There are many beautiful works of art to view. I have two paintings to ship to this fund-raising auction in October. I have lot numbers 22 and 83, and have to say the color sure stands out compared to others.

Five more of my paintings are in Maine at the "Dog and Pony Show" at Skyline Carriage Museum, on Skyline Farm. One already sold opening night, and I have hopes that perhaps the rest will not return. All are from the Daily Paintings and it was as if I were packing up old friends! The catalog of the show is downloadable in pdf format here.

Friday it is off to Georgia, to teach the full workshop in Dawsonville, so I've been getting my materials ready and preparing to leave for just over a week. I have to make lists of chores that need doing while I'm gone.

One more bit of news--my web sites have gotten so big that it was time to put a search tool to find paintings on them. And you can search them now! It is now so much easier to find pages with the art you're seeking, and I'm using it too, finding work when a collector purchases a painting so I can mark it sold. Please find that search link on the lower left side of every page! It searches not only the current site you're on, but the other two as well.

Welcome to another new collector, Jacob Cohen of Rockville, Maryland, who purchased not one, but two cat paintings ("Cat Blue" and "Black Cat") from the ebay store. today. Thank you!

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If you need to email me directly, please click here. Sorry about the blank email that came your way a few days ago. Accidental on my part.

August 29 - Plein Air from Maine Workshop Week, Oil, 12 x 9

The change in my life since reluctantly ceasing the daily paintings has been enormous, and all positive. Today I met Juliet Harrison, an equine artist with a camera, who came up to my studio today. She is out visiting relatives here in California from her own state of New York, with her family. We ate lunch in the outer studio, and I showed her around the place at her request. Her son Jackson loved the goats, especially wanting to meet Vincent. I should have taken more pictures, as it was fun to see excitement all over the place and how much Vincent van Goat loved the attention.

The weather has been beastly hot and slightly humid, and over 100 temps are hard to bear. Especially for the workers taking out and rebuilding the new entrance to the outer studio, where I'll have my February workshop. It will be great to have a proper entrance and patio for the workshop. Looks like that will be President's Weekend, Friday night through Monday, so if you want to be considered for a slot, please email me. I have a list.....

But I'm off to teach again, heading to Georgia in September. Twelve excited soon-to-be Color Boot Campers await my arrival. We'll be sited at the farm of a friend of mine, and it will be fun, fun fun! I'll send more and write more then. This past month has been a mini vacation for me, and it renews my energies to create more new work! Here's one from the workshop in Maine, we were painting Somes Sound and this is the demonstration piece for the late morning light. I can feel the wind in it! 12 x 9 oil, available for $255.

It's GOOD to be back!!

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August 22 - A Maine Dream 5 x 7 Acrylic

IT is so much fun to layer acrylics and revisit Maine! Here's a small painting packed with messaging about acrylic usage. Take a look at the right side above my signature to see the trio of layers there. The first was the warm underpainting, done with Quin Burnt Orange, and then the two layers of color, the next done with a mix of Ultramarine and Alizarin, and white, and then the final layer, done with a mix of the ultramaine again with white. This last layer was laid down with a palette knife for additional textural interest. Because the two upper layers are done with the cool palette, they contrast nicely and vibrate with the warm of the burnt orange that toned the canvas. I call that sparkle, and it isn't about the white sparkly bits on water!
This painting will be up on my ebay store in a day or so for $100.

But not today, because Alberto and I are working on a cage for the new momma hen with her nine (so far) chicks! Fun to have baby chickens again. While I went to Maine, no one collected the eggs so she started setting. Yes, I'll post a picture once the cage is done and she and "the kids" are safely away from ravens and the like--they are so cute!

You can see the entire blog here.

And I'm putting the entire daily paintings on iTunes. You can search on my name to find me. One-minute episodes--I'm finishing up October of 2005 today. An RSS feed will allow you to subscribe outside of iTunes--go here (opens a new window).

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August 16 - The Three Dog Commission, progress

I'm very pleased with how this LARGE painting is coming along as I continue to cover the canvas with another layer, and obliterate the underpainting (which still peeks through yet minimally in the sky and background areas). Doing oil layers on a surface this vast means I have less blending opportunities and it brings to the forefront my skills with acrylics in mixing and adding the covering layer.

The gods have miles to go before they are finished, but I am more pleased with their general "sense" of dogginess at this point. During this painting session I was not concerned with them. I hope you'll compare today's painting with the earlier version on July 17 (in the blog).

On other news, I'm starting some new adventures--not the least of which is podcasting the daily paintings--putting up the entire two years of work on iTunes. Alberto is starting that project, and I'm recording the audio so you can see the paintings and I'll be talking about each one--embellishing the minimal text I'd written on the days they were painted. Each podcast will be just one minute long. But there will be several hundred you can get on your iPod or share with friends. I'll let you all know when this the released.

You see, I do have a bit of time to work on other projects now while I paint!

Congratulations to John Ottaway of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on his addition of the Keeneland painting "Keeneland Morning Overlook" which he found in my ebay store.

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August 13 - Maine Light, 12 x 9 Acrylic

Ah, such nice memories I have of the fog and coastal ocean, especially when I exist here in 100 degree dry heat of August in California, sun baking the ground. However, deep in the cool depths of the inner studio, I'm painting away. I'm in oils again working on the three-dog commission again. It is going well. The scene to your right is one I did while thinking about all I'd seen and experienced while on Mt. Desert Island, and it is in acrylics with sand texture under it, and layers of the blue/orange complementary colors I so love. It is also backlit, which adds another dimension to the experience.
I'll be putting this one on my ebay store within the next day or so. It will be available for $275 unframed, plus $5 shipping within the United States.


For folks who have attended a "Color Boot Camp" with me, there's a new Yahoo Group set up to talk about the System and to ask and post questions. Kathy Sweeney is the owner, and welcomes all artists who have or are learning the Color System. You can find out more about it by clicking here.
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August 9 - Bass Harbor, Maine Acrylic on GOLD!

How fun it is to revisit Maine with the lovely results of being there and painting on location and in the great studio of Acadia Workshop Center! This is a canvas that came back with me in my luggage, and barely fit as it was just as long as the bag with little to spare! An acrylic, this 8 x 24 inch gallery-wrap is the view from Bernard over to Bass Harbor. What makes this acrylic painting so interesting, is the underlayment is GOLD! I was inspired by the medieval religious paintings I showed the students in the Power Point presentation on Wednesday night, and so used gold as the underpainting for this canvas. The veils of blue, rich purple and earth tones that cover the resultant luminescent layer are just wonderful to see, and looking at the jpeg is not nearly as good as seeing the veils of glowing gold that are in the original. I will be using this in more paintings!

I reluctantly part with this painting for $350 plus $7 shipping to the lucky collector who uses Paypal first.

You can see the entire blog here.
Interested in Elin's newest DVD? Acrylic Painting - Fast and Loose!

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August 6 - Maine Revisited, Acrylic 9 x 12

Ah, summer in Maine! On the second day of the workshop, I took the students out to paint on location just a stone's throw from both the ocean and the central location for the "Color Boot Camp". The goal for this painting was to focus on values, and the all-important six value plans in the paintings. I demonstrated this one, painting in acrylics, and included the beaver lodge in the lower middle part--the local wildlife! The fog was coming in and out across the water, and the wildflowers were blooming like gangbusters!

This painting is already in the hands of Carolyn O'Connor, from Washington Grove, Maryland.

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August 1 - Maine and the Workshop, I'm back!

Flying out of Boston last Saturday at dusk, I was on my way to Acadia Park, Maine on this twin prop D1900 plane--everyone had a window seat--all five of us! This is a view of the sunset and downtown Boston over the wing of the plane.

I am now just about as far as it is is to get from California, enjoying every moment of my week while I teach my workshop. It is wonderful and cool, painting is ongoing, and the colors are falling off the brushes! A great group of artists, and a wonderful place to be an artist and to teach a workshop. The Acadia Workshop Center is located on the ocean and also on a pond, water everywhere. The first day the students and I painted the large pond, complete with beaver lodge, and then the following day we were on the ocean at the place shown below. I have some nice paintings and will share them with you in the following days. It has been wonderful to take a break from the daily paintings and just enjoy being an artist.

I'll be back in California in a few days and working on the large dog commission, and seeing Vincent van Goat again!

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July 23 - Missed a few

Nobody asked where I was, so you must all be busy as well. Two days and no Daily Painting?

I had that Cowboy Jubilee yesterday and that kept me out past midnight. A good evening all around, and great music and cowboy poetry. I saw collectors and made a couple new ones with a good evening for my art as well. However, the planning and logistics for another outdoor show precluded me from getting near the easel.

I've been rethinking the daily painting thing as well. In 2005 when I started, few artists were doing daily paintings and I was on the lead edge of a new movement, but now hundreds of artists are chugging along, bringing ideas and work to the public. I've been doing it since October of 2005, and I have to admit, I'm getting tired. It was creative in the beginning, and yet now the spark of it is gone. My dailies have been morphing into lesson paintings, and many of you tell me how much you enjoy that. Now I believe I need time to work on larger pieces, without scrutiny, and to be more able to choose the story and subject without a feeling of pressure to perform.

I will still do the lesson paintings, but not on a daily basis. I will still send out new, finished work, just not every day.

So with a great deal of thought, I've decided to cease the daily paintings and move on to other ways of connecting and keeping in touch with you all. I won't lose you, nor you me if you'll allow it. I'll continue to send out lessons and updates on new work via this mode.

As the "old horse" on the team of daily painters, I need to let folks with more time and perhaps less vision take over. Never one to follow in a pack, I need time and room for my new ideas to come out.

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July 19 - Solo Oak Tree, Acrylic 12 x 9

Fun again! Acrylics and layers and texture and brushwork! I love acrylics! A painting that is dry and ready to go for Saturday, and one of the subjects I love--solo Coastal Live Oak tree and coastal fog. I wanted something smaller featuring an oak tree to bring to the Jubilee, since the attendees are supporters of the Santa Rosa Ecological Preserve (as I am) and painting subjjects that have meaning for them is also meaningful for me.
The dog commission is on hold for a few days--I was hoping to get it well in hand before leaving for Maine next week, but things always go the way they are supposed to, so I do hope you enjoy this detour into acrylics!

Elin's Acrylic Painting - Fast and Loose! is shipping now! Available from this link.
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July 18 - Tweaking for the Cowboy Jubilee

I'm pulling work out of the racks and making selections for the show up in Tenaja, for the Cowboy Jubilee. It's fun to look once again at some of my earlier pieces, and this one needed a "bit of a jolt". Used for the invitation for one of the summer art shows at the Visitor's Center, This 24 x 30 acrylic was painted on location and shows Rancho California Road heading toward Tenaja. I was in the Sylvan Meadows parking area.
I tweaked it a bit, brightening up the foreground and unifying the sky into more closely related values. My goal was to have the feeling of passing cloud shadows throughout.
Getting ready for a show when I haven't done an outdoor venue in a while is interesting--I have to find and put together my "kit bag" of tools, and think about the whole presentation with groups of art. Sigh.
In between that I'm shipping Acrylic Painting - Fast and Loose! DVDs. Retired? HAHAHA!


You can see the entire blog here. And purchase the newest acrylic painting DVD "Acrylic Painting - Fast and Loose!" here.

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July 17 - Dog Commission, Stage Two

As I start to cover this 38 x 50 inch canvas, I'm doing what I can to keep the values light and bright, (high key) so that the collectors needs will be met. It is coming along well now, almost ready to drop into the "Uglies". Those of you familiar with my DVDs will laugh along with me when I say that, because "we" know that every painting goes deep into the "Uglies" before coming out the other side!

The 8 x 10 reference photographs are mounted on each side of the painting hung next to the wall to show you the five images from which I am taking my inspiration at this time. Each dog has a characteristic "look" to it, and no two dogs are the same--thus the specificity of dog portraits, and the general blanket acceptance of cat images. I'm quite pleased with the colors and developing atmosphere right now, and will begin to tighten down and detail out after I finish the underlayment on the upper right corner. It's all being caught on digital video, too! (However, I am not talking!!!)

I'm sending a bit early, as we have plans tonight and I plan to have a couple glasses of wine! No can do and come home and paint...sigh.

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July 16 - The Three Dog Commission/Lesson commences

Here's the first pass on the 38 x 50 inch oil on linen commission of three dogs, lab and golden retrievers, that shows the owners the placement and basic overall high key color scheme that is coming into play. As I don't begin with my focal points, but paint TO them, subordinating the colors and edges as I paint to the crescendo of the three dogs' faces. (Dogs have faces... no argument there!). Richard Schmid constantly maintains that the focal point be the highest contrast and the sharpest edge, and there is tremendous validity in that phrase.

Hmmm, I just noticed that I mis-sent a couple of posts, the 14th with my studio pics went out after the 15th's desert revision. Must be senior moments, eh? Well, they are in order on the blog in any event, and in the scheme of things it is small potatoes.

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July 15 - Still Pushing the Envelope, Desert Scene

I took a long look at yesterday's work and said, "I can do better" and opened up those pill boxes and went to work again. I pushed the values a bit further, deepening those in the foreground and lightening areas on the mountains. Seeing the Bierstadt painting in the San Diego Museum of Art helped! In addition, I added clouds to the sky--since we are seeing the tail edge of a rainy "monsoon" season that hasn't given us any moisture. I can hope with my brushes!

Yesterday's work is shown to the left, in smaller format, and today's painting is below. So you get two for one again, sort of!

I thoroughly enjoyed Balboa Park, took my plein air acrylic set up with me for that beautiful scene near the botanical gardens that has asked me to paint it for several years. I saw a Joaquin Sorolla that almost had me weeping... it is the image on the cover of the museum book I have of his work. To see it in front of me was just breathtaking. I firmly believe everyone needs to go to museums and see the art therein. So much to see and learn!

The BEST news is that I will hand over the master DVDs of the Acrylic Painting - Fast and Loose to the duplication service on Monday! I will be shipping orders on Thursday at the latest, and thank you to the many who have ordered their copy. It is JAM PACKED--I delicately edited out to the most essential messages, and there is just a ton of work in it--FOUR paintings and a slide show!

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July 14 - My studio and the Dog Commission

This is the way my studio space (the main studio) looks when I'm working on "ordinary" work--the Hughes easel is in place, the taboret is to the right with whichever side facing me depending upon the medium (it wass set for acrylics), and there's my constant companion "Q" in her bed on the left. I share this with you to compare with the next image, which is my studio for the next days and perhaps weeks as I work on this overside (38x50 inch) commission of three dogs.

Below is the setup and canvas mounted on the wall for the beginnings of the dog painting. I do have to share with you something ingenious--along the bottom of the canvas are hung "D" cell batteries, taped and then clipped to the linen canvas. This weight holds the canvas taut, as linen (the best canvas) is notorious for stretching and bagging while it is worked on. This setup gives me the spring and bounce of a stretched canvas without the labor of stretching it. Stretching will be done by the recipient's framer down the road a way. Oh, the camera on the left? I'm doing a sped-up version of the entire painting process for YouTube. Fun!

Note the SimpleHuman trash bag holder on the taboret. Stinky solvent towels go in there and are covered by the lid. Using plastic grocery bags means quick turnover.
Tomorrow the beginnings of the dog commission!

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July 12 and 13 - Twofer! Lesson Painting Revised.

Two for One! The night slipped away from me and I missed a post, so today you have two images in one to play catch up. The painting is an acrylic, 20 x 20 inches on 2" gallery wrap bars (no frame) and what you see on the left is the original that I painted on location some time ago. It has always lacked that "spark" that catches a viewer's eye, and so tonight I decided to work it over and bring a newer, more contrasted image to you.

One of the most powerful strengths of the Renaissance art world was the use of value as a design element--taking the range of values through their paces in works such as Nicolas Poussin's "Holy Family on the Steps". By taking the balance of value from a master work like this and applying it to one of my own works, I end up with the changes below:


I only changed the painting by the addition of a few layers of glazes, using acrylics' incredible versatility to accomplish the value changes necessary to help this painting come to life.

Although I did not follow Proussin's "diagonal of light/dark", I was brought to the thinking point of making these changes because of viewing his work.

Tomorrow, I head to San Diego and Balboa Park to lead a field trip with my Art Appreciation summer students! A day in museums! Wowza!

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July 10 - Cowboy Jubilee in Two Weeks

On July 21, I will be enjoying some premier country music under the oak trees at Liberty Oaks Ranch up in Tenaja, along with many others who are interested in supporting the education program for the Santa Rosa Ecological Preserve. The Foundation brings hundreds of third graders each school year for field trips to learn about the habitat of early California, and the pressures on current wildlife. For many of these 8-year-olds, it is the first time they've been outside a city park! I support it avidly, and will be set up to present my western work the sales of which will benefit this program. One night only--magic music and poetry!

Here is a 12 x 9 acrylic painted specifically for the event, and hopefully it will sell that night. Called "Trail Time" I present it hoping for a good percentage of sales benefiting those kids. I have good hopes.

On another note, the Acrylic DVD is finished, but I have too much footage!! I want to share so much, and have about 6.5 gigabytes to fit on a 4.7 gigabyte master. So now instead of editing for content, I'm cutting clips and resizing the lessons to fit into that 4.7 gig format. Three, no four, complete paintings done in lessons, a slide show, outtakes, supplies for both beginning and advanced... whew! There's just SO much on it. But it WILL be out!

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July 9 - The Dark Side, Black Cat 7 x 5 Collage

The other side of the family! Here's the acylic collage of the darker side of things--loosely based upon our own Bats cat, but a domestic longhair instead! This one, as yesterday's, is full of additives that make it sparkle and shine.
I hope you enjoy it!


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July 8 - The Light Side (Cat Collage) 7 x 5 Acrylic

Re-showing the Fabricritters from the past few days has brought out some fun expressive paintings today! I did two cat paintings fresh off the easel, and share with you this first one, called "The Light Side". It is a sweet domestic shorthair kitty, like my Pesto in one of her playful moods when she holds onto somethimg with her paws.

But take a closer look! There is more than paint here, and it is such FUN to do this with art--stepping out of the box a bit and adding fun things like glitter and sequin-type things to the image. I've attached an enlargement of the left-side eye for you to see the glitter embedded in the acrylics! Ha!

On a more serious note, when I sit and ponder the vast variety of people who have kindly let me into their "in" boxes with my daily journeys into and through paintings, I am overwhelmed with the kindness people have shown to my work. Art is a journey, and this one is so much richer for your company!


"The Light Side" will be followed by "The Dark Side" tomorrow. This one is immediately available through my ebay store.

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July 7- Oh, from the darkly hallows...

Come with me to the Way-Back Machine, and I'll show you a work from the early 1980s. It's a 24 x 30 oil, done from material I took at the Bishop Mule Days, and this was before I was doing acrylics, and it shows you all where I was at the time. Nothing wrong with looking back over old work--it can show you where you were on your painting journey, and revisiting these elder stepping stones can teach in unusual ways.
For example, here I see I had no understanding of how color behaves in light and shadow. And I did the usual mistake of making things lighter by adding white to them, creating a chalking overview. I didn't know how to make things recede into space yet, but I sure was in love with blue shadows! I also hadn't figured out how to make my brush marks convey space. OK, enough bashing. It is well drawn.

An interesting side note, look at the signature. It is the earliest version of my trademark "Elin", and includes my maiden name!

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July 6 - Drawings for the Three Dog Commission

I've now returned to working on the three-dog commission of the wonderfully gentle natures of these canines. More details and a couple more possibilities off my pencil tonight. When I do commissions like this, it is my utmost desire to capture the nature of the animal, and a composite of their expressions, without losing the specific "look" of the dog. There is no substitute for good reference images to reach that goal, and I have some good ones. But to make a composition with three dogs, and none of the reference images are consistent in lighting or perspective, makes for quite a challenge. I'm ready for it, though, as the acrylic DVD winds down--I need a new puzzle!!
On another note, Alberto has been busy putting over one hundred of my paintings into my ebay store where it is easy to search for a painting by category or title.

Congratulations to Charlotte McDavid of Birmingham, Alabama, on the addition of "Kentucky River" to her collection of "Elin" paintings!


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July 5 - Shelf Life, One of Four Fabricritters

The last of the Fabricritters for your pleasure and enjoyment, this one with the canning jars (just fabric collaged onto the canvas and then painted to LOOK like glass jars!!) and the box of Oat Bran reminding us to be sure to have enough fiber in our diets. I think with all our cat hair from Pesto and Bats, we get enough!

I've attached a close-up of the cat and one jar to show you how it all blends together into a painting. I especially like how "glassy" the fabric swatches are in this smaller detail view. Enjoy!


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July 4 - Calicoal, the First Fabricritter (Acrylic collage!)

After yesterday's carrousel horse, I received this informative email from one of East Coast friends that I thought you'd enjoy: "Oddly enough, not beyond belief and fitting to my propensity for useless detail, I know a great deal about the designing and construction of the early carousels. When I was taking care of one of the Smithsonian off site storage facilities, I had the complete carousel animal collection in one of my bays. Most of them were in open storage crates and available to me to me in making some detail drawings. A lot of the carousels were built in Philadelphia because of the furniture industry. Carousel animals were carved from the furniture off cuts, "chunks" as they were known in the trade. The "chunks" were glued and literally spiked together. The most elaborately carved horse on any carousel was known as the "lead' or "king" horse. The outside horses were the largest and the fanciest carved. Most of the carvers came from Europe with only the clothes on their back and a satchel of tools. It was a common practice that the apprentices carved the animal bodies and the heads were carved by masters. As a side line, a lot of church statuary were carved by these men."

So to follow up on the continuing saga of the Fabricritters, here is the largest of the four pieces, never shown before. This measures 30 x 40 inches, and is called "Calicoal" I hope you enjoy this one! It was the first that I created, and as it seems to be of interest to many of you who have your hands in quilting and other fabric arts, somewhat fitting. Here's a closeup of the head, where you can see the paint work, and then an image of the head and shoulder, showing the transition to the fabric. Acrylics are wonderful for applying with collage materials.


I've considered selling these four pieces... (oh, you haven't seen the fourth one! Well, that's tomorrow.) But whoever whould buy them, well it will take a very special person, is all.

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July 3 - Fabricritter Carrousel Horse, 36 x 24

This painting is one of the Fabricritter series I did several years ago, along with Lila-cat and Shelf Life, another of the four. This was the last one, and I really pulled out the stops on it. Almost 90% of the canvas is made up of applied fabric swatches, over which I glazed acrylic color and medium to seal the swatches down. This is especially evident in the background.

The painting is a stretched canvas, and the flexibility of the fabric matches the canvas, plus the medium and paint are also flexible. Painting details such as the eye was just so much "eye candy!"

In this closeup of the head, you can see the fabric pieces that make up the background as well as the detail pieces on the bridle. What is really fascinating, though, is this detail of the mane just behind the ears... take a look at how the texture of the white calico cloth mimics the variations in a horse's mane coloration! I painted darker swatches of color over the fabric to make it look more like mane, using Payne's gray and other variations on the background colors. I'd love to do some more of these, but what do you call 'em? Paintings, assemblages, or craft? Dilemma!



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July 2 - Finished the Details, "The Quest" Acrylic

Sometimes there are just those few brush strokes that need to be added to make a good painting into something really special. I spent about an hour today on "The Quest", the advanced/intermediate lesson painting in the Acrylics Fast and Loose DVD, and those few brush strokes take that painting to a new level. If you'll compare this one with the one on the blog from a few days ago, you just might notice a wee tad difference.
Today I also worked on the inside front cover ad I submit to Horses in Art magazine. I do these in Photoshop, and wanted especially to include this painting. Double motivation!

Now, those of you with a pocket full of design, take a look at the ad and see if you can spot the underlying structure of the arrow point that goes through all three paintings. Intentionally unifies the whole page... and that cover for the new DVD "just happens" to be bright red....

Happy almost Fourth to our US contingent!


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July 1 - Lila-cat, Acrylic Fabric Collage, 18 x 24

I'm still working on the acrylic DVD, and coming to the part where I show some "slides" of some of my work. This "Fabricritter" called "Lila-cat" came to light as one example of what the possibilities are for using a collage-type application with pieces of upholstery fabric. The cat has pieces of fabric throughout the body, painted and glazed over with acrylic colors and gel mediums. The flowers in the whiskey barrel are all fabric, with only a few embellishments! And there are pieces of fabric creating the background and wall, too. 18 x 24 inches
Robert Genn in his bi-weekly email touts acrylics on June 28. He doesn't have it posted on his web site yet, but the quote I like came from the second paragraph: "Acrylic facilitates experimentation and gives new ability to process ideas. Faster and fresher, the journey becomes less arduous--and in many ways, more fun." I sure agree with that!

Congratulations to new collector Betty Dawson of Dallas, Texas, on her purchase of "Rose" from my ebay store.

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June 30 - Editing and Some News

I have spent about 16 hours editing the DVD today. This is the grunt work--details about scene changes, putting the clips in order and lining them up for the changes between the palette and the canvas, without compromising the audio. Fun, but I get tired of listening to myself! There are some funny outtakes and the plein air footage came out crackerjack!

The other news is that I have placed almost all of the horse paintings on ebay, in my "store". If you click here, you'll go directly there, and perhaps see some artwork that has been hidden deeply on the other web site to add to your collection. If you go there on your own, just search on my name. Alberto has been working to bring all the web site's artwork to the ebay store.

The image you see today is an acrylic I did that never made it to the web site--it sold as I was finishing it, at the Cattlemen's Western Art Show in Paso Robles. It was a 12 x 12. I think it was a good one because the horse, rider and pack horse are secondary focal points behind the waterfalls.

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June 29 - Plein Air with Acrylics!

The final footage of the Acrylic Painting Lessons DVD was finished up this morning when I went on location with Vincent van Goat carrying the supplies up into the brush behind the studio. The end result is this 6 x 8 acrylic view of the riparian habitat where UCR students spend many hours researching. I shared how I work with acrylic paints when outdoors and on location with the camera running. It sure was a good trial--the weather was reaching up to the 90s, and dry winds buffeted the easel. The pill boxes of paint did just fine, and Vincent's goat bell clanged throughout as he munched the vegetation.

And here's my cameraman Alberto, bearing with me in the bright light and heat to capture the footage on location today. What a great help! That little Sony digital camera has sure earned its keep, too!
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June 28 - Not exactly a painting....but art related!

You get to see it first, the layout of the new cover for the Acrylic DVD! I haven't decided which of the three paintings will be featured on the cover, but right now these two newer ones hold sway. I hope you enjoy it! Now back to editing so I can have the master finished and begin taking orders. Whew. Long hours in the "saddle" of digital editing! More last minute filming tomorrow morning, and then... (crosses fingers)... the master will be done!


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June 27 - A New Commission Begins, Going to the Dogs

A new commission is in my hands, a large, 30 x 40 inch oil of three dogs, Maggie, Buddy and Sydney, positioned in a landscape. The owner writes: " I think I want something between realistic and impressionistic. I know I want a light and bright painting. I think the mountains need to be somewhat smoky with a beautiful bright blue sky. I would like to feel pulled into the far scene as if it is a window to an incredibly peaceful place. I would like the season to be summer with the eye first drawn to my dogs in the forward scene, and then led to the long scene behind it. Will you be able to show me a sketch as you plan the painting?
My living room walls are a medium shade of gold. My furniture has shades of brown and sage green, anchored by a beautiful oriental rug of many colors. I also have accents of brick red and gold."

And so the communication begins. All the details about price and projected timeline are in place, and now the sketching for structure in the overall design of the painting comes out. Today you see the first rough idea...I can work on this slowly while I work hard on the final digital editing!

I have been reminded that the duplication of my "Two Trees" painting is not a print, but a reproduction, and I stand corrected. It is true, a print is an artform (Emile Nolde is pointing a finger at me! A good site for the German printmakers, by the way is here). Alberto named the Epson 4000 "Wilma", and is tenderly coercing her into making beautiful repros for me. She keeps humming along, making the 50 reproductions of the painting, and I'm already planning more work for Wilma with the "Lesson Cat" from the JAVMA Journal's April cover.

And the votes for yesterday's painting came in equally for the first and second one (the greenish one) and the gray one coming in third. The high contrast one fell a distant fourth. Thanks for your feedback!

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June 26 - Found Another Acrylic, and had some fun with it...

While working on inventorying my collection, Alberto discovered one that has not been on the web site, and whick I've used over the past couple years to experiment using those handmade papers. Here it is, a 24 x 30 of draft horses in backlighting. The handmade papers create the overall texture on this one, and in this version it is decent, if not ground shaking.

Now I've taken it into Photoshop and done some color management, seeing what it looks like with some color shifts. In this version, I played down the color intensities, and shifted the colors over to the grayer side. Do you like this one better?

Then I shifted it over to the greener side, which makes more of a summer morning out of it. I kept the sky colors intact for the most part. Maybe you prefer these colors?

But that was not the finish. I decided that I needed more drama and contrast, so again I Photoshopped the image and punched it up as another experiment. Maybe this one appeals to the majority? In any event, Photoshop or its equivalent can allow you as it does me, to experiment and see what possible directions to go in with a work in progress!


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June 25 - The Quest, Acrylic DVD painting Finished!

Yippee!!! This 16 x 20 canvas is where I can call it finished--I especially love the way the values point out the light on this one. The filming production on this phase is done, and now I have two short segments to film tomorrow, and then stitch all the clips together into the Acrylic DVD (Final Cut Pro)! Wow! I'm actually going to meet my deadline to have it ready for shipment the first week in July!

I'm just pleased as punch at how this one turned out, especially since I combined three references to make the composition. Being an artist is so much fun!

On another note, Alberto's been working hard updating my ebay store, adding some of the horse paintings! I'm fortunate that he knows computers and can take some of the work off my shoulders so I can finish this project. He begins his master's program this fall, but says he'll still work for me when I need it. I appreciate what he is doing for me. Today we also got the Epson 4000 up and running, because I have a print run of my painting "Two Trees" for a fundraiser for the group in Ventura County fighting to preserve the hillsides in their natural state. I support projects like this when I can.

And having the Epson on line again, I can make prints of the cat painting "Lesson Cat" that was on the April issue of the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine for those folks who wanted a print of that one. Busy busy!!


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June 24 - Uncle Willy for the Acrylic Lessons DVD

Ho ho ho! Uncle Willy comes to town! Here he is, monacle and moustache, and just a little 8 x 10 canvas, showing the variances of using acrylics as a collage/assemblage medium! I always have such fun when I pull out the stops to create thees silly, whimsical characters with acrylics. Full of yarn, handmade paper, feathers and gold pseudo leaf, this is just a hoot to create! Acrylics are SO versatile!

Yesterday several of you commented about the possibility of having....um... hemp leaves! in the handmade paper. Well, there's a joke for you, I guess Uncle Willy is a hippy! Those layers are no longer visible in this image. I worked some more on him, so he has a different look now, and will be featured in the DVD on Acrylic Painting that is falling off my brushes!
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