May 20 - At Lucy Heyming's Garden

Yesterday I painted at the Heyming gardens, a certified wildlife habitat, and it was lovely. A large estate with all the amenities, including this watercourse and bridge. I was there in the early evening, and set up in the shade of the mature trees to look back at this heavily side-lit scene.

There is a diagonal composition going on, with the sculpture being the focal point, yet the bridge demanding more attention initially with all the nearby colors and contrast of values. One sees the sculpture because of its human form, so my intent was to combine and balance the two spots of interest with suggested directional lines. Can you spot them?

Here's the first of two new additions to the "estate" at Two Trees (ha, with me as the sole gardener and manager, "estate's" a laughing idea!). She's about two years old, and someone really did a botched job on her ear crop. However she's a gem in both personality and conformation. I used to show dobies back in the early 1980s, and can see how well she's put together. Amazing what people throw away. And she needs a name, so I'd love to hear from you on your ideas of names with the "oh" sound at the end of them--it's my tradition to name female Dobies with that end--in my past here was Cleo, Widow and Evoe so many years ago, and now this new girl. Send your suggestions! If I pick yours, I'll send you your choice of one of my Color System dvds. Let the games begin! Nameless wonder needs a name.

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.

May 18 - The Primavera Oil at the UCR Gardens

This 9 x 12 painting just fell off my brushes in about an hour as I painted "en plein aire" at the UCR Botanical Gardens on Sunday. The image from yesterday's blog post was my view--and of course--artistic license creates a totally different "feel". '

Painting quickly and knowing where to put those dots and blobs of paint is primarily due to the Color System. I didn't scrape out one iota of this canvas!

Interesting, I felt as though I was painting a younger version of my folks on the right--it happens. So much of our lives are tied up in our memories, that the many people who walked through that spot melded into versions of my own family. The chefs, Miguel and Sarah, were pleased that their booth was featured in this work. I know I enjoyed their cuisine!

I'm liking the confidence of my work now, the ease with which I can take a horridly complex scene and turn it into something interesting for the eyes, without feeling rushed or too tied up in the details. Today I paint the gardens of a friend of mine, Lucy Heming. I'll be heading over there later this afternoon to catch the evening light!

On other news, there are two rescue dogs assuming the place of Seiko--adjusting to the routines, learning the priorities (no chasing of sheep, chickens are not dinner, small dogs are to be respected; and no, those cats will never come out to be playtoys). Fortunately, at least one has a great mind. The other is aloof and constantly "on point". I'll post pictures tomorrow. I'm back to three sheep, too, since the shepherd came and took the other four he owned back home. The grasses and weeds are definitely less now!

This original 9 x 12 oil is available for $250.

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.

May 17 - Back Home Again, and Right Back Out

Home and right back out on Sunday to the Annual "Primavera in the Gardens" event at the University of California Botanical Gardens with my brushes. This is the annual fundraiser for the Gardens, and my paintings have been featured on the promotional posters for the last two years. I donate the original for their fundraiser.

It's a high-end restaurant and winery gala with silent auctions and beautiful weather. For example, the chef in the first booth pictured below (the one I painted--coming tommorrow) was serving scallops with glazed Maui onions with dark chocolate sauce. Amazing taste sensation, and I already love scallops! Raspberry sorbet, raw green pea soup, honeydew melon soups--wandering through the booths was my reward for being a fast painter, and oh my! It was GOOD. My painting from last year was auctioned off and brought a good price for the organizers.

I'll get a good photo of the one from the paint out and post it tomorrow, since it has been cool and completely overcast here on the West Coast and I've been doing needed yard work. Such a change from what was just a few days ago! The painting above is the 9 x 12 acrylic I dd during the event last year.

Now it's time to sort out and settle in, knuckle down and focus on the list of things to do this month and this year. Only one more Color Boot Camp for 2010, but it looks like I'll be back for more on the East Coast next year.

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.

May 14 - The Back Lit Egret Continues

Sorry about sending this a day early...!

Now the warm circle around the focal point is in, and the basic deeper values of the bird, too. This is a white back-lit bird, so the darks aren't as dark as I would make them if the object were of a different hue. But I think I can pull it off, because the temperature difference between the bird and background is so extreme, even if not in value!

It's fun to scatter the warm box colors outside the "circle of warm" found in backlit subjects as I loosely put in the vegetation at this stage. And it is fun to play with all the greens in this subject. No high values yet, except for the lights in the overhanging moss. Such fun!

Ah. The final day of the workshop. The new Color Boot Camp graduates get their final critique today (individual) and I ask them four questions: What did you find to be most valuable? What will you do with the new knowledge? What goals are you setting for your art in the next 12 months and next five years? Will I get the pleasure of seeing you again? (Actually I ask them what can be improved in the workshop as that last question, but when I say good bye to my new friends and artists, it is very sad for me.)

Tonight I pack my boxes for shipping and get ready for the early morning pickup for the airport. My next post will be from California. See you soon!

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.

May 15 - Flyin' Home... Flying with the Egrets, too.

As my plane lifts off for the West Coast and home, three weeks of painting and using the Color System have fired the creative energies, and I can hardly wait to be back in my studio.

The egret painting is finished, and I thought you'd enjoy seeing a closeup of the bird itself (below), and see how the accents of color play out on the canvas. He's only about two inches tall in the 12 x 16 oil, but enough value contrast makes him believable at any distance, even without the details that are the bread and butter of wildlife artists.

I'm actually in the air, in first/business class, with free wireless internet on my laptop. Amazing that 15 years ago, this was nowhere in our reality--stuff of science fiction. Life is good!

I'm having wonderful memories of my East Coast trip, and now am looking forward to new artwork in my studio, and many communications with you, artists and collectors who have read this far.

Sadly, I'm going home to another loss--my Tibetan Mastiff Seiko (the "watch dog) passed away rather suddenly while I was gone. I will miss her, and am wondering how to replace such a gentle giant. Here's an image of her playing with Sparky. Yes, she was huge, tipping the scales at over 100 pounds. She died near this spot, one of her favorite places to watch over everyone. At the Rainbow Bridge now...

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.

May 13 - Backlit River Scene with Egret

In Florida, I demonstrated a backlit scene so the Boot Campers can understand the way the Color System works with this often difficult subject. On this 12 x 16 canvas, I toned the canvas with a warm orange, and then used the complete Co0l Box colors to lay in the large shapes in this spiral design. I'm pointing to the future focal point with the end of my brush, explaining that this area will be done in Warm Box mid tones, to set off the contrast of the cool backlit bird.

The lids of the pill boxes I use are seen at the bottom of the image, with the cool family on the left, and the warm family on the right. With this plein air setup, I have them velcro'ed together on the end and bottoms, to keep them in place on the easel.

This photo and others are courtesy of Maggie whose blog is a great record of the Florida workshop experience. Thanks, Maggie!

On the Georgia workshop, we're winding down to the final day, and tonight will be the famous "BYOF" BBQ on the grass. Ah... so sad to know my East Coast trip is ending. I hope you've enjoyed the journey! Sparky and I fly home on Saturday.
Another image....

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.

May 12 - Finished Painted Turtle Acrylic 9 x 12

Getting good images of paintings can be tricky, and none more so than photographing this image. The upper one is closer to the true color, yet taken indoors under artificial lights available to me. The second image (below) is taken OUTside, under overcast skies.

Taking images of paintings under overcast skies usually dilutes the warms in the Color System, because (as every Boot Camp Graduate knows) there is a pervasive blue in all shadows. That's because of the "sky shine" affecting those areas. So the true colors are warmer in the painting, but compromised in the second one below. I usually take images of my work in the morning before ten a.m., in FULL sunshine. That seems to hold the Color System well.

The last of the three Color Boot Camps here on the East Coast is in what they've dubbed "Tearsday", (as in Monday, Tearsday, Wednesday....) It happens when there is so much useful information. They are processing it and it seems so overwhelming to them. But there are benefits to being on the farm--they got to see a horse being shod in the barn below the workshop space.

This acrylic original with the river story is available for $250 directly from me, in the good color version that's somewhere between these two. Just let me know.

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.

May 11 - The Painted Turtle Continues

How do you like it so far? This is the second stage of the painting, where I decide the major colors of the focal point (turtle) and then start to adjust and tweak the background to match it and hold its importance.

Lots of glazing in acrylics, and I'm using the traditional ones on this trip, so they dry fairly quickly and give me room to work on glazes. Now while I painted this one, I was chatting with people and also painting. Yes, there are design flaws, but hopefully I can pull it all together to share with you tomorrow!

Yesterday the rain started around noon and it is overcast today. Great for painting with the Cool Box, no problem as the Boot Campers are doing Morning and Moonlight! Ah well, the Color System prevails... This is turning out to be a fun group--they've dubbed themselves the "Mudder Day painters"... The Repeat Offenders workshop two weeks ago call themselves the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Paints". Lots of laughter, lots of 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.

May 10 - More East Coast Wildlife in Acrylics

While enjoying the Art Walk in Florida, I started this painting of the local wildlife (NOT alligators!) from an image I took while it was still light on the Silver River. I so enjoy the painted turtles, as they remind me of my childhood on Lake Barcroft in Virginia.
This is an acrylic, measuring 9 x 12, and I started it with an underpainting of thalo blue (!). Now the Cool Box colors are going over it as I pull it to life, shaping the natural environment in which it is enjoying it's afternoon sunbath. I hope you'll enjoy how it develops.

Here in Georgia after the first day, I'm tired but assured that the "newbies" are caroming into the Color System. Lots of good paintings! We lost one Boot Camper who went to town after class, but several phone calls later and she is safely on her way back to the farm. It is a remote location, but with the natural beauty of the area, it is ever so easy to miss the road signs. Sparky has settled into the routine of my teaching, and he enjoyed a wonderful morning walk with the students, where we captured lovely lighting situations such as the one below. May in Georgia is beautiful!
I'll be using this one for a future demonstration in the blog of that elusive overcast light!

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.

May 9 - Greeting the New Boot Camp Recruits

As I sit and await the arrival of the seven newest Color Boot Camp recruits in gorgeous North Georgia, I'll share with you one of the two six by eight inch canvases I did during the other workshop.

Although there is glare on the upper right, you can see the Color System working in the gentler light of the Florida evening. Note the repetition with variety in the trio of duplicate shapes--clouds, palms and shrubs. One might think that it is a no-no to repeat in twos, but in this case it works, as the dark cloud on the left middle balances the weight of the duos on the right. And each of the dual objects is similar but not equal. Design is such a strong aspect of painting; one I'm always considering!

Georgia is cool and lovely this time of year, and holding a sumptuous spring feel, and no better place to enjoy it than Fay's farm. Her generosity in allowing us to descend upon her for a five days is not to be taken lightly, and I'm honored to be considered her friend. Here's an image of the barn apartment upstairs with the balcony where the workshop will be held, across from the main house.

After this workshop, the only one remaining will be in Maine. I do hope to meet some more East Coast artist friends there! Color Boot Camp is special. Here's Maggie's most recent post.

You can see earlier posts from my 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.

May 8 - Back in Georgia, New Boot Camp Coming!

One of the demonstrations I did for the Florida CBCer's was this 6 x 8 oil of evening light, Florida Style. It starts with bland colors and some mid and low values, yet progressed rather quickly to the image you see below. It was quickly purchased by Peggy in the workshop and she says she'll be enjoying it in her studio. I enjoyed the juicy thick paint!

And what fun! The Florida Workshop finished up on Friday evening with Ocala's Art Walk, and afterward I settled in with two good friends, a bottle of wine and lots of good art conversations.

This morning I left and drove up here to North Georgia, where I was again greeted by two good friends, and we settled in for a good dinner and grand conversation before turning in for the night. I love the connections artists have. It is truly special.

One more photo from Florida before close down the computer--this one from the memory of Silver River, and the headwaters flowing around Jackie in her kayak, before we headed back downstream. You can see the sun leaving the tops of the trees here. It was dark before we regained the launch area, yet this was truly a moment in paradise.

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.

May 7 - Serious second pass on the 12 x 16 oil

I've spent a good amount of time working on this painting to get it to this point (far from finished at this point). Still here in Florida, and today was the last day of the wonderful first-timers Color Boot Camp. Details of the journey as viewed by one of the attendees Maggie can be seen here. (Thanks, galfriend!)

I've been putting details in the grasses of the pastures and talking up composition to the Boot Campers. I will miss their pleasure at learning the beginning steps with the Color System, and hope to see them again in Florida next year as "Repeat Offenders". Tomorrow morning I drive up north to Georgia and return to the Farm for the second week-long Color Boot Camp for newbies. I'm not tired at all!

Lynn Wade came by the Art Walk event in the downtown area, including a visit to Voilart Gallery, and I had a friend take this image of Lynn, Shraron Crute and myself with Sparky. Both Lynn and Sharon are great equine artists and I do hope you made some time to see Lynn's paintings: www.lynnwade.com and Sharon's web site.
Sharon is the co-owner of the gallery with Jackie, who put up with me. Kathie Camara organized the event and for all that, I'm eternally grateful! Thanks so much for a wonderful time!

My hair's gone all curly because of the humidity. I was born with curly hair, yet it went straight when I moved to California years ago. LOVE having it back! Can you say, "POOF?"

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.

May 6 - Silver River, Alligators and Evening Light

OK, gang. After the workshop today, I finally got to do something I've wanted to do for ages... kayaking on a river, and wow, did I get my wish! Here I am on the Silver River in Florida outside Ocala, kayaking into the evening and heading for the headwaters of this massive aquifer. Clear, clear water! I'm with Jackie Shindahette, my hostess, on her second kayak, and our intent was to go for a few hours. We left at 4:30, and didn't get back to the launch until 9 p.m., well after dark--not smart, but who knew? The springs that spew out 0ver 550 million gallons of fresh water per day to create this river are three miles upstream, and we thought that would be a nice trip. (Remember, UP stream.) But try three miles of kayak paddling without being in condition to paddle. And we had to paddle back, because we lost the daylight about two miles out from our launch location. Tomorrow I'm going to be seriously immobile, methinks....

Here's one of the alligators who greeted us. When Jackie was distracted, I poked one with my paddle and was rewarded with a spray of "slough" junk, all over me, over the the kayak and Sparky as the 'gator took off, flipping his tail. Sure stunk. He was formidable, but I just had to go "poke". (I've done the same in my past with a skunk. Some people never learn.)
Today I painted two 6 x 8 skies, one sunset and one backlit for the Floridian workshop new recruits. I'll share them with you tomorrow, (if I can lift my arms).

What a great day, which just goes to show you that any life of excitement is just a few short decisions away! Now off to a much-deserved glass of wine and sleep.

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.

May 5 - Springtime Morning Beginning

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I have had such a wonderful time today watching and teaching the Color Boot Camp students who were painting all day. I've worked on this 12 x 16 morning light landscape in oils and this is the first pass. I started it up in Georgia, and have brought it to a more finished state, which I'll share with you tomorrow.

You can follow one of the attendee's blogs on the workshop here, which will give you one participant's perspective of what goes on--far more than I can share with you in these short notes. I hope you enjoy it!

Tomorrow I'm going kayaking on the Silver River--where the water is so clear that the kayaks seem to float on air. I'm looking forward to it!

Today, though, after class, I drove down to Gypsy Gold and visited my artist friend Lynn Wade, and took this image of Latcho Drom, the top stallion in the country. Even in the rain, he was magnificent! (By the way, Lynn kindly gave me a print from one of her lovely pastels of this horse, a portion of which is the opening image on her web site!)

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.

May 4 - Misty Light Demonstration in Florida

At the Florida Boot Camp and ending the first day, I thought I would share with you the misty light painting I whipped up for their first demonstration. They are working with the Cool Box, and learning to really MIX color. I "imagineered" this Florida water landscape without seeing any of it. I need to get out more!

The painting still needs tweaking, but the idea of overcast light is conveyed, and their examples were really well done! Today they are working on Morning Light and Moonlight paintings.

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.

May 3 - Finished the acrylic horse

First day of the Florida Color Boot Camp here in Ocala, and what a great group of artists and students! A wonderful facility and I'm staying with one of the organizers. This evening we spent it with wine glasses in their swimming pool!

This 12 x 12 acrylic has had the final "punch" put in the color to fine tune the relationships in morning light, to bring the viewer into the image, and to tell the story.

My story for this painting is in the people who do the hard work of keeping these equine athletes ready and healthy for performing. The title of this one is "It's not about the horse". I hope you like it.

Here's an image of the facility at VoiART in downtown Ocala. Yes, we have chocolate!!


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.

May 2 - The Acrylic in the Workshop

Here's the next stage of development of the morning light wash up. I'm really enjoying the traditional acrylics again, even though I love the workability of the Golden Opens and of course my oils. I'll be returning to them this week and next, as well.

Those of you familiar with the Color System can see the cools in the distance (over 300' away) and the warms in the sunlit areas of the living things in the painting at this point. What's fun is to put the "sky shine" on the shadowed sides of the figure and horse, as well as in the wet ground. I moved the bucket to the left side for design reasons.

The advanced students in the CBC (Color Boot Camp) received a snootful of design challenges this week past. They not only dealt with the time of day, and the value plan, but also had to consider using elements and principles of design to create dynamic compositions and paths for the viewer's eye to follow. Lots of complaining, but the end results were awesome. And everyone did two or more compete paintings each day.
Check these out!

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.

May 1 - Oops, out of order!

How about if we go back in time for a bit and see that painting from yesterday's post at a different stage of development? Oopsie. Here's the first lay-in of colors, and shows more of my working method. I don't paint the most interesting and riveting part of the painting until I am certain that the background stands on its own merit.
So I'm always thinking about division of space, light, pattern/texture, atmosphere, repetition of shapes, dynamic line, and (of course) COLOR when I work.

The Color Boot Campers who just finished up their five days of intensive painting are on their way home now, taking some outstanding work with them. Here's one of the sillier examples of their work, which is what I used to have them warm up to brushwork and thinking about the value (lightness or darkness) of their palette. Called "silly paintings", the challenge is to not mix, but to paint with the inherent value of the pigments of the Color System. Eye-popping, to say the least! Each source image is below the painting. It's a fun exercise, one filled with much laughter.

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.

Apr 30 - Georgia and Acrylics and Horses

I'm here on the East Coast for the next three weeks, teaching the workshop of Color Boot Camp returnees/repeat offenders (AKA "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Paints"). They have had almost five full days of rejuvenation, reflecting and reinforcement of the Color System, tempered with the laughter and shenanigans that only these "repeat offenders" can produce. I'm painting with them, but not in so much of demonstration mode but more to expand on topics already covered in the computer lectures and specific training for each boot camper's needs.

So I started this morning light 12 x 12 acrylic from Kentucky Horse Park source material, knowing that the deadline for the AAEA (American Academy of Equine Art) fall show is approaching.

There is so much to see and do here on the farm--over 700 acres of woods, pasture...and a new foal! This is Star and her new kidlet, and with a colorful mare and foal such as these two, you can imagine the fun it is to photograph and think about painting the different times of day with this subject!

I've already started an oil from one of my reference photos!

Georgia at this time of year is gorgeous, both in weather and in the warmth of the folks who call it home. I love coming here, and will be taking next week to teach the Florida group, then back to the farm here to introduce new "CBC recruits" to the Color System for Artists. There might be one spot left. I know the Florida group next week in Ocala has almost filled, too!

What a glorious life of an artist!!

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.

Apr 18 - The BonFire of Paintings

Did I mention that I was going to burn about one third of my body of work? Over 220 paintings went into a bonfire last week, and it was cleansing and freeing. I've been sorting through the work I have created over the last three decades, and decided it was time to cull the ones I wouldn't want around to be examples of my legacy.

Was it hard to do? Yes, and yet no. Seeing and evaluating each work on an individual basis was like going back in time... remembering the places I've been, the events surrounding each of the paintings. In that regard, it was hard. But for the quality of the work, it was easy. After all, who is going to know or care what I felt or thought while I painted that garbage piece? Most collectors only want the best works, and they want to know the back story on those paintings alone. The angst I felt when I struggled through (and never completed) poorly designed and poorly executed paintings is of no importance to anyone except me, and YOU. You? Yes, because everyone wants to know that even the good artists have cr*ppy paintings.

The image above is a 12 x 16 reworked from that pile of bonfire paintings. I demonstrated how to fix a lousy painting during the Fallbrook workshop yesterday, by painting over it using the Color System to change it from almost evening light to DEFINITELY evening light. This is now a survivor of the bonfire. Here is what it looked like before I pulled it from the flames....

I'm sending my stuff to Georgia tomorrow and am flying myself and Sparky there next Saturday. Tons to do before that, and I'm SO looking forward to Georgia and Florida in Spring!!!

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.

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.

Apr 8 - Tax Time and More Painting

Continuing to cover the canvas, I've pulled in the lighter greens of the distant grasses and the shadows on the roadbed of the bridge. This is a crucial point in the painting, because up to this point, I have COMPLETELY stayed in the cool box color family. The harmony of the painting is palpable, and I am happy with it at this point.

I'm going to move to the warm family of colors to finish this painting--having the sunlight come onto the figure that will appear on the bridge (I've already finished this painting, and the blog posting is going to automatically come out tomorrow.). These details and "punch" are withheld until I know the rest of the painting will stand on its strength of design and harmony. In my work, this is the essence of how I create my finished work. I realize many artists paint the "most important" stuff first... I like to make sure the supporting players "play well together" before adding the icing on the painting's cake.

In other news, I have a new flock of sheep doing the weeding around Two Trees these days. I own three, and four are "guests" while the weed abatement proceeds. They are fun to watch; it is as though wildlife goes by the windows as they move in unison across the hillside out the back door. This morning I watched a coyote barking just outside the fence--not a threat, since Seiko (the "watch" dog) is on duty, guarding her charges. Here's an image of the "gang" by the back patio. Oh boy! More ideas for paintings!
I am also working on a MAJOR project in conjunction with and ongoing to the newest Misty Light DVD (which will be out before the end of this month!). Stay tuned for big news in June!

Thanks, as ever, for reading this far, and for forwarding this on to your artist friends.
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE--still some spaces in Florida and Maine!
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 24 - Jury Duty and the Next Stage

Covering the canvas as I always do, this 12 x 9 painting progresses into the misty light of the overcast day quite easily. I stay completely in the Cool Box, using trios of colors to keep the mixes harmonious. Most of the distant areas behind the bridge are done with mixes that have white in them. White, being the coldest color on our palettes, is used in distance to give the ethereal feeling of misty light. White is also used, to a lesser degree, in the nearby areas. My contrast of values decreases as distance increases, and in misty light, the values get closer together more quickly!

Where does the time go? I've been doing much Spring cleaning of my studio, offing old work and work that doesn't represent my legacy, and "relocating" books from my art library to new owners through Amazon.com. I'm also just enjoying this gorgeous spring weather here in California with gardens needing planting.

The workshop in Florida has been moved right into Ocala, so if you are in that area and want to attend this Color Boot Camp, please contact Kathie Camara ASAP (Link takes you to an email message)! The new location puts us in an urban area, and boot campers can come in daily instead of staying at the Carriage Park. It makes the workshop more affordable, as well.

Georgia is almost full, and it is going to be FANTASTIC as well!

I'm sitting in jury duty today....at least they have wifi!

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.

Mar 12 - Still Near the Bridge, Plein Air Demo in Oils

With the basic structure in place with the brush sketch, I begin the laying in of the large darks and mid-tones using the Cool colors palette. If you'll look at the bridge from yesterday's view, you see the cement railings. See how I've laid them in while thinking, "large shapes" instead of "Omigosh! Look at all those vertical cement thingies!"?

So those nearby cement thingies are painted as shapes. However, as they recede in space, the shape blends together for one big brush mark. If you look at the right side of the bridge, you can see where I've already started to allude to those "thingies" in the large gray shape. Hey, makes it simple (and fast)!

As I paint the arches, with the darks and mid-tones, I'm still finding the correct arch shape. It looks pretty daft right now, but will improve. I'd rather find an edge later, than be restricted by a line demarking an edge early on.

Again, completely out of the Cool Box in the Color System, including that yellow green in the upper right. Cool yellow and some ultramarine make that mix, with perhaps some white.

Tomorrow more!

I'm off to Cypress Art League on Sunday for a demonstration in oils, and I'm working on a couple of commission paintings (one a book cover) so the brushes are flying! If you're in the Los Angeles area, Cypress is south of the 91 freeway at Orange Street and Valley View--their community center, two p.m. I'll have my Flash Cards, DVDs and one of my originals to offer as a raffle prize. Perhaps I'll meet you in person!

Sure wish I could find the polo ponies painting--still looking for it. Darn it all.

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.

Mar 10 - One from the Plein Air Event, Lesson in Oil!

On location with the Plein Air Artists of Riverside, and on Thursday I found myself in front of one of the many bridges that were the focus of this week-long paint out.

Now I don't necessarily "do" bridges or other architectural renderings--I leave it for the designers to create beautiful structures, and I'll just enjoy 'em, not paint 'em. But this event had us with a focus on local bridges, and who am I to complain? It's just "stuff"....

So I start out with a toned canvas (12 x 9) and set up just as you see, with the bridge to my left. This way I'm not twisted as I paint, with my arm on the canvas and my head torqued around over that arm. Learned that in life drawing years ago--don't let your painting arm block your view. Lot of artists don't know that!

I've loosely blocked in the structure and design, knowing that I'm adding a figure later on in the upper left third (smudgy mark). I had a heck of a time with those receding arches. Talk about tough to "get", but I leave some room for correction later. The day was overcast, and that's a bummer, but as an artist, I can do a bit of artistic license and add a spot of sunshine if I wish. (And I do wish.) So for the first several images as this one develops, I'm going to stay completely in the cool box!

My workshops in Georgia and Florida are generating a great deal of interest--the excitement about the new recruits and the re-booters for the Color System is felt all the way over here in California! My flights are booked, Sparky has his space, and I'll be doing the teaching for three weeks in April and May! If you've ever wanted the Color Boot Camp experience, please click below for workshop information for your area! Either Kathie or Judi will be happy to add you to the fun groups forming. I especially love it when "rebooters" come back for more "Yellin' by Elin".

On another note, I want to thank all of you who wrote in response to yesterday's posting on Qso's passing. So many of you have the hearts of animal lovers. It brought me great comfort. Although there's a hole in my heart, I know that not too much time will pass before another snuggly fur-face will come to fill it. Sparky might need a playmate!

My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 9 - Sadness and Acceptance

Many of you have noticed the sporadic emails in the last few weeks, and for that I sincerely apologize. I'd hoped to share with you the finished polo ponies, but in utter amazement, I cannot FIND the painting! In the chaos of doing a major studio cleanout, I put it "somewhere safe". Have you ever done that?

But today I am very sad for having to put down my companion of eighteen years--Qso, the German Pinscher--shown here with Pesto the studio cat.

Pets connect us to our past, living lives of scant more than a decade, and linking us to events and people from earlier times. As they age, we see our own lives (compressed) of youth, prime and then, if we are lucky, and if the animal is as well, we carry them through their old age, giving them the gift of care and a final exit with dignity and sadness.

So today's message is one of communication to all animal lovers out there, those of us who have lost a beloved pet, and to all who share with me the sharp pain of the memory of their last days.

Animals have a prescience and acceptance of death that we humans can only envy. She told me it was time, and her passing was peaceful. I have always said that if we lose a pet, we have a hole in our heart waiting to be filled by an eager newcomer, whose future may be uncertain if we stay within our pain of loss. I am not sure when that achy place will be filled, but fill it will.

So, beloved Qso, I sent you to the Rainbow Bridge today as my last gift to you, and buried you just outside the studio door where you'll always be in my thoughts, and nearby. Safe journey, my companion. My heart is heavy tonight.

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.

Mar 3 - More Details on the Polo Ponies OIl, 16 x 20

The "Color Punch" begins to show up now! The difference between this stage and the earlier one may be minor in square inches, but it is major in pulling the color design toward the finished state. These few brush marks on the backs of the horses bring out the message of light and value difference (also color temperature difference) that need to happen to make this painting work. There is still much more to do, however seeing these few brush marks may help to show how the Color System works. There is no lighter value than the sunlight on the gray horse. There is no stronger edge (or will be) than the topline near that horse's tail.

If there is a strong edge elsewhere, it will be compromised by little value change, no temperature change, or act as a subordinate "supporting" edge in the design, and not be as important.

I've put a smaller image of the prior stage to show you how much those marks change the dynamics of the design of the painting. Suddenly there is "punch" whereas before it was just a nicely coming along painting.

When we as artists want to control where the viewer's eye goes, our tools are straight from the design box. Here I'm using value change, edge hardness and temperature difference to force your eye to go to that horse, even thought the rest of the painting may be visually interesting. While I continue to paint from this important step, I will be ever mindful that the gray's back as my focal point. No edge or contrast will be as strong as that area. Now on to finish this beastie!

There are still spaces in the Florida five-day workshop in May (first week--GORGEOUS time to be in Florida!). Please contact Kathie Camara if you'd like a spot in the Color Boot Camp, where you'll paint along with me for five fun and full days of learning in Central Florida!

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.

Feb 14 - Starting to find edges, Oil of Polo Ponies

In looking at the difference between this and my last posting, the changes may not be that large. I am working on the horse trailer and the grasses, bring them subtly up in details which will support the details yet to come on the horses. I know that these small endeavors are necessary so that when I work on the horses, they will end up surpassing the details I put in now.

On other news, the weather is giving me a taste of Spring to come, with a lovely 84-degree day today. Here's a photo of me taken this morning on a hike with a group of friends. Behind me is the mountain of Box Springs, and my home is directly behind me at the base of it. Beautiful way to spend some free time! I know there may be more rains to come, but a day like this puts me on top of the world. Tomorrow more on the painting... yes, details!

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.