Oct 9 - Underpainting of a 7x5 Acrylic

The result of this underpainting is perhaps one of the best paintings I've made of Hawley Lake, and I really, REALLY didn't want to leave it at the gallery to be sold. Sometimes paintings do that to us. We experience something that moves us, and we wait until we are ready and able to put that feeling on a canvas. So it is with this tiny 7x5 panel.

The underpainting is all done in the Cool Box, as this is an overcast day (yippee! Those of you with DVD #4 will know all about that!). I've painted in the distant mountains and the lake and sky using the "Big Three"--Ultra. blue, alizarin and yellow ochre with white.

It will continue, with Ponderosa pines overlaid on this canvas and the focal point of a picnic table put in later (tomorrow). When it is overcast and even rainy at a place like this, I remember so well being forced to leave a Girl Scout camp when I was small because of the change of weather. I loved that rain at the edge of that Virginia lake, and wanted to stay for the overnight, but moms prevailed, and I was deprived of the magic of the misty day and the rain on the cabin roof. I have been forever changed by being pulled away from that event. I love rain and mist, and wonder what possessed me to live in a desert today?

I have been fascinated by the empty campground and the picnic tables, and took this image while walking with the dogs, and wanted to share it with you. This is such a manifestation of the solitude here. And the wind brought down a layer of pine needles to hide even the footprints of the summer campers. I tread softly...

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.

Oct 8 - The Next Painting, Paint The Aspens

Last time I was at Hawley Lake two years ago, I saw this single aspen much smaller in the midst of the Ponderosa pine forest that lines the lake. This year, the beauty was waiting for me dressed in her fine autumn colors, and I could do no less but bring out a 16 x 8 inch canvas to finally paint her.

The morning light was streaming through from the lake, creating cast shadows and tracery of light that is the structure for this moment in time. I love working in acrylics like this (and yesterday's, too) because of the quick drying time and the ability to layer. I painted in the blue glimpses of the lake in the background after putting in the dark shape of the trees--picking out the lake blue with my brush!

This one is framed and will be left at the gallery for the show, which opens on Friday night. I'll be driving back down the mountain by then. There are still two more paintings to share with you yet, even though when you get them, they'll be hanging in the gallery as well, and I'll be back home in Riverside.

At noon today I took this image of my camper next to the lake and meadow that have been my back yard for this week. The lake water is crystal clear--and that bobber you see on the lower left enticed me to go wading to retrieve it. Silly me! The water was COLD at 8,200 feet!

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.

Oct 7 - Revisions when we get smarter

On Tuesday evening, I listened to the critique given by the judge for Paint the Aspens as about eight of us put our work up for the "dice and slice". For me it was wonderful to be reminded yet again how important design is to making good paintings, and I vowed to go back and revise the painting that I shared with you yesterday. Here's the revision, and the areas that needed work are fixed. It still isn't a dynamic work, but it was a good "warm up" for the painting days ahead. Can you see the differences between it and yesterday's? They are major! (Besides taking out the repeating three little pines.)

I've been staying at Hawley Lake for the past couple of days (scheduling yesterday's posting to come to you even though I'm not there to send it). Paintings coming off the brushes have pleased me immensely... and the joy of staying in an almost-deserted campground are not only reflected in the number of paintings, but also in the joy that Sparky and Willow exude when let loose to run off energy!

Somewhere on an earlier walk, Willow lost her chain collar...so now she runs by Hawley Lake with the old nylon one. If you enlarge this view, you'll see Sparky's legs are flat out as he tries to keep up with graceful Willow. What joy!!

Only one more night in this paradise, then I leave the White Mountains to return to the desert and another state below. My heart will stay here for a while, though...More paintings tomorrow!

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.

Oct 6 - The first painting from Paint the Aspens

After the rain of yesterday, I headed out to Sunrise Ski Area and set up my gear along side SR117. Interestingly enough, this is an area where wildlife management has reintroduced wolves into the region. I didn't see any while I painted, but the dogs were v-eeer--rr-y interested in the smells alongside the road! (Yes, they were on leashes.)

What fell off my brushes was this view back the way I'd come, done in acrylics on an oddball size of 12 x 10 inches. I was trying to get a depth from foreground to midground by using the group of aspens on the left to bring the composition forward. I used solid gel mixed into the acrylics to get additional texture in the leaves and grasses, and it is very effective!

The color on this isn't accurate, as there is no purple in the sky, and the intensity of the aspens isn't showing. I'll use my other camera tomorrow and see if I can get a better image.

Camping at Hawley Lake last night was TOTALLY solo. The closest campers packed up and left after the rain, so there were no other campers, and I had the entire place to myself. The elk came out of rain-drenched hiding and their calls carried across the lake and into my soul as I sat by the fire and cooked bratwurst and potatoes in the flames. What a life!!

Talk about gorgeous light across the lake this morning...everywhere I look is a future painting. So peaceful.

When I get back, I have two art group demonstrations, almost back-to-back. One for Temecula and one for Corona. And even though I'm up here at 8,200 feet, I'm still sending out DVDs when I get into town and get the orders. Your packages will say "Sent from Paint the Aspens", if I mail it from here.

You can order my latest DVD "Twilight/Misty Light" 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.

Oct 5 - Paint the Aspens!

Morning skies at Tonopah, Arizona, where I spent the night before coming up here to Pinetop for Paint the Aspens. Just look at those clouds and the clarity in distance. And of course, palm trees in the desert. Tonopah is home to El Dorado Hot Springs, and I try to adjust my traveling to make sure I stay over in this primitive camping spot. The spring water is wonderful!

This is my fourth year at Paint the Aspens--I love the high country before the snow flies and after most of the tourists are gone.

Here's my camp site this morning--it POURED last night--rain and hail on the camper woke me up at 3:00, and there were two startled dogs giving me the "Mom, what's up with THIS!!?!" look. I have Sparky and Willow with me. Niko is staying in Riverside.

Hawley Lake is in the background in this photo, and the smaller "lakes" are puddles from the downpour. I had a nice wood fire last night and cooked up some steaks and roasted ears of corn. Yum...

Rain is forecast--but up here, the rains come and are gone in half an hour, and the sun comes out in between. Lots of rainbows. I painted using acrylics out by Sunrise Ski Area today, and will post that painting tomorrow. I'm in the Pinetop Public Library sending this--are you enjoying the journey?

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

Sep 30 - Goat Details and The Cutest Kitty Ever...

Finished and I'm much pleased with it now... still has the freshness of the original, earlier work (done quite close to when I was assimilating the Color System) yet it is gentler, as a kid goat ought to be.... (Until they hop straight up in the air, give a twisty bend and tear off in a new direction!!

I miss my goat babies, but next spring will bring a new crop of.... LAMBS here at Two Trees. The ewes are looking contented, and the ram is looking tired. So the three ladies hopefully will present me with more painting opportunities next Feb-March.

I saw a video that just made me laugh out loud, and although I don't usually post these things, perhaps we can all use a bit of an uplift in our day. I wonder if this kitty stayed this fresh and interactive--we can hope our art will be just as bright and joyful. Keep those brushes moving!!!



On OTHER news, I'm packing the camper for my fourth trip to the White Mountains of Arizona next week--for the Paint the Aspens trip. I love it there, listening to the elk at night by a fire in the closed summer camp of one of the high lakes. Rejuvenation and revitalization!

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

Sep 27 - Working over an old one - Goat Kid

Working over an old painting can be very rewarding--if you know what you're doing! Remember while back I had a bonfire of a LOT of old paintings? Well, this one of the goat kid (upper image) was salvaged from that bonfire. It was going to be a gift for a friend of mine, but somehow looking at it ready to be packed up just bothered me... Here I was going to fry this turkey (ok, goatie) in the flames, and yet it was good enough to "gift" to my friend? No.
So I put it on the easel tonight, and worked it over. I knew that I wanted the colors to be more harmonious, and I wanted to see better relationships between the sunlight areas and the shadows. Now it is at the first stage, having covered up many of the garish colors that represented early endeavors with the Color System. Although not finished at this stage, I can see where its going and am more pleased with its evolution.

Tomorrow I will continue it and hopefully end up with a painting worthy of leaving my studio. But my friend will have to wait a while longer until it is dry enough to ship! It's a 12 x 12 oil.

On other news, the HEAT is ON. Record-breaking heat for September has been registered for yesterday and today, and is expected to continue tomorrow and through the week. Whew. Everybody but the goats are hunkering down in the basement studio where the inside temperature went up to 87 while the outdoor thermometer read 111 degrees at 5:30 pm. At almost nine p.m. it is still 95 out there. Talk about HOT DOGS!?!
Here's Niko (GROWING) and Willow comatose on the cool studio floor. She's six months old today. What a monster.

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

Sep 26 - Oh Wow! 24 x 18 Acrylic finished.

Now it is done, photographed, framed, shipped to Georgetown, Kentucky, and if all the planets align, it won't return to Two Trees.

So what did I do between yesterday and today? Let's look at the images and see...

Ah, of course! The mist. The "atmosphere" that carries the image. Softening areas of the canvas with the addition of layers of acrylic medium and paint, thinning those layers so the underpainting shows through, creating the mist.

The same technique was used to add the sun rays coming in from the right side. But in doing that area, I used the warm palette, instead of the Cool Box.

I didn't want to do any changing to the lower third--it is too close to the viewer to be majorly affected by the mist, and I really like the reflections in the water, so I left it alone.

Tomorrow I fill more of the orders for the Colorful Painting #4 Two DVD set. This morning I came down to the studio to a water nightmare where the front planter leaked through the wall of my basement workroom. Eight gallons came up with the rug cleaning machine, and the fans are running to dry out the bits left. Good thing the temps have been so high--this is drying up in record time. Some positives came out of leaving that hose bib running last night--my workroom and the theater carpet got a good cleaning!!!

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

Sep 25 - Now the Fun Begins!!!

Might look a bit finished at this point, at least for those of us who are not "tight" painters! But it isn't. I still have the final step to do for the atmosphere--to bring in the mists and the sunlight coming through the trees. This works so well with acrylics, I can hardly wait to show it to you! But that's tomorrow... If I were painting in oils, I would have had to take a break at this point and wait for the painting surface to develop enough strength to handle the glazing of this effect. Probably would have been four days in my climate--which is over 100 degrees again. No fires though...

I have pulled together the near ground the the midground by making the areas below the horses more interesting and varied. There is a lot of subtle movement going on within those areas by the use of value and color shifts. A lot more fun to DO it than to talk about it though! I'm really pleased with the colors in the stream--can you see the juxtaposition of the yellow orange with the red violet there, toned down? Gotta love the Color System!!

The DVDs ordered have been sent out and I'm waiting for some more feedback on them. So far, everything is positive! Now it is Saturday night, the house is hot and the moon is up, so I'm going to go play outside for a while! See you tomorrow!

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

Sep 24 - Almost Covered, and Design!! (and Aikido)

Now that the canvas is 99% covered, and without details, anyone can see the feeling of evening light through the trees and the twilight cast of night sky on the lower 2/3 of the canvas. The only details define the near ground with the big shapes that let us know what's going on in the stream and lower canvas.

I've included a duplicate image below, because I wanted anyone interested in design and "pathways" from yesterday's blog to see what I mean graphically. Most artists learn by seeing, (at least I do!) so here goes:

In the image to the left, everywhere there is an implied or real edge (transition area) that is important to the design, I've drawn a light line. You can enlarge these images by clicking on them.) The primary focal point of the horses (which are not there completely yet) is the end- or through- point of many of those curving lines.

The curves are intentionally serene, not abrupt nor jagged, creating a peaceful flow throughout the canvas. Any small jutting shapes (such as on the mini-islands in the stream) are small and of little consequence to the overall design.

Although this landscape might be a combination of scenes on Fay's farm in Georgia, it is the ARTIST who picks and chooses subjects and then places and evaluates what becomes important (or not) on the small surface of a canvas. That's our JOB. It ain't an easy one, but never gets dull.

In my aikido training, I didn't realize how much the last four years of training have affected me--always thinking I'm such a beginner--until I witnessed the testing last night. Seeing those people on the mat doing the first test I'd passed many months ago, and just KNOWING what was supposed to happen made me realize that in all things, like painting, we need to constantly practice to get better. Sometimes we don't realize what we don't know until we surround ourselves with others who know more, and know less. I'm doing an Iriminage throw in this sketch.

You can order my newest instructional dvd on twilight and misty light HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE. (Only one space left in November).
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Sep 23 - Covering the Canvas with Big Brushes

The painting at this stage looks like a forest fire as I paint with a one-inch filbert. That's because of the high contrast between the heat of the underpainting (mostly cadmium orange and cadmium yellow) and the cool box colors of the misty light I'm putting in on the lower portions. The colors for this part are mostly mixes of burnt umber, thalo green and ultramarine blue and white. I had a brush full of thalo green when I put in the shape of that "C" on the midground left--it's a marker for the structure of how I want your eye to travel through the painting. Later it will become more subtle. Can you trace your visual path from the lower left (water) through the gentle "S" curve up to where the sun will come through the trees? That's called "leading the eye" and is a good way to welcome your viewer into your painting.

The secondary interest is in the stream area, with primary interest on the mare and foal under the tree in the upper third. Varying the way I hold my brush creates the many different marks for visual interest, too.

Thank you for ordering the new DVD set! I'm filling orders this morning. I'd like to ask the first folks to evaluate the whole shebang as a favor to me for the web site. If you get a slip of paper in your DVD box with this request, know that I really would appreciate your thoughts. I do welcome any reviews, of course, but these first ones are really important!

The latest DVD "Twilight and Misty Light" can be purchased HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Sep 22 - The First Paint and the DVD Links!

As I start adding color to this acrylic (24 x 18), I'm thinking about the value structure at every moment. Even at this stage, you can see the lighter values going into the darker areas on the upper areas of this canvas. I'm completely in the COOL BOX, since this painting will be almost twilight, with only a flash of evening sun coming through the trees on the upper left. There will be a stream in the lower third, and I've laid in some of the "Trifecta" sky colors there already. (Trifecta is the trio of hard workers of Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin/Quinacradone Magenta and Yellow Ochre). Everything else you see at this stage is the four darkest values from the Cool Box. I'm using a one-inch filbert for these big areas.

YES!! FINALLY!!! The link for the newest DVD is up and running!!! (My internet at the house fell through the cracks so I'm typing and working from a wifi about a mile from my studio. Never a dull moment, eh?) Here's the second menu for the Advanced Techniques included on the second DVD in the set. Now who's going to be the FIRST to order? Here's the direct URL:
http://www.elinart.com/pages/dvd4.html

I spent the morning shipping the painting to Lexington, and again working with my friend Ron Wood on his glass projects. Back to the easel for more light and color tomorrow!

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.

Happy FULL MOON!!!

Sep 21 - New Painting and the DVDs are DONE!

What you'll be seeing in the next five days is what happened in my studio in two hours. I love a challenge, and surely had one with this opportunity. Karen LaBach of the American Academy of Equine Art asked me to send a "small" painting for the World Equestrian Games display, since I'm one of two instructors with AAEA workshops coming up in the spring (mine's here in California!). I said I have a 12 x 16, and she replied, "no, the other artist's is 18 x 24, so that's what we consider 'small' on that display space."

Ulp. So I don't have ANYthing recent that represents the Color System that wasn't lost in the boxes from my workshops. I remember one I'd done in Georgia that I don't even have a photo record of which just felt right to redo, differently, of course! So with reference material from that magical time, I've started (and finished) this 24 x 18 canvas, which will be shipped out tomorrow to Kentucky. The reference material is on each side, and those of you who remember the painting I did on the last day of the Georgia workshop will remember the right-hand photo.

The Colorful Painting 4 master DVDs are in the hands of the duplication service, and I'll have the copies back Wednesday! The "Advanced Techniques" on the second disk is what took so much more time... there are TWELVE different areas of advanced techniques! From mid-ground transitions to edges, to brushwork, to color balance--it's ALL there, adding another half hour to the production! (And three days of editing, with voice overs.) Here's the sub-menu I had to make to handle half the topics. Each section represents one-sixth of the information.

Because of the painting marathon today, I haven't updated the web site so you can buy them yet. The price for the two DVD set will be $34.95 with $4 shipping. TOMORROW... I promise! Links, I PROMISE!!!

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

Sep 13 - The DVD is 98% Finished! Preview!

So where have I been? Deep in the theater--editing digital footage and inserting audio files, text overlays, and letting the proverbial digital "0's and 1's" hit the cutting room floor. The first DVD is now mastered, and the second one only needs a few more hours of editing on the "Advanced Techniques" section. There's a preview link below, a minute and a half of over three hours of footage contained on the two-DVD set.
If this video doesn't come in below, try this one. (Takes you to a new page.)



(OK, I misspelled "available". Too excited!)

Now as soon as the second DVD master is finished, I can return to painting--for a while at least! There's a new dog in the studio, too. Niko, a female five-month Doberman, who joins Willow around the property keeping the bobcat off the chickens, barking at the folks heading up the hiking trail, and effectively creating havoc with the plants. Adolescent puppies! Aaargh, but she's a sweetie.

There are two spaces left in the November three-day Color Boot Camp here in Riverside. Looks like another great time for some re-booters and Newbies! Hope you'll join me.

Busy, busy, busy!!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.

Publish Post

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

Aug 23 - Second Painting for the DVD Finished!!

Finished! Amidst all the editing of the footage and clips from the first and second paintings for the new DVD, I thought I'd never get to the point where I could say the second one (twilight in acrylic) is finished. But here it is! A 16 x 20 acrylic, and every brush stroke, and I do mean EVERY brush mark, is on the tapes.

In filming and then editing this past couple of weeks, I realize that there is just TOO MUCH information for one DVD disk, so I'm putting everything and the kitchen sink on two disks for this fourth in the series. This will be great for me--as well as you--because I don't have to pare down the information I've captured on the digital media to fit on only one disk. I can use almost all of it (well, perhaps not the footage where the dog is drinking slurpslurpslurp behind me!). That will include a longer, more detailed slide presentation, and the special tips and tricks for advanced Color System users.

And on other news, a local fellow was moving and had no one to rehome his koi to, so I said I'd take 'em--now I have fifteen koi in the front patio pond, and wow... some are really big ones! Here's a shot taken the morning after they arrived...some already have names--the one on the lower left is "Titan(ic)". He's about 16 inches. The water is much clearer now than this photo, I'll have to take some new pictures tomorrow. Yes, there will be paintings... Who needs television when you can watch the fish channel?
I have spaces in the three-day Color Boot Camp here in November going on the block. You can check out my web page for workshops to find out more. When the snow flies where you are, California in November is 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.

Aug 6 - The Wolves Amost Done

How about this for a progressing painting? It is the acrylic, and I'm about 4/5 done with it, all caught on tape for the DVD! I'm quite pleased with it so far--the "feel" of the overcast twilight look of it, and the definitive wolfish features in the wolves. I showed how I use what I call "The Foot" tool to pull and push the paint to create the shrubbery and how adding veiled layers creates the feel of the snow. I'll finish it tomorrow, and then will spend every spare moment capturing the files off the tapes and onto master "dot mov" files for DVD Studio Pro to assemble. Three hour-long tapes on this project, so I'll have to do major surgery to get the "good stuff" out onto the hard drives. It is a love-hate relationship--takes so much time, but oh, so rewarding!

The painting at this stage is a lot of fun--making every area more interesting than the last, and yet subordinating each area as necessary to keep from the yet-to-come sunlit patch on the snow and white wolf. Oh, the drama!

The glass project sample has gone off for the lamination and the next round on the best glass will commence probably this next week. But first a visit from my niece who is going into the Navy this fall, and I'm so proud of her. We'll spend some quality time together and perhaps get down to tour the Midway aircraft carrier while she's here. (Link opens a new window.)

And my three online art appreciation courses open up on Monday, so I am going to be one busy puppy! All courses are full with ten people signed on wait lists, so it promises to be a busy semester.

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

Aug 3 - More Glass Work and the DVD cover

Again, more changes, but NOW, it is finished--at least this sample!
Hard to believe how many times the painting has been put on and then removed. FINALLY, today I "got it"--the effect of water--the essence of water--the interpretation of Ron Wood's vision. And it is so much better than the others I've shared with you.

This panel is only part of the eight foot tall ones that hopefully will be approved and moving forward in the months to come.

Trust me though, this won't take me far from my love of painting--in fact, it may just start another way of creative expression, on mirrors that have been laser etched!

I love the conversation and laughter that this collaboration engenders. When we part, there is always a smile and joyful hug. RW is "good people".

Tomorrow, back to the wolves painting! I did submit my ad to the fall Horses in Art, and here's a preview showing the new cover for the DVD, even tho' number four isn't REALLY here...(yet!):
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please do so at elinartat mac dot com.
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 and 2011 is HERE.

Aug 1 - Addendum with Images

Got so excited about the work in progress around Two Trees, that I forgot to enclose the image on the last blog post! Here's the glass, and I realize that it doesn't seem at all related to the Color System, but the concept of painting on etched glass is so new, that every mark is a discovery. We continue to add layers (I do) and remove them carefully (RW does) as the work progresses. What's left is an interesting ever-so-subtle painting that is viewed through the veils of the front etched fabric.

To give you a better idea of etched glass, please look at this project of RW's, on his web site. The glass here also moves and shifts as the viewer focuses on different parts.

Here's RW looking at one of the panels I've just covered with another layer of acrylics. He's analyzing it before getting out the cotton swabs and removing about 80 percent of it. Whew...good thing I don't have an ego about this venture, eh?

And one more of the finished sample panels, outside, lit from the front and backed by what might be a "night" (black plastic trash can, oh dear!). The fabric-etched veil without paint in front of "our" painting is visible now, which is part of the magic. The client wants to get the feeling of a scarf moving in front of her bath windows (shower and so forth), so with the dual laminated painting between the two etched veils, it really shows up!

I hope you enjoy this--what a digression from my traditional, opaque media! Now we resume your regular programming tomorrow with the DVD painting!

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

Aug 1 - Working on the Glass

I'm working on the etched glass yet again, and this piece will be rubbed out--so the image will be softly seen. I'm having so much fun doing this in collaboration with Ron Wood. He's here today, literally rubbing out all those brush marks!

I'm OK with it, because it is his vision, and I'm benefiting from learning the vagaries of how etched glass behaves as the layers are assembled, as well as how much etching is required to produce the final image coloration. The next image is of the two pieces of glass with the light shining through them as they sit in the studio window. No way does a photo give up what happens to the viewer's eye, as the camera cannot have the binocular vision of humans. That's where the true visual excitement comes!

On other news, there really isn't any! How about that? Just been so busy with the DVD and this glass project that nothing much exciting has been going on. This can be very good, too!

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

Jul 29 - Detail shots of the Wolf Painting in Progress

I thought I'd show you two of several detail images of the wolf painting that is coming along on the DVD.

Can you see the layers of paint at this early stage? These two images were taken right after the cameras stopped rolling for the "first pass" on the easel--covering the canvas. Layering with acrylics allows for nuances that might not be there with thicker applications of paint--as with oils. One major reason that I love the acrylics! I painted with them for almost 15 years straight before returning to oils.

The wolf "Yuki" who was the model for this painting died suddenly (age seven) right after I started the painting. Mysteriously eerie, as the photographs were taken years ago. I just heard about it yesterday.

It's my birthday, and I'm celebrating by having had a breakfast out and I will be going to swim and play tomorrow. Then the weekend will see serious digital editing for the DVD! I don't count the years I've lived, but count the good times I've had instead!

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

Jul 26 - Painting the Laser Glass Samples

I'm sitting here with a much-deserved pina colada after working on the glass panels today. The two panels are finished to a certain point, but perhaps will see more changes tomorrow. LONG day...(slurp).

Glass doesn't photograph well and these multi-layer laser-etched panels are no exception. The images I'm showing you cannot convey the four laser sides that have been etched, nor the vision of the client's needs for her project. I'm working with a palette of colors found in a Chanel scarf, and working on two separate glass sheets, each 18 x 18 x 1/4 inches. I managed to get them upright using a set of tie/key holders that Ken Middleham had created and left in his workroom. The glass is VERY heavy. In this first image, you see the way I've lit it--both from the front and rear so I can see not only the paint as I apply it, but also the way the light will show through it when it is installed. Whew... I've only been concerned with one dimension in painting up to this point! This is quite a new challenge.

This second image is of the panel (on its side) that will be behind the first panel. It contains the larger areas of major color for the design. It's truly difficult to show you where this is going/has gone, and I apologize for that. However, I do hope to have better imagery tomorrow. Hey, unfinished painting to the left, behind it!

I do a LOT of wiping off--as the paint will not adhere to the non-lasered portions of the glass. Yet another challenge!

So please stay tuned.

And on another note, we're starting to set the dates for the 2011 workshops with the folks back east. How does October sound for Georgia? Florida might work out that way, too!

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

Jul 25 - Glass and Painting, Horse Head

Oh Wow. Hard to describe what my brushes did today--this imagery doesn't do it justice. Therefore there are FIVE images in today's posting to try to convey the dynamics of this painting on etched mirror glass, etched on both sides. The first image on the right is the mirrored glass which has been sand blasted on both sides in an interesting pattern, neither side a duplicate of the other, but similar. You can see it especially in the horse's ears where my painting on the backside comes through but is covered by the etching on the front surface.

How to describe this? The mirrored parts of the image CONSTANTLY change as one walks by the image. The horse head is constant, unless lit from behind, when the image takes on another character entirely! The first image is outside, with the vegetation reflecting in the mirror. YES, it is a PAINTING. But on glass!

This is the first of three I did this afternoon--this one a commission for Ron Wood's client of his horse. Simple in design, but elegant and modern in presentation. The Color System painted it, of course, and I used traditional acrylics. Technically this painting is a warm up for the big commissioned sample coming up this week. I have the glass pieces here in my studio, and will be painting them tomorrow, in between the wolf painting DVD. Busy as a one-armed paper hanger!

The second image with the brown border is the back side of the mirror, which is not to be viewed. The brown portions are the mirrored backside area. I had fun painting the eye! The next image is the original etched mirror, before I started painting on it. Here it is backlit, almost a black and white image.

You can see that the eye area was nothing more than an apricot-shaped white etched area before the brushes hit it. The black areas are the mirror. Talk about having to adjust and THINK about values as I painted it! The mirror changes the painting at every viewing. Look at this next image, taken indoors with the dining area reflected in it--a whole new painting! Almost like a collage, and yet it is the same piece of mirrored glass.

And not to be saying that one can paint one painting and get infinite variations, however look at what it turned into when I put it outside and photographed it with the blue sky on the mirrored image.

This is an incredibly creative way to make art, and I'm excited to continue to work with Ron Wood on his projects, using my brushes on his elegant sand blasted and laser etched glass.

One painting, infinite display and showing options!




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

Jul 24 - Wolves for the Twilight DVD

Amazing how harmonious the Color System can be when it is so easy to use for twilight and overcast day paintings! This second DVD painting is further along than I planned for photographing it, but it just caught me up and carried me. (Not to mention that the camera was somewhere else in the house--sigh.) What we have here is the first full coverage of the canvas, laying in the initial abstract structure of values done ENTIRELY with just four colors plus white.

Which four colors? I bet Boot Camp Workshop graduates can tell me with their eyes closed. But for those of you not fortunate enough (yet?) to be in a "CBC", I'll share. The workhorses in this painting are:
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Umber
Alizarin or Quinacridone Magenta
Thalo Green
and (drumroll.....)
Titanium White
Mixing them together gets all those wonderful gray greens, gray blues and violets. Wowza.

I already like the design, although it has changed from the photo reference. Improved, I think. Now I'll go back into it and lay in "the rest of the story" with the cameras running. I even promised ON FILM that I would do a "Best of the Best" DVD of the combined footage for advanced students of the Color System--sort of a categorized visual lesson on tips and tricks for making the most of the CS from the hours and hours of footage from ALL the prior DVDs, even those no longer in production. I know the Color System works, and works WELL for all artists.

Speaking of cameras somewhere else in the house, I thought you might enjoy seeing the front of Two Trees Studio in summer. The hills are brown now, however the palo verde tree on the left is blooming, the roses in the picket-fenced bed are doing their thing, and the new siding (last year) really sets off the colors. My studio, and where I sit typing this right now, is inside that lower left window by the green vines. Do you see me waving at you? I love gardening, and just love this space!

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

Jul 22 - The Twilight Painting Begins (for the DVD)

Artists are sensitive. We react, because to do less would mean we are less than full artists. I know this from the spiral of feelings associated with recent events, and it took the helping of another artist to see it in myself. I really wouldn't want it any other way, though. Would you?

I offer the stages of the newest painting for the upcoming DVD for your pleasure this week. Here's the first pass--the toning of the canvas and the initial sketch for this twilight scene of wolves in snow. This is a 16 x 20 linen canvas, and I'm painting it in acrylics for those of you wanting to perhaps explore this medium, or already use it. The Color System crosses all media, and this DVD will do that, too!

The initial layer to get rid of the white is a composite of primary yellow (a neutral, pure yellow) and burnt quinacradone orange (going warm). I painted the initial sketch with raw umber. NONE of these colors are in the Color System, and ALL will be completely hidden with the upcoming layers, so I use these "leftover" pigments to do these early stages. When I am thinking about it, I do tend to put a warm layer under my final pigments because the contrast of temperatures helps me make decisions about what percentage of the Cool Box I use. And most of my paintings (with the dominant subject being landscapes anyway) tend to be over 70 percent Cool Box. This one will be even more--perhaps as much as 98%!

We have to use our logical mind in creating paintings--the rules and structure of design are the foundation of creating good art, and those who ignore those (or never learned!) struggle so much in this endeavor. And it ought to be fun and relatively easy. I talk about design constantly in my lessons, because it is such an integral part of the creative process. On that note, do you see the location of the wolves? Ha! I mention that in the film.

On other notes, the Cooper's hawk is now free--moving from the smaller cage as he became stronger to the covered dog run. There he gained strength and more coordination (and ate more chicken!). His mom came down to the pine tree behind the pen, calling to him, so I opened the door. A squabble of a reunion, and they both flew off to the sycamore in the canyon below the house. I've heard them since then, and saw one of them sitting near the chicken pen yesterday. Sigh. Save a hawk, maybe lose a few more chickens. So it goes! I didn't get any pictures of the hawks together or the dog pen days, so here's mom looking over her boy earlier in the week. They truly are magnificent.

As ever, thanks for reading this far.

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.