Sep 19 - Laying in the Mid Values

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sep 17 - Painting "to the Bone"

Starting this painting is significant for me, because it relives many sweet memories of a time when I didn't have to worry about feeling loved, because I had the love of my parents when I was this size, and that lifelong love is a sustaining strength now, even though they are both gone.

They say that artists paint what they know, and create from their center--their being--and that it is truly impossible to have a mature artist create a travesty or a sham--it reads clearly and comes through as false work--both weak and uninspiring. To be an artist means we are open and receptive to things around us, and we allow ourselves to be accepting of our environment. However, this sensitivity in creating art comes bundled with a vulnerability that can be assaulted and abused. This painting comes to you, unfolding as I am with the emotions of my life, raw and revealing as the canvas on which it is painted. As one of you commented, "Elin, you are writing and painting from the bone."

On the technical side, I am putting in the darks first to shape the design of values--just a rough mark-in to pull together the knowledge of good design into the work. I haven't placed the midtones yet, however, this painting will have the "small light, large dark in midtones" theme as it progresses. Of course the rim light around the girl and her chicken will be the lightest lights, and enhance the focal point which will be developed later.

The November workshop is filling with folks interested in three and a half days of "yellin' by Elin" here in Riverside. Sorry about the link only taking you to past workshops yesterday. Here is the correct link for the two workshops this fall:

http://www.elinart.com/pages/wkshpriv.html

Hope you'll join me for a COLOR BOOT CAMP!

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

Sep 16 - A New Message and a Thank You

As I begin this new painting, I find that I am more connected to the message of the subject and how it interweaves with who I am as an artist. Gone are the days of struggling with technical issues, and also gone are the "what shall I paint?" scenarios.

Rather, now I MUST make statements and allegory with the work I create. Perhaps that is the sign of an artist in a career point where the work--all of it--truly matters. For today this artist is completely interwoven with her best work, and my last painting of my father is one of those.

This one, too, may well prove to be one of my masterpieces, for I am strongly connected to the unfolding story. We shall see. It is a painting of a small child feeding some chickens. Full of innocence, backlit with her future before her, she is unsullied by the realities and abrasions of relationships and her position within them. So, let's begin this journey together.

It is an oil, 24 x 18 vertical, and the design will have the child in the upper right, and a value pattern of dark shapes coming forward to the viewer representing the line and group of chickens. I tone the canvas, and have sketched in the major shape patterns at this point. I used Australian Red Gold for the toning, and am sketching with burnt umber.

And to the folks who wrote expressing concern about my absence from the blog, please know that I am now strong, now focused, and moving forward with purpose and joy. Thanks so much for caring enough to write.

I've opened the Riverside workshop for November, and also one for October, but that one may not fill because of my tardiness in posting it. If you want a Color Boot Camp experience this year, November 12-15 are the dates. Please check my links below for the Workshop Information page.

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

Aug 31 - Final Painting of my Father

This is him, my dad, Pops, Daddy...
Finished now, the last details in place. Oil, 12 x 24 inches, never for sale. It's been very, very hard to paint this image. When I did my mother (April 1-6, 2006 blog pages) I was deep into the last days with her, and could drop her image off my brush with true oneness. Not so this one. I've been truly on artistic emotional roller coaster as I painted this one. Perhaps tonight I can finally get some decent sleep!!

My father was a wonderful dad to me, and eleven years after his death, I see this pose, this facial expression, and it is as if he were right here with me. As I developed the painting, I could feel him coming "on cat feet" to be with me. Now I sit quietly, and feel his presence. Tears come. For we cannot undo the past, we can only accept it and move on. Full of emotion as I give you this gift, I can say that this painting will be one of the cornerstones of my collection. It will hang in my studio with my Mom's image.

For the fires, we are still not in danger, the mountain we're on is Box Springs, and as of now, the fires are all quite north of us. But we do prepare, and hope never to have to implement the plan for evacuation. I earmark paintings if we need to be evacuated, and this will be one of them.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE (still not updated, see above for why.)
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Aug 28 - My Dad, Almost Finished

It is about 90 percent finished at this stage; now I'm working on the likeness. I don't have it yet, and have to work on face and arms more. Just like my relationship with my father, I find myself striving harder than I normally would to depict the essence of who he was, on a level I know he would expect. That's the tough part. Rising to the level of expectation.
Another day's work, perhaps.

The summer dry heat's on out here now. Over 108 today and record 110 degrees tomorrow. I stay deep in the studio where it is cool during the day, and make sure all the critters that are outside have plenty of clean, fresh water. It was too hot for the goldfish in one water tub--they just got too much sun. I moved it to the shade and populated it back up with mosquito fish.
Last night I slept outside in the trees in my Hennessy Hammock, with only a sheet. It never cooled down enough to need more. There was a nice light breeze though. The hammock is the same one I used while in Florida, out in the pasture--great sleeping, anywhere!

Making compost, having hay delivered and stacked, working with the horses--the days are full. I'm also busy responding to the many kind emails from people who have found hope in my posting my husband's success with his protocols for cancer. I'm honored to have made a small difference in peoples' lives, whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting. What astonishes me most is that this information isn't available to everyone, and so few people know about Dr. Budwig's research, and how supplements and diet completely affect our health.

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

Aug 27 -Begin Details of my Dad's Portrait - and the Response to Healing Cancer

Now that the basic values and hues are in place, it is time to cover the canvas and start to pull in some of the details. The long, narrow canvas was intentional, as I wanted to show his long life symbolically, and his position on the far right, looking across that space, is a reminder of the life well lived, and retrospectively enjoyed. When the source material was taken for this image, he had not been diagnosed yet with melanoma, but he had undergone many surgeries to remove skin cancers. His mouth and nose are a bit deformed, and I'm working how I'm going to convey his "selfness" without detailing out too much of that. It will come.

I've been overwhelmed with kind responses to my posting the protocols and my husband's success with it. Yes, it was hard to go raw (but salads are raw, Elin!). I have been able to make some really good recipes and, like anything, it is a conditioned response--what we're used to. And what is it worth? That steak and fries, or preventing/healing cancer? No-brainer for me. The biggest difference is how one feels using the flax oil/cottage cheese mixture. I had this kind response to yesterday's email from one person who is fighting her second bout with cancer:

I gave my body a kick start last night. When I got home I put about a cup of CC and mixed it with some of my super reds powder (high anti-oxidant and good for flavor too) and emptied 6 capsules of flax seed oil and stirred it until it was thoroughly incorporated. This is all until I can buy that flax seed oil today after work and a smoothie machine/stirrer or whatever it is you use to make 'em. Anyway I ate that and you know what, those mild puffy feeling sort of cramps I had yesterday are gone. I feel completely normal like before all this ever happened to me. That never happened before or that quickly. I have been using the herbs like Esiak which is supposed to be the gold standard for cancer, but it never made me feel this good so fast. Can't wait to get the book. I saw they already shipped it yesterday.

(She ordered Bill's book, Cancer Free.) When I can know that my knowledge helps people make choices, like hers, I am rewarded beyond belief and feel the overwhelming response that my time here on Earth has meaning. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your lives.

I'm opening up the workshops for fall for registration. Just a few more tweaks on the pages. There will be two--one in October, and if you can't get in that one, there will be a SECOND Color Boot Camp in November. No snow here, and I already have a list of emails to send out to let people know the workshops are open. If you'd like to be sent that email, just let me know.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is not yet updated.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Aug 26 - Dad's Portrait, Laying in the Big Lights, Cancer cure protocols

Now that the largest dark shapes are in, it is time to lay in some of the biggest light shapes to define form and set the light values. It's fun to work on this.... note how I'm NOT painting his face yet? Many artists would work on that area first, and the rest would be left to chance. I like to work this way to build up the excitement in the design.

He's portrayed as so relaxed here, enjoying his family, with the "sun over the yardarm".

First, yesterday's link to Dr. Budwig's information had a typo in it. Here's the correct link:
http://www.lightsv.org/bud1.htm

Now, the protocols that my husband follows to keep his cancer healed and at bay. First, understand that cancer is an opportunistic disease, defined by the "traditional medical establishment" as cancer OF SOMETHING. Cancer is cancer, and thrives where the immune system can't compete with it. It settles where it can opportunistically grow. We all have cancer cells in us, but most of us have an immune system that is (marginally) strong enough to keep those cancer cells from growing out of control. Radical idea? Not really. It just isn't what your doctor is going to tell you, because they are trained to treat the symptoms of specific cancers, not the causes.

Our diet and stressful lifestyles set the stage for cancer to "get" us. And as we age, our immune system weakens (unless we take care of ourselves). So cancer incidence is higher in older people, right? And with our lousy diets, it's showing up in younger people now. The statistics are alarming. Those with poor immune systems also have a raging incidence of cancers. There IS a connection.

Here's the protocols to set the stage in your life so that no cancer can thrive and get a toe-hold in your body. Or, if you have cancer, you can heal it and keep it at bay.
1. Completely raw foods, a totally vegan diet. No dairy, no processed foods, no gluten, NO SUGAR in any form, no canned goods, no meat. (Cancer loves sugar--in fact, doctors put a sugary substance in you--called the PET scan--to see where the cancer is--the sugar concentrations are highest where the cancer is!).
This protocol is where most people compromise themselves. UPside: My husband lost every excess pound he'd been carrying. Until I got used to his "right" weight, he looked thin. I was used to a fatter hubby. Now he tips the scale at 150-152, and he's 5'9. (And 69 years old.)
2. Flax seed oil (Omega 3s) and cottage cheese, 1/3 c. to 2/3 cup daily, blended with fruit for a smoothie every day. This is the core of Dr. Budwig's work. You can research it. SEVEN Nobel prize nominations (guess which industries kept her from receiving any of them!) Even in three days the external and internal well-being changes are awesome.
3. Vitamin D in the form of 15 minutes of sunshine. The body NEEDS this when it is healthy enough to USE it. #2 above makes the body receptive to its own creation of Vitamin D3.
4. Supplements to turn the body alkaline. Cancer thrives in an acid body. Meat, processed foods and sugar shoot the body over to acidic. There are saliva and urine test strips to see how acidic you are. If you're eating the protein and processed western diet, you're acidic, period. Barley grass pills help to push the body to an alkaline state, although the complete vegan diet does it, too.
5. Vitamin C/L-Lysine/L-Proline supplements. Linus Pauling knew what he was doing in his research. Keeps cancer from metastasizing in many studies.
6. Exercise and reduction of stress. My husband does aikido seven days a week (noncombative martial art), and has taken major steps to reduce the amount of stress he has in his work life.

These are all spelled out in Bill Henderson's book, and with a LOT more information than this summary. But I hope it gives you an idea of what you can do to fight/prevent cancer--at a total cost of around $200 per month, instead of.... well, don't get me started on insurance issues with pre-existing conditions.

Thanks for reading this far. Please, if you have questions about the protocols, go to the links I shared yesterday. My in box is full with emails I would like to answer.

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

Aug 25 - My Father's Portrait, Stage 2, and Husband's Cancer Cure

I am doing the major lay-in of the shadow shapes, using the Cool Boxes exclusively. Now human skin breaks the rules, in that cool colors are in the lighter sides, and warm colors are in the shadow sides. The Color Boot Campers will remember this, and I hope you'll be able to see it unfold as I continue with his portrait.

Now, I know you skipped down to here to find out more about the revelation of yesterday. So here goes. When my husband was diagnosed, we went with traditional medicine to prepare him for the ordeal of what I now call "burn and poison" (no cutting--surgery again was not an option). The medical community was supportive on an individual basis, in that they supported us by scheduling many appointments, were kind and solicitous, yet could not give us some very common answers. They cannot, because they are not permitted to give information for which there is no "standard of research".
He was even fitted for the radiation mask. His cancer was throat cancer, and had involved the lymph nodes in his neck. We wanted to know other options for his palliative care. Their answers were all linked back directly to drugs, chemo"fear"apy, and nothing about alternative medicine.

He began the treatments. Five radiations and his neck was sore, one chemo and his guts were in the toilet. He said, "I cannot do this. My body is screaming that this is wrong. I will live with dignity, and the quality of my life matters more to me than its length." I saw a death sentence, but was honored by his courage and decisiveness, and agreed.

But passivity is not an adjective for me, so I started my search. I spent days on the computer doing research. Much of what I found was bloody awful, because the end result of chemo"fear"apy and radiation would leave my beloved man with no taste buds, no salivary glands, and huge sores making him unable to swallow. (The doctors didn't tell us that.) There's a whole world of throat cancer people who have been subjected to traditional "medicine" over at this link. Just reading their stories pushed me further to find something else. Anything else. But no quackery.

And finally, a light. Dr. Johanna Budwig's name (link fixed). Bill Henderson and his book. Chapter five in that book. There are six protocols in that chapter that have enough research showing effectiveness for cancer treatments that Bill is willing to say they offer hope. My husband began all six, and was absolutely adamant about it. He continues these protocols to this day. After eight weeks, we saw the cancer recede to where we could not find it anywhere in his neck.

Tomorrow, the protocols, in a shortened version. My beloved is whole, healthy and without the help of big pharmaceutical companies or the dance of the insurance companies and the medical system that feeds it. We are both far healthier than we have ever been in our lives, because we both changed many of our lifestyle habits.

After I finish this painting, I'm doing one of another dear artist/mentor, who I just learned died this morning of cancer. She is now in a better place, but this woman had an outstanding and full life. She has left a huge emptiness in me, and I will paint her image as a small child. I want as many people to know that there are alternatives to cancer death, and perhaps by these two lesson paintings, I will reach someone. It's too late for my Dad, for Rowdy, for my friend Lynn Thomas, for so many others.

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

Aug 24 - Portrait of My Father

It had to happen. I'm finally ready to paint my father, and I will do so and also share with you some powerfully profound news. But first, the portrait. My dad passed away at age 91 from melanoma. Cancer, in its most insidious form, snuck up and took a man who could play golf and do 18 holes with the goal of "playing his age"--and he did, too, at least in his 80s.
Electrical engineer, ham radio operator, gentle yet strong, dry wit, wonderful provider as a career Naval officer, he tolerated my tom-boyish nature and patted me on the head when I did well.
It has been tough to live up to his expectations, but now I am the artist I need to be to start this 12 x 24 inch oil of him relaxing with an empty glass. "The sun's over the yardarm" in evening light. This is the initial drawing, over a toned warm ground of Australian Red Gold.

The profound news is that my husband was diagnosed last November with stage four cancer (inoperable). I could not share that with you and carry you on that journey--it would have been far too painful--until now. Today, and as of mid-March, he is cancer free. His success in following NON-TRADITIONAL protocols needs to be shared with the list, the world and hopefully other people will make similar choices to extend their lives and live well. I'll be sharing what he did, the web links and our story as I unfold this painting of my father. Had I known what I know now, and had my Dad made the choices that my husband has, he might be celebrating his 102nd birthday--he was that healthy before melanoma struck. More tomorrow.

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

aug 21 - sparky sneaks da keibard enne camper

mom left for a few monutes so i am typn this to you to tell my stori. i cant hit the shift key and type so it wil be in these little letters. i no better but when you be small and a dog that is da way it goes.

we four --mom, me, onslo and the old dog--went for long walks over the dunes 'n' i found so much to smell 'n' see. even on the rope things i cud get my nose in places. beach places smel gud.

mom made da leaky face again when we were at that bell tower thing.

then the next day it was drive and drive more--i hate that part--i hides in mom's elbo alla da way. now we be on the beach in a place she calls ocean-o, but i no see any beach, jsut sand. lots other dawgs too, an lotsa horses, too. bark

be4 we left --bet you dint no i cud do numbers like dat, mom spent time taking us down to nother beach, where dere was water. i played wit onslo an' mom painted da sunny ocean and all be4 we left.

here is da pichur out da back windo of da camp thing wit da bell tower where she made leaky face. it be on da left side, see it, ya.

morrow we be home an' i like dat. uhoh here she come bak. bye

sparky da wonder dawg

Aug 21 - Susie Q is Painted Again!

Sebastopol's Color Boot Camp is over, but I thought you'd enjoy the painting that demonstrates evening light for the participants. This is one of Fay's Georgia heifers, and she is marked so well for demonstrating what happens to white and brown when in light and shadow that I have used her more than once in my workshops!

It's a 9 x 12 ($150), and the source image is to the right of the painting...to share with you how the Color System makes the ordinary into extraordinary. Warm box colors in the light and cool box colors in shadow.

I received rave reviews for the just-completed workshop, and the comments mostly were about how logical the Color System is, and how easy it is to apply.
Here's a lineup of one students' paintings for the three days (without the value studies and "silly" painting). It's amazing how they all "read right". Backlit, morning, mist, clouds/sunrise and moonlight. All from an artist who had never used the Color System before. (Thanks, Paula!)

One more workshop scheduled for October in Riverside, now set for October 8-11. I'll update my site with links for signing up in the weeks ahead, and have been taking emails to notify you when that page is up. Color Boot Camp!!

Tonight I head for the coast again, and more fog paintings of the ocean. Then home....

Thanks go to Jacob Cohen of Sunnyvale, California on the purchase of "Incoming" today, and also to the many folks who are the happy owners of the Colorful Oil Painting DVD sets from the demonstration. I'll have that painting for you in the days to come.

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

Aug 20 - Evening in Sebastopol

I was camped in the end of the mobile home park in Sebastopol, California, and looked out over the fields to see the evening light bathing the distant trees. This oil 9 x 12 was done from the dining room table looking out over that vista and resulted in a fine example of evening light. I love getting back into my oils after a hiatus into the acrylics, since both media have attributes that appeal to me.
The evening fog comes in from the ocean, cooling down the night, leaving dew on the dry grasses of the open fields. Sebastopol is a small town with an atmosphere tempered by the hippies of the 70s and I love it here. Those hippies matured into the business owners and the city magistrate of today--creating an energized adn open environment for an organic, green lifestyle. Great place!

Today I'll be doing the demonstration for the great group of AWS friendly artists who inhabit this area. A small contingent of them were dancing in my camper last night after dinner to the Rolling Stones. What a party!

Yet tomorrow I head to the ocean, for a couple days of painting there before heading home. I've so thoroughly enjoyed this workshop, demonstrations and trip north.

This oil is already sold, sorry.

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

Aug 19 - The Workshop in Sebastopol

How I LOVE to paint mist and fog! Here's the demonstration acrylic painting for the Sebastopol workshop as a 12 x 16 example of fog adn mist on the California coast. I was over just north of Bodega Bay the day before and took some nice images while walking the dogs on the beach.

Because of the Color System, I used only the Cool Box colors to get these lovely grays and painted this while talking to the fourteen students in the workshop. I'm pleased with it, because getting the "feel" of a place is really high on my list of good paintings. Having sunk my shoes in the gravelly sand of this beach, I know that I caught the essence of the day. It pleases me....

Here's the source material (resized) from which I worked to make this painting in about 30 minutes... You can see how I changed and enhanced the colors in it by comparing. After I photographed the painting, I made some minor changes in the details, as well.

One more day of workshop, then a mini-vacation back on this beach before heading south to horses, husband and home. More paintings to come!

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

Aug 18 - Bodega Bay and Nicholas Green

When I come to Bodega Bay, I manage to end up here on this stretch of open space beside Highway 1 where the community center is located, and I always walk down to the bell tower constructed in memory of Nicholas Green. This young boy was killed by a highway robber in Italy while traveling with his family. He was seven. His death was not in vain, for his folks donated his organs to seven Italians, and thus saved their lives in a gesture of forgiveness, acceptance and connectedness rarely seen nowadays. The bells on the tower are from towns all throughout Italy and offer thanks and a reminder to us to be kind to others when we can. I couldn't paint that memorial (not yet), so I did this small 8 x6 sketch of the road to the space where the bells sculpture stands. There's one of those August-blooming Pink Ladies on the left side....

Acrylic, done plein air beside my camper in Bodega Bay. And I'm reminded to be kinder to folks I meet...

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

Aug 17 - In Ukiah, Sebastopol and Bodega

What a wonderful trip so far! I'm sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop wifi-ing to you with the evening sun heading down, and relaxing after the first day of the Sebastopol workshop. Two more days of "Color Boot Camp" and there are 14 people together with "yellin' by Elin". And I'm just slam-dunked by the amazing paintings coming out with the Color System, even on this first day.

Two days ago, I painted for the art group in Ukiah, which is about an hour and a half north of here. Great group in a lovely museum setting, and although they were pressured by preparations for the museum's annual fundraiser event, we were able to get out in plenty of time. This is a 16 x 12 acrylic of the coast to the west of them, done to convey the fog breaking up and the sun coming through. It still needs a bit of tweaking for details, but I'm pleased with the composition. If it seems similar to an earlier moonlight painting, you're right! The Color System allows you to change the time of day on source material to match what YOU want. I'm pleased with it at this stage.

In the coming days, I'll be posting the Sebastopol and Bodega Bay plein air work and the workshops demonstration pieces for you.

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

Aug 4 - What You've Been Waiting For - Finished!

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

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

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

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

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

Aug 3 - Pulling in the Details, Dog Oil Painting Lesson

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

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

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

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

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

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Aug 2 - Dog Painting Taking Shape Now!

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

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

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

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

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

Aug 1 - Going to the Dogs Lesson Painting Continues

I emphasize the value structure and impact a painting needs to have to really be worthy for a second, closer look. Although not set in stone, as many artists make a body of work that doesn't have this feature, I believe that for "most" artists, a strong value structure will carry the day.

At this point I'm painting big shapes of a particular value to hold together the structure of the coming details. You saw the source material yesterday, so you know at least in your mind, what is coming. But at this stage, look at the beautiful brushwork on the right side, and the subtle complementary colors of orange and blue in that lower right section of dark! Wow. No matter how detailed the dog becomes, that area will be a secondary area of interest. No dog eyelashes yet! Details come later, after the value structure is in place. All of this so far has been done with the cool box colors.

This is fun, painting with the juicy Classic Artist Oils. I still love acrylics, both Open and traditional, yet it is such fun to do a thick, juicy oil to mix it up.

I had a wonderful visit from a former student who graciously credits me with giving him direction when he needed it about ten years ago. Frank Stockton is an editorial illustrator now living in New York, and his imagery is on the cover of Communication Arts this month. The link will take you to the magazine's page where you'll see him and his work. Teaching has so many rewards, and knowing Frank has been at the top of the list lately. Check his web site and look over his list of clients! He admits that there was a lot of hard work to get where he is now.

Congratulations to Roy Renfro of Plano, Texas, on his purchase of the plein air Rocks painting which has been added to his collection of Elins!

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

July 31 - Going to the Dogs!

I'm starting this 9 x 12 oil of one of the two Teddy Roosevelt Terriers today, as I am enjoying the "recuperation" from my birthday a few days ago... turning "of an age" can be solemn, or it can be a bit crazy. I took the latter path...no surprise.

So today, to do penance if I were so inclined to think like that, I'm going to the dogs! Inspiration for this painting came literally "right under my feet". In the leg space under my roll top desk (where I sit typing this) there's a donut dog bed and I glanced down and saw Onslow in a familiar sleeping position. So I took out my camera and lights, and took several images, adjusting the lighting and shooting without a flash. The source material is below. Total comfort!

The linen canvas was scumbled with an under layer of ultramarine blue, burnt umber and yellow ochre, setting the tone for the colors to come. This scheme will be with the Color System, and I'll keep the complimentary dominance of blue/orange and yellow/purple to make it work.

You can see I don't spend a lot of time drawing, although for this unusual pose I did do a sketch in my sketchbook to lock down the location of all those airborne paws. The painting is coming along nicely now.

There may be one or more spaces in the Sebastopol Color Boot Camp in August--less than two weeks before I head up north of San Francisco to both give a painting demonstration in Ukiah, and then the workshop and demonstration in Sebastopol. Please let me know if you'd like a dose of "Yellin' by Elin" in this Color Boot Camp workshop. Please contact me using the email link below, and I'll forward your interest to the person in charge. I hope to meet some of you there!

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

Jul 21 - Corrections to the backlit Demo Cowboy

Remember I said that I wanted to make some value changes to this painting? Well, easy to do with Resin Gel and some glazing over the areas that needed to drop down in value. Now I think this one is finished, and holding the "punch" that it needed for this time of day.

The question to all students of the Color System--would you have done what I did to make this painting work, or would you have chosen to do something else? I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep those values "reading right" for the time of day. That's why we make those little value studies for you to take with you in a workshop--so the tools are at hand when you're ready to work on your own. This painting is now clearly a small light with a large dark in mostly midtones. Before, it may have had the color, but it didn't have a clear identity for the value structure. My bad. All fixed now!

This is a 12 x 16 oil which will be mounted on a rigid substrate and available for purchase down the road a ways. Right now I want to look at it, and get a really good photograph of it for the upcoming book.

On workshops, I have a few spaces left in the Maine Color Boot Camp--Fall Colors for plein air, but mostly studio work on the Color System in a fabulous location on Mt. Desert Island. Please email me if you'd like more information. This is such a wonderful vacation spot, and hardly better with fall color, with those loooong shadows and painting in a Color Boot Camp! September 21 through 25 in Bernard, Maine--totally on the island! Tent camping is available close by in Acadia National Park, and there are many bed and breakfast places as well as motels to stay.


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

Jul 20 - Colorful Study of a Goat Kid

Ah, the heat is cooking my brain, so I hide out in the cool studio (daylight basement, stays in the 80s when the outside temp is over 105!) and do work here. There are four dogs here, too, and everyone else who cannot come in (goats, horse, chickens) have plenty of shade and water.

Today's job was to organize and sort some of the thousands of photographs I have taken over the years. But (no surprise--ha!), I got distracted! This image of one of the many goat kids I've had and it just asked to be painted. So I brought out a 12 x 12 box canvas (with 1.5 inch depth) and did this colorful study of the shadow sides on this little fellow.

These colors are stated more strongly than some of my other paintings, because it was/is my intent to make the coloration easy to understand. It's a great morning light lesson painting to learn how to mix those shadow areas on a white animal. It's an oil, and painted around the edges, so no frame is needed. Available to a new or returning collector for $295. Got goats?

Congratulations to new collector John Wickham of Los Angeles, California on his purchase of "Sycamore Leaf" from my collection.

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

Jul 13 - Backlit Horse and Rider Demo for the Workshop

This 12 x 16 oil was done as a demonstration of the skies theory in the Color System during the July workshop. The theory is that there is a warm circle near the source of illumination and that it shifts to the Cool Box outside the circle.

I spent some time tweaking it a bit to bring it to this level, and might again go after it to truly finish it (getting those values right!) in the next few days. I'm pleased how the light comes through on the tail, though.

I'd like you to see that the source material is only the jumping-off point for paintings. Here's the photograph that inspired the painting. This is Frank Gerhardt on Bonus, his appaloosa gelding that he raised and trained. Quite a legend in our local area for trail riding!
I love the memories that have come out of my camera over the years. (And it allows me to deduct my horse expenses since I couldn't get these images unless I actually went on the rides!)

WORKSHOP spots OPEN! Northern California, north of San Francisco! Three days near the redwood country, and in the quaint town of Sebastopol.
August 17-19, $295 through the AWS group there in a lovely location, even if it is Color Boot Camp! Please email me if you'd like to hold one of the spots and I'll send you the contact info. If you've been too far away to do a Color Boot Camp down here in Riverside, this is your chance. I'm going east for the Maine workshop in September, then one here (Riverside) in October. As long as they continue to sell out, I know that what I'm doing has validity. COLOR BOOT CAMP!!

P.S. That color boot camp wanna-be in Scottsdale in their latest blurb is NOT an official Color Boot Camp. Only Elin Pendleton can bring you the "true" Boot Camp experience!

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

Jul 12 - Revamping the Web Site

With the weather so hot and no relief in sight, I thought a nice blue image of Hawai'i might sooth your eyes.

I'm revamping the web sites, page by page, while I stay deep in the cool studio. I've found many images that have never been on the web--either I overlooked them, or they slipped by me. Here's one...

This is an acrylic painting (12 x 9) done on location from the loading docks of Coconut Island, the site of the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology in Kaneohe Bay, and the waters there were so clear that the docks seemed to float in the turquoise blues. This painting, "View to the Pali" is available for $225.

I remember that day of plein air painting like it was yesterday--I was a guest of the local art group to this usually-off-limits site, and would love to return another time to paint these glorious blues!

Hawai'i will always be in my heart, because my mom and dad lived there during the 1930s/1940s and knew "old" Hawaii before commercial air travel made it so convenient a tourist destination. My last trip there was to scatter their ashes per their wishes.

Here's an aerial view of Coconut Island, which used to be the private retreat of Edwin Pauley before it came into the hands of the University of Hawaii. I can see right where I was seated when I painted this!



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

Jul 4 - Virtual pARTy Challenge, and a Demo

In the workshop this morning, I had to demonstrate morning light, so I picked up on an image from Linda Shantz, who organized a virtual pARTy for artists to do an image from the same source.

This is a 16 x 20 acrylic done for a morning light painting in the Color System, and depicts a very pregnant mare in a pasture. I modified the source material quite a lot and am quite pleased with this painting. Redesigning source material and making it one's own is the mark of a confident artist, with an arsenal of ability to make source material just the "jumping off point" for the art. I love doing this! And in front of the eleven participants, I finished this up for them in record time.

You can see the source material and some of the other entries here. Mine won't be there for a while until my registration is cleared.

Congratulations to new collector Louise Sackett from Santee, California, on her purchase of yesterday's painting of the California Coast in moonlight!

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

Moonlight Becomes you... Acrylic 9 x 12 Demonstration

Hello again! I'm in the misdt of the workshop here in my studio in Riverside, and demonstrated this acrylic painting for the eleven participants today. It's moonlight, and from images I took (in the late afternoon!) up along the Big Sur Coast of Northern California.

It's fun to work on changing daylight resources to other times of day, and not too difficult, once you're familiar with the Color System (in this case, cool box and lower the light values).

Tomorrow the students will be approaching morning light or afternoon light, and evening light with the full Color System. I hope to post some of their "Silly Paintings" they did today, but forgot to ask permission of them. It's been warm here, but not as hot as yesterday (over 100). The studio workshop area is cooler than outside by at least 15 degrees, and we have fans running, so it's not too bad.

For the Fourth of July celebration, a friend sent me this link, with a nice music video representing our diverse cultures under the umbrella of our freedom. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! ( http://www.bornagainamerican.org/ ).

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

Jun 29 - Onion in Oils, Lesson on Inherent Color, and Workshop Coming!

Back into the oils for an 8 x 10 study of a red onion! I love making up the new pillboxes--my old ones were crusty and the lids finally cracked after being in and out of the freezer so many times. There is something very familiar and exciting about putting those Color System hues in their appropriate boxes.

This painting is VERY important to Color Boot Camp graduates, because it focuses so much on the "INHERENT COLOR" (You know who you are who have heard this from me!) The onion's inherent color is a cool red--alizarin, from the cool box. I could not switch completely to the warm red (cadmium red light) when my brushes came around to the lit side, so it "reads right" even on that lighter side, because I obeyed the rule of inherent color by influencing the dominant color of the object. I definitely influenced that light side with those warm box colors, though. This is a nice study, available through ebay. Just search for "Red Onion Oil Painting - Elin Pendleton 8 x 10". I've decided that listing the work when I post the email to all of you is a good time-saver. Here's the link if you want to get there quick!

I've updated my web site with recent paintings, too--at least the elinart site. The Daily Paintings web site is only current to January. I hope to get more work on that done this week. I do have to elevate my leg for parts of my day as my hip injury heals.

The next workshop starts this coming Thursday--Fourth of July weekend. I have had one cancellation, so there is a spot available. Do you want the Color System Boot Camp? Email me!

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

Jun 21 - Recovering, and the 30 x 24 Still Life

The still life is about as finished as it's going to be, seeing it now. It didn't take too much fiddle-arting around to get it to this stage with those open acrylics. I finished the "real" color note of that purple plate by breaking the Color System rules to get that luscious of a plate color--using the cools in the light. In man-made objects we can do that, and it creates a wondrous excitement in otherwise follow-the-rules paintings.

I've not done still life in a LONG time, and found it different from the old days. I think I need to do more, perhaps some smaller subjects, and revisit the onions and other fruits. It will come. I do love the energy of this painting in the brushwork.

Sorry about not emailing more often--last weekend I crashed the scooter and have been limping around here feeling sorry for myself. The bruises and cuts are nothing serious, except the one on my hip where I hit the pavement. Dang, that asphalt is HARD. I've got more colors than the Color System in my left leg! I need to keep it up for a few hours each day. Turns out my aikido training again saved my hide, because it could ahve been MUCH more serious. As it was, I hit and rolled and did a 360 on my shoulder before coming to rest on my back. I just went with the motion, and didn't brace, and perhaps saved my 60 year old bones. Scooter's fine, just some cosmetic damage.

So I'm fine now, and rarin' to go into the July Color Boot Camp.

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

Jun 9 - The Acrylic Still Life Continues

Now I'm so much more pleased with this one. It is coming along well, with glazing done with traditional gloss medium and colors from the Open Acrylics, blending and unifying the upper left corner, and defining the green plate. The red grapes went in very fast, and yet are not painted as individual grapes. I'll still add much more, and have put off adding the lavender leftmost plate. I need to pull the entire composition together before making this bold statement.

I've thought about time of day for this painting, and it is definitely morning. I added bits of warm yellow to the whites, and of course there are all sorts of grayed purples in the shadows. Yes, even interiors can reflect the time of day--it just makes a better painting overall, in my opinion.

Every once in a while I like to share with you other artists' work, someone who has been in a Color Boot Camp. Since my epiphany of being a teacher vs. being an artist first, I want to share this site with you--this is my friend Louise Mellon, of Aiken, South Carolina. She paints what she loves and what is around her--mostly horses and their companions. I'm always pleasured by her courage in her work and her stunning designs. Check her work in progress through her blog: http://louisemellon.blogspot.com/

OK, OK.... if you want to be on the list for the October workshop, I'm going to take names. (Now stop pestering me! Just kidding!) I don't want to have to go to a lottery system, yet I understand everyone's frustration about not getting into a Color Boot Camp.

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

June 8 - Back to the Normal after the Workshop

As I continue to cover the canvas, I'm working on the lower 2/3, bringing the colors back with the new, hopefully more effective design. The flowers "grew", and the plates moved down and off a bit. Again, I've moved to the Open Acrylics by Golden, to give me some more working time to make decisions. Although I love my traditional acrylics, working on a larger canvas tends to make me hurry when I'm using them.

I got a call from the Escondido gallery--suggesting that most of his clientele have homes that react better to "warmer" palettes. But he said that of all the artists' work he took over to show one of his high-end clients, it was my work that worked best. The Color System... what can I say???

Well, it is back to the "New" normal... It is mighty quiet around here now, after all the new Boot Camp graduates left yesterday, Sunday. The July workshop is full, and I'm looking at the second weekend in October for the next three-day Riverside Boot Camp. Those of you on the East Coast still have an opportunity to relax and paint your socks off in Maine in September. There's another three-day workshop scheduled for August in Sebastopol, but at this time is only open to their membership. I'll keep you posted if that changes.

Here's a photo from the workshop that was kindly sent to me from the Canadian contingent after she arrived back home. I send it to show the rack behind me with the work of the students from the first day--they did either moonlight or misty light paintings and the new "silly painting" using just the CS values. I'm wearing one of the "I survived Color Boot Camp" aprons, and of course, Sparky is doing his "bird on a wire" act.

Happy painting!

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

Jun 6 - The Workshop for June and that Still Life

"When in doubt, paint it out," I said a few days ago. This 30 x 24 has been sitting on my easel since then, asking for attention. Today, after the workshop was over, I invited those interested to stick around and see how this would be changed. Most opted to continue painting after a great idea of pizza delivered to the door. They are dedicated!
So I redesigned the structure on this painting, now using the Golden Open acrylics instead of the traditional acrylics I started with. Fun, juicy and fast painting! Here I'm blocking in the lower half, and I glazed over a lot of the upper half with yellow ochre and gloss medium.

I redrew the plates and the vase larger and expanded the floral portion to more properly balance the composition. And just approached it as though it were differently composed in the first place. I like it better already!

The workshop is going well, with ten Color Boot Campers delving into nuances of the Color System, and taking control of their painting decisions, instead of letting the source material drive their work. It's refreshing to see the new paintings coming off their brushes! More tomorrow, and perhaps one or two will let me use their work in an email to you.

The second image is what the floral looked like after I did the major surgery with the brush and painted OUT the lower two thirds. Hey, I painted it once, I can do it again, and probably better. So it goes.

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

June 2 - Paintings gone Wrong and Beauty Elsewhere

Uh oh. Some times an artist forgets what they're doing, and I'm happy to report to you that this painting is becoming a great teaching example of that!

Those lovely grays are gone now, and I caught myself getting so enamored with the small white rose, that I forgot one of the things I stress with students, "Don't rush the focal point!" So although this painting has some good things going on with it, I have a feeling that it is going to undergo some major surgery shortly.

Hey, this happens to all of us. But most of 'em arteests aren't courageous (or stupid) enough to share the ones that aren't going so well with the general public. I've had an epiphany of knowledge that I'm a teacher first and an artist second, so I see the greater good in sharing ALL the issues with painting, and that includes problems. Since I took this last image, I've painted OUT the lower 2/3 of the canvas. Gone. "When in doubt, paint it out." So it goes. See, I, too, have to slap myself up side the head and put myself back on track. The painting will get much better because of it. After all, "it's just paint".

On another note, here's a bit of beauty from my yard... after I took the image of the picket fence, I walked up to the front patio, turned around and took this second image over the koi pond to the rose garden. I love scenes like this... it may end up as a painting, too.

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

June 1 - Continuing with the Acrylic Still Life

I'm still covering the canvas using only the cool colors--the whites you see are the canvas itself, which flies in the face of my normal procedure of toning the canvas. But since the source material is so harmonious and subtle in coloration, I wanted to use the whate canvas to "keep the sparkle" as I continue to develop the shapes.

Yes, not a BIT of warm in here yet, and the harmonies of color are really pleasant. I'm using the "Trifecta" of the sky trio with white to create all those areas of gray variations. All you Color Boot Camp Graduates will know those!

On the rest of the canvas, I'm just putting in the general shapes of the things--such as the grapes and the plate shadows. There is a bit of pure on the vase now, in the shadows on the left. Ultramarine and white. It looks so warm and advancing because with the Color System, if you use a cool color solo with just white added, and surround it with other cool mixes that have two or three others combined, there's an optical illusion created. That illusion makes the purer colors advance, and appear warmer. Can you see it?

On other news, I'm clearing out the workroom for the June COLOR BOOT CAMP here this coming weekend. Twelve people are going to fill their heads and canvases with the time of day system that seems to be revolutionizing painting for people who want good color, every time.

I'm putting in a white picket fence around my rose garden this week--here's an image of it in process. OK, all the stereotypes about "houses with white picket fences" come to mind, but I've always loved pickets and roses, and now I have both right outside my studio windows. Life is good. But then we also have a swarm of bees that came into the back yard this afternoon, so maybe not. A local beekeeper is coming by this evening to take them for his hives. That's the best for the bees, and they'll be gone before they can get hungry and testy.

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