Jan 10 - Another Dog Day Afternoon...?

I'm starting a painting, another square one, because this image of an agility dog has been in my head since I saw the videos on YouTube. The energy of agility is amazing!

Again, design is king (or queen!) in these new works. Look at the tire shape creating the arc that sweeps the viewer through the canvas, counter-balanced by the other arc of the dog's body and direction of travel. Another arc is the shape of the tunnel behind, and the arcs of the tube tunnel itself.

This is design! -- repetition with variety, which encourages the viewer's eye to travel around the painting, going from arc to arc. Although most viewers aren't aware that is what they are doing, having the repetitions there also creates harmony--this is a GOOD thing. Even without color, the structure of the painting emerges. Structure within a painting is key to making good work. One can have all the color knowledge available, and not making traditional realism fly because the underlying abstract structure is weak. Have you looked over your own work to find the abstract structure?

This will be another entry for the Art Show at the Dog Show in Kansas City. Wish me luck!

On another note, one of my painting shipping boxes ended up in Utah, because of a mis-print on the address on the return shipping label. It is "The Quest" the acrylic done for the acrylic DVD "Acrylic Painting Fast and Loose", which was shown in Chicago. Just a reminder not to reuse shipping boxes so often that there is too much writing on them! I've learned. Ship with Strong Boxes by Airfloat systems. Worth every penny. I didn't use one, and they said the painting was damaged... I will see when it finally gets here how bad it is.

Our hills are greening up now with the rains. Here's an image of the view out our back gate:


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Jan 7 - Round Puppies Finished, and Workshop Filled!

Here is the finished painting, photographed digitally and then sent off for slide duplication--this one is going into the Kansas City "Art Show at the Dog Show" competition under the oils category. I hope it gets in!

In finishing this one up, you can see I didn't do all that much more major painting, just refined and detailed out the legs, pats and heads of the two dogs. I paid special attention to the contrast areas on the tails and the gently varying values on the white areas of the right pup ("Sparky").

The added color of the red-violet collar puts the finishing touch of a discord for this analogous color scheme. In Hal Reed's Color Wheel, he shows that there needs to be a dominant hue of the one compliment (in this case the orange) and a much smaller physical area of the partnering complement (in this case, the blues). Hal Reed's Analogous Color Wheel helped me get the correct proportion of hues when I needed it, making my work more pleasing to the eye. Although not part of the Color System I use now, it is useful to have one of these while planning your paintings.

I'm so pleased to report that the first week's workshop in May in Georgia is FULL. I didn't think it would fill THAT fast!!! I'm still taking waitlisted folks in the case someone doesn't make it. So if you want to come to Georgia's second Color Boot Camp, please let me know, as the second week has a few spaces left. Curious? Go here.

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