Dec 31 - End of a Really Interesting Year

One of the most enjoyable things about getting to the end of a year is looking back over the events and choices I've made during the past twelve months and either laughing or crying over the results.  Call it a place to evaluate and a place to assess one's choices, it really IS a place for reflection and organization, prior to moving forward.  So it is now on this evening of the last day of 2010.

I've started a 9 x 12 acrylic of the SAME view I did a year ago, and share with you the lay-in of the large abstract structure as I plan out the lights and darks of this acrylic exercise.  I'm so impressed by the skylines of tracery tree twigs and will be doing my best to interpret those in this landscape, photographed prior to the huge snowfall.

With a couple of glasses of wine in me tonight, and company waiting downstairs, there won't be any more painting tonight.  I raise my glass in your direction instead (white merlot--a lovely blush wine) with wishes for your peace and happiness in 2011.  I plan on a few more glasses before the night is over and the new year is upon me.  Lots of laughter coming up the stairs from family and friends below, and I will join them shortly.

I went into New York City today to photograph "Diva", the installed glass from the last project finished by WoodJanssen, my friend Ron Wood's architectural art glass.  It is stunning in the lobby of 2 Lincoln Square, right across from the famous Lincoln Center, here in New York City.  It is totally impossible to show you how beautiful this installed art glass is through photography. I was completely frustrated in trying to get the colors and beauty of this art glass installation on camera!  This one will have to do... amAZING to see it in person....

And to finish out this evening's email, I thought I'd enclose an image of my nephew's home here in New Jersey, bathed in the incredible evening glow that happens with such impunity here in these northern latitudes.  Walking the dogs tonight gives me gifts beyond compare.  May your visual gifts be so easily recognizable now and in 2011. I am so grateful for all the good fortune I have been enjoying for this past year, your friendship and contact, and the joy of knowing you value these emails.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Dec 29 - Doing the Right Thing

 Sometimes it's hard to find a gift of value to present to those we care about.  Gifts of value to ourselves, as in "worthy" to give.  What I have to offer people is not measured in monetary value, since I don't make a habit of shopping at Nordstrom's.  And sometimes there is not anything I can do or say to someone who has experienced a profound change in their life.  So it is with my nephew's wife.  She lost her mother last July, and most of you know I also lost mine during the daily paintings.  (April 4-6, 2006 in the archives). 

Knowing I was coming to New Jersey to visit, and on a more limited budget without the material gifts of the holiday, I brought my paints and my ability and a plan.  On Christmas Eve, when everyone else was in the Land of Nod, I painted this 12 x 9 acrylic image of Anne Agnew from a black and white image provided by her granddaughter.   She received it on Christmas day, and her father paid me the highest compliment by saying it was as if she was with them in the room.

Sometimes the gift must always move forward.  Enough said.

On another note, I thought you'd enjoy seeing where the three terriers spend "the rest of the story" whilst not out in the three-times-my-height snow.

Gotta love the opportunistic pups, zonked and conked out!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Dec 28 - Skiing and the Rest of the Story

The carousel horse presented to you in his finished state, with over two-thirds of the canvas covered in fabric swatches.  I love the freshness of this way of working, adn when I return to California, I am going to "paint" more of these.  I include a detail image of the poll and mane to show you how the fabrics lend themselves to becoming the bridle on the horse.

The whole purpose in creating these fun pieces is to give the viewer some great times figuring out what is painted, and what is printed or woven.  Can you tell?

Other news... What a GREAT day skiing today!  You can see a new link to the movie coming down this east coast ski slope here.  This was a blue diamond run--I did the black runs but needed all my attention while going there.  Maybe next time I can hold the iTouch AND ski!

The small image is the view from the top of the top lift at Camelback Mountain.  Beautiful weather and not too many people!  Such fun driving with my 14 and 16-year old gran-nephew and niece and their mother up and back--not far, and the roads were clear and dry, contrary to the news from NYC boroughs being not so good--roads there are still not plowed. 

And since I figured out how to make this work, I thought I'd share the video of Camelback skiing.  From coast to coast this year, snow in California and Pennsylvania!



The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Dec 27 - Three Feet and Shoveling

 The carousel horse is continuing with more paint and fabric swatches covering the background.  I love the surprises that happen when I pick a swatch for one reason, put it down, and then realize there was more going on than I anticipated.  Look behind the pole to see the floral patterned dark blue creating a texture of colors I wouldn't/couldn't think to paint in there.  Enhancements like that are an added gift to the process.

Again, the process is to cut fabric and using the matte medium (or gloss, or the gels from Golden or Liquitex), to paint the canvas with a healthy amount.  Then stick the fabric down and paint over it with paint-stained medium or  leave it to dry clear.

And wow, the word blizzard has been revitalized in my vocabulary again.  It SNOWED last night!  Oh yeah!  The first image is me in the back yard, surrounded by anxious small dogs while I shovel down to some grass for them.  My left hand is showing you just how DEEP the show actually is.  Why am I shoveling in the back yard? I'm making a pot-spot for those short-legged pups to go. They showed no interest in chasing anything into the wall of snow three times their height.  I shoveled around the house to the front, with the trio of bark-barks following me.  I told 'em, "We're the Donner Party and no worries, we'll make it to the front without eating anyone." 

Last night at midnight I took the trio out before bed, and Sparky, being an inexperienced California dog, rushes down the front steps, off the last one and... disappears!!  A  black nose poking up out of the snow is all we saw.  He couldn't even touch the ground, and floundered and swam back to the steps.  Learning experience.

This morning I helped my nephew and his son clear the driveway so eventually a car can go out.  Sparky is below my feet, now clear on the concept of firm ground, but still not happy about cold and wet. 

Hope you're all staying warm and dry.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Dec 26 - Let it Snow! Blizzard and Fabricritter!

The blizzard of New Jersey is blowing great gobs of light snow, thickly layering the wonderful neighborhood of Ridgewood.   I have enjoyed the beauty and cold weather of this trip, taking the three dogs out for "walkies" before the storm moved in.  It's amazing how it has changed completely from the image of the creek (below) on my morning walk to the early evening image further down.  With three dogs behind me waiting, expectations of me shoveling a place for the them to get out and do their "thing" this evening, it was quite a difference.  It is still coming down, and my last shoveling moved over a foot of snow off the patio.  I just looked and all that was for naught, as the cleared place for short legs has completely been obliterated.

I love snow.  Always have.  Since I don't have the regular schedule of working five days a week, I can enjoy it for what it is, and even get out and DO stuff in it with my good health.

Now let's look at the Carousel Horse.  I've started to add the fabric swatches, choosing values and colors to fill the spaces behind the central horse.  I've used matt medium (acrylic "glue") to hold down the fabric, and it works GREAT!  It's a lot like making a crazy quilt, but without all the stitching.

Where did these fabrics come from?  My aunt was a quilter, and when she passed, she left a 16 x 20 room with floor to ceiling bolts of cotton quilting cloth.  Amazing.  I took what I loved, and then added a lot of upholstery fabric swatches to the supplies.  I still have several boxes of fabric swatches and "fat quarters" from my aunt's inventory.

Brrr... stay warm!!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE.
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Dec 24 - Holiday Wishes and the Carousel Horse

 I thought as a distraction from all the holiday preparations you might find yourself in, you'd like to see the progression of one of my Fabricritters (tm).  This carousel horse was in an earlier post finished, and I've never shown the procedure for doing one of these totally unique art pieces.  Now is the time!

This started as a standard 36 x 24 inch stretched canvas, and knowing I was going to cover most of it with cut fabric swatches, I didn't tone it like I usually do for a regular painting.  I used about three images of carousel horses, composited for the design--head from one, mane and tack from another, leg from a third.  Artisans who carve these horses have their own signature styles and are well known to historians.  I didn't want any one style to predominate, as an artist, that's one starting point for originality.

As you can see, I'm already thinking purple/blue/orange for the complimentary color scheme.  No fabric at this stage--purely drawing and thin layers to make my mental "connection" with the idea in my head to the white canvas.

On another note, I'm in New Jersey (like last year!) and brought Sparky along.  He reunited with Onslow, and Hiroo, and of course we had to go "walkies".  Here's an image of the trio in a tangled mess trying to figure out what's what!  No white Christmas here yet, the skies are blue and bright with the grays of the bare trees showing incredible variations of middle value grayed reds (aka rose), light grayed purple (aka lavender) and blues... I brought my traveling acrylics, so will be doing several landscapes again--just like last year!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Dec 20 - Finished the Snow Scene and Just in TIME!

"Waiting for Supper" 16 x 12 Oil

So much fun to finish this painting up and post it for you just before I am leaving for the East Coast again.  Remember last year in New York City?  I went to both MOMA and the Met, and filled my mind with some amazing artwork.  I hope to do that and more this time!  Of course, Sparky is going with me.  Today he got his "traveling papers" for the flight.  

In finishing up this painting, I used some gel medium and painted in the rays of the evening sun coming through the branches.  This is yet another "stitching" move to link together larger areas of the painting.  Like telephone poles, tree trunks and the like, these linear shapes can make a quilt-like connection between larger areas of differing values or color. 

Last time I wrote to you, it was in the high eighties out here in California.  Now as I look out my window as the rain streaks it wet-down, and the wind buffets the big pines behind the house.  I make rounds to keep the gutters and ditches clear of debris, and enjoy this rain coming down.  Good for the dry soil, but not for the ski slopes, since the weather up there isn't cold enough for snow.  

I'm glad I had my chance up there, and perhaps it will improve for when I return.  I did go ice skating a couple of days ago, and tried to attach an image that had me going around in circles... to no avail!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Repost - Dec 1 - To the Snow, and The Snow Painting

The painting has tons more details at this phase, but it isn't finished yet. There are many areas that are too rough for what I like to see in my work nowadays, and so I'll need to work over those areas before calling it quits and signing it. I don't have the sunrays coming through the trees yet, either. Tomorrow!

Even with oils, it is possible to work into wet paint and put those filmy sunrays shining through. How? By careful handling of your brush. It should almost be flat against the canvas to keep from disturbing layers underneath. Even my stiff filberts can do this delicate task when held horizontally near the canvas.

The snow in the foreground feels mighty cold right now, unlike the snow I experienced yesterday on my ski day at Snow Summit!!!!

Thirty-three years later, and I am back on the slopes! The equipment has changed, but the snow's the same! I had such a good time with a group of fellows in my age range, and we skied our buns off! I even put a couple short, less than one-minute movies on YouTube here, and here. Yeah, that's my shouts of joy and laughter in there! Couldn't help myself...SO much fun!

I'm definitely going back again....
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Dec 1 - To the Snow, and The Snow Painting, I think I fixed the problem with the mailing list!

I sure hope you'll see this "missing post" in your in box with images attached.  I hope it is fixed now!

The color excitement begins! In my last post, I was showing you how the cool box colors can create interest across shapes by various changes in value.

Now I've moved into the warm family of colors to add the "punch" of the temperature contrast int he areas of show and sky that are infused with sunlight.

Yes, you Color Boot Camp graduates know that the sky moves into the cool family as it leaves the "warm circle"!

Design note: Do you perceive the tensions of the diagonals caused by the shadows and fence line? Another "aha" moment!

It's still dark outside this morning, and I'm getting ready to leave for a day of skiing. No chains required on the road up there, and it is only an hour and a half away. I'll be sure to have pictures taken for tomorrow's blog!

"Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.” - Patricia Sampson

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Nov 25 (Sent On) - Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy holiday to you all! Here's the latest on this 16 x 12 oil of ....brrrr.... snow!

After the dark structure is laid in on this oil, I go for the midtones, putting in the large shapes of the snowfall, keeping my brushwork loose and not worrying about edges at this time. Squint at the painting, and you'll see that already it is doing what I've asked it to do--create a strong diagonal tension with the shadow shape and the opposing fence line.

Unconsciously I also created more value changes in the shadow snow nearer the viewer--an essential way to convey something closer on this flat surface.

Can you perceive the heat of the thalo blue under-painting in the non-painted areas? That's a subtle guide to me to keep adding cools for the dominance they will have in the final painting. The warms are the accents and surround the focal point.

Happy (USA) Thanksgiving to all of you out there enjoying traditional meals and gatherings of loved ones (and ones you can only tolerate once a year or so). I was spending this day solo, but have a last-minute invitation that I just couldn't turn down.

So the dogs will get good bones, and I will be ever so grateful for the love and life I have, and laugh with my friends once more. I hope all of you will do the same.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Repost with images - November 22 resent Dec 5

(I think I've fixed the blog problem!! Yippee!)

A wonderful ten-day visit with Michelle Walker, from Ohio, almost eclipsed the joy of teaching the November Color Boot Camp! We painted, went gallery hopping in Laguna Beach, and had the best time laughing and just being joyful artists.

I've been rather thoughtful of late, pensive in contemplating how our lives unfold, and how we cannot live a life without changes (whether anticipated or not) that will come. It's how we deal with changes that says much of our value as humans to one another. Changes come in all forms, in our art, in our art direction and also in our thinking when we actually DO our art.

I'm changing, which is inevitable. That's not to say that the old "Art Me" is no longer there, but the one evolving and emerging now is one of more depth and richness. This is good. As our economy continues to erode, and we reach back to find some sustainable pleasure in the structure of our lives, learning more about who we are as artists is a good thing. Going out and making choices about self improvement is a good thing. Self-development brings us talents and skills that will be useful in the future we have to face. To become stagnant in one's art is so self-limiting, and leaves us dead in the water, repeating mistakes or stuck in the expectations of others.

I highly recommend finding an artist who is also a good teacher to push you out of any ruts you might be in. My week with Michelle and her insights has made me do that, and it is all joyful.

So I'm moving forward with my art, and will be sharing those paintings with you. Yes, they still have the Color System!

The image to the right is a 16 x 12 oil, started to show the students not only backlighting, but also snow, and a horse in a demonstration that will unfold over the next few days on my blog. This is the dark abstract structure that most all my paintings start with. The blue underpainting is acrylic thalo blue spritzed with alcohol and allowed to dry. Makes great visual texture!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Test Message, please ignore.

Test message to Me. (Blogger isn't forwarding my blogs to my mailing list!)
(This is a "Fabricritter" made of fabric and acrylic paint.)
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Dec 2 - Skiing Again! And Snow Painting, too!

The painting has tons more details at this phase, but it isn't finished yet. There are many areas that are too rough for what I like to see in my work nowadays, and so I'll need to work over those areas before calling it quits and signing it. I don't have the sunrays coming through the trees yet, either. Tomorrow!

Even with oils, it is possible to work into wet paint and put those filmy sunrays shining through. How? By careful handling of your brush. It should almost be flat against the canvas to keep from disturbing layers underneath. Even my stiff filberts can do this delicate task when held horizontally near the canvas.

The snow in the foreground feels mighty cold right now, unlike the snow I experienced yesterday on my ski day at Snow Summit!!!!

Thirty-three years later, and I am back on the slopes! The equipment has changed, but the snow's the same! I had such a good time with a group of fellows in my age range, and we skied our buns off! I even put a couple short, less than one-minute movies on YouTube here, and here. Yeah, that's my shouts of joy and laughter in there! Couldn't help myself...SO much fun!

I'm definitely going back again....
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Dec 1 - To the Snow, and The Snow Painting

The color excitement begins! In my last post, I was showing you how the cool box colors can create interest across shapes by various changes in value.

Now I've moved into the warm family of colors to add the "punch" of the temperature contrast int he areas of show and sky that are infused with sunlight.

Yes, you Color Boot Camp graduates know that the sky moves into the cool family as it leaves the "warm circle"!

Design note: Do you perceive the tensions of the diagonals caused by the shadows and fence line? Another "aha" moment!

It's still dark outside this morning, and I'm getting ready to leave for a day of skiing. No chains required on the road up there, and it is only an hour and a half away. I'll be sure to have pictures taken for tomorrow's blog!

"Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.” - Patricia Sampson

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Nov 22 - Visiting with Friends and New Work

A wonderful ten-day visit with Michelle Walker, from Ohio, almost eclipsed the joy of teaching the November Color Boot Camp! We painted, went gallery hopping in Laguna Beach, and had the best time laughing and just being joyful artists.

I've been rather thoughtful of late, pensive in contemplating how our lives unfold, and how we cannot live a life without changes (whether anticipated or not) that will come. It's how we deal with changes that says much of our value as humans to one another. Changes come in all forms, in our art, in our art direction and also in our thinking when we actually DO our art.

I'm changing, which is inevitable. That's not to say that the old "Art Me" is no longer there, but the one evolving and emerging now is one of more depth and richness. This is good. As our economy continues to erode, and we reach back to find some sustainable pleasure in the structure of our lives, learning more about who we are as artists is a good thing. Going out and making choices about self improvement is a good thing. Self-development brings us talents and skills that will be useful in the future we have to face. To become stagnant in one's art is so self-limiting, and leaves us dead in the water, repeating mistakes or stuck in the expectations of others.

I highly recommend finding an artist who is also a good teacher to push you out of any ruts you might be in. My week with Michelle and her insights has made me do that, and it is all joyful.

So I'm moving forward with my art, and will be sharing those paintings with you. Yes, they still have the Color System!

The image to the right is a 16 x 12 oil, started to show the students not only backlighting, but also snow, and a horse in a demonstration that will unfold over the next few days on my blog. This is the dark abstract structure that most all my paintings start with. The blue underpainting is acrylic thalo blue spritzed with alcohol and allowed to dry. Makes great visual texture!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Nov 16 - The Workshop Over, and New Work

Does this one look familiar? Ought to. It was around a few years ago in another life and another level of color knowledge. I've included the earlier version below and that'll allow you to see how making color changes as one's color knowledge improves can be freeing, pleasurable and just pure FUN!

During the workshop (Color Boot Camp!) last weekend, I used this 12 x 9 oil as a lesson in how to achieve color balance when faced with a problem painting. I brought this one into 2010 with better choices of hue in about 1/3 of the canvas. Can you tell where? Yes, the panniers got a makeover, but so did the sky and the shadows. It was a good lesson for the Boot Campers to see.

What's the value plan?
What time of day is it?
Is there a good value structure holding the painting together?
These three questions are good ones to have when you're either fixing a painting or beginning one.

The Mule is Sold, and will be going to it's new home next week.

Today my guest Michelle Walker and I will be plein air painting near Two Trees, and who knows how my brushes will behave? I know her company is joyful as she is really GOOD with color (heh heh....)

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

Nov 1 - Not Finished...

The painting has the touches that I felt needed to be present for the demonstration audience, and I brought it back to the studio looking like this. Even though the major details are now in place, I'm going to adjust and make some major shifts in it when I can calmly look at it in the quietude of the studio.

I enjoy doing demonstrations, as I tend to talk-talk-talk, sharing information as the brushes are moving (those who have the newest DVD will attest!). But the painting at this stage lacks the nifty details that makes an acrylic under my hands so much fun to visually enjoy.

We do need to step away from our work to get a better feel for it. Women especially tend to noodle paintings beyond saving because we are wired to believe that "if we just DO something, it will be better". And that noodling generally results in disaster. I know the men reading this are nodding their heads, having told their wives, wishing they could say "Just leave it (AKA me) alone," as we women try to fix things. So I've trained myself to walk away from my art, knowing that when I return to the work, it will be with a fresh mind, able to see more clearly what needs to be done. So it is with this one.

Since I'm still in Chicago, I've been unable to noodle the painting, even if I wanted to, so this is accepting what is, and that's always a good thing.

Flying back to California on this first of November, el Dia de los Muertos. May you have recovered from the spooky goblins and skeletal hauntings of Halloween to remember one's ancestors today!

I will be giving a three-day, spaced out over several weeks workshop after the New Year for the folks in the Temecula area.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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 31 - Happy Halloween and the demo painting

I've taken another photograph of the painting's progress, now thirty minutes into the demonstration last week. Here I've finally opened the Warm Box and added some of the lights to the canvas. However, those orange areas in the foreground are located in the shade, so they're made with yellow ochre and alizarin, two Cool Box hues!

At this stage, I'm still fooling around with the large shapes, and accidentally many of the interesting edges occur just because I'm not "trying" to make edges. I've found that a lack of concern for edges until later in the painting process. Most of the "accidental" edges just remain as visual eye candy.

Happy Halloween to y'all. I won't be seeing any trick or treating today as the hotel here isn't the place. But the Navy housing around me will be doing it, and I'll be looking out for some little costumes.

Here's another very creative image taken by my nephew (New Jersey contingent--where I spent last Christmas). He's quite the creative photographer, lining up my sister and his daughter Kristina at that chrome sculpture in Millennium Park. My niece the graduate is texting in the background. (She hadn't seen her phone while in boot camp!)

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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 30 - Chicago in Balmy Fall Weather

This is the painting, 20 minutes in, because I FORGOT to photograph it after the first ten minutes! Arrrgh!

What I've done here is opened the Cool Box only to paint (first) the large dark structures of the trees and deep gray greens. I left the warms exposed where I plan to put the focal point and the sunlit patches of light coming through the pines. I'm using a one-inch filbert as I paint these large shapes. The rocks (purplish shapes) are done with the sky trio, plus white and a bit of burnt umber to "kill back" the purity. The sky patches coming through the trees do not have that umber in the mix, because one would "never" use earths in the sky!! (Oh, I hear the voices of the Color Boot Camp graduates saying that!)

When I return from Chicago, I'll be getting ready for the Color Boot Camp coming up November 11-14. It's full, but there are plans afoot for me to teach three weekend days spread out over the end of January and February for the folks in Temecula next year. They might have a couple slots, but there were ten already to sign up after my doing this demonstration.

Chicago is enjoying some really "balmy" 50+ degree weather, and Sparky and I were in Millenium Park at that huge chrome sculpture. That's my family in the background and my sister taking the photo. Silly fun!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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 29 - In Chicago and the Demonstration

I did the demonstration painting before leaving for Chicago last week, and here's the first pass... Just the covering of the canvas with (in this case) sap green and burnt sienna, which are both warms. The painting that will result is of one of the many picnic tables in Hawley Lake's campground. Something about the location coupled with the table as a gathering place is motivating me to do a series of paintings conveying the beauty and the gathering of like-minded souls. We could all gather at a picnic table in a beautiful place and celebrate the joy of being together and the location!

This is a 16 x 20, and I'm doing it in acrylics. What you see, is the marks in the paint done with a silicone-tipped "brush" mark maker. The scribbles and jots are plans for the location of shapes coming later.

I carried it in this stage to the art guild in Temecula.

On other news, I'm typing this from Chicago North--having just seen my niece graduate as a Seaman Recruit at the Naval Training Station here. She was outstanding in her training, earning the right to carry the sword for the flag detail (all state flags) as part of the honor guard. Here's a rather grainy picture I took during the ceremony. I'm so proud of her intelligence, her focus, and her choice of following in her grandfather's choice of a Naval career.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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 18 - The Blank Surface Awaits

It begins. The 30 x 40 canvas on the easel, white as snow, awaiting the brushes. And the source material that is the inspiration for that next painting stuck to the middle of it. Tiny picture, big canvas.

All artists face this moment. The idea in the crucible of the mind, sparkling and optimistically on the verge of emergence. The first brush mark will break the restraint and the painting journey will commence. Will it be smooth sailing? Or will the trip be plagued with potholes and mechanical problems? That's the mystique of the process, and here's the whole answer to that... It isn't what you face when you create, it is how you react to it that matters.

I've had some real stinkers come off the easel in my career. "Potholes" if you will, that ought not to have seen the light of day. (You can find some of them on the dailypaintings web site.) Most are gone now, fuel for the bonfire of paintings last summer. That I created such turkeys isn't what matters. What matters is that I didn't think of them as the "end-all be-all" of my work, nor the culmination of my painting efforts. No. I just acknowledged that at that moment in time I was not at my best game. So I move on to make better paintings.

So as we all look at that white surface before the frenzy of brushwork begins, remember that no matter the end result, the painting will only be a stepping stone, not a stopping place, on your career.

Tomorrow I go to another demonstration, this time in Temecula at 7 pm, at 41789 Nichole Lane. Looks like it is in the Creekside Center near the mall. Not sure if I'm painting in oils or acrylics, but whatever I do, I'll blog it for you in ten minute increments in the days ahead.

And if it turns out to be a candidate for the next bonfire, know that we all tell ourselves, "I'll never make that mistake again!"

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE.
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 16 - Demo forty minutes in

Ah, finishing up and adding the last details... that was what took up the last ten-minute section of the demonstration. Adding the huan element of that picnic table is what pulls the viewer into the image. And all of that is planned from the get-go, and with the careful orchestration of the brushwork and keeping the values down, now you see the angles of the table and know the scale of the place. The viewer (you) now "fit" into the scene.

Here's an interesting part of this... taking the image into Photoshop, and doing a levels view on it, I see this graph showing the amount of the values in the painting. Note the nice bell curve shape of the values. HUGE amount of mid tones, and small darks and lower values, and also small lights. Note that the majority of the painting's values are humped to the LEFT of mid point, showing that this painting is darker in values than a more balanced image. Using the "Levels" can teach you about your work in ways that are not accessible through just looking or asking your significant other or spousal unit, "Honey, do you like this?"

I hope to begin a larger, special painting tomorrow, and will share the development of that one with you as well.

This painting, entitled "Sanctuary" will get some more tweaking before I call it finished, but I did sign it.

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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.

October 15 - Thirty Minutes into it, and changes!

Oh, look! The trees are back!

In ten more minutes with the fastest (one inch filbert) brush in the west, I've gone BACK into my dark pigments and put in those trees, their major needles (Ponderosa pines), and make the green areas of the lower right more interesting. What I'm doing at this point is "shaping" those larger marks into three-dimensional belief builders. They look like rocks now.

The filbert brush is an amazing tool--giving the artist the broad strokes that start and finish thinly as one puts down and picks up the brush. That brush also made all of the branches--thick to thin, out to the ending tips. All with a one-inch filbert.

I've mentioned before that making water isn't tough--first the verticals, and then the horizontals on top. I'll add to that a general guideline--make more verticals (at least 2/3 more) than horizontals. I've held to that pretty much by this point with the lake. I like how the whole scene feels wet, and I can testify that this is because of the Cool Box colors.

On other news, tonight 20 people are coming over to my theater to watch a special movie screening of a private debate held last year. I'm chasing dust bunnies and trying to make the yard resemble something other than a dog kennel. Dog puppy toys everywhere, sigh...

Did any of you see the National Geographic "Worst Fix" show last night with the installation of Ron Wood's project in Salt Lake City? After the structure is in place, the glass will be installed over the next few months. Ought to be spectacular when finished!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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 14 - Another Ten Minutes, and the Salt Lake City Sky Bridge

Ten more minutes in and the mid-tones are set in place. The colors used for these mid-tones are completely out of the Cool Box, and all I've done is add white to them. I didn't even clean my palette, but mixed down into the colors already there with the white.

Now the lake's furthest edge cuts through my original trees, but I need that complete line, as it is important to have it go fully across, since we all know water "seeks its own level". During the NEXT ten minutes, I'll paint those tress back in.

So, I've laid in thin darks (structure, first ten minutes), mid-tones in large shapes (second ten minutes), and... can you guess what will come next? Tomorrow will be revealing...

On another note, it is SO exciting to know that National Geographic has picked up on the massive glass project of Ron Wood (the last project of Ron's partnership company before Ron went solo). You can see the framework for the Salt Lake City's glass "Sky Bridge" going up as their "World's Toughest Fixes" and it is happening TONIGHT (Thursday, 8 pm) on television. Wish I had cable! Here's the LINK. I had mentioned that Ron did large projects? All I can say is... WOW.

We're still working on the collaboration of the fused glass panels. Just love the creative energy!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
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 13 - Demonstration Painting in Stages, First Pass, 10 minutes

The Corona Art Association welcomed me as their demonstrating artist last night, and I put the 16 x 20 acrylic panel (from yesterday's blog) up on my easel and began my talk.

I asked a member familiar with an iTouch to set my timer for ten minutes, and with much laughter, I started painting. At the end of the ten minutes, here was the result. The canvas is covered for the most part with dark tones and mixes of Cool Box Ultramarine blue, Burnt Umber and Thalo green. No white. All I did was paint over the underpainting using various strengths of this trio of colors using a one-inch filbert Ruby Satin, by Silver Brush.

In my talk to the group, I stressed the importance of getting that abstract structure with dark values before ANY of the details show up. As you can see, the identity of the painting is clear even at this murky point. Howard Pyle, the "father of American Illustration" used to teach his students that they had 30 minutes to get a value structure in place that would hold up to the viewer 90 feet away--"Thirty minutes, thirty yards!". He was a great teacher, and still influences artists today. Having strength of design before the objects that create that design overwhelm the viewer is a good practice. Objects by themselves do not create good paintings. Design is EVERYTHING to making good art!

If I make this painting tiny, as though it is away from you 90 feet, you can see in only ten minutes I've been able to create a value design that holds up with clarity. Whew.... OK, let's reset the timer for another ten minutes, and look at what happens to this painting... tomorrow!

The Riverside workshop in November is full. Sorry if you didn't make it into this last one for 2010. There are several offerings for next year, though, and I'll be announcing those in the weeks to come. Gift yourself the gift of knowledge!

The newest DVD on the Color System, Twilight and Misty Days, is HERE.
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 12 - Acrylic Art Demonstration Painting in Stages

I'm headed out this evening to do a demonstration painting in acrylics for the Corona Art Association, and I wanted you to see this one develop in stages. Here's the first cover, done in the studio so I can talk and not think about composition as I start. (Yes, I'm taking the timer along with me! Every ten minutes I'll take another image and post a blog on that stage of the painting.)

The under painting on this 16 x 20 is done with a mix of cad orange and sap green, with a touch of thalo blue thrown in. I know it is going to be a Cool Box painting, so I put in a warm under painting, in case some of that shows through. If you look earlier in my blog (Sept 21-26), you'll see another painting in stages which is similarly done. This one, however, is in a different atmosphere, and won't have much of the mist on it. I used one of those rubber-tipped "brushes" to make the marks of the drawing so I know the basic location of the coming shapes. I also spritzed it with alcohol mist when the paint was wet enough to react to it. Makes an interesting visual texture, even though most of it will be lost in the coming layers.

I'm looking forward to seeing how it will develop, although I can almost "feel" it finished in my mind. The canvas is now packed in the Honda Fit along with my art supplies and DVDs for the evening demo.

The source image for this demonstration tonight is below, and is from my recent trip to the White Mountains. I hope you'll enjoy how it develops and my writing about why I make the changes I do. Let's enjoy our time together as this one develops over the next several days!

On another front... the painting that I revised on October 7th SOLD at the opening, along with eight other artists' works. So even though some of you were divided in your comments about its changes, it is now in someone's collection, so no revisions are possible! ( The 7x5 picnic bench is still there... sort of glad it hasn't sold.)

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE.
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 11 - Memories of Ski Areas, Oil 8 x 10

This was the last painting of the trip--done on Thursday from my camper. It was done from inside the camper, because I was sited on the side of the road in the middle of a high, wide mesa, and the winds were buffeting so strongly that my camper roof was rippling and occasional thunder came from above!

Done in oils, I enjoyed coming back into the sumputous feel of this media after the details inherent in acrylic layering. This is Sunrise Ski Area, and I painted the runs with a dusting of imaginary snow. As is the wish of everyone who enjoys downhill winter sports, that first snowfall heralds the coming of winter playdays!

The ominous snow-filled clouds were painted with the ultra blue, alizarin, yellow ochre and white combination that is so useful for all skies. Never pure, these three make marvelous, clean sky grays with infinite variations!

Here's yet another image from the campground, showing the many ways this part of the White Mountains presents itself. This one may end up in a painting--perhaps as a backdrop to a living creature--or another picnic table! In any case, the beauty and peacefulness of Hawley Lake cannot be minimized. I'm glad I brought back so many photographic memories.

You can buy my latest DVD "Twilight and 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.