Personal Art Blog

Sharing the lessons I teach at the Artist Guild and the personal discoveries in my art.

Friday, January 31, 2020

The Pincushion


 The Pincushion
6'"x 8" oil on canvas panel $150.  SOLD


Artist Note
This was a fun guild project.
The pincushion lesson wrapped up 
a busy month of reviewing
Shapes, Values and the Principles of Light.

We started with SEEING the simple 
base shapes in everything  
For a mushroom it would be 
the shape of
half a ball, ellipse, and cylinder stem.

Everything painted from life.

Drawing first on gray paper 
with white and black charcoal pencils.

Finding how the light gives it the 
volume and values.

Next we did the white tulip.
A rectangle or cylinder -
both worked.

The emphasis was also on
the principle of how...

White in the Shadow 
moves into a middle value
AND
Black in the Light 
moves to a middle value.

This was a black container
set on middle value gray paper.
The light hitting the top
was a similar value to the 
middle gray behind it.
(I deliberately made the area between
the bottom handle lighter to show
how light white would go.)

I find this is the hardest principle for
most artists I teach to grasp.
It is very hard for ME
 to get it exactly correct.
I have to " intellectually" do it because 
as 
I am looking... 
my mind says 
black is black!
White is white
LOL. they sure ain't!
Like an apple is not always RED!

Anyway, after having 3 weeks of  that 
it was fun to going into bright color. 
Same simple shapes...ball 
(a bit squished) and cylinder.
plus single light source.

Everyone did a great job and I have 
several of these demos to enjoy finishing.

Enjoy a peaceful time in your studio...
or happy place!

Friday, January 24, 2020

Stacked Lemons


Stacked Lemons
8"x 8" oil on canvas board  SOLD

Artist Note
These lemons were fresh when I started 
and rather shriveled by the time I finished.
Doesn't matter...I still enjoyed time
with the paint!

I remember doing a whole series
with lemons
a few years ago
and some of them were very difficult.
Guess what...they are still not easy.
Interesting how painting is like that.

Enjoy a wonderful week.



Friday, January 10, 2020

The Original Feather Comforter!



Original Down Comforter
24'x24" oil on Gallery Wrap canvas. Sold

Artist Note
This is a painting full of 
painting love, frustration, then
back to love.
It is one of the hardest nests 
I have ever painted
and I have done hundreds.

Did you know that is is the early egg laying
birds who use feathers to
keep the eggs from getting cold?
Mother Nature thought of everything!

Obviously, it was the influence for the title.
An friend's husband came up with it.
(Thank you Carlos.)

My first efforts were fast and painterly.
I liked it.
But it did not describe the nest and 
all the careful work the birds 
had put into it. 


Out of all of that work I had to make some sense of order.

24"x 24" is large for me
 and it has taken a long time to paint.
I did take my time and tried to capture
the different textures and subtle colors.
Not easy for an impressionist
who loves color so there are delightful 
spots of color here and there.

The person who found the nest 
after a huge wind storm gave it to me
but did not know what type of bird made it.
Neither do I, plus it is the first one 
I have seen of its kind.

 The young lady who bought it
had seen it in progress on a visit 
to my studio and it "spoke to her heart."
When I emailed her a pic of the 
finished painting... 
she wanted it.
And that made me very happy....
going to a home where it will be loved.