Cherry Time and New Studio Pics

Cherry Time
6x6" oil on panel

Artist Note.
Getting back into painting after
a break is pretty humbling.
I did this one and liked it...
but was told it didn't pop...so I
reworked it and maybe ruined it?

Which one do you prefer?

Cherry Time#2

6x6' oil on panel 

Oh well...at least I am painting
again and loving doing it.

Here are a few shots of
my new studio space.

You enter to this area.
I am very pleased to have
a place for some of my nests
and fav fountain.

Also, I enjoy having
a separate area to eat
lunch or relax with a drink.

The classroom
The room is 24' long  and
I have the whole end of it! YEA!

A convenient shelf runs along
the wall
for the artists to place their
iPad and source material on.
A mirror hangs by each station
so they can check their works
with fresh eyes.


The  corridor turned out to be
 the perfect place to
have the shelves to hold everything
from masking tape to rulers
Also, the above photo is great
because you can
see the difference in the
 light bulbs colors.
All walls are the same gray.
The corridor has LED lights
and they give a pinky cast
The classroom has daylight
5500 with CRL 90
a perfect balance!
and the entrance area
you see at the end is of
 a typical fluorescent
and gives a slight yellow cast.

Meet the Guild's oldest member
- he loves hanging around!!
Look at the great still-life storage!
PLUS
I have a really large room
which holds everything -
including an area with individual
cube storage space for
the Guild members to  store their
large items they do not
want to tote all the time.

And.... best of all....
it gives me space for a permanent
photo area.

This will be a happy creative space
for me and the
members of the
 Artists Guild of Southern New Mexico.

We have a Guild member I have to thank.
RICH.
A retired master carpenter from
Philly, he has generously given
many hours to 
painting walls and building shelves.
It must have driven him nuts
listening to my 
voice suggesting...
"maybe a little bit more to the right!"

Always patient and always good humored
we are grateful and 
thank you, Richard Haggerty!

Here is one of his paintings
Talented for sure!

Thanks for staying to see everything

Red Teapot and Van Gogh

Tea With Van Gogh
6x8" oil on canvas panel  SOLD

Artist Note.
Good to be back painting after
being hit with a nasty virus.
I am still coughing and living
in a whirl of
tissues and nose blowing.
From now on it is fist bumps
for greetings
instead of handshakes.

A good friend came back from a
trip to Europe with a gift of two
tablecloths  - both with images of
Vincent van Gogh's work.
This one had his gorgeous"Irises" painting.
see detail below.

I have set up a couple of 

still life displays using 

the tablecloths as the background.

They are rich and exciting.

I decided to use the red teapot

to see if I could balance out

the power of the colors 

in the cloth.

The next one has fruit

in a clay bowl.

You can just see a tiny bit of it

at the right side

I started this before
Mr.blanky blankVirus
decided to form an
intimate relationship
with me and
managed to complete it today.
Yea - on the recovery road!

Anemone Still Life

Anemones

6x8in Oil on canvas $130. SOLD

After painting crows this was a blast
of beautiful color.

Artist Note
This was a demo using the
Ned Jacob's limited palette.

Colors:
Cad Yellow light
Orange 
Alizarin Perm. W&N
Ultramarine Blue
Black
Titanium White

I set up the palette first
by premixing the colors  shown
below and
placing them between the
above base colors
following my usual placement.

Ochre ( yellow and reddish purple)
 A beautiful Red    (orange / Aliz)
Purple    (Alizarin / Ultramarine)
Green    ultra blue / yellow
for a regular green also
I always make a light yellow green
Olive green   Black/yellow
Grey (black / white ) a middle value

The colors from this palette
are beautiful. The neutral color
range is particularly harmonious
 and the bright, warm and cool
colors are really lovely.
I will show the color chart in
my next post.

Approaching Storm - New Mexico

Approaching Storm - New Mexico

8x8in Oil on canvas panel SOLD

Artist Note.

Mission:

Create a sense of place without detail

using simple abstract shapes, and color.

Both the previous post and this one 

were self-assigned 

exercises to help me explore the relationship

of warm color 

in both receding and frontal space.

Pansy Patterns - day 25 in the Challenge

Pansy Patterns

8x6in oil on canvas
work in progress.

Day 25
A colorful jolt to the senses!

Artist Note.

This is an older one I re-worked.
It is purely a decorative piece and I
still love having it around to
experiment on.

Back in late 2011
I did a series based on influences

from Picasso's work and cubism.
Using pattern and color as the main
focus it completely made me free
from the realistic motif of
light creating volume.
Good to have a change every so often...
especially near the end of a
Leslie Saeta 30 Day Challenge!
See all the beautiful paintings HERE

Apples and Plums

Apples and Plums

6x8in oil on canvas panel   $125.  SOLD

This is for the DPW Emotion Challenge.
I do not want to feel sad so I avoided painting anything serious.
Been there - done that.

COLOR - now that is what makes me feel happy

And, an apple a day keeps the doctor away,
so that makes me happy too!
Throw in a couple of plums and hopefully I will never
need a doctor again.

Lower Falls - Yellowstone

Lower Falls - Yellowstone

8x6in  oil on canvas board   $125.

Simplified painting of the Lower Falls from Artist Point in
Yellowstone.


Artist Note.


If this looks a bit different than what you are used to seeing
from me, you are right, it is. I usually go from this simplified stage
into more fracturing.


I am painting these two ( yesterday and today) Yellowstone paintings
from my sketchbook.  Today's watercolor reference is below.

 Notice the detail - every tree is shown,  so when I started to paint
I found I wanted to say more about the sun hitting the falls than I did
anything else. So I pushed color and found a harmony which speaks
to me of sunshine and shadows. I have a wonderful new blue.
Ocean Blue by LaFranc. It has Thalo in it, but is modified to perfection!

Short story.
I was standing painting the view of the falls, totally absorbed and when
I had finished I heard applause so I turned round and a whole group of
Japanese tourists had been stood watching me paint. They had never
disturbed me, respecting my concentration. I was amazed thinking how you
would never get anyone else to be that considerate, but then I had to line up
with each of them while they they took a photo with me and my little painting
with each of them and I thought THAT would never have happened either!