My Work at Art Angles till 5/31

Looking through my pictures and came across this one of all 5 pieces and thought I would blog them. It is better than a mental record.

Irvine View " 8 x 10" oil

I really call this Tom's trees, because we were copying a painting of Tom's in class 2 weeks ago. I think there is a value in copying a painting to get the feel of what it take to make that stroke or feel the thin or thick or just match a color. I have trouble when I think about the fact that I really am trying to find my own style. So I need to make sure I balance the importance of both in my life. I think the only answer is to paint , paint, paint!

"Grey Day on a Lake in Irvine" 8" x 8"

Went out 2 Saturdays ago and painted this in Irvine. It was extremely grey and dreary and I was hungry. I am not good at fabricating color and unfortunately I was trying to make it more interesting than it was. I learned a lot about the importance of inspiration. I needed to ask the question, "what inspires me about this scene". I know I liked the tree on the left when I think about it, and that was about it. The saving grace in it all was going and having a nice lunch with a painting pal and talking ART! Thanks Kim :)

Melissa 10" x 8" oil

Model day...I almost forgot.

Boats on the Lake 12" x 9" oil

This was done in Tom Brown's class last week. It reminds me of a painting I saw in Elizabeth Tolley's new book. I think it is a good subject for reflections and values.

Path Through Peter's Canyon 20" x 16" oil

On Saturday at the art show, my friend Martha was on her way out and said she really liked the "Path Through Peter's Canyon" , but wanted it bigger. The one at the show was 8" x 10". So in the mean time I got some new art supplies and needed something to paint. So why not see if it could be made bigger and go from a horizontal format to a vertical format. Of course I have no idea what big is and this may not be it, but I know it works.
I think the show has inspired me a little. That is a good thing.

Art Angles Show 4/26/08

What a great turn out to the show. Janet and Tom (I'm in the middle) are the new owners of "Tree in the Canyon". It is such a thrill when I actually sell something. It does happen every once and a while. The whole selling thing sort of plays with my mind. I don't think selling a painting makes me any better of an artist. Selling just tells me, for whatever reason that my work is marketable.

Lovely Patty 12" x 9" oil

Yesterday was a model day. Patty was so wonderful and she really does have that pleasant grin while modeling. I like the feeling, although there are areas I could have taken to more of a finish; ie. the left hand that is hidden in the chair. I really don't like going back into a painting that I did from life. The models gone home and I am just making things up at that point. I would rather take the info from that painting and start another one. Now that is different if the plan is to start a painting from life and finish it in studio. At that point I would have taken some photos and made a few sketches along with notes discribing the general color and feeling...and mix up a little paint and lay in color notes on my sketch for reference while finishing the painting.
So ...it was a great day, life is good.

This painting won the Staff Award at the Orange County Fair July 08.

Art Show April 26 to May 31, 2008

Around My House 13.5" x 11" pastel

I decided to go back out this afternoon to try out my new plein air pastel easel. Mainly because it just didn't seen sturdy enough to hold my pastel case. So I thought if the thing was gonna fall it might as well be in my yard. This way I could take the hour it would take to pick them up and know one would see. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it held the box just fine and nothing fell over. It wasn't as complicated to set up as it was yesterday and my guess is that it will just get easier as I get uses to it.
So this is my back yard birch trees and the corner of the house. I drew my sketch and then laid out a value sketch and stuck to it fairly well. I love the strength of the pigment I get with the pastel. When I paint I work it too much and blend out the color. I think I will try to do more of these around my house before I venture out with my gear.

Top of the World, Laguna Beach 6" x 8" oil

Well the weather has changed. It was very hot and windy today at Alta Park in Laguna. This is a unique location because it is on top of a hill that gives you views in every direction. This is a view northeast of the inland mountains. Behind me was the ocean. I had hoped to paint two, but just had to get out of the heat. It was drizzling just last week...so amazing.

Refractions of an Orange Through a Glass of Water 6" x 8" oil

Another class study. Strange water refraction of the orange.

Class Study of a Plein Air Painting 8" x 6" oil

This is a study done in Tom Brown's Wednesday night class. I did this before, only out on location. It is on my blog for March 24th. It was fun to do it again and not have to think about it. I changed things that I did not like in the original one.

Sketch Book - Values Notans

Last week while at my workshop with Kim Lordier I was reminded of the importance of value sketches and sticking to them. Here are a few thumbnail (1" x 1 1/2") value sketches of photographs I have. I am trying to figure out if I want to make them into a painting. They are fun to do and don't take much time. They tell me more about a subject than a detailed line drawing does. They show shape and light and movement in a subject. They show the strongest contrasts of value. There are artists that can paint the ordinary and make it extraordinary because of the beauty of well designed values. This takes practice and insight into the structural building blocks that exist in good composition. I do not pretend to do this well...but I am working on it.

Model 10 x 20 oil

Northern View 8" x 11" Pastel

Day #3 _ With just about an hour left of this fabulous workshop I decided to do one more study of values. The scene was very high contrasts with not a lot of information. I felt lost and tire at this point. I did get the value structure down, but did not have the time to bring it to finish. Another start in my portfolio. I am just amazed to have 3 starts in one day and lunch and time to chat with other artists. Everyone had wonderful work and shared their ideas. The big thing on these workshops is checking out all the easels and equipment. There is always something I have never seen and think I really must have. All and all it was a fabulously exhausting 3 days and I ready to go again.
Had the chance to visit Debra Huse's Gallery on Balboa Island on my way home. Kim Lordier has about 15 works of art hanging for the month. I was blown away at her work. There are no words to describe the light and beauty of her every stroke. It is so amazing that it is just, chucks of dry color...soft pastel, that come together to record a scene through the vision of an Artist.

Rock Study - 8" x 11" Pastel

Day #3 second study was of these rocks that sit just below an outlook in Laguna. This was a very abstract thing to do. The rocks were sitting right in the shore break and the water of course was moving in and out with each wave. There was a tide pool like area in the forground with rocks coming up through the wet and water covered sand. This was another sketch and could be developed alot more.

Morning Mist - sketch 11" x 8" pastel

Day #3 of my workshop with Kim Lordier started with fog. So the challenge was to create values with low contrasts. This was the first one and the light changed about 3/4 through it. It was so weird, the light came through as if it was switched on. This is hard because if you look at the new light and start adjusting your really in trouble. So I stopped when I realized I did not make enough color notes to complete and time was up.

Laguna Plant Life - Pastel

Day #2 the afternoon turned out to be beautiful. It was warm painting in the sun. One of the people on this workshop with me is Terry Ludwig. The name means nothing unless your into beautiful, buttery chunks of pastels. He is quiet a character and makes and sells fabulous pastels from Colorado. So needless to say by the afternoon on the second day I had the most amazing set of greens to work with and I was poorer than I was in the morning. Of course I am in Laguna Beach looking at the most amazing views of the bluish, purply, turquoise ocean...Well I turned around and looked to the green on the hill beside me and found a wonderful scene to try out my new set. It was a good day.

Laguna Southern View - pastel sketch

Day #2 a drizzly morning with dramatic skies.

Back Bay Dredging - Pastel on Wallis

This is with the soft pastel applied. The idea is to follow your values from the sketch and keep your colors together in that value. So darks, midtones and lights stay in there families.

Back Bay Dredging - value sketch

I have spent the last 2 days at a plein air pastel workshop given by Kim Lordier. It has been fun and filled with new information to wrap my brain around. Kim is an amazing pastel artist . I feel very grateful to get to take 3 days to paint out in the Newport Back Bay and Laguna. The sketch shown is a study in value and keeping it straight. Commiting to a value and staying with it is not always easy. It is important to the overall structure of a composition. It makes the idea stay together. Anyway it has been very good and I look forward to tomorrow.