Comfy Compliments 20x10 oil

Red and Green and the balance of color with enough neutral not to scream. There is so much color between these two compliments. I am still working on red and feel like I'm getting the hang of it.

Still have limes on my tree and I took a brake from sunflowers and went back to daisies for this one. I seem to be building a series of flower paintings which is good since I have a little exhibit I'm in this May. I think they will show well and have a theme. So I will keep going.

Sunshine and Citrus 16x16 oil

I have had an on going conversation about VanGogh. So the influence of sunflowers has been overwhelming along with Trader Joe's having them pretty cheap. I have a few things to do or correct and I am happy enough. I want you to know I painted this and scraped it and sat with it several times before I returned to composition and made some changes that felt right. Funny how it can take a while to see. I hate to say it is beginning to be part of my process. I love paint scraped into a pile of "ish" or mixing it on my palette with out a plan. I think that is what I have been missing "The Plan". I have a tendency to feel my way through a painting. I do my best work when I start clean and lay every thing out. A fresh start so to speak. Nothing left on my palette from the day before and clean brushes is the best. I wish I was ritualistic and everything had its place and at times it actually happens, but not yesterday. So here it is and my ears remain in tack.

Sunflowers and Blue 16x12

Set up a still life today. I bought some flowers yesterday at Trader Joe's and realized I will be out painting Saturday and they might not look so hot on Sunday. So it was today or never. I got half way through painting with a brush and picked up my palette knife and went crazy. It was lots of fun and gave me a feeling of great power. Loved spreading the paint and laying it on the canvas. I spread and I scraped and I pushed and pulled. Very therapeutic and a wonderful way to start the weekend. Enjoy!
This painting is a whole lot more subdued than it appears here...hummmmmm

Spencer's Coming Along 12x12 oil

Spent a few hours on Spenc today glazing in shadows and building up lights. Mixed lots of paint and experimented with glazes over opacity to change a value or temperature. There is so much to learn about everything. I think one more session should do it for him and then on to Eliot.

And Again 8x8 oil

Here is the second still life from the same set up as the last post. Changed a few things, pretty much the same. I scraped this one and adjusted the composition. Don't know why I struggled so much with a painting I had already painted. My hope was to improve the first one or experiment. Hummmmm

Just a Moment 6x6 oil

sold!

A still life is set up for just a little while, a moment in a way. It is assembled for the pure task of painting a "still life". There is an organizing to the process. It is not easy and I have great admiration for those who set up and paint multiple objects. What is under the surface, is a compositional plan. A little like a map that gives the viewer direction without them knowing.

This little painting was done with last weeks daisies in my head. I played a lot with mixing paint and colors like red. I made the red in this intense in the process of discovery. My plan was to paint this 3 times and get bigger as I went a long. I got to #2 and the flowers started to die. I found myself overworking the second painting and I scraped section of the painting many times. Comparing the two I found that I like this one best. It was done first and feels more spontaneous. Next I will post the second 8x8 and you can decide. I want to paint larger and I need to figure out how to keep it fresh.

A Valued Subject 12x12 oil

Started a new portrait of my son Spencer. This is the value phase using a limited palette. I always like paintings at this stage. I think it is because it is the closest to drawing in charcoal or graphite. Not the line part of drawing , but the value of shapes. In drawing this would be the push pull of lights and darks, because that's what value drawing is all about. It is so much easier to play with value when the value is not confused by color. I say confused, because it can be for me and that is why this phase is so important. I call it the set up. If everything is planned and set up well, then as I introduce color my hope is to get the value of the color right. Now there is temperature too. I think temperature plays a major role in turning a form. There is so much beauty in in color as it turns from light to shadow. What sits on the turning edge as it falls away from the surface of the canvas and sets back in the depth of shadow is the most beautiful and amazing thing. I just love it.

On another subject.

I often laugh at myself as I feel the energy and passion take over my body when I talk about art. I am in love with the process, in thought, action, emotion and exploration. I work with kids at a local school teaching an art program. I find it very interesting that kindergarten through about second grades deal with color and enjoy it fearlessly. For that matter they will draw anything with total gee! As they get older they seem to question their ability to see. They're either comparing their work to the kid next to him or to the designated artist in the class. You know him...The one everyone says is so good. It seems so magical that, that kid has it and well you don't and so the learning stops. The child's ability to see life and enjoy his personal perspective and interpretation diminishes. The passion that is needed to learn more about art is passed over to hopefully find something else to be passionate about.

I have met so many people as an adult, who, after almost a life time, have been over taken by their passion to learn something new, something wonderful like art. Art classes are filled with folks overcoming fear and replacing it with desire and passion because it feels wonderful. So how does this tie into todays post you ask? Why does a pencil in my hand, paint on the end of a brush, new canvas, an old shoe, a broken down truck on the side of the road, a face get me excited? I think it started long ago in a classroom, with a teacher, loved one, just letting me go, to do what I loved to do and encouraged me to find my passion and learn more about it. I love that I am excited about the edge of light, the depth of shadow, the beauty of shape and the value it has had in my life. So I say thank you thank you thank you!

Long Boats On the Shore 12x9 oil

This is the last of the Sexton workshop paintings. I did this right before lunch and spent about 30 minutes with the layout and basic shapes. Then it was time to pack up. I got this home and continued to work out issues and made some changes from the original layout. It ended up being a combination of a number of photos. I was glad to get it done. Still looking at it to see if there is more to do.

Back Bay Morning Unfinished 9x12 oil

There is a fine line between chaos and order. The visual appearance of abstract painting can feel like chaos. This painting was done on the last day of the Randall Sexton workshop. We went out on location to a wonderful little spot off the back bay. I was overwhelmed in green, my nemesis. I need an anchor to hold onto in a painting. Oh and did I say I don't particularly care for palm trees. I call them lollipops because mine usually remind me of just that and suggests I take a candy break.

I decided to work on changing up the greens and approach it abstractly, so not to think green or lollipops. As much as I like being out, my eyes get tired and I must work fast. So I looked for shapes and color changes. I think my values got lost except for the light shapes of sandy ground. In evaluating this I see a number of things I don't like and like. First the don't likes are the 2 vertical palm trees dividing the upper portion. My horizon line sits almost center dividing the painting in half. The curve line enters the picture from a corner with strong contrast of value. Now I do like the strength of the paint application and the brushwork. There are many things that I could do with this, so I will continue to study and hopefully finish it or not.

There was a time I did not complete anything. I simply loved the paint and the movement. It was like a bad movie, watching the development as it moved thought a scene and then lost itself in the minutia. Many paintings came and went from order to chaos. Not exactly the direction I was hoping for, but lots of fun.

Late Morning Stroll 12x9 oil

This painting is from a photo that I have looked at for a few years. I love the shapes and the people and just the way the pieces fit together. I just could not figure out how to approach it and not get hung up in the tons of little details of a busy street scene in San Francisco.

So during the Randall Sexton workshop we could work from a photo and I thought what better way to learn how to get this in oil. Blocking everything in was pretty easy, but editing the right things in and out was where I needed help. With the help of Randy to guide me along I managed to keep it simple and still get a feeling of movement on a busy morning. Shapes are key and the waiter and umbrella number one and the walkers second. Everything else supporting the main subject. I felt pretty good about the decisions I made and it was great to have great advice and instruction.

A Daisy Afternoon 12x9 oil

Here is the afternoon still life. Again dealing with edges and brushwork. I don't normally set my composition so direct, but what better place to try it. Having an artist like Randal Sexton to look over my shoulder and be the voice of confidence was a wonderful thing.

Morning Sunflowers 12x9 oil

I just completed a 4 day workshop with Randall Sexton through the Debra Huse Gallery in Newport Beach, California. It was lots of fun and wonderful. I totally enjoyed learning from and watching Randy paint. He has the most amazing brushwork in his paintings along with atmosphere and edgework. His values were "spot on".

One of the unexpected joys of a workshop are the people. This was an extremely talented group of hardworking artists. Lots of conversations and shared wisdom made for a great workshop.

This was the first still life. I wanted to work loose with attention on my edges.

I will share more over the next few days.

Mother and Child in progress 8x8 oil

This started as a painting of my niece and her new baby, but I lost her along the way and need to do it again for more of a likeness.  In the meantime I like the painting and will just settle for the title "Mother and Child"

Kevin Day Three 16x20

It is Wednesday a week has passed and I returned to Cynthia's today for my last day with Kevin.  I get very  uncomfortable with this step as it is the summing up and finishing part.  I found myself fiddling lots and doing and redoing.  I was so focus on the nose and the nostrils I never got to Kevin's right arm which is so dark next to his bright white shirt.  As much as I love learning all this I am pretty tense and find myself in a mental fog.  The best part is taking all of it home to stare and evaluate.  This is the time I start to learn just a little bit of what went on in class and in my head.  Time to breath and see what I accomplished on my list of "how do's" for at least this painting.

I got a little more paint on this time and that is a good thing.  I worked more on temperature and the little shifts of cool and warm as light crosses over the form.  There is so much to comprehend it is head spinning.  Sometimes I think I should get it and be done with it.  It feels daunting when an issue I may have addressed before reappears in a new form, face, body, landscape or still life.  The truth is the more I paint, the more I will experience what I have learned.  I will also experience more days when thing go well and when things don't.  I have had a row of painting days that I just could not get a painting out of.  Yet I was painting and therefore believe there is much that I am learning under the surface.