figuring it out

I went to two figure sessions this past week..one was small and in a private studio and the other was the regular class with 18 plus in attendance!  Very different outcomes from both days...I also just found out that my painting was juried through the second stage of the Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolour Biennial Exhibition!  See previous post...Yippee...

jump start

This is what I call a rooster start..not a complete painting, but the beginnings of one.  I recently started to look through my reference photos of feathered friends again and found some new inspiration..always good to revisit your library of potential paintings..you never know if the next time you look at a picture it'll jump start creativity!

Website issues

My website is having a meltdown...any of you have a recommendation for easy do-it-yourself sites?  Or if you have an opinion about not doing it yourself...please leave me a comment or email me with some feedback.. it is unfortunate and a hassle, but I guess I'm ready for an update...if you do check out my site..some of the pages are broken and don't show any info..just FYI...thanks.

Sunflowers and peppers

Here is yet another demo from a class from a few weeks ago.  I loved the peppers and don't usually paint them, so it was good for me to have them as a subject.  I love sunflowers and capturing those yellow spiky petals...I darkened the background and chose to lean in a purple direction to play off those yellows. (22"x15")

lilies and fruit

Here is another demo piece from a workshop last week.  Keeping the colors clean is hard work, especially when you have yellows next to violets and pinks next to greens...they tend to "neutralize" each other when they touch...having said that...I do encourage pigments to mix on the paper so shapes connect, especially blossoms with stems and leaves so they don't look detached.

Negative Peony spaces

This was another demo from earlier this summer during a workshop on painting peonies...I really like to paint the negative spaces to highlight blossoms, stems and leaves..you can really see that here in the bottom left.  It is the hardest thing to wrap your brain around..we always want to paint what's there (the positive shape) and not the negative...

"Profile outlook"

I continue my figure and portrait quest...I just signed up to partake in a smaller group to paint the figure.  I hope we'll have more control over poses and length of poses...should be interesting.  We will meet 5 times over the next two months.  I hope to do some more finished work during these sessions.  This piece was done from a photograph...exploring pigments and unique color placement.

Spot the difference

Here is the same post from a few weeks ago...can you tell what I've changed?  He's called "by the Barn" and will be in a group show at Shelburne Farms for their annual Art in the Coach Barn event..this year it's an invitational retrospective show to celebrate their 25th.  Artists who exhibited over the last 25 year are invited to participate..should be a good one!.