Chick chat

I will be doing a demonstration at Frog hollow on Church Street in Burlington (VT) from 11-2 tomorrow (Sat. the 12th).  Painting with watercolors for a couple hours should be fun...if you are in the neighborhood stop on by!

Tough Guy

It has been some time since I posted a rooster painting...so here is one from a previous studio session.  This guy is definitely protecting his plot of farm land and looks to challenge anyone who wishes to dispute that! Or maybe he's just striking a pose to show off his multi hued plumes...

Portrait of a model

A portrait done in last night's figure session. Bold strokes, big highlights, blue hair.

Show opening

"It's a bird, it's a plane..." This is one of my figure paintings at my solo show at The Gruppe Gallery in Jericho. Show opening today from 4-7 p.m.  Stop by, say hi, look at some art, have a snack plus enjoy a drive through the countryside to get there! "Flowers, Figures and Fowl" all represented.

"Hollyhock Highlights"

This is one of my new paintings that I dropped off at the Gruppe Gallery in Jericho yesterday for my upcoming solo show....September 3 to October 11...opening reception Friday September 11 from 4-7 p.m. Hope you can join us and say hello...I'll be there!

Summer sketch

A little summer sketch of a nice place to sit and relax...plus it was a study in negative space painting...preserving the white of the paper and painting everything else around the chairs and table.

Face it

My summer has been filled with sporadic art happenings and has found me outside the studio more often than inside...plus I am currently getting ready for a solo show titled "Flowers, Figures and Fowl" at the Gruppe gallery in Jericho...opening reception is Friday September 11 from 4-7 p.m. If you are in the area...please stop by and say hi! 

Paint a pear

Pushing dark, rich pigments around to get the brushes loosened up in the studio...It has been a slow blogging month for me...nonetheless staying busy with other projects...

Sunset Lake

This is what the summer looks like around here...dramatic skies, water and boats.  I prewet the paper, which is unusual for me since I usually work wet on dry...and just let the pigments flow. Then when everything was dry (patience comes in at this point) I painted the hard edged mountain silhouettes and the boats.

Pop sun shade

The last page of my sketchbook was filled by this painting. They are two poppies from my mother's garden and one was out in the sun and the other was in the shade...it made for such a dramatic difference between the two and shifted their color tremendously.

Peonies

The Peonies are rain soaked and wind blown around here and almost gone...that's too bad, since they are such beauties and unfortunately are only around a short time. I used to host a peony painting workshop in a wonderful garden...maybe again some day, but until then plenty of pictures to work from.

Face time

I have found that painting from life has really helped me "see" in other aspects of my painting....we are so familiar with faces and we think we know where something goes, but I find that true observation, measuring and comparing are keys to getting a recognizable shape. Where I improvise is the color application! (See purple and green hair!)

Lily Blue

I have tackled this Lily several times in the last year or so...every attempt is a new opportunity to learn something about composition, color, technique and value...oh and different surfaces since this one was done on printmaking paper...BFK Rives. Still time to join me at the Landgrove Inn, in Landgrove, Vermont for a 3 day floral workshop...link on my website and blog sidebar.

Montreal sketch

This is the sketchbook piece I spoke of in my previous post...this was done from an overlook at Mount Royal Park in Montreal. It was a cold, windy and drizzly start to the day and then it became warm and sunny...Plein air painting perils...

Hollyhock flower

My studio time has been full of different inspirations lately...florals, faces, feathered friends and even included a day out of the studio to paint in Montreal with the urban sketchers group..I will post that sketch soon...my floral workshop in Landgrove is next month!  Come and join me in this beautiful inn and wonderful studio in Southern Vermont!

Pear Palette

A quick pear study from imagination that I did the other day...I have been doing quite a few of these trying to vary the colors used and change up the background washes...They are nice little warm ups to get the brushes loosened up and the studio day started...

Color color

"Multihued Moo", a new painting from my studio time, where I have been playing with pigments....I have a few things coming up...one of my paintings was juried in the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, Old Forge, NY. (Aug. 8-Oct. 5) Another watercolor was selected for publication in Splash 17 (summer 2016) and I will have two works on display at the Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition, Waitsfield, VT (June 27-July 25)....good times!

Absence makes the heart...

If what they say is true about absence, the heart and all that...you should be fonder of me by now! Long break from blogging due to travel, but ready to go with the flow once more with a few announcements as well! 1. My work was selected for inclusion in next year's publication of Splash 17. 2. A painting was juried in to the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors in Old Forge NY. 3. My floral workshop at the Landgrove Inn is coming up next month! Hope to see you there! 

Newest painting

The latest painting created as a demo during a workshop I taught in California this past weekend.  They were a great group of painters who tackled the wonderful world of fabulous florals! Thanks to all!

Different start

And now for something different....this was out of the norm for me because I worked on damp paper...you can tell by the streaky pigment in the sky and the soft edges of the mountain scape.  

Work in progress

This is a spring piece that I did as a demo for a recent one day workshop...it has a ways to go, but was a good start.  I will work on adding more detail, tightening up some edges and glazing over some blossoms to either make them pop or push them into the background.

Quick study

Here is a quickie from the easel recently...it seems my saturation is intensifying!  I thought I already loaded my brush quite heavily...but it looks like there was still more pigment to pick up and throw down!

In ur face Iris

Here is the latest floral painting off my easel...had fun with the negative painting of the spiky leaves...a while back I was asked if I use masking fluid for my leaves....and the answer is no..I use traditional negative painting by painting the background darker* and building up consecutive layers by going darker and darker and waiting for paint to dry so I can have a nice sharp edge. (*I start light, but get progressively darker)

Floral fun

I am posting a bit of summer today while in a snowy white Vermont. I like playing with the shape and size of paper to push beyond the standard half or quarter sheet.  This is a third of a regular 22"x30" sheet cut down to 22"x10".

Figure study

Winter storm Juno has not reached us yet...but we will get a few flakes from the tail end of the storm. Hopefully the harder hit areas of New England and New York will soon be dug out.  Stay warm! In the meantime I painted this young lady on a somewhat warmer day at the end of summer.

Make your own

I was asked after my last post what I meant by make my own sketchbooks...so I thought I would show you some examples.  There are numerous books as I am sure links online on how to make books, but I will tell you how I make mine. You can cut several favorite pieces of watercolor paper to one size(top picture) and add two heavier pieces of board (front/back covers) and have your local copy store (kinko's) put a spiral binding on it. Or you can stack several folded pieces of paper and either staple the seam or sew the seam to make a small book...or in the last example you can accordion fold a long piece of paper and make a book that way with again a heavier piece of board for a front and back cover....hope you give it a try.

Travel memories

Happy New Year everyone...one week in, almost!  I thought I would start my first post of 2015 with a small watercolor I did when I travelled last year...I always bring along a sketchbook with the intention to fill it by journey's end...most of the time this goal is achieved...sometimes not.  To help me attain the goal I will make my own sketchbooks with just enough pages to do a sketch a day for the duration of the trip...plus I control the paper in the book and in this case my favorite Fabriano!