Jo's Roses -a still life oil painting with roses

oil 12x16 inches magnify/purchase I went to visit my friend Jo, who months ago had a nasty fall and resulting fracture. I took her some Chicken Tortilla Soup and fresh apples from Oak Glen. She asked me to cut some roses from her front yard and take them home. They needed to be cut, she insisted. So we shared. She has the best attitude and is healing nicely. I would try to paint them, I said, but had generally been avoiding roses because they're so difficult to paint well. No more avoidance. These were too pretty to pass up. The green mutsu apple on the left seemed the perfect foil to the reds and pinks. The iPhone shot on the bottom is actually most accurate of the painting.

Grungy Goodness -an oil painting of artist tools

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Sometimes figuring out what to paint is more perplexing than the painting the painting. In this case, I just painted what I paint with. What color is grunge? Kind of a yellowy-greenish tan-like pale ochre gray. I like it.

Santa Monica Pier - a commissioned painting in oil

oil 9x12 inches sold magnify I used several photo references for this commissioned piece. The design required quite a bit of invention, which made it one of the more difficult paintings I've done. The client is happy, so I'm happy!

Five In The Nest -a bird's nest watercolor painting

watercolor 7x10 inches magnify/purchase More fun with eggs in a nest. To see the previous and an explanation of the process, click on "bird nest" in "labels" below. EVENT NEWS: Tomorrow night ART UNCORKED is at Brinderson Hall, Chino Jr. Fairgrounds from 6-9. Wine, artisan beers, food and eight great artists showing their work. The event helps support the arts in Chino Valley. Tickets sold at the door and online HERE. I hope to see you if you live in the area!

Stars & Stripes -an American Flag oil painting

oil 12x12 SOLD magnify This is a commissioned piece, and the fifth and largest American Flag painting I have done. I love my country and I love our flag, so it is always an honor to paint it. The collector requested "lots of stars and stripes" so it was much more involved than my previous 8x8's. It took some time! To see some of my previous flag paintings, click on "American Flag" in "labels" below. Tuesday is Veteran's Day. If you are a veteran reading this, I sincerely thank you for your service. My father, son and a close friend of ours served in the Marine Corps, so I'm somewhat familiar with the kind of sacrifices you have made in service to our country. Thank you, and God bless you.

Three In The Nest - a bird's nest watercolor painting SOLD

watercolor 7x10 inches magnify/purchase For once I've painted something from nothing. Without a photo reference and no bird's nest on hand, I made it up. I used alternating layers of watercolor and masking fluid. Then I removed the masking and painted the shadows. The splatters and drips were necessary and very exciting! Bird nests make me think of families with children. This one should go to a family with three children, don't you think?

Commissioned Window and Door, plus ART UNCORKED!

Open Window, oil 14x11 and Hobbit Door, 8x10 SOLD These are the other two paintings commissioned by my brother for his friend. All three have the pink canvas tone I mentioned in my last post. I haven't gotten to visit this house yet, but I sure would like to go inside that little hobbit door! EVENT NEWS: Thursday night, November 13th there's an art event right here in Chino! The Chino Community Center Corporation, a non-profit organization is sponsoring "ART UNCORKED": Food, wine tasting, artisan beers, music and eight artists displaying their work for sale. The proceeds will be used to promote visual and performing arts in the Chino Valley. Location: Brinderson Hall, Chino Jr. Fairgrounds. Hours: 6:00-9:00pm. Tickets available online HERE at Eventbrite.com It's going to be a great evening! If you're local I hope you'll consider attending. Join the fun and support the arts in our community!

Zen Garden -a landscape painting in oil

oil 8x10 inches sold magnify I've been working on several commissions since mid September. This is the first, commissioned by my brother. He commissioned three pieces depicting the home and gardens of a good friend. Now my brother is busy building custom frames for them. Knowing they would be a special Christmas gift made painting these extra fun. Painting tip: Sometimes I tone my canvas with transparent pink; a mix of Thalo Red Rose and Indian yellow. I learned this from Jennifer McChristian, who paints fabulous urban scenes, and anything else fabulously also! I have used it for urban scenes, but I think it also works well for overwhelmingly green scenes such as this. The little bits of pink showing through here and there (and underneath too) help temper the greens.

Spooky Little Pumpkin -a Halloween oil painting

oil 6x6 inches magnify/purchase All TREAT, no trick! BIDDING STARTS AT JUST $1 FOR THIS LITTLE PAINTING! Wouldn't it look great as part of your Halloween decor next year? Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch -a plein air oil painting from Yucaipa

oil 10x8 inches magnify/purchase The Pumpkin Patch in Yucaipa is a big, big place with a huge variety of pumpkins. Pumpkins there come in white, gray, dark green, yellow green and of course various oranges. I liked this clean beautiful orange against the dark corner of the wagon. Then there was the backlighting!!! I love a backlit scene. It can be a bit tricky, but I think I got the feel of the light. This one took me about three hours. Left by five, got stuck in traffic so I nibbled on an apple. What a great day, and well worth the drive. I like this iPhone pic the best.

Cider Mill -a plein air painting from Oak Glen

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase All the apples are in and the cider mill is cranking away. I could smell the juice as I painted this at Snowline Orchard yesterday. Then I bought some Pink Lady apples and hot mini donuts. Yum. after a break I headed down to The Pumpkin Patch on Live Oak Canyon road to paint pumpkins.

Here's my subject and my easel. You can see my subject is not directly beyond my easel. I'll share this very practical tip I learned from Kim English: To get your panel in the shade, hold your hand up in front of you vertically. Turn your hand until it is in shade. That's the way to place your easel. Why didn't I think of that? Duh. Sometimes it means your subject is way off to one side from you, which it was in this case. At first I thought that might feel awkward, turning my head so much, but really once I start painting I don't even notice. Easier on the eyes, and better for getting values right.

Sunflower In Turquoise -a still life painting in oil -SOLD

oil 10x8 inches magnify/purchase Artwork was coming down from the walls as I furiously tried to finish this piece. I got the objects in and finished the rest at home the next day. Turquoise is such a great color. Might have to paint this little pitcher again sometime.

Sunflowers & Citrus -a still life painting in oil

oil 12x9 inches magnify/purchase Painters need friends who have fruit trees. Thanks, Chris Sayers for bringing fruit with stems and leaves. Makes for much more interesting paintings. You might have noticed the drapery shown in my last post was gray. I've found that by using gray drapery I can lean the color in my painting toward warm or cool, blue or violet, etc. depending on what will complement my subject. So here I leaned toward violet which I like with both the yellows and greens. If you love painting sunflowers, here's a tip I've learned about getting that deep transparent center color. I use transparent red oxide adding ultramarine blue for the really dark parts. Gives you a rich, warm and transparent dark. Then use some of that TRO in the shadow areas of petals, and maybe mixed into the greens a bit here and there for unity. There's one more sunflower painting coming up. I paint them 'till they hang down their heads and die. Reminds me of Tom Dooley. Anybody else remember that song?

Sunflowers & Violet -an oil painting of Sunflowers -SOLD

oil 12x9 inches magnify/purchase This piece is the first demo I did at Associated Artists of the Inland Empire's Fall Show in Rancho Cucamonga back in September.

You can see the set up on the end of my display table.

Painting on Balboa Island

Red Gate 12x9 inches magnify/purchase Fancy Firehouse 8x10 inches magnify/purchase On this trip to Balboa in August we hung out around Marine Ave. Coming out of the Debra Huse gallery this little red gate just next door caught my eye. The dappled light, bright color and can you see the wreath? The second painting is my afternoon effort. Can you believe this is part of the firehouse? Everything is quaint on the island, even the fire station.

Heirloom Tomatoes -a still life painting in oil -sold

oil 6x6 inches magnify/purchase This one is from August when Amy's Farm harvested their amazing tomatoes. I have a small backlog of paintings to post from August and September, plus some commissions to share, so I've got some catching up to do. Art In The Park Newport Beach last Saturday was a great day! A perfect venue and friendly crowd. Thank you to all who visited my booth and also to those who purchased my work.

Kim English Workshop "Figure In The Landscape" Review Part 2

On days three and four we went out to two different very old ranches nearby. The owners were very gracious and welcoming. I felt relieved knowing our "models" would not move in ten minutes! Kim did a couple of demonstrations then we had lots of time and lots of possible subjects. Still, the goal was to get the subject in quickly and simply. Above, Kim's pre-mixed palette. He uses some bold color. Above, Pam painting and my attempt to paint Pam painting! The light went in and with the clouds all morning, changing about every five minutes. I can't resist a truck. I really enjoyed painting this scene. May be a larger studio painting in the future. Above, Day 4. Thanks to Shar for this photo of me painting yet another truck. While I was out there, a rainstorm came over. Everybody packed up and headed inside a barn. The previous day I had packed up quick (and wiped off my painting) for a downpour that only lasted a few minutes. So I decided to ride this one out. If i'm warm enough the rain doesn't bother me, but the paint does get a little pasty with water mixed in. Feels like painting with frosting. Sure enough, I think the rain was done in about 20 minutes. Above, my last painting. Charlie, the ranch owner had taken me on a little tour inside his house to see his collection of folk art from around the world. He sat at his kitchen table listening to classical music, reading the newspaper and watching us through the windows. He showed me a long add-on room he called the greenhouse, where we were invited to paint inside. I noticed the red high chair, wood stove and window above with the light coming in. It was his great-granddaughter's high chair that he intends to fix up for her. I moved a few things around with his permission, and painted the scene. The clouds came over so I lost the light pattern, but I have a good photo for a studio painting later. As I finished, I decided I couldn't take a painting of Charlie's granddaughter's highchair home to California with me. He should have it. So I left it on his windowsill to dry, and told him it's a thank-you gift for welcoming us to his ranch. That felt like a really good way to end a workshop! I completed three studies that day, one of which is not worthy of posting. Kim challenged me to paint four, so I got close to the goal. SUMMARY AND ADVICE: I loved the workshop. Key word: WORK. Kim is great at individualized instruction. His sense of humor kept things from getting too intense. We painted from 9-4 every day with an hour break for lunch. If you are considering a workshop with Kim, here's my advice: Give yourself a lot of experience with your plein air equipment and your paints before you go. You'll get more out of it if those two things are very familiar to you. For oils, bring smooth painting surfaces to work on: smooth acrylic primed panels like Raymar, or Gessobord, or oil primed linen. If you bring "scratchy" canvas, you'll be fighting to get the paint on the surface, and fighting to wipe it off. There's no time for fighting with five minute poses. If the workshop includes figures, practice drawing small figures so you're familiar with basic proportions before you go. Kim's workshop was just what I needed. I recommend it! I hope this review has been helpful.

Kim English Workshop, "The Figure In The Landscape" Review Part 1

I kind of don't know where to begin in reviewing Kim's workshop. It was an amazing experience in so many ways. Being at Red Rock Ranch was for me, like stepping into a cowboy movie. The scenery in that area of Colorado exceeded my expectations by a long shot. Marty Brens (Art In The Aspens) did a fabulous job of planning and welcoming us. The food, prepared by two chefs, three meals a day was fabulous, and we all had a blast getting to know one another while we kicked back in the evenings. Kim's instruction was just what I needed. It was a "boot camp" as described by others. He worked us hard with short poses to wipe off and do again and again. We had two days of painting the model in the landscape, and two days of landscape. In this post I'll just cover the first two days. If you're thinking about taking a workshop with Kim, see my next post for my personal advice on how to prepare and materials. Kim's palette, many more colors than my limited palette, but he allowed us to use whatever colors we chose. I appreciated that. He pre-mixes the colors he sees in his subject; figure and landscape. This was a big revelation to me. So practical for plein air painting. Above,Kim's first few demos. Get the GESTURE of the figure in 5 minutes with some of the landscape. The last shot may have been a 10 minute pose. Above, my first few attempts. FIVE MINUTE poses. I was using it up just getting the gesture with light and shadow, trying to get proportions right, no time for landscape! Must...paint...faster! Kim wanted us to wipe off our quick sketches. I kept them so I could see progress and have something to post. In the afternoon my fatigue showed. The 8,000 foot elevation wasn't helping!!! So I did start wiping off, but kept these two panels above. Each pose was either 10 or 20 min. I don't remember. End of first day! Whew! 2nd day. Kim's demos above. Get the gesture. Mass in shapes, no "drawing". My attempts. 10 minute poses. I'm painting a bit larger, but struggling to have time to get any landscape in. I was excited, not frustrated. I knew this kind of thing was just what I needed. Afternoon 2nd day, we moved to a large porch. I did other quick studies in addition to this one. Kim did a great job of getting to each student and giving them instruction for their level of experience. At this point he really pushed me to paint simply and fast, challenging me to get the entire scene, 9x12 in 20 minutes. I let loose and painted like a crazy woman. End of 2nd day. And what's the point of all this fast painting? It forces simplicity, efficiency and economy of brush strokes. Quite practical in changing outdoor light, especially if your colors are pre-mixed! Next post will be days 3 and 4, with summary and advice. I apologize that the text and pictures are a bit jumbled. Not intentional! It's a problem I have with Blogger that I've not figured out yet.

Bill, an oil portrait

oil, 12x9 inches magnify As promised, here's the second portrait from the live model, drawn more carefully than the previous. Bill is a friend's brother who although he'd never modeled before, did a fine job. The hat was a lot of fun, and I especially liked the shadow it cast on his forehead and hair. I'm back from Colorado and excited to tell you about the Kim English workshop. I've got to organize my photos first. Meanwhile, Art In The Park is this Saturday the 11th in Newport Beach. If you're in So Cal, come on out and say hi!