what's next

Do you ever get to a point when you don't know where to go? I'm there with this oil painting. I have not painted the foreground and will add some chairs. Hindsight tells me I should have painted them in from the beginning but I thought it would be easier to paint the water first. Now I must wait for this to dry a bit.


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learning when to stop

I have to learn when to stop. When I first painted the figure, it was fresh and seemed to glow with light. It looks over painted and I've managed to give the person two right feet. The question is, do I start over or do keep going with this? Stay tuned...


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San Francisco Bay

A new oil painting of the San Francisco Bay. I'm experimenting with color in this one. I love the green sky.



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Porto Bello Farm

Just a small oil study.


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Location:Virginia 244,Arlington,United States

taking it personally

Yes, I'm taking it personally. Today I had a meeting with a corporate client to present my work with the possibility of hanging a show in its facility. My contact and his collegue were welcoming and full of encouragement. I was feeling good and full of promise.

Along comes Dee (not her real name) with a scowl on her face and says, "You're not putting that in here? It looks like Queen Anne, or something." I don't know who was more embarrassed, my hosts or me. My host replys, "We like his work and are consdering it, yes." To which Dee replies, "Well it matches the furniture and at least brings out the brown in the walls." Picture it... 200+ pound me crawling under the chair because that's exactly what I wanted to do.

Intellectually, I know there is nothing wrong with my work nor is there anything wrong with me... humor me and let's not go there. Moreover, I know that Dee's comments are out of ignorance but that doesn't make them any less pointed.

For now, I'm going to take it personally and go spend some time with Bierstadt, Hassam, and Sargent.


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Location:G St NW,Washington,United States

a big oil painting

Well, here's the largest oil painting I've done. It needs lots of work but it was a huge learning experience. Mostly, I learned that I need bigger brushes to paint bigger paintings... this is 18x24. Getting the sun to appear as if it is shining through the trees and not setting upon the trees is a trick too. It's not there yet but I'll keep working on it. It's another painting my new "passing through" series.

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too much spam

Happy New Year to all. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this causes but I've had to incorporate some steps to help prevent—or minimize—spam on my blog. Please keep leaving your comments.

Arrrrrggggghhhhh

I know. I know. Any thing worth doing... but why does it have to be so difficult.


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Jim's advice to my last post...

"...just go to the studio and paint."


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overcoming fear

It sounds like I'm going to give some advice on how to overcome fear. Well, there's no advice coming form this corner other than "face it head on"—to borrow the words of a diva.

small oil studies

I continue to paint smaller oils, 9x12 and smaller. I'd like to paint larger but I'm not ready to paint bigger... maybe it's fear of the unknown. For now, I'll keep doing these little pieces.

Many of these small oils are sketches for larger pastels--how's that for an ironic twist?




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Location:studio

apple pie

While shopping at Eastern Market, we bought some apples to bake pie. We chose a mix of sweet and tart varieties. However, before we could enjoy a pie I felt compelled to paint the apples. I was paticularly drawn to the color variations in the red apple and the leaves on the greeen apple.

This was painted in oil on stretched canvas. It was fun to paint the shadows and reflections on the apples. Looking at this now, I don't remember if the red apple was lopsided or not but I think I'll repaint left side to give it a more pleasing shape.



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Location:studio

and the pastel

This is the pastel. It is 36x18 on prepared panel. I was taken with the landscape beyond the foreground trees even though the trees are my focus.

continued exercises with pastel and oil

This small oil is 8x4 and was a quick study. I painted it rather quickly. Hmmmm. I am becoming more familiar with the oils.


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OUTLIERS

I just finished listening to Malcolm Gladwell's OUTLIERS on audiobook. It was so good--as are all his books--that I started from the beginning to listen again.

Now to work on those 10,000 hours. Or, start again.

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an exercise in pastel and oil

Since I started painting in oils--yet again. I decided to work on the same composition in both pastel and oil. This has been my project for the last couple weeks. I continue to struggle with brushes but i love mixing. I think I'll do the exercise again.



Pastel




Oil
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Richard McKinley Demo

On Sunday, prior to the opening of the Maryland Pastel Society's biennial exhibition, Shades of Pastel, I along with many other MPS members will have the opportunity to see Richard McKinley do a deomonstration. Richard is an incredible artists and generous teacher. Check out this short video of one of his demos.

another oil

painting in oils

In preparation of the Scott Christensen workshop in Colorado, I'm painting in oil using Scott's palette.

oil color charts are complete

Wow! When I started making these 12 color charts I thought it would take me a couple days. Instead, it took me a couple of weeks with each chart taking about two hours.

You may ask, "Was it worth it?" and I'd reply, "Yes, it was." I learned so much about this palette. Not only did I learn how the colors interact when mixed and how to consistently tint the colors. In addition, I learned that each color is different in its opacity where some colors are more transparent than others.

The true test of my efforts will come when I set out to put the pigments to use and how easily I'll be able to anticipate the mixture.