Back to blogging

Well, it is sadly obvious that I have had a lot going on since March. My youngest graduated last weekend from high school and now I hope to begin posting again on a more regular basis. I have continued painting during this time but don't feel that I was putting myself in to the work.

It is important to feel connected to the painting or the viewer may not get a sense of the artist. The paintings that I am the most passionate about are the ones that seem to vibrate on the canvas.

I have been painting still life,plein aire and models from life. It is helpful in all aspects of painting. The only thing that I think helps more is drawing all the time. Sometimes I sculpt figures. This helps with understanding what goes on under the skin and helps with drawing and painting.

Recently, I was invited to paint a figure outside. it was a great time. I love to paint outside with all the challenges. There is such a sense of accomplishment in being able to withstand the bugs, the light changes and on this occasion, the heat. Add a model to this and the bar is raised higher. What a great day and great fun with some really fun and talented artists.

Dr John

Here is a portrait that I painted last week. I saw this man shopping and thought he was so dapper that I wanted to paint him. When my sister asked if we could take his picture, he said that people were always asking him this. He made a great subject !

Thank you for your thoughts !

Frustration

Apparently, I have two blogs going on and I don't know how this can be so if I post the same thing twice, I apologize. I am frustrated because when I photograph my art, I am not able to have a finished image that is as nice as the actual painting. Maybe this happens to everyone but I have seen iphone images better than the way mine look on my Mac. If anyone has a suggestion other than the obvious, get an iphone, I would appreciate the help !

Thank you

Lost Blog

Somehow my blog became deleted.  It could be seen but I could not post on it.  Finally after several hours of frustration, I managed to reinstate it and so I am back !   Here is w hat I have done following the holidays.  My husband grew a beard and I decided to paint the character that he is.  Here are also the photos of the beard leaving by degrees.  Hope you enjoy !

Workshop

I went to a workshop with Jeremy Lipking. It was fun to see his studio and all the beautiful art. His wife, Danielle was a wonderfully nice person.  The time went by fast and I hope that I picked up some new ideas.  I think that the one thing that I came away with that was most important was to take my time with the initial decisions whether I am setting up a figure or a still life.  All in all, it was pretty expensive. 

Tall Teapot

This is a painting that I painted when I had taken too much cough and migraine medicine.  I had a hard time focusing on all of the information that I have learned through the years.  I think that it helped that I could not focus well.  I thought only about shape and color and absolutely nothing else.  I can really see how Walt Disney, Lewis Carroll and so many others may have been more successful in an altered state.  I am not advocating this though as I really didn't like feeling so out of control.  I'll be reading the dosage information more carefully from here on out.

Hope you enjoy. I would love to know what you think or if you have had any similar experiences.

Rainy days and puddles Final

Here is the finished painting.  The changes are small but important.  Thank you for following along with this demonstration of the development of one of the approaches I use in painting.