The Winds Went Singing By

16"x20"  acrylic

The poetic title of this piece is from an Emily Dickinson poem about the clover blossom.  I painted this with my fellow artists Mary Crowley and Rae Newell.  We were all inspired by the same image, and Rae and I had very similar compositions, but each of our styles are quite different.  Mary's ended up being beautiful pastel colors in a swirling, Van Gogh-like background and Rae's had a soft brownish background with her signature "out of focus" background.  I thought the literary reference of them dancing in the wind was appropriate, hence, my title.  Can you hear the bee buzzing over them?

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Crossings

This painting is mostly in mid-values.  High contrast paintings have more drama so this was a challenge.  It was a bright, cloud filled day, so the shadows are almost non-existent. My darks are kind of scattered, and I am not sure it works very well.  What do you think?

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Quintessetial

6"x6" oil

I felt like this landscape saved me!  I haven't painted a new painting in a while because I have been framing, making new panels and getting ready for a show.  I have revised a few and touched up several, but after a bit, I always feel insecure about whether I still can do this.  I think this image is more yellow than the painting.  It was dark and raining out so I photographed it in artificial light.  Maybe I will rephotograph it tomorrow.  Landscapes are pretty stress free as paintings go so this was a good warm up for me.  I tried to do a floral painting but it was awful and I wiped it off.  I have been doing a lot of drawing lately as I am teaching a few drawing classes in July.  Now I need to transition back into painting.

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Johar

5"x7" oil

This is Johar.  I met her at a coffee shop where she worked in Washington DC.  I was on my own visiting galleries and taking photos like a crazed tourist when I decided I needed a sit-down and cup of coffee.  Johar was my server and I was not only captivated by her beauty and interesting hair, but by her presence...her genuine sweetness.  This was a quick portrait, but I really wanted to capture her spirit, and her image.  It worked and I got to mix some of my new brilliant blue paint into the skin tones.  New paint....it really is like having a new color crayon!  I am going to email this to Johar, because she was gracious enough to let me photograph her.  I am trying really hard to understand the differences between what you actually see and what a photograph offers.  It is a hard thing to get, but it is worth it for me because I really like painting from images I capture, especially when I am traveling.

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Hand Study

6"x6" oil

This was a great exercise to get me back in to painting.  It was offered as a DPW challenge by Claudia Hammer. I chose three values in different colors and a background color.  I painted on a panel that I had previously painted on and sanded down.  The colors were pretty dark originally so even with the sanding, it showed through and gave variation to the background which I blocked in first, thus removing the distraction.  I started with the lightest light (Jaune Brilliant) then the darkest color in the hands (Alizarian Crimson) and then used Cadmium Orange for the mid-value.  I mixed a bit to come up with the suggestion of the sleeve.  I deliberately tried to keep it loose and simple.

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Attitude

16"x20" acrylic

I am back from traveling and ready to paint!  This is a demo for a beginners class at the Chaffee Art Center.   Everyone had a good time and some really nice paintings came out of it.  I focused on creating the design using geometric shapes and how to create varying brushwork.  When I do these demos I don't feel like I am painting subject matter that is most exciting to me, rather I try and choose a few things that offer teachable moments and subjects that are interesting and simple enough to not be intimidating.  I am still refining how I do this; the learning curve for me seems to be infinite!  On another note, I went to Washington, D.C., a city of abundant free museums and excellent artwork!

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Rooster

16"x20" acrylic

This is a painting I did in planning for the class I am teaching June 12 at the Chaffee Art Center.  I went pretty abstract with the front lower and right sides, with the suggestion of foliage.  I planned it out mathematically first which was different and fun.  Click here for the demo slideshow.

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