Venetian Door

Been working on this one for a while. This is taking from a photo in the reference library of Wet Canvas by Sue Galos. I would love to say that I took the photo on my recent vacation...

...sorry, I'm back from my mental excursion. Anyway, this painting gave me a chance to brush up on painting textures which is always a nice exercise. What I am most excited about is the "negative painting" technique I used in the window grating of the window and arch above the door. I laid in all my colors that I wanted the metal to be in the entire area of the window and arch. I then painted in the dark color of the negative space (the area behind the bars) to get my "effect". Usually I lose the shape when I paint "negative shapes" because it is the opposite way of doing it. It would be like you trying to write your name by shading in all the area around the letters in your name rather than writing the actual letters. Sounds complicated...it's not, really, but it is a bit tricky. Hope you enjoy it. Painted on 12"x16" cp arches paper using mostly windsor newton paints.

Blaze of Glory or Learning From Children

This painting marks the end of the paints in my butcher tray---but what a way to go!!! It was fun! I might be feeling a touch philosophical tonight, I KNOW I'm feeling blessed because I work with children; gloriously whimsical, unabashedly blunt and often downright pain in the backside children!!! Since I have been working with lower primary children I have lost all hope that I will ever make it through a day without being palmed, patted on the tummy, or shown the contents of someones nose, but hey it's a livin ! But seriously, I am sorry for the rest of humanity, who grow up, get real jobs and make real money; they often forget way too much! But then again so do I... ...Just the other day I was feeling all proud of myself for teaching a masterly lesson on primary/secondary/intermediate colors and what do I find---a group of kids tossing gobs of every color on their palette into the water bucket! I was attracted by all the "oohhhhs" and "ahhhhhhs" they were making. So of course I get mad, the little twerps were not following procedures! Hmmmm....I forgot...the magic of exploration...the wonder of childhood!Tonight I remembered! I saw all those gooey colors in the tray and thought they needed to get out of there and play around! If these little guys have taught me anything, they have taught me the value of PLAY and looking at things with fresh eyes. I want to encourage all of you to recapture some of that wonder...check out the waterbucket the first time your loaded brush hits it...see if it can make you "ohhh" and "ahhh" and play around...enjoy yourself!This was painted on who cares what size paper with doesn't matter brand paints...ENJOY

One for the lovely lady!

These are for my wife. We went to a gallery opening some time back and an artist there liked to make triptychs and whatever you call four linked paintings (quadtychs !?!?!) of the same images in different seasons or views. She loved the idea and thought I might be able to do something like that. She doesn't asked for much and is very supportive of my work so I told her I could do it no problem!--I was kind of ashamed of me when I realized that it was over a year ago that she had asked--ahhhhh!) So after much delay here we are. These are small, 4"x5", just the way she wanted them---she even purchased a tiny little easel to display them (one season at a time) Didn't think I would like to work this small, but when you're pressed for time it is nice to be able to work through a piece in a short amount of time, I think I'll try more of these. This is from a reference photo that we had found in RIL but I could not find it again to credit the photographer sorry bout that!

Fall Break Paintfest

We have been so blessed with an amazing Fall. It has also been "Fall Break" at school which means that we had a four day weekend to enjoy. I was able to get out a couple times to paint and I also did a little studio painting. The studio painting was fun and kind of wild---I sketched with melted crayon and laid the paint on fast and free. Here's what I came up with---hope you enjoy!

Plein Aire Paintings

Had a great time this past Saturday. I attended the American Watercolor Society's traveling exhibit at the Middletown Art Center. After an inspirational browsing drove over to meet the family at King's Island. With some time on my hands, I was happy to find this wonderful old farm house sitting up on a hill begging to be painted. Hope you enjoy viewing them half as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Will Paint for Food!!!

I guess this takes starving artist to the next level. Well anyone who knows me won't believe the starving part anyway! I made a deal with my sister-in-law to paint one of her favorite places in the Smoky Mtns for a nice Thai recipe book that she as been perfecting. It was give and take on the final details of the barter, but I sold out at cookbook+food!!! What a bargain! Here's the painting that sealed the deal!