Two Day Workshop

You get ten very cool woman together for two full days of painting, 

and something wonderful is bound to happen! 

In my "One Hour Painting" workshop this weekend we covered a lot of material: 

Limited stroke exercise,  quick ten minute studies of one object, painting everything in shadow one color, and painting from photos. 

Here is just a sampling of some of the happy results! 

Done in less than an hour by one of the more experienced painters

10 minute studies

Counting Strokes Demo

Painting from photos

I couldn't post all of the incredible work that was done in the two days. 

 As always, I learned as much from them as they did from me! 

Thank you all for sharing! 

A New Endeavor

I've recently signed on to give "art lessons" to Alzheimer patients at nearby Linden Ponds.

We meet every other Wednesday for an hour. 

Yesterday we talked about landscapes. 

I passed around postcards with images of different, simple landscapes by various artists. 

They all get so serious!

I love this.
This woman told me her painting made her "happy".

The sky in this is amazing.

I couldn't believe this woman attempted this.
But she loved the house.

This has become incredibly fulfilling, on so many levels. 

I'm working on a separate blog that will focus on this experience alone.

Title and address TBA. 

One Hour Workshop "Practice" Demo

 I'm preparing for the two day "One Hour Painting" workshop 

I'm giving at the South Shore Art Center this weekend. 

It's a full class, with many who are new to painting, so it's going to be fun!

(The good thing about "beginners" is that they don't have to "unlearn" bad habits!)

  

Practice Demo for
"One Hour Painting" workshop 

Whether a beginner or a seasoned painter, I hope to present "tools" 

that will help them simplify the painting process. 

The result should be looser, more intuitive and spontaneous paintings!

Stay tuned.  

Spring in February

Last Friday it was 65 degrees in Boston! 

All the cafes and restaurants on the sunny side of Newbury Street had their tables out. 

Everyone was so happy! 

I did these from two different photos, that I taped together to make one scene. 

I painted them next to each other as one painting. 

Bedtime Snack

I did this painting as a tribute to my Dad. 

This was his favorite snack to have before bed. 

The muffins had to be Thomas's, opened with a fork, 

toasted until crispy 

then slathered with real JIFFY peanut butter. 

(No reduced fat or low cal here)

"Dad's Snack"
6 x 6


Note:  The GJWP Challenge topic this month is "Tasty".
This may or may not be my entry.

Artist's Exchange / Memory Lane

Last night I attended an "artist exchange" at the Copley Society. 

We heard from artists who have recently returned from residencies. 

Laurene Krasny Brown spoke about her 6 week residency at the 

Apothiki Art Center 

on the island of Paros, Cyclades Greece.

I was fascinated with her presentation and her work is amazing.

(Incredible assemblages made with cardboard, and found materials) 

 You need to go to her website  to really "get it". 

A Paros Street

Ironically, in the early 70's,

I spent a year at the Aegean School of Fine Arts on Paros Island

so I was especially thrilled to hear her story.
Meeting this amazing woman, 

who had just returned from a place that influenced me so much, 

was thrilling!  

So much for LinkedIn.

"Values Do All the Work. Color Gets All the Credit"

I love that!  

I tried another PKR exercise based on that idea today. 

First, we painted a value study of a still life using burnt umber and white. 

Then we tried to match the values in color while doing the same set up. 

We mixed the color we thought was the right value, then dabbed it on the value study to "check it".

My demo 

It makes it pretty clear how far off you can be when translating color into values!

This is a lot harder than it looks, but I recommend trying it. 

Note to self: 

If I do this exercise in a workshop, I will use one object in strong light. 

We all spent way too much time drawing this complicated setup, 

so it was hard to stay focussed on the exercise! 

Happy Valentines Day!

A Simple Rose
4 x 4 

Snow Birds

"So When Did You Get Down?"
9 x 12 

Just thinking about all my pals who have fled this New England winter! 

Good move! 

Another Great Read

I just finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith. 

A wonderful historical journey through the turbulent art scene during the 60's and 70's in NYC.
I found it fascinating!

It reminded me that being an artist takes guts.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history, rock and roll, and art.  

10 Minute Challenge

Today I had my class take on the Daily Paintworks 10 minute challenge. 

It's a new and fun "virtual class" that Carol Marine recently started. 

We chose one item to paint eight times in 10 minute intervals. 

Ok, so we got kind of bored after four of the same so we changed items, and lighting.

Trust me, this is a real challenge, and very worth the effort. 

It's amazing what you see after looking at something over and over again!    

Thank you Carol Marine for being such an inspiration. 

Show Time!

I just found out that my painting "Nap Time" was accepted in to the
 Winter Members Show; "White Light" 

at the Copley Society in Boston.
Show opens Thursday March 3, 5:30 - 7:30 and runs through April 8. 

As a new member, you have to be accepted in to three juried shows 

before you become a Copley Artist.

One down, two to go! 

Nap Time
8 x 10 oil

Also, the opening of the Duxbury Art Association Winter Juried Show 

at the Art Complex Museum opens this Saturday night from 7 - 9 pm. 

This piece of mine is in the show.

"Wing Tips"
12 x 12 oil

The best news of all, is that a student of mine told me that a painting
she did the day after she took a workshop from me,
is getting second prize in oils at the WJS! 

I'm not taking any credit, it's just nice to know I may have had a tiny bit of influence. 

Congratulations Joanne!    

New Palette Paper

I've been experimenting with adding more colors to my palette lately. 

I use an "Easle Pal", a wooden box with flaps that fold out on either side, for a palette.

The paint piles had built up so much, I had no where to add new ones!

(and the mixing space was getting smaller and smaller) 

My old set up 

I used some heavy paint remover and managed to get all that old paint off, 

then inserted a pad of Jack Richeson "Grey Matters" palette paper. 

My new set up! 

What a difference! 

It's so much cleaner, more manageable and fun to work with! 

The neutral grey makes for more accurate color mixing, 

and when I'm done, I can just transfer left over paint to the next sheet! 

Call me crazy, but that just made my day!