Intention

I like the idea of setting an intention for things.

Whether it's a yoga practice, making breakfast, or starting a painting. 

To define your intention ahead of time

keeps you focussed. 

Black, Red, Yellow 6 x 6 

Currently, my intention in painting is to 

focus more on shapes and design, 

and to play around with color harmonies.  

This is a real challenge for me because 

"little miss fussy pants" shows up 

and wants to put in every detail!   

I have to stay focussed on my intention,

just to keep her at bay.   

The GJWP challenge for the month of December is 

Intention. 

They will all be here posted on January 1 ! 

Holiday Break

I love the week between Christmas and New Years.
Nothing is normal or routine

and there is a bit of magic in the air.
 Plenty of time for reflection and renewal,
relaxing and re-grouping....
Yesterday I even managed a few hours on the couch
re-reading
"The Art Spirit" by Robert Henri. 

Talk about inspiration!

His wisdom and technical advice about painting is 

as appropriate and valuable today as it was 1916.

If not more! 

Looking forward to wherever my painting 

takes me in 2014! 

Happy New Year everyone! 

Happy Holidays to All!

Sending you all peaceful winter greetings.

I thank you for sharing my painting journey throughout the year,  

and celebrate with gratitude my good fortune to have crossed paths with you! 

  

Cello Waiting for Santa

Looking forward to see what new ideas, discoveries and paintings 

the New Year will bring

and hope you will continue to join me! 

Internet Inspiration

I'm finding a lot of inspiration on the internet lately. 

Mostly following artists' blogs whose work 

leans toward the more 

expressionist / contemporary / colorful.

Ann Winthrop Cordin's work inspired me today.  

"Fake Tulips"

12 x 12 

This was inspired by Anne's painting below. 

It's been hanging in my studio for weeks

with a note (from me) that says,

"set up a simple still life using glass". 

The simplicity of the angles and the strong value pattern 

 is very appealing to me. 

This was a fun exercise.

Although, I only had those fake red tulips 

and they were well,

lifeless.  

Blurb Book

I've been working on my annual Blurb Book.

Every year since 2009, I have made one of 

my 20 best paintings from that year. 

Meanwhile, I've been having fun fooling around with some paintings 

that didn't "make the cut" for one reason or another.

Old Salt House 

8 x 6 oil (new) 

I radically changed the color of the sky in this one,

which then prompted other color changes. 

So liberating! 

Old Salt House 

8 x 6 (previous) 

Meanwhile, sweet Cello
looks like she's waiting for
what?
Our first winter storm?
Santa? 

Cello in Salty Dog Studio! 

"Painting with Purpose" Exercise

I bought some 9 x 12  Arches Oil Paper recently 

to use for exercises and experiments. 

Twirling #1
(oil on paper)

For this one, I took the (slightly fussed over )

"Twirling" painting from my last post 

and looked at just the big shapes.

I used one stroke, one value per shape. 

Twirling #2

A totally different result! 

I did a careful drawing on the paper,

(marking the shadow shapes) 

turned it upside down,

and put the image away.  

This exercise teaches us to paint with more purpose, 

making each brushstroke more meaningful! 

I may call this the 

"Paint with Purpose" exercise! 

Beat those Mid- Winter Blues!

Want to beat those winter blues? 

Spend a fun winter weekend honing your painting skills 

or learning new ones!

I'll be teaching a  

two day "One Hour Painting" workshop

at The South Shore Art Center 

January 25 / 26.

"Twirling"

8 x 10 

oil on paper

"We will explore the practice of creating a painting from start to finish in one hour, teaching you how to simplify the process, and be able to “say a lot with a little”. Through demos, exercises, and “timed” one hour group painting sessions, you will learn how to use generous, quick, well placed strokes that will give you fresher, simpler, more effective paintings. We will work from simple still lives and photos. Demos are in oil, although the lessons may be applied to acrylics as well. The method I use produces results for both beginners and experienced painters, so there is no fear! "

Trust me. 

This is a lot of fun!   

Snowbird

The end of the month again! 

The Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge this month was 

BIRDS.

Snowbird 

6 x 6

oil 

I couldn't resist. 

See the rest of the gang's post here!