Expressive Paintings

Just completed a wonderful two day workshop

"Expressive Paintings from Photos" 

at South Shore Art Center

with 10 amazing artists.

My demo from the first day below.

Notice how I divide the palette in half,

darks on the right, lights on the left. 

A great way to keep your colors clean! 

The first exercise was a value study plus one color. 

I had them plan out the value plan directly on the image.

Bingo!

Then the "Limited Stroke" exercise.

Again they had to count the strokes ahead of time, 

right on the image.

I just love this. 

Now, below is a sampling of more work done.

Sadly, I was so excited the whole time,

I didn't get images of everything!  

 Now, this gal used an image she took by pausing

her TV during a movie. 

She was able to capture the men's fear and the 

cold, eerie feeling of the scene beautifully 

in her painting. 

Every value, color and stroke was geared toward that goal. 

As always, I learn so much from these workshops. 

A great big thanks to all the talented and dynamic 

participants.

My batteries are re-charged and I am ready to go!   

Lesson Plans

I'm working on some exercises

for a new class I'm teaching; 

"Expressive Paintings From Photos" 

Three Values Plus One Color Exercise

The idea is to simplify a subject down to just three values,

planning them ahead. 

M- middle

L - light

D - dark

M+ - any middle value color 

(for background only) 

Afterward, I put the photo into the Value Viewer App 

and discovered I wasn't very far off! 

Value Viewer set on 

"levels" 

(three values) 

I took the image with my I phone 

from across the room at a restaurant. 

There are paintings everywhere!  

Snow birds

The Copley Society
is presenting a collection of my paintings entitled
"Snowbirds" 

at their off site exhibit space in the 

Boston Private Bank and Trust
Prudential Building
800 Boylston Street
Boston
Jan. 21 - March 20

"Snowbirds"

8 x 16 

January Get Away 

12 x 12 

Life is Good

16 x 8

Winter Vacation

12 x 12 

Stop and take a look if you're walking by 

for a quick burst of sunshine! 

Abstraction / Expressionism

I'm excited to see so many fellow contemporary painters
experimenting with being less representational.
Some are trying out an abstract approach
and some are leaning more toward a form of expressionism.
It's all new and refreshing!

I've been researching "movements" from the past
and found this simple description of the two
with classic examples of both.

Abstraction:

1.     The quality of dealing with ideas rather than events.

2.     Freedom from representational qualities in art.

by Gregory Christeas

Expressionism: 

            To present solely from a subjective perspective, distorting shapes and colors radically, for emotional affect in order to evoke moods or ideas.

Edvard Munch

The Scream 1893

And then there's Abstract Expressionism!

Hats off to every one out there
pushing themselves beyond what they know!

From Above

I've always been intrigued by 

the "from above" perspective. 

"Last Set"

16 x 20 

The photographer at the end of our daughter's wedding 

took some incredible images of 

the dance floor from above!  

I'd been trying to imagine how I could express that 

feeling* in a larger painting.

When I saw this painting by the amazing 

Mark Daniel Nelson 

I was inspired to try it out!

Figures by Mark Daniel Nelson

*a crazy, frenetic celebration of love!

"Journeys" Show

I'm excited that one of the first pieces I did
for my recent "celebration series"
was chosen to be part of the Journeys show
at South Shore Art Center.
(January 9 - February 8) 

"Hora" 

9 x 12 

The Juror was 

Zola Solamente, Director of the Arden Gallery Boston

and it's quite a show! 

You can see it here.

Class Prep

I'm prepping for a two day workshop 

and a 6 week class I'm teaching for the first time.

"Expressive Paintings from Photos"

I'm playing with the idea of using shape, color, 

design, edges, paint application

and a lot of "letting go" in order interpret 

an idea with a lot of feeling. 

 "Greek Wedding" 

16 x 16 

Inspiration

In preparation for the New Year

 I re-organized my studio office today. 

I found this in my "inspiration" file 

and thought I should share it again. 

  

Simple. To the point. 

Realistic. Do able. 

Thank you Austin Kleon !

There is no THERE there!

The best thing about being an artist is

there is no "there" there. 

(The journey never ends!) 

You are always evolving and growing and changing 

and I find that exhilarating. 

"Slow Dance"

8 x 8 

I recently found these 6 x 8 paintings I did in 2011 

after a trip to Puerto Rico.

I had taken a workshop with the fabulous Karin Jurick 

where we painted on smooth black boards and used synthetic brushes. 

(Sorry about the lousy images) 

Salsa Dancing

6 x 8 

They were such fun to paint 

I'm not sure why I didn't keep going in that direction.

However, it's fun to think they were the precursor to the 

"Celebration" series I'm having fun with now. 

I hope everyone is recovering from the holidays 

and are happily getting back to the journey!