Wrapping Up and Catching Up - Casey Baugh's Workshop and A New Painting

The end of April to the middle of May has disappeared in a whirlwind of activity.  Spring is normally my favorite time of year - the warmer afternoons that finish with cool evenings by the bonfire, the budding of the trees, the inkling to clean out all of the closets and drawers.  However, this spring has had a totally different feel to it.  The weather in GA was stuck in some kind of twilight zone, hanging on to cold temperatures and rain like winter was never going to end.

The crappy weather has impeded my progress on my summer tan, but has not hindered my process in the studio.  Of course, how could I not be inspired to be productive after spending a week with Casey Baugh teaching in my space?!?

Once I got over the shock of Casey actually walking through the door and standing in the center of my studio...I settled back in the comfy couch in my studio and just watched as he held court, talking about his painting philosophy and connecting with his students for the week.

The first day demo did not disappoint.  Casey spends a great deal of time on the set-up, settling into his surroundings, adjusting (and creating!) the perfect type of lighting scheme and posing the model until he can visualize the complete painting.  While this process may seem drawn out to those who just want to watch the magic when his brush hits the canvas, it's this mental process that Casey credits with much of his success.

The rest of the week was equally inspiring and insightful.  Casey demonstrated with two paintings based on photographs.  Watching him select the perfect shot, edit it, and again - visualize the complete painting before picking up his brush - was incredibly helpful.

Of course, the signature is a part of the painting - Casey has refined his signature and always places it with great care.  Often, this is before the painting is "finished" - considered part of the process, not the final touch.

Casey was so generous with his time, and hosted a more social gathering one evening where he completed another fabulous demo in more of a party setting...the vibe was much more relaxed as we talked, ate, drank, and heckled Casey as he created this masterpiece.

We also took some time to admire the sculpture that Matt Lewis has been working on in the studio.

On the final day, Casey arranged our lovely model against one of the fabulous 100 year old walls in the studio.  The lighting, the red dress, even her hair color were perfect together.  

Tucked out of everyone's way, I worked on a painting from a photo of the same pose.

Hearing Casey talk each artist though their painting, and watching him make adjustments, was incredibly helpful and I tried to keep two things in mind as I worked - push the full value range that I want to establish, and value is more important than color.

This is almost finished...I have since resolved the hand.  I will post another picture soon!

Great news:  Casey Baugh will be back at Studio 81 in August of 2013 AND in June of 2014.  If you are interested in getting on the waiting list for 2013 or signing up for 2014, please contact me.

Painting a Garden of Roses

Without getting too deep psychologically...let's just say that, for me, painting can be like a good therapist. And let's just say, I really needed some therapy these last few weeks!  I actually set aside all of the figurative pieces and portraits in my studio and focused on a quick series of roses.  A few months ago I took dozens of shots of roses in a garden in Chattanooga.  The roses were perfect therapy - colorful, engaging, and relatively quick - I painted 8 in 8 days.

This was the first painting.  All of these panels are 6" x 6" masonite, pre-primed.

I loved the warm orange and peach center framed by the periwinkle blue petals.

I started each painting by focusing on the negative space and background - not the buds and blooms.

Working from the computer screen is so helpful - the colors are so vibrant, and I can zoom in and get all the detail.

This was probably the most complex rose I attempted - not only the number of petals, but the combination of warm and cool.  I had to make the blues pure and bright - but in the shadow.

The first four in the series.

OK this is the 8 paintings.  I don't know why it keeps showing up upside down!  Until I figure it out I'm leaving it like this.  Because, you know, the more issues I have dealing with the little things that really should NOT take ten times to figure out, the more therapy I need, and the more therapy I need, the more I paint...so it's a win-win, really. 

Capturing the Light

A while back I spotted a gorgeous vintage dress at the little shop close to my studio on Main Street in Woodstock.  It was a strapless, full length dress with layers of purple (I love purple!!!) and sheer black tulle.

I asked a lovely friend of mine to pose for me, in the dress, at my studio.  We aimed for a time in the afternoon when the sun would be pouring through the window.  I got hundreds of beautiful shots, and started working from one where she was sitting on the floor in the light.

At the start of the painting I blocked in the largest shapes and kept the colors a little darker and richer than they needed to be in the end.  I want to give the lightest accents some contrast.

As I kept developing the details, I realized I didn't like the position of the hand on her lap.  So I used a photo that was shot just a couple frames before, in the same light, and changed her hand.

My toughest critic showed up to give me her opinion....she said I'm pretty close!

I'm letting it dry for a little while, living with it for a bit, before I decide on the final touches.

Charcoal Sketches from the Live Model

I know I haven't been posting a lot of my art lately.  It's not for a lack of productivity.  I have been drawing and painting quite a bit.  But my mind, when not actually holding a brush, has been elsewhere.  I am very concerned about my son's diet, in fact the diet of my whole family.  I am incredibly depressed to see how much junk food children are allowed to eat in the classroom every day, and what a huge negative impact it can have on them mentally and physically.

SEE?! There I go again!  I'm here to show some drawings and back I go to ranting about the junk food!

So... FOCUS! Here are a couple recent black and white drawings from the live model.

This is the very beginning of the charcoal portrait below.  I find it helpful to block in the largest areas of light and shadow first - getting proportion and a sense of the light source before getting caught up in the tiny details.

I think this was just about an hour of drawing.  I used vine charcoal and then switched to charcoal pencil. 

This drawing is built up mainly from charcoal lines, similar to cross hatching techniques.  This was partly due to the paper.  I think this is a Canson drawing pad, and I find that I can't "smudge" as much as some other drawing papers.  It doesn't erase as cleanly, either, which kind of forces me to get it "right" in fewer strokes.

This figure drawing in charcoal was done in 30 minutes from the live model. I love compact poses like this, especially in short periods of time.  Strong lighting, a good pose, you can get a lot accomplished in a short time period if you look at the big picture - the largest areas of light and shadow first - and then work in to the details. 

Still Life Paintings in the Studio

Over the past few weeks I have worked on several small, 8" x 8" still life paintings.  Kind of practice for myself, to step away from the figure and the portrait, to play with color, etc.

And this is a 9" x 12" oil on canvas

Most of these paintings are done in only one session, 90 - 120 minutes.  A couple areas are touched up in another short session, but I try to get a direct impression as quickly - and as fresh - as possible.

Ever since I built in the still life and storage shelves, I had been collecting all kinds of little cups and saucers and great fabric.  My favorite pastime is filling up my shelves with new little characters to work with!

Painting in the studio...

I've been painting a lot.  That happens every May as the children approach summer vacation.  I'm in panic mode: too many ideas, not enough time to paint them all!  And to make it worse: I keep taking MORE pictures and getting MORE ideas!  I can't even finish a series of paintings before I want to move onto the next one.

Deep breath.

In addition to some of these you see here, I'm finishing a few commissions as well, and starting new commissions next week.

Let me know if you'd like to babysit so I can finish :)

From Wednesday night.  Lovely model posed like she's on a very boring date.  She's holding a glass of red wine.  The working title is "Boredom Buster"

The MOST fabulous young lady was walking near my art studio and I forced myself to go up to her and ask her if I could paint her - isn't she wonderful?!

Then when I was shoe shopping this adorable pose was struck by a mom and her baby girl - she's actually laughing in the picture because that's a really awkward position when someone shouts out "Hold it! I have to paint that!" and then it takes me three minutes to turn on my iphone camera...

And when I'm not painting, I'm teaching - and my students are doing so well!  A couple works in progress...

I'm going to need more paint.

When we last saw each other, my newest tree painting looked like this...

The plan was to turn it into one of the very pretty light pink flowering trees that are all over my neighborhood (I can't remember their name!)

First I started covering the gold foil...

Then I covered over the dark blue line of foliage in the background...

Then I changes the sky color...

And finally I was ready to turn my tree pink.

Ok.  Half a tube of white paint to make...pink frosting. Not good.

Scrape scrape scrape...

Hmmm...now what do I do with all of the fresh paint I just scraped off?

At least I could use the paint to cover over some old paintings :)

Well, even though I wasted a bunch of time and paint on the actual tree, I do think I'm heading in the right direction with the color relationships, and the layers are looking really good in person.  And, when I was looking at the painting from across the room, I could see that the light was catching the gold foil just right.

So, I've got THAT going for me.  Which is nice

A week of work in the studio

So many pieces to share, in progress, just starting, finishing...

Finished up this still life sample for my painting class

Finished up the yellow tree, started a new tree...

It's hot pink and gold at one time (perfect for a late 60's bathroom...pink porcelain and gold wallpaper!)

But it didn't stay pink - lots of layers to go! Eventually it will be...well, come back and see!

Lovely sketch from Wednesday night's model - this is a sanguine pastel pencil I believe

And a quick oil painting of her back - over two other paintings, which worked with and against me :)

Me working...working...working...

Friends working working working from the model today...

Three hour oil painting from our model today.

Now I know why my shoulder is very, very sore...lots of painting this week :)