Where do I begin?

How can I feel like I have so much to tell you, yet I can't even begin to tell you what's going on?  It's been very busy at the studio, at home, and everywhere in between!

So I will share what I can through photos...and share the long version for another day :)

New Woodstock paintings in the works...

The Barber Shop and Tea Party Restaurant on Main Street

Our Wednesday Evening figure group has been awesome every week - fabulous artists and amazing models.  These are a couple of my recent pieces.  The red ones are watercolor pencil on Wallis paper (12 x 18) and the brown one is oil on canvas (12 x 16)

This is the work board of one of my students for the Value Class that I ran last month.  It was a focus on value, not hue.  If your values are correct, used in good proportions as well, your paintings will be more successful.  It was a great class that I look forward to having again!

One afternoon I set up a nice yellow pear in a little turquoise dish, with the light from the window creating a beautiful sunlight pattern.  From this shot you'd think I had made a great painting.  Well...you'd be wrong.  It turned out muddy and overworked.  It got painted over.

This painting of a small striped pumpkin turned out much better.  Please ignore what looks like my finger in the upper left corner...

I'm also spending a lot of time researching and implementing a special diet for my son Jack.  It's based on the Feingold diet - the biggest aspect being eliminating artificial food coloring (which we've been doing for a while) artificial preservatives, and various other foods that tend to exacerbate his poor behavior.  While just focusing on food coloring was working for a while, it seems like he still has problems after eating foods that you would think would be ok - such as orange juice, apples or apple juice, milk, grapes, peaches, fresh pineapple, and almonds.  It's a continuous experiment, finding foods that are not only as all natural as possible, but don't contain those foods that may trigger emotional outbursts (yes...all children have behavior issues at some point...but these meltdowns are beyond definition).  If you have any experience with the Feingold diet, or any other elimination diet and behavior, I would love to hear your feedback!  

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!

What does "alla prima" painting mean?

I have to admit, I had heard the painting term "alla prima" many many times, and never stopped to think about what it really meant.  There are several definitions of alla prima out there, but the most succinct definition I have heard is "all at once".  Which means you consider everything and cover everything in your painting in one sitting.

On a recent visit to my parents' in Western New York, I was lucky enough to attend a one-day class with my mother at a studio where she regularly takes painting classes, Partners in Art in North Tonawanda.  This was a one day class on "Alla Prima".

I have done many many paintings in one sitting in the past, but it was wonderful to be on the student side this time!  I really enjoyed watching the teacher, Joan Horn, demonstrate and work with her students.  I have also learned a lot about setting up effective learning and work stations in my own studio!  She's been at it since 1995, so I feel very privileged to have seen her classroom space, one that has been refined and improved continuously.

So Joan got us started by having us tone a canvas with a pretty generous amount of sepia toned paint and thinner.  This layer was left to dry for a few moments while we watched her block in her initial shapes.  SHAPES - NOT line drawings!  We looked for the mass of the objects right away.  (STOP DRAWING! Was shouted across the room several times once we got back to our easels!)

After lightly wiping our pre-stained canvas, the goal was to block in all the shapes.

(my mom starting on her pot and peppers!)

Very thin paint.

Keeping the paint thin, we mixed a very dark dark and blocked in ONLY the darkest darks.  My set up was very light, so I only had a few spots to block in.  These shapes were more specific, and we took our time to make sure they were in exactly the right spot, because everything else was to fit around these initial shapes.

Keeping the paint thin, we blocked in the background colors and local colors on the objects.  The colors should be close, but don't spend too much time mixing the colors - the goal is to cover the canvas with as close as possible colors to make sure your tones, values, and temperatures are harmonious.  Our brush was pretty dry, and we scrubbed the color into the appropriate areas.

Once you were happy with the initial layer of thin paint, it was time to go back and add in some more details and highlights with slightly thicker paint.  Hopefully, if the initial massing in and the drawing in of the darkest darks were correct, all of the other pieces of the puzzle should fit together nicely.  My total time in front of my easel was probably between 90-120 minutes.  In the past week or so I tried a couple more alla prima still lifes in my own studio - I'll share those soon!

How to Set Up a Still Life

I've been having a lot of fun the last few days collecting various objects to fill my shelves in the studio to have lots and lots of props for our still life classes.  Neighbors have cleaned out their closets, a few treasures were found at yard sales, and Goodwill and Thrift stores have been great.

I finished building the last couple of storage and display shelves, unpacked my treasures and started setting up a few still lifes for inspiration.

  When setting up a still life, I look at several elements: color, size of elements, number of elements, horizontal or vertical composition, the pattern and lines that are formed, how the light works across the still life, and how the objects react to each other - their surfaces change depending on what they are next to, on top of, or holding inside.

I really like taking a quick photo to see how the set up translates into 2D.   Even on just a camera viewfinder or an iphone, you can see issues with composition or lighting pretty easily.

Seven work stations are all ready!!

And I started another tree painting.  This is slightly larger than the Japanese maple tree painting that just sold.

I am building up the surface the same way - lots of texture and layers, a little bit of copper leaf to reflect the light.

(I don't know why pictures are loading sideways lately!)

Painting Techniques...Choosing a Palette

I have had this still life in my studio for several months - the result of a live model session where the model had to go home sick and we made do!

But it hadn't developed any further than the initial sketch...I didn't knw what direction i wanted to take it in, and i was a little worried about layering over the drawing because i liked a lot of the line qualitly in the drawing.

But I was inspired by a photograph in my latest Entertainment Weekly of the band Coldplay













(BUY their latest album if you haven't - every track is awesome!)

The photo is actually built (I think) like a great painting - the colors (umber with cobalt blue and cadmium red moments) Great linear and geometric elements and a wonderful variety of textures.

So...I used the pallete for my still life! I made sure to spray the charcoal drawing and my initial layers of paint were mixed with glaze so that the lines were preserved.














After adding a bit more paint, I went back with my charcoal pencil and re-discovered a few lines that I wanted to emphasize.

It's not done yet...but i feel much better now that I've got this painting started!


You never know what will inspire you.