West Cave Preserve

This is slowly getting the depth of field that I wanted. The main thing that inspired me to do this painting was the light, so I have to work at getting the light on the ground brighter and lighter. I think the contrast is okay elsewhere, but am willing to work as slowly as I have to to really see what's going on with the composition.

Hibiscus Sure Is Colorful!

I worked on this for a few hours (palette knife) and may not get to it again for a while. My daughter is moving to Brownsville for 10 weeks and I am caught up in her preparations. In the late afternoon sun, in my dining room, the colors in this are soooo vibrant! It's definite eye candy.

Hibiscus is Bloomin' Fun!

The blocking in of this painting is still a lot of fun. I'm trying very hard not to get into detail yet, but sometimes it appears just from the change in value/color on some of the leaves. I already changed the composition by getting rid of a big patch of white sky on the upper right. The pool might be next, or maybe just the patio whiteness that is so distracting. I have so much green in this painting that it is nice to have a little bit of something breaking it up, but right now it's battling with the hibiscus for viewers' attention. The West Cave Preserve painting is also slow going, but I'm okay with that. As long as there is positive direction each week, I consider that important progress. Both paintings are being done with palette knife and fun! What's not fun is the pain in my hip which will start to limit my painting sessions in the next year or two, until I get another hip replacement. I bet you thought only big dogs had Hip Displasia...little women can have it, too, as I found out. It eventually causes arthritis in the joint because it has too much pressure hitting too little area. It's not life threatening, but does impinge on my quality of life when it gets to the bone on bone stage.

Studio Painting and Finished Painting

I just realized that I haven't put up the finished version of Aloe Flowers. And, I started a new painting for working at Noel Robbins' studio (West Cave Preserve) from a photo of trees that my daughter, Sami, took. She takes some lovely dramatic shots that I appreciate so much!

Starting A Fun One

Last week, my brother Ski sent me a few photos of an hibiscus in his yard that I could use for inspiration. I absolutely loved how open and lush this bloom was and felt it needed a big canvas to express how fun it was. Fortunately, I had taken advantage of a sale at Aaron Bros. a while back and had a 36x36x2" canvas just waiting for something this strong and vibrant. I'm still blocking in, but of course can't help but use my paintbrush to describe the shapes and lines within the shapes, so it's developing form already. Fun!!

Mother's Day Painting

Howdy Fellow Painters! Just thought I'd share this little painting I did for my mother for Mother's Day. It's actually from a photo she took of some tulips last year. I was going through some old emails and came upon the photo and the light just spoke to me, so I figured it would be a wonderful tribute to her artistic photo if I were to paint it for her. My back-up plan, if the painting refused to cooperate with me in time for Mother's Day, was to do a really good print of her photo and mat and frame it for her. That would actually be a better tribute to her work, but this painting needed to be painted. You know how that is? Sometimes the subject just won't let you alone until you do something with it. I'm a little surprised at how it turned out. I've been working with a palette knife so much that I expect something rather painterly with everything I do. This has much more the look of something by Andrew Wyeth (out the window) and "I don't know who" in the foreground, but I don't hate it.

New Rendition...Hope You're Not Disappointed

I gotta be meeee! I realized that is what was bothering me so much about this painting. When I have a paintbrush in hand, I tend to get into details that aren't important to what I'm trying to express. So, out came the palette knife and I got started on the background. Then, I blocked out the flowers with cad. light and came back in with all the colors you see now. And it was fun! Not a struggle anymore. It's not done, but getting much closer and then I can frame it in my new black Illusions frame from Jerry's Artarama. I am so freaking stoked to have these frames for nearly all my paintings. I hit their online sale and ordered as many of the black ones as I could fit to the paintings I've done in the past year. Illusions look like floating frames and I love that look. I already have one painting framed that way, that Davis Gallery charged me $199 for. I feel like such a chump because none of these frames cost more than $40 and I know they're not that hard to install a painting in and wire the back. Live and learn, I always say.

Firenze Afterglow

Catching Up

I have totally enjoyed the past 13 months that I've been studying with Noel Robbins. His teaching methods work well for me and I've gotten so much better as a result of listening to what he has to teach. I still need to test what he's taught me, though, and will often work on something at home that I don't bring to work on at studio time. It's not that I'm ashamed of it or afraid of his criticism. I work on it away from studio time to prove to myself that I have truly learned enough to stand on my own. And when I no longer feel like I need the training wheels that his guidance provides, then I can paint at home all the time. So far, I have not accomplished any magic at home. I've done some "fun" stuff, but I don't stretch myself with my home projects as much as I do with what I do in Noel's studio. I work hard, nonetheless, and every day look for a sign that I've figured out how to make the magic happen. It happened the other night at studio, but I've yet to see it with this current work at home. I think the only way I'm going to be happy with it is to give up the photo and go with my memory and with the knowledge of how I know things must look to have the atmosphere and distance and light that I feel in the photo. Crossing fingers that I can get this piece where I will be satisfied instead of confused.

More on Aloe Painting

Due to some issues with my AOL, I have spent way too much time being frustrated and dealt with it mainly by painting and staying off the computer. So, here's an update of the process with this painting. I worked hard to get the contrasts true to the photo and then began to realize that the photo wasn't true to nature, so then I tried to get the flowers to come forward and become more 3D. I don't know why that should be so difficult, but I'm just not getting it yet. One more try today and then I'm going to let it "sit" for a bit. You may also notice that I kept messing with the lower background, unsure as to whether or not I wanted that much detail. In the end, I think the changes in light help to convey the bright sunny day. And, because it was such a bright day, I may have to come back and lose some of the intense color. Boo hoo! I was really enjoying it for a change. But then this whole painting has been a departure from my usual toned down palette and knife style of late, so maybe I ought to let the brilliant coral tones stand as they are. We'll see.

Aloe Flowers

After visiting the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, I came home thinking that the first painting I'd do would be the very cool poppies, but I was totally drawn to a photo I took of an Aloe plant's flowers. I love the brilliant corals topped with very cool greenish gray. So here are a few pics of the start. I'm so messy in the blocking in stages. Hopefully I will finish soon and have something fun to look at in my dining room until it finds a show or a new home.

Comfort Painting

I may not be alone in this, but feel like I've hit upon a new term: comfort painting. It's much like "comfort food" which you turn to when you need to snuggle up and turn off the world for a while. A Comfort Painting is one that has no pressure, perhaps is even a revisiting of a previously fun composition and is also quick to do.

Though y'all know that I don't do any painting quickly, these little panels (5x7) don't dry very fast, so I can't do much in one sitting. I painted the whole panel's imprimatura one day and then days later painted the composition and blocked in the background and foreground. I had to then let that dry so I could come back another day and start working the pears.

I've been sick this whole week with a sinus infection, so painting in little spurts as I have done with these, seems to work well with feeling like crap and not having a very clear head. And the subject matter is one that I feel so very comfortable with and enjoy more than most fruits or flowers. They're so bulbous and fecund and I enjoy the extreme light and shadow in this composition.

What's your Comfort Painting?

Firenz Afterglow

I hope that the fact that I already have a title for this piece bodes well for this work, but am wondering if it's just wishful thinking. Why? Well, today I decided to document what I had worked on last night at studio and the first thing I did was knock a glass ashtray full of sea shells off the buffet when I grabbed my little table easel which resulted in shattered glass and broken shells all over my clean floor. At least I learned that The Maids do an excellent job of cleaning under furniture.

Within 5 minutes I had another disaster on my hands when the painting I was photographing (Firenz Afterglow) was hit by a gust of wind and it and the table easel went crashing to the patio floor, putting a little dent/tear in the canvas. I understand that there are relatively easy ways to fix it, but made me sad nonetheless.

They say bad things come in threes, so you can bet that I'm watching my every move today to make sure that nothing precious gets damaged. No picking up the doggies, no handling delicate or expensive items today. In fact, I should probably get off the computer since I find it much more valuable than most things in my house!

One second more and I'm done. This painting is a lesson in low values. How to make it interesting when there's very little contrast. How to understand just how to keep the values low and still convey light in the painting. I did a lot of scraping last night, because every time I'd squint I would see that I'd gotten it too light. Should be interesting if I can get this lesson learned. And now I have to buy a new tube of paint because I don't own any Old Holland Schveningen Blue (Thalo Blue).

I'm Hungry, So Let's Get This Over With!

As the heading says, I'm hungry and really just want to post the signed painting, so I'll keep my comments short. Issues with this painting were all about the background. Staying true to the friend's photo made the composition a little confusing and not all that dynamic. By bringing the lawn and fence across the left side, I think it provided cohesion. And the other problem, how to work the fence, got plenty of attention. Too light, too dark, too undefined, too warm, too cool. You name it, I dealt with it, haha! And now I'm very excited to contemplate a few more paintings. I want to do some small ones for my "Fearsome Foursome" gang of girls for when we meet up in San Antonio in about 3 weeks. That may get done, it may not, depending on how crazy life gets or if other paintings have to take precedence. Also, I'm excited about the possibility of using some photos Sami took at West Cave Preserve yesterday. There was a grotto, a cave and beautiful vistas. Really interesting subjects and, since my daughter has such a remarkable eye for getting the strong shot, I am really jazzed about using her work to further my own. We collaborate well! And now for some food. I've been photographing this painting, which is a bear because of all the texture. Then, working on the photographs to get the best one cropped, adjusting for the light. And I've been sort of dieting lately so always feel hungry. Three pounds doesn't sound like much but it's making me cranky! I needz mah chocolate!

It's All About The Lesson Learned

Today's lesson, boys and girls, is don't be so attached to what you want to express from your inspiration photo that you forget about good design. Or maybe the lesson is don't feel like you have to be true to the photo, even if it is of a particular place, if it doesn't work as a composition.

I was dealing with both of those things today because the photo is from a friend's yard and I wanted to be true to the surroundings. Plus, the reason I chose that particular photo to work from is how the dappled light made the sky and the background very abstract and interesting.

However, once you start down that path, you may as well forget about the subject because there's always going to be conflict for the viewer (and painter) if the design has your eye going in too many directions and you can't tell what it is that you're looking at.

While it's okay to have the background vague, it's not okay for just *some* of it to be vague and other parts understandable. If you're the kind of viewer who takes in all the details, you're going to focus on that blob because it just doesn't fit with the rest of the background.

So, this is an amaryllis from a friend's backyard. I think it looks like an amaryllis in a backyard and, since I'm sick of it, I'm just about done with this backyard amaryllis. It's not moving, not inspiring, just a pretty flower...with a huge lesson attached to it. Do you think, if I named it, "The Teacher", that would be too confusing? Haha! I won't, but will forevermore think of it that way.

There Are No Original Thoughts...Or So I Thought

When I got to painting studio last night, and Noel glanced at my amaryllis painting, he said, "That looks like a Daniel Sprick painting!". I was dumbstruck with dismay. After having copied a Cezanne painting twice and having it bought up right away, I swore never to copy another artist's work. It just isn't why I paint.

So, to have him immediately jump on the subject matter as being dirivitive of another artist's work made me so unhappy that I was unable to get started on anything for a good half hour.

Now that I've seen the amaryllis in question, the only thing I can say is that it's an amaryllis. I don't think that anyone would mistake my composition or style for anything resembling Daniel Sprick's work, phew! http://www.gallery1261.com/html_artists/sprick/amaryllis.htm

So, once I'd squeezed out some paint colors on my palette, I spent more time than I wanted looking at two photographs that I'd brought, in hopes that being in a different location would help me decide which one was worthy of a painting.

The one I chose is a sunset over Florence that my friend, Lynda, took while visiting her daughter last summer. Even the tiny thumbnail photo of it grabbed my eye, so I knew that it would make a good composition. Noel agreed and said the words I've been looking for...he said that if I work it right, this painting will sing! Not only that, this feels so much more original than anything I've done in a while, so I'm super stoked to have this challenge ahead of me. Stay tuned.

I thought I'd share the blocking in with you. Initially, I started with way too much detail, which is a big flaw of mine. Noel was sitting across the room and suggested that I just block in the two big shapes and get the values right, before moving on to the detail. What I managed to paint last night was what I could see in the thumbnail, so I know I'm on my way! Woot!

The Pressure's On

I go to painting studio every Tuesday night at Noel Robbins'. And every month there is a day where I panic because I don't have my next great painting all lined up. It's weird that the wonderful inspirational photos that I've been collecting for the past 3 years are doing nothing for me. I look them over, wander around the house and the yard, go online, look over my daughter's and husband's photos and nothing is singing to me lately. Nothing has sung to me since "Pierre".

But, I have painted something like 7 paintings and all those market bags and Valentines since "Pierre", so I can paint without being deeply moved by my subject. I'm just wishing that I could go back to that feeling that *this is it* when I see a photo. I've had three paintings that hit me that way: "Mining Ruin", "Canyon Waterfall", and "Pierre et Ballon de Football".

The closest I have come, is the "Thrill Before The Storm", but that one was rife with problems, decisions that had to be changed, issues with using a published photograph. All that kind of spoiled the joy of getting to do that painting.

I guess what I'm looking for is some joy. This amaryllis comes close. It's only 9x12, and hard as hell to use a palette knife on. So...I'm thinking that, if I can't get behind one of the inspiration photos I'm taking to studio tonight, I might just do this amaryllis on a larger canvas. And, no, that's not an original idea with me.

I'm skimming my new book, "I'd Rather Be In The Studio" by Alyson B. Stanfield and she quotes an artist who says that he paints small paintings to give away and a larger version to sell. Another take on that idea is what I came up with on my own: paint one that you think your commissioner would like and another one that is all your own style. Both ideas have a lot of merit and will leave you with a piece that you can sell in the end.

I've taken a photograph of my progress on the Amaryllis and am nearing the end. A few tweaks and I'll sign it and varnish it. Hopefully, I can get to it tomorrow and it'll be dry enough to varnish and give to my friend on Thursday because I just realized that she does volunteer work on Fridays and won't be at Jazzercise. Ah well. There's always next week.

Signed Painting and Work in Progress

Here's the signed "Bikes". Lesson learned here was how to render leaves on the ground without getting specific with each one. The other lesson was about how hard it is to use a palette knife to do bicycle wheels. An accurate rounded shape is tough! Should have learned that lesson with the "Grapes"!

This other painting is still really rough. I don't have the proper colors down on the flowers but just wanted to see some red on the canvas before calling it a day on Friday. I'd worked primarily on the drawing and background for part of 2 days and just did some smears of reds in about half an hour, to describe the flowers. I hope to work on it today and pretty much finish it. I also hope to give it to the friend whose photo I'm using for the inspiration. She doesn't know it, though, so don't tell;-)

I Just Need To Sign It and Name It!

Maybe it's Spring Fever. It's been a lovely 82 degree sunny day with nary a cloud in the sky and I have been worthless today. Well, to be fair, I did sit outside and read and that is worth something when you're used to working indoors all the time. Still, I can't stop the little nagging voice that said, "Get your paints out and PAINT outside".

I couldn't stop the other nagging going on in my head that said, "Just paint something...anything!" And since it's not too late, I may just go smear some paint on a canvas and play with color. Lots of good things happen when I do that.

So, I could call it Spring Fever, but I'm wondering if it's just the let down that happens when I finish a painting and think I've decided on the next one but am not totally enamoured of the original thought. I thought I wanted to paint a sailboat with sails unfurled. It sounded romantic and a chance to really do something interesting with white. But, I'm not chomping at the bit to get to it. A classic sign with me that I'm pushing too hard for an idea that's not working.

I have a new book about figure drawing and am not getting very far with that, either. So, what to do? Clean the studio? It's not in need of any cleaning. Look at art books? Not all that interested. I think tomorrow I will go to the Blanton and look at art in person. Sometimes that is the only way to get things going. Looking at really, really good art makes me want to be a better painter, better designer. It often inspires me to try a different way of looking at my subject, different color palette, even a different style. Something without bicycles.

The Play's The Thing

I have had a ball playing with paint the past couple of days. I had it in my head that I wanted to make some heart paintings and maybe make some of them into Valentines for special someones in my life, but I also had two special girlfriends with birthdays who I thought needed a heart painting. In no way was this supposed to be "important" like the thought of a gallery painting engenders, and because of the play aspect of it, I was able to have fun and learn quite a bit about paints at the same time. If I didn't like the compliments I was trying to put together, I could scrape it off. No harm done. In fact, the many layers from some good and bad decisions gave each piece more depth. I know that for a fact, because I was tempted to stop with the second layer on the second group of hearts I was working on; they looked fine with their underpainting of gold acrylic and purple acrylic. But, if I'd stopped, it would have meant that I was giving up on the idea of play and giving in to the idea of playing it safe. And when I stopped thinking of them in the Hallmark card genre, and started mixing the paints around, I think they turned out a hellova lot better for the play. Each one is 6x8 canvas. I bought a little sampler tablet of different canvases, 2 of each kind. Some are linen, some are cotton duck and all fascinating to work with. I learned that linen is really too smooth to use a palette knife with in the manner I'm used to. The paint just slides away with no resistance from the weave. My two most favorite I will give to my daughter and husband as Valentine cards and then ask them if I can mount them on boards to hang. That will be an interesting activity to learn about. What glues and what woods or other hard surface to mount them? This play has become quite the learning experience! Happy Valentine's Day!!!