A New Painting of Some Oranges...With Videos!

"One Turned Away"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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This was the painting demonstration for my online art mentorship students at our monthly group session in Februray. It's a fun little piece! I love composing with cast shadows, and this is an excellent example of why. 

I just published a full-length video of this demo on YouTube - walking through my 3-step process for alla prima painting. Here's a clip!

(If you're reading this in your email - thanks for being a subscriber! You may need to click this link to watch, though. ;))

Blue and Gold, a new Ornament Painting, with a Video!

 "Blue and Gold"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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The stages of this piece. Isn't it funny how GREEN the gold ornament looked before the rest of the painting got filled in? I admit it, green is my secret weapon for creating the illusion of gold. 

Here's a quick time-lapse video of the underpainting coming together - I love these things! No matter how long you let the camera run, the resulting video is always 30 seconds. So, I have absolutely no idea how long this part took. 😉

I get a LOT of questions about materials - what paint, brushes, etc I use. For this part, the underpainting shown in the video, I'm using a #2 round taklon brush by Connoisseur. The canvas is toned with a mixture of red, yellow, and blue - an orange dulled with its complement. And, as always, the brand is M. Graham. To provide a quick answer to questions about materials, I've compiled a list of products I use on Amazon - you can check that out here!

Swedish Ivy: A Painting and a Video

 

 "Swedish Ivy"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

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This painting began as a demo for my online students - unbelievably, my art mentorship program is almost one year old! Time flies. And time certainly flew while I was doing this demo - in over two hours, I only got as far as the image on the left. As usual, the group and I covered a wide range of topics - and I DID edit the recording down to about 90 minutes, so you just get the good stuff!

Watch this painting come together! If you're reading this in your email, click here for the video.

Interested in studying with me in person? I've got a list of upcoming workshops in the right-hand sidebar of the blog -----> including this weekend, Intro to Oil Painting, in Eugene.

Garlic-Stuffed Olives

"Garlic-Stuffed Olives"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
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I may have forgotten certain things when packing for my artist's residency last month, but the powers that be saw fit to sneak some random items into my luggage that came in very handy - like a jar of olives. Olives? Not exactly one of my go-to studio snacks, though I like them. 

 And I like them as painting subjects even more.   

Here's my setup, with some preparatory sketches. All three of these sketches became paintings. So you're actually getting a preview of my next two posts - click on the image to scrutinize at close range!

 

A time-lapse video of my underpainting. If you're reading this in your email, you may need to click this link to watch it:

In Which I Make A Ruler...And a Time-Lapse Video

"Six Inches"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

Although I felt like I brought about half of my possessions to Playa, I somehow left my ruler at home. And, of course, I needed it - so I made one out of a piece of paper. And it found its way into this still life somehow....

If you had been there, you'd agree - this composition was just crying out for a tiny touch of white. Which was perfectly supplied by my homemade ruler. Touch of white, title inspiration, semi-accurate measurement - what a useful life!

I made a time-lapse video of this one - about four hours of painting condensed into two minutes. I like watching that plate pattern emerge in the last 30 seconds. Painless in hindsight.... Enjoy!

Three Oranges, One Video, One Self-Portrait Sketch, and Some Words

 

 "Three Oranges no. 3 (Pattern)"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$200

Click to buy

Another orange painting from Playa - and a time-lapse video of my underpainting. You can see how I tweak the position of everything just a bit at the very beginning - the best time to make changes like that, for sure! 

(If you're an email subscriber, you may need to click on this link to watch.)

Here's another of my daily sketchbook self-portraits - this one done in oils on a ground of gray gesso. When I'm using oil paint in my sketchbook, I actually prefer to paint right on the paper. Gesso, being water-based, makes the paper buckle. Paint thinners like Gamsol don't have the same effect. And, because I get a lot of questions about whether I use a special kind of sketchbook to paint in - the answer is no - it's just your garden variety sketchbook. Pentalic - this one, I think.

All That Glitters

"All That Glitters"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

This painting makes me really happy. Hope it brightens your day! 

Here's a time-lapse video of me painting it. If you're an email subscriber, you may need to click on this link to check it out.

River Stones and Reds, and a Time-Lapse Video!

 "River Stones and Reds"

16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$400

Click to buy

I picked up some stones last weekend on the bank of the Willamette river. I was out there at dusk, and all the stones looked white - or maybe they were just dusted with dried mud. When I cleaned them off, they were pleasingly multi-colored. 

I also really enjoyed the yellow line on the red pear.

Here's the very beginning of my process - you can see me fiddling around with placement a bit:

Self-Portrait, With Video

 "Self-Portrait (Hopeful)"

approx. 8 x 11, oil on Arches oil paper

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This self-portrait began as a demo for an online student. At the end of our session, it looked like the first image on the left - so that was about an hour-and-a-half. I worked on it for several more hours, and you can see the progression:

I really enjoy painting for my online students - it's like having excellent company in the studio, with the added bonus of having video documentation of my painting process! I edited this one down to just the block-in - it's about a 15 minute video:

Teaching In My PJ's

 

 "Purple Arrow"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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My new online art mentorship program is off to a great start! It's been a couple of months, and the improvements I'm seeing in my students' work are exciting - plus, I'm loving watching them inspire each other (and me). It's like art school, without having to get dressed. Not that I put too much effort into that back in the art school days....

This piece was a demo for one of my students - I recorded our session, and edited it down from over an hour to about 20 minutes. You'll hear us chatting about various things... some related to this painting, some not. Enjoy!

Painting Together, Painting Alone

 "Blueberry Tart"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas
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I love a new project - and I have one this week! I've been attending open studio sessions to draw and paint the figure for years, and lately have found myself wondering - could that model (no pun intended) work with still life? Get a group of like-minded artists together to paint, chat, and share a still life set-up...why not?

The inaugural session of the Still Life Open Studio was this past Thursday at Whiteaker Printmakers' Annex - the same space where I recently taught a figure painting workshop. There were six of us in attendance, but I brought enough subject matter for a small army of artists. Tea and lemons....shocker!

The fruit tarts were a change for me. First time painting one - and I loved the shiny fruit! 

Underpainting to finish. I always start my still lives the same way: with a wet-toned canvas in a warm neutral orange, then a value block-in in thin paint. I recently made a video for my online mentorship students demonstrating my whole process. If you enjoy watching it, give it a thumbs up on YouTube - I'd appreciate it!

Talking to myself in an empty room....no wonder I was craving a group of painters to hang with!

Color Mixing For Painters

 

I  seem to be blogging about nothing but teaching lately - probably because I've been lucky enough to be doing a lot of it! Last weekend found me in Shreveport, Louisiana, mixing up a storm of paint, and enjoying some real storms, some serious humidity - and serious air conditioning.

This workshop, "Color Mixing for Painters," is designed for beginner/intermediate students, but I firmly believe that exercises like these can benefit painters at every stage in our development. I know I get something out of them each time. 

Grayscale value studies help us practice seeing the relationships between adjacent values.
You can watch a short video of my demo (on the left) on YouTube.



 Translating those values into color is the next step - and if you're familiar with my painting and teaching, you know how much I love using apples for studies like these! Check out this incredible student work:

 

 

 Thanks again, Shreveport. I will be back!

More Tea!

 "Green Tea with Lemons"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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A second stab at my still life from yesterday. I just shuffled the players around a bit! 

I made a pencil sketch for this painting - which can be seen here. AND! I recorded almost all of this painting-in-progress on time-lapse video, and strung the clips together into a 4.5 minute segment. Watch it here, on YouTube.

....And have some more tea!

Fleeting Blooms

 "Fleeting Blooms (Camellias)"

12 x 24 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I will not rub it in that it's the second week of February, and I picked these outside, growing in a very springlike manner. It never ceases to amaze me, though - even nine years after leaving the Midwest - how early things bloom here in Oregon!

Here's a time-lapse video of this piece. I wasn't painting quite THAT fast, but I did have to hustle on this one. The flowers were opening and dropping off faster than I could paint them - literally! I'm glad I had a grisaille sketch to work from - it helped a lot. 

"Fleeting Blooms (sketch)"

6 x 12 inches, oil on Arches oil paper

Orange Light...And a video!

 "Orange Light"

9 x 8 inches, oil on Arches oil paper

$75

Available here

I've been enjoying taking these little time-lapse videos of myself while painting. I just prop my phone up, hit record, and forget about it. I'm not sure how long I painted in real time to get this 30 second video...and apparently, this will remain a mystery.

According to MacWorld: "We found that recording for a long time doesn't make for a significantly longer video. You will find that most time-lapse video recordings play back in 20 to 40 seconds, regardless of how long you recorded for."

An Opening, A Painting...and A Video!

 

 "Summer Tea"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Last Friday was the opening reception for my show at Oregon Art Supply. It was also First Friday Artwalk, and I had lots of company while I worked on this painting in the gallery.

I love doing painting demos. People ask the greatest questions. Sometimes I forget why I do things the way I do...but there's nothing like having to explain it out loud to remind me!

 I also got to give a little talk about my work....this clip is only two minutes, but if you'd like to watch the other eight (I know, don't give me a microphone, it's trouble!), you can do that here.

A Star Turn

 "Two Oranges"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

NFS

I spent a delightful day at the gallery yesterday, doing what I love to do most. 

...And by that, I don't mean being a film star. (Though I can't say I mind!)

Here's a clip.

You can see three more snippets of film on the gallery's Facebook page. 

Interested in being my co-star? Drop in this Saturday and chat - on or off camera!

Summer Break and a Vlog

 Here it is: my first Vlog - aka, video blog. Just a quick peek at my studio, all cleaned up for company.

I'm going to be taking some time off from bloggging - August will be packed with family, travel, and many other things, and my social-media-self is feeling in need of a general recharge, anyway. My plan is to do a lot of sketching and drawing, and paint if and when I can for the next few weeks, but my posts may be sporadic. Hoping you all are having a wonderful summer - there's plenty of summer still to come!