Erin's Boys

My niece asked me to do a figurative painting of her boys doing the things they love.  This is the first in a series I have planned.  The boys are identical twins and are very active, interesting subjects!

David Slonim Workshop

I was invited to stay with friends in the Ft. Wayne, IN area and attend a David Slonim workshop sponsored by their art guild.  It was just one of the best workshops I have attended.  David presented some serious information on the fundamentals of art in a fun, playful way.  The emphasis of the 2 and 1/2 day workshop was not that we have a finished painting but that we learn some basic concepts about color harmony and design.  He borrows from the "old masters" to emphasize his points with plenty of good examples of these concepts.  He encouraged experimentation and moving outside our comfort zone.  David also stressed the importance of planning and designing our painting even if it means painting the same material in several different ways.  I am certainly going to make use of these tools as I move forward in my painting journey.  Thank you David!  (and thank you Barb and Karen for the wonderful week.)

After sketching out several drawings of possible compositions for my painting, I settled on this composition.  I loved the big, organic feel of the masses in this composition.  I then painted a gray scale version of what I thought my values would be, spending no more than 30-40 minutes.  I still liked the composition.  Now, my goal is to do a finished painting using my sketch, the photo, and the gray scale painting as reference material.  I may do the finished painting several times.  My plan for the first painting is to do a red/green color harmony and may move on to a split color harmony of yellow green, red violet, blue violet.  After all, this is experimentation!

One thing that I really was encouraged by was David's philosophy about art:  the goal should be about trying to create the best piece of art you can--not just create something that you think will sell.  One of his favorite quotes that he used frequently:  "Do not paint what you see, use what you see to create good art."  I wish I had heard that a few years ago!

If you have an opportunity to take or organize a David Slonim workshop--go for it!

The Rose Covered Gate

Does anyone viewing this blog have any ideas on how to paint many, many roses without the painting looking spotty?

The Watering Can

When I was in New Harmony, I painted this scene en plein air.  After looking at my plein air painting for awhile, I decided to ditch it and paint another version.  Here is the new version on a 6 x 6 format.  So far, I am more pleased with this version.  I really, really want to be a plein air painter, but, so far, I have been sadly disappointed with my attempts.

Flowers in my garden

I have been so inspired this week.  I finally have my garden under control and am ready to paint.

New Harmony

I just spent a wonderful week in New Harmony at the First Brush of Spring.  I found out something about myself though--I'm really not a good plein air painter!  I absolutely love the idea of painting on location and observing the colors of nature but I get so distracted.  Practice, practice--the message I keep hearing. 

Indiana Plein Air Painters Paint In

Through IPAPA, we were invited to paint from the collection of a couple in  Indiana who have an extensive collection of early Indiana impressionist paintings.   This is an excerpt from an early T. C. Steele (1885) painted at the end of his stay in Munich or shortly after returning.   The painting was very large and we only had approximately 3 1/2 hours of actual painting time.  I had to choose quickly of what to include and eliminate from the much larger painting.  This T. C.'s painting was "tighter" than his later paintings.  But, the thing that captivated me in the larger painting was the atmospheric background bringing you into the more intimate, backlighting of the figures in the foreground.