Plein Air to Studio

 A street in Newport that I drive by all the time. The storefronts are very attractive, but I'm attracted to the light in the alley as well as the shadows on the back wall.

Here's the block in. It took a while, as I wanted to get the focal point in the right position . The canvas was toned with cadmium red light which served as my middle ground. I added the darks, then the lights.

Back in the studio, I went bold with yellow for the light. I began to add a pink sky, by then it was time to call it a night.

I wasn't in love with the yellow, so I changed it all to pink. I know I could have played with color in Photoshop, but I liked the layering aspect of working a little slower and having time to look and get my gut reaction before taking the next step.

I saw that the pink was overpowering, also that the building on the right had too much emphasis. I balanced it by adding a lot of neutrals to the right side and also finding more middle values on the left side. I want my viewer to go down that alley!
I'm not sure this is done, so I will let it sit for a while. I've already started a larger painting based on the left side of this one. I will show you more in my next post.

Art School Notebook 1

Thought I would share some pearls from the notebooks when I was formally studying art.
All the color swatches were paper painted with gouache first and then cut into squares for the exercises.
The page heading was the 7 color contrasts: Value, Hue, Intensity, Temperature, Simultaneous contrast, Extension, and Complementary.

The exercise shown here is one color appearing to be two different colors and is based on the work of Josef Albers and his book Interaction of Color. The main teaching is that the identity depends on its situation, the amount, placement and shape of the color. The color sandwiched between the yellow appears so much darker. If you have trouble seeing that, squint!
Notebook: 3/05/04

This study in gouache was done plein air in St Augustine, FL. 2003

Art League of RI Exhibition

Here are the two paintings I'll be showing at the 18th Annual Elected Artists of the Art League of Rhode Island exhibition. I'm very honored to be in such great company- check out the website and you'll see what I mean. The exhibition will be at the Jamestown Arts Center, a town I lived in for eighteen years. The opening reception will be Thursday, September 20th from 6-8pm. Exhibition: September 20- October 20, 2018

Titled Boats & Dinghies, this oil painting is 16x20, and gave me a
chance to explore the range of neutral grays offset by clear color. Chroma is intensified when it's next to a neutral.

Titled Working Boats, I wanted to focus more on shape and color than on any specific boats or part of a boat. Tied up at the dock, when the tide was low, I was drawn by the shapes made by the pilings, and the hulls of the background boats. Also 16x20, oil.
Both of these are studio paintings, with multiple layers of paint, which is a departure from my usual "paint it all in one session" approach. This let me slow down and experience the process in a way I find very satisfying.

We're having a heat wave

When our plein air group met to paint at a lovely estate in Newport, steamy showers rained us out. I went back alone later in the week, on another exceptionally hot day. I stood with my back to a little gardener's cottage, looking at the water garden.

I had walked for a while around this large property, but without an umbrella, I couldn't see painting and baking in the sun. At least here, I had shade from the building.

This gorgeous building is a greenhouse, studio and rooftop deck that looks out over the ocean.

My surface was toned with acrylic cadmium orange,good for my mid range value, which struck me as perfect for the intense heat of the day. I worked with thin oil paint to lay down my composition, keeping shapes abstract.

We're in Maine now and the painting sits in the studio. I want to go in and make a few changes when I get home. 12x24.

Mystic Museum of Art

So thrilled that my painting Summer Table was accepted into the 62nd Regional Exhibition at The Mystic Museum of Art. This painting is 16x20 and was painted from direct observation, objects set up on my dining room table. Honored to be hung among such great company, in a beautiful setting, in downtown Mystic, CT. The exhibit will run through Sept 22, 2018, so there's still time to see it. 

$Highest bid for a good cause$

Here in Newport, RI we all look forward to Wet Paint at the The Newport Art Museum. It's a big fundraising event which culminates in a live auction and brings artists and the community together in the best possible way. This year was its' 25th anniversary and we remembered the wonderful man who started the whole thing off, Richard Grosvenor.
There was a heavy downpour Saturday morning as I drove over to the museum to check-in  and and get my panel stamped with the  official Wet Paint stamp. I was trying to figure out where I would paint, knowing that I wanted to be under some kind of cover.
Keep it simple- I said to myself.
I chose a spot on the museum grounds looking towards Bellevue Ave. The wide avenue where so many of the Newport Mansions are located. I had put a layer of cadmium red on the 12x24" panel, which would serve as my middle value, and help expedite my composition layout. 

Not the most inspiring day as of and on showers made their appearance.

The artist at work. And loving every moment of it.

Here's the finished painting. My dog Cooper was home alone, and I wanted to get back to him. Home by noon.

Thrilled to learn the next day that my painted was headed "under the tent" for the live auction. #9 out of only 20 chosen from over 500 works of art.

The auction was really exciting,led by Rupert Nesbitt and auctioneer Robbie Gordy from Christie's NYC, as my painting was the high bid of the day going for $3800. The arts are alive and well in Newport, RI.

                                 See ya next year, Wet Paint!

My friends know I love flowers

The first time my friend Susan came to dinner she brought me a bunch of sunflowers, which of course I later painted. Last week she came over, again for dinner, and again with flowers, with a token sunflower in remembrance of that first dinner. 
She's thoughtful like that, and that's a quality I hope for myself with my friends. Remembering what they like. How they take their coffee. What's been going on in their lives. I'm feeling very grateful  for the close connection I feel with the women and men in my life today.
The next day I took the flowers out back, where I found a spot of shade, and found myself obsessed with the Queen Anne's Lace. Considered nothing more than a weed by many, I marveled at its' structure and divine color. This is oil on panel, 11x14.