Portraits

 Glad I got this portrait of my grandson done- as he has cut his hair and donated it all to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. Way to go Aidan- an example that his Mom has set more than once! His hair was absolutely gorgeous, thick, blonde and wavy! Working more on drawing lately, will share in next post.

L’Heure Bleu (The Blue Hour)

 The time of day when the sky turns this magnificent color is called “l’heure bleu” by the French. It was my mother’s favorite time of day and although she’s been gone for 15 years, I still think of her when the sky is this color. 

I painted this from a dear friends post on IG- something that I never do, which is to paint from a photo source not my own. Never say never! The exquisite camellia came from her garden;  she ended up falling in love and buying it before the paint was dry. 

I love it when everyone’s happy.

Working out an idea

 This post is about my process; an idea that I started with in my last post. I did my block- in with cadmium red and a light pink, then wondered if I could keep it to just two values as I went along through the painting process. This is layer four, which gives you an idea of how challenging this has been.

Here's a grey-scale of the painting to show that my two value plan hasn't been entirely achieved. So now to decide if I need to lighten my darkest dark to come more to a mid-range or the other way around. In any event, I'm traveling and this painting is on my easel at home til I return. People use an i-Pad to work out these questions but....call me Old School. Time will tell.

Less is More

I am going to try something new with this painting. It's a beginning, a cadmium red toned canvas with the lights painted in pale pink. I posted it on Instagram and one friend, a painter, said; "It's finished!" That gave me an idea. How can I add more paint, lots of layers of paint, but retain the image that I started with- which is a Notan? Notan is a Japanese word that means "light-dark balance,"and can be achieved by value masses of light and dark within a composition. Instead of five or even three values, we reduce the values to two. Light and dark. What could be more simple?

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.

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!

Boy on a Rope

Inspired after the fact. Has it happened to you- that you started working on a painting and something about it brought back a memory? I think it was the hat and the profile of the boy facing to the right in this painting by Georges Seurat that came to my mind.
Seurat was a French post- Impressionist best known for developing pointillism, breaking from the Impressionists in 1886, with this unique style of applying pure color in small dots.

Here's my layout of the composition. I'm painting over a 24"x24" oil that was a copy of a Richard Diebenkorn, who is one of my all time and go to favorites and a big influence on me. I used Cadmium Orange and a round brush, thinned down so it wouldn't build up on the surface.

Here's my finished painting. It's in a group show at Spring Bull Gallery for the month of September. All Hands on Deck features some outstanding artists, so I'm very excited to be part of this show!

All Wet

The biggest summer fundraiser at the Newport Art Museum is a 2 day event called Wet Paint. Although over the years all art has come to be accepted, I like to stay true to the concept and paint plein air, turning in very and literally "wet paint". I had my eye on this classic boat at my beach, so I wanted to pick a unique composition and perspective.

Here's the painting, which I painted while standing and looking down into the boat and beyond to the beach. I fell in love with that red/turquoise combination.

Here we are all set up and ready to go, before the beach actually opened for the day! I had to wait until 9am to get the umbrella set up for me. Having an idea of what I want in a painting helped in this case; I staged the umbrella and then the little green bucket for that special accent. I needed that Cowboy hat for a little shade!

There are literally hundreds of entries that are all part of a silent auction to raise money for the museums programs. This happens Saturday night at a special reception,  then the silent bidding continues on Sunday. I was lucky enough to be chosen to go to the live auction on Sunday afternoon- which is the highlight of the weekend. Only 28 were chosen, so I felt very grateful and humbled.
See you same time next year!

Inside

How nice to be painting in a room with a blazing fire, a cup of tea, a beautiful friend, looking upon this!  Loving Vermont.

The Quarterdeck at The Newport Art Museum

I am thrilled to share that this painting THE QUARTERDECK got juried into the Newport Art Museum' Members Show. You just never know what the juror is looking for, so it's always a surprise- good or bad! I have learned about myself over the years by entering juried shows, how to have a thicker skin, to believe in myself, to keep making art in spite of what the critics may say, to keep moving along this beautiful path of self-expression. 
Feb 8th to May 18 when you visit Newport, Rhode Island!
Did I say how happy this makes me?

White Amaryllis

This amazing bulb has put forth so many blooms; just knew I had to paint it. The yellow is a sash I used to keep the stalk from falling over, push-pinned to the studio wall. A continuation of still life against the grey wall is allowing room for exploration and that's a good thing. We used this set up in the class I teach on Tuesday and the biggest lesson was value. White flowers that are by no means just white, and a light grey wall that wasn't that light! 

8x8 on cradled panel.

In the Studio

The class I teach at Beach Studios has started up again and I thought I'd share my paintings from those classes. I don't manage to get them finished during class but they do serve as reference as to:

1. Determining a composition from a setup. I highly suggest small thumbnails to see how the painting will fit in the picture plane. This saves valuable time later when you discover the orientation is wrong, should have been vertical and not horizontal  or worse, the center of interest has managed to not even be on the canvas.

2. I demonstrate color mixing and how to see relative value.

I have gone back into this painting and made several changes which I think improve it:

1. Changing the background to a more neutral warm grey.

2. Changing the right hand shape and the color around it to echo some of what is happening in the plate. 

3. Increased the value around the lemon and on the plate to emphasize those shapes. 

Sometimes a painting has to sit a bit before I can "see" it and make changes. What do you think?

Milton Avery again, Day 21 of 30 Day Challenge

                          

I am really enjoying studying about Milton Avery and decided to work with another of his images for my 30 day challenge. This painting is titled Sally and Sarah and was painted in 1947. Because I am working in a square format, I will crop this painting to reflect the area of my greatest interest, strong color adjacently juxtaposed.

Avery Abstacted

I decided to keep this painting very simple. using  the minimum of shapes, similar juxtaposition of colors as the Avery inspiration painting titled Feed, creating a mood of peacefulness which attracted me to his work in the first place. 
Palette knife only, 6x6 on Arches oil paper.

Day 18 of 30, Hopper Abstracted

I wanted to use the sewing machine as my jumping off point, as well as the general colors of the Hopper painting. I indicated the sky and window frames while shifting the elements around. Painted with a palette knife on a 6x6 panel.

Twisted Trees

These trees are so fascinating, twisted by wind and wave along the shore at Colt State Park in Bristol, Rhode Island. Only a few minutes from home, the park was a respite earlier this week as the temperatures climbed to the 90's.