Beach Kids #3 revisited

Here is the almost finished painting of Beach Kids #3. I fixed the legs, hair and background yesterday. Those are done. Now I just need to finish the arms. Again, I'm letting the painting dry, so that I can add the other limbs and do some minor tweaking to the hands. Then it will be done. I really don't like to paint on a painting more than 9 hours and I just reached that limit and I'm ready for the next challenge.

Next week I'm going to start working on a commission of a friend's cat - a tribute to the long life of a much loved pet. I see the next few paintings being of pets as I have a few in the queue. Then I want to try something really crazy, a narrative, but I need a willing model. Ideally it would be for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition that I will never finish in time...but what the heck I can try.

Fall Class Demo

Last Thursday was the first day of my fall class. I did a demo of garlic because they won't rot by class #2 and I now know I can finish a demo in 50 mintues (Paint Herndon post below). With all the talking I was going to do, however, I knew it would take an extra 30 minutes at a minimum. So I went crazy painting fast in the demo and stopped at 1.5 hours. It is not as finished as my Paint Herndon garlic and now I know why. I purposely reversed the colors of this demo to create a pair with my Paint Herndon painting. Tricia Ratliff then pointed out that I had not in fact painted a 8 x10, but a 9 x 12. Geez, so they aren't a pair after all. No wonder it took me longer and that also explains why I kept wondering why I had so much space around the garlic.

I also have a confession, and this happens with almost every painting. There is a point where I think... "OMG I'm not going to be able to pull through on this painting." I mean it looked like a sloppy, flat mess. But then I blend the edges between the light and shadow side and add the reflected lights and highlights and something presentable shows up. I should really stop freaking cause it never stays in that condition.

After the demo, I started over and blocked in the drawing. The students followed along. Then we added the background and shadow color of the garlic. Everyone did a great job, but that is where we had to stop because it was already after 10 pm. Next week, everyone is going to learn how to use the oil medium and then will find out, much to their chagrin I'm sure, that they have to repaint the shadow colors. That is a necessity so that when the light colors are added you can blend the two together to make the garlic round.

Fall Painting Course is Full-Starts Tonight

My Fall Painting Class is full and starts tonight. I am trying to negotiate more space with the Director of the gallery to accommodate the wait list, but I'm not sure that is possible. ArtSpace is a fabulous gallery that also offers classes and workshops. I still haven't figured out what my demo will be, but I think it is going to be grapes. They are so fun and quick to paint. I have to complete the demo, as promised, in 1 hour 30 minutes so it can't be difficult or complicated, e.g., no leaves! For the returning student set up, I'm bringing peanuts with the leaves still on (they are gorgeous) and colorful radishes. Not sure whether to bring a bowl or some other hardscape to paint as my radishes certainly won't make it to next Thursday. There are always replacements. I just hope all this lifting won't throw out my back again....geez I'm getting old.

Beach Kids #3

I started this painting earlier this week, then somehow wrenched my back just walking across the parking lot so I haven't finish it. This is a painting of a friend's nieces. I love the body language on these kids. The older girl appears to be helping her younger sister navigate the waves even though she looks scared herself of the big wave coming. The younger child looks like she just finished jumping up and down with excitement. Adorable! I hope I'm doing the moment justice in paint.

This painting is a more detailed painting and realistic painting than the others, despite my effort to keep it loose and impressionistic. This painting style is just where the subject took me. I love all the frothy water so I'm taking my time. Most of the center and right of the painting of water are not done (hence why the large area of greenish color on which I will put bright purple for the froth); neither are the legs, arms or hair for that matter. So I think if I work fast I probably have another three hours to go. I hate to stop painting on this one as it has been fun! I hope I get more beach painting interests as I've run out of good pics.

I'm going to wait to put in the kids' other arms in until the background is complete and dry as I've struggled enough and have wiped out those other limbs twice so far--they just keep getting in the way of the background. Once again the legs have been the largest struggle because of the strange angles and foreshortening and I see more struggles in my future. Color also needs to be adjusted as I wiped out a small section of a leg and never put the color back (oops). This means I'm going to have to repaint the legs unless I can match the color exactly, which is unlikely. The colors are far more vibrant in life than what this snapshot shows.

Fun Kids!

I have debated for a week whether to show you this stage. I call it the all-out-messy stage. This is a relatively small painting 12 x 16 if I remember correctly. Putting this much detail into a small painting is difficult as I want this to be a relatively finished painting versus a sketch.

I want to thank my friend Jean Schwartz who told me to put retouch varnish on the drawning to avoid the graphite bleeding into the paint. It worked. This represents two hours of painting. Just like the other kid paintings, I really enjoyed the start. I have some serious distortion in the photo and I keep adjusting the body to avoid large head, small body problem. The quality of my small brushes is a challenge. I wear down small bristle brushes with one painting it seems and then the paint does not go where I think it is going--it squishes out. Anyway, I think the next layer will resolve all issues with paint application, but I might need new brushes. Excuses, excuses, but honestly materials matter - believe me -- do not buy a cheap brush!

Yikes! Don't look at the shape of that drum, that will be corrected. It's good to get away from the painting to see the obvious. Funny, while usually I think I painted worse than I did, in this case I thought I painted better than I did, so I'm a bit dejected. More reason to work on this over the weekend.

One Spot Left in My Fall Oil Painting Course

I have one spot left in my oil painting course that starts next Thursday, September 22 and runs to November 17 (no class October 27). The course is 8 sessions and we meet every Thursday from 7-10pm at ArtSpace Herndon, 750 Center Street in Herndon, VA. Cost is $200. Ideal for beginners or intermediate level painters. You can send me a comment or call ArtSpace with any questions: 703 956-6590

I set up a still life every week so you don't have to worry about what to paint. But, you can work on your own projects as many returning students do. The first night I do a demo for new students. This time I'm going to try to do a 1 hour demo and then start the same demo again in steps, with students following along step by step. I will start with the drawing composition and block in with Raw Umber or Transparent Oxide Red. Then I'll evaluate everyone's drawing and we'll make corrections. Next step will be color block. Then we'll do any corrections together. Then on to getting the light and shadow areas to work together, refining the value (have to get those highlights, cast shadows and darkest darks in). Brushwork (soft edges) will be handled on the first day while the paint is still wet. Usually that is where we stop on the first class. The next week, we'll follow with color and temperature adjustments. Put on thick clean paint to correct muddy spots that may have occured last week and heighten the value on the light sides of objects to make things pop. Then hopefully tada....everyone will have a great little painting.

I usually have a still life set up for 2 or 3 weeks because I do want people to finish their paintings.

Daffodils Accepted to Art League Membership Show

I was accepted into the Art League Gallery's September Member Show. The show, and my piece, will be on display from September 7 - October 3. The Gallery is open: Mon-Sat, from 10:00 - 6:00pm; Thurs, 10:00 am - 9:00 am; Sun 12:00 - 6:00 pm.

Second Place -- Paint Herndon Competition

I decided to go to the Paint Herndon event sponsored by ArtSpace in Herndon yesterday (Sept 3). Luckily my friend and fab artist Tricia Ratliff told me that there are no rules as to subject matter. The title assumes a plein-air landscape painting event, but it was not, lucky for me.

I decided nonetheless to try my hand at plein air landscape painting and my worse subject -- architecture. I was set up in front of Zifferelli's (?) Italian restaurant, very quaint storefront in old town Herndon, but within an hour it was thundering and pouring rain, so I went back to ArtSpace -- wiped out my most horrific start of Zifferelli's -- and set up a still life. The first one I painted was the yellow wildflowers on the antique red stool. I had planned on painting one landscape and one still life, so I had jammed my car like a pack rat full of stuff, including this fabulous red stool. The yellow flowers come from the side of the road which I turned my car around for when I saw them. I have no idea what they are but they lasted all day (with water picks) and are beautiful.

I then had an hour left over and was convinced to paint another painting. I painted this small 8x10 garlic painting and it WON second prize. I painted it in 50 minutes which I think is a record. The whole day was a blast and I have to thank ArtSpace and Robin Carroll for such a great time. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so these pictures were taken with my phone.

I've had a couple of inquiries about the price: The garlic painting is $295 and the wildflowers is $495. Both are framed. You can reach me through "comments". :-)