Early Morning Walk

Early Morning Walk

This painting was really fun to do. The backlighting was so soft and lovely in the early morning. I wanted to try to keep it to just two values, like day and night. I know that's probably breaking some rules somewhere. I might do it again, and bring out more of the subtleties in the shadows. I hope you can see it from this photo.

Ancient Gorilla

I visited my husband's office and saw this watercolor that I did many years ago. Still fun and playful. When people see my name, they ask my husband if this is a family member. They are referring to the signature, but he likes to think it refers to his family tree.

Moving Forward

I haven't posted for awhile, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!

I am studying with Margot Lennartz, attending a weekly workshop. Margot loves landscapes, particularly California scenes. Her career spans decades of successful painting. Her home is filled with her work, and she still enters and wins juried shows on a regular basis. She has an amazing ability to help each of her students regardless of the many different styles. It's a fun and supportive environment. I am loving it!

I also feel that I have "arrived" and can now do my own art the way I want. I thought this painting of a ranch near Cayucos was done. Now that I look again, I see several small things I still need to do. I love the overall feel of it, though.

Okay, so you want to know what I'm going to change...
It needs a small indication of a shadow to the left of the red trough in the foreground. The two trees on the left need better highlights and shadows in the branches. And I have to do something with the yellow patch in the center above the purple trough. That brushstroke has bothered me since the minute I put it on! I think the yellow color is too bright for that place in the picture, or maybe it's the contrast with the purple is too strong. I also have too much blue showing through from the underpainting - easy to fix.

I love the sky. Margot encouraged me to paint the sky yellow,  rather than the even, mid-tone blue of my source photos. (This photo of the painting makes the purple on the left stand out more than it actually does in the painting.) The yellow sky softens and unifies the entire atmosphere of the scene. Now that I have done it, I understand it. The sky area is so narrow that there isn't space to develop into the deep blue of the overhead sky. All that shows is the pale light near the horizon.

Sunny at 3Kicks Art Studio

Our term has ended at 3Kicks Studio. I wanted to sign up for the next term, but I would miss too many classes to make it worth it. Sunny has  helped me a lot. I felt so awkward and unsure of myself at the first class. I didn't know how to lay out my palette or to begin to design my painting. In the ten weeks of the class, I have definitely gained confidence as well as skill. 

I painted these flowers on the last day, getting the painting this far in one session. Actually, the vase had a pretty lopsided arrangement in it, with the flowers in a circle poking toward the outside. I added the large flower in the middle when I got home. It was just greenery and stems in life. This is a 9x12 canvas. I think the apple is the star of the show. Like many students,  I have probably painted more apples than any other subject! Doing this still life made me realize I need to paint more flowers, and fabric folds too!

Sunny helped us by commenting as we worked. He also would show students techniques by painting on their canvas, with permission of course. It really helped to see exactly how to do something. I look forward to signing up with him again in January. I love it that we can do both still life and portraits in his class.

 Sunny can make sense of anyone's painting! He goes from one canvas to the next, looking, evaluating, and moving the piece forward somehow.

Portrait of a Pensive Girl

I am really enjoying my Sunday morning classes with Sonny Apinchapong. I can tell that I am growing and learning. He believes that still life studies are the key to good portraits and landscapes. I love being able to go straight to the portrait with a live model. I learned a lot from doing this portrait. It looks a bit boring as a piece of art, but I have to recognize that this is my time to learn, not constantly evaluate. Despite its flaws, Sonny pronounced it "a good likeness".

Back to the Drawing Board

   

Left: Value study of twins from a photograph

Right: Copy from a Sargeant drawing of Mrs. Horace Webber

Here is my drawing board. Both of these were basically quick studies, done in less than 30 minutes (I think). The Sargeant portrait is from the Dover book of his drawings which are black and white studies. It makes it pretty easy to copy exactly what he did, although if you compare mine to his you will see how many places need to be fixed.  I need to work on how to do the nose and mouth, so this is really helpful.

The value study from the photograph presents a completely different set of challenges and learning. First of all, I had to find a photo that lends itself to becoming a portrait. Then I realized that I don't have much experience drawing from photos. I chose this one because the two boys are identical twins, but don't actually look exactly alike. I wanted to see if I could capture the difference. Shane is pretty close but Nathan got lost back in the shadows. Those shadows again!!

It is also interesting to put these side by side. Clearly Sargeant had an eye for composition and contrast. He knew how to accentuate the features that he wanted to describe. Striking.

Flowers in a Blue Vase

 Flowers in a Blue Vase

I had fun with this painting done in class. The challenge was to represent the bright light. The colors were all over the place. I thought I wasn't going to like the set up - I was itching to reposition the flowers into a better arrangement. But as I painted I found I liked the balance and the confusion of the huge blossoms. Sonny, the teacher, helped me to simplify the shadows on the wall behind the flowers. It reminded me of Anne's caution: "Don't stare into the shadows!'

The teacher's overall comment was to continue to paint more and practice better drawing skills. Hmmm. I thought drawing was a relative strength. I guess it is, relative to anything else I can do! 

So, I need to work on my drawing and hope it will draw the rest of my skills along with it:)