Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Happy weekend!

"Lazy Sunday Afternoon"
By Johanna Spinks
9"x12"
Original Oil on Panel, Silver Leaf
$600
Free shipping
Purchase here:
http://www.johannaspinksfineart.com/#!corset-art/ca5b

Happy New Year Joy

"Sweet Goodness"
Oil
Johanna Spinks
Sold.

Hi Everyone

Happy New Year. I am chomping at the bit to get into the studio this morning full of new resolutions and energy for the year ahead with some nice commissions on the go.

In the meantime, I post this humble cupcake. Feels kinda joyful to me. And it sums up how I want my year to be and YOURS.

 Now Take on  The Joy

Johanna

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas Everyone.

This is my sixth Holiday Gratitude Giveaway Gift which has been running mostly on Facebook. Post here what you are grateful for today to enter to win this original oil, 18x24. There have been some amazingly uplifting comments.

Seize the Day

Johanna

How To Paint Interiors...

Time to get serious, if you know what I mean...

Passages

Oil on canvas

12" x 16"

$750.00 plus shipping

Email artist for more information
johanna@johannaspinks.com

Painting from life...

This week's 'Face of Ventura' sitter is Mr. Doug Halter. He is the most marvelous landscape designer, very well known in the old mission town of Ventura where I am doing this crazy art project to paint 55 sitters from life to reflect its' modern day appearance, quite dashing,  and we talked about so much during this ever so short two hour sitting.

Thanks to The Ventura Breeze for featuring my project each edition and The Lyn Fairly and Friends Radio Show. And of course Mr. Halter.

Mark your calendar. 'The Face of Ventura By Johanna Spinks' at The Ventura County Museum Sunday August 26h.

Anatomy of a Portrait Demo

My demo this week at The California Art Institute...thanks to the lovely Oriana and the students that paid attention allowing me to help them on their art journey.

New You Tube Demo

New You Tube! This was a demo I did for an art group recently where the sitter won a raffle to be painted by me. Thanks to Russell Wolvek for the clever edit.

How To Paint Hair..

How to paint hair?

 I loved what I got here.  Kinda shimmery hair...cool versus warm tones, a bit sparkly... and let's not forget a SUPER successful business lady, charming and gorgeous as well, who gave me the honor of sitting before me in my studio for a two hour life sitting which will appear in The Ventura Breeze Newspaper as part of my Face of Ventura series.

I was fascinated by her hair from the get-go...blondish-white-ish,  great shape. Not so easy to get right quickly. And the conversation was divine. I could hardly paint for wanting to stop and chit-chat, this sitter was SO fascinating.

So how did I pull that lovely hair off?

Well, why don't you ask?  It is about time you asked. Post your questions here in the comment section.

Paint it fast, paint it good?

detail

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Oil, 9" x 12"

$500 plus $5 s/h

Here's a sketch I did on Sunday afternoon. It was a rainy day in CA. I was tired from rats in my attic keeping my up all night. But the model on Jeremy Lipking's model stand in his cozy studio begged to be painted. Everything kinda begs to be painted there quite frankly. That is just how Jeremy rolls.

I grabbed my box, squeezed in a tight spot, annoying a few I suspect, set up fast, knowing I had only two hours total to nail it - or not - before the model was long gone. A back view with no arms is easier perhaps. I said to myself,  just focus, and squint.

I kinda like what I got. Hope you do too. 

How to Paint Fabric

"Lazy Saturday"

9"x11"

oil on linen board

$500.00 incl. shipping

This is hot off the easel this week of the lovely Zhanna, a favorite model of mine.

I like  how the fabric turned out. I painted it fast and furious.  I bought this slip for a small fortune knowing I would paint it a lot. It is rather gorgeous I think and begs to be painted more.

A challenge to paint though. I had planned to paint it so much more sheer. But sometimes you just have to lay aside plans, get a big brush out and 'feel it', always remembering to turn the "form". I pushed the values in the dress darker than they appeared and made the most of the fabric "flow" remembering to carve out the body underneath with some dark, crisp notes.  Once I had something I liked, I left well alone.

So basically I have no idea how to paint fabric at all. 

Maybe you do? 

How To Hang An Art Show Easily...What Was I Thinking?

Any personal art show puts me in a state of unease. This one, is for my Face of Ventura Halfway Celebration, was relatively easy.

You ask why, dear blog reader, from all over the world? NO need to comment.

*No framing. BLISS!!! I planned it that way at the start of this project very deliberately. Gallery wrap mount canvas all the way. Exactly the same size, 16"x16". Same warm colored co-hesive ground.

* No picture selection. BLISS!!!

Obviously ALL of the 27 sitters painted so far in my FACE of VENTURA PROJECT, have to hang. Well, you know what I mean. 28 more to paint. Some are good, some are fair, some are not. That is what you get from life-painting, and a real sitter at that, not a model. Can't be an art winner every time.

* Experienced engineer there to measure precisely and punch nails. Guess wot, he is ONE of the FACES. Mr. Jerry English. I planned it that way. Err, not. Happy accident.

* Ever so gracious host, willing to repaint walls, and make everything VERY comfortable, The Ventura Executive Suites! clickhere

Chocolate thrown into the mix.

You get the picture. Cute blog post - so be there! It is the least you can do.

Cease and Assist The Greats..?

My sketch yesterday from life, two hours

Sketch from a year ago, done from photos I took

Sketchbook sketch from life

Block-in for painted sketch

Chelsea has the type of face I love to paint. Not to mention being a super person. I hadn't seen her for a year since my stint at "Weekend With The Masters" assisting the inimitable master painter Morgan Weistling. http://www.morganweistling.com/

It was fun to re-visit with her when she arrived at the studio of another inimitable master, Jeremy Lipking, http://www.lipking.com/, to model for his packed three-day workshops. Lucky for me, I was also assisting Lipking on this day. I find Lipking to be in a painting world class all of his own. That is why I choose to assist him.

Someone close to me asked me the other day:"Why are you assisting another artist? Aren't you too far along with your own art career to be 'seen' doing that?"

Well, quite frankly, no. Being around brilliance often makes one raise one's own art game. There is no fudging this level of mastery however you try to sugar-coat it. Also, the greats I have been lucky enough to be around, work very hard I have noticed, on top of their natural born gifts. They are also incredibly generous in spirit too to an artist like myself wanting to get to the next level.

So between my assisting duties (and of course watching Lipking's magnificent ethereal morning demo) I squeezed in a two hour sketch of my own yesterday afternoon. Top image. I also post one I did of Chelsea, a year ago, from photos I took, after the Masters weekend. Also, a drawing I did of Chelsea from life quietly in my sketchbook while assisting Weistling.

It is interesting for me to see the difference. A year is a long time in an artist's life. The darks in my old sketch are now too heavy for my liking.

For details on Lipking workshop schedule and his regular Tuesday night class go here: http://www.lipking.com/

For details on Morgan Weistling 'everything' go here: www.morganweistling.com/

For details on Everett Raymond Kinstler, N.A., (I don't paint anything without thinking of this great man every day) go here: http://www.everettraymondkinstler.com/