Fresh and Juicy...

Another day, another teaching demo at The California Art Institute...this one was about one hour of painting. I would like to have spent more time on it but I DID like what I got. The model was beautiful and just my type.

Her skin came out kinda fresh and juicy like a ripe piece 0f peach from my local farmers' market. Maybe there is something to be gained from working fast and furious. Simplicity. Often my head studies look best at mid-way point rather than the end. What do you think?

Ariela

8 x 10

$95.00

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Simplicity...365 Days of Drawing

I wanted to do a simple still life today after my weekend of Santa demos. The drawing block-in was done in my gifted teen teaching class and counts for the daily drawing challenge, not that it is a good drawing. I forgive myself. Santa wore me out.

Bear Down...365 Days of Drawing

Bear Down...only 130 or so shopping days left until Christmas or should I say drawing days!

Have I crossed the line drawing and painting cute bears? There is a part of me that says yes. My astute daughter's response was:" Well, it is not the best thing you have ever done".

Here 's is yesterday's drawing turned into a painting. The block-in took me quite a while to work out, believe it or not, how high I was going to put that little 'fluffian' on the canvas making sure he was either a third from the top or bottom and not centre. One thing about a DAILY drawing challenge is one really does get to draw IT ALL.

FAITHFUL FRIEND, daily painting

8x6", Oil, $200

For sale through www.dailypaintersoriginals.com

Sweat the Small Stuff...365 Days of Drawing...

Still life gives me so much enjoyment. Since the day Chardin painted his first hunks of mouldy cheese and bread, artists have been fascinated by the small stuff. Still life remains a constant source of fascination to artists which is interesting in itself. The genre has stood the test of art time.

Yesterday I did a simple class demo of lemons and red onions which will count for my drawing today. Oops, forgot to take the drawing block in photo again. I draw A LOT when I am teaching, on students' canvases, making adjustments usually in the drawing, as well as on my own.

This demo is small, 5" x 7" and only a section of the set-up. There is beauty in small.

I like what I got. I was interested in getting all the color in I could, warm and cool versions of each. I returned to the studio and did another study from this study to push the color more, although this time in a landscape.

Sweat the small stuff, I say. Especially when it comes to still life.

KERI IS SO VERY....!

Keri is my new favorite sitter. She came to my studio this week to sit for a two hour head study for a painting I am doing of her. We chatted and painted. I found out about her life, after discovering her hostessing in a local restaurant, and she found out about mine.

We both took a risk on each other and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. She is smart and fun.

I love painting regular folk I discover on the street. They are so fascinated by being painted in a way that say a professional model is not because they have seen the process a million times by many different talented artists. The process seems almost magical to the newcomer it seems. Not so magical in my head though trying to talk and paint, be entertaining but also, do a good study. It is harder to paint a regular sitter than a paid model who sits stock-still and doesn't mind in the least if you don't chat. The point of portrait painting is to talk to the sitter while you paint I find. Catch a characteristic while their face is moving.

Most professional models bring a certain great energy to the room which is why they get paid. The best models are crazily booked up by all the art schools/artists around town. But a few models do not bring that energy. They have been working for years. Seen it all. They are bored, watch the clock, get on the model stand at the very last minute, and can be just plain difficult at times. This hurts, that hurts, the light is too bright, the music not right. I have witnessed this I hate to say in my teaching class over the last few years.

I know it is not an easy job, let me just say that, but I think a positive attitude is huge. A grumpy argumentative sitter (who is nevertheless being paid) is just a drain on the day. I always try to teach an upbeat class.

So back to the delight of painting someone who has never been painted from life. It reminds me also of why I like to do what I do.

Keri is indeed so very...I need to paint her more.

Going Dutch...

I remain inspired by the old Dutch still life painters, so much so that my mouth is often left gaping when I look at their skill level in books. It really has remained unsurpassed to this day in my humble big-mouthed opinion.

I decided I might rather like to try painting a lobster. Don't ask me why. They are funny looking things. If you saw one crawling across your kitchen floor, you wouldn't want to eat it at all. Jump on the nearest chair and call the fire brigade.

They remind me of big cockroaches uncooked. But when hit by boiling water, that marvelous shade of red they turn is a sight to behold. All those angles too. And those beady eyes staring at the murderess. Red is always a challenge to paint I find, especially things in nature that are FIRE ENGINE red like lobsters and Christmas ties.

I bought this lobster for my still life teaching class at LAAFA last semester where I started the painting, 16" x 20", for demo purposes using a color harmony of red and green, but also doing a fast grisaille under painting in black and white which I then glazed over. I really like glazing mixed with scumbling over a grey and white sketch which is of course how the old Dutch guys did it. Vermeer for sure used a mixed method approach in his work.

I put the painting -and the lobster- aside for many weeks during my trip to France but KNEW I would finish it as it looked good already, good enough to continue at least, and the lobster cost me too much to waste.

Thank goodness for freezers. I had frozen the lobster which was high as a kite already after five hour sittings under hot lights, two sessions a week apart, at LAAFA.

It really didn't take me that much time at all to whip things into shape to a finish that was not too 'done' as I like a fresh look. Not too blendy-blendy. It reminds me that a good start is always key around value pattern and shapes. Besides you have to work fast painting decaying shellfish - or wear a hat with old wine-corks stringed around the brim to zwat the flies like the Aussies do.

It was also rewarding after France where I was doing quick studies (a total of 22 panels in a month to be exact) to spend time bringing a painting to the finish I like in terms of light effect.

Since my return from France I have not only stopped eating copious croissants, but also gone back to my favorite art books for a refresher course. Books I have not had access to for about three months due to France and a home move.

I have dusted off my camera obscura, said a prayer to Vermeer...I have gone Dutch at least for a few days.

For those of you still-lifers out there in LA area, be sure not to miss the Spanish Master of still life, Luis Melendez, at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, currently running.

Also, I am just redoing my website and putting up many new still life paintings, including this one, all available for purchase and shipping.

Watch this space...