Thank You To Art Models...

I have worked with more art models than I  have had hot dinners over the last 20 years of life painting. I wish I could remember each and every one but the number runs into the hundreds at this point.

Each however is a special encounter for me and many have now become my friends, as we work together so often over the years.  We kind of grow up together. Art models bring so much to the studio  table and help us artists paint well. They inspire leaving us hopefully to join hands with the Art Spirit and do the rest. Art models have to show up through thick and thin, with a good attitude, smile on their face,  no matter what is going on in their personal lives. I know from my old  weekly teaching class this is not always easy. A ton can be going on behind the scenes in your daily life.

So today I just wanted to say thank you. Our collaborations are appreciated. I also wanted to say thank you to Jeremy Lipking. I have learned so much from Master Lipking about figure painting over the last few years.

www.jeremylipking.com

These two corset paintings of mine sold today to a new collector featuring two models I have been luck to paint many times, Amina Santana  and Toni Sky.

Thank you to all three.

Catch more of my corset paintings and sketches at www.dailypaintworks.com

The are super affordable and make delicious Holiday Gifts.

Swinging a Palette Knife

Swinging a palette knife this weekend painting the lovely Marian Liddel over at Jeremy Lipking's studio. He does a great one day a month workshop. Check it out www.lipking.com

There is nothing about Lipking's work I don't like. He is a true young master and I have been lucky to be around him over  the last three years or so lending a helping hand in his workshops and 'study abroad' trips when I can in return for some of his inspiration.

The ABC's of Painting Eyes.

Close-ups By Johanna Spinks. Eyes in progress.


Going cross-eyed? I painted four sets of eyes on my studio easels this week, three of them from life.  Come back to see them finished. 




My ABC's of Painting Eyes
A: AVOID hard outlines: hard whites of the eyes, hard highlights within the eye and hard socket edge shapes. There is never pure white paint within the eye and there are lots of soft halftones around the exterior eye socket.

Think of putting a mist between your 'painted' eyes and the viewer. Lavender helps to push it all back. 

B: BE rigorous in your own art training. Draw eyes often. Paint studies. Study these old Superstars, my own personal heroes of portraiture:

Philip de Laszlo: https://www.delaszloarchivetrust.com

Anders Zorn:  http://www.anderszorn.org

 John Singer Sargent http://www.johnsingersargent.org

Joaquin  Sorolla  http://www.sorollapaintings.com

Also look to modern day Masters:

Everett Raymond Kinstler, N.A. http://www.everettraymondkinstler.com

Jeremy Lipking  http://www.lipking.com

Morgan Weistling  http://www.morganweistling.com

C: COURT your sitter. Paint from life as often as you can. All the greats did - and do.

Chat to your sitter while you are painting them. Their eyes will light up revealing a spark of their personality, their bodies will go into a natural pose. If you have your ABC's down, you will catch it.

Good luck. I will be doing my ABC's too. Always.

A demo of an eye I did in my teaching class this week for students showing the light source moving through  socket.

Perfect Art Studio Furniture

Beautiful Stephanie came into my studio to be painted this week from life wearing a gorgeous red satin slip from Paris that I wanted to paint as much as her pretty face - so I did.

I have painted this lovely young lady quite a few times now after being introduced to her by Jeremy Lipking. www.lipking.com.  I always enjoy her sweet soul and the energy she brings to the table.

I have also collected a vast number of slips, kimonos, flimsy vintage type clothing and yummy paintable things from around the world. Students always ask me: "Where do you find all these things?"

It is also the first time I got to paint my new studio bench which I waited for months to buy after spotting it at Charme D'Antin in Los Angeles. It is over 100 years old and completely impractical. I suspect it was made from an old french bed headboard. But I love it and wonder at all the people who sat on it or slept under it that elaborate headboard. Maybe I am the first to paint it?

Gratitudes to Stephanie, that red satin slip, and my new old bench.

Life sitting at the studio this week

Ten Great Things I Learned From Jeremy Lipking

Readers of this blog will know for almost three years now I have been lucky enough to be around master painter Jeremy Lipking, offering a helping hand when he needs it in return for inspiration from this incredibly talented man.

www.lipking.com

Lipking's work moves me. Plain and simple. We paint in different styles for sure, but I love to watch him paint and hear his thoughts on all things to do with his art. I am a big believer in surrounding myself with greatness to learn more about what I do in my own professional working life - and that he is.

It has been quite a journey so far. There was a Lipking workshop visit to Sweden to Anders Zorn's hometown Mora, a workshop to the High Sierras, a huge sold-out solo show in NY that Lipking prepared for over two years, and a ton of weekly Tuesday night classes and weekend workshops. There was also a delightful addition to the young Lipking family during this time period which made everyone's heart sing.

I have seen many enthralled students come through Lipking's eclectic studio, which is  full of his paintings and personal art finds and treasures. I've seen many Lipking demos and many of his large scale, prize-winning paintings in progress.  Just this year Lipking won The Prix de West and also The Art Renewal Centre Grand Prize. He knows a thing or two and he is not even 40 yet.

I was prompted to come up with the TOP TEN THINGS I have learned from this young master so far after watching him demo yesterday knowing I was in the presence yet again of greatness. And not to mention grateful for it.

1. Take your time: Lipking thinks things through from beginning to end. His first brushstroke is as important as his last.

2. Simplify: Lipking will take a complicated mountain range or ocean view and simply it like no other. Saying less is more.

3. Warm shadows: paint them darker than you think and use cool muted greys for the light with some cadimum 'bright' mixes for the sizzle on top, a.ka. Lipking 'glow'.

4. Design: Lipking is a master here. Using his excellent drawing skills he designs beautiful shapes around a chosen value pattern.

5. Subtle: super subtle half tones in the light, often connecting to each other and kept lighter in value than you would think.

6. Purple: a  blue-ish purple mound of color is always on Lipking's palette, think of a Provence Blue shade. He dips into it often to cool his colors.

7. Washes: thin washes are used to optimum effect and an important part of his approach with parts of the wash appearing in the final painting, under clothing or hair, or just about anything.

8. Observe: Lipking's mind is always working on the lookout for his next great painting. Once on a car ride we swerved off the road to catch a herd of sheep at sunset that he had seen in the distance.

9. Go for exquisite: give everything you paint your full attention from a humble single flower to a vast canyon range at sunset.

10. Paint what you love: this is obvious in all of his paintings. He doesn't paint to the crowd. It seems he  paints to please himself and the rest follows.

To sign up for Lipking's next studio workshop day Saturday October 18th, go here:
click

Jeremy Lipking's inspiring demo this weekend at his studio workshop.

My 'take' on the lovely model, Julie.

Lipking on location 2013

Lipking Malibu beach workshop 2012

Lipking Studio workshop 2012

A quick-sketch of me by Lipking

Sweden, 2012. Myself pictured here with Lipking at Anders Zorn's summer house.
Amazing times.

A palette knife portrait I did of Lipking
"Sierra Shades - Jeremy Lipking"

Lipking workshop, The Sierras Fall 2013

Lipking Gets Another Cover

Lipking Sold-Out Solo Show December 2013

A Peek Inside Jeremy Lipking's Studio

If you have ever wondered how the inside of master artist Jeremy Lipking's studio looks, wonder no more. Lipking taught another fantastic one day workshop at his studio and I hung around for the morning.

While Lipking was getting going on his demo, I did this quickie sketch in pen and watercolor. Quite a challenge to get all those moose and buffalo heads in without getting too attached to the outcome.

Lipking pulled off his usual demo masterpiece, see half finished pic below,  with excellent control of those halftones, and a good time was had by all.

Check out Lipking's work here: www.lipkingcom.

"Lipking's Studio"
8 x 8"
Pen and Ink
By Johanna Spinks

Halfway!
Jeremy Lipking's demo, one day workshop

Finding You Own Painting Style...

I thought this article today by John P. Weiss a really great read! Deeply resonated with me and I am sure a few others. Click on the link to read the full article.

My pal Jeremy Lipking gets a well deserved mention. Now there's a guy that has found his style and then some! He is deservedly winning every award around this year including the Prix de West and ARC. Catch his upcoming one day workshop July 26th.

www.lipking.com

65 Red Roses
Palette Knife
22 x 28
By Johanna Spinks

The Problem With Painting Workshops

by John P. Weiss

So here's the deal. Take those workshops, copy those museum masterpieces until you've reached a level of true proficiency. Then stop all that. Pack up your paint box easel and spend some serious time digesting the world around you. Slow down, even when you think you're wasting time. Study, think, experiment, and stop trying to ape someone else. Inside you is a unique voice. It has been whispering in your ear for a long time, waiting for you to blossom. [...] 

Read the rest of this article at:
http://faso.com/fineartviews/77296/the-problem-with-painting-workshops

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This excerpt appears courtesy of FineArtViews Art Marketing Newsletter by FASO,
a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists,
collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).


For a complimentary subscription, visit: http://www.faso.com/art-marketing-newsletter

Back To The Drawing Board

"Saturday Sheer"
By Johanna Spinks
18 x 24
Available for purchase
gohere

Got some good drawing time in this weekend when I helped out at Jeremy Lipking's one day workshop at his studio. I did this conte and gouache large sketch of lovely Stephanie in about two hours and I loved every minute of the busy and fun day.

Lipking is a generous teacher to his students and seems to hold the room spellbound most of the day, all marveling at the work he can pull off in demo format, yet alone on his cool grey studio walls. Look out for his next one day workshops June 21st.

Order his one day workshop here:http://www.bit.ly/lipking

See his work at www.lipking.com

You can also catch a teaching day with me too here at my Malibu studio. Drop-ins welcome.

Figure Painting With A Palette Knife

I try to paint with the palette knife as often as I can now. It frees me up a ton. It is a much slower process for me than with the brush and one has to be willing to' let go' a little. It is not every artist's cup of tea, that's for sure.

People seem to really like blending that body/face/figure to an inch of its' life so the skin looks more lifeless than at a morgue on a cold Monday morning. Certainly classical figure painting is at an all time high in popularity right now. Just look at the art magazines and competition results. Pages of smoothed skin. Nothing wrong with that at all and I truly admire the artists that do classical realism so well. Jeremy Lipking would be a prime example of this www.lipking.com

He is a real master.

I am still finding I want a somewhat polished look in my palette knife figure work...it will be interesting to see where this journey goes.

Off my easel to day...figure study.

Figure Study
SOLD
By Johanna Spinks
Palette Knife
8x8"

Drawing Portraits From Life

Life Drawing
NFS
20"x20"
Johanna Spinks

Headed over to the Jeremy Lipking studio for my regular Tuesday night jaunt there which is always stimulating.

Decided to put down the brush for a change and draw instead. Three hours later this was what I had, although I could have stopped at two and it would have looked pretty much the same.

This was done with a pastel pencil on Rives paper and it is probably my favorite way to draw. I like slowly working up the face on thick paper.

The model's face position had completely changed from where we started. The joys of working from life. So I decided to hang on to my initial drawing start, for better or worse. Never chase a head position.

Tuesday Nights At The Lipking Studio

Life Study, three hours
By Johanna Spinks
Oil on linen, 12 x 16

Most Tuesday nights I head over to Jeremy Lipking's engaging studio to paint. I have done this for the last two years. He is an inspiration and a true young master at the top of his game.

Lipking paints it all very well from figure to landscape. Plus, he is a generous teacher to everyone in the room. One of the main lessons for the room last night was to work your dark mass shapes first before moving toward the light. Amen. Place your eyewear in the sketch toward the end of your painting. Make sure the eyes are 'pushed back' behind those frames, painted down in value a bit. Treat the under-eye area with kid gloves. Gently. Softly.

I will never paint like Lipking. No-one can. Many try but they are not as good.

That's not the idea. I believe in surrounding myself with greatness, hence showing up the last two years.

Check out Lipking's work here You can also join his ongoing class in Agoura Hills, C.A, by signing  up directly from his website. Look out also for his solo show at the Arcadia Gallery in New York, opening this December 12th. More information here

Above is my three hour study from last night. The room was packed and I was standing near the back. I needed the model's glasses. But I like wot I got. I love a gal in glasses.

Below, a taste of the evening Lipking style!

Close-up of Lipking's sketch. Copyright Jeremy Lipking

Last night at The Lipking Studio - some great work going on.

"# Plaid" - Jeremy Lipking

"# Plaid - Jeremy Lipking"
NFS
12" x 16"
 By Johanna Spinks
Palette Knife

I just did this palette knife portrait of Jeremy Lipking. He was wearing some very cool shades in The Sierras which caught my eye. I love it when that happens. You just itch to paint them. I had to get through quite a few mountain ranges with my brush first but I knew the job would get done. Quite a challenge to resist picking up a brush for those shades. As soon as you do, it's all over.

www.lipking.com

WATCH FOR MY NEW TUMBLR COMING SOON ON PALETTE KNIFE PAINTING

Painting in The Sierras With Jeremy Lipking

I recently had the privilege of accompanying my pal, master painter Jeremy Lipking, in an assisting role for his magical "Painting in The Sierras" workshop.

I also had the same gift given to me last summer  traveling in the same capacity with Lipking  and his workshop gang to Sweden and Zorn-Land for his truely amazing workshop there.

Check out  lipking.com

Yes, I consider myself in the fortunate category.  But an assisting role is not always a cushy number. You don't want things to go wrong while traveling in large groups and feel responsible if there is a hiccup of any sort. You want everyone to be happy, especially the artist hosting the workshop who is working very hard.

I sometimes think students don't quite appreciate exactly how hard the host artist works.The days were often long for Lipking on both workshops as he might work into the night doing a demo or feature a guest speaker around a casual dinner event after a full day of painting.

Preparation is the assistant's key and double-checking things. A smile on your face helps too, even when you don't feel like it.

This I am good at, having taught for quite a few years myself.

These are the main things I learned during my five days in The Sierras with Lipking painting the most beautiful mountain ranges, lakes, and rocks.

*Gratitude: for an artist of Lipking's mastery, that he has the desire to share his knowledge in the most giving way. Lipking is a patient, kind and thorough teacher. Oh, and did I mention inspiring?

* Love the land you paint: it was obvious Lipking has a keen knowledge of The Sierras accumulated over many years of visiting the area from childhood, personally climbing its' high mountain ranges as a young lad while quietly studying the trees/leaves/plants of the terrain. This remarkable knowledge and views of this land have appeared  in many of his paintings.

*Simplify the land you paint: Lipking took a complicated mountain vista and edited it down into some beautiful simpler value shapes. Quickly too.

* Push the color: Lipking is considered  by most a tonalist painter but I saw him push the color on this trip, for example he painted the lake water far more turquoise blue in his sketches than I saw it.  Similarly a sketch of trees yielded vibrant violets.  Delightfully so.

* Push the values: on one mountain sketch Lipking deliberately painted the foreground much darker than it really was to play up the mountain range behind. I hadn't thought to do this.

* Paint the small everyday things too: a stove in a log cabin. The aged green doorway. These have all appeared in Lipking paintings.

*Paint waterfalls like your are painting a staircase: think of water going down stairs with a top plane and a drop plane. Subtle value changes. Cool versus warm depending on the light source. Rocks get this treatment too.

*Paint the air: this is hard and Lipking is magical at this using tonal mixes often keyed into a violet/purple pre-mix to reflect the cool light conditions he favors.

*Paint transparency slowly: Lipking kinda sneaked up on the underwater rocks he was painting. He laid down far less top water reflections from the sky above than one would think saying this would make a sketch look more amateur-ish. He held back on putting these few top reflections until the very end of his two hour sketch.

* Always be vigilant: your next masterpiece could be right in front of your nose. On the drive up pre-workshop suddenly we were amid a huge flock of sheep at sundown. Lipking had seen them in the distance and flew off the main road to capture them while my nose was in a bag of newly purchased BBQ flavored roadkill from Gus's Jerky stand. Well, of course!

*Study Edgar Payne: Lipking brought the book  "Edgar Payne; The Scenic Journey" with him. Payne loved the Sierras and painted his heart and soul recording the area just like Lipking is doing. I really love this inspiring book.

purchase here.

* Be patient: even if a sketch doesn't work out, as in my case, you learn something through the observation. No time painting from life is EVER wasted.

* Allow 24 hours to judge your work:  I thought my first sketch of the trip terrible. Now, it is one of my favorites. It is honest and my voice.

*Find a good food outlet: this we did at the rocking Whoa Nellie Deli. Best fish tacos ever. I even bought the sweatshirt.

*Get the right gear: mosquito repellent doesn't work amid swarming mosquito attacks. Mosquitoes bite through clothing. Carry a face net. They work. Body net anyone?

*Travel light: get everything in to one backpack especially water.

*Gratitude again for the gift of art and great artists in my life. Thanks to all the traveling artists who made  this workshop so special especially maestro Lipking.

All images copyright.

Jeremy Lipking Wows With a Waterfall

The gang at sunset

My favorite sketch of the trip by Jeremy Lipking. He made it look effortless.

The Mysteries of Painting Explained Patiently - Jeremy Lipking

Mosquito net required. Even John Singer Sargent would have worn one -Jeremy Lipking

Fellow traveller sketch by Johanna Spinks

Sketch By Johanna Spinks

Fellow traveller sketch by Johanna Spinks

Sketch By Johanna Spinks

My painting set-up

Sketch by Johanna Spinks

Mosquito Net Hat, Johanna Spinks

Spectacular Sunday Morning Demo of Bloody Mountain By Jeremy Lipking

Jeremy Lipking demos different light affects

Jeremy Lipking demos transparent water, note the bugs!

Buttercup yellow...how to paint color

Buttercup
12x16
Oil on panel
$395 incl. shipping
Purchase at my online store
here

If you see the You Tube videos below, you will know that I love pushing color. I love artists, past and present, who do the same.

This was a quick color study last night I did over at Jeremy Lipking's studio. He is a wonderful tonalist  painter who also gets some great color in there.

I didn't feel like blending last night.  I felt like slapping that buttercup yellow jacket on the canvas,  three different temperatures of yellow. Warm, cool and neutral with a complimentary purple washed in for my base.

Off to CAI now for my teaching class. Join me there Wednesday mornings.

The Best En Plein Aire Box?

"The Way Forward. Malibu"
Johanna Spinks
Oil on Linens 4"x10"
$395
Purchase at my online store :click

Painting at Peter Strauss Ranch yesterday with my "secret' box. It magically paints everything for me.

Recently I have been out and about painting a lot of sketches en plein air taking a much needed break from the rigors of portrait deadlines in the studio. More deadlines starting next week so I have made use of the time. It has felt marvelous. It has also felt like the ONLY thing I wanted to do. Nature equals nurture.

I have been around a lot of artists during these recent 'landscapades', and some GREAT ones, many from far afield, including at Jeremy Lipking's February workshop www.lipking.com in an assisting role capacity to him. Now there's a guy who can paint landscapes!

There is a ton of  talk about painting boxes. Which is best?  Paint boxes seem more fascinating than how Marilyn Monroe really died or did O.J. do it? Along with a few other of life's great unanswered questions. 

Soltek versus the current hottie Alla Prima? Guerilla Pochade versus Mabef?  And all the other whizz boxes I don't even know the names of and can't spell. Sorry to say, I don't know the best one.  All I do know is these boxes are more expensive than a Mercedes monthly car payment, not that I have one of those. 

I also know expensive boxes won't make you a good landscape painter and they lend somewhat toward personal taste, like shoes.

I also know understanding values, composition, drawing, edges, and color temperature will make you paint well from an old shoe box.  Along with soul. A few creature comforts packed in that box, will also help you stay on location well.  Clothing in layers, hand wipes, trash bags for rags, sunscreen, bug spray, hat, water, cell phone, snacks, and I now keep my car keys on a tie around my neck. Lost keys on location? Big problem. I know to my expense.

So what do I use? I have spent my inheritance on every single thing Guerilla Painters pochade company ever made owning two of its boxes and every super sexy slinky dinky accessory. I was among this company's earliest of fans and sent many people to its' way. I have enjoyed these boxes. I have travelled internationally with them many times but my paintings often looked far from sexy or the way I wanted them to. Nothing to do with Guerilla. 

Now I use a box and set up that works for ME. It is a very personal thing. Only learned perhaps by doing it. These days I  like a very small lightweight compact set up that can be carried/rolled in one trip. NO going back to the car. I don't like to sweat and puff. Best of all, I have no care to defend it to those  art box purists.

My box was made for me by a retired police officer, the lovely Bob W.,  who I first found out about from the stellar artist Morgan Weistling during a workshop I did with Morgan in 2003. www.morganweistling.com. Bob was the model. 

Bob is a real craftsman as well as a dedicated artist. He makes art boxes for artists whose work he wants to collect. He and his lovely wife now have  an outstanding HUGE art collection by the way,  worthy of a museum, including, I am honored to say, two of mine.

Bob and I reconnected two years ago when I was lucky enough to assist Morgan Weistling at Weekend With The Masters. I told Bob how much I had wanted one of his boxes for a decade. Soon enough, I was invited to his home having a lovely time with him and his wife.

I can't tell you how much I treasure my box. I use it ALL the time. And I think about Bob, about to turn 80 years-old, each time. I know I will paint on it for the rest of my life. It gives me good vibes and confidence somehow whilst fitting my compact needs.

So that is what I think about art en plein aire boxes. Find what works for you. You will probably spend a bit of money so perhaps try an old shoe box first.

Bob, if you are reading this, I covet  that little attachment. You know the one I mean. Just saying...

Painting Under Cool Light.

"Zumba Wrap"
By Johanna Spinks
Oil and Gold Leaf On Archival Board
12"x16"
free shipping
$995

Come study with me this Friday, March 8th,  at my First Friday Atelier (delayed!) in the beautiful Malibu Highlands. 

 We will be painting from the life model under cool light conditions pretty similar to this sketch I painted at the weekend at my pal Jeremy Lipking's studio. He sure knows a thing or two about cool light and lots of folks had flown in for the weekend to see how he makes cool magic. Lipking's approach has made him one of today's most successful young figurative artists in the world. View his work: here

I have been lucky enough to be around Lipking quite a lot over the last year consolidating my art thoughts on a few things: first, that Lipking is truly a master of cool, among other things, and secondly, if one follows a few rules things seem to go a lot smoother.

Basically the rule of thumb is "where there is cool light, there are warm shadows". Art rules are usually meant to be broken but  I haven't seen this one broken too well.   If you have cool light and cool shadows, your sketch will be fit for the morgue - or the sitter will sure look like he/she is heading that way. Also, one can really push the shadows, making them warmer than they appear on the sitter. Transparent shadows are good too of course

Artists seem to have trouble with this cool skin stuff often sticking to the 'mustard and ketchup' approach,  mixing between a basic white, yellow and red to get PEACH. Many seem to paint PEACH for years before throwing a cool into it. 

I find it helps to have a basic mid-value mix on the palette that is cool,  to dip all my light mixtures into, avoiding any yellows until much later on.  That yellow will of course be a very cool one. Lemon yellow comes to mind. On this sketch, I used a grey pre-mix the color of fawn suede. Some super cool mauves, blues and pinks are handy to have around too.  Lipking taught me this. I don't think he would mind me sharing with you that he favors a mauve mix made from alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white. He has been using this mix now for years.

I wouldn't get away perhaps with this cool skin tone on a portrait commission but, hey, art collectors of my non-portrait work seem, well, quite peachy about it.

Jeremy Lipking teaches year-round, all information at www.lipking.com