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Friday, October 30, 2009

Plein Air Expanded Extended


The Denver Plein Air Expanded show that went up in September and was due to come down on November 5th has been extended through November 20 due to popular demand! So all of you who have not yet made it down to Republic Plaza, still have a few more weeks. This painting is one of 5 that I got juried in. The Plein Air Expanded is a show that has plein air works and the studio pieces done from the studies next to each other. This painting is a studio work but I sold the study a year or so ago.

Critique Update

Lockkeeper Along the Yonne River
Here is where I am at after working on this painting yesterday. I darkened the jeans so that they tie into the bike more. I now can't decide if I should lighten the gravel road and the middle field or darken the shadow of the white jacket. I am going to think on that some more.
High, Wide and Lonesome
I pretty much repainted this one since the critique last Saturday. I did everything Kevin suggested and more. From darkening the sky, simplifying the road, the middle ground and the mountains; making the wedge of hillside read as one value; reworked the car and Donna sitting in it. I think the only thing I didn't touch are the dry grasses along the road.
I am having a hard time photographing this painting due to its size. I just don't have the setup for it. It took me hours today just to get one that was acceptable.
On the Beach
On this one, I lightened the top edges of all the boats to be the save value as the overturned boat, redid the walkway to the building and also put in the ropes. Didn't take too long to get this one fixed up.

And that is as far as I have gotten. It sure helped to have a snow day yesterday from work.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Saturday Critique

Today I went to the Saturday class of The Masterpainting class; I have not been in quite awhile and today was the critique for the months assignment. I did not do the assignment, but I did want some paintings critiqued. I did bring in an assigment from last spring that I didn't get feedback on as well.
High, Wide and Lonesome, 36x18 inches. Simplify. Too much going on. I asked if I should force the middle ground back further and he agreed. Simply the road by taking out all the break ups and value changes and give it more gradation, from darker at the bottome edge to lighter at the crest; Simply the wedge of hillside on the left side to be more one value; Accentuate the Jeep Wagoneer so it is more the main focus by making the light edge lighter and the highlight on the rear edge more instense and unifying the shadow shape with the wood panel (ie, tie it in by bluing it) and lighter trim. BUT he said, on the other hand, if he saw this painting in a gallery in Santa Fe, he would think it a very good painting as it is. He just wants to push me.

The Lockkeeper, 15 x 30 inches. Unify the shadow side of the lockkeeper and tie that shadow shape into the bike and the cast shadow. And also unify the shape of the light hitting him. Again, he said it is not much that needs to be done but that would strenghen the painting overall. I could also try lightening the gravel road first to see if that helps. Loved the background.
On the Beach, 20x 16 inches. I am close to this being a local tone or front lit approach. Since I was going for front lit, I am going to keep it there. Very little needs to be done to "complete" this painting. Lighten the green boat's flat plane facing the light, lighten "Oliver" so that it is not the same value as the sand, but not too light since it is a canted plane, and all of the tops of the boats around the rims to match the value of the white/pale green boat in the rear.


Painting without a name, 10x16 inches. I brought in my B&W photo of this painting to show him what I was aiming for but knew I was missing completely. He agreed with my assessment of it being a "who cares" painting. He suggested looking at some Richard Diebenkorn books to take it in a more abstract direction. I like this suggestion. He said the composition is strong, the light, medium and dark patterns are interesting, so do away with the detail that I was getting to involved in. ie keep the shapes flat and accentate the graphic. The name of the is village Semur-en-Auxios, and is located just off the main road between Dijon and Paris.
Grand Lake Regatta, 16x12. This painting was actually done as a class assignment from last spring on Local Tone. I am still not there after 4 tries. He said to take it to light and shadow would be easier, but I really want it to be local tone. With that in mind, I must darken the light strip of water to read with the foreground water. I must lighten up the sails and take the warm patch out. Keep the value cool. So, back to the proverbial drawing board. I am determined to get this right. Not because it will ever be a great painting but for my own edification.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Ten Minute Studies First Installment

Here are the first weeks worth of ten minute studies; I started at the top left for the first row and second rows and then went right to left on the last row. I figured out on the 6th frame that if I put an undercoating of paint on the canvas paper then the paint actually went on as I intended and it didn't take so long to get coverage and I was finishing in under 10". I wasn't fighting the dry rough surface so much. That is one of the reason I have been doing underpaintings on the larger canvases I have been working on; They are so difficult to cover with paint otherwise. It has been a long time since I have painted on cotton duck. I sure miss painting on linen, but I am liking painting on stretched canvas I don't have to frame. There are always trade offs in life, right? One day soon I will be able to afford the stretched linen canvases.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Silent but for a good reason


I have been busy working on some large paintings, so it is harder to post as often. There is a show deadline coming up that has me focused on getting the piece I want to enter completed in time. The show is called Paint America. The painting I am doing is a large format for me, 18" x 36." I want to enter it in an online exhibit that is on Facebook, as well. Both deadlines are the end of this month. This project has kept me in my studio with one except. The cold, wet weekend two weeks ago, Richard and I drove up to Lost Park. I painted this little study above(8x8) as it snowed on me. I did not have gloves on and the paint was thick and unresponsive. But I painted.
I recently found out that the two pieces I submitted, see blog entry, to GTMD were both accepted. That show will be opening November 10 at the Denver Public Library and will hang through the end of the year. This show was a lot of fun last year, so if you can make it to the opening you will not be disappointed.
Yesterday I took the last of the 4 new paintings that Ron wants for the show opening the first Friday in November. The four paintings are: "The Composition of Winter," "Smokin" formally called French Construction Workers, "Reading @ the Metropolis" (ie Liz) and "Stately Oliver."

Saturday, October 3, 2009

French Lockkeeper


I also have been working on another painting from reference material I took on my trip to France two years ago. This painting is of a lockkeeper. We rented a boat for a week on the Yonne River in Burgandy. We were in one of the locks where we had to either be raised or lowered - can't remember now, so he had to ride his bike to let us out at the other end. I am not quite finished with the tires but other than that I think it is complete. This photo has a bit of a yellow cast to it. I had fun with the textures on this one. It is 15" x 30."
Even though I wrote this post a week or so ago, I have still not finished this painting. I have been focusing on the looming deadline for entry to the Paint America Top 100. I just realized today that I had never uploaded the photo.

Reading at the Metropolis completed

Here is the finished painting of Liz called "Reading at the Metropolis. The block in for this painting I posted a month or so ago. This painting is 16" x20."

I was talking to a friend of mine the other evening and she mentioned a workshop she would like to take and would I consider going with her to it to share expenses. This workshop is in Sedona, and the artist is Carol Marine. Now I don't really have much interest in workshops so I started to look into Carol, as Jeannie is a good artist and her friend who recommended this as the BEST workshop ever seems to be a successful artist in her own right. I found Carol's blog to be very inspiring and through her blog, she linked to one of her student's blog. There I found 14 things she had learned taking a recent workshop of Carol's in Canada. I also learned that one of the things Carol has her students do is 10 little studies each for 10." So I drew up some little squares on a piece of canvas paper and started doing a few each night after work. I am trying again to paint every day even though I am tired after working all day. I figure even I can do a 10" painting. So far so good. I did 4 in two nights. I have not been doing them on days I am home and painting anyway.


Yesterday, inspired by Carol's quick and direct brushwork, I took this painting from April that I had been cogitating on anyway, and reworked it. I sure had fun. This is also a 20" x 16."