Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Christmas Passed

 "Merry and Bright"
8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
Sold

I'm just a little bit late for Christmas with this one, but hey - your tree is still up, right? I figured I had until New Years before this would be really inappropriate.  And I didn't want to miss my annual opportunity to pull out the fun paint tubes - Pthalo Turquoise, Quinacridone Rose....

I say it a LOT: you can create the illusion of almost any color using a limited palette. Case in point: the golden egg yolks seen here, painted using only Yellow Ocher - a very dull, earthy yellow. But to really nail the intense colors of these ornaments, special pigments are required.

Here's a work-in-progress, at the halfway point:


And! Also too late for Christmas (I could give you my list of excuses, but Nah...) I made my Calendar for 2016! One of the best things about making these is that throughout the year, I'll randomly get a message like, "Hi! July's painting is just lovely!" And I'll have five long seconds of having NO idea what you're talking about.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Looking Inward


 "Looking Inward"
12x16 inches, oil on canvas

My newest nude, painted from a live model. Here's a progression:

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Fruits of the Season

"Fruits of the Season"
9 x 12 inches, oil on Arches oil paper
Sold

 A dark pomegranate painting for a dark time of year. I used the same black-as-blue palette as my previous post, which I'm sure is contributing to the dense, velvety feeling here.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Black is the New Blue

 
 "Pink, Purple, and Red"
8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
$150

Here is my demo from last weekend's "Mindful Mixing" workshop. I painted it with - you guessed it - Yet another limited palette! This time I picked Azo yellow (a lemon-type yellow), Alizarin crimson, and Ivory black. For those of you not familiar with my limited palette technique - that's a color to stand in for each of the three primaries: yellow, red, and blue. In this case, black is the blue.


Here's another demo, using the same palette. My "Stroke Economy" exercise: 25 brushstrokes to paint a pomegranate, this time. Always fun, and kind of scary! Did I say scary? I meant - um, challenging.


And here is some student work. Another amazing group - I was really impressed!


Want to get back into painting in 2016, or make the switch from water media to oils? My next workshop is for you! Intro to Oil Painting, January 9-10, here in Eugene. Info and registration here.