Painting a Dead Horse

 

 "Dark Horse"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$300

Available Here

My new project, Still Life Open Studio, is rolling along! It's a gathering where I set up a still life, and you come and paint it! Well, I paint it. You work in any medium you choose. 

This month's session was inspired by Georgia O'Keefe - skulls and flowers. I had the whole gang assembled - Bambi, Bessie, and Mr. Ed. Yorick was on an artist's residency and could not attend.

I'll be hosting two sessions in August: the 11th and the 25th. Come see what I concoct theme-wise! It's still a mystery to me.

Yellow Path (aka Lemon Pie, the Sequel)

 

 "Yellow Path"

24x12 inches, oil on canvas

$700, framed

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Here it is, the missing slice! 

I enjoyed playing with all the different yellows in this setup - once I got past my freakout over being out of Cadmium Yellow. Seriously, that's like a chef running out of butter! But just like a chef with enough milk and elbow grease, I made my own perfectly suitable substitute using a combo of Indian yellow and Cad yellow pale. No churning required.

 

A warmup sketch. Getting comfortable with those whipped-cream ridges! Eeek!

Lemon Pie

 "Lemon Pie"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

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Why does time always seem to speed up at the end of the month? I at least attempted to slow down this week by spending some time with this lemon cream pie. If you want to find out what happened to the missing slice, tune in tomorrow!

Avocado Appetizer

"Avocado Appetizer"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

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I'm really doing the yellow thing lately - well, always - and it doesn't get much more gorgeous in the yellow-green department than an avocado!

Work-in-progress:

No video of this one, but if you're interested in my process for beginning a painting, I have a new video on YouTube. Watch it here!

Strangely enough, my last avocado was posted on July 24th....2008!? Exactly 8 years ago? There are no coincidences....

 

Teaching In My PJ's

 

 "Purple Arrow"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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My new online art mentorship program is off to a great start! It's been a couple of months, and the improvements I'm seeing in my students' work are exciting - plus, I'm loving watching them inspire each other (and me). It's like art school, without having to get dressed. Not that I put too much effort into that back in the art school days....

This piece was a demo for one of my students - I recorded our session, and edited it down from over an hour to about 20 minutes. You'll hear us chatting about various things... some related to this painting, some not. Enjoy!

The Artist's Vacation

 "Oranges on a Grey Plate"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Sold, workshop demo painting

 I just returned from a wonderful whirlwind week in the Midwest. I think it's safe to say I covered all my bases while I was there, too! I taught a workshop, had a gallery opening, visited my father in Cleveland, my sister in Chicago, hit two amazing art museums, and did plenty of other cool touristy stuff - since, after almost a decade in the Pacific Northwest, I am pretty much of a tourist in the land where I grew up.

It all started at BayArts, in Bay Village, Ohio - a pretty amazing place. Here's a panorama of my solo show, "The Color of Light." 

 

Next up was a workshop. BayArts has a fantastic classroom. You know the feeling a space gets when art is made there for years and years? Lots of that going on here!

It was a great group of students - enthusiastic and talented. Check out their paintings from day two!

Then I decompressed from all that artmaking with some hardcore art viewing. Modigliani at the Art Institute of Chicago:

I have lots of workshops coming up, including another round of the same workshop I just taught at BayArts, at home in Eugene. Spaces are still available for this Saturday and Sunday. Info and registration here. Join us!

Watching the Sun

 "Watching the Sun"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I had a beautiful Fourth of July, painting a model en plein air at Eugene's big summer arts festival. Longtime readers may remember me doing this before - it's become a yearly tradition that I really look forward to! Here is my post from 2013 - and here is last year's.

My painting with the model, basking in the sun:

My friend Heather joined me this year - it's always fun to have company - and someone to help you wrestle around with your umbrella in the wind!

Here's my work-in-progress. I had to get that face in first! You can see me starting to test out my color mixes by smearing them on with a palette knife, over her left shoulder:

Painting Together, Painting Alone

 "Blueberry Tart"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas
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I love a new project - and I have one this week! I've been attending open studio sessions to draw and paint the figure for years, and lately have found myself wondering - could that model (no pun intended) work with still life? Get a group of like-minded artists together to paint, chat, and share a still life set-up...why not?

The inaugural session of the Still Life Open Studio was this past Thursday at Whiteaker Printmakers' Annex - the same space where I recently taught a figure painting workshop. There were six of us in attendance, but I brought enough subject matter for a small army of artists. Tea and lemons....shocker!

The fruit tarts were a change for me. First time painting one - and I loved the shiny fruit! 

Underpainting to finish. I always start my still lives the same way: with a wet-toned canvas in a warm neutral orange, then a value block-in in thin paint. I recently made a video for my online mentorship students demonstrating my whole process. If you enjoy watching it, give it a thumbs up on YouTube - I'd appreciate it!

Talking to myself in an empty room....no wonder I was craving a group of painters to hang with!