Inspired By Teaching

 "Faith's Fruit"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I've been working with this young lady, Faith, since the middle of last year. When her mother, who also happens to be the force behind the online arts magazine Combustus, first approached me about teaching Faith, I was hesitant - she was only 11 at the time, and my students tend to be, ahem, just a bit older than that. 

But I snapped out of that very quickly - after all, had I myself not been the recipient of mentorship and lessons at exactly that age, in the home-studio of an artist? The first time I ever oil painted was during one of those lessons, and I will never forget that day... 

Also, she's quite talented, as you can see!

 I set up this still life for her last lesson, and the next day, I looked at it and thought, "Hmmm..." Add a few white objects, and voila - a still life for me! I know I can take some lessons from the freshness and immediacy of Faith's painting.

I love teaching all my classes - workshops, demos, and private lessons. Who can say who gets more out of it, me or my students? 

I've got a brand-new workshop coming up April 23-24th in Eugene. It's called "The Primary Palette," and it's all about how I paint with three primary colors (or stand-ins for what we typically consider the primaries) and white. More info on that here.

I'll also be doing a 1-day intro to oil painting workshop, April 30th, which looks like it's filling up fast! 

And, since I'm plugging away....private lessons are always available, at my home studio or yours. Email me for details.

Saying Goodbye to a Model

 

 "Yellow Becca"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Becca is a great model, who I've painted many times. In fact, I counted - and I've painted her 21 times over the past five years!

 

Here are my some of my favorites:

 It's an incredible experience to paint someone multiple times - as they age, as you age....as your style changes, as they get more and more tattoos.... :)

Becca is moving away from Eugene, so this may be the last time I get to paint her - at least for a while. 

Thank you, Becca! 

Looking Left

"Looking Left"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Available here

A new figure painting, from life, using a fairly limited palette - mostly burnt sienna, yellow ocher, alizarin crimson, cobalt blue, and white. The last time I painted this model, Hannah, was about a year ago.

Here is a work-in-progress photo. The color looks really different from picture to picture - that's caused by taking them in different lighting situations. The final photo is closest to the actual colors of the painting. 

A Painting of Flowering Quince

"Quince"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

I passed this strange, woody, leafless, flowering bush several times on my jogging route without taking too much notice. Then, I saw a small vase of these blooms on a random desk, and stopped in my tracks. So many of my paintings start with my just noticing some small thing and thinking, "That."

Back to the jogging route I drove, with my trusty glove compartment scissors!

 I've got a still life painting workshop coming up, March 19-20th, in Eugene. It's going to be two intense and informative days - oils and acrylics welcome. More info and online registration here!

More Tea!

 "Green Tea with Lemons"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

Sold
 

A second stab at my still life from yesterday. I just shuffled the players around a bit! 

I made a pencil sketch for this painting - which can be seen here. AND! I recorded almost all of this painting-in-progress on time-lapse video, and strung the clips together into a 4.5 minute segment. Watch it here, on YouTube.

....And have some more tea!

Green Tea

 "Green Tea"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Available here

I drink a lot of tea. Mostly generic black tea with lots of cream and sugar....but it's nice to have these fancy tea bags around for painting! The multi-colored individual packets are a fun element to experiment with in a still life set up. 

Here's my work-in-progress. Remind me to use this painting if I ever need a great example of an analogous color scheme:

And here's the sketch that started me off. More sketches like this can be found on my Pinterest page!

I'm teaching two workshops this month in Eugene. March 12th is a one-day Intro to Oil Painting class, and the weekend of March 19-20th, a 2-day still life workshop for oils or acrylics. I guarantee hard work and lots of fun. I mean, I haven't had a student cry yet..... :)