Tangerine Tumble

 

"Tangerine Tumble"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$350 

Click to buy

Here's this one in-progress, from sketchbook to underpainting to color. The sketch was fun - ballpoint pen, black sharpie, and white Pitt pen on tan paper! Here's the sketchbook I used. 

 

I recently did a little interview for the blog #artcrushxo. Kim shares so many diverse and interesting artists, it was an honor to be invited to contribute! 

 

(Read the interview here)

Go Green... and Yellow!

 "A Dish of Green Olives"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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Interrupting my stream of residency paintings to post a piece from one of March's Still Life Open Studio sessions. Is it a coincidence that I'm posting this very green-and-yellow painting on the eve of the big Oregon Ducks final four basketball game (green and yellow being the U of O's school colors)? 

 Yes, it is. 😉

These two daffodils took a turn as daily sketch subjects the next morning, looking fresh and rested, even after their rigorous evening modeling session. The lemons, too. Troopers!

Three Oranges, One Video, One Self-Portrait Sketch, and Some Words

 

 "Three Oranges no. 3 (Pattern)"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$200

Click to buy

Another orange painting from Playa - and a time-lapse video of my underpainting. You can see how I tweak the position of everything just a bit at the very beginning - the best time to make changes like that, for sure! 

(If you're an email subscriber, you may need to click on this link to watch.)

Here's another of my daily sketchbook self-portraits - this one done in oils on a ground of gray gesso. When I'm using oil paint in my sketchbook, I actually prefer to paint right on the paper. Gesso, being water-based, makes the paper buckle. Paint thinners like Gamsol don't have the same effect. And, because I get a lot of questions about whether I use a special kind of sketchbook to paint in - the answer is no - it's just your garden variety sketchbook. Pentalic - this one, I think.

From Drawing to Painting

 "Squash Game"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Click to buy

Another painting, mining my maybe-excessive Hillsboro pumpkin patch lode.

I brought them all home from Still Life Open Studios and threw them on the studio table, where they were very conveniently waiting when it was time for my next daily sketch. As I was drawing, I began to see that there was a painting there, somewhere.

There are lots of reasons that artists draw - and there are plenty of artists for whom drawing is the main medium of creation. As a painter, there are several things that make drawing an integral part of my studio practice.

 For one thing, it keeps me in touch with my love of line. I'm always trying to paint more tonally, with fewer outlines, so junking out on lines and hatchmarks feels really good when I sketch. 

I've got a brand new workshop coming up October 29-30, here in Eugene called "From Sketchbook to Canvas: Drawing to Improve Your Painting." Despite that maybe-excessive title, it's going to be a simple class: we're going to draw, then we're going to paint. And we're all going to learn something about ourselves as artists, and our own unique artistic process. More info and online registration here!

Plein Air Washington County, Take 1!

 "Plum Hill Barn"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

I just got back from a fabulous paintout! The Plein Air Washington County event happens every fall just outside of Portland, Oregon in an extremely scenic area chock full of rolling hills, gorgeous vineyards, and farms.  

With so much to choose from, it took me a while to settle down and pick a spot, but I finally did: a weathered white barn on the property of Plum Hill Vineyards.

  

I knew I wasn't going to need a lot of greens for this kind of landscape. Two reds, two yellows, two blues and a bonus purple. My kind of split-primary palette!

 And my secret weapon for all plein-air painting: Radiant Blue, by Gamblin. It makes gorgeous skies. The anonymous guy on the far right is Ultramarine blue, by the way.

I started with a notan sketch, in a mixed dark paint, just in my sketchbook. If you think you can't oil paint in your sketchbook, give it a try sometime! I can't say enough about how helpful these preliminary sketches are - so be forewarned: I will be saying more. Because there were two more days of painting after this one, which I'll save for future posts.

So now that I've covered the future, I'll bring up the past.  Here are my posts about the first and second time I did this paintout. And obviously, the third time's the charm: this painting was awarded an honorable mention by judge Eric Jacobsen - and I do indeed feel truly honored!

Beacon

 "Beacon"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

Yep, more with the white objects! And looking around the studio at what I've got in-progress, I can say with confidence that you still haven't seen the last of them. 

Here's how this one got started:

And here's how it really got started...just another random morning sketch:

For more sketchbook stuff, check out my new board on Pinterest. Daily sketches....here!

Figure Painting, Figure Drawing

 "Maya, Nude"

14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Here is my figure painting from Tuesday night - my first time painting this lovely model. She'll also be modelling for my Zorn Palette Portrait workshop, which begins tomorrow. I know the students will love her calm, serious face as much as I did.

This will be my second time teaching Zorn Palette at Oregon Art Supply. (Here's my post about September's session.) I'm hoping to do it again in January, and the workshop is limited to five students - so if you think you'd like to join me, call today to reserve a spot! 541-683-2787.

 In other news: my sketchbook got some action this week! (Must be a full moon or something). Here's a 20 minute drawing:

 

Spring Break Sketchbook Action

 

"Charles"

6 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$50 auction start - click to bid

It's spring break here in College Town, Oregon. Spring break has its good points: no traffic, no wait for a table in any restaurant anywhere at any time of day, no what-not-to-wear parade of tiny shorts and Uggs everywhere you look....but the bad points are more onerous. No preschool, no Art Center figure painting, and no babysitters, since they're all off somewhere drinking on a houseboat. Or whatever it is they do.

I did manage to find a place to get my fix last night - Emerald Art Center in Springfield. Since it's basically a drawing session, the poses are shorter, but as long as they let me in with my paints, I can deal! The below was done in about an hour, after some sketchbook action - which I share with you only because I trust you deeply. I'm just not a draw-er these days. Rusty doesn't begin to describe it.

 A 5 minute sketch, in pencil:

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And this morning, a quick pencil sketch of my precious studio assistant, Ellie. She's doing some art-book research for me. Or maybe just looking at the pictures.