On my easel today, another cow. 

Here you see my underpainting that is a mixture of Transparent Oxide Red and Liquin. I slosh it on, then wipe it around until it looks like something. After it dries, I will start laying in the color.

I might title this one, “Get Serious in 2020”

He is quite stern compared to my last cow. 

Stay tuned for phase two

Looking Back on the Year, continued

One of my favorite workshops this year was with Terry Miura in Arcata, CA. Yeah, we did cityscapes in July, in the middle of a gorgeous redwood forest. 

The road up to the workshop/studio. Wish we had a four wheel drive for this one!

What a fabulous studio/workshop to have for any kind of art. Thank you, Claudia Lima!

Terry demonstrating the value of doing a value sketch before starting a painting.
Valuable information!

We all agreed that the one on the right was more pleasing even though the ground plane is a little darker than the reference photo. Don't be a slave to your photo, Terry sez. 

Second day of workshop, Terry did another value demo, this time using secret brown, yellow ochre and white
The finished painting was scooped up by one of the artists at the workshop--lucky duck!

Fun times, good memories, learned a lot!

Learning about Still Life painting with Philippe Gandiol

I was lucky enough to score the last opening in Philippe's workshop a few weeks ago and loved every crazy minute of it! His teaching technique was straightforward and inspiring. We started by watching him paint a demo, which he did masterfully but took the time to explain everything he did step-by-step. Next, we were able to choose a still life set up and were given some time to work, but not too much time. I appreciate having a deadline, which keeps me from overthinking and overpainting.

If you get the chance, go see his show at the John Natsoulas gallery in Davis. His cityscapes are breathtaking.

Philippe Gandiol painting a skull still life demo at his recent workshop, held at the fabulous Terry Miura Studio.

Here is the set up on the second day of the workshop. It was very challenging to decide on a focal point and eliminate any distracting elements. Simplify!

My finished painting, titled Sunflower Morning. I am proud that I was able to render the clear vase, not easy to do, I found. Notice how the persimmon has morphed into an apricot! 

Fun in the studio

Looking back at 2019: what a great year it was  

April come she will

Just to mix it up a little and have some fun, daughter Allison and I messed around with drip paintings courtesy of a Bob Burridge and his clever drip technique. Follow the link below to watch his You Tube video and play along! When I say messed around, I mean really messed. I dripped paint everywhere on the garage floor, oops. But as you can see, we made some pretty pictures. 

Bob Blast Drip Paintings