Painting the Freeway

Been painting the desert in the area called Dreamy Draw...that bit of the 51 Freeway appealed to me the other day. I am getting the itch to paint some more freeways. This little bit of one edged its way into my desert scene.

Randy Higbee Gallery 6" Squared Exhibit

I just sent this little 6x6 inch painting off to the Randy Higbee Gallery's 6" Squared Exhibition. It had 1200 entrees so I am glad to have been in the accepted batch.

Bella Figura

One of my figure drawing group pals and I had a two person show celebrating the "Bella Figura" (beautiful figure). It was an Italian themed reception since Robert Roselli is an Italian chef as well as an artist. We had a delicious reception. The show was a group effort by my friends at the Arizona Artists Guild. Tess and Mark were especially hard working for our show. Josie encouraged Robert and I to have the show. It was a lot of fun to see the paintings of the figure I have done the past year or so all together. It was fun to celebrate with so many friends.

Haunted Art!

Here is a fun bit of news. I did a painting for a new show "Cursed" that will be on the Bio station. It airs starting October 4th. I am not sure when the painting will be on. My painting is in an episode with a haunted house. The painting mysteriously falls on someone and they end up being hurt! I haven't seen the show yet but here is the painting I did for it.

Painting City Skies

Been painting a bunch of big canvases all week of city skies. Here are two.

Figure Painting with a Touch of Collage

I added a little collage element to my figure painting session this week.

Dripping Paint

Tuesday I painted the model and had this olive greenish gray behind her. It was fairly true to what I saw but was not really adding to the painting. I've been doing a lot of abstracts lately and dripping paint on those a lot. I pulled out a nice loaded wet brush of a blue and let it drip..made the exact right change to that background color.

Painting Sara in a Hat

Glad to see Sara posing for us the other day. She put on a hat and scarf for us. It was fun trying to catch the shadow and light that fell on her face because of it.

Acrylic Sewing Pattern Painting

I have been doing lots of abstract collages using old sewing patterns as an element. I love their color and the lines, arrows and directions on them. They are thin and crumple like tissue adding texture. I decided to try using them in a landscape painting. This is the result.

Painting of Anthony

Here is a painting of a model named Anthony. I also posted a close up.

Painting a New Model

We had a model that I hadn't painted before. She was great! She has a shaved head which delighted all of us when we were doing the fast sketches. You would be surprised how complex the shape of the head really is. the long pose was very pensive and I had a lot of fun painting it.

Seascape

Did a couple of seascapes after a trip to the Sea of Cortez...

Steampunk Portrait

Well she did it again! Crystal showed up to model with this cool steampunk eye patch. It was a challenge to paint her portrait when part of her face was covered. She had her arm up on the high back of a chair so her hand pulling the drape is a bit awkward because of the extreme angle of her shoulder. It was a lot of fun painting her even with those issues. I just love it when she is on the schedule because you never know how she will show up.

Figure Paintings

Here are a couple of recent figure paintings. One girl turned tropical on me. Must be getting in the mood for the second annual Tastes of Hawaii luau at the studio on First Friday! The second one has two models who seem to be having some issues between them! She seems to be mad and he is sad...Both are acrylic on gessoed watercolor paper from live models.

Still Life Painting

OK Call me a wimp, but plein air painting when it is 112 degrees is just a bit much. So instead my pals and I stayed indoors and painted a still life. Lots of lessons can be learned when trying to capture the textures of the different objects, make a pleasing composition, keep the colors bright and the strokes fresh. Although you are not a slave to time like you are in the changing outdoors we did our work in three hours just like the plein air sessions. I think it helped to keep us moving and not fussy.This Tiki still life is 16x20 oil.

A Different Look

Here is a completely different look for one of our favorite models. She surprises us every time with a new look. What fun it is to paint her! We also had a new young man model in costume as well. It is a fun change from our usual nude models.

Painting at the Winery

I was with a group of friends and family at Granite Creek Winery today. It is a really neat place with lots of cute funky buildings and grapevines. We listened to Shelby James and the Crying Shames which includes my niece Jane Hilton on the violin. The huge trees shaded the tables as folks watched the band. I loved the big lanterns and lights strung overhead. I set up an easel and painted the day. It was a challenge to paint that much information, but I really wanted to paint those lanterns so I painted everything in that view. Painting the people was a fun challenge. I couldn't include everyone or all the details so I focused here and there to suggest the crowd. The owner of the winery ended up buying the painting so I guess I succeeded in catching some of the mood of the day.

Visiting an Old Painting

I was online checking hours at the North Mountain Visitors Center here in Phoenix when I saw an old friend. The city purchased a big painting of a saguaro for the center. It now is hanging behind the gift shop counter. I need to go visit it in person again one of these days.

Some Mixed Media Pieces

I have been playing with some mixed media pieces today...

Collages

I have been doing some collages lately. They are a ton of fun. They have often been the start of a painting for me. There is something therapeutic about playing with the juxtaposition of random images. They start to take on meanings in the subconscious. They can sometimes feel familiar, like from a dream, or another state.

Suggesting Not Telling Painting

Painting the model the other morning I was trying to just suggest, but not tell everything in the painting. I lost edges if things got too defined...When you add a hard edge it often flattens the image instead of letting the form turn. Also I really love when the brushstrokes seem to accidentally suggest the information. When they stay loose it is so much more fun.

Secret Comission Painting

When I was in the last City of Glendale plein air competition I painted a scene including this shop. There is a father and daughter who own it. They passed me as I was painting and the daughter contacted the city about the painting. The city had purchased it so it was not available. The daughter contacted me to paint one for her dad's 89th birthday as a surprise. I was delighted that she thought of this special gift to celebrate their partnership. Shhh it is a secret!

Playing It Safe

Out painting the other day the palo verdes were in bloom and a great spot was in the parking lot. The park manager thought we might need some cones just in case! We felt very "official"!

Empty handed

The other day we had two fantastic models. The painting I did is of only one because of my location in the room.She was holding the hand of the other model. I just suggested the hand and left it empty. I am wondering if I should put something in her hand or maybe coming out of it. What do you think? Any suggestions what it could be?

Painting Cleopatra

We had one of our favorite models the other day. She had this golden head band and flowers along with a golden cape. We called her Cleopatra. What fun is was to paint her especially when Bolero played on the classical station! I added the patterns in the background...another acrylic on gessoed paper.

Chasing the Clouds

A few weeks ago the sky was full of fast moving clouds. There had been a big storm passing through the day before and it was breaking up. What a glorious morning! What a crazy painting experience! Every few minutes different areas would light up and then go back into shade. It was quite a trick to keep up with while painting. You would have to look quickly when the proper parts would be light or dark. It was a lot of fun.

Painting a Suggestion

Today I was happy with my painting because I did not overwork it. I thought I was successful at suggesting the model instead of telling too much. I like some of the accidental colors and textures that occurred.

Figure Paintings

Here are several figure paintings that I haven't posted . Each one is started with a gesso coated watercolor paper. Then I use acrylic paint in a random fashion for my first layer...next I begin to work from the model. I try to use the layers of color that came first to help with the image. The first painting is of a favorite model who has this crazy cool tattoo down her back. Next was actually a really skinny long haired guy..I thought the painting was better as a girl. Finally this painting of the lady with the shawl has some fun colors. Although her face is sort of strange I like it that way. I can't begin to say what a delightful group I work with from the model. Each person is doing their own style, working on their own challenges. We have coffee and snacks and classical music. We have an amazing group of models that pose for us. Wonderful mornings!

Abstracts for a Change

Last weekend was "Art Detour Weekend" in Phoenix. We had the studio open all day Saturday and Sunday and enjoyed a steady stream of visitors. I worked on some abstract acrylics while hanging out downtown. One was started by working over the Deep Fried Challenge painting...I really didn't think I wanted chicken legs in a hot skillet hung on the wall. I keep the bubbles of hot oil though!! The second painting was started on a blank canvas. I like it pretty well. I had a start on a couple of others too.

Desert Flowers for Painting!

There were flowers blooming the last couple of painting sessions in the desert. We have had very little rain so the poppies, lupine, etc. aren't really making a showing. Brittle brush is so reliable though! Beautiful daisy like blooms on these bushes really are sweet. It was a really steep area where this was painted. The trick was not to roll down the hill when standing back from the painting!

More Paintings of Sara

We love our model Sara at my life drawing group. She is a really great model. When she does her short poses she thinks about everything down to the position of her fingers and toes. I have been concentrating on these acrylic layered paintings during the long pose day. I did these the last two times we had her. I layer up some colors and then start actually painting from the model. It is fun to discover the colors that are underneath as I scrub out the light areas...more layers, light and dark...what a wonderful way to spend the morning!