Stop Fast Slow Exhibit

The Closing Reception for Stop Fast Slow is October 10th from 4-6 at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library Gallery. I have 6 street or freeway paintings in the show including this poster.

Painting the Live Model

Recent 2 hour acrylic paintings of live models.

Painting a Favorite Model

A favorite model has returned to the delight of my life drawing group. She thought she would move to New York City but after 6 months or so she is back here in Arizona. We are so happy to have her back. The model is such an important partner in the creative process. The ability to think about how the pose will appear for the artists is a wonderful asset. Painting from a model is a process of really examining the person and perceiving their energy. A good model can make all the difference in the work.

Non Habitat Painting

Well I got a bit depressing in this latest painting. I wanted to show how the current state of modern man's use of resources making the habitat of animals less and less sustainable. We proceed in the quest of our wants to the detriment of the needs of the animals on our planet. This fawn has no natural habitat in the rather dreary future vision here. In fact the trees are lifeless with leaves just drawn from memory. The bird and the bee are also present only on paper.

Deer acrylic 30x40"

Painting my Boston Terriers

Sophie 2x2 ft. acrylic

Kelli With a Pearl Earring 16x20" acrylic

I spent the last couple of days painting my two Boston Terriers. They have completely different treatments in the paintings. Kelli is much more serious so the "Dutch Master" approach seemed about right. She loves to play, but is also down to business...fetching the ball, barking out the window, watching the birds. Sophie is a little funny sweetheart who is shown as I see her...ready to plant a big kiss (or ten) on my lips.She is a silly girl who loves to play in the hose water and tells time to the exact second when it is time to eat. She is enthusiastic about everything. She needed a loose painterly effect to capture her excitement. Because I know this dogs so well I was able to paint each of them in their own unique way and really say something true to who they are.

Still Life Workshop

I participated in a workshop focusing on still life with Qiang Huang about a week ago. He is not only an artist but also a scientist which made him very sequential and analytical in his approach to painting. His results are painterly and lovely, but his process and thoughtfulness were quite precise. We did a rather traditional approach with a monochromatic underpainting and then the traditional lean to thick application of our oil paint. It was a fun four days. All of the students had their own still life set ups to work from. Qiang made observations and suggestions but never painted on our work, which can be an issue at times. He did some nice demo paintings. These are the paintings I completed. They are all 11x14 on stretched canvas, except the White Rose which is on an 8x10 gessoed board.

Painting the street

Finished this 24x24inch acrylic painting of a downtown street. I tried to keep as loose as possible on it...The yellow sky just seemed like the right color even though it was blue...

Painting the figure

Today painting the model was fun. It was one of those foreshortened poses. The arms and legs were tricky. I enjoyed some of my paint application. This is acrylic on gessoed paper.

Model with Flower

 

 

15x20 acrylic

This week's painting was a bit of a rush as I had to get to my Book Club lunch! Pity to have to go have fun, but someone has to. Anyway, one of our favorite models with a flower in her hair was the subject. The background is rather light and thin compared to some of my paintings from the model. I liked the fresher effect.

Reclining Figure Painting

Here's a recent acrylic painting of the model. I think those red brush strokes added at the end are my favorite part.

Painting at Dusk

This 24x48" Acrylic is of Camelback Mountain at dusk as seen from the freeway. It was challenging to depict the time of day which is when a bit of light is still in the sky, but lights are coming on. I had to try to keep it indistinct the way our eyes don't work in the evening, but yet add enough information. I used a painting knife for the second layer after the underpainting. I used color that I felt more than saw like that crazy green sky.

Wind Up Toy Painting

This little 12x12" acrylic is of an old wind up toy frog. It is marked that it is made in USA Occupied Germany so just after WWII no doubt. I had fun painting it. We had over a dozen wind up toys in a cardboard box that we kids played with. I am a frog lover so I hung on to this one. I sure would like to know where all the rest are!

New Freeway Painting

This morning I finished up this 40x40" acrylic of the freeway overpass. I drive this frontage road frequently and love the light hitting the structure. I challenged myself to have a pretty minimal composition. The emphasis on the overpass was what I hoped to focus on. The less you have in the piece, the more you have to create interest without relying on the details provided by the subject. Color, contrasts and paint application instead. I used painter's tape here and there, but really am not trying to make precision a part of the work...the impression is what I am after...I start really loose with the painting rather than a careful drawing.

BIG Freeway Painting

60x48"acrylic

This large freeway was fun to paint..I was attracted to that cast shadow. I got the stretcher bars from a yard sale with one of those cheesy decor paintings on it. I stretched a new canvas and really had fun working this large for the first time in many years. I used to love to do large abstract paintings that would take over your whole field of vision. This was not the same since I did have a subject, but I did enjoy playing with paint on a large surface.

Glendale City Arts Council Show

Where did this year go? I guess my facebook posting took over for a while and haven't caught up here. I enjoy reading the long and well thought out blogs of so many artists that I must support this medium! Please forgive me dear Blogspot! Lots has happened so far: I participated in the City of Glendale (AZ) Fine Arts Council exhibit. It was the 50th year they have been at it. You can certainly tell by the smooth and efficient way this show is run. The entry prospectus is very easy to use and contains all the labels to attach, the cards for acceptance notification and the details about the show. Everyone delivers the work and they hang it all for a showing. Then the declined work is picked up and the show continues until the ending reception. This is such an encouraging way to run the show where all have a chance to exhibit. A few years ago I talked an artist into entering. He was new to Arizona and was disappointed that his work did not get in. We joked about the thick skin it takes to be an artist. Later he called to say his work sold anyway! What a nice end to that tale.

This year I was delighted that my biggest entry sold for a good price. Yippee! It is the 30x40 acrylic "Salt River" that was featured in Art Collector magazine.