Mother's Day

meant2be events: {blessed2be} mother's day party My daughter Regina made a design story board based on one of my paintings. She is a wedding planner extraordinaire and creates events that are stunningly beautiful. She started her business Meant 2 Be Events from scratch and has become one of Phoenix's top planners. I am a proud mom!

Degas Compositions

Today I was at the horse race track taking some reference pictures. My digital camera like many others has a delay before the photo is taken. I noticed this again and again as I took the pictures of the horses being ridden and led. I quickly realized I was ending up with cropped compositions much like the ones drawn and painted by Degas. It was a bit comforting to think of them and not get so frustrated that the photos weren't always exactly what I planned. A horse heading into the shot, or out of it, cropped off dramatically, even by accident maybe just what was needed.

Painting the Desert in May

Painting the desert this May morning was spectacular! The Palo Verde trees were in bloom this week and lots of yellow was in nature's palate today. Be sure to click on the pictures to see them bigger. I was pretty happy with the loose foreground bushes today. Yes that cactus was leaning in towards the other saguaros. They usually grow pretty straight, but once in a while they lean to the side a bit. Because of some breezes it was not too warm this morning so I had a spot in the sun. It had some nice Palo Verde (Arizona's state tree) and saguaros (their blossom is our state flower)in the view. I did my usual routine of one main painting (11x14) and then a smaller quick study (8x10). The quick one needs some more darks in the tree on the left, but I will touch it up later. I am also posting my second one from last week. You maybe able to see that the trees weren't blooming as much yet. What a gorgeous day today was! Hope the temperatures hold for a while longer!

Reflections on the Workshop

One of my fellow students, Shirley Fachilla, at the Carolyn Anderson workshop wrote a blog that really captures the experience. I recommend her comments to you at her blog http://sometimesapainting.blogspot.com. In the attached image from a demo you can see how Carolyn uses just enough information for you to see the image. I was very impressed with the gesture of her brush strokes. She was masterful in her use of the brush to attain real variety in her paint application. Wonderful!

Desert Painting Morning

Here is the result of desert painting this morning. It was one of the prettiest days yet. We had a nice shady area to work in and the birds were all busy. A baby cactus wren was chasing its mom all over making her feed it. It was nagging her like crazy..."Mom, Mom, Mom..." The palo verde trees were starting to bloom and some of the cactus were showing blossoms as well. I was happy that I pushed the mountains back into the distance pretty well.

Painting Workshop

Well it has been a great week at the painting workshop with Carolyn Anderson. She is an awesome teacher who has really helped all of us amp up our paintings. We have lots to digest and somehow incorporate into our work. The class includes artists from all over including some from Canada, Michigan, California, Maine...even a couple of us from here in Arizona! Most of our work has been from live models with the exception of half of today working from photos. Looking at Zorn, Sargeant and Fechin I think I am leaning to be aware of edges more than ever.

Cholla Cactus

This Monday it was a bit of a disappointment. There were a few blooming cacti but for the most part less flowers than the week before. I had been anticipating a real color display, but the blooms were about done on the brittle brush and not much took its place. I ended up painting a view with lots of cholla cactus. It was a bit of a challenge to paint them. Parts of this painting were ok, but overall it seemed like I was fighting those stickery characters!I am attaching a photo that shows them as well as my painting.