Saturday, January 30, 2010

Still tweaking with glazes...


I'm still experimenting with some tonalism glazing and I have a long journey ahead of me before I can call them finished...assuming I can get them there.

Meanwhile, I've found a new home in Wisconsin for my apple portrait, "Close-up". Thank you to Melissa, a new collector.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Cool Shadow

6"x6", oil on panel


While I'm waiting for my glazing to dry on my other paintings I thought I'd try doing a little Maine landscape. I tried to emphasize the cool shadows of the middle ground versus the warmer background and foreground.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Back from exhibit...


Destined for Pie
18x18inch, oil on canvas
framed in a clear maple floater frame with black interior
click here to purchase

This painting of mine was on exhibit for a few months at a local fortune 500 company and I just picked it back up yesterday, glad to have it back. I know the values are off, but there's just something I really like about it, maybe the red/green combination? The cropped composition? Well, back into my online shop it goes...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

First pass on glazing underpainting











Here's my first pass on glazing one of my underpaintings. In this process, it's important to have a mood that you're aiming for. I'm not sure if this is the mood or feel I'm shooting for, as long as it doesn't come across as cranky and frustrated I'll be happy.

To answer Holly's question, oiling out is the process of adding a thin layer of drying oil or medium to the surface of your painting to bring any matte surfaces back to their true color and value. The operative word, as I found out the hard way, is THIN! I applied approximately a bucket's worth and couldn't figure out why it wasn't dry days later...duh!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Back to all prima....

This Way
6" x 6", oil on panel
$105
Click here to purchase


I've oiled out my underpaintings and now have to wait for them to dry before I begin the glazing so I thought I'd work on a quick landscape, using a reference photo that I took last summer at the state park beach on Vinalhaven, Maine.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Yep, another underpainting

12" x 9"

I thought I'd add a island scene from Maine to my Tonalism experiment...

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Another Underpainting

10" x 8"


Here's one more landscape underpainting for my tonalism workshop. One or two more and then we get going on the glazing....

Monday, January 11, 2010

Similar Underpainting


8"x24"
Here's another underpainting for my current workshop. I'm trying to keep the values on the light side since it should darken up as the layers of glazing are applied. I need to crank out many more so I can try using an array of different transparent colors and see what sort of effects happen.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Underpainting

6"x12"









Here's an underpainting I'm working on for my Deborah Paris Tonalism workshop. I'll need to let this dry before applying multiple translucent layers. This slow methodical approach is killing me....no pain, no gain, right?

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Tonalism

I've been busy reading and sketching for a virtual workshop that I'm taking with tonalist painter Deborah Paris. This is an entirely different process than the direct, alla prima method I'm used to. Tonalism involves using lots of glazing, using similar values and if all goes well, arriving with a sublime end result. Deborah's starting advice is to create many thumbnail sketches of your subject in order to arrive with a composition that works, because if it doesn't work small it will never work large, good advice! Time to sharpen up the pencils and crank out some more sketches....