Artist Studio
In today’s blog , I am going to be demonstrating a tonalist painting, that being a painting of close values, soft edges, few details and nature in subject matter. That is a totally simplified definition but it will do for the time being. I like to paint from memory with just an idea or impression that I am looking to convey.
I have been very busy with my painting and teaching, even though the Covid era, I have been teaching via email lessons. These lessons have been really exciting for those persons trapped inside their houses and without the ability to travel. This has been great for me and from their paintings I say it has been satisfying for them too. Today, I am going to post a few paintings from the last couple months and then next week I will start with posts that focus on the design fundamentals of making better paintings.
This painting was a demonstration for one of my watercolor classes. I kept the background really cool and nondescript and used a large flat brush to apply the cerulean blue and cobalt violet background. I used a really small rigger brush to paint everything else. I used the rigger every way I could think of trying explain that the use of different tools creates more opportunities for unique solutions. This light is captured with the bright foreground and dark cast shadow. Try a different brush and make your paintings more expressive.
This painting and poem is based on a morning in the Kalahari Desert, when the sun was extremely bright and the temperatures were quickly rising. We were headed to Deception Valley and I just felt an unbelievable attachment to the land and all those who had walked this ground for as long as we have been on the planet.
This painting is slightly spooky, I painted the trees as just a dark transparent value and cut around the expressive tree shapes and lines with a golden opaque color with a blue glaze. The prose poem is an homage to Poe and Irving and brings us into the Halloween season. Edge of darkness falls Malevolent
Continue Reading ““On The Edge Of Darkness” Oil Demonstration”
My new Series is going to be “America the Beautiful” and it will explore the richness of the American natural landscape. I am very excited about it and plan to really explore color, shape and form. I will post pieces from time to time but this the first painting in the series it is a 30 x 40 Acrylic on canvas, and I am try to evoke the feeling of plowed fields and farm land.
I am pretty excited about several new series I have started in the last few days. This first is based on the Africa landscape or just the color forms of this wonderful and dramatic part of the world. At this point, I am emphasizing the dry desert as it comes close to the Okavanga Delta. The crisscrossing lines of animal tracks as they move between watering spots and vegetation. I have a feeling that I might pursue this to a major series of 20- 30 works. We’ll see.