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 oil painting is about walking on the beach in St Augustine right after my father died a few years back. A storm had just past over and I was taken by the strong golden light coming through the clouds and the light reflected on the water. I wanted the painting to be simple and
I painted this painting as a demonstration for my class in Rockland, Maine and I think the demonstration was effective in explaining how to get the basic values and shapes established within about an hour. This amount of time should give you pretty consistent light unless you are painting right around noon and the sun
This painting and poem are about a day spent painting during the winter a few years back. I painted in absolutely cold weather in watercolor with vodka put in the water to keep it from freezing. The painting was not fabulous but I learned a lot as I always do outdoors. I painted this oil
This sunset painting was a demonstration for one of my classes. I was trying to explain the concept of value control and how value affects color. If the color is wrong most times its the value that is off. Analyze the values in the major shapes and keep relating those values to the ones that
This painting is about a wonderful farm that I passed for years on my way to teach and was just recently sold to developers. I made up this story and poem to express my feelings about the farm, the painting and the state of life. Today on the county steps, another farmer’s shattered dream. He
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”
We drove out onto the Tai Pan very early just as the sun came up. In an open Land Cruiser, the morning chill was heightened by the wind blowing back through the open window. The world was surreal, dreamlike, and was cloaked in mystery and romance. We were looking for the Kalahari’s Black Mane Lion. Driving down the dirt path we came to a field where everything was covered in beautiful delicate spider webs
This painting is just an impression, of one of those moments that exist for just a fraction of time. The brilliance of the sunset in the desert is so spectacular it can be a cliche if handled too sweetly. I tried to get the values right and to emphasize the concept that it is all
Here is another revisit of one of my paintings an oil painting of Botswana. I have written a poem about it that reflects my feeling of the change that happens when a weather front comes through. The painting is a very direct piece that I did in on short session, my goal to just capture the energy of the weather and the beautiful light.
The weather changed and it was quite spectacular. Blue skies, wispy clouds, light and shadow it was the perfect day to end the workshop. I hope you have enjoyed my blog the last 2 weeks and maybe you will consider joining me next year the first 2 weeks in September. Painting with friends is always
Continue Reading “In The Studio: The last Day at Rockport, 2016”