Children on the Beach

Here is the completed painting, On the Beach, 24 x 30 oil on canvas

You can see the earlier stages of this painting on the 1hundredpaintings blog

I worked from a photograph the children's mother took a number of years ago. Capturing the late afternoon/early evening light was my goal here. Of course being able to recognize the children is the foremost requirement. Nearly twenty years ago I was lucky enough to be able to study color theory (actually color practice, color theory usually falls apart when you start putting paint on the canvas) with an artist who studied with a student of Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, on of the greatest painters at capturing color and light. His work is well worth study.

Below are details from the painting.

Sunday Afternoon in the Park, Impressionism Revisited

Sunday in the Park. An afternoon concert in the open air. I have my easel and canvas set up amongst the crowd and am painting the people watching the show. This must be how the impressionists felt, outside painting people enjoying themselves.

There is a great leap from painting trees and flowers on location to tackling people. At this point look for a few clues to help you. People who seem settled in. If they have chairs, food and drink they probably will stay for a bit. Couples can give you nice interaction and if one leaves for a bit, the other will stay. At this time, I avoided painting people with children and pets. They can be gone in a flash, never to return.

I was able to paint this couple for most of first set until someone sat on a wall between them and me, blocking the view.

Below a painting looking out at the spectators. The trick is looking out at all those people and colors and think, how am I going to paint all that in the time available. A back lit subject kept my canvas in the shade. Hat brim pulled down, but still a lot of bright light. Sunglasses on as soon as I finished.

Sunday-Concert in the Park

4 x 6 Oil on Canvas

$100. shipping included

Painting Greens

It looks like the title to this post ends up inadvertently being a pun. Today I began the actually work, that is getting out on location and the putting paint to canvas, on a new project. Sort of an artist in residence at the North Ridge Country Club in Raleigh NC. The project is a series of paintings of views of the courses, some done on location and possibly some painted in the studio.

Here is the first study, the product of this afternoons work at Hole No. 8 on The Oaks Course.

Getting back to the pun, while mixing colors to paint the Pine Trees, the Oak Trees and the young newly planted trees. The grass of the fairway and the grass of the green, the grass in the foreground and the grass in the distance, I remembered one of our students at this past Saturday's workshop (Painting in the Rose Garden) asking me, just how do you get the greens in the landscape correct. Now there is an answer for him, go paint at a golf course. After a couple of months, you will have all the shades and tones of green, all the mixtures and colors figured out or you will have given up or gone mad.

You can see our classes here: ArtStudentAcademy.com

The Lorenz Grand and Stardust Ballroom

The Lorenz Grand (and Stardust Ballroom) is a home theatre in SC. Here is a step by step look at the creation of a Gold leaf and Mahogany sign for the lobby

First rough designs were drawn (no. 2 pencil and paper)

Getting closer to a design

After the drawing is done, a full scale pattern is made.

The sign blank, stained and varnished

The finished pattern is perforated.

A pattern is made for the scrolls

The perforated pattern is pounced onto the sign. (Powdered French Chalk in a bag is rubbed over the pattern to transfer the design)

The transfered pattern

Gold size is painted on.

The gold leaf will adhere to the gold size

All of the gold leaf areas are painted

The gold size has to reach the right degree of dryness before the gold leaf is applied

23kt Gold leaf is applied to the gold size

The sign with gold leaf

Gold leaf is engine turned

A clear varnish covers the gold to protect from scratching

The sign ready for outlining and shading

Black outlines and maroon shading and lettering finish the sign

Painting Aiken - Art Workshop April 16 and 17

Join me April 16 and 17 from 10-4 and step OUTSIDE with your oil paints and easel while I share with you mytechniques and tips for creating beautiful "plein air" paintings. For complete information and to sign up, visit http://www.aikencenterforthearts.org/. 803/641-9094

Creating a Painting

You can follow a painting as it is being created. I have been taking photos as I progress with this painting. The painting is an oil on canvas, 24 x 30. A bit larger than the 4 x 6 paintings you will find at the 1hundredpaintings blog.

So follow along and we will both see how this turns out.

The subject of the painting is a brother and sister at the beach. You can see that the canvas was toned, however instead of a red ground, it received a dull yellow color. The layout was roughed in with pencil and the painting begins.

First, painting some of the darks, then the white of the boy's shirt. This begins to show the range of values (the lights and darks) in the painting.

Some more shapes are roughed in...

The sky and the ocean are painted. More darks in the dune grass behind the boy and some shadows in the sand.

Of course, the photos are taken at irregular intervals, keep getting into the painting and forget about the camera. Maybe a timer....

Check back

Painting at the Vet School

Painting a pastoral scene on location often means a drive out in the country, but at the western end of Hillsborough St. in Raleigh is the NC State Vet school. Between the modern classrooms and laboratories and the I-440 Beltline is this bit of country life, barns and cows, green fields and trees.

So on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in October I drive into Raleigh to stand on the side of a six lane road and paint a rural landscape.

Here is a photo of my easel with the farm

And the finished painting.....

Barn at the Vet School

9 x 12 Oil on Canvas