This painting is So Difficult. I continue to engage in mental and artist gymnastics in hopes of making it good enough to sign. This is where I last left you, in the saga of Can I Actually Finish This? I found a painting by Bierstadt that had light and clouds and mountains in the distance; […]
Drawing in Pencil for the Joy of It
A few months ago I started this pencil drawing, simply for the joy of drawing (and to prove to my drawing students that I can draw). I worked from photos that I took in Mineral King last fall. The light, Audra’s hat, the lack of dealing with a face or an actual complete horse all […]
Six Reasons I Loved Painting This Rose
The rose painting went to Kaweah Arts for the final hurrah before they close (reopening in March). This meant that I didn’t give it a clever name, just slapped it with “Rose”. I loved painting this because:
Figuring Out a Painting Challenge
This painting has been in a bit of a time-out. I was a little bit stuck in the messy middle. There are too many instructors in my head, telling me things like “loosen up” and “stop drawing with your paintbrush”. After studying it a bit, I remembered who is the boss. The Central California artist […]
A Nameless Rose Painting in Seven Steps
Step one: Slap some paint in the approximately correct colors in the approximately correct shapes and sizes on a 6×6 canvas: Outline, background, interior parts. Step two: Detail the background but not too carefully because the rose is the star here. Just hint around at leafy shapes, using darks and darkers to suggest lots of […]
Variety on the Easels
Remember this? I worked on all manner of small things. Here is the progression. The final one is too small for you to see my signature, indicating completion. Next, I added a bit more color to my yarn painting. Ooo-eee, the colors are SO WRONG on the screen! Guess you’ll have to wait until I […]
Progress On My Favorite Subject
For the past few years, my favorite subject to paint is orange groves with hills and mountains.I’ve had a large (for me) painting in progress in a time-out for awhile. In that bonus week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I worked on it. First, I photographed it, studied it on my laptop screen, and […]
Victory Tomatoes
My drawing of tomatoes is completed. Carrie Lewis asked for a paragraph of 100 words or less to accompany the drawing. Here is what I submitted. Gardening feels like a war. We planted many tomatoes in an enclosed area, protected underneath from gophers, on all sides from deer, and over the top from birds*. We […]
Suddenly Felt Like Drawing
If you receive this in your email and want to see the photos, click on the title. My friend Carrie Lewis is fully immersed in colored pencil. At the end of December, she put out a call to artists for their best colored pencil work from 2023. I realized that I had done none all […]
Hopeful Beginning and Messy Middle
If you receive this in your email and want to see the photos, click on the title. When I begin a new painting, there is a sense of “oh boy, this is going to be great!” When I am in the middle of a painting that doesn’t seem to be improving, I encourage myself that […]