Last week I wrote about studio artists in this blog post. Working from photos isn’t the only choice for a studio artist. Sometimes they set up still life things (Still lifes? Still lives? “Things” works for me.) Sometimes they work from sketches they made outside. Sometimes they paint people who sit still and try not […]
Some Studio Artists Paint from Photos
Did you know that some studio artists paint from photos? I paint from photos. They provide ideas, inspiration, visual guidance and instruction. I paint from photos that I take. Sometimes I adjust them on my computer. Sometimes I have other people shade my lens, hold branches out of the way or manipulate the scene […]
Thankful
Central California. Salvation. Life as an artist. A good husband. Perkins, my last cat. Family. Friends. Health. Safety. Knitting. My blog and blog readers. Color. Photography. Sunlight. Dark chocolate. Good books. THANKFUL!
Learning and Growing
My drawing students really impress me. They sign up for lessons, come for an hour a week, and produce wonderful pencil drawings. Most of them begin knowing nothing. They persist, they do the work, and they learn to draw. I show them the way, but they do the work and grow in their knowledge and […]
Bowlafruit Critique
Last week I showed you this watercolor painting by Jim, who asked me for a critique. This is what I told him: “Wow, you are a get-‘er-dun kind of guy! Love the title too. . . (I’m puzzling over what to call my painting of the same scene that isn’t too dumb, obvious and boring) […]
Bowlafruit
A man named Jim took drawing lessons from me. His real desire was to learn to paint with watercolor, but he is a very smart guy and knew he needed to hone his drawing skills first. After several private lessons (in which the student learns at an accelerated rate), he was off and running. Jim […]
Redwoods, Redwoods, Everywhere
I still have a very large commissioned oil painting of redwoods to complete. Redwoods are sequoia gigantea, not to be confused with California redwoods. We grew up calling them “the big trees”, and I had no clue what a privilege it was to live so close. (I might have been a bit of a twit.) […]
Why I Sometimes Don’t Answer the Phone While Painting
If you call my studio during work hours on a work day, often you will get the answering machine. You might be thinking, “That flaky artist doesn’t work much!” Au contraire! Sometimes I just can’t get to the phone. The phone is on the far left of the photo, atop the filing cabinet, and requires […]
September Eleventh
Remember.
What I Listen To While Painting
Being an artist at a private home studio can be a silent and solitary profession. Sometimes I embrace the solitude. (Ever notice how the word “embrace” gets overused these days??) Sometimes I trap the UPS driver into seeing my work and hearing about it, because I haven’t talked to a soul all day long. I’ve […]