Daily Paintings.

While Working on a Larger Canvas.

You saw the beginning of this painting last week.  Spending many hours in front of the easel I was able to paint in the boulders above the water and begin the under water portion.

As well as working on the big piece, I entertain myself with small daily paintings too.  Using small canvas boards I can work out composition and palette.   I make myself work quickly with minimal brush strokes, or maybe the use of an unusual color, or use of one brush only.  The painting shown above is 48" x 48", so it requires more time than the little daily works.

Daily Painting

The Back Side

5x7

This daily painting of Caught Rock is actually a boulder formation off the Crystal Bay Point at Lake Tahoe.  In the past I have painted it from the lake looking towards shore.

Daily Painting

The Back Side

3x3

 For these little paintings I am taking the view from shore out towards the lake, and it has become what I call, The Back Side of Caught Rock.  So while working on Slabs, the bigger painting, I am playing with a composition for my next larger painting.  

I was able to complete Slabs just this morning.  A new, blank 48x48 canvas is moving into the studio so Back Side can begin while I wait for four custom canvases to be constructed.  

Did I tell you the installation of the floral painting went so well the customers said, "FABULOUS!" and commissioned four more canvases?  Those are the custom canvases on order.  So for now I am painting Lake Tahoe Boulders, but soon I will be painting cacti and palms again.  

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Final Post About The Floral Painting

It is Complete

Weaver's Birds and Biscus

18 x 62

Signed, sealed and delivery scheduled to take place tomorrow.  I made a very few highlight corrections in the leaves and Bird of Paradise plumes before signing and coating with an acrylic varnish.  Putting on that varnish is always a bit terrifying.  Why?  After all the hours of painting and perfecting the painting I find that application of varnish is tricky.  It is far too easy to end up with bubbles, lint or hairs, and uneven surfacing in and with the varnish.  But all went well.  I think switching to Golden's Acrylic Satin Varnish has made a huge difference.  It is a high quality material and much easier to work with.

Between varnish coats I have been drawing compositions for a new painting as you can see in these pages from my sketch book..

...and I settled on the drawing located bottom left for my newest project.  I am focusing on Lake Tahoe Rocks and water, large slabs of granite seen above and below the surface of the lake.  This is a tight group of boulders with huge amounts of light calling for a completely different palette and large brush strokes which will be a departure from the more refined brush work used in the floral painting.

During last week I was able to progress part way into the work.  It's a good start.  

Last week was also the La Quinta Arts Festival, so I took time to  walk the festival and visit with some of my favorite exhibitors.  Take a look at the web sites for Shelley Evans http://www.spiritkeepers.com/ and Andrew Madvin http://www.axiomglass.com/  They are both talented creators working in different mediums, Shelley with fibers;  Andrew with glass.   Shelley creates incredibly detailed figures she refers to as Spirit Keepers.  They are rich in texture and expression.  Andrew's work is bold and colorful, made up of vessels, wall decoration, and my favorite cairns.  

It was a great week filled with art and more art.  This week promises more of the same with painting time, an artist's lecture, painting installation, and delivery of small canvases for 99 Bucks.  You remember that event from the past few years?  If not, stick around, check back, for I will be talking about it soon.

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Painting Completion

It is Almost Complete

This past week I began working on the blossom of the Bird of Paradise flowers which I refer to as the bird heads.  Using a slightly different hue of green, combined with Hansa Yellow and Buff Titanium the birds began to come to life.

To create additional depth in this painting, a couple of the bird heads peer over a petal of a hibiscus flower.

After the heads were added, it was time to paint the plumes which, as I mentioned last week, were designed to curl and twist even though the actual flower petals are more rigid in appearance.  This is in an effort to create fantasy and whimsy which is also created with the size and combination of these two very different flowers.

Due to the black under painting, the plumage needed more than one layer of pigment.  The photo above shows the first application.

After the third layer of pigment, using the Buff Titanium, Hansa yellow and Indo Orange Red which was blended and mixed on the canvas to create dimension, the plumes were done.  Raw Sienna and Violet were used to shadow.

After the birds on each side of the canvas came to life, it was time to step back, assess the progress and add shadows. This was accomplished with quick brush strokes of pale violet, used like a glaze.  A very thin application of the pigment.

The canvas has been moved off the easel so I can 'live' with it for a few days to decide if there are high lights or low lights to add.  The next step with be to sign the work, varnish, add the wire and identification on the stretcher bars on the back. Then it is off to its new home in La Quinta, CA.

I have already under painted another canvas to begin a new painting (48" x 48"), so check back to find out what the subject and composition will be.  In the next post I will share that information plus show you the completed Bird Of Paradise and Hibiscus painting.

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The Painting Process Continues....

A Week of Painting

has resulted in a good deal of progress.  I brought the same hues to the right side of the canvas that I had painted on the left side.

Working with bold strokes of the brush, the pigment was laid down and pushed around to create a blending of hues on the canvas resulting in the formation of the Bird of Paradise leaves.  The layering of the leaves was accomplished with inclusion of Pthalo Blue in those to the back and Buff Titanium White mixed in for those to the foreground.  

beginning the first layer of pigment on the hibiscus flowers.

Next I moved to the center of the canvas to begin layering pigment in the area that would become the hibiscus flowers. 

Hibiscus flowers with first layer of pigment.

Due to the black under painting the flowers required multiple layers of paint to take on the fleshy look I wanted.

Hibiscus flowers after second and third layer of pigment.

After the petals were near completion, the stamen and pistel were added.

This week the Birds will be painted and because I desire there be a whimsical feeling to this work, the plumes of the bird heads will bend, twist, and fold as if dancing.  Already, with the size difference between the two represented flowers there is a look of fantasy and/or whimsy...exactly what is needed with this painting!  

Check back next week to see read and see how I bring this painting to completion.

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The Process of Creating a New Painting

Showing The Process

The canvas is under painted with black gesso.

The composition is drawn on with pencil.

(I am not sure why, but some of the words in this post are high lighted in a color and double underlined.  It appears they link to advertisements I have not put into this post.  My apologies.  Please do not think I am leading you to these advertisements.  Preferably you should ignore them.)

 Many of you continue to ask me to show the process I go through when creating a painting. Last week you saw the blank canvas and sketches which were developed after completing a similar work and after spending time visiting the two different plants.  I find myself doing that, spending time looking at, thinking about, researching and sketching what ever it is I am going to use as subject matter.  In fact, when I am out on my bike or hiking or on the golf course, I find myself looking, looking, looking at everything around me, considering the shape, line, form, color of everything.  It's all part of my 'see where you are' philosophy.  And yes, that is the title of my book...See Where You Are.

In the case of the two flowers in the commission, hibiscus and bird of paradise, I can see them first hand and even bring some of them into my studio for sketching and inspiration because they grow in the yard where I am living for the winter.

Hibiscus petals and Bird of Paradise Flower.

After the composition is sketched onto the canvas the palette is selected.  Because I just completed a similar work, I will use the same palette.  These are acrylic paints, some from Liquitex, some from Dick Blick, some from Daniel Smith and some from Golden.  Typically my selection is limited to 5 or 6 hues, but for this work I have four greens, two blues, two reds, an orange, a yellow, three hues from the brown tones, and unbleached titanium white.  You can see I do some of my color mixing on the palette, but a great deal of it is accomplished directly on the canvas.

Palette for the painting.

I begin by painting in the background, which in this case is Phthalo Blue, Cobalt Blue and a bit of the Unbleached Titanium White.  It is my desire to have the deepest tone at the center of the canvas, lightening as the color spreads to the outer edges of the canvas.  

Next I lay in the veins of the leaves using most of the hues in the palette with emphasis on the use of the Cadmium Reds because I want the brightness and drama of red to appear in the painting.

Working from background forward, left to right, the leaves begin to take form.  All those greens, a bit of yellow, the Phthalo blue for shadow affect, and the Unbleached Titanium for high lights create the leaves.

After many hours at the easel this section of the painting has life, color and movement.  I will move to the right side of the canvas next to work in the leaves on that side.

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Floral Painting

Three Birds

Three Birds

Acrylic on Canvas

36" x 36"

3000.

Bird of Paradise and Hibiscus flowers flutter over this canvas.  It just came off my easel, so it's time to begin another painting, and a commission it is.  Another floral of birds and biscus, but this one is long and thin with horizontal format.  The palette will be similar, the composition quite different.  

I picked up the custom canvas about two weeks ago, so I have been staring at the blank whiteness of  20" x 62" wondering and planning the composition in my head.  Last night I started sketches and plan to place three hibiscus close to center with the birds flying around out to the sides.  

The selected sketch for composition.....more or less anyway.

Today I will under paint with black gesso and sketch the design on the canvas.  Then tomorrow I will begin to loose myself in the wonder of applying paint to brush to canvas.  These floral paintings are captivating for me with their stylized presentation just hinting at whimsy.  I hope you are enjoying them as well.

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Creating or Producing?

This is a Great Question!

If you are an artist, are you creating or are you Producing?

Last week I had the opportunity to see Yo Yo Ma perform.    Because he played typical classical as well as a few unusual pieces there were questions about what is expected from an artist.  On his web site, there is talk about how Yo Yo Ma is  multifaceted and searches for new ways to communicate with his audiences.  He has pushed himself in his search for artistic growth and renewal. These statements lead right into one of my on going discussions about how an artist needs to push, change and grow in order to continue to create rather than just produce. If an artist isn't experimenting, changing, and discovering are they truly creating?  If an artist is doing the same thing over and over and over again, are they producing and not creating?

Our galleries and buyers don't always want to see new and different work from an artist they represent and from whom they purchase. Sometimes we are stuck in a spot by others, which we may like, but what about the burning desire to try something new?  How do we handle that?

Four Cairns

A few weeks ago I reintroduced a fabulous piece of glass art into my home.  Having this work back in my environment inspired me to paint a couple rock cairns, which is part of my oeurve, those rock cairns.  

Glass Cairn

Artist:  Robert Madvin

While I was working on the first canvas I discovered my curiosity peaked by the negative space.  I completed the first painting focusing on color and movement.

I had a couple small canvases sitting in my studio so using the same palette and the same emphasis on movement I painted a couple cairns, or more precisely, I painted around what would be the rock cairns leaving the area that would have been the cairns a negative space.  

Some of you saw the use of negative space last week in the palm painting I posted and some of you reacted with very positive statements about that negative space.  By the time I received those comments I had painted in the space with a palm tree (that painting is currently on exhibit in the 15th Annual Palm Springs Juried Art Show at The Desert Art Center in Palm Springs).  I wonder if I might have considered leaving the negative space in that painting had I received those comments before moving forward with the work?  

What do you think?  Like Yo Yo Ma, should an artist push themselves to find new ways to communicate?  Is it too risky to seek artistic growth?  Is it only possible to create if you are  only moving forward with experimentation?  What do you think about creating vs. producing?

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