Son, 11 x 14"

Well, you've met the kitties. This is my son, Stefan, proud owner of Fred and Jacques. Working from a photo, which I haven't often done, I found it easier to focus on other aspects of painting. The drawing stage is easy since Stefan didn't move a bit! The fact that it's already two dimensional made it easier to see the colors and values of the photo, too, I suspect. I started this painting in Cameron's class and once again, was so excited, I couldn't wait to work on it at home. I stayed up late and nearly finished it and then tweaked it once or twice after that. I'm glad I captured Stefan in his teens. Now I need to do another painting of my older son, Marc, using what I've learned. Hopefully Marc will pose for me again...live. (I do prefer that!)

In between, I've experimented on my smaller paintings using Liquin and then no medium, thin, thick, fluid and not. Eventually I'd like to combine techniques. So much to learn and sometimes it feels like there's so little time! Having fun, though. Thanks for visiting!

Kitties! Meet Fred and Jacques, 6x8"

Over the last few months, our younger son has been begging and then showing his maturity and readiness to care for his/our new family members: Fred and Jacques. The brothers put smiles on our faces with their antics. Although I'm helping Stefan out a little with the cat chores, he's doing a really good job! For this commissioned portrait, Stefan has asked me to work a little bit more on their eyes.

After Degas—Portrait of a Young Woman

 

Every once in awhile I love to copy a master painting. From exercises like this I can learn so much: color mixing, painting techniques that are new to me, composition, and even drawing skills. Because I initially had such difficulty with the painting, I stopped and drew her first.

After Sargent, Carmela Bertagna, 11" x 14"

I thought I'd catch you up with other work I've been doing. I'm taking a class with Cameron Bennett, concentrating on portraits. Use of any medium is not allowed where the class is held, so we do without it. What an experience! I actually enjoyed it. I was so excited that I couldn't wait to work on it once I returned home (at 9 pm). I forgot that I tried painting without medium once before, but it didn't feel comfortable to me then. I loved the ease of sketching lightly with paint to start and then building up the paint, making it thicker. This photo was taken in north light (the canvas looks very cool); I used my cell phone, since I had no camera handy!

Three Tulips, 6x8"

I learned a lot from this one, and with more reflection, (in my head, not on the vase), I think I'll understand more. Down time is so important for looking at your work, understanding what you've learned, and what you need to improve. I'm very happy with the vase and wonder if parts of the main flower need to be darker or lighter. Sarajean rightly pointed out that the cast shadow of the vase should be darker. It was—at one point in the painting process! Why did I change it? I don't know. I wasn't careful with my value families! I definitely need to fix that. So, I'm about to give myself a little time to look, learn, and regroup. I'll be back—so see you soon!

Value Study, The Youngster. 5x7"

I painted this after "The Lady". I was careful to use the five-value scale and took some liberties in blending some of the paint. Guess what? The shadow on the shelf needs to be darker! Notice, the light side of the brown egg is the same value. Paint and learn! So is part of the shadow on the wall. Perhaps my five-value scale didn't offer enough values? I will tweak this though, and see what happens. Right now the candlestick looks like it's floating. Can't have that!

Values, poster study—The Lady, 6x8"

Here's an exercise I did with Sarajean. We mixed our values carefully and applied the paint in an organized way so we could see and understand the effect.

In case you haven't figured out what you're looking at (color here would help), I'm sure you must see what I do: it's a Lady, dressed ever so elegantly. (Okay, it's an ice cream dish overturned, with a clementine sitting on top—it's bottom.)