I’ve had about a half-dozen painting sessions with The News. The 44″ x 60″ painting is mid-flight. I estimate there will at least that many more sessions before it’s finished. Large-sized paintings with just a few figures enable me to really work the figures. A lot of my paintings recently, even the large ones, have small-scale…
I finished this small painting this morning. It’s another in the series of my young children posing outside with a white lawn chair. I think this is the 3rd or 4th in this series. I have another small one in-hand. I’m thinking about doing this painting in a larger format, say 36″ x 48.”
I finally got this small painting–21″ x 30″–to a good place. This morning’s session was the 9th. I wanted to do a full figure in a small format, and I wanted to paint green. Are those enough reasons to make a painting? I titled it Black River because the subject (my daughter, Jane) is proudly holding…
My homemade palette is prominent in this photo. I painted the cardboard back of a cheap, framed print a neutral brown. The glass is very easy to clean, and the size is just right. The palette has my usual assortment of colors and pre-mixed tones. The cart (one of two I have) that the palette…
One of my pet peeves is subpar or crappy material marketed to artists at boutique prices. I will swallow hard and pay premium prices for premium material, but too often I end up paying top-dollar for unusable junk. The art supply market is chockablock will hucksters, con artists, and amateurs. Many producers simply do not know…
I spent the past the several days drawing. Yesterday I started drawing on 2 new canvases: Euclid Avenue (48″ x 60″), and Sunday (42″ x 56″). The day before, I started the 40″ x 50″ Girl in Purple Boots. This furious drawing is, in part, the result of a screw-up. Several days back I started another 42″ x 56″ canvas called Watch. But it was a struggle. The surface wasn’t right–it wasn’t coming together. The next day, hoping that a fresh start would rectify things, was just as bad. Then it dawned on me: I selected the wrong-sized canvas. I was unsuccessfully trying to shoehorn my worked-out design into the wrong size and scale. No wonder it wasn’t coming together. The design was intended for a 48″ x 60″ canvas. Duh.
I played with redesigning it but didn’t like the results. So I wiped off the drawing and put another ground on the canvas–I didn’t like the surface anyway. Although I really like the design for Watch, I decided to put it aside for awhile, and used the larger canvas for Euclid Avenue instead. I am putting the finishing touches on several other 48″ x 60″ canvases today and Watch will have to wait until those surfaces are ready.
This is the first ‘In the studio’ update from the new studio. The Picnic has been thoroughly roughed-in and the over-painting is underway. The dark tones will be pushed next. The folding chairs in the foreground will be very dark. This photo shows two of the three easels (the third is smaller). I worked on…
Fall ended abruptly with light snow and bitter cold. Today’s high is 19. Here’s the new shed seen from the studio door–the old studio door. This shed enabled me to convert the garage into a studio. The old studio might look cluttered in this photo but it’s nearly emptied of paintings, canvases, and supplies. I…