Sassy Pig, sold.

*sold*
Sassy is a South American terracotta piggy. She's wearing lipstick.

Tiny Elephant

This tiny wooden elephant sits on our kitchen windowsill, guarding the tea canister. When we were first married, my husband went on a round-the-world cruise on the USS Carl Vinson and brought home treasures from everywhere. I'll be painting tiny portraits of some of them in the months ahead, as they are perfect subjects for daily paintings.

This is a 5x7.

Mr Shorb and Calvin Klein

I shot several pictures of this little 6x6 and they are all totally glare-smacked. It's too dark to reshoot so I'll give you an apology to go with your painting today.

This is Mr Shorb in a CK tie. Mr Shorb was our model this week and this painting was mainly about reflected light.

The light side is pretty bleached out. The shadow side, while still white, is just about the same color-value as the background drape.

When painting, the artist brings knowledge to the task but should allow observation to make the final decisions. When what you see doesn't match what you know, trust what you see.

Before I Fly

Before I fly off to other projects, I need to post a further working of the Stolen Beauty. Still a sketch but a little less sketchy. I do like to come back to unfinished paintings, with fresh eyes and ideas. I'm trying not to do that with sketches so much, though, as it defeats the purpose.

Stolen Beauty

This angel sketch is a demo, teaching how to quickly and accurately sketch out and block in a design, and also a lesson in light and shadow.

As always, as soon as I see the blog post, I want to make corrections to the painting, but it serves the original purpose adequately enough.

I called it Stolen Beauty because the demo was done from a calendar, so it's from someone else's photograph and therefore copyrighted. I can't use it for anything except a demonstration, but that's all I wanted it for so it's a crime without a victim.

I have been employed, since my return, with expanding my studio space and, while I'm thrilled with that job, I am missing the blogosphere and my peeps. I keep thinking that things will slow down but I'm beginning to think that that will require applying the brakes.

Over Shoulder Painting

I am just getting back from a wonderful week of painting with my husband. We camped in New Mexico and made daily trips up into Colorado to paint and this was our first day. I was painting a waterfall that was in front of me while the yawning vista beckoned from behind. Also from behind was a wicked storm that struck while I was working. For a bit, my husband was holding an umbrella over me while I painted but when it started to lightning, we packed it in.

My trusty Mini took us everywhere. The star on her antenna was lost, after being her trademark for over 5 years. Either hail or thievery took it, alas. And yes, I'm wearing exactly the same clothes that I was wearing in the last entry in London. I pack light but I can't get in some places.

John and Julian

I just got back from London; this is the summer of dreams-come-true. I got to visit the studio of my very best hero, John Singer Sargent, which is presently occupied by a wonderful painter named Julian.

I was also able to see (twice!) the John William Waterhouse show at the Royal Academy. He was a very early hero of mine and the show was truly wonderful.

I don't bring my laptop with me when I travel, nor do I have a fancy phone, so when I'm gone, no blogging. I do have some paintings to show you soon, though.

This is a self-portrait of me outside of Sargent's studio: very, very happy.

The Patriot

This is a morning painting of the Patriot. It was hard to paint because it drifted quite a bit, so sometimes the boat on the canvas looked twisted. This was another one that was "fixed" after I got my arm back, in the studio.

Like the Warrior, this boat was being refurbished after a mauling by Ike. I debated whether to include the blue tarps but in the end, they worked with the composition.

When the Warrior and the Patriot were drying side by side, it looked like the Patriot was pulling the Warrior along on a leash as their respective lines met almost exactly. I think a warrior and a patriot would work well together, myself, but I'm not sure which would lead whom.

Old Warrior

It was getting a little late in the day when I started this painting and I was on the side of the road, trucks whizzing by and honking, my arm in a sling, painting with my left hand "like a one-armed paper hanger," as they used to say. I was racing the setting sun and sweating and swatting mosquitoes and some invisible biting bug: not having fun. I thought of myself as a painting warrior of sorts. Plein air painting is radically different than studio painting. It's extreme painting.
That said, I must add that I went over this painting in the studio once I was able to use my right hand again.
Anyway, Warrior was old and Ike-damaged but was not saying "Die" yet. His owner is planning to reburbish him; I was pleased to record his proud, pre-make-over visage.
The rigging was done with my friend's credit card: a little shrimp-boat-painting trick she taught me.

Morning Marsh

This painting is just behind Plein Air Judy. On our Louisiana trip, we visited the site of a house that had been swept away by Ike, leaving the 2 storey deck behind. I painted Judy from beneath it one afternoon. This painting was done from the top of the deck the next day, looking out over the marsh right after sunrise.

I was painting so small because of my frozen shoulder (this is 6x6), but I wanted to convey the vastness of the scene in spite of the limited canvas dimensions. Painting tiny is pretty tricky; it's hard to stay expressive. 

Anyway, this was a beautiful morning and I hope you enjoy this tiny glimpse of it. (This painting was selected for the first 6-Inch Squared Show at the Higbee Gallery in California.)

Plein Air Judy

A group of artists went to Louisiana last month to paint shrimp boats and local scenes, and sometimes each other! This is my very dear friend Judy, working on a painting under the cover of a deck that belongs to a house that blew away in Hurricane Ike. There was much devastation still in evidence there, but the people are resilient, rebuilding and very friendly.

This is a tiny painting, 4x6, same size as the Drake Paul painting. It took me as long to paint my tiny paintings as it took my friends to paint 9x12's, and to be honest, I was glad my arm was in a sling. The truth is, on my best day with no gimp-card, it would take me a long time compared to them. I'm a slow painter and then I spend even more time with the paintings once I'm back in the studio!

Judy is wearing a neat hat, same kind that my friend Marty is wearing in the San Leon painting. It collapses into nothing so it packs well, then springs into action when unfolded: the perfect plein air accessory!

The Drake Paul at Home

This is a Louisiana painting, originally done left-handed, now painted over. It may be a tiny 4x6 painting, but you'd be embarrassed for me to know how many hours went into painting this.

The shrimp boats are very challenging as there are no straight 90 degree angles anywhere aboard. The green nets draped over the superstructure add a softness to all the lines. These boats just pulled up at the end of the day, right in front of their houses. We saw wives walking across the street with beers for their men to drink while they dealt with all the critters. One of our group bought several pounds of fresh shrimp from one of them and we took them back and cooked them up that night for supper! No starving artists in our group.

San Leon Jetty

I am now having some fun going back to the paintings I did with my left hand and painting "corrections" over them with a little more control. I never got really good at being a south-paw. I was told that it might open up a whole new genius, but I'm still just me. What it did do was force me to do much of my thinking on the palette because I could not finesse it at all once it hit the canvas. This is a pure and simpler way to paint and I hope I retain that.

I still see some things on this that I could correct...

Workshop Article

The article that I wrote for American Artist's Workshop magazine can be found in the Summer Edition, or a shorter version may be viewed on line by clicking here. I really love to write and Qiang is such an interesting person, the article kind of wrote itself in many ways. It just took awhile to get it onto paper!

As I was interviewing him, I couldn't help but reflect on how often Qiang, a representational painter, focuses on abstract qualities of artwork. It's interesting when one remembers how China and Russia, in their curtained cultures, were uninfluenced by modern and post-modern art. Western art advanced and experimented, pushing the envelope of creativity to remarkable lengths. Old-fashioned, academic art training is, ironically, scant in the western art schools of the last century, giving birth to the explosion of representational painting workshops. It did, however, survive in the schools of countries where creative artistic experimentation was not encouraged. Qiang was not exposed to abstract art at all, until he came to the US. He now incorporates it into every facet of his representational paintings. Someday he hopes to return to China to learn what they have saved and share what he has learned.

I hope you get a copy of the magazine because there are many side-bars and a demo + student critiques and samples of Qiang's artwork. It's worth a peek.

Angel of Bethesda

This is my first right-handed painting in so long.

It fulfilled my dream to paint in NYC's Central Park. I was so blessed to be with my good friend, Bob, who planned the trip, who led me to the fountain, and whose gear I used. He completely set me up, making sure the easel was waist-height so I could keep my elbow at my side, then adjusting everything just so. It was a complete joy.

Here are some things that have special meaning to me. This angel was sculpted by Emma Stebbins in 1868. She was the first woman to be commissioned for a major work of art in NYC. I'm honored to record another woman artist's contribution.

More important, symbolically, this is the Angel of Bethesda, spoken of in the Gospel of John (5:1-9), who, tradition said, would stir the waters in the Pool of Bethesda and bring healing to whomever would enter the water first. This was my first right-handed painting after a time of inability and I was moved to tears and had to sit for a moment when I realized that I was being healed as I painted it. The angel herself is extending her right hand in blessing.

I extend this painting to you, with my right hand, and hope that it's a blessing for you as well.