Last Post For A Few Weeks

Quick Sketch 9/23- $40- 6x8

first to email me saying they want it gets it. just remember i wont even see the email till i get back from italy in a few weeks. i'll ship then too.

here i did a value sketch of the night painting below it. here's how i do em....

first step-just get the major shapes down as one of three values (in monochromatic paint) . decide is the shape a light, medium or dark value. paint it very simply and FAST. dont worry about edges, paint thickness, nothing. be very quick and intuitive. dont think it to death.

Value Sketch-$25-6x8

contact me if you want it

step two- now go in and paint each shape what it really should be compared to what it is now. example- look at the trees and its reflection. in step one i did em the same didnt i? now i "broke em out" the reflection is a tad lighter. put lighter paint around the moon in the sky. that sort of thing. if you look real close you'll see that the water is just a little darker than the sky. but on the first step i did em together.

here's the one i did outside last night. i really like it. the more i do outside the more confident i feel. get out there the next time we have a full moon and give it a go!

Silvery Shoreline- 6x8

$100

SOLD

this will be my last post (and probably email too) until i get back from my italian workshop. i've got a great group joining me for my five day class painting the italian landscape. gonna get a fan put into my laptop while i'm gone so i'm not even taking it with me. i'll post when i get back. bye y'all!

In Loving Memory- Kurt Murray-1988-2010

As most of you who read this blog know, if i'm not painting i'm surfing or kiteboarding. i think it brings a vitality to my beach-oriented stuff, so for that reason i want to share this. i struggled with whether i should put it on the blog or not, but i want to, so here it is.

The surf community of my little beach town of Surf City NC is mourning the loss of our Kurt Murray who died in a surfing accident this past Sunday in the waves of Hurricane Igor. Kurt was 21 years old and was a guy who loved the ocean, surfing and kiteboarding every chance he got. He was loved by everybody who met him. i ask for your thoughts and prayers for his family.

Kurt, you'll will be missed in the lineup and kiteboard sessions.

pray you have endless glassy waves or steady 20 mph winds for eternity

RIP man!

Moon Beams- 6x8

SOLD

Getting ready to leave to teach in Italy so this (maybe one more) will be my last post for several weeks. i wont have much internet access so i probably wont be emailing either. all shipping of sold paintings will happen when i get back. also i'll blog and post pics of paintings that i do in Tuscany as soon as i get back too.

#100921-6x8-$75

sorry for the bit of glare. dark paint is hard to photograph

contact me if you want to purchase this one

this is the front of a popular seafood restaurant on the morehead city waterfront. done under a street light across the street. night painting is such a trip! everything you think you know goes right out the window. you have to just paint from the gut, observing very closely, mix as close as you can and get what you can down as close as you can out there. it took about twenty minutes in the studio to fix somethings that were impossible to get right out there. i like the light on this one.

The Sun Slipped Away-8x10

This is the port in Morehead City at twilite. pretty sure this is going to Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach, just across the causeway from here.

These twilite paintings really test you. between the misquitos and the light changing color every ten minutes. i looked down on my legs and they were almost black with those blood sucking insects from the bowels of hell. my leg literally looked like one of those commercials where the guy sticks his arm in a clear case full of misquitos and theyre all over him. wouldnt you know....i shipped my gear with the OFF bug spray in it over to italy for my upcoming workshop there next week, and had to tuff it out.

then the sky is blue, then orange then pink, then dusty rose and finally very dark. the whole time the objects out in the landscape cant make up their mind what color they want to be either LOL

can see i'll be doing alot of these twilite paintings from about 80% memory after i get the major color notes down.

#100917-6x8 SOLD

 SOLD

A scene from my last trip to Charleston. Love to hear the history of the city as the horse drawn carriages meander past me while i'm painting!

Keeping Colorful Shadows

#100914-6x8
SOLD

The key to colorful paintings is colorful shadows. dont see them as these very bland, dark shapes even tho' they may look that way (compared to the other shapes). pump up the hue, and intensity a bit from what you see and you'll get nice colorful, interesting shadows and paintings.

Study #100908-8x8-SOLD

SOLD

thought i'd show you the scene and how i blocked it in a la Cape School.

The grass is the darkest and coolest light shape and therefor a reddish orange. the house in shadow is the lightest shadow shape and gets underpainted a medium blue-purple. the sky is coolish so i did it in the right value of magenta (pink actually). the shadow under the cottage is the darkest and coolest and i painted it dark purple.

after this is put on thin using lots of Liquin, i go back over all these shapes with a color that more closely represents the actual thing youre looking at. work on the shapes that are the most out of whack first. on the last pass you fix the edges, values, hues, and saturation.

alot of students ask me "how do you know when to stop?".

thats easy! you stop the minute youre not making big improvements to the painting that please you.

Study #100903-5x5-SOLD

a small study for a larger painting i'm working on. seeing if i like the composition and color harmonies.

#100903-5x5
SOLD

Is It Soup Yet?- 6x8

SOLD

Hurricane Earl just skirted us here on the southern coast of NC and tho the outer banks caught more of his fury, he missed them too. so its back to painting!

and i can breathe a sigh of relief! its freaky having all but two of my galleries in the line of the storm (since theyre almost all right on the coast). Even my gallery on Cape Cod which is supposed to get Earl in a day or two! keep your head down and stay safe Liz! BTW, shipped all the paintings to you today.

Demo-Last Stage

Complimentary Light- 8x10

$800 framed

available soon at the Rowley Gallery, Orleans, Mass.

Last stage of the painting is to throw reflected light around into nearby shapes and concentrate on edge treatment. leave hard edges in some areas (especially around the the important areas) and soften up the periphery edges. then take out your liner and make very thin detail shapes. this last stage is all about nuances. delicate, well placed strokes of color. try not to mess up all the hard work you did in the previous stages. easier said than done!

Just a reminder-- Upcoming Workshops

Ocean City, Maryland and Rhode Island in October. if you'd like to sign up there are a few spots left.

the upcoming Tuscany Italy workshop i'm holding late this month has two spots left. let me know if youre interested in painting in sunny Tuscany and we'll get you signed up.