SOLD-Olden Times-6x8

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heres one from a recent trip to rocky mount nc. its an old mill and i think we were trespassing when my bud steve l. and i were painting it. i love the late winter light on the shapes. i was showing steve how to capture the temperature of the light and a way to not fuss with the detail. i say "make pretty shapes"

Keys Eatery2-12x16

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my new rendition of Keys Eatery. this used to be one of my fave cuban restaurants in key west. it was out of business last year. maybe somebody else will open one this year!

 

in todays lesson i'll show you how i revamped a painting leaning on my studio wall for a couple of years. getting in the mood for southern latitudes this week.

 

the older painting needed something. it lacked ummphhhh! so i:

1. beefed up the saturation (chroma) of most of the shapes
2. made a bigger contrast in alot of the areas
3. cooled off with purple the treees way in the back to make em go back more while accentuating the tree to the far right bringing it closer
4. whitened the roof on the small house in the back to make it POP more
5. got rid of the puddle of water in front of the restaurant
6. darkened the trunk area of the two palms. the first ones are too light and destroy the shadow pattern
7. made the palm shapes more interesting with more contrast against the sky. the french word in contre jour literally "against the day". isnt that a beautiful term?

Keys Eatery-12x16

 

 

SOLD-Swan Quarter Profile-7 x 7.75

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i taught a private lesson today in swan quarter marina, and i did this demo to show how to start a painting, and how to concentrate on three ideas when blocking in.

 

 in summary they are: 1.design   2.correct values  3. overstate the colors/temperatures (initially)

i'm in nc till the end of december and if you'd like to come to topsail island for a lesson or two email me. the first hour is $35 and $25 each hr. after that. when i get to key west i'll be doing lessons in the afternoons, so if you get too cold where you live and you want to paint outside in shorts, then go home and run the A/C while you watch snow storms on the weather channel (from farther up north) come on down.

doing a demo and selling out of a box of new smaller paintings (all unframed and super affordable) at City Art in Greenville december thursday 6th. if youre in the area come by and buy a bunch of em! LOL

2/3 shadow color study

 

went out Thanksgiving morning and found this little beauty in an old neighborhood in a small eastern nc town.a classic example of a painting being either 2/3 in light or 2/3 in shadow.

 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Into the Boatyard-22x28

ok here it is done. wow i had fun on this big one. never thought i'd hear that coming out of my mouth. if youve read this blog any amount of time or know my work well enough you know i never liked doing big paintings. i thought they were scary and that i tended to paint them too tight.

my switch in working method and the confidence i have from painting thousands of small ones have led me to the point where i want to explore the large canvas. dont want to lose my dreamy, edited style but do want to play with the shapes more in a larger format.

today i painted another hour and a half on this one lightening the dirt road and giving it half a dozen temperature shifts. lightened the sky and calmed the paint stroke down to push it into the distance. then i darkened the tree to the right quite a bit and lightened the land mass way in the back keeping the nice lavender color i love which matches the shadow side of the boat.

its funny how painting (and i guess everything in life) is a matter of changing the way you think about things. was watching a show about a guy who was supposed to go to the edge of space in a balloon and then parachute back to earth. to get to that altitude he had to wear a pressurized space suit. well when he got into it for the first time the smell freaked him out and he thought of the suit as the "enemy" and that it would lead to his death. so he wouldnt train with it on because it reminded him of death. he eventually quit the project and they hired another test pilot in his place. a few months later he was meditating and he came to the realization that the edge of space was very hostile. that led him to think of the suit as his "friend" and the only way to survive in that hostile environment. his whole thinking changed and he went back and asked for his job back. they put him in the suit and he did great. the situation didnt change one iota but the way he saw it did and allowed him to do it!

to me that was a huge lesson that will apply to my not wanting to paint big paintings, and can be applied to whatever it is that is holding you  back from being happy and/or successful. nine times out of ten the obstacle isnt going to change so change the way you view that obstacle.

SOLD-Color and Shadows-6x8

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can you tell what i dream of (and paint) when its rainy and cold here in nc? thats right-- sunny 80 degree lanes that are tropical, lush, and colorful. just to the north of havana in fact!

 

i did this one from a study i did last year. like the looseness in this one. this may end up painted even larger and shipped to a florida gallery? dont know yet

 

i filmed a new dvd about "Understanding and Mastering Values" for Jerrys Artarama yesterday. it'll take a few months to get edited and into the stores (and catalogue) and i'll let you know here when theyre available. also did a bunch of Free Art Lessons. they wont take as long to get online. you can go to the jerrysartarama.com website and look around in a few weeks. others i did previously are on there now if you havent seen my FAL's before. theyre fun 5-7 minute mini lessons on tons of painting subjects. 

excuses excuses

i know.... long time since my last post. i must admit that i havent had time lately to either paint or post here lately. this time of the year is a whirlwind of activity and there was no time. these are some of the things ive been juggling. remember my posts about painters not always painting? ive been delivering new work to my galleries for the holiday buying season and because they wont see me till i get back from key west in the spring. next there was the outer banks workshop and Art of the Carolinas in raleigh. next a gig judging an art show in kinston. tomorrow i'm filming another instructional dvd for jerrys artarama/world of art folks. thats always fun! later off to the holiday show at ArtSource. cant not wait to start painting again! soon... soon.

Boat in a Field-8x10

now at City Art in Greenville NC

$450 framed

 

well my Acer computer that i bought for $300 six years ago finally died. it had been sick for awhile but i nursed it along longer than i should have. so i had to go out and buy a new one. got a dell and i really like it. its nice to be able to use the battery and not have to plug in to a socket all the time. for years i did this with the acer instead of letting go some cash for a new battery. then the old one used to shut off randomly when it got hot. aggravating to say the least. you could be right in the middle of a long email or blogpost and BOOM it would shut down and all that work would be lost. no more of that thank God! its not easy being a cheap skate.

 

RIP Acer!

 

this week i was on the outer banks teaching and painting. the weather really didnt want to cooperate as the nor'easter gave us rain and cold north winds. but everybody had a good time and learned alot.

i'll finish up on the 22x28 i'm working on and then head out to teach at Art of the Carolinas in raleigh. i'll be teaching a class on values friday night, how to simplify complexity saturday night and all day sunday i'll be explaining the cape school underpainting method. seats are limited.

some more work on large painting

some more work on the 22x28. worked more greens and form into the trees, more work on the boat and water (changed water lighter and boat darker) so they dont run together. also some different temperatures in the sky and worked some suble temperature shifts in the dirt road. getting happy with it about now. a few more 'tweaks' like adding variety to the boat shadows,  adding rigging on the shrimp boat, etc. and we'll call it done

Small Town Glimpse-8x6

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demo

day 2- wiped Liquin on the whole painting to re-wet the surface. i hate painting on dry board or canvas. here ive put greens in, a swath of purple in the back for the distant trees water, sky, the shadow on the dirt road, and the blue-green building. still keeping it pretty thin and letting alot of the underpainting show. i mean, whats the use of underpainting in brilliant colors if youre going to cover every inch of the canvas with the topcoat? leaving the bits and pieces show, is what makes the color sparkle.

here the road is put in and you cant see the cool orangey pinks coming thru it! also put the boats in  and worked the tree a little bit more, trying to make form out of a basic dark green silohuette from the underpainting. i think its coming along nicely. more tomorrow.