in progress- near millis seafood

Stage Two of the 8x12 I'm working on. I'm using a very large "crappy" bristle brush that I buy at the hardware store for less than a dollar. I take scissors and shape it into a homemade filbert shape. there's no way I can paint accurate small shapes and this tends to work for me keeping the "big Picture" forefront in my mind. Large abstract shapes without concern for what the "things" are.

 

mostly staying in the darks and mids range of tones still. i'll let this sit a day or two and come in with adjustments to color and temperature, and then when I'm happy with that i'll start putting in smaller subtle shapes of similar value within each shape. then i'll finish up with a few details for a nice contrast the "big look" shapes.

 

note: scroll down a post or two to see what stage one looked like

Underpainting Tips

 here are a few sequence shots of a commission (22x28) that I'm working on. I'm working from a photo and drew everything on in a burnt orange and worked up values in alizarin crimson for the darks and burnt orange values for the mids. then I put yellow down for the side walk because I want it to have some warmth when I put the brick color over it down the line. see the light pattern already developing even at this early stage. everythings highly colored and saturated at this stage.

in this shot you can see I'm developing the cars and and the facades of the buildings. these colors are more realistic and I'm sticking to my value plan from stage one. I like the way the trees are blending right into the building so I want to make sure I preserve that in the final product. love the looseness of this so far. I'd love to keep that as well. I say that everytime but THIS time I'm going to do it  :)

 

Will be heading to Key West/Key Largo pretty soon so if you're down in the keys during the winter and would like some private lessons drop me an email.

Still Life Start-10x10

here is the start of a still life commission I'm working on this week. I really enjoy staying loose, putting the gesture in drawing-wise, then using warm colors for shapes in the light and cooler colors for the shadow shapes. for one with real life commitment issues this style of start really suits me!

 

i'll go back and put the real color in when its tacked up some. then you'll see that I have a pool ball, stick of cotton, fast food cup, matchbook, playing care and a that shape behind the cup will be a fur stole. now that'll be a challenge. never painted fur before. i'll do what I always do. Squint and paint what I see!

In Progress 8x20

In Progress-8x20

using Near Millis Seafood as the reference

here's a pic of one of several ive got in the studio pipeline. I use blues, oranges and several values of pinks and lavenders to underpaint with. I like to get rid of the really orange paint the canvas started out as. you can see peeks of it in areas that will probably get highlites on it. I work out the value scheme and drawing in this phase, as well as the temperature scheme. I let this dry and then go back on top of it. I love this part of painting process. very intuitive and love the loose manner I work in (at this stage).

 

my plan is to keep a lot of that even as I put more accurate colors and marks down.

 

Note- please LIKE me/friend me (don't know which at this point/whatever you do over there LOL) on Facebook to follow me there. hit this link

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Available-Near Millis Seafood-8x12

email me for price and availability

 

really like this format- 8x12. it shows a more panoramic view which I like a lot. was really interested in the play of light on the water and the blue shadows and water versus the warm sunlit side of the trees. and of course I was after the ever elusive sparkle on the water.

 

Workshop News

Friday starts my gig at Art of the Carolina's Expo. i'm teaching a class on the secrets of color mixing, how to paint with a knife, and sunday is the Cape Cod Underpainting class. let me know if you wanna sign up and i'll get you in touch with the sponsor, Sharon from Jerrys Artarama.

Monhegan Paintings

these are headed to the small gallery located in the Monhegan House, but if you buy them before framing and shipping you'll save big! i'll even ship free

email me if youre interested in either one.

both were painted recently onsite on Monhegan Island.

 Monhegan Coastline-12x16
SOLD

we hiked for twenty minutes  thru small, craggy trails with all our painting gear to get to this majestic, unforgettable view!

Monhegan Morning-8x12
SOLD

 

this is the lightkeepers house in early morning light. you have to catch your breath after hiking up to this one too. oh, but sooo worth it!