SOLD-Dreamy Alleyway-6x6

SOLD

my last post made me a little homesick for the keys so I really wanted to revisit this house from a study I did last winter down at the key west studio. sure wish I could remember what the street name was.

 

today I wanted to play with the subtle color changes in the shadowed fence and house. I remember when I couldn't "see" color like I do now. thanks to studying the cape cod school of art and its students work in depth, I can see a lot more than when I first started painting. my work was mostly tonal painting back then. good grasp of the values but just didn't see the subtle color you can be trained to see, if you know what youre looking for.

 

one example- look how I added cooler color the same value to the street in front of the red driveway. it changes from yellow and hot to cooler and slightly pinker as it goes left to right. its out there in reality you just have to look for it and then paint it.

$100-Soundside Demo-6x6

$100 plus $10 s/h

to purchase with PayPal or credit card click the "buy now" button below

 

i mistakenly told somebody recently who wanted this painting that it was sold. guess what i found it in a stack of paintings. my bad.

 

here it is! if you'd like it be the first one to hit the buy now button!

 

Workshop and Gallery News

• i'll be teaching in atlanta this friday thru sunday at Binders Art Store. still some seats left
• workshop in wilson nc end of the month
• next week i'm starting a weekly class in wilmington at nelson fine art.its a six week class geared towards beginning painters.
• have a show coming up at ArtSource in north hills mall, raleigh in july, with lotsa new work. will be posting alot of it on here as i get it done
• contact me for details about anything you see above you might be interested in

SOLD-The Sun Slid Down 0131B-6x6

SOLD

i get on these night painting kicks every now and again. here's one where the lights came on just as the sun slipped below the horizon. this was civil twilite. the time when the sun has set but you can still make out objects. always glad to see some folks get their lights on earlier than the rest of town for this great lighting effect. had to finish it under headlamp light as it was totally dark when i finished.

Bobs Barricades-8x10

email for availability and price

SOLD- Near Bahama Village-0129B-6x6

SOLD

as i see the planes fly over while i'm painting this one i can picture everybody on the little jet looking down on on a little jewel of a tropical island, and theyre squeezed up to the little window, sitting there smiling real big. theyre dressed in winter clothes from chicago (14 degrees) new jersey (33) and all points north, it must look wonderful coming from miami watching the little speck of a key, getting bigger and bigger in the turquoise vastness until coconut palms and banana trees appear. and then they get lower and lower until they can see us smiling back up at them. welcome to the conch republic.

$100-Soundside Demo-6x6

email me to purchase

this was a demonstration for a recent lesson. SB wanted to see how to paint a believable tree. i explained that a tree is grouping of clumps and to render them like roundish organic shapes with the lightest leaves being on the side facing the light source (usually the sun). technique-wise, i first lay in the shadow side in darker green and then lay in the light side with a warmer lighter green. link as many of the dark shapes as you can. in other words dont have them (or the lights) look like polka dots. you want a chunky 'graphic' look. then add two more colors of darks and two more colors in the light. then it should look something like the one above. then i added some subtle temperature changes in the grass, water, and sky. i think this painting took about an hour. i love the cottage on this one! SB did a great painting during her lesson. way to go SB!

She also purchased my new Pochade Box fashioned after the one ive been using for years. it costs $160 without a tripod, and comes with a gray painted glass bottom which is a dream to paint/scrape on. it also comes with a painting panel holder. if you want a tripod, the total cost is only $199 complete. its the only paint box you'll ever need. email me for yours!

Workshop and Lesson News

i'll be on cape cod for the month of august and september. i'll be available for private lessons on cape cod during that time. the fee is $35 for the first hour of the day and $25 for every hour after that. i can do one-on-one lessons or teach your small group of friends or at your arts council/league. email me if youre interested in taking your painting to the next level.

SOLD-Ocracoke Light-6x6

SOLD

from the quaint little village of ocracoke on the southern tip of the Outerbanks. found this little scene after riding the bike around scouting locations for when the sun appears in a day or two. i hate it when i go on a painting trip far from home and the weather goes to crap. hopefully shadows will start appearing soon! life is so much better when the sun is shining!

Sold-Lloyds Boatyard-6x6

a little ditty from my elizabeth city trip

have found a way to overcome the cloudy gray day painting blues! pump up the color. take whats out there and overemphasize it. above is my first attempt. i like it very much. of course everything was much grayer and subdued than what i painted.

 i live just a mile north of reality anyway. why not a mile and a half on rainy overcast days?

SOLD-Side View-6x8

SOLD
 

i like these side yard vignettes.some bouganvillea (the red flowering bush) and purple shadowed side of a house. there's no shortage of these around KW.

upcoming workshops

february at Studios of Key West-plein air weekly classes

march at Studios of Key West-weekly knife painting classes
april- west palm beach fl. and fort pierce fl. plein air workshops

april- bald head island 

Conch Republic Two Story-SOLD

6x6

tried to keep the semi abstract feel of these shapes. they just happen to make a house set in some lush tropical vegetation. everywhere you look in old towne this is what you see rising above the picket fences and motor scooters.

Workshop Update

ive added a two day workshop to the schedule on the right sidebar. it'll be a two day (half day plein air/half day still life) in West Palm Beach April 9 and 10 (tentatively) . if you'd like to sign up it will be an intimate little group and we'd love to have you. just email me for more details and to get your spot.

SOLD-Lavendar and Awnings

SOLD

more metal awnings!

rene and i during a one-on-one plein air class

after simplifying the scene i showed rene how to block in the scene quickly using blue for the shadows and yellow ochre for the light shapes. then we added the real colors where they went. he was having a ball as you can see from that big smile on his face and his painting came out great!

Yellow Blankets-6x6-SOLD

More beach girls.

the photo i used for this was taken last year. you have to sneak photos like these. the people think your stalking them or something! so you have to make them think your taking a picture of something behind them or wait till they both look away.

i think my figurative class with Luana helped on the girls bodies. when you feel confident of the drawing you can focus on painting them more boldly.

i like this one. especially the color on the girl lying down. there's some really subtle temperature shifts on the painting that the photo's unforntunately not showing.

Lunch on the Docks-SOLD

Well.... i'm near Hilton Head today painting in a spanish moss covered town named Beaufort SC. will post todays soon.
This one's from the keys. it was a hazy, cloudy day. i loved these yellow umbrellas and the catamaran.

Stopped by Morris Whiteside Gallery in Hilton Head and talked to Jack Morris and Ben Whiteside and they've invited me to show in their summer catalogue coming out soon. i'm really stoked! Morris-Whiteside Gallery is a very prestigious gallery and i'm honored to be asked.

Tug on the Cape Fear-SOLD

Todays workshop in Morehead City went smooth as glass. i was teaching the cape cod underpainting technique where all the "sun shapes" get warm colors straight out of the tube and all the "shadow shapes" get cool pure color right out of the tube. then through a series of changes you transform it into the realistic color but keeping a fantastic feeling of light like monet and william merrit chase used to get.

todays painting of the tug comes from a reference photo i took from a tugboat trip i was invited on. i was painting down on the docks one day and one of the tug captains asked me if i wanted to ride along with him on some jobs. i was like "yeah"! so i took a few photos from the tug and this is one of the shots. the other tug on the job was running along parallel with us going to the job, turning a huge cargo ship around and pulling it up to the river mouth, out to the ocean. it was soooo cool. seeing this painting brings back all those great memories.
thats one of the cool things about being a plein air painter. you run into all kinds of cool people and situations. its "living on the edge" at its best!

Leisure Boat-SOLD

These small ones are fun because there's no room on the canvas to get worried about detail. just concentrating on the color notes (the DNA of the shape) its the color, value, and saturation factor. if you put them in there right and the shapes are drawn right it'll look like something (hopefully at least)

Perched on the Dune- 8x8

SOLD

This ones a quickie done from my cab. i love this one strip of Topsail Island. the cottages have character and sit squarely on the dune, tempting the Atlantic to topple them. it wont be long now before beach umbrellas, suntan oil and tourists start taking over the deserted beach. i can get close to these cottages, and paint without being harrassed, until then.

Swan Quarter Shrimper-SOLD

OK. i think i have the need to paint figures out of my head. the warm weather we're experiencing here in coastal NC has driven me out of the studio and into the local marina's. Yooohooo! Boats, boats and more boats. until key west next week anyway.

Dont forget that this weekend is the Cape Cod Underpainting workshop i'm holding in Morehead City/ Atlantic Beach area. Starts at 9 and we'll all meet in the Carolina Artist Studio Gallery parking lot at 9 a.m. If its nice we'll paint outside and if its nasty out we'll be in their classroom. drop me an email if you'd like to attend. details are over on the right sidebar.

Sitting on the Edge-SOLD

One of the iconic nags head cottages sitting right on the edge of the ocean. i did this one from a study i did while out there last week. sort of looks like the one i stayed in. love the way these old cottages lean and the roofs sag just a bit. real personality compared to the McMansions they build now.

div align="center">

Afternoon Glow- 8x10

SOLD

Done from the cab of my truck on a cold day in columbia, n.c. a small town on the way to nags head.

Out in Front-SOLD

Evening light on the turquoise beach cottage caught my eye on this one. that and the orange sand and its complement, the blue shadows was electrifying!

it was soooo cold doing this one in the late winter sun with the wind coming off the ocean. hands got where they didnt want to work too good. but i think i got the feel of the place.

buy this little jewel for the Outer Banks fan in your family!

i'm teaching a weeklong workshop here and i'll post paintings and happenings throughout.

The Crossing 2-SOLD

Everybody who crosses over to Atlantic Beach from Morehead City goes over this causeway. it's iconic and i love to paint it. is has all the elements....architecture, water and the smell of salt water in the air. what's not to love?

now artistically... it wouldnt seem like an issue but painting something that goes from back to front takes some finesse to make it appear that it goes back into the distance. you do this by graying and cooling it as it goes back. keep the bright, saturated and warmer colors up front. the orange roadway helps in this task for instance.

thousands a day get to the beach on this baby. to me its majestic and the sparkles on the water are way cool!

Red Shrimper-SOLD

This ship was called the Good News and moors in the wanchese industrial complex on the outerbanks. i loved the red paint of the boat and it had some coolish red shapes and some warmer red shapes. this boat had such a presence! it needed its own portrait.

Spongers-6x6-SOLD

I'll be teaching a three day painting workshop next week at Studio 123 in raleigh Feb 17-19 so if you'd like to sign up please email me for the details. you can do one day, two, or all three days.

painted this fun scene of a few people enjoying the surf on one of those hot steamy summer days that the NC coast is famous for. these past few pretty and warm days have given me the itch to revisit these types of scenes in paint. wont be long now!