Wash and Wear-6x8-SOLD

Even the laundromats have style here!

Stock Island Sunrise-6x8

Not For Sale

Got out early saturday morning and here's what i saw. the colors in the tropics are beautiful!

Last Sliver of Light-6x6-SOLD

SOLD

Just off Southard St. A little light on a bldg. just before the sun slips into the bathwater temperature sea.

This was where i painted this morning. not a bad place to come to work eh?

i've done a few paintings since i got here, but then jumped right into teaching a three day plein air workshop. it was a packed class, as we hit the outdoors with our paint, up and down the streets of this town that has such a cool vibe. its got an energy about it, but still laid back at the same time.

i taught the class the importance of simplifying and massing together values and to stop seeing "things". squint and see the masses. then simply and with no fuss, lay in the shadows, then lay down the proper "color spots". after that you go in and add the nuances, detail, pop or "bling, bling" as i call it at the very end. massing in and simplifying is essential here as everything is shoved together into tight little streets and detail abounds. this is the original place where gingerbread men where cut out of wood and placed all along the porch's eaves. there are a million details in this type of architecture, not to mention railings, bannisters, and palms with a thousand leaves! you gotta simplify or go mad.

Palm #010311-SOLD

8x6

My workshop in key west starts tomorrow morning and i got out this afternoon looking for places to take the class. thing is.... everywhere you look there's a great painting, so we wont have to go far from the center. today i peddled all around the island on my bike, getting my bearings, and found out just how out of shape i got over the holidays. but i also found this great late afternoon palm scene. by doing these studies of palms you learn to understand the structure of the tree. how to best describe it simply, in paint. you want them to look effortless when theyre anything but (especially when i first get here) not only that, they sway in the breeze changing shape everytime you look up at them. knowing them intimately (by doing these studies) helps you immensely, and after doing them awhile you can even "fake" em, if you have to.

Spray On Sunscreen-6x6-SOLD

SOLD

 

Happy New Year!

i want to thank all of you for following my plein air painting antics, paintings, lessons, and rants here on this blog! 2010 was a great year for me beginning with a great winter painting in key west and workshops all spring. then my trip to teach in italy and then a month long trip to cape cod, and new teaching gigs in rhode island, and maryland. not to mention lots of great NC workshops, students, kiteboarding this summer and sweet painting sessions. Wow. could it get any better in 2011 than that? dont know but i'm going to try!
hope you had a great 2010 and have an even better 2011!

Apples and Brew-8x8

 

i've always said i paint light so i dont care what the subject matter itself is in the painting. i like the feeling of spotlight on this bowl, cup, and spoon. you can tell by the coolness that its not sunlight.

Well, the studio is broken down, and all items needed for a three month painting trip to Key West are packed into boxes so i dont think i'll be posting "dailies" until i get there early next week. and i have a funny feeling i'll be painting most of those dailies outside 99% of the time. i've desperately wanted to paint outside this whole month and couldnt because of the cold. i'll keep posting while traveling down there, but will pursue a workshop format.

i have several auctions going on today so click the "please click here to purchase" link above and then go to "sellers other items" to see them all. one boat scene's high bid tonite is $49 and the bidding ends soon. go bid a little more than that and "steal" it at the last minute!

Nestled In-6x6-SOLD

SOLD

More of lovely Tuscany. i loved these villas nestled into the landscape everywhere you looked.

Narrow Passage Way-8x6-SOLD

This one's from a friends photo taken in Italy. One of the little towns down the road from where the class was staying had this narrow little passage way, just wide enough for one car but all the italians whipped thru it at 100 mph. i'm surprised there werent wrecks there every day! we even painted plein air from this spot. you talk about being nervous painting. Wow!

Note: The winner of the auction for Demo #122110 was won by B.B for $65. congrats!

Tuscan Door-8x6-SOLD

This is one from a study i did on the road just down from the villa where i stayed in Italy.

Ready to Chill-8x8-SOLD

As cold as its been, its fun to paint these scenes from summer!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

High bid on the 12x16 painting-Demo#122110 (a few posts below) is $35 by R.W. There were several at $35 but i'm going by the first one that offers a bid, if there's several at the same figure. Bidding ends on Sunday night at midnite. Here's your chance to get a big painting cheap! High bidder gets the painting and free shipping

SOLD

Another study from Tuscany Italy.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Dry Boat on Radio Island-6x8-SOLD

** High bid this minute on the 12x16 DEMO #122110 (a few posts below this one) is $30 by R.T.

Highest bid in my email box wins it! auction ends this sunday night (12/26)

shipped free!

Dry Boat on Radio Island-6x8

A little ditty from Radio Island near Morehead City NC, in the summer. this place has the coolest old rusty buildings, boats, and junk laying around. its one of the few real working boat yards around the coast anymore. its really fun to paint there.

Italian Study

Auction Update-- $25 is the high bid tonite on the 16x12 painting CLICK HERE TO SEE IT.

Give me more than that and its yours! highest bidder at the end of the auction on Sunday Dec. 26 (at midnite) will get the painting and free shipping. i will keep posting the bids all week and especially on sunday to keep everybody current, so stop by frequently

SOLD

This is one of the studies i did when i was teaching in Tuscany Italy this past fall. this villa was just down the road from where we were staying. what beautiful scenery. when i get to my winter studio in a week or so i'll start some large paintings of Italy for the galleries from these studies and reference photos. NOTE- something fell on the righthand side of the painting when we were photographing it on the ground. oops. i'll leave that out on the bigger one LOL

Demo #122110-SOLD

16x12

OK. An oldy goldy from several years ago. been hanging around my studio and its time for a new home.

'08-'09 Studio Sale

I'll auction this demo piece off starting at $1

what? yep, a buck!!

Bidding starts now and ends Sunday night (12/26) at midnite.

i'll post bids as they come into my email box so you can keep up with the bidding

older painting

here's the changes i made on this painting tonite:

*Lightened the pink house roof and darkened the pink to put the roof more in the light and the side more in shade

*i felt like the house on the right was a little too light and blue. so i purple/greyed it up and darkened it so it didnt blend into the roof of the pink house or the light of the sky. this gives the right side of the painting more weight and helps balance the painting better.

*darkened the overhang on the dark house's overhang. made the side facing the grass greener

*darkened the trim making it more lavender.

*edited out a few windows on the side of the house

*warmed and darkened the roof on the dark house to seperate it from the sky. i really like the house on the right now.

These dont seem like huge changes but i think it really strengthened the painting

more of todays painting....

We Three Kings-6x8

Each cosmetic bottle has its own vibe. round and squat, bright, regal, super shiny (flashy).its like they have their own personalities. then you see them in little scenarios in your head. this one seemed like Three Kings. I guess the purple and gold colors of royalty influenced me. And yes i know how crazy i sound right now! LOL. Been in the studio too long maybe?

More Make-up

Circle of Beauty-5x7

In this one i tried several things i've been wanting to work on. they are:

*mix huge piles of the main colors so that i could apply the paint thicker, and also so i dont have to keep mixing colors. working the rest of the painting out of only these big piles keeps a real harmony to the piece

*simplify the scene. start by looking at really big shapes first and then tweak em after everythings in. dont try to get too tricky (which i tend to do). going for a real boiled down effect.

*was trying a new way of shadow edge treatment. hard in places and soft in others.

Work in Progress-12/19/10

Just started a new 12x16 and this is the block-in. i'm feeling better that my bigger pc.s have the loose look that i get with my smaller ones. you have to keep the big picture in mind (no pun intended) when working bigger and dont try to use smaller brushes and start working on one portion of the painting. you have to work large, loose and all over the painting avoiding hard edges and detail.

I'm always curious what other painters studios look like so i thought i'd take a picture of corner of mine. the palette area is a large piece of glass on top of the three filing cabinets.

Red and Delicious-8x8

Been sticking around inside the studio for the past couple of days. with freezing rain outside, the studio lights at the easel feel nice and warm. here's one that i did tonite. i like the reflected light in the shadow side of the apple.

If you feel like taking a break from the cold weather why not take my Key West workshop? its january 4th-6th and there are just a few spots left. you can email me and i'll get you signed up.

Daily Painting

Pretty On Pink and Blue- 7x5
Headed to Rowley Gallery

Below is what i painted last night. Pretty On Pink and Blue (above) shows the corrections i made.

When i looked at the painting from last night in the cold light of morning i had a few things that were driving me crazy. they were:

*didnt seem to be any difference in where the strongest light was on the table top (both pink and blue sides) so i added darker more muted paint to the top and lighter warmer light in the middle where the light was hitting the table the strongest

* softened the dividing line between the pink and blue. also made it more irregular. i had it painted the way it really looked (like construction paper with its hard perfectly straight edge) the change is more organic looking. almost looks like cloth which i'll do from now on!

*blurred the back edge making you look in the middle and foreground harder. look how in the bottom painting that soft black line is the same from the middle ground and as it hits the edge it takes you right off.

Edge treatment is huge! remember how i messed this one up and dont you make the same mistake!

the first one

If you've been around the painting business any amount of time you've probably heard the term "daily painting". But you may be asking "what is that exactly?" and may be wondering what it could offer you.
Daily painting is a movement that started years ago and is pretty much attributed to an artist named Duane Keiser. It started when he would paint a small painting (around 6x8) and post it on Ebay and auction it off, every day. If youre familiar with the online art business today that doesnt sound so revolutionary but back before there were hundreds of thousands of artists selling online, that was revolutionary. Back then just about everybody was selling exclusively at shows or in galleries. To use the 'new' technology of the internet to sell art was unheard of. Not so today. Just google "art blog" and see what pops up!
Daily painters are artists who commit to paint a small painting everyday and post it online for sale. There are also daily painter 'galleries' that post their painter's paintings online every day of the week.
Now, how can all this help the budding artist? Lets look at the benefits of painting every single day.
What would happen if you were a marksman with a rifle and shot in competitions, but you never had any target practice. Same thing goes for painting daily. Think of daily painting as target practice. They'll ultimately help your larger paintings. If you're painting daily you'll also have lots of little paintings that you can sell cheaply (compared to your larger paintings). Start a blog and put them on there everyday. After several months start asking to get in some of the new daily painter online galleries and soon you'll have several dozen potential buyers looking at your work every single day. Selling work is all about marketing and daily painting is just one really successful way to do that. Now stop reading this and go paint one!

Changing the Zoom

Feel the Heat- 5x7

This ones similar to Great Balls of Fire ( a few posts below) but i changed up the composition by zooming in much closer. i also went for a different look. i like painting pans of fire. can you tell?

Its That Time of Year!

Pink Triad-7x5

Essentials-5x7

You can tell when its winter whenever i'm painting cosmetics. thats the only time i ever do 'em.