One from last year

blogger's being hard to get along with today and wont let me post my most recent painting so you'll have to settle for one from last year. technology....you gotta love it when youre not hating it, right? will post the other painting as soon as i can

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if youre in KW this winter my teaching schedule is over on the right sidebar. i'll be doing weekly classes at the Studios of Key West february and march, as well as private lessons. just drop me an email for more info.

also- ive got tons of free lessons at jerrysartarama.com that you might like. just google "mike rooney jerrysartarama free art lessons" to see em!

 

looks like its supposed to rain off and on here for four or five days so i'm sure i'll be jonesing for some sunlite to paint when thats finally all gone.

Small Town Shadows-0101B-8x10

a small town sidewalk in nc in december.

 

made it to orlando on the first day of my 18 hr.trek to KW. thanks for your hospitality and great spaghetti paul!

funny story about paul (and a great lesson for plein air painters)

 

you know how when youre out there painting away in a very public place, people love to see what youre doing? and they want to talk to you about the piece, but sometimes we're concentrating so hard on the painting we arent as sociable as we usually might be?

well check this out! i'm painting in key west a few years back where the cruise ships let folks off. i'm working on a street scene and a guy and a girl come up and are very interested in what i'm doing.... its paul (and his girlfriend) we chat awhile about the little study and he says he's from orlando visiting KW and wants the little painting. so i sell it to him, find out he's also a painter and we become friends. he signed up for the italy workshop i did a few years ago, and then another one last fall in maine. we paint together every time he visits KW and we are great friends to this day!

 

moral of the story. dont ever, ever be short and unsociable with pedestrians when youre painting. if you are mean to them, they could turn out to be one of the best friends you NEVER had!

SOLD-Sheila's Side Yard-1229A-8x10

below is a glimpse into how i'm thinking in the initial 10 minutes of the block-in. i'm very concerned where the darkest areas of the painting will be and i get em in dark quick (in this case differing shades of alizarin crimson)

if youve ever taken one of my workshops you know how long i spend stressing value. and for good reason. most of the problems i'm dealing with in these classes are value problems.

 

look at how the painting "works" after i changed it into shades of sepia with my photo editor. i always say if it doesnt work in black and white its not gonna work in color either. if i could only say one sentence about anything it would be this- see how everything that gets sun is lighter than whats in the shadow. as you painters out there know, thats simple in theory but difficult in the real world struggle of making a decent painting.

 

note: my posts may get more sporadic while i pack up everything to go to key west and get settled in. but i'll post as often as i'm able. once i settled in down there i'll be doing tons of 6x8's. if anyone's interested in pre-ordering something from my upcoming series of palm trees and conch houses, just let me know so i can get you on the list. if you just started watching my blog go to the right sidebar and hit previous years the months of december-april and you'll see what i do.

Next to the Lift-1228A-8x10

a boat in the state of repair. thing is this things been sitting in about the same condition (and spot) for the last several years. funny that in all those years i havent painted this motif before (tho i have painted the boat). today the light hitting the cabin area was gorgeous! so here it is

 

this shows that you can paint around where you are everyday for years and never run out of things to paint. Henry Hensche said "anything with light on it is beautiful". how true!

SOLD-Quiet Resting Spot-1227A-18x24

went back today to finish the painting i started with Guy the other day. that day a high milky deck of clouds formed just after i got the drawing done on this medium sized painting. not good for getting color notes down, but i just kept putting in big shapes in the somewhat approximate color for a few hours. then i came back today on a nice clear sunny day and put the actual colors i was seeing over the block-in. i also used very large raggedy brushes and that helped me achieve my goal of keeping it loose and painterly, the holy grail for my larger work.

SOLD-Out in the Country-6x8

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the light was silvery and pretty today so off i headed with my new pared down plein air kit. i ditched the big backpack and filled a small satchel with ONLY the essentials. doing this in preparation for my key west bicycle setup i'll be using daily soon.

was painting in a small town the other day and a fellow brother of the brush named guy jackson visiting from houston saw me and introduced himself. we knew all the same online painters and he had studied with many of the cape school teachers i know of, like camille prezwodek and susan sarback. we painted together in one of my favorite haunts (picture above) the next day, and had a great time. thats one of the cool things about this plein air painting gig. you meet the nicest folks.

 

he said when he first saw me and my suv full of painting junk that i was either a painter or homeless. ive heard that more times than i can count!

hope youre having a great holiday season and i wanted to thank you all for following my blog, going to my galleries and workshops, buying my dvd's, and last but not least, buying and viewing my artwork! without you, i couldnt do what i love for a living. thank you!

SOLD-Spanning Sides-6x11

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second one from the parking deck. loved the reflections in the water and the color harmonies. i'm striving to keep a chunky look to my shapes without a bunch of "wispy" strokes. the water really looks watery dont you think? wow, i need to remember how i did that :D

i was asked how i did my reflections in the painting i did a few posts ago

so here are the bullet points-

• put a slightly lighter shape all over the shape of the reflection
• make it warmer and lighter than the water, and keep it grayed down
• as you get closer and closer to the source of the light thats making the reflection, add lighter and lighter zones
• add yellow, pink, or orange paint "spots" that are almost 90% white, right at the end
• be sure the reflection is the lightest shape in the whole painting or it wont read as sparkly

Downtown Shadows-5x7

email me to purchase

yesterday was gorgeous. temps in the middle sixties so i grabbed the plein air gear and headed to a downtown wilmington parking deck roof. as the sun was going low this cool shadow showed up on the white building on 2nd street.

 

i went crazy!hurry hurry get it drawn before its gone. as the painters out there know, winter sun goes down twice as fast as normally (especially this close to the winter solstice). in a few weeks the sun will start staying out about a minute longer every day. of course where i'm headed (soon) the sun wont set as soon as here because its closer to the equator. just keep thinking of reasons i love that place!

Waterfront Shimmer-22x28

email for price and availability

 

this one came together easily. some work out that way and others are a struggle and battle from start to finish. i will say that i did a value study of it first and had a great plein air study to work from (as a color study) so that might have had a lot to do with it. that doesnt mean you wont struggle just because you did that, but it has to influence the number somewhat, right?

 

i love the shimmer and was able to keep that the reason for the painting even tho' there were plenty of ways to get waylayed from that mission.

 

this is swansboro nc for those that like to know such things

In Progress-Finding my BIg Style-22x28

just started another 22x28 and thought i'd take you along for the ride. this first shot is the block-in using my bastardized version of the cape school technique. the orange you see all over is the original wash color. then i put the darks in with alizarin crimson and the light lights with yellow (and in the water, some white) i try real hard to leave white out of my underpainting colors because it tends to lock down the painting too early. it also starts to cool and gray shapes. i want the opposite to happen.

further along in the process you can see where i'm putting saturated color over the underpainting. i'm using very large brushes (2" down to 3/4") i'm correcting the initial drawing. also very cognizant of whats in the light and whats in shadow and reflecting this in the differences between their respective values .this gives you the structure for the painting. as you can see, an underpainting with the right values and shapes will nearly look finished in an image on the computer (or digital pic) or when i stand back a distance. if it doesnt read well from 12 feet away you better stop and regroup and work on that before you even think about taking out smaller brushes

SOLD-Big House Little House-8x8

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this is the deal of the month! an 8x8 for a 6x8 price! they dont last long on here so hit Buy Now in a hurry.

 

everybody in my blogosphere thinks ive bugged out to key west early because of all the tropical subject matter here lately.nope not gone yet but definately keeps me warm on these cold dreary days.

i like that ive learned to make a shape warm and light but keep it in the shadow family. i know small thing to get excited about but what can i say!

 

if you'd like private lessons when i'm in key west jan-april drop me an email.

SOLD-Bone Island Shadows-8x10

 

heres the block in on one of my newest paintings. i really really like it like this, but i'd be accused of not working on it long enough! i love the simplicity of the shapes and pure color. two lessons here-
1. things dont have to have a lot of detail to be recognizable. adding just a bit of detail is all thats needed to finish it out and keep the spontaneous, edited look.
2. color dulls every time you touch it, so put it on and leave it alone!

Bone Island Shadows-8x10

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the finished piece with some more work done ie. a few smaller shapes in just the right places (oh yeah, called detail)

email me for availability and price

 

SOLD-Sleepy Atlantic-16x20

this one was a change in MO for me. i started this 16x20 plein air several months ago on a trip to atlantic nc, with my painting cohort jimmy womble. it sat around till after i got back from the cape and i knew i wanted to give it more work. more subtlety and color. so i wiped liquin on it and started working in the shapes with more variety of stroke and color.

 

i think ive always had this slap dash mentality to my small studies. i like to do it, finish and get on to the next one. that fits my personality. but here lately i'm going larger and that requires a different mentality completely, so i'm retooling the MO to fit the job at hand. big is good, small is good.

 

gotta be open to change and still work with what works for you as a painter.

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

inquire for price and availability

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.