Big Art

I've got a new project. I've had a roll of Arches 140lb cold press watercolor paper for some time, and have used it for some larger paintings. I've always wanted to paint larger watercolors, so I got a sheet of 40x60 1/2" foamcore and another piece of 40x60" fiberboard and glued them together as a support. I soaked & stapled on the watercolor paper, and waited for it to dry. It has bowed a little, but it seems like it will work. For my first project, I'm going to paint a pond of lotus flowers. It should be

interesting though; my studio is so small, I can't even fit the 40x60 on my desk. It's projecting out at a diagonal angle!

Goldfish-Bowl Blues

I painted this a few weeks ago to prepare for the workshop I was giving on painting flowers & glass. There was really only one goldfish in the bowl, but I took the goldfish out of another photo using Adobe Photoshop, re-shaped it to look like it was in this bowl, and pasted it in. Then I printed the photo and used it as my reference. It turned out to be a good solution to the problem of having a photo with a poorly defined focal point.

Now it's time to pick something new to paint. I've got to do an abstract painting for a group show at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos, CA in January. That should be interesting considering how realistic I paint! Wish me luck.

Happy Thanksgiving!

October 2009 Workshop- Painting Flowers

The workshop was held at Pedro Point Creative, in Pacifica, California. Pacifica is about 15 minutes south of San Francisco. Pedro Point Creative's web address is: www.ppcreative.com.

I chose white plumeria flowers with yellow centers as the subject matter. We focused on painting the shadows in the flowers first, creating depth. We used five different colors in the shadows to create interest. Next came the yellow centers of the flowers, followed by indigo in the background. After glazing over the indigo, the lush green foliage emerged. Here are some of the paintings of the participants:

This weekend's workshop was a huge success. We had a great time painting and the results were fantastic. Here are a few photos from the end of the last day.

I still have a few spaces available in my December 4-6, 2009 workshop. The subject will be "Painting Waterlilies and Lilyponds". If you are interested, please email or call me. Contact information is on my website.

Grapes Done!

I ended up removing the little green plastic tape that was fluttering on the left side of the painting, and painted in one of my white highlighted leaves in the upper center of the painting, and it was much improved. Thank goodness for the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser! My lighting is bad in this photo; there are areas in the grapes in the original paintings that are more dark like the grapes in the right hand side. I'll be hanging this painting at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos on November 2, and will be having a reception on November 13, from 6-8pm.

Grapes

Just added another coat to the dirt at the bottom of the painting and lots of little details in between grapes on the left.

Grapes

Grapes seem like such a nice subject to paint until you realize you have to paint every single grape. Argh!

I'm using cobalt blue, indigo & perylene violet.

I do like all the interesting shapes in the leaves. When I paint them, I just try to paint the shapes I see in my reference photo and don't try to think of the shapes as leaves. It all seems to work out in the end.

Tropics on hold-- Going Grape!

Hi, I've had to put my tropical paintings on hold temporarily. I'm having a show with another artist at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos, CA beginning November 2. The theme is "Fall Into Color", so I'm painting fall related subjects. Here's one of my new paintings:

I've begun a new painting of grapes on the vine from a photo I took at a winery in Kenwood, CA. It's very large, 38 x 25". I'm using a 40x30" sheet of 300lb Fabriano cold press. It's nice not to have to stretch the paper. The pressure is on. I've got to complete a lot of new paintings in time for the November 2 show because I don't have a bunch of fall themed work laying around. The reception for the show is November 13, from 6-8pm, 315 State Street, Los Altos, CA. Please come!