Lemon Slices

6" x 8"
Lemon Slices #75

I cut up one of my many Meyer lemons this morning and practiced translucency again.  But first, I worked out the composition, so I didn't find myself in a fix like I did yesterday - that was terrible.  I like these little slices - they have lots of personality.  If they're not all dried up, I may paint them again tomorrow, but on a different background.  (I frequently get caught in a rut, for those who you who don't know me well)

Four Little Tomatoes

6" x 8"
Four Cherry Tomatoes #74

I decided to bail on the lemons today and painted cherry tomatoes instead.  It was a nice change of color.  Plus, I used a complimentary color for the background, just as my Guru suggested the other day.  Everything was coming together nicely, when I stepped back from the painting and realized I had made a dreadful compositional mistake. Let me explain.  At this point, I had only painted 3 tomatoes - the 2 at the top (the eyeballs) and the one sliver at the bottom left (the nose).  I had painted a tomato face!  It was awful.  Once you see something in a painting, you are never able to get that image out of your mind! SO I had to perform painting triage, and quickly added another slice of tomato in the bottom right and kind of salvaged the whole thing.  Edgar Payne would certainly not approve of this composition, but it gave me a chance to practice my tomato painting technique.

The Loose Lemon

6" x 8"
The Loose Lemon #73

I set the timer on this baby; 45 minutes from start to finish.  I think it's one of my best because it's so loose.  Setting a timer and sticking to it, makes me efficient with each brush stroke because each stroke matters.  There's no time to waste, goofing around with bad color or an incorrect drawing.  It was finished just in time for my critique!  The main feedback for the past 3 lemon paintings,  is to get "more color in the shadows".  The one above does this the best.  The other suggestion is to play around with colored backgrounds that will make the lemon pop.  I'll get on that tomorrow.  

Here's our painting Guru, Tim Horn, showing us his work.
We are all drooling in the front row.
Everyone stands when Tim puts up his work.

White on white

6" x 8"
Lemon and Mug #72

I thought I'd add a mug to the mix today.  I can't begin to tell you how challenging it is for me to paint a dumb mug.  Well, the painting is not that hard, its the drawing that's a real doozy.  I tell myself all the time, that I just need to draw a mug a day,  until it becomes easy.  That, along with sit-ups, meditation and walking the dogs.

An Abundance of Lemons

6" x 8"
Lemon #71

 My little lemon tree is about to uproot itself from all the lemons hanging from its branches.  I love this prolific tree.  Every year it bursts forth with so many Meyer Lemons, you just wouldn't believe.  It lives in a terra cotta pot, tucked away in a corner of the front terrace.  Most of the time you don't even know it's there, until it's covered in bright yellow lemons.  So, get ready for some lemon paintings!
Thank you all who braved the scary storm and the nightmare traffic to come to my show Wednesday night! I can't tell you all how much it meant to have so many of my most favorite people, all together in my studio, surrounded by my paintings.  THANK YOU.  I had such a blast and can't wait to do it again.  Maybe next time we should crank it up a notch and have some live music -make it more of a party. (Wait a minute, I'm getting way ahead of myself)  In the mean time, I need to get back to work and finish the one hundred paintings and then start another one hundred paintings...

Seventy!

6" x 8"
Olive Branch #70

I hit Seventy today with my silver cup and an olive branch.  I struggled with that cup, but finally found a color that seemed to work.  I've been busy getting ready for my show on Wednesday and of course, it's taking a lot more time that I had originally thought.  I'm going to try to paint tomorrow, but I need to photograph some of the work before I hang it on Wednesday.  First, I need to track down my tripod...that could take a while.  (I rarely use a tripod anymore because my usual subject matter doesn't like to sit still for very long -unless they are watching TV).

Art Show
10 Liberty Ship Way Bldg

Bay 1  Suite118

Sausalito

Wednesday Dec 10 

5pm-8pm

ART SHOW

I'm having an Art show at my studio next week!

The First One Hundred Days

Come to my studio to celebrate 100 consecutive days (almost) of painting

There will be good wine, good friends and a few good paintings 

10 Liberty Ship Way Bldg

Bay 1  Suite118

Sausalito

Wednesday Dec 10 

5pm-8pm

Almost Seventy

6" x 8"
 Almost Finished

Today was my first attempt at painting Staffordshire.  I had to leave before I could finish, but I'm off to a pretty good start.  However, now I see some glaring drawing errors, and I while I was there,  I could not paint that persimmon on the left to save my life - it kept floating off into space.  I could not make it sit down and look round!  I finally had to walk away.  It will be good to return again in the morning with fresh eyes and make corrections.  I'm going to set a timer so that I won't fuss with it too much!

The Set-up 

Mary Catfish Cooling her Jets.  She didn't seem too stressed about painting Staffordshire today.

A Very Rainy Day

Cy Twombly

It rained so much this morning that HW 101 flooded and the Southbound lanes were shut down, so there was no way to get to my studio.  It was a traffic nightmare all through Marin so, I had to stay home - no painting.  I thought I would share some of my favorite paintings by one of my favorite artists today.  Here are two good ones by Cy Twombly.  I love love love his work and especially love these two.  I have a humongous empty wall in my house which needs a humongous Cy Twombly.  Since his last work sold at Sotheby's for 21 million, I think I may forge a copy.  It will be so fun to paint after all these still lifes.

Another Cy Twombly

Back in Business

6' x 8"
Persimmon #69

It took me a couple of days to remember how to paint.  Well, at least that's what it felt like after returning from Thanksgiving vacation.  I began this painting on Monday, but had to walk away after I realized that I was spinning my wheels and basically just pushing paint around.  Fortunately, things came together today and I completed this persimmon painting.  I love the orange and blue together and that cute little kettle.

I just got my new palette in the mail and I love it! It's custom made by WindRiver Arts.  It's beautifully made and fits perfectly with my old French Easel - look how big it is!  This is my studio still life set-up.  Picture me here every morning while its raining.  I'll be back at it tomorrow painting number seventy - maybe some lemons and more reflection.

My old French Easel and beautiful new pallete 

The Wetlands

The Wetlands at Point Reyes

I painted in Point Reyes on Friday.  I was hoping that it would be sunny, but sadly, I have no control over the weather, so I just had to go with it; which turned out to be a grey-mid-tone painting.  That black speck on the upper left is a bug that flew smack dab into my wet sky.  I'm off today for a Southern Thanksgiving and am not flying my gear with me, so I'll be paint-free for the next several days.  However, I'm bringing my sketch book and plan to draw everyday; at least, that's the plan.  I'll be back next week to wrap up the sixties.  Happy Thanksgiving!

6' x8"
Foggy Day #68

Completed Persimmons

6" x8"
Finished Persimmons #67

I finished the persimmon painting yesterday.  I think I'm getting the hang of painting reflections and realizing the power of a highlight!  I'm headed off to Point Reyes today to paint the landscape, but the weather's not looking so great - foggy and rainy.  I may have to do another still life.

Persimmons

6" x 8"
Persimmons #67

I was running behind schedule today and only had 45 minutes to paint.  I got this far (see above photo).  Not too bad for 45 minutes - I'm definitely improving.  I'm going to finish it tomorrow and hope to keep it looking loose.  My persimmon tree is loaded with fruit this fall, so get ready for a lot of persimmon paintings.

Here's my still life set-up in the studio

Sun in the Headlands

9"x12"
Headlands #65

Well, it was sunny in the Headlands today, so I painted the "secret" beach again.  I was much more successful this time,  after spending a week painting the surf in Big Sur.  I blocked in the values first and that really helped set up the compostion and sense of light.  The light was changing fast, but I stuck with the original sketch and I think that made a difference.

Flower Power

6" x 8"
Pink Zinnia #64

I'm starting to get the hang of painting reflections in this silver cup.  I hope to work up to an Airstream one day, so I need to keep complicating the reflection by adding more objects and pattern in the still life.    Once again the flower is the hard part.  I struggled forever with this zinnia and finally just had to make myself stop.  I exceeded the hour limit, lets just put it that way.

TGIF

6" x 8"
The Very Last Zinnia #62

I thought I would torture myself some more today and paint flowers again.  Please, don't ask me why I do this.  I brought in a silver Jefferson Cup and all-in-all, I'm am happy with the reflection.  It actually looks like metal - yay!

Here's the real Zinnia.  It's the very last one from my garden.

I redid the silver cup from yesterday - much better!

6" x 8"
Three Clementines #63

I had exactly an hour left, so I painted the clementines from start to finish.  I laid in the values and focused on creating a strong light source, thinking that that would make up for any misshapen fruit I may paint.  They say establishing your values is KEY to a successful painting and I think they're on to something.  I like this painting - it's super loose for me.

Off to the last football game - GO CATS!

I hit SIXTY today!

6"x8"
Nightmare Painting #60

This is what a rubbed-out painting looks like.

I love receiving flowers, but I must say, I really don't like painting them.  I'd so much rather paint a rocky coastline with pounding surf in the fog, than to paint a flower.  Flowers are hard to paint.  I spent way too much time this morning on my first attempt, then had to give it a "good rubbing" (as my old college art teacher would frequently recommend) I started again, and this is what I finally finished with.  I still need to work on reflections, so I think I'm going to bring in a silver cup and leave it in the studio - just not sure what to put in it, since flowers are so darn awful.

After lunch, it was still raining (or rather misting), so I did a quick night-time painting from a photograph.  I LOVE night paintings and really want to learn how to paint them - so much to learn!!  I love the creepy glow from the florescent street lights - it feels so lonely.  Some people actually set up outside and paint with a headlamp!  This photo is not very good - too much reflection - but, I'm happy with this little painting and look forward to painting more.

6"x8"
Nocturnal Painting #61

Oh, My Darling Clementine

6" x 6"
Clementines #59

Well, it seems that painting all those rocks certainly improved my still life - I like how this little painting turned out.  I did these clementines today and worked on a few paintings from last week. I felt much looser with my brushwork and the shading came easier than before.  Also, I painted on a 6"x6" which is new to me, and I liked it. I think I'll prime a stack and start incorporating this size into the rotation.

I had my monthly critique yesterday and it was great to get feedback from the work I did last week in Big Sur.  However, it was even better to see what Tim has been up to since our last meeting.

Tim with his most excellent painting of an airstream

The Airstream painting

I love this painting.  We found this Airstream last month when we were up in Napa and Tim took tons of photos - he has an entire Airstream photograph catalogue.  We were so psyched to see the red tire, and the green hose it was too good to be true - look what he did with it.  Go to his website and check out his Airstream paintings, you won't even believe how great they are.

Hello! Back From Big Sur

8" x10"
Carmel Beach #51

I just got home from a 5 day painting workshop in Big Sur.  I was so tired at the end of each the day, I couldn't post, so there's a lot to cover.  It was five full days of intense painting - nine to five, painting that gorgeous rugged coastline.  I was in heaven and learned a ton! We basically painted cliffs, rocks and crashing waves all day long.  Oh, and the weather was perfection. Bill Davidson taught us how to "break it all down" and assemble the landscape on our canvas.  He starts with SHAPES.  You've got to get a strong abstract composition before you begin to tackle the scene.  And that landscape down there can be somewhat daunting, to say the least, so this was very good advice.  However, the first day we started easy, with a beach scene at Asilomar State Park in Pacific Grove.  Mine was so awful,  I threw it in the ocean.  But, I did the one above the following morning and it was much better.

Point Lobos State Park

8" x 10"
Point Lobos #52

Later that afternoon we drove down to Point Lobos State Park and tried our hand at the crashing surf and rocky cliffs - beginner stuff.  Shapes REALLY matter when you paint rocks.  They can start looking like the craziest things - hamsters, tennis shoes, pumpkins, you name it - so, you have to step back a lot in order to keep an eye on those shapes.

Rocky Point, Big Sur
Can you even believe how beautiful this place is?

8" x10"
Rocky Point #53

8" x 10"
Rocky Point #54

I really love painting these rocks and the water's surface.  To me, part of the beauty of Big Sur is that you are always looking down on the water and there is so much action on the surface; the reflections, the waves, the color changes - there's never a dull moment.  I also realized how I prefer to draw things from this particular perspective - looking down on something.  When I was studying architecture, my best drawings were always from this perspective, so this part of the painting was not really a problem for me, it was actually fun.  However, painting a rock is learned skill.  

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can you think about what you are painting - you have to paint what you see, NOT what you think you see.

9" x 12"
Rocky Point #55
I did this sketch in about 20 minutes.  It was the third painting of the day.
I was really happy with it because it was so loose and I captured so much distance in composition.

Painting at Rocky Creek Bridge looking up at Rocky Point

9" x12"
Rocky Point Bridge #56

This was painted on the morning of the last day.  I decided to paint on a larger canvas and it really made a difference for me. I was pleased with this painting, as that first cliff shape was really weird and I liked the palette.

9" x 10"
Rocky Point #57

 Here is the last painting form the workshop.  I think it's the best.  I can work on the "white water" and need to tone down the yellow, but I can see I improved over the week.  This painting was fun to paint.  I never freaked out over the rocks and cliffs, and I tried to put into play everything that I learned over the week.

Here's a summary of some of the things we learned:

1. Establish a Process that works for you.
2. Look for a Focal Point: DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN
3. SHAPES; Keep it Simple.  Hold your Big Value Shapes (don't break is up with other values)
4. STEP AWAY OFTEN (I definitely need to do this more)
5. SEPARATION - separate the foreground middle ground and distance

 

Bill Davidson is a great teacher and inspirational person. Here's just a sampling of the things he told us all day long:

     "GO OUT AND MAKE A LIFE , PAINT WHATEVER YOU LOVE, MAKE IT LOOK THE WAY YOU WOULD LOVE IT TO LOOK, GET THICK PAINT,  MAKE THAT PAINTING SING .YOUR STYLE FINDS YOU.  ENJOY IT ALL"

I certainly enjoyed it all this week!  I always love time with my gal-pals from North Carolina.  It was such a treat to paint with them everyday for the week.

The North Carolinians at Rocky Creek Bridge
Tra, Frances, Boo and Nancy

Aunt Boo and me
(a much better photo of Boo)

 And now for today!

8" x10"
Sorich Ridge #58

This is the last one, I promise.  I wanted to get to the Headlands today and practice my new rock painting skills, but it was completely fogged in.  So, I headed over to Sorich Ridge and painted the house on the end of Ridgewood.  Tim has painted this composition before, so I knew it worked.  Plus, I was kind of looking down on it, so it seemed to relate to all the rocks I have been painting this week.  After all the painting I've done this week, the "process" today seemed easy compared to the Big Sur coastline.  Hopefully, the fog clears this week so that I can get out and paint some rocky cliffs.

#47,48,49, & FIFTY

Tell me, this doesn't even look real, does it?
Well, it is, and that's me getting work done in the vastness of it all.

Where to begin? It's been several days since I last posted, but I promise I've been painting.  Between the Worlds Series, Field hockey and life in general, I haven't found time to post.  And honestly, my paintings have been so darn awful, I haven't wanted to.  The weather here has been extraordinary and I've taken to the hills to paint the Headlands.  Let me be the first to tell you, how challenging this is - for me at least - a "friction" situation, for sure.  So, let me post the three terrible awful no-good very bad paintings:

Me again, struggling with the Headlands.
 At least I'm holding the end of my brush .  I'll take that as a minor victory.

But first, let me tell you how I came across these awesome photographs.  I met this wonderful couple while I was painting and they offered to send the photos they took of me while I was painting.  Little did they know how tortured I was feeling at the time. Fortunately, you cannot see my face.

Now, look through these quickly.  Ready, set, go!

6" x8"
Awful painting #47
Looking back across the lagoon at Rodeo Beach

6" x 8"
Awful painting #48
I found this pretty little secret beach, but you'd never know it from this painting.

6" x8"
Awful painting #49
No, this is not a giant deer hoof stepping into the water.

The Headlands are irresistible on a beautiful day and we have had about 3 of them in a row.  I figured I need to learn how to paint the California coastline, so I've been focusing on that this week and just about driven myself mad i the process.  Also, I'm going to a workshop all next week (for my Birthday) in Carmel and I imagine we will be painting lots of cypress trees in front of the ocean, so I thought I would benefit from some practice, and was I right!  Today it rained, so I went into the studio do some copycat paintings and to try to teach myself how to paint the California Coastline.  These are way better.

8" x10"
#50
Copy Cat of Ken Auster
I love how misty those headlands are in the distance. My palette is a much higher key.

Ken Auster

6" x 8"
This is actually painting #49 which I scraped away because the deer hoof was so scary,
and I couldn't bear to look at it anymore.

A copycat of a painting I pulled from the internet.
 Not sure who's it is, but I love how loose it is and I love the palette.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! XOXO