February 28, 2008

Finally back




It's been a while since my last post. I've been working very hard. There are three areas that are getting most of my attention these days. Figure studies for Juliette Aristides Classical painters group, Landscape for Mitch Abala's Landscape Critique group and Still life for the gallery I show at. I'm working at getting rich transparent shadows in my paintings and this still life felt like a good step in that direction.
Fun news, I'll be traveling to New York City next week to spend a couple of days in the Met and hopefully the Frick. So exciting!!!

February 12, 2008

complimentary lemons

More practice with the warm cool balance. The other area I'm trying to improve in is luminous transparent darks. The idea is to use transparent thin layers of color in the shadows to create a dark yet glowing area.

I've noticed along with the skills I'm developing, patience with the process is also required. When I first started painting I tried to blast through my paintings with the idea that the faster I painted the more m0ney I made if it sold. Now it has become much more important to take the time to create work that I am proud of.

February 6, 2008

Warm and cool


Here's something that has finally begun to work in my paintings; bread areas of color that are activated by the addition of small areas of the opposite temperature color.
In a recent workshop I attended taught by Geoffry Laurence, he was able to explain how the old masters created such depth in the shadows. My goal is to take what I learned and practice creating these atmospheric shadows.