For those paintings that take a long time...

Lunch In The Arbor

12"x16" Acrylics on linen panel $175
You can purchase this painting HERE.

The second of the Villa Catalana paintings from last year is finished. I did a lot of glazing on this one to build up the colors on the stonework and the fuzzy grasses in the foreground. I was frankly surprised at how fluffy they looked when I finished. I started with a couple layers of light greens, and then the pale yellow tufts, and the yellow ochre tint in the center, trying to get the translucency of the clumps. I worked similarly on the rest of the painting, especially on the stonework, trying to give it the look of bright shade, between the brighter back- and top-lighting and the deep shadows under the heaviest vine foliage. The stones were so many different colors I couldn't decide which to paint first—the grays, the golds, the blue sky reflections, the rosy beiges. The vines were a similar problem,  greens in a half dozen colors, plus highlights and shadows.

Even though it seemed I was doing more experimenting than painting, somehow the painting looked a little better, but it never came to life. I intensified the colors of the tablecloth and the people, added new hues of blue, turquoise, and more yellow highlights on the leaves. I deepened the shadows with red-violet, and it looked better, but it still looked flat. I felt as though I'd thrown every color I had at it, and had simply run out of ideas.

Then last weekend I went to a show opening of Leland John, a well-known artist and former teacher from this area. I stayed a couple hours, and did a lot of staring at his paintings up close, looking at the brushstrokes and the amount of paint he used on each stroke. Then I noticed something that all my favorites had in common—that you could take any 4-inch-square area on the paintings, and count around fifty different colors.

I thought about that a lot the next day, looking at the arbor painting again. Maybe I just wasn't using enough colors. I thought there must be one or more colors missing from it, and suddenly I looked at the grasses and pale scrub in the foreground, and realized how yellow they were, and thought that was the missing color—the complement of yellow—violet. I painted virtually every middle tone and shadow with some violet, and the more I put on, the better the painting looked. When I washed the thin lines of violet into the center of the big grass clump, that finished it.

It doesn't look anything like a Leland John painting, but I'll never look at a painting the same way again. When I look at it now, I can't see the violet at all—but it looks alive. It's not flat any more.

Realism without detail?

Garden Steps

12"x16" Acrylics on linen panel $175
You can purchase this painting HERE.

I started this one last August at the Villa Catalana paint-out in Oregon City. That day was so hot, windy, and dry that the paint practically dried on my brush. All I managed to do that day was make a bunch of smears and blobs on the panel, so it was a kind of enforced looseness. Somehow I managed to keep that feel when I started reworking it in the studio, and every time I worked on it I browbeat myself into not getting all tensed up about making it look realistic, and yet it still came out as realistic  as anything I've ever done, maybe even moreso. When I did the stones I made the lines rough and sloppy, really trying to do as little as possible as I put the colors on. Up close I see dozens of blurs and blobs, and yet when viewed as a whole, the general chaos and blocked shapes turns into recognizable plants and architecture. I couldn't resist putting in some real detail in the tree trunk and the rose stems; at least it makes a sort of center of interest. I think any more detail would have killed it.

I still have two other paintings from that day to finish up.

Loosening up with some spring colors

May Garden

12"x16" Acrylics on mounted canvas $90
You can purchase this painting HERE.

With my second song released, I'm back to doing some painting, and still working on my current painting goals: To relax and have more fun, to compose an unpremeditated painting just from my imagination as I paint, and to find more opportunities to draw with my brush. This one did all three for me. I don't remember if I was thinking anything as I did the initial paint application, but by the time I covered the canvas I was seeing a flowery landscape in it. I kept working with it, switched to a smaller brush, and began drawing in the trees. As I worked on the flower colors, I imagined a thick planting of iris in blue, violet, and yellow, and when I put in the peach-colored gladioli, I felt that the color scheme was complete.

I certainly had more fun than usual on it, refusing to worry about how it was going to come out, concentrating on the compatible colors and the overall composition, and just wanting to see how close I could come to a decent painting. When I felt it was almost done, I drew some flower details on a few of the iris, and that was it.

I find the colors a bit startling, and the whole painting is a bit of a jolt to the eyes; I keep thinking, Van Gogh on acid. But it really was fun inventing it, and it's certainly not boring, nor the worst painting I've ever done, or even the worst one I've done lately.

Drawing with my brush

Okay, I think I finished Angel 2. I added more tints for some iridescence, and got the glow the way I like it. I started the Angel 3 canvas, an 11x14 this time, and maybe a tiny bit more "traditional" looking, but not much.

I have long coveted the brush stroke skills of John Singer Sargent, as well as Emily Carr, Van Gogh, and a lot of other painters. My favorite classic paintings are the ones from when the application of the paint became part of the painting. I remember descriptions in the first painting books I read, about how to make your brush strokes disappear, and until I discovered the moderns, I thought that was the ideal. So when I began to admire skillful strokes, I had never thought about how I could emulate them, and when I did wonder if I could, I had no idea how to try.

Then this morning as I started painting, I had this thought: Draw with your brush. (Duh.)

I have a tendency to just smear the paint on, with my only goal being to get it into the desired shape and opaqueness. But today, it occurred to me that every brush stroke should be an intelligent mark—it should convey something about the subject or the subject's surface, just as a line on a drawing does. It should help describe not just the color and outline, but the energy, texture, shininess or darkness, and say something about the emotion or feeling of the painting. And if it doesn't tell you anything, then put some thought into what you want it to do before you put it down.

One of the things I took away from my favorite Sargent paintings is how few brush strokes he appeared to be using. He didn't overload his paintings with information. There were the bare facts of subject—color, light, general shape—and then there were only as many carefully placed, artful strokes, and little blobs as were needed to tell you everything you need to know about that subject in order to understand and relate to it.

I think true brilliance in any communication endeavor is to get across what you want to as directly and succinctly as possible. Brevity is more than the essence of wit, it's being clear about what you want to express. The things you don't say are equally as important as the things you do.

So, as I put the first paint on the new one, I kept reminding myself—no good habit comes easily—to use the important brushstrokes as a way to define my subject, and for now, to use every brushstroke as practice drawing. I'll have to see how that works out, but it's definitely something I've never done before.

Second angel for Angels500

I started my second angel painting today. I don't think it's quite done, but I'm happy with it so far.

My first angel for Angels500

I think this one is done now, I am pretty happy with the way the painting looks. I hope it will connect with someone when I send it.

One (or two) more to go!

Angel paintings for cancer patients - angels500

I learned about a really wonderful painting challenge today that seems like a real no-brainer. Why shouldn't every cancer patient who wants one have their own angel painting?

It's called angels500 on facebook. I saw a painting by Rhea Groepper on Daily Paintworks this morning that announced this drive:

Look for Rhea Groepper's painting on the 1/16/16 Daily Paintworks site.

Here's the information (from facebook) and the address to send your paintings to:

I bet there are plenty of cancer hospitals across the US who would be interested in donations like this. At least, I hope so.

I've prepped a couple canvases this morning, and can't wait till they're ready to paint. Thank you, Rhea, for putting this out there.

Cheers!