To Market, To Market...

Happy Summer everyone! I'm back after a few weeks of birthday travels. For over ten years for me my “official” kick off to summer is the Summer Art Market (SAM) in Denver which is next weekend—June 8 and June 9. The festival is 10A to 7P (longer this year) on SAT and 10A to 5P on SUN.  You can preview some of my 2013 SAM paintings here. 

Whew getting ready for such a big outdoor art festival can be a bit overwhelming but it’s worth every minute of prep time.  As an artist, I’m extremely blessed to have such an event minutes from my studio.

Getting ready to for the festival-big floppy hat a must!

What I really love about the SAM is that its primary focus is original fine art (no reproductions are allowed) by local Denver area artists. 

I know I say this every year and sure I may be a bit biased but given the number of artists (over 180 booths!), range of subject matter (from traditional to cutting edge), affordable prices (my small studies start at $5), quality of art (many artists like myself also show in galleries)—I truly believe it’s one of the best art festivals in the county. 

In addition, there are demos, music, and art activities for the young ones.  The only festival negative is that I wish I had more time to shop the festival myself!  Oh and sometimes the weather is odd for early June…

Last year for example it was a bit toasty—almost 100 on Saturday --but so far the forecast it looks pretty nice—in the 70’s. As always, I’m really looking forward as always to seeing friends, my fellow artists, and meeting everyone who stops by.

Hope to see you there! Happy art collecting—and to my fellow exhibitors (including one of my students) I hope you all have one of the best shows yet!

A picture perfect Sunday AM at the de Young in SF!

P.S. Just back from a wonderful weekend visit to beautiful San Francisco where I was lucky to catch the gorgeous Dutch painting exhibit which included Vermeer’s iconic “Girl with the Pearl Earring.” If you haven’t visiting the de Young and you’re a fan of American painting as I am you’ll love it—the Sargents, Hopper, Thiebaud, Dienbenkorn—all spellbinding in person!

A Creative Spring Break in the City

"Splashdown" 8x10 oil on archival panel

Available: Click to Bid (thank you!)

Before I took my “spring break” a few weeks ago to recharge my creative batteries I was thinking that spring was just around the corner…But I’m still eagerly awaiting the pale pink apple blossoms which mark the official start each year. 

I wish I could say I ran off with my paints to sunny Cabo--especially as I watch the tiny spring snow flakes fall outside the studio this morning. But I’m saving up for some May travel. So I decided to find as much positive creative energy as possible in my own neck of the woods. Here are a few things that have kept me busy (but in a good way), inspired, and ready to take my art to the next level...

Beautiful tiger at Denver Zoo

Photos , photos, photos…At the Zoo, at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (which is now a wildlife refuge), lots of parks and trails, etc. Today’s gull painting was a photo I took a few weeks ago at Washington Park where the ubiquitous waterfowl are some of the best wildlife models in the city year round.

Visited Denver Art Museum Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit.  You see so many O’Keeffe’s on posters, mugs, etc. that’s it’s always fascinating to see her art in person. This simple but powerful turkey feather and horseshoe painting was one of my favorites.

Traded my paint splattered apron for black sequins to attend the Art and Soul event--Wonderful to see hundreds of people attended a fundraising event in support of the arts and local artists. Thanks Denver!

Tried out some new art supplies—including Lefranc et Bourgeois titanium white—Used in the gull today and loved it--It's like French vanilla butter cream frosting...

Went to the movies (not just a DVD), enjoyed a "real" sit down lunch (amazing cheddar soup at Ghost Bar--thanks George--and yes it's haunted),  took my first bike ride of the year, had my eyes checked (super important fellow artists!), re-read some of my favorite art books, shopped for "non black" spring clothes and ended up with black capris (ladies you know how that goes). Most importantly I actually feel like I'm ready to paint with a refreshed vision and "cleaner" energy...It's good to be back!

P.S. Spring always brings new students so I want to welcome you all and thank my ongoing students who have also been at the mercy of this crazy spring weather!

The Artist's Wonderland

"Frosty Farm" 20 x 20 oil on canvas (work in progress)

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
Carl Reiner

Before we “spring forward” here in the Rockies  one of my goals was to paint a winter scape. What makes snowy landscapes so appealing? Now I have to agree with Mr. Reiner—I’m really am not a big fan of winter. But as a painter I’ve always loved snow kissed landscapes.  Fresh sunlit snow can turn an ordinary landscape or even a simple evergreen into a sparkling masterpiece.

A couple of years ago I was in Indianapolis where I had the chance to visit a lovely traditional horse farm. It had acres of rolling hills, white fences, and a beautiful brook—I imagined it the land would be filled with glorious color in the spring and summer.  But I was there in January—so it was gloomy and freezing.  Not exactly the photos where I thought: I’m going to paint that one day…

Fast forward  to a few weeks ago when  I needed  a “local tone” subject for my master painting class.  After searching my reference pics, I was reminded that I rarely take photos in bad weather conditions. And then I remembered the trip to Indiana farm...

As much as I enjoyed mixing a wide range of cool and warm grays, I decided to bump up the chroma in a few places which I thought worked well.  One of the reasons I enjoyed this painting so much is that I got to paint it in a warm studio while sipping my Mexican hot chocolate.

But in my heart I know I brave the elements one day and paint all the subtleties of snow first hand out in the field. In preparation of that day, here are some excellent snow painting tips from plein air painter Kathleen Dunphy.

Cool Art Find of the Week
Finally, do you enjoy doodling? Do you like to sculpt? Imagine a pen that allows you to both! Check out the 3Doodler. If you’ve ever used one let me know what it’s like!

Color is Like Cooking

6x6 oil on linen Cactus Color Study for Larger Painting

Color is like cooking. The cook puts in more or less salt, that's the difference! (Josef Albers)

Two of my favorite color strategies are color dominance and color complements. I could easily spend the rest of my studio life exploring just these two endless color journeys. I have a tendency to include the entire spectrum when I paint (that fresh palette is just so darn tempting!) so having a color game plan gives me focus.

"Green Finch" 6x6 oil on linen color study (note the warm toned canvas)

In this little house finch study for example I made the green the dominant color pushing every shape, every line, etc. toward green (warm and cool). Be brave--choose an unexpected color for your subject such as a red seascape, orange snowscape, violet portrait, etc.

Using a complement color pair is another almost no fail way to insure your colors look brighter, richer, cleaner. (I took some cues from  "Mother Nature" for my magenta and emerald prickly pear cactus study above.)

Did you think chocolate or cake first?

Remember the goal with these strategies is color first, subject second. To use Albers cooking analogy imagine you're baking a cake for a chocolate contest. If you really want to win you're going to add chocolate chunks, dark chocolate ganache frosting, chocolate shavings, cocoa power dust, chocolate mousse filling--You get the idea (and now I want cake...)  

Speaking of contests, color dominance or complement pairs can help give your work that extra “punch" when you need your painting to quickly get attention such as a juried competition or in a thumbnail size.

Ever wonder what colors you use too much/too little of? Color Explorer is a free color analysis program that allows you to "extract" the colors from your image (or painting). I found it fascinating to upload some of my  favorite masterpieces (such as a Van Gogh, Bonnard, O’Keeffe, etc.) and look at the color tendencies. Thanks and have fantastic week finding color in your world!  

When Art Goes to the Birds

"Jazzy Junco" 6x6 oil on linen panel

Please click here to bid.

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.   Emily Dickinson

As many of you know birds are one of my favorite painting subjects. So last weekend I was thrilled to visit the Woodson Museum touring Birds in Art exhibition at the Colorado Wildlife Experience. The quality of the show was top notch and I had many favorites (I posted a few on my Feathered Friends bird art board on Pinterest.)

Sometimes wildlife art (for me) while technically amazing can be a bit stiff, but I was impressed by the variety of interpretations, styles, and media. If you love bird and/or wildlife art I can’t recommend the beautiful Birds in Art catalog enough. Also, if you enjoy bird art, I highly recommend Tim Wootton's Drawing and Painting Birds book.

After seeing such an inspirational show, I’m also very motivated to work on a larger scale bird painting this year so I can enter next year in the meantime today I posted a little alla prima study of what I think is an Oregon Junco in fresh snow--It’s a fairly unusual bird to land in my little city yard so I spotted it right away.

Speaking of websites I’m excited to announce that my new Scarlet Owl Studio website is just about ready to launch—in the meantime you can get a sneak preview here. My original art website has served me well for many, many years but it was time for a spring makeover. And next time I’ll return to my thoughts on color dominance. See you then!

Brazen Brushwork and Paint Parsimony

10 Brushstroke Pear Exercise--6x6 oil (collection of the artist)

One of my 2013 goals to enhance my painterly brushwork. Another is not to be such a paint miser. If you have this tendency you know how hard it is to squeeze out several inches (gulp) of fresh paint all the time. And I'm surrounded by a dozens of paint tubes so there's really no excuse.

10 Brushstroke Bluebird Figurine 6x6 oil on panel (collection artist)

The further irony is that I’ve always personally preferred oil paintings with bold expressive brushwork and “chunky” generous paint.  The good news is that there’s a very helpful exercise to that will help you with both brazen brush work and paint parsimony. It’s what’s typically called the “limited stroke” or “limited brushwork” exercise.

I painted three 6x6 inch panels with simple subjects (these aren’t the Grand Canyon but they could be) and a 10 stroke limit or par for any of you golfers out there. After just three small paintings I was already thinking about my brushwork in a very different way. What else did I learn?

1. Remember Jaws?  Well, for this, we’re gonna need a bigger brush! And more paint. Bigger Brush. More Paint. Just keep saying it…
2. Use the canvas (in this case I toned with a warm quin gold acrylic wash) to your advantage. Consider what canvas shapes might stay “unpainted” and work as part of your overall composition. (Master paintings like Richard Schmid, CW Mundy, etc. will often use the "raw" canvas in their overall design.\)
3. Find the 10 most important shapes and paint those. What details can you leave out?
4. Paint rather than draw (or outline) your shapes. Feel the form with your brush.
5. Vary your brushwork—push, pull, twist, stab, etc. to get the most out of your brush.

For more info practicing your brushwork check out this previous DPW “limited stroke” challenge.  Popular teacher Peggi Kroll Roberts also offers a DVD demonstrating limited brushwork and I hear  this is a student favorite exercise in her workshops.  In my next post we'll chat about the power of color dominance as well as the Woodson Art Musuem  Birds in Art touring show which came to town.

New Colors are Like a Box of Chocolates

"My Sunny Valentine" 8x8 oil on archival Ampersand baord

Please click here to bid--SOLD-Thank you!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone and a special birthday shout out to anyone with a Val Day birthday like my Dad!

Ever since I’ve returned from the beach I’ve needed a “mid-winter” color pick me up.  So I treated myself to some fresh oil paints—which is almost as exciting as a box of dark chocolate.  Almost.
After shopping around online for a bit (budget: $100) and finding a “discount shipping” code I chose an special promo Daniel Smith Quinacridone oil paint set. The 11 juicy colors span the warmer side of the color wheel from the deep yellow orange Quin Gold (a rather hard to find pigment) to a new violet Quin Purple.

I like “quins” because they’re powerful, non-toxic, and highly transparent which means they mix cleanly and glaze well.  Quin Gold, Quin Rose, and Quin Magenta are some of my pet pigments for floral painting.  And I love using Quin Gold to mix interesting greens. (I tried the Quin Red in today’s sunflower painting.)

In my next post I’ll show you my results of a very challenging “limited brushstroke” painting exercise…Stay tuned.