Painting the Spirit of Nature

"Glorious Gull" Click here to bid on DPW-thanks!

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Happy Monday everyone! Yesterday, it felt like summer. I finally turned off the studio heat, opened all the windows and enjoyed an iced coffee instead of a winter cappuccino. Not quite spring break in Cabo but still pretty relaxing for mid March.

Prior to this weekend though, I’ve been getting more than a little anxious waiting for spring. But of course, as many winter plein air painters know nature is still all around us. You just might have to look a little more closely (and be willing to brave the cold.) 

"Crow on Ice" 8x10 oil on linen

As I’ve noted before I get my daily winter nature fix at my nearby park where several large ponds attract plenty of usual aviary suspects even on the coldest days such as crows, gulls, geese, starlings, pigeons, flickers and ducks. .  

Washington Park bald eagle (hanging out in evergreens)

This year we also had some eagle and hawk sightings (as you can see) which was exciting but truthfully I enjoy painting the “everyday” birds like my high key gull and snowbound crow today. It was a happy coincidence that a recent  DPW weekly painting challenge a couple of weeks ago was bird themed. The challenge inspired by this wonderful Robert Henri (his book The Art Spirit is one of my favorites) quote:

Paint the flying SPIRIT of the bird 

rather than its FEATHERS.

It's another gorgeous day so time to get back to the easel and find out what I already know....Have a colorful week! P.S. For more info about my upcoming spring and summer workshops please visit my website.

The Painting Knife of the Party

"Jazzy Crow" 8x01 oil on linen (for sale at Framed Image Gallery)

Happy Summer everyone! It's going to be exciting painting week. Today I'm getting ready for a three day plein air workshop in beautiful Evergreen, Colorado later this week with with landscape artist Dave Santillanes. It's going to be a challenge but I'm looking forward to it!

In the meantime I wanted to post this new painting and offer my thoughts on painting with a knife-- one of my favorite oil painting techniques. FYI, I consider a palette knife to be a mixing knife. But really, one could mix/paint with either and I often do. And artists seem to use the terms interchangeably.

The knife has been of my favorite painting tools for years. It works wonderfully (most of the time) for adding texture or thicker impasto paint layers in the final stages. And sometimes, as with my crow painting today, I paint the entire painting from start to finish with the knife. 

Even if you prefer using a  brush (which I mostly use as well) I think having some knife skills are very useful for oil painting. Painting knives, for example, can be used to quickly rework or scrape a section. This scraping often results in exciting sections of interesting broken color effects. Note that scraping over wet paint and scraping over dry paint render different results so be sure to try to both.

My favorite painting knives have two key features: An "soft grip" rubber handle (I do use wood handle knives but not as much) and a pointed “diamond shape” tip for control. I most often use the RGM knives Regarding size—just like brushes the bigger the canvas the bigger the knife size.

There are several oil painting books that feature knife painting as a key approach if you want to explore this technique: Susan Sarback's Capturing Radiant Color in Oil, Lois Griffel's Painting the Impressionist Landscape, and How to See Color and Paint It by Arthur Stern--which has fantastic painting exercises. 

Thanks for stopping by! Finally, I’m happy to share that this painting (along with 3 others) will be featured in an upcoming show in Denver at Framed Image Gallery. For more info, please visit my Events Page on my website.

Summer Market Sneak Peak

"Pepper Prism" 16x16 oil on gallery wrap canvas SOLD

Nothing spurs creativity more than a deadline. (Mary E. Whitehill)

Welcome to June!  The Denver Summer Art Market is only days away--I can see the finish line! My goal was to have about 75 paintings ready (this includes small studies). Have you ever painted four paintings in a day? I know some of you have—maybe in a a workshop or class. I did it yesterday--Amazing but exhausting!

As you can guess creating and preparing 75 paintings requires a great deal of attention, concentration and energy. (Does anyone enjoy matting?) But it’s also a luxury to have an excuse to paint so much. That being said you can’t do everything during these intense work spurts. Certain things have gone by the wayside…

My car hasn't been washed since last fall. I think my driver’s license expired a few days ago. My laundry is pile is gaining elevation. I owe a close friend a birthday card...Sometimes I think you have to give yourself a pass when you have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).  Thanks again to everyone--my friends, students, collectors and followers for your support and patience this time of the year. I couldn't do a weekend event like this without you.

"Crow Confab" 18x24 oil on canvas panel SOLD

Next week I know I'll return to a more balanced existence (included a regular teaching schedule) but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy a week of indulgent creativity. Today's post features just a few of the paintings I've been working on. I had a great time working on these colorful Pearl Street farmer's market peppers as well as these "murder" of crows from Wash Park.

Finally, since I've been so busy I didn't have as many posts in May as I'd like so I'm extending my blog contest for a free print or phone cover into June. Just comment on any May or June post to be entered. Cheers everyone and hope to see you this weekend!

300 Reasons to Celebrate!

8x10 oil on panel "Black Steps" on hold for Summer Market

First over the weekend I saw two wonderful oil painting demos at Gallery 1261. Will post photos soon but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peak at the acclaimed Daniel Key's beautiful still life:

Daniel Keys Still Life Oil Demo at Gallery 1261

But today I wanted to acknowledge a very happy and proud landmark---my 300th blog post. More importantly, five years ago this summer that I took the “leap” into the creative wilderness. Technically, as you may guess given the timeframe, I was gently pushed like a cozy baby owlet out of my lofty coporate nest.

Like many professionals I faced some tough choices. Do I wait out the storm? Do I “fly” in a new direction? Get a law degree? (Yes that was on my list.) As I looked for guidance I saw many articles, books, posts about “finding your true passion.” Hmm. That’s an easy one.  Art and nature. But now what?

Welcome to the Scarlet Owl Studio! The answer: An artist. Of course!

I’m sure many entrepreneurs would agree that you can do some planning, research, etc. but ultimately the only way to test the waters is to jump in. So I took a big slice of my savings pie and built a studio onto my house. That led to me teaching and painting more. Some bumps along the way? Of course. As many of you know, the art biz is not always for the faint of heart.

But here I am five years later, blogging, teaching, painting and loving art (thanks to all of you) more than I ever did. So thank you all again! his has been a thrilling journey. What's next? What’s around the corner? I don't know but we'll find out together! P.S. Happy Birthday to all my fellow Taurus artists--I know there are many!

Finally--beautiful pink blossoms outside the studio!

P.P. S. To celebrate May and my 300th post I'm giving away a FREE fine art print OR phone cover (your choice) of any of my posted paintings. To enter please leave a comment during May 2014. Contest ends 5/31/2014. Random drawing June 1, 2014. Winner announced on my blog--Good luck!!