The Light in August

"Painted Path" 8x10 oil on Ampersand Gessobord (collection artist)

Happy August everyone! Many thanks to all my summer students who keep painting and working hard despite the many other enjoyable distractions of summer.

Happy hard-working oil painters in my Denver oil painting summer class

New August Oil Painting Workshop
Before my group painting classes resume this fall, I’m really looking forward to teaching an enjoyable 2 day “summer retreat” oil painting workshop at the Foothills Art Center in Golden on August 23/24. Think of it as a 2 day painting vacation—with comfortable AC! We’ll learn lots so come join us! You may get info and register for the workshop here: http://www.foothillsartcenter.org/adultsclasses/

Summer’s Picture Perfect
Quick reminder that summer is the perfect season for what I like to call “image collection.”  Whether your summer travels take to you exotic locales or just really enjoy local exploration like I do here are some quick tips for taking painting reference photos:

• Venues like cafes, parks, farmer’s markets, gardens, street scenes, festivals, neighborhoods, trails, marinas, the beach, etc. all make for interesting photo references you could use later for a class or workshop. 
• What makes a strong painting reference photo? That’s going to differ depending on your art goals but in general it might be a subject you enjoy (like my pinto horse today), or dramatic light and shadow, interesting shapes or textures, eye catching color, early or evening light, etc. Again the more photos you take the more ideas and options you’ll have.
• Once you have man photos it can be very helpful to take a few hours and sort them into groups or galleries with painting themes like landscapes, still lifes, flowers, skies and clouds, animals, people,etc. This makes it much easier and quicker to find just the right photo when you need it later. 

Finally, be sure to have some kind of back up for your photos—either with a cloud, online storage, or on a memory stick just in case. Happy photo gathering--Have a wonderful summer and hope to see you in a class soon!

Brushing Up on Birds

Some of my favorite daily bird paintings

No bird soars to high if he soars with his own wings. William Blake

Happy August everyone! I wanted to share that my friend and neighbor is hosting a wonderful fundraising event on Saturday, August 27. The art themed garden party will benefit two great Denver bird rescue and education non profit organizations. You can get more info on tickets here.

Along with several Denver painters, I’ve been kindly invited to include at least one bird painting in the silent auction. So I’ve been brushing up on my birds—no pun intended. Am hoping to include at least one small owl painting in the silent auction.

So early Sat. I went on a very educational bird walk along the South Platte River. If you’ve never been on a "official" bird walk with an experienced guide I can almost guarantee you’ll find more birds than you would on your own. This also makes taking reference photos like this hummingbird much easier. 

Broad tailed hummingbird at Hudson Gardens

The rest of this month is going to be a very eventful! In addition to the bird art event, I’m teaching a sold out “Intro to Daily Painting” workshop for the Louisville Art Association .

On eve of Aug. 18 I’ll be in Brighton for another daily painting presentation to another wonderful group of artists. My sincere thanks again to both these groups or inviting me to share my art journey with them. OK time to trade the laptop for the easel. Have a wonderful weekend.

To Dream a New Dream

"Steppin' Out" 12x12 oil on canvas (collection artist)

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. C. S. Lewis

I’ve always been fairly focused and goal oriented. This tendency served me well in a business or educational setting.  As you know, in the corporate world a typical goal goes something like this: Increase sales of the XYZ oil brush at the new Atlanta store by 10% by end of the year.  Here, the goal is both specific and measurable.  At the end of the year, the answer is either yes that happened or no we missed the boat.

However a typical artist goal might be:  I want to improve my plein air painting. (Yes, that’s one of my actual summer art goals.) Seems reasonable and true but kind of vague now that I see it in print.  This morning for example (photo evidence below) I actually ventured out of my studio (yay!) and painted in the park? So did I achieve my goal?

My Coulter plein air easel in Wash Park this AM. Whew hot but shady!

But aren’t we always hearing that art is a journey not a destination? Or maybe that’s not true anymore in today’s art market? No easy answers, right?  

Thankfully, I recently came across two timely goal themed posts (no pun intended). One from OPA artist Susan Blackwood who nicely summarized an OPA presentation by Joe Paquet. And the other from award winning Colorado landscape artist Stacey Peterson who writes about “keeping your eye on the trail.”  

I particularly enjoyed Joe’s theme of “knowing yourself” and “finding your own gifts." More specifically, he suggests you grade yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on these key criteria:

• Drawing (I think of this as interesting shape/mark making as well as accuracy/proportion)
• Color
• Harmonies
• Design
• Brush strokes (I think of this as edgework as well)
• Values

To help evaluate my own skills I added 2 additional key criteria that I also feel are important to my growth as an artist:

• Starting with clear purpose and intent
• Finishing (actually finishing, detail work, or knowing when to stop)

Not only did I find it helpful to grade myself but I thought this would be a very useful list to take to a class or workshop to help you have a specific dialogue with an instructor.  Or to score yourself after a series of new paintings. Where was I at the start of the year, where am I now?

Goal making may not work for every artist but personally, I’ll always find this kind of “self diagnosis” helpful. One of my own goals will always be to "be a better artist"—but I think I understand now that how I define that is up to me. 

P.S. Thanks to Dan Oakleaf for sharing this "dreamy" snowy egret photo (taken along the So. Platte in north Denver) for today's egret painting to help me meet my "wildlife painting" goals.  

10 Postcards from Southwest Florida

No. 10: Crescent Beach Shells--I never get tired of shells!

Have you ever noticed if you paint how you start to crave and seek out color? So this time of year at home, like many artists, I’m often drawn to beachy or tropical destinations when I do leave the studio. Looking for sunny workshop? At ArtShow.com you can search for workshops by locale.

No. 9: Early AM skimmer parade on Crescent Beach--love the 2 color beaks!

No. 8 A Rainbow Sherbert Array of Boats at the Rose Marina

Near water you’ll find a full spectrum of subject matter : Sunsets, boats, waves, shoreline, fish, reflections, umbrellas, lighthouses, beach goers, etc. Given that here are my Top 10 favorite pics from trip last week to the Naples, Marco Island, and Key West in Southwest Florida. I can't wait to start working on some Florida inspired paintings in the meantime...Wish you were there!

No.7: My first manatee (near Goodland)--not easy to find and photo but so exciting!

No. 6: Everglades gator--taken with my zoom of course.

No.5: One of the famous (and sleepy) 6 toed Hemingway cats on Key West

Boats are also a rare site in a land locked state where I live so harbors are one of my favorite places to take pictures on trips. It's no wonder so many artists love to paint boats and their reflections.

No. 4: Gorgeous red yacht in Marco Island Marina

 

No pink flamingos but I did see many striking shore and seabirds including this great blue heron and a white ibis.

No. 3: Boldly plumed heron in the Everglades

No: 2: Wonderful bright red bill and fee on this pretty white ibis on Marco Island

Burrowing owls are endangered here in Colorado and I've never seen one. Since owls are my favorite bird it was a special treat to spot a few in an open lot (in a roped off protected area) on Marco Island. Unlike most owls burrowing owls are active during the day. Which of course is great for photo opportunities.

No. 1: Florida Burrowing Owl--love the intense yellow eyes.

 

Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda.

Oil Study of Wash Park Boathouse-8x8

Today’s post is a small plein air oil study I've been working on for the Denver Plein Art Competition. It’s a painting of the Washington Park boathouse--one of my favorite local landmarks. But truth be told, I just couldn’t finish this painting to my satisfaction on site. Nor did I finish my watercolor of the garden.

From what I can tell reading other posts, forums, and blogs  the discussion regarding “finishing” of a plein air painting (particularly for a competition) is a somewhat controversial. In other words, there doesn’t seem to be definite answer for how much is acceptable to paint back in your studio. In general, the range I found for various plein air events (if it was addressed) was “none” (for quick draws or one day paint outs for example) up to 20 percent later touch up.

In this case, given the contest took place over several weeks, my goal was to finish the painting as close to 100% as I could get.  Since I don’t usually paint plein air on regular basis, I admit I was rusty, and so I fell short of this goal.

So I have some thoughts in my next post about how I’ll make my next plein air competition or paint out more successful. Hopefully, these tips will help you too if you’re planning a first time plein air event.

In the meantime, I promised some additional tips about how to improve your chances for getting into juried art shows in general. My first suggestion is: Don’t wait until the last minute to submit your entry. I always back out a show due date at least a week on my calendar. Why? You might have trouble with your images, your computer, the entry website, etc. So give yourself plenty of time. For more art show tips check out this helpful article: Five Tips for Getting Into Juried Shows.

Just Desserts

Just Desserts-9x12 Acrylic on Canvas

Today's Painting
Happy July 1 everyone! This is the third painting in my trio of "sweet treat" paintings. Here, I included a cappuccino since that's usually the time I crave a sweet. Again, these were painted with Golden Open Acrylics for easier blending.

Free Style Brushes

Speaking of new acrylic painting tools, here's an interesting new line of brushes and knives from Liquitex (who also has a great new website focused on art inspiration) called Free Style. Recently a student brought a brush just made for splattering! Super cool and much bigger than an old toothbrush! Check out a short Free Style Brush demo video above. 

Pouring Away
I always seem to get a lot of interest in my poured paintings and so am posting (in my student gallery above) a wonderful new example created by one of my younger students. I love pouring both watercolor and acrylics. It's one my favorite techniques to "KO" that big white canvas. Here we poured Hansa Lemon, Quin Rose, and Thalo Blue thinned down acrylics from old plastic cups--letting each pour dry for a bit in the sun between layers.

Then the student painted with similar colors and white to create a contemporary landscape. For extra detail and bling at the end we added some gold lines to emphasize the tree leaves. Thanks for stopping by and have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Primavera Robin

Primavera Robin-8x8-oil on panel

Happy Sunday everyone! My quest to capture the colors of spring continues. This is the same robin I posted a few days ago after he flew up and landed on a budding spring branch by an evergreen tree. Initially, most of my photos were of the swaying branch or sky and no robin, so I was thrilled to finally capture him at rest.

Here, I really wanted to capture the sunlit warmth of the robin and the reddish buds/berries against the coolness of the blue green evergreen. I also had a great time playing with the brush edges in this because of all the different textures--branches, feathers, spiky evergreen foliage, etc.

Speaking of birds, the Daily Paintworks painting challenge this week is chickens, which as many of you know are very popular art subject. And I know art buyers seem have a fondness for farm fouls as well. I'm often asked at an art festival if I have chicken or rooster paintings. But, as a city artist, I don't have a lot of chicken photos handy, so I may use the photo Carol posted. We'll have to wait and see...


Summer Art Market News
As I've mentioned before I'll be taking many of my posted paintings to the Summer Art Market on June 11-12, 2011, so if you are in Denver be sure to stop by and say hi. FYI, in the spirit of daily deals, closer to the Art Market I'll post a very special Colorful Connection Blog Readers discount coupon for everyone so be looking for that in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Even Moore Inspiration

Normally, I'd be posting a painting. But last week, I finally had a chance to check off one of my "summer art must dos" that was a visit to the Henry Moore sculpture exhibit at our Denver Botanic Gardens and I just had to post a couple of pics from my visit.  

This unique art exhibit (which runs through January 2011) includes 20 bronze and marble sculptures at both the downtown Denver and suburban Chatfield locations.  As an artist, I'm always considering proportion and scale, so it was fascinating to experience three dimensional creations that tower over 10 feet tall and weigh more than a ton particularly outside a more conventional museum setting. 

As many of you may know, Moore was a highly-acclaimed British sculpture born in the late 1800s and known for his large scale curvilinear abstracted works some figural, some less so. To me the massive sculptures seemed completely at peace even along side the most delicate flora. I think Mr. Moore would have been quite pleased with the setting. Above you can see one of my favorites--a wonderful turquoise sculpture rising out of the lily ponds like a stretching water beast of some sort.

I also love circles and spirals so another one of my Moore favorites was this "Figure 8" shaped dark bronze piece that created a wonderful organic frame for a more formal area. While I didn't have time to sketch, I did take many photos and am planning to integrate many of the shapes into a future abstract work. Simply by  taking photos of the sculptures, I was reminded of just how much we can learn from art forms outside our creative comfort zones.

Before I go, quick welcome and thanks to some new students: Kathleen, Monique, and John. I've enjoyed working with all of you and look forward to more fall painting projects. For class info, please write to me, click on the class link on the upper right, or search for Scarlet Owl in TeachStreet. Thanks for checking in an and have a wonderfully creative week!    

Summer Break & Inspiration

Greetings Everyone from the Studio!
I hope you all enjoying your summer. I'm back from a bit of a creative hiatus but hope to be in full swing now. Many thanks to all of you who were kind enough to check in with me! The summer has been unusually busy. I was out of town for a while as well as working on some non art projects, but I'm back and in the studio this week and very excited to work on a new series of projects in the next few weeks.

First, a quick welcome to all my new summer students! I think it's wonderful how many people I meet every week who are willing to take the time out of their busy lives to explore their creative side. 

Last week I was lucky enough to be up in the Vail/Edwards part of Colorado and went to an intimate but  very nice outdoor art festival in Edwards where I spotted this larger than life paint encrusted palette that I just had to photograph for inspiration. In between painting, I always try to keep looking for inspiration when I can.

At the Vail International Gallery, for example, I came across the amazing landscape paintings of Colorado artist John Taft. While his colors are more muted than my own palette, I was really drawn to his atmosphere and composition. As Colorado painter, I've seen many mountain and aspen paintings in my time, so it's always interesting when this subject matter catches my eye in a new way.

And I always find some ideas and inspiration at our Cherry Creek Art Festival which featured over 230 exhibitors from around the country. It was great to see some new artists that I caught my eye as well as some old favorites return. For example, I've always enjoyed Phyllis Stapler's colorful and contemporary animal paintings.

While I'm not usually drawn to really tight realism, I loved Richard Hall's stunning oil still lifes with natural elements. I just had to stop and compliment his rendering of tricky textures and he and his wife could not have been nicer. Speaking of still lifes, I also enjoyed the brush work and subtle color harmonies in Kelley Somer's work. Another artist that I've really come to enjoy this summer is Mark Adams--as many of you know I love animals and food (but not in that combination!) so I really look forward to his blog postings. 

OK, no lack of inspiration. Time to get to back in the art saddle so I can post some paintings this week. Have a great week and as always feel free to write to me about my art, classes, or any other art topics you may have a question about. Namaste!

Red Bird Wednesday

It's a beautiful sunny spring day in Denver so a wintery cardinal study might be a bit of an odd choice for a painting today. But I really wanted to paint something bright red and I had the studio doors open to the backyard and could hear the vociferous songbirds (cardinals have about 12 songs, I read). 

And while owls (obviously!) are my personal favorite bird, my grandmother always loved cardinals and red, as I do, so that was additional inspiration for this little 8x10 cardinal oil painting study.  Did you know seven states have cardinals as the state bird? And this is a male of course because of the showy plumage.

I also knew it would be fun to play with the green complement as well as the red hue temperatures--balancing the warm and cool reds in this case. This study was painted with a limited oil palette of: Titanium White, Ultra Blue, Cerulean Blue (which I don't often use but thought I would use for my cool blue today since Thalo is sooo strong), Cad Red Light, Permanent Rose, and some Cad Yellow Medium.

To soften the edges I used a flat sable brush (rather than a stiffer oil bristle brush) which I don't always use either because I tend to loose some of my edges, but it's the perfect tool for for feathers and fur.

For more information about my classes and NEW Colorful Connections workshop please click on the Classes link on the top right. Have a wonderfully creative day!