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.

Mixing it up in the Studio

"Love Nest" 16 x 16 acrylic mixed media (on hold for Summer Art Market)

There are colors which cause each other to shine brilliantly, which form a couple which complete each other like man and woman. Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh's birthday is this upcoming Monday (March 30) so that was my quote choice today. (Did you know you can read (or search) all of Van Gogh's letters archived online in this wonderful resource?)

Given his love of color, I think Vincent would approve of my painting goal this week. Which is 12 paintings each with a dominant color working around the color wheel. My initial plan was to go in chroma order but as you know a painting often takes you by surprise and so I let the main color emerge as I worked on it.

"Dream Tree" 16x16 acrylic mixed media (on hold for Summer Art Market)

"Bloom to Grow" 16x16 acrylic mixed media (on hold for Summer Art Market)

 My previous post was Green and Blue Green. Today I'm posting Yellow Orange (one that I really ended up loving), Violet, and Red (a strong hue so that was a challenge.)

Mixed media/acrylic paintings are perfect for this “exercise” because they dry quickly and are easy to change on the fly. It’s probably my favorite aspect of working with acrylics. FYI, most of my paintings from now until June will be available at the Summer Art Market: June 13 & 14. I like to have lots of inventory for SAM collectors who are so loyal to this wonderful event.

For more info about my Denver art classes or upcoming painting workshops please visit the Scarlet Owl Studio website.   Thanks and have a colorful spring week!

The Passion Sandwich

Autumn Oil Paining Commission in Progress (30x40)

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested. (E. M. Forster) 

While I continue to paint this large autumn leaf inspired oil painting (in progress for a client) yesterday morning I was listening to the Artists Helping Artists interview with award-winning California plein air artist Ken Auster.

Ken offered many helpful insights but one really struck a chord. And that’s the importance of the “passion sandwich.”  In a nutshell, it’s the benefit of separating the intellectual aspect of painting with that pure joy and passion stage.  Perhaps summed up in a simpler 3 word motto (which I quickly taped up by my easel):

Think

Create with Passion & Joy!

Think

Or Plan. Paint. Fine Tune. You get the idea. This makes sense and should be relatively easy. But what I witness often for painters of all levels (myself included) is the tendency to rush to the painting process too quickly with little or no forethought or understanding.

Now, I’m all for unbridled enthusiasm in the studio. But what happens when we paint without some planning? And all the passion, excitement, and creative may come to a grinding halt.

Or maybe we did do some planning (like a value sketch) but while we are in the middle of the creation phase we are still "second guessing" ourselves. Each time we hit the pause button we have to ramp up again.

This “stop and go” pattern may work for some artists but I agree with Ken. I think we’ll have a more productive and pleasant painting experience if we try to protect our passion and joy by bookending our  planning and evaluation.

I can tell you I've tried to stick to the "passion sandwich" diet during this painting. And so far it’s worked really well. For example, in the first "think" step I painted an mostly transparent acrylic underpainting where I worked out some design issues before I switched to oil paint--making the create stage much easier and quicker. 

P.S. For those of you getting ready to join in Leslie's 30 in 30 challenge (see her tips for doing the challenge if this is your first time) tomorrow I want to wish you all happy and passionate month of painting!

The Trip to Bountiful

Usually, I tell my students that you can't go too wrong if you keep things simple while painting. And normally, I try to adhere to my own advice but once in a while I don't get that message. This multi-layered oil painting on panel took me a few weeks from start to finish. It contains a kitchen sink of techniques--some new and some tried and true.

Just a few include painting the first layer with Golden Acrylics an old gift card (Victoria Secret BTW for those of you who like details) and scraping the paint over the gessoed Masonite board (18 x 18). (This idea came from an online demo I saw a while ago of an artist creating an entire painting with plastic cards as brushes.)

I also built up additional texture with a thick gesso using a variety of tools such as palette knife, stamping, and some stencils. Lately, I've been really drawn to waxy encaustic paintings and so I glazed some of the shapes back with milky opaque colors. This piece started out as a purely abstract color study demo for one of my abstract students with reds and golds. When a figure and face began to emerge I decided to work with that imagery. I added the dream catcher at the bottom just for "good luck" and because I love circles.

Quick thanks to all my students who continue to work hard and paint during the summer--I know it's a season with many other temptations. I love seeing each week what you are working on from dogs to pheasants, from florals to seascapes to aspens. Speaking of aspens, this weekend I'm off to Aspen and can't wait to take some photos up there. Have a great weekend everyone!