All That Glitters

Vienna Holiday-36x36-Oil on Canvas SOLD

Last week’s Daily Paintworks’ challenge was deceptively straightforward: Paint something in the style of a painter you admire. Several of my favorite painters came to mind immediately: Van Gogh, Matisse, Hopper, O’Keeffe, Dixon, Bonnard, Cezanne…

Then I was thinking about all the visual inspiration of the holiday season--jewel tones, golds, silvers, nature based imagery, as well as cultural symbols. That train of thought led me to Austrian art nouveau painter Gustav Klimt. Thank you to a new collector from Colorado Springs for the purchase of this!

His vibrant colors, use of flat, dazzling patterns, unique (and sometimes controversial) figural compositions are so contemporary that I have to remind myself that Klimt died before 1920.  Here’s a wonderful example of one of his gilt figures, Hope II.

For the challenge, I choose to paint an abstract and initially planned to add gold leaf which I’ve done previously in some of my abstract paintings. Instead I chose a short cut using Golden brand (I love their metallic paints) acrylic gold paint as the undertone. Not the same effect, but interesting and given gold prices, much less expensive. Then switched to oil paint for all the overall painting.

This painting is also the largest painting I’ve done for a DPW challenge, but I prefer a larger scale (this is 36x36) when I paint abstractly.  In fact, on Cybermonday I bought a new Sorg easel just for larger works. It’s due on Wednesday and I can’t wait to try it! Pics and a review to come. In the meantime, I hope the holiday season brings you much creative joy and inspiration!

P.S. Quick congrats to artist Ms. Dawn Hartigan for winning my November free fine art print contest! Be looking for another contest after the holidays.

Springy Sparrow

Happy Weekend everyone! Last last April I posted a small oil painting of a sparrow from a photo that I took out my kitchen window. It was one of my personal favorite oils so I thought I'd work another one this week but work in a different color family.

Speaking of birds, I saw that it's also "Great Backyard Bird Count" this weekend. This is an annual bird watching event that allows anyone to be an ornithologist and record their local birds. Unfortunately this week, I've only had three at the feeder outside my studio this week: a sparrow, chickadee, and a house finch.

Back to my painting, for this 8 x10 oil study my "self assignment" was three fold: 

1. Pay attention to (and accurately record) smaller shifts in color and temperature 
2. Capture the way birds seem to melt into their background with varied brushwork
3. Maintain strong overall diagonal design plan 

Since I tend to paint "from the gut" many days and this usually works for me, I still find having 1-3 painting goals like this really help keep me on track as evaluate the subject vs. the painting. Later today I'm headed to a near by Wild Oats for a demo about painting from your photos by local artist David Griffin which I'm looking forward to. (You have to love free demos but the pastry/coffee bar area gets me every time...)

Finally, I've added a Student Work page tab at the top where I'll be positing some of their work for inspiration and ideas. Thanks for stopping by and happy bird watching!

Mardi Gras Masks

Happy Weekend Everyone! I was so busy last week with my out of town travel, I didn't have a chance to post this watercolor painting of masks in honor of Mardi Gras.  As some of you may know, these are actually a collection of Venetian Carnival masks but I added some Mardi Gras beads for extra color and sparkle. Trying to work with the Mardi Gras color triad of gold, green, and violet was also an enjoyable exercise.  On the white mask I added some additional paint "bling" with a touch of metallic gold gouache. 

Since I usually struggle a bit with painting facial structures, especially in watercolor, I thought it was a great exercise.  I also thought the black and white striped satin would also be a challenging and interesting background with all the sharp value changes and reflections. Maybe I've got a bit too much going on here, in retrospect, but Mardi Gras (though I've never been) seems to be a colorful and exuberant celebration. So given that, maybe it's appropriate. Now I just need a sugary beignet to go with my coffee.....    

I'm looking forward this week to having more painting and teaching time. As always, welcome to my new students and have a great week! Et toujours, l'aissez les bontemps roulez!