Good Things Come in Small Paintings

"Pink in the Park" 6x6 oil study
Sold-thank you!

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. 

Art is knowing which ones to keep. 

Scott Adams

There's so much to paint in the summer it's almost overwhelming. Painting smaller studies (like these 6x6 squares) remind me why “almost daily” painting can be so rewarding. Finding the time to paint every single day might just not be realistic in your world right now. But if you want to grow your artistic vision and skills, I think it’s extremely helpful to paint MORE than you are now.  Whatever that may be for you. 

I promise you’ll find this extra time at the easel beneficial in the long run. Here are three key reasons I think “almost daily” painting is a great goal for any artist who wants to improve:

"Redbud Rester" 6x6 oil study

I love the creative process but the reality is you’re not always going to have a stellar painting day.  In fact, you may have a disappointing painting day when you least expect it.

This can really catch you off guard.  But when this happens to me I have some sense of comfort and hope that a more successful painting may be just be around the corner--rather than weeks or months away.

Also, many artists at one time or another are challenged either by time or budget or both. Small-ish (under 8x10 let's say) paintings are not typically a significant time or monetary investment.  This doesn’t mean you have to use cheap materials for daily painting. On the contrary I prefer linen panels (Raymar), professional paints, decent brushes, etc.  I feel like I can "splurge" because I'm not using so many supplies at once. Plus, if you paint a "keeper" you'll be happy you used nicer materials.

With regard to time, it may take a few tries, but I find I can paint a 6x6 in under 120 minutes give or take. Check out Craig Nelson's excellent book: 60 minutes to Better Painting for more ideas regarding quick studies.

If you enjoy painting on a larger scale, smaller studies are also a wonderful way to “brainstorm” and have fun with paint. For example, in my light and shadow rose study today I tried some some "looser" dragged edges which I thought worked pretty well. Thanks DPW for featuring my little rose on the DPW Facebook page!

In the sparrow study, I tried a strong orange toned canvas to help give a sense of the warm August sunshine. Some of the orange bits work and some I'm not as crazy about. Still worth the test. 

I often compare painting to puzzle solving.  Painting more often allows to test a variety of solutions before you commit to a bigger canvas. For example, you could try different color strategies, take a new color for a test run, change your value key, experiment with your brushwork etc.  It’s also fun to do quick small abstracts and then scale them up--particularly small squares because they scale so easily. Happy summer painting everyone!

I Break For Irises

Blue Tongued Beauties 8x8 Oil on Linen

And anything else that I think might make an interesting photo that I could use for painting.  I’m loving Kevin Weckbach’s “Master Class” in oil painting but I've learned already that I need to keep taking a lot more photos.  He gives weekly “homework” and it’s nice to have a variety of subject and themes to choose from.

Photography is not my strong suit so I find I have to take dozens of photos to get just that right painting. Last Saturday morning (while visiting a neighborhood tag sale) I spotted these intense blue violet irises. 

In Kevin’s class we’ve been reviewing the importance of strong, unique, specific shapes as well as dark and light pattern in paintings. So I really tried to concentrate on achieving both in this study.  Speaking of Kevin there's a nice article about him in this month's Southwest Art Magazine previewing his one man show opening on May 11 (my birthday) at Gallery 1261 in downtown Denver. I can't wait to see this and Wicked for the first time that night.


The Summer Art Market is (yikes) only about 5 weeks away on June 9 so I’ll be concentrating most of the next month on painting for that. Most of the paintings I'm posting from now until then will be on sale at SAM-- Particularly since I have an entire booth to fill this year which is both daunting and exciting.

Quick thanks to all my Spring students--Hope you all have a wonderful May month of creativity, spring joy, and artistic discovery!

Where the Boat Leaves From

"Green Goddess" 8x8 Oil on linen panel

There's a place, where the boat leaves from
It takes away all your big problems
You got worries you can drop them in the blue ocean
But you gotta get away to where the boat leaves from
 

Take one part sand, and one part sea,
one part shade of a big palm tree
And the drinks they're cold and the reggae is hot
And I know this is the place for me...

Ahoy! Today’s posting title is from of one of my favorite “vacation” getaway songs by Zac Brown Band. We had a quite a big snow storm this week in Denver so although it's bright and sunny today my rather severe beach and palm tree withdrawal continues...

We don’t get too many chances to paint boats (or even water for that matter) in land locked Colorado so I loved visiting the beautiful marinas in Florida. I had to paint this lovely emerald and sea green boat I spotted at the Rose Marino on Marco Island. Speaking of colors, I’m still getting used to many new colors from my workshop—it’s kind of like having new golf clubs or something--but am immensely enjoying the process. Now I just need to find more Old Holland Carribean Blue.

TeachStreet Closing
I’m getting a few emails this week about my beloved TeachStreet closing February 15, 2012. I’ve been a top ranked art instructor on TS almost since they launched so I've been saddened and surprised by this announcement. I hope someone out there creates a new teacher/student site soon! (I apologize in advance if you come across a broken TS link.)

I've met so many AMAZING people thanks to TS and will be always grateful for that. In the meantime, be assured that I’m here teaching painting classes in my Denver studio almost every day. For more info please visit my Painting Classes Page or click the tab above. I look forward to painting with you soon! Pina coladas and tiny umbrellas included while snow lasts...

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.

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.

Ampersands of Time

Happy Monday everyone! Lately, I felt it was time to push myself to do a larger, more expressive and graphic non-representational painting. So over the weekend I bought a 3 foot by 4 foot gallery wrap canvas and which lurked liked a big white wall for a few hours. For me the best way to get started is to just dive in and start making marks--working with line and mass (more sold shapes).  I also used acrylic paint here so I could quickly stamp into areas, collage, etc.

Painting Detail

I always enjoy incorporating symbols, gylphs, words, letters, numbers, etc. into my art. In this piece, I wanted to include two of my favorite symbols: the ampersand and asterisk (which derives from the Latin for little star).
I read that asterisks where originally used to denote birth dates in family trees and the ampersand is an ancient symbol dating back to the first century.  It represents the written Latin "et" meaning "and" as you might have guessed. 

Since I was thinking about words and how they relate to art, I thought it would be fun to write a haiku (a traditional Japanese poetry form that follows the 5/7/5 syllable format) about painting abstractly. (I'm a former English major, but my poetry writing is a bit rusty, but here goes...)

Paint marks on canvas
Letters value hue collide
Whatever you have


White wall towers empty
Brushes tell a story
Colors sing in harmony


Colors swim below
Shapes emerge born of shadow
Brushes reach the sky

For those of you who paint on large surfaces you know how freeing this can be.  While I think I've still got a few adjustments to make, this was one of the most enjoyable pieces I've worked on recently.  Quick welcome and thanks to my new March students, as always I look forward to helping you reach your art goals while enjoying the process along the way!