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.

Explore. Dream. Discover. Paint….

"Blue Nutty" 6x6 oil on linen panel SOLD Thank you!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. 

Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.’  

Mark Twain

Happy Monday everyone!  I think one of the best things about "almost" daily painting is the “Why not? Let’s give it try!” approach you can have each day in the studio.

Lately, I’ve been gravitating toward some bold graphic looking art and thought painting on a black background (black toned canvas in this case) would be perfect for this. Also, since I often favor such bright intense colors (as you may have noticed!) the black acts as a striking dark neutral balance.

Want to see more examples? Daily painters who do a marvelous job at this are Karin Jurick and Cathleen Rehfied. Carol, a student in my class last week, also painted an exciting abstract on a black canvas.

In today’s little nuthatch (one of my favorite backyard bird models) oil painting I’ve used a 6x6 Raymar linen panel primed with black acrylic gesso then sketched with white pencil (note white chalk would work as well.) I loved the effect and will definitely add this to my daily "bag of tricks" and try again soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your own creative exploring, dreaming and discovering…

Denver Fall Painting Classes & Workshops
Since my Thursday AM class “sold out” so quickly (thanks again painters!) I’m planning to announce another weekly painting class soon. Probably on Tuesday afternoons so please stayed tuned for that.

Also I’ve added 2 weekend painting workshops for this November. For more info about these please go to my Denver art classes info page on my website. Or feel free to write to me directly. Thanks and happy painting!

Three Birds. Many Lessons.

Snowy Junco 8x10 oil on cotton canvas panel

One of my goals in early Jan was to start the year off by participating in Leslie Saeta’s painting challenge. But due to travel and other conflicts this month it was not to be. A big kudos though to all of you who did participate—I greatly missed the camaraderie and look forward to the next one. 

My return to the easel was challenging--For most of the month I had “polar vortex” bronchitis that just wouldn’t budge. The reality of being a “dedicated” artist is that you may sometimes paint in less than ideal conditions. When this happens, or you have limited time, I recommend keeping everything as simple as possible. 

Cheery Chickadee 8x8 oil on Raymar linen panel

Bird no. 1: Cheerful Chickadee

For me this meant a small (8x8 square), limited palette, and enjoyable subject matter. This cheerful chickadee is not bad for a quick study but I can tell I’m not 100%. (That’s a nice way of saying I was coughing so violently that the brush was hard to hold on to at times.) That being said I believe every painting provides us with valuable self-instruction.

Rosy Robin 8x10 oil on Ampersand Gesso panel

Bird no 2: High Key Robin

Moving on the next day for my robin painting, I chose a slightly larger (8x10 Ampersand gesso board) and somewhat more complicated high key value structure. You just don’t have the bold value contrast that can hold a painting together. So again with my robin painting a perfectly respectable study but I think I can improve on the composition, shape interest, edgework, etc.

Bird no. 3: Snowy Junco

In today's post you can see the junco has (in my opinion) more interesting shapes and paint quality ans well as better color harmony. It’s not a perfect bird painting by any means but I think it’s going in the right direction.  Best of all, I feel much better and am not starting February cold--no pun intended. Happy winter painting everyone!

P.S. I'm usually painting during foot ball season but but this Sunday as a proud Denverite I have to say Go Broncos!

Part 2: The Happy Collector

"Winter Wings" 8x8 oil on linen panel

Please click here to bid 

 Collectors are happy people. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
In my previous post I shared a few tips and views regarding buying art online. Here are a few more thoughts to help you get started --or enrich with your existing art collection.

Tiny Treasures
Small affordable paintings are a great way to start collecting particularly if you’re not ready to invest or have the room for a larger piece. For one, they’re much less expensive to frame. You can also display petite paintings without a frame on bookshelves, mini easels, or picture ledges that you can find at places like Ikea. 

Flip through any chic interior design magazine and you’ll often see attractive groupings of paintings.  You could arrange them by theme, artist, media, style, etc. For example, I have still life paintings in my kitchen, landscapes in my guest bedroom, etc. Here are some additional tips from HGTV about creating your own gallery wall.

Follow Your Favorites
Like many artists, I keep a close eye on artists whose work I greatly admire. For a more significant art investment, I also try to see the work in person if it’s practical at galleries, festivals, museums, their studio, etc.  If you follow an artist long enough I think you’ll feel pretty comfortable when the right painting comes along and if the price point makes sense. 

Peace of Mind
Be sure to read the art description carefully—check the size, media, etc.  If you’re not sure if the painting is original be sure to ask.  Also look for a fair return policy (most artists offer some kind of return or exchange).  Most artists enjoy talking about their work so feel free to write if you have questions. (Note if the artist has a gallery agreement they may refer you there for the final purchase.)

Finally, whether you’re buying art to enhance your home or as an investment, I absolutely believe you’ll be happiest in the long run if you acquire art you love and the best original art you can afford.

Fine Feathers

"Fine Feathers" 8x8 oil on linen panel

Happy May everyone! I think one of the hardest tasks any busy artist has is prioritization. I'm taking a quick break from painting and getting ready for the upcoming Summer Art Market in just a few weeks on the weekend of June 9 and June 10 to post this new bird painting.

If you've prepared for a show or festival you know there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in addition to painting--such as event paperwork, getting your tent ready, ordering post cards (love Vistaprint for those), etc. In other words, many tasks that tempt you outside of your main goal which is creating art.

Lately I've been trying some new colors on my palette. In this little bird oil painting it's Old Holland Caribbean Blue--which is a wonderful and not very common blue-green thalo turquoise pigment (PB16 for my fellow pigment enthusiasts).

Thanks for stopping by--be sure to check out the Scarlet Owl Pinterest boards for more art inspiration. I look forward to seeing you all at the Summer Art Market and for all my fellow artists in the show I hope you all have a super successful sunny show this year!

Rockin Robin

Rockin Robin--6x6 oil on panel

Happy Thursday everyone! As you may know if you read my blog, birds are one of my favorite subjects to paint. But I also like to work from my own photo references so this makes painting birds a bit tricky since I'm not known for my photography skills.

Thankfully, the other evening when I was walking in the neighbor hood the spring sun was washing everything in that warm "magic hour" light that movie makers love so much. I had my little digital camera and was able to capture (not very easily I might add) of few robins for my paintings this week. I also read robins are one of the last birds you'll hear singing as the sun sets so I thought that tied in well with my title.

I also wanted to focus working with the warm and cool temperatures in my color mixtures of this painting, which reminded me of another one of my favorite oil painting books that I don't think I've mentioned before and that's the Yin Yang of Painting by Zhang--it's a bit expensive for used paperback but it's a beautiful book by a color (and value) master. You can see more examples on Zhang's website.  I love his discussion of working with opposites in your painting such as dark/light, cool/warm, blurred/sharp, etc.

Wanted to wish a fond bon voyage to my many traveling friends and students this month--I look forward to seeing you back again soon! For more information about my classes please click on the class tab above or email me. Thanks for stopping by!