When Art Goes to the Birds

"Jazzy Junco" 6x6 oil on linen panel

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I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.   Emily Dickinson

As many of you know birds are one of my favorite painting subjects. So last weekend I was thrilled to visit the Woodson Museum touring Birds in Art exhibition at the Colorado Wildlife Experience. The quality of the show was top notch and I had many favorites (I posted a few on my Feathered Friends bird art board on Pinterest.)

Sometimes wildlife art (for me) while technically amazing can be a bit stiff, but I was impressed by the variety of interpretations, styles, and media. If you love bird and/or wildlife art I can’t recommend the beautiful Birds in Art catalog enough. Also, if you enjoy bird art, I highly recommend Tim Wootton's Drawing and Painting Birds book.

After seeing such an inspirational show, I’m also very motivated to work on a larger scale bird painting this year so I can enter next year in the meantime today I posted a little alla prima study of what I think is an Oregon Junco in fresh snow--It’s a fairly unusual bird to land in my little city yard so I spotted it right away.

Speaking of websites I’m excited to announce that my new Scarlet Owl Studio website is just about ready to launch—in the meantime you can get a sneak preview here. My original art website has served me well for many, many years but it was time for a spring makeover. And next time I’ll return to my thoughts on color dominance. See you then!

New Colors are Like a Box of Chocolates

"My Sunny Valentine" 8x8 oil on archival Ampersand baord

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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone and a special birthday shout out to anyone with a Val Day birthday like my Dad!

Ever since I’ve returned from the beach I’ve needed a “mid-winter” color pick me up.  So I treated myself to some fresh oil paints—which is almost as exciting as a box of dark chocolate.  Almost.
After shopping around online for a bit (budget: $100) and finding a “discount shipping” code I chose an special promo Daniel Smith Quinacridone oil paint set. The 11 juicy colors span the warmer side of the color wheel from the deep yellow orange Quin Gold (a rather hard to find pigment) to a new violet Quin Purple.

I like “quins” because they’re powerful, non-toxic, and highly transparent which means they mix cleanly and glaze well.  Quin Gold, Quin Rose, and Quin Magenta are some of my pet pigments for floral painting.  And I love using Quin Gold to mix interesting greens. (I tried the Quin Red in today’s sunflower painting.)

In my next post I’ll show you my results of a very challenging “limited brushstroke” painting exercise…Stay tuned.

Days Like This

"Good Day Sunshine" 8x8 oil on linen panel

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You can't use up creativity.
The more you use, the more you have. Maya Angelou

Happy September all!  One of my favorite Van Morrison’s songs is “Days Like This.” I couldn’t help but think of this song while painting this sunflower.  Particularly the lines: When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch. And: When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit--Then I must remember there’ll be days like this…

It’s not uncommon to have a frustrating creative slump—it’s part of being an artist. But on the flip side, it sure is a blessing to have a day when everything just seems to go your way in the studio.

The light in the studio is perfection. There’s no noisy neighbor mowing.  The oil paint is just right—not too thick, not too thin. You don't need to correct your drawing.  You mix that strange violet in the very first try.  Ahh, you’re in the ZONE…

There’s only one tiny problem with the ZONE. It never seems to last as long as we’d like. Why can’t every painting day be like this? What’s the secret? The answer is likely different for all of us since the ZONE is so personal. But, in general, I think of the ZONE as a numbers game--You can’t win if you don’t play. The more I “train” as a painter, for example, the more likely I’ll find myself in this sweet spot of creative energy.

Also, I think we are more in control of our creative environment than we think we are. I’ve read successful athletes employ a variety of techniques to help keep them sharp. One should be pretty easy for all us painters and that’s visualization—What does your perfect painting day look like?

Another is taking proactive steps to control any behaviors that may keep you outside of the ZONE. Such as negative thinking, fear, anxiety, etc.  Thankfully, I’m at the stage in my art career where I don’t have much fear, but I do tend to juggle many projects. I like to remind myself I’m not alone trying to balance my creative life. Just Google “Art and Fear” and you’ll find dozens of books, articles, etc.on the topic.

Finally, there’s a reason the Nike slogan Just do it is so powerful. It works. When it comes to finding your ZONE I think it’s better to be doing rather than thinking about doing. And I promise the more you do the more you’ll have days like this.

Good Things Come in Small Paintings

"Pink in the Park" 6x6 oil study
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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!

Anything But White

"Ivory Velvet" 8x8 oil on linen panel

 Click to Bid on "Ivory Velvet"--SOLD-Thank you!

Whether the flower or the color is the focus I do not know. I do know the flower is painted large to convey my experience with the flower - and what is my experience if it is not the color? 

Georgia O'Keeffe

I so enjoyed painted a rose study last week that I just had to paint another. This time I thought I’d tackle a very high key white or ivory rose—which you quickly discover of course is anything but white. In fact, Renoir is quoted as saying “white does not exist in nature.”

Lots of choices for the painter at the Little Flower Market in Denver

I didn’t have a whiteish rose handy so I picked up a few from  The Little Flower Market (which I think used to be an old gas station)  near my studio. I took a ton of reference photos with my new studio camera which I love already—a Canon Powershot SX 260 with 20x optical zoom.

"Red Waves" 

Here's one of my first rose photos taken with it. I can’t wait to try it out at the upcoming rose show at the Denver Botanic Garden. I’ll never be a professional shutterbug but the more I paint, the more I appreciate having lots of reference shots on hand.

I think you have to be careful not to overuse white to automatically lighten your colors, but at that same time it’s an essential component of my palette. For more info about whites, here’s an excellent article by Gamblin: Getting the White Right. Thanks for stopping--have a wonderful summer week!

Fuchsia Fandango

"Fuchsia Fandango" 8x8 oil on museum quality linen panel

 Click to Bid on Fuchsia Fandango--SOLD

Happy Friday all! I had a blast painting a Peace rose earlier this week for the DPW rose painting challenge-- and am already looking forward to my next rose--but in the meantime I wanted to try a a different type of flower.  

I spotted this vibrant fuchsia at my local nursery and loved the strong yellow-green leaves/cool pink complementary color combo along with the warmth of the clay pot. In this floral oil painting, I also set out to capture the unusual greenhouse light as well as harmonizing the powerful tropical colors. 


Today's Painting Tip: Use a Key Color for Stress Free Color Harmony
Whether you’re painting an abstract or a representational subject, a simple way to achieve better color harmony is to add one key “mother color” into ALL your color mixes. For example, if you’re painting pinkish flowers and using Permanent Rose or Quin Magenta add a tiny amount of it (think tip of knife) into all your oranges, violets, grays, browns, etc 

This “mother color” approach works particularly well for mixing your greens. Greens that have a touch of a warmer mother color will usually look a bit more natural and/or neutral which in turn will help support your higher intensity colors.

Working with a “mother color” as an approach is also a great way to become familiar with all the properties of that one particular pigment—how strong it is, how transparent it is, what kind of neutrals it makes, how it tints with white, etc.

Quick thanks again to all my new DPW collectors this month--I greatly appreciate your bids and the support of all the artists on DPW. Have a colorful and harmonious weekend.

Summer Art News

Denver Summer Art Market

Summer Art Market Report
First, a huge THANKS to my many friends and students who stopped by to visit me at the Summer Art Market over the weekend. It was great to see you all and hope you enjoyed the Market. Thank you to to all my collectors who made purchases--it was wonderful to meet you and I greatly appreciate your support. I'm thrilled to report that I sold some of my favorite paintings that I've posted this year.

My niece at the SAM--already a budding artist!

Festival Packing List: Tape, Tags, Scissors, and a Tabby!

I'm a little sunburn and am missing some of my big toe (thanks to the on site EMT crew who got me back on my on my feet just in time to man my booth) but otherwise it was fantastic! Note to self and other aspiring festival artists, do not set up your tent in flip flops! I just wish I had more time and opportunity to shop around myself. I've said it before, but I think the quality and variety of the SAM is amazing. Very motivating and inspiring as an artist! I was planning on just doing this one show this year, but I had such a good time I'm now considering the Boulder Fall Show on the Pearl Street Mall.  Well, better let the toe at least rest for a few days and then I'll think about that.

New DPW Gallery!
Looking for high quality daily paintings at affordable prices? I'm thrilled to announce that Daily Paintwork Auctions is live this week. Unlike eBay or Etsy, Daily Paintworks Auctions will focus only on fine art. I've sold some art in the past on eBay and Etsy but I'm looking forward to trying Daily Paintworks as my exclusive online sales outlet. Here's a link to the Scarlet Owl Studio DPW Gallery Page.  My plan is to post several of my unframed "bin work" at after festival pricing in the next few weeks so be looking for those.
Summer Painting Classes
Now that the Market is over, I'm back in the studio painting and teaching so if you are looking for relaxing summer art class please email me. For more info about my classes please click on the Art Classes link at the top of the page.