OPA Master Jeff Legg Still Life Demo

"Botanic Bulb" 8x8 oil on gallery canvas--On Hold for November Show

Save the Date! Spirits Bright Show: Friday, November 30

I'm pleased to announce my next art show "Spirits Bright" which will open November 30 at the 910 Events Center Gallery in the Denver Art District on Santa Fe. I also plan to be in attendance for First Friday Art Night on December 7. Everyone is invited and I look forward to seeing you in person!

Jeff Legg: A Classic Approach to Still Life

As much as I love to stay in and paint or read a good art book by a cozy fire on gray, chilly days sometimes you just need to get out and see in person what other artists are up to. As I mentioned in a previous post, a couple of weeks ago on an overcast Saturday I had the pleasure of watching three master oil painters demo at Gallery 1261 in Denver: Jeff Legg (still life), Theresa Vito (portrait), and Quang Ho (clothed figure). I enjoyed each demo and will post my pics of all of these as I have some extra time. I was a bit under the weather with my injured foot--so I didn't take a ton of notes but I hope you'll enjoy the demo pics.

The audience at Gallery 1261 watches as Jeff Legg begins his demo

I'll start with Jeff Legg who a Master Signature Member of OPA, is often featured in magazines, and known his "old masters" approach to his subjects. I also saw on Jeff's website that he has a new teaching video a similar setup as well as workshop info for those of you interested in seeing more of his technique.

Legg uses a draped "black box" to help control his light condtions

Jeff Legg begins his tonal still life block in

Artist Jeff Legg started the day off by painting a “traditional” still life which you can see was set against a dark background lit with a single dramatic light source. He began as you can see with an umber toned board which makes sense with this strong light and shadow approach.  I’ve always admired how skilled still life painters are masters at capturing a variety of textures—the brass pot vs. a cantaloupe for example.You can see Mr. Legg's beautiful finished still life here.

Jeff Legg still life setup--detail of melon slice an vase

Legg adding more color and thicker paint to his subjects

For this demo, Legg used quicker drying alkyd oil paints

Legg demo "final" after about 2 hours

For more tips about setting up a successful still life, check out this helpful post by artist Lori McNee.

Sweet Sprouts

Happy March everyone! I'm back from my trip to beautiful, sun-kissed central Florida (I can see why so many painters live there) and eager to get back to painting and teaching this week. Before I left, I painted this quick oil painting study of a sprouting sweet onion.

I really wanted to paint a red onion for the red-purple/yellow-green complementary color scheme but I can't get the thing to sprout no matter what I try. (Feel free to email sprouting tips!) My favorite part was painting the semi-transparent onion skin.

Speaking of spring, I think this is a great time of year to start spring cleaning in your studio--weed out old brushes (they can still be used for texture but maybe not careful details), let go of that paint tube that's so old and dry it's become a mystery color, organize paintings by subject or size, and maybe donate rarely used supplies to a local art non-profit.  I don't know about you, but I feel much more productive and creative in a well-organized, well-stocked studio.

Finally, this week one of my students kindly gave me one of the Splash Watercolor Series books. If you paint in watercolor, you may already be familiar with these, but this consistently high quality series (currently their are 11 books in the series) is a marvelous resource if you work watermedia. Have a great week and happy painting!

Tears in my Eyes

Happy Monday! Am happy to report that the sun is back out in force here my Denver studio and that always inspires my painting. This morning's quick knife painting oil study (8 x 8) of an onion on black and white cloth.

Don't always use Thalo Blue on my palette, but it really came in handy here and it makes a some fantastic greens.

If you like these small still life oil paintings, be sure to check out daily oil painter Michael Naples. They are consistently well-crafted with great brushwork, composition, and color. Also, I believe, he was one of the first artists to start the daily painting movement. Here's an article about him as well in Empty Easel.

For more information about my art and painting classes, please email me at ScarletOwl@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

P.S. I love to play a variety of music in the studio and the title also refers to a line from one of my favorite songs, Bob Marley's Waiting in Vain.