First Snow

In honor of our first snow of the year in Denver (I'm never quite ready), I'm posting one of my favorite winter impressionistic landscapes.

I wish I could say I painted this bravely en plein air, but it was done in my studio from a photo I took in Steamboat Springs. As I've noted a few times on my blog, my favorite part of winter is painting winter landscapes. I love to play with a variety colorful whites!

Speaking of landscape painting, like many painters, I've long admired master painter Richard Schmid and I see that he's got a new landscape painting book coming in November that's looks fantastic.

Winter is a great time to start painting, so please drop me a line for more information about my painting classes or click on my Teach Street button.

My Creative Space

I don't know about you but I love seeing other artist's studios and work spaces. I'm thrilled when other artists share their studio spaces so I'm doing so here.

About a year and a half ago I converted our old screened in summer porch into a year round, north lit studio with sky lights. My must haves were a hardy oak floor and plenty of room for a watercolor/drawing table and 2 easels.

Like many artists, I also added a lot of bookshelves for storage (in my case lots of skulls!), supplies, frames, and art books. The only thing I would have liked now that I'm settled in is perhaps a sink, but the kitchen's not far. It's a daily thrill to be able to paint and now teach in a dedicated studio space in my house.

Want to see more artists' studios? Here's an all Studio magazine issue from American Artist that I'll definitely be ordering.

Free Bird

The painter Andrew Wyeth once said that watercolor "perfectly expresses the free side of my nature."
I have to agree. There's something special about painting in watercolor, yes it can be bold and exciting, but it's also very versatile, calming, and zen. The brush. The paper. Layering the transparent color...It can be extremely addictive.

As many of you know, watercolor media also lends itself to experimentation, but once in a while I paint what I consider to be a fairly traditional, straightforward watercolor. A white (or mostly white) subject in sunlight is a great way to do bring out the magical properties of watercolor. That's why I chose this snowy egret and it turned out to be one of my favorite watercolors.

For more information about my Denver watercolor classes please drop me a line at ScarletOwl@hotmail.com.

And for more information about watercolor and some of the best watercolor artists in the country check out The American Watercolor Society.

Pillow Talk

First, welcome again to all my new visitors from the Daily Painters Abstract Gallery and American Art Collector Magazine. Thanks for stopping by!

In honor of American Art Collector's amazing figure/nude October 2009 issue I wanted to post another figure. Painting the figure from life, for me, is one of the great joys and challenges of oil painting. I just loved this pose from the minute the model decided to basically take a nap on the pillows.

Speaking of figure painting, I just came across a very interesting new art themed reality show called Star Portraits on Bravo Canada where artists are challenged each week to paint a celebrity portrait. Isn't that a great concept? I can't wait to watch them online.

Ivory Kimono

Like many artists, I own hundreds of art books, but only a handful become "must have" favorites. A few weeks ago I ordered Kevin Weckbach's little paperback A Visual Palette: A Philosophy of the Natural Principles of Painting and I've read it twice already.

I've taken only a few classes with Kevin, so it was a treat to have his insights and wisdom handy in book form. I highly recommend it, especially if you like Robert Henri's classic The Art Spirit, another studio favorite. While neither book is heavy on visuals, the information in them is invaluable.

A few years ago, Kevin's wife (then pregnant) modeled for another figure class I was taking and she is the model here. It's one of my personal favorite figure paintings.

Drawing Joy

I was looking through my old portfolio the other day and came across this charcoal study of a skull I did in Jean Schiff's drawing class at Art League a few years ago.

It reminded me, like many many painters, my original passion for art sprang from joy of pure drawing. Pen and ink. Pencil sketches. Contour drawings with a Sharpie. And of course, the Crayola 64 pack. (Magenta and periwinkle were my favorites)

Quite frankly, today, I love painting and color so much that I probably don't draw as much as I should. But, I think the art of drawing is an undervalued art form today and something to be treasured. Unfortunately, Ms. Schiff passed away earlier this year and I think she would have agreed. She was an excellent teacher and I know many students that have benefited from her wealth of knowledge will miss her.

Hot House Flower

I just finished reading Margot Berwin's highly-enjoyable new novel Hot House Flower and the 9 Plants of Desire (which I thought was a great title) and my inspiration for posting one of my all time favorite floral watercolor paintings of an orchid.

Unfortunately, I don't have much of a green thumb so I usually visit the Denver Botanic Gardens when I need a flower subject as I did here.

Also, just received the "Cum Laude award" on TeachStreet so thanks so much and welcome to all my new TeachStreet students!