One Hundred Faces

 Face number 5 is of my nieces little girl in the snow for the first time 

and her middle name happens to be Snow!

These two paintings are part of my series of One Hundred Faces, painted on 6 x 6 panels.  I have a long way to go but I wake up excited to paint each morning and after my pause in painting, it is very lovely to enjoy the process!

Face #6 - I just wonder what he is thinking about?

Faces With Character

Some of the 6" x 6" panels I have been working on this last week.

 

 

Day 4

Reference Photo

Detail to show brushwork and colors

Day 3

Reference Photo

Day 2

Day 1

Thanks for looking at my latest work!

Delightful Faces

I have hit a plateau in my painting for the last few months and whenever that happens, I find it helpful to do something else that nourishes my soul.  By a plateau, I mean that I feel like I can't find anything inspiring to paint, I don't know if I even remember how to paint and I will probably never paint again.  But I know that feeling and I also know that it will pass with time.

Then I realized that I needed an "assignment".  You know, something to paint and learn from.  I love painting people and animals so I decided on collecting 100 photo's of "faces".  There are two online photo archives that share photography with artists for free that I use.  One is Morgue File  which is a strange term but they have high end photo's that are free to both businesses and the public.  The other is Paint My Photo which is a gallery full of both photo's and artwork.  The photo's are taken by both professional photographers and world travelers with just their cell phone.  After just a few days of collecting photo's from these two sites and my own photo's, I have close to 372 photo's!!!

I decided that I would paint from one of these reference photos every day that I don't have something to paint for a show or a commission was so freeing.  Mostly because it's both fun to paint again and it doesn't have to be perfect!

If you look at the two photo's above, you will see that the upper one is the original, cropped to fit a 6 x 6 canvas panel.  The second one is one that I have played with in Photoshop and "posterized".  It gives me an idea of interesting colors to add while I am painting.  I used the same method for my Portal Series of windows and doors.

My regular photo of Elvis

See how it takes a fine ho-hum photo (these are both mine) and gives it a certain zing that makes it fun?  So much richness and pops of color!

Elvis - my chicken with a hairdo and attitude!

I have four paintings that are finished from this last week and I started one today that I ended up wiping the paint off the panel at the end of the day because it just was turning into mud.  But I am excited to start a new one tomorrow! I will post the finished ones on Sunday!  Stay tuned.

Pathway to the Beach is Through the Forest!

In September I spent three weeks at the family cabin in Lake Tahoe and it was so relaxing! No cell service, no TV, no interruptions (except for the occasional bear, coyote or deer in the surrounding forest)!

 Just time to paint, read, paint, go to the beach, paint, relax.

I'm loving my "new" outdoor studio.......

I was working on the above painting "Pathway to the Beach" and also my online challenge of 30 Paintings in 30 Days which were "Portals" - windows and doors.

Pathway to the Beach - 30 x 40

It is hanging at the Marilyn Citron O'Rourke Art Gallery in the Benicia Library.  Hope you can drop in and see the various delightful paintings done by the group of painters I belong to Bay Area Studio Artists!

Sneak Peek

Suzun Almquist hanging our signage

A new show is now hung at the Marilyn Citron O'Rourke Art Gallery in the Benicia Library - Light to Dark.

 Above is the main wall where three paintings display a high-key "light" painting (by Marcy Wheeler), a balanced medium painting (by Joanne Taeuffer) and a low-key dark painting (by Sharon Tama).

The group of women who I paint with BASA - Bay Area Studio Artists, just hung the show on Friday and will be open to the public through November 19, 2015.

Hope you can drop by and enjoy the art!

BASA Show at the Benicia Library Oct. 10 - Nov. 19

14 Paintings in 30 Days

Leslie Saeta's online challenge to paint 30 Paintings in 30 Days

The month of September was full of learning and letting go.  I have been in the Sierra's for the last three weeks and thought I would have oodles of time to paint since some of that time I was at the cabin alone. 

Number One - I went to a larger size canvas.  In January's online challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days, I used 6 x 6 panels and this time I was using 8 x 10.  Just that little difference made for a longer painting session.

Number Two - I used my own photographs for the most part instead of an artist's rendering which is what I did in January.  With the photograph I had to make my own decisions as to how I perceived the image.....this took longer than the artist's rendering where they have already made most of the decisions for you, like cropping, composition, coloring, etc.

Number Three - In January I was very disciplined about having a daily painting schedule.  There was something about being in the mountains this time that made me think....."I'm on vacation and there will be plenty of time later."

Number Four - Was about cutting myself some slack and being proud of what I did accomplish in 30 days.  I have 14 new paintings that I would not of had otherwise!

I still intend on doing my 30 paintings but now on a more leisurely schedule.  I'll keep you posted!