Canal Street Cars

24x24 oil on cradled panel
unframed
sold

Remember the painting that derailed me a couple of weeks ago? Well this is it. I worked on it some more. I sketched some ideas. I read Dan McCaw's book - esp. the chapter on light. And I decided it lacked a source and direction of light. So I decided it would be back lit and changed the scene accordingly. 

Is it my favorite work? No. I hope it sells and I never have to see it again! Seriously, it was a struggle, but I learned a lot and it was good to make me stop and problem solve a little. There are parts of it that work very well now and I am happy with that. And next time, I will plan better at the beginning! 

Morning Stroll

12x12 oil on cradled panel

Available at Gardner Colby Gallery.

East Enders

12x16 oil on panel

Gallery info to come.

Here is my finished product from the demos below. Frankly, I am not sure I am thrilled by it. Maybe the figures turned out too small and don't draw the eye. And its a soft light illuminating the scene - something I always have trouble with. I like the puddle in the foreground the best!

Loading my stuff up to go to Houston for a wedding reception painting event this weekend. Been a busy fall for those!

South Street Bridge

16x20 oil on linen

I'm heading for New York and New Jersey this weekend. I'll be attending the closing reception of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club show and be present to accept my award. very fun.
The timing worked out very well as I have a wedding reception painting event Saturday night in Red Bank, New Jersey. It will be a lot of traveling about - but I will call that sightseeing. I'm anxious to see NY in the fall. Will Central Park be all decked out in color? Wish me luck as I go it all alone in the big city.

You might remember the study I did of this scene (below). I really liked the warm color scheme but I am not liking the buildings in the back. I think I've put too much "detail" in them. Also, the photo of the larger image doesn't capture the yellows at all... the ground and sky are much warmer than appear here.

New York, New York

I am back in Texas after a whirlwind trip to the Big Apple. I met Phil Levine and two other artists to paint in the city and we had the best time. At least I did! It was the best trip there yet. I took 1,100 photos and painted about 8 paintings. I had my sketchbook too which I also filled with pen and ink sketches. I have enough material to work for a year and I can't wait to start!

The ladies I painted with, Petra and Sherrie, are such lovely people. We seemed very well matched in our tastes (for subject, food, eye candy, etc.) and in our energy and eagerness to soak it all in. Petra came all the way from Geneva, Switzerland. Sherrie is from Nashville and if you want to compare our reports and our work - you can probably find goodies on her blog.

I will start at the beginning I guess and show you the "dog" of a painting I did on Friday morning. We set up in the West Village again after dodging some rain. I have tried to paint the Bus Stop Cafe for 2 years now... still didn't get it. I promise, the work improves after this one! (I'm not going to show you a close up. Lets just say though that if the man at the table stood up, he'd never fit into the building!)

New York Trip

Today I am sharing my work from the damp streets of NYC. I tried Ken's approach, which is an interesting one. If you look at his website, you can see a video demo of his work in progress (under workshops). You can see he starts with a black paint sketch and then builds up his color blocks. Now what really sort of threw me and the rest of the class was that he see light (sun) as "cool". Granted, when you lighten with white paint, it will cool it because white tends towards blue. And when you have cool light, you get warm shadows. That makes sense to me, but the idea that its always that... when I looked at the buildings before me and saw warm grays and ochres, etc. was very strange. He had convincing arguments, and its not my place here or anywhere to speak for him or represent him. But I am curious what other's thoughts are on "light". Does it change temperature? Is it always towards the blue or cool because of the sky? And if you see this way and paint it as such... do all your paintings look alike? Mine did! See below:





On Sunday, I decided to paint what he painted. Literally, I copied his painting. He thought it a good exercise.

This is our scene:



This is Ken's marvelous painting:



Here is my copy:



Here is a close up of his:


We used a limited palette and he used a LOT of paint. Definitely click on the image above to see it in detail. I want to try this myself. If only I could find the time to "play" this week. So far, everything at home is falling apart. Again, Ken is a fabulous teacher. I highly recommend him if you are interested in loosening up, painting lush cityscapes and creating art and not just copying a scene. And if you think it looks easy or unfinished, let me tell you, he worked very hard to create it.