I was the only student in my painting class this week. The instructor had known this in advance. He had planned what we would do and the studio was set up with two easels and the subject for our class. He had displayed on a large screen a landscape photo he had taken for us to use for the lesson. The […]
Peppers are a fun subject to try out my understanding of light and shadow. If you distort their shape, nobody knows or cares. I tried to limit myself to one hour of painting, not including the initial sketch on the canvas. The shadows in this first try are too sharp, but it was fun to […]
My fourth painting class assignment was to make a color wheel of equal values. I had a rough time with it… I labored over my values, trying to make them equal. As you can see, one of the blues stands out too much. It’s not even the right color. It’s supposed to be a transition from the […]
These are two of four studies on shadow and gestural effects that were supposed to be completed in 30 minutes. I failed miserably. They both took over two hours! I am going to try another composition with the doll shoes. Patti Mollica is the artist we were supposed to emulate. Her work is gorgeous and […]
9×12 class study w/ blk, wht, and yellow ochre. I finished it in 3 hours and like it. I like to drive. I like to drive for hours at a time on highways with limited traffic and good music playing. Alone is best. I live my real life when I’m driving alone in a […]
I am learning to paint with oils! All my life I wanted to be a painter. I never tried to pursue it for one reason or another. Now is my chance. Since this blog is sort of my journal, I will post most of my work, including studies or classwork. It’s really about having a […]
I am taking oil painting lessons. Finally, after wanting to learn to paint all my life, I have a semi-private instructor once a week for three hours. He expects to teach me to finish a piece in one day. After seeing my limited portfolio, he said I have proven that I can […]
This was a last minute gift, so I didn’t take it seriously enough. I am very timid with colored pencil and used the wrong kind of paper. Never use inferior materials and be fearless. That’s what I learned doing this piece.
This is the first ink drawing I have done in over six years. I forgot some of the rules, so I made mistakes I could not correct. But, I’m glad to move on and start something with paint. Painting is terrifying…
Jack was a young boy I met while chaperoning my youngest son’s field trip to a planetarium in Salinas, California. On the bus for almost an hour each way, some of the kids were lucky to have electronic devices to play games on to entertain themselves. Jack did not. I watched him watch the […]