Dan McCaw workshop

These are three paintings that I did at a Dan McCaw workshop, that I was extremely lucky to attend. He painted on the first two, quite a bit and I did the last alone. He is a very inspiring teacher and I hope I get the chance to study with him again. He says the best paintings are the ones you learn from, I learned a lot on these!

Untiltled Beach Walk

Two beach paintings, the mother and child not , the other one is better. I have been working on lights and darks and divisions between them. If a painting is not working, the first thing to look at is lights, darks and contrast.

4 Black and Whites

Two Figures in Black and White

These are a couple of black and white studies that I did of my grandchildren. I am really working on getting stronger compositions through value and gesture and I enjoyed the simplicity of these.

As of now I believe that I have 18 paintings so far this year, which means that I am behind. I really should have 25 to be on track to reach my goal so I will have to step it up if I am going to make it to 50 this year.

Still Life

Just a little still life, not too exciting. I did it with a brush instead of a palette knife so that was challenging for me.

Landscapes

This is another purple and yellow sunset painting. Turns out that I like telephone poles, must be the repetition thing.

My attempt at painting clouds. I watched Robert paint clouds after I painted this, so I should try again.

Restaurant Workers

I did this painting a couple of months ago and just never photographed it. This will be my 4th restaurant worker painting. I really enjoy the movement/gestures and concentration of the subjects. My daughter got a brochure from a culinary college and it had some great photos that I changed for my own purposes.

This one is the best of the two, I think. I really like the white of their uniforms against the industrial backdrop with the repetition of the plates, pans, etc.

Two Portraits

We did a couple of portraits in the workshop, this is from a photograph.

The next is Robert's daughter who was nice enough to pose for us.

Big Tree

This is another painting I did in Robert's workshop. I hate painting trees close up so I picked the hardest subject I could find since the goal is to improve. I learned a lot and maybe I won't be so intimidated next time.

A Road in Kenya

This is a really big painting(3x4 ft.) that I started and may finish at some time. I took this picture a little north of Mombasa, Kenya. I thought the man with the bedroll on his bike was so beautiful and it almost seemed like the lush landscape would swallow him up. It is a hard life down there and amazing that the vegetation doesn't just overrun everything.

Robert Moore workshop

OK, I know I am a major slacker but I have painted some. I am really behind on my blog, though, because it still intimidates me. Last month I went to a fabulous Robert Moore workshop in beautiful Declo, Idaho. Especially in spring, it was pastoral and almost every where I looked, there was a possible painting. I took a lot of pictures for the future.

We started with a couple of tonal paintings using burnt umber and white. This always makes for stronger compositions because the focus is on dark and light and how the space is divided between the two.

I like going to workshops, because it helps me get out of whatever rut I have been in and makes me try new things or revisit techniques that I had not used for awhile.

Painting #5

This is part of a painting that I copied from a recent Dan McCaw. I actually learned a lot about dividing the lights and darks and making one more of the focal point than the other. I love the warm blue against the dark red and the reflection on the table. My goal is to create this magic in my own compositions.

Painting #4 Addie

This is part of a painting. I had her full body, but it was an odd angle and I didn't like it so I will probably crop it to something like this. I always paint on boards so it is easy to cut off if I feel like it makes a stronger composition. So far I have not used underpaintings with any of these 4 new works. This is new for me. I have found that I like the clarity of the colors on white and I have used color mingling to unify, maybe not enough,though.

Dan McCaw, my all time favorite painter did a painting from his imagination and this is my attempt to copy it. It is a different size and again I used a palette knife.

My husband really surprised me this Christmas by giving me an out of print, painting book by Dan McCaw. I was so excited I actually cried. They are very expensive, but after reading a couple of chapters, worth every penny.

Painting #2 copy of a still life

I like the painter Peggy Kroll Roberts and have bought her videos on painting. Sometimes I like to copy artist's who I admire, their style, brush strokes, composition, etc. However I did this with a pallet knife, so it would never be exactly the same. It seemed like it would be pretty straightforward but it was surprisingly complex. Good practice!!!

Painting #1 Apples

This is just a little still life, practicing painting planes. I still don't like the background, but it was fun.

New Year's Resolution!!!

OK, anyone who knows me also knows that I am technologically incompetent. (My daughter Charity had to set it up for me) So why I am doing a blog?? Two reasons, the first is because it will help me keep my New Year's Resolution to paint 50 paintings in 2011!! (They may be horrible and I may paint over them the next day, but I can't help but progress if I paint that many) I will actually have a goal with each painting, paint quality, composition, feeling of light etc.
The second is that it will help me keep up with my kids blogs and enjoy their posts on a more regular basis. It is pathetic that sometimes my friends know more about my kids than I do, even though I see most of them regularly.
We will see what happens, now that I have to be somewhat accountable. Mary Anne