The Busker's Dog

 

Click Here to Buy for $400 - 10x10in. - oil on panel

This is a slightly larger piece I did recently of a scene I came across last year in Freiburg, Germany. There were quite a few small, awkward things happening in the reference photos, and I used my ipad and an art app to try out alternatives before and while I was painting. For example, the guy on the left was standing right at the edge of the ground shadow, so I moved him forward a little, which involved changing the shadow on his shoes, among other things. I thought the painting would be about the buskers, but when my husband saw it he said it was about the dog. Which, in hindsight, is perfectly obvious.

High-Rise Florence

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I took the reference photos for this one with absolutely no intention of painting the scene. I just liked the composition. But then I thought, well, lets give it a try! And now I wish I'd taken more like this! Because I kind of absolutely love it.

Walking Home in France

Click Here to Bid (12x6in. - starts at $150 - click image to enlarge)

This size/orientation never shows well online, but I like to paint them now and then. Please enlarge to see fully. (Also it looks better in person.)

Meanwhile, I'd like to tell you about a project I've been working on. I got some big, flat Ampersand panels recently, intending to do some larger paintings. I did two before I realized they are too big to store vertically. Which sucks, because I recently built myself a vertical storage rack - doh!!! So I set out to buy a horizontal rack. But the only ones I could find were ridiculously expensive, and wouldn't fit in the space I had for it. So I invented and made myself one. You can see it here, on top of  my vertical rack. I used hemlock to build the frame, and metal shelving for the ... shelving. I also recently built myself another work table, which you can just see the corner of in the photo. I need to make one adjustment to it, and then I will share that as well.

Gable Shadow

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I had to paint this three times before I was happy with it. For these small paintings especially I almost always simply start over, rather than keep working on it. There is a point at which, because it's wet paint going into wet paint, I am just mushing it around, making a mess. I see this style of painting as a kind of dance - I try it once, and if it wasn't quite right, I try it again.

Squeezing Through

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Unfortunately this painting has nothing to do with what I have to say next. This painting is a tight scene from France, whereas what I have to say is about Carmel, California. I will be teaching a plein air workshop there, at the end of May. It's not something I plan to do regularly, but I'm going to try it, with a relatively small group. Ideally all the participants will have taken a workshop from me before, so I don't have to repeat a bunch of stuff. I will be opening it up for registration in one week, Saturday Feb. 10th at 10AM on the WEST coast ... of the US. : ) Click the link for deets...

Just Steps from the Courtyard

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Today I picked up a new order of books - my little collections of 100 small paintings. I have a brand new book this year - vol. 8, and I think it looks super fine!

Because I have limited storage space at my house, I am only going to keep printing 5 books at a time, so I will only carry volumes 4-8 for now. I still have 8 copies of volume 3, so get them while they last.                              ORDER BOOKS HERE
(ps. they make great Christmas gifts!! ; )

Parked in France

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This was another of my favorite photos from my time in France this year. I discovered this little scene just down the hill from the chateau we were living in, on a walk-around with some of my students.

The past few months I've been doing a lot of non-painting stuff. I've painted here and there, but yesterday I realized that I'm not going to grow as an artist unless I'm painting more often. Wait, I seem to remember a book mentioning this ... a book about ... daily painting? Maybe I should crack that again. Anyway.

So in re-devoting myself to art, I learned (again) that when you're rusty, it's good to gift yourself some "learning time." This could mean warm-ups, or it could simply mean a few "uglies." I've come to expect them, the uglies. I mean, they happen on a regular basis, but they happen often when we've been away a while. So expect it. And if it doesn't happen, yay! But if it does, you won't be disappointed, right? You'll just think, ok, here they are, it can only get better from here.

Colorful Street

sold.

This was not only a colorful street, but a colorful town in general! It is in France, right next to some hills made of very beautiful dirt, and I guess they use that to make pigment, and use that to make paint to color the houses. Pretty cool. Can I remember the name of the town? Nope. Why am I so bad at that? (retorical)

A Wall in France

Click Here to Bid (6x8in. - starts at $100)

I have a LOT of photos in my arsenal that I took because something sparked in me when I looked at the real thing. But will they make a good paintings? Hmmm...maybe. I sat on this one for a while because I wasn't sure it would translate. Because sometimes that little thing you liked in the photo just doesn't happen in paint. But I tried it anyway, because sometimes we just have to try sh*t, and I have to say, I'm quite happy with it.

Upon request, I am adding the reference photo here.

Blue Shutters

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I've been honoring the ebb this last week, taking a little time for myself to rest and recharge. Now getting back into painting, and I thought starting with spring in France would be a good, especially since Oregon has been slammed suddenly into fall.

I was recently invited to be interviewed on a podcast about about non-fiction writing. I thought, wait, I'm an artist ... but oh yeah, I guess I wrote a book too. Ha! The interviewer, Brendan, asked some great questions - with a little different slant than I'm used to - a lot about the creative process, and my recent thoughts about that. So if you're interested, here's the interview with the Creative Nonfiction Podcast.

The Gatehouse

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Painting realism is like interpreting a recipe. You've got to figure out which parts of the recipe/scene are essential to keep it holding together, and which parts you can adjust and change. And like a recipe, everyone has their own take on this, which is what makes art so wonderful! You can set up 100 artists to paint the same scene, and none will be the same.

I Want This

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While in France, we visited a town with the most beautifully colored buildings. Apparently they got their colors from the surrounding hills, which were red and orange. I called it the Ocher Town, but I'm sure it had a proper name. At any rate, these folks were walking through and, well ... can you see me passing up the opportunity to paint this?

French Slot Canyon

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There were lots of scenes like this in France. And every time I walked through them I was reminded of all the slot canyons I've experienced. I love slot canyons, which may be why I love these man-made ones. Some were wide enough for a small car, and at least once I saw them sort of ricochet off the sides as they drove through.

A Small Courtyard

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I did a painting very similar to this as a demo for my class in France. I was really taken by this scene, which I happened upon while exploring the village below our chateau, and wanted another go at it. I'm not usually crazy about scenes without strong light, but this has enough built-in value shifts/contrast to make it inherently interesting.

Green Shutters, Blue Gate

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This is actually the same house I posted yesterday, but on a sunny day, and from outside the closed gate. I've been working on my foliage lately, and feel like I'm slowly making progress. The biggest thing I've learned? Variety of marks.

There have been a number of things I've been told over the years that I "should" or "shouldn't" do regarding art, and some of it I am just unable to. For a long time. And then years later I find that I have grown into it. In my own time. For example, people have said that "IF you're going to paint from photos (frown), don't be a slave to them." Well, I think first I had to figure out how to simply paint it like I saw it. Then, (as I also painted more from life) I was able to see what my camera wasn't picking up, and adjust that as I painted. And now, 20 years in, I find I edit quite a bit at times, and am comfortable with it. So if you're struggling with what you "should" be doing, give it time. Or not. Do what feels right for YOU, right now.

French Driveway

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When I was in France we stayed in a chateau, which is French for uh, castle. Yep, I taught in a castle. It was at the tippy, top of a large hill in a small village called Chateau Neuf de Gadagne. This scene above was the house right next door, on an overcast day. And here is a photo from the room where we ate every day. Yep.

Decomposition

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I found this super cool scene in Taos last year. I was walking around this little neighborhood with my friend Tia, taking pictures. She took one look at this old car and said, "This looks just like a Carol Marine painting." Yep.

Dappled Wine Bar

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This is from Pioneer Square in Seattle, where a lot of the galleries and cute little shops are. Last time I was in Seattle, I remembered another painting I had done sorta like this a while ago, and decided I'd love to try it again. Dapples are a thing for me.

How do I paint dapples? Well, depending on whether there's more dapple or shadow, I paint that first. In this case there was more shadow, so I painted the scene in shadow first, pretending the dapples didn't exist. Then I came in on top with a kind of half dapple (a value/color halfway between the color of the wall/door/ground and the lightest dapple), and put in the some splotches about where they were in the picture, but maybe placed a little more artistically. Then I went in again with the lightest of the dapples, within the darker dapples, but only hitting some spots, because in real life some dapples are brighter than others. I hope that makes sense!

A Google Break

sold. (6x6in.)

I'm excited to announce a new ArtByte (online tutorial)! This one is called "Taking, Editing & Painting (from) Photo References." Check it out in my ArtByte Store.

In it I share everything I've learned about taking pictures for painting later (vs. simply taking pictures), what your camera isn't capturing and some tricks for overcoming this, what camera to use, how to set your camera, how to edit photos on your computer, and tips for drawing and painting from them. There are no videos, but there is/are tons of info and pictures, including examples of photos I've painted from (and the subsequent paintings). The cost is $10.

Cozy Parking

sold. (6x6in.)

I've been experimenting with different methods lately, and this painting is kind of a mish-mash of different things. I started with a block-in (which isn't my normal way), but then fell back on my island/ocean approach for the windows and bright red of the house. My goal is to find a happy balance of the two, since I like them both for different reasons. And though I like this painting, I still don't have the answer. My fear is that there IS no perfect balance. That every painting calls for a different, unique approach. And that I will be constantly seeking. Is that good or bad? I don't know.