Shoe Study in Burnt Umber

Acrylic on Canvas  11" x 14"

February 24, 2010. A value study primarily, this painting was done using only burnt umber and titanium white. The idea was to capture the still life in 30 minutes and focus only on dark and light. I find it helpful to do this type of exercise occasionally. It seems to re-focus the areas I notice when working on other paintings.  

Quick Portrait from Live Model #2

Acrylic on Canvas 15" x 12"

May 11, 2010. Golden Open Acrylic. A very quick live model painting. This one was noteworthy in that it is the fastest I have ever finished a portrait. We only had 30 minutes for this pose. There were a lot of short cuts taken in the process. I am somewhat surprised in how close it came to being complete. I think I could have gone back and filled in all the details with another 15 minutes. Sometimes it seems that I may be better off not having too much time on a painting - there is less possibility to overwork it.

Quick Portrait from Live Model

Acrylic on Canvas 18" x 16"

February 2, 2010. A more recent example of work done from a live model. This was an attempt to add more of a "painterly" look while still achieving a proper likeness. I am happy with the color in this one. It turned out to have a sort of mood to it - not sure I really planned that part.

St. Patricks Day Dress

Acrylic on Canvas covered board  14" x 18"

March 17, 2009. Live Figure at Bucktown Center for the Arts, Davenport, IA. Our model chose to wear a green dress for St. Patricks Day. I had just joined the group known as " A Fine Line " in January and was attempting to paint live models for the first time. Each night has one pose consisting of 3 - 45 minute sessions. This was one of the first paintings I completed that had a "likeness" of the actual model. There are alot of changes I would make to it now. I find that is easy to say after I am done and have the luxury of a little extra time to evaluate it. 

Bonsai

 Acrylic on Canvas 3.5" x 2.5"

October 2009. Experiment with Golden Open Acrylic paint. This painting was one of those you do while not actually trying to paint something. I had been working with very small stretched canvas' around this time and had just bought some of these new paints. I was planning to use them while painting outside and was hoping they would give me enough working time to do some oil-like effects. I had a very small bonsai tree sitting on my desk and before I really thought about it, I started to paint it. This new paint turned out to be different than the other acrylics I have used. It does give you more time to work. It also dries more transparent and glossy ( with some colors ) than I was accustomed to. Overall, I like the look of it and do plan to use it more often for some types of painting.

Watery Sunset

Watercolor on Arches 140lb. Hot Press  6" x 9"

Summer 1996. From balcony of Apartment in Hendersonville, TN. It was done in a late summer evening and I remember the heat and humidity. It was one of those days where it seemed that the air was heavy and still - like everything was pressing in on you. This painting has annoyed me ever since I finished it. That pine tree on the left with the curving top is my main problem. The actual tree and horizen did look like this but I wish I had not depicted it literally. It reminds me of the art in a Dr. Suess book. This reminds me that it is sometimes a good idea to adjust the composition - I think the problem is knowing that while you are still working on the painting.

Late Afternoon at St. Pete's in August

Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press paper  6" x 9"

August 1997. This was another early attempt at plein aire painting. Did this while sitting on St. Pete  Beach in Florida looking west in a late afternoon. We were there for a week and this was the build up for a quick rain storm that popped up every day at this time. It would come in fast and dump alot of rain then clear out to make way for a fantastic sunset. I never did get the darks - dark enough to make everything else pop on this painting. I remember planning to try it again the next day - don't remember if I actually did. 

Moo with Shell

Watercolor on Arches 140# Hot Press  4" x 4"

Summer 2003. This was a small study done from a photo taken while on vacation. She was balancing on her feet on the beach in a very shallow pool of water. Great reflections in this shot, however, I never did get that far with the painting. I was not happy with her face - it worked as a painting of a small girl but did not quite capture even a likeness of her. I think that is why I abandoned this one at the time.

Homage to Monet

Acrylic on Arches 140# Cold Press paper  7" x 10"

2001. This was done as an experiment to see how to get a watercolor look when using acrylic paint. I had wanted to be able to combine the look of transparent blending of color in the sky with the more opaque and "oil - like" heavy paint application in the foreground. I happened to have a print of this Monet painting on the wall in front of me at the time, so.. I decided to use it. I think this is the only time I have ever directly tried to copy anothers work. It felt wrong to do it even though I knew this was a time tested method to improve your own work. 

Birds eye view

Watercolor on Arches 140lb. Cold Press paper  4.5" x 15"

August 1998. An early attempt at plein aire with watercolor - in fact, I believe this may be my first. I was on a family vacation to St. Pete's Beach in Florida and was trying to capture the true color of the water so that I could be more accurate when working on the actual painting. All work, at this time, had been done exclusively from photo's I had taken. I was surprised when this turned into doing an actual painting. I do not remember enjoying this process of working from real life very much at the time. The lighting, contrasts, and color seemed to be changing much too quickly for me to use my normal process.

Fountain

Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press  4.5" x 4.75"

Summer 1996. This was a purely play exercise. It was done with no planning as to what it would even be. I was just attempting to work with allowing the burnt sienna and french ultramarine to blend as wet wash a keep the center area as a retained negative image. I guess it turned into a fountian like thing. I was doing alot of experimenting with things like this - mainly to just see what the paint would do. It has helped alot with the confidence needed to allow things to happen. It is a reminder to me to keep up with these type of activities.

Shells

Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press paper  3" x 4"

August 1997. This one was done from a photo I took while walking on a beach in Florida during a family vacation. It was meant to be a study for a  much larger painting, however, I never did get back to that. It works as a small example of the style of watercolors I was doing back then. I was moving away from trying to control how the paint would flow while painting and more just letting it do what it wanted.