Ryan Mellody Art

Putney Painters - Nov 13

2011-11-16T22:48:00.001-05:00

Artist Katie Swatland posed for us this past Saturday and Richard set up a pose that was both a great study on whites and also design. In my painting below, I never got to the whites, but I'm really looking forward to finishing up this painting and learning more about the colors and temperatures I can play with.

Richards glasses got destroyed on the road outside the Barn the week before and his new glasses hadn't come in yet . . . so, he basically couldn't see the model or his painting. Because of that, he tried to start a painting but ended up wiping it out after a session and then did a quick monochrome for Katie. I was able to snap a photo of each -- still pretty good for someone who couldn't see!

Below are two in-process photos from my painting. I'll definetly be finishing this painting sometime in the next couple weeks and will keep you posted.

To close, artist Charlie Hunter jumped out to the front steps of the Barn to do a little sketching. This guy has such a great sketchbook, each little drawing deserves a frame.

Busy Week

2011-11-02T22:52:00.000-04:00

This past week, my friend Daniel Keys was up in New England for some painting and his one-man show at West Wind Fine Art.

On Monday I caught up with him, Kathy Anderson, and a few other artists for some painting at a little roadside farm in Connecticut. It was a day of good painting and great company . . . something I can never get enough of.

On Saturday, I drove up to Vermont for a portrait day with Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik and the rest of the Putney gang. I only painted in the morning and then headed out to Cape Cod after lunch. I wish I could have seen the paintings at the end of the day -- everybody was doing a really good job.

Nancy's start

Richard's start

My really quick sketch

A few hours later, I showed up on the Cape for Daniel's show which was really nice. I've only seen a couple of his finished "Studio" paintings and it was great seeing ten of them side by side, all with amazing brushwork and textures. If you ever get a chance to see his work in person, I would do it . . . you can't get a sense for his thicker brushwork and color harmonies from the photos.

Although I couldn't stay, Daniel did a demo on Sunday and Kristin Thies of West Wind Fine Art was kind enough to share a couple photos with me (us).

Putney Painters - Oct 1st

2011-10-06T13:32:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday, I again had the opportunity to paint with my friends in Putney, VT. Because of some rain, we had a still life day and had a great time together in the barn.

Richard started a wonderfully loose painting and demonstrated to us all how to paint both accurately while still taking artistic license. Below are a few progress shots.

Dennis Sheehan spent the day preparing for his one-man show coming up at Susan Powell Fine Art. The opening is Oct. 14 if your anywhere near Madison, CT.

Dennis completed 3 block-ins (just a little further than the photo below) in about 4 hours! He is a greater painter and above that, an artist that has a vision and unique look within todays market. Seeing his paintings from life have always been a great experience -- you don't get a sense of the thick paint and beautiful brushwork from the digital images.

Kathy Anderson was doing some really good work as well. She wrapped up this floral which as you can see, she totally captured the color and values.

To top it all off, Richards birthday was October 5th and we had a little (3 cakes and ice cream!) celebration for him. Happy Birthday Richard, may you have many, many more!

Weekend with the Masters - Final Day

2011-09-22T17:02:00.001-04:00

This re-cap has taken a while, but we are finally on to the last day -- I can't wait to start blogging about some other things (if you have any recommendations, just let me know). This Final day was very light and I only have a few photos.

I spent the majority of the morning watching Quang Ho's still life demonstration. He painted two small demos, and like his other paintings, he first blocked in the darks and shadows. He then worked around the canvas adding various shapes of color.

From talking with Quang and watching him paint over those few days, I have realized that he loves applying some mystery in his painting. I'm not saying that he leaves things in his painting that are a mystery (although that may be true), but that as he's painting, he avoids or leaves things to a later point. He will build up random shapes and colors and then all of a sudden create that one needed silhouette or edge which will just bring an object to life. He did this both in his still life (with the fabric table cloth) and in his evening duel (where he painted the arm and hand hand as loose shapes and then added the edge between the arm and dress - making it pop into reality).

As I was leaving the demo, I jumped across the hall and snapped a couple pictures of David Leffell's demo (I'm sorry I didn't stay longer or get any of the canvas . . . I believe it turned out really well)

After a somewhat relaxing lunch and doing a little work for the event, I jumped into David Spricks workshop and had an hour and a half to do a little drawing.

And that's it -- After a short sleep and a long plane ride, I was back at home and back into the grind (while being energized and excited about this next year of painting and what it will bring). I'm already looking forward to the next event . . . thanks for sticking around and being interested in the journey.

Weekend with the Masters - Day Three

2011-09-19T15:45:00.001-04:00

I'm starting to forget the exact details of each day and it's all starting to blend together (I have the worst memory!), so I'll do my best to re-live it. These last two posts might be a little light on text, although most of you might prefer that anyway.

I started out the day watching Carolyn Anderson's morning demonstration. She started with a few placement lines (top/bottom of head, tilt, hair/profile lines) and then jumped right into painting the main shadows. From there, she moved around and built up the painting with the right color, in the right shape, in the right location. I am always so impressed with Carolyn's (and Quang Ho's) style and ability, I have probably said this before, but I believe that if someone has really figured out how to paint, they will embody some of this style and technique -- it's all about complete control and accuracy of the components of painting -- knowing what needs to be there and omitting the rest. That being said, I sometimes wish Carolyn's paintings had a stronger or more refined center of interest . . . something that a viewer could really grasp on to.

Hopefully as I grow as an artist, some of these qualities that are seen in Carolyn's work will be seen in my own paintings.

After watching most of the demo, I jumped around to the other portrait workshops to find a place to paint in the afternoon. I spent a few minutes in both Scott Burdicks and Nancy Guziks workshop, snapping a couple pictures for you.

I decided to paint with Nancy that afternoon and Richard came in to see how the workshop was coming along. During his visit he drew a quick sketch of the models younger brother (the girl in the above picture) and then also played chess with the model. This little girl was really good at chess and had most of us scared to play her. I'm not sure how I would have faired, but I figured I should just stick to painting.

Friday night (day 3) was the last of the evening events which was a duel between Quang Ho and Daniel Sprick. The two are friends from Colorado and are both represented by Gallery 1261 in Denver. Both artists were engaging and painted well. Quang spent the first 20 minutes discussing his thought process and ideas while Daniel got a much needed head start. As mentioned before, Daniel's style is much more refined (verging on photo-realism at times) while Quang is much faster and simplified. It was nice to see two very different approaches to the same subject . . . something you usually don't see in these types of events.

Weekend with the Masters - Day Two

2011-09-15T21:33:00.001-04:00

Day two started off the workshops and except for a couple lectures, most participants were in a single class the entire day. Each "Master" spent the morning discussing and demonstrating their painting method which left the afternoon for student participation.

I spent most of my morning watching the start of Rose Frantzen's demo (I had missed the beginning of day one's demonstration and was really interested in this stage). Like a true master, she quickly constructed both a wonderful likeness as well as a piece of art -- I would highly recommend Rose's workshops . . . she just gets "it" and can easily describe and teach what she thinks and knows.

One of the things I took away from her demo was that when she squints down at the subject (to simplify the shapes), she always asks herself a coinciding question. Like "How does the shape of the right eye differ from the left", or "does the hair line disappear" or "are these two shapes the same value even though they have different temperatures." I may do the same thing half of the time, but I bet I'm guilty of just squinting at the subject because that's what "your supposed to do."

She also takes assessment of things as she slowly squints down and opens back up. So, for example, if she wants to find the hardest edge on the subject, she will slowly squint down until all the edges are lost except for one (which will be the hardest edge), and then as she slowly opens her eyes, she will take an account of all the other edges that start to come back into her vision . . . so through one squint, she will know the hardest edge and the others that follow.

Later in the morning, I spent some time in Dan Gerhartz's workshop as well as a few moments in Daniel Spricks. Both are amazing artists -- Sprick starts with a very classical duotone underpainting while Gerhartz blocks in with more local color (much like Frantzen or Burdick).

In the afternoon, my friend and I crashed Rose's workshop and was able to paint for a couple hours. I have to take photos of the paintings, and will try to get to it soon.

The evening event was the much anticipated portrait demonstration of Richard Schmid painting Alexey Steele. If you know Alexey, you know that he can't sit still or stop talking, making it very entertaining to see Richard paint a portrait while Alexey is flailing his arms and giving a 2 hour monologue in his Russian accent. I don't have any photos of the event (my camera battery was needed), but I was able to take a little video -- it's not much but it does have a surprise ending when Daniel Keys and I were goofing off and laughing about who knows what . . .

To wrap up the evening, a bunch of us grabbed some food after the event . . . here are a few pictures of to many people around to small of a table. (notice how we all care about being in the pictures and being "social," but Richard was the smart one and just wanted to eat his soup and go to bed!)

Taaron, Jon, and Adam enjoying a story from Rosemary (Rosemary and Co Brushes)

Day three . . . coming soon.

Weekend with the Masters - Day One

2011-09-14T13:26:00.001-04:00

The team at American Artist did a great job this year gathering a very broad range of Master artists -- from the highly-classical approach of Jacob Collins to the more abstract and painterly style of Dan McCaw. This event is a convergence of the major faces in the representational scene and should be seen as a historic moment that both brings these masters closer together, and fuels the next generation of artists.

The first day got everyone warmed up with half-day demos and lectures (saving the full-day workshops for the rest of the weekend). In the morning I watched Scott Burdick give a portrait demonstration. Scott's work is very thick and usually starts by blocking in the large shapes, he then layers ever-thicker strokes of paint as he defines and refines the details.

Around noon, Richard Schmid gave the keynote lecture, "The Adventures of Painting from Life," which was a perfect way to start off the event. Getting to view many unseen paintings, process images, and hear some good stories was proof that if artists want to accurately portray the beauty of life, they must get their inspiration and information from life itself (not a photo, or second-person account).

In the afternoon, I spent most of my time watching Rose Frantzen's portrait demo. Rose is such a dynamic teacher and had all the attendees mesmerized with her stories and amazing painting.

The evening event was a panel discussion moderated by David Leffel. The main and first topic was related to "Beauty," and it's relationship with art. The responses were a mixed bag with some saying that beauty was merely subjective while others saying that it was objective even though we apply our own subjective feelings.

Seeing that you have read this far, I guess you will stick around for my thoughts on this topic: As an artist, I have been able to take the time to observe and study the world we live in. It is very apparent to me that there is order and creativity in all things.

Just as my paintings are evidence of their creator (me), this world is evidence of it's Creator. And for all the hours I spend on deliberately laboring over a single piece of art, it is merely a glimpse or sliver of this world. Imagine the skill and awesomeness of the Creator of the entire universe!

Whether you ever see my painting or not, my painting is still here (probably in my closet) and is no more beautiful or ugly for your opinions of it. The same would be true for us and this world. If you apply your subjective ideas of beauty and ugliness on this world, it stills exist as a work of "art" just as if we were not here. As a masterful piece of art, this world is not all beautiful and vibrant objects, but a harmony of beautiful "color" and not-so-beautiful "greys". Some may say the grey is ugly, but they exist to lift-up the colors and promote them as beautiful. Yes, each human applies subjectivity to our world and self-defines what beautiful is, but think of it as a location on a pre-existing scale.

As artists, there is a world that we attempt to portray, it embodies beauty, and we try and capture a glimpse of it within our canvases. -- we are subjective creatures in an objectively beautiful world.

Back on topic . . . the panel discussion also veered of course and eventually became a battle between drawing vs. painting and highly-rendered vs. painterly -- entertaining and drama filled (which is what you want from a panel discussion I suppose).

Well, that wraps up the first day, I'll leave you with a couple Scott Burdick paintings that he brought along with him. More about the other days to come . . .

Painting in California

2011-09-12T11:48:00.000-04:00

I headed to CA with the plans of posting throughout my time there, but the days were so packed and seemed to always end at 1:30 am or later -- so I'm going to have to catch you up throughout this week.

I spent the first four days with my artist friends (Daniel Keys, Taaron Parsons, Adam Clague, and Jon Stasko) painting on the California coast and in a local studio. This time we spent together was a wonderful experience and the five of us not only got to know each other better, but we all formed some lifelong friendships.

Some Weekend with the Masters specific posts are on the way -- it was a great event this year!

News and Painting

2011-09-01T10:48:00.000-04:00

Some great things are happening these days -- I am pleased to announce that my work is now being represented by M Gallery in Charleston, so if you want to view (or buy:) four of my paintings, get down there and check them out. The gallery is also hosting their September show, "Strength & Grace" a one-woman show of my friend Michelle Dunaway.

Also, I will be heading to California tomorrow to help the American Artist team with the Weekend with the Masters event coming up next week. Before the event, a bunch of artists are getting together for some plein air painting and I will try my hardest to keep the blog posts coming about my adventures.

And lastly, I want to leave you with a recent painting. I had process images of this, but my old desktop died and the images went with it. I'm not sure if I'm "done" yet or what the actual title should be . . . If you have a good title, shout it out in the comments.

In the Mirror, 20x30 Oil on Linen

Free Painting Lesson from Brian Neher

2011-08-24T00:04:00.000-04:00

Portrait artist Brian Neher has recently produced 5 instructional videos and has posted a free 50 minute lesson to "wet your palette". In the lesson, he demonstrates the foundational principles of representational painting through the painting of an apple.

You can view the whole lesson on YouTube here, or you can visit Brian's site to get the free high-res download for you to keep forever!

Brian has studied with the amazing illustrator and portrait artist Joe Bowler for more than 10 years and he's quickly becoming one of today's elite portrait artists. A look through his work will reveal a commitment to the past masters with personal touches of high-key values, pure color and natural light.

Brian's commission work is mostly painted from photo references (he uses only Black and White photos!), so for all the artists out there that work at night, or don't have access to live models, his lessons may be extra informative.

In the Garden at Richard & Nancy's

2011-08-02T23:49:00.000-04:00

I was up in Vermont this past Saturday for a day of painting at Richard Schmid and Nancy Guizik's house. The Putney Painters all gathered in the Garden for a morning painting demo from Richard and then spent the afternoon painting in Richard's studio. Below are some of the process photos of the demo. For a wonderful write-up and full documentation of the demonstration, keep and eye out for a lesson in Katie Swatland's Learning from Richard Schmid. (it will probably be a lesson sometime in the early winter)

This is Richards initial toning. A very thinned wash of violet blue on the right and then Viridian with a bit of yellow ochre (or some other yellow/orange) below. Then Richard went right into a design statement with a slightly thicker stroke of Transparent Oxide Red and Viridian.

Richard then went right into the area of focus . . . clearing out the space he intended for the flowers with a paper towel. I don't have a shot of the garden, but he was looking at several individual plants and composing the painting by picking and choosing the ones that best fit his initial vision.

After finishing the flower, he went back into the background and added the core darks and variations of edges and shapes.

He then went into the other key flower and worked his way out.

Here is a close-up of the first "sitting" probably 45 minutes in.

After spending some time with the leaves and surrounding areas, it was actually getting close to lunch (we had a late start). Since he had less than an hour left, he began to make notes of the other main features to ensure he had enough information to finish the painting in the studio.

Here is another straight-on view after he has made all his "notes"

And here is the final stage for the day. As you can see, he had some extra time and focused some more on the yellow flowers and the foliage.

On another note . . . .

Wild Flowers by Richard Schmid

Kristen Thies and her gallery West Wind Fine Art has recently moved out to Cape Cod and is having one of their first major shows at the end of this month. If your anywhere close to the area, your going to want to go to this reception.

Dreamers by Nancy Guzik

There will be at least two Schmid paintings (plus those in Kristen's personal collection) as well as five from Nancy and a few other paintings from my friend Daniel Keys who has just recently had the privilege of being represented by Kristen.

Roses & Hydrangeas by Daniel Keys

For more info on the show visit the West Wind Fine Art site . . . if you want to keep up with the gallery, join their mailing list.

Creativity by Nancy Guzik

Allman Picture Frames

2011-07-14T23:41:00.000-04:00

I love a good frame, and Curt Allman has been hand crafting some of the greatest frames for the greatest artists and museums for the last 16 years.

I found this wonderful article on their website. It's from an old issue of Fine Art Connoisseur and has some good information about selecting a frame and what to look for in a framer.

Nancy Guzik with co-founder Dustin Allman

Allman frames also has a pre-made "Studio Collection" for artists if they need something fast and in a standard size. I'll warn you that the prices match the quality of the frames, but that painting of yours will look like it's worth double!

Visit their site at www.allmanpictureframe.com

Richard Schmid with Curt Allman

Snapdragons Still Life

2011-07-12T22:59:00.001-04:00

Snapdragons, 16 x 20

I was up in Vermont a couple weeks ago, catching up with a few of the Putney Painters. I started the above still life during the day, and was able to wrapped it up a few days ago.

Rosemary Ladd's Start

John Smith's standard still life in a drawer set-up

Close-up of Snapdragons

Summer Shore, 12 x 18

2011-06-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

I just wrapped up this painting last night and wanted to post a few progress photos. When painting in plein air or working on studio landscapes, I usually incorporate some buildings or man-made objects. It helps me focus my attention on something strong and hard-edged and affords me the freedom of leaving the grass and foliage very loose. Not having that support in this painting was a big difference for me and makes me respect those landscape artists that do it so well.

Douglas Fryer

2011-06-08T16:40:00.000-04:00

I love the outdoors, and painting in plein air is probably my favorite thing to do. I have always wanted to focus more time on painting landscapes, but have always felt that humanity, emotion and storytelling always speak louder through figurative pieces (plus, if you can paint an awesome portrait, chances are, you'll be able to paint a great landscape or still life too). That being said, I want to spend some time this summer and do a few landscapes, something more than just the little study that I usually do.

I have a couple favorite landscape artists, and Douglas Fryer is somewhere near the top of my list. I just saw this video produced by Marshall-LeKae Gallery in Scottsdale, and thought it was worth mentioning (the intro is weird and 1 minute long . . . just bear with it, it gets better).

You can check out more of his paintings on his blog/archive here

Some of my other favorite landscape artists are:
Scott Christensen
Dennis Sheehan
John Taft
Michael Godfrey
and many others

Who are some of your favorites?

New Painting with progress photos

2011-06-06T13:11:00.002-04:00

I just wrapped up this painting for entry into the Salmagundi Clubs Annual Non-Member show. The source is from a Putney Painter session a couple months back, and my studies from that day were extremely helpful in keeping as much "from life" flare to this painting as possible.

Above is my initial sketch done in pencil. Just a 15 minute placement of all the important features, making sure I had everything fitting in the canvas.

I then went right into splashing some paint around for a loose background, and then started blocking in the head. I painted the head first in the two main values, the dark and then light side of the head, then slowly went into the details, trying to only paint what I thought was necessary.

This is the end of the first evening of painting, probably 2:30 hours at this point

From here, I just worked my way out from the head. The photo source was very different from what I witnessed from life (you never notice this when just doing things from photos . . . when you paint something from life, and then paint the same thing from a photo, that's when you start realizing what photography robs you of). Some examples of the differences was the washed out highlights on the guitar and sofa, the varying texture of the scarf, and the color of the shirt (which in the photo was very grey, but in my studies, very purple/blue)

Here I moved into the details of the guitar and the hand (the hand is painted with only three colors/values -- the light side, the dark side, and then the middle value that can be seen in the angle shift of the fingers)

And here is the final painting

Song for Putney, 12 x 18 oil on linen mounted to board

Painting Winner

2011-05-26T10:29:00.000-04:00

Through random selection (random.org), the winner of a free painting is Wesley Ryan Clapp. Congratulations to Wesley and thank you all for coming back again and again to read what's new in my life and journey.

I hope to keep posting more and more relevant content and hopefully do another give away in the near future.

Free Painting!

2011-05-20T16:17:00.000-04:00

In recognition of reaching 100 followers, I have decided to clean out my shelves and give away a painting to one of my followers.

I will randomly select the winner on Wed the 25th from whoever is following my blog through the blogger widget on the right side of the page. The current 101 followers will get double the chance, while any new followers will get a single chance.

The winner will get to choose from one of the two paintings below. Both are fairly recent, roughly 12 x 16" and painted with oil on linen mounted to either birch or gatorboard. Unframed, but with free shipping.

Thank you all for the interest you have shown in me and my painting adventures. Feel free to tell your friends about the give away!

Also, when I reach 500 followers, I'll do the same thing again . . . so even if you don't win this time, hopefully we will be doing this again soon. Good Luck.

American Masters at SCNY

2011-05-13T23:14:00.001-04:00

I was in NYC today for some business and had the opportunity to stop at the Salmagundi Club and see the American Masters show. To my surprise, Nancy Guzik's finished painting of me playing my guitar was in the show.

To see where she had previously left the painting, check out this old post.

Some of the highlights of the show was a portrait by David Leffel, some paintings by Quang Ho, and a few Schmid paintings.

Since I just had a post on Rose Frantzen, I also took some photos of her painting from the show. . . that reflection is pretty cool!

To learn more about the club, go to their site

Close-up of Daniel Gerhartz

Rose Frantzen Video

2011-05-04T13:05:00.001-04:00

I ran across the below video today and found myself watching it all the way through. The video is of artist Rose Frantzen speaking at her show in the National Portrait Gallery last year. The show consisted of 180 12x12 portraits of the people in her hometown, Maquoketa (mah CO ket ah).

In the video she tells stories of the people, the materials and the processes that went into painting all of those portraits.

Rose studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and while there, painted at the Palette & Chisel where she met and studied under Richard Schmid. Later, she also attended the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, studying anatomy with the late Dean Keller.

Rose paints mainly figurative and allegorical paintings and has an ever evolving style -- painting thin and layered for one painting, and then loose and thick for these alla prima portraits.

She has a book about the portraits here. It has been on my book list for a while now, and after watching this video and seeing all the paintings, I think the book has moved up to the top of the list.

If you want to see more of her work, visit her site at Old City Hall Gallery
If you want to view some process videos of two portraits, visit her brothers site here

Dennis Miller Bunker

2011-05-01T23:10:00.003-04:00

Portrait of Walter Griffin

I'll be turning 29 later this year, and a recent conversation with some other artists (about trying to "make it" as a young painter) reminded me of an artist that only lived till 29, yet had an amazing career.

Jessica - 1890

Dennis Miller Bunker (1861-1890) was born in New York City and studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League with William Merritt Chase. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Art in Paris, learning from Jean-Leon Gerome. After graduating in 1885, he returned to the United States and took a job in Boston teaching at the Cowles Art School. That same year Bunker had his first one-man exhibition at the Noyes & Blakeslee Gallery in Boston.

In 1887 Bunker met John Singer Sargent during Sargent's visit to Boston, and in 1888, spent the summer with Sargent at Calcot Mill in England painting in plein-air. That summer was a turning point for Bunker's painting style as he became greatly influenced by impressionism and turned to brighter colors and looser brushwork. He brought this style back with him to Boston and was praised for his new work.

John Singer Sargent - Dennis Miller Bunker Painting at Calcot

Bunker always felt like an outsider in Boston's society and in the Spring of 1889 resigned his teaching position at Cowles Art School, lived briefly that summer at Medfield, Massachusetts, and then moved back to New York City. Earlier that year he had met Eleanor Heady of Boston and they were married in October 1890. They moved into Sherwood Studios in New York City, but during a visit to Boston that Christmas Bunker fell ill and died at the age of 29.

Portrait Sketch of Eleanor Hardy Bunker

Within those 12 years from training to death, Bunker had accomplished more than most of us would ever achieve in a lifetime. It's quite a reality check! I guess I should get painting.

To view several letters written by Bunker, go to the smithsonian site here
To see a neat little overview of Bunker, check out the Qwiki

Portrait of Anne Page

Second Portrait of a Woman

Putney Painters - March 29

2011-03-31T23:15:00.003-04:00

I had another good day painting with Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik and the rest of the Putney Painters last Saturday. Our time was focused on the importance of a good block-in, and how it can either be a great painting all by itself, or set the path to a more polished work.

The day before, Richard and Nancy painted our model Jake at their studio, practicing the techniques we were trying to accomplish on Saturday. Below are two of Nancy's, which were each painted in under 2 hours! (Richards was equally impressive, I just didn't have a chance to photograph it)

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Because of this stress on block-ins, we divided the day into two, 2 1/2 hour poses. Our goal was to squint down, paint the largest shapes first, avoid detail, and nail down the important stuff -- like edges, relationships & drawing. The first pose had a light positioned low on the figure which was really fun and something new for me. (a photo of the actual setup is below the images)

Richard's Study

Nancy's Study

My Block-In

The second pose was a more traditional set up (see the opening photo). Nancy's painting below was the best of the session, and the light, composition, & technique were working so well together -- I'll be keeping my eye out for this finished painting. Another champion of the day was Dick McNeil who had two nice block-ins. The below photo is of Dick and Richard during the second session, along with his second painting.

July Serenade going to OPA show

2011-03-18T13:15:00.001-04:00

My painting "July Serenade" was selected for this years Oil Painters of America National Exhibition. If you find yourself in Coeur d'Alene during June 10 - July 9th, go check it out.

Besides the shows running, there are 6 days of events happening around the opening of the show. If you want to get in some plein air painting, or check out the amazing landscape artist Scott Christensen do a demo, I'm sure it will be a good time and worth the trip.

A list of all the accepted artists is here, and if your interested in the hosting gallery, jump over to Devin Galleries.

Putney Painters - March 12th

2011-03-14T15:09:00.003-04:00

I had the privilege of painting again with the Putney Painters this past Saturday and there are a lot of great things happening up there. Richard Schmid brought in the finished painting of the Asian doll he worked on a couple months back (check out this old blog post about that day). This painting blew everyone away . . . it's probably the first time I saw a painting of Richards that had such deliberate design elements (usually he will design the subject with paint, but you would never guess he changed or altered anything because it looks so natural -- in this case he created a design and a painting).

Many of us painted Carol Arnold's daughter, Grace, who was the best little model any artist could wish for. She was so still, awake, and pleasant the entire time. It was probably the 100th time she has sat for a painting and she can be seen, along with Carol's other children, in many of Nancy Guzik's paintings. Below is Nancy's painting from this Saturday:

Kathy Anderson, Katie Swatland and Richard all painted still lifes (which was the theme for the day, until Carol's daughter showed up). The below image is Katie's painting that was absolutely amazing, this photo doesn't come close to doing it justice.

Above is Richard's painting (with my silver cup . . . hopefully he'll finish this painting and my cup famous -- I may never be, but at least my cup will!) To wrap up the post, below is another painting of Nancy's that she brought in to show Carol. Sorry about the glare:

Troy Stafford

2011-03-08T15:28:00.002-05:00

If you love painting, chances are you also have a soft spot for framing.

One of the biggest names in custom frame making these days is Troy Stafford and his New Hampshire based company Stafford Frame Makers. He's been making frames for Jeremy Lipking, Michael Klein, Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik and countless other master artists, and it's easy to see why these artists and galleries are flocking to Troy and his amazing craftsmanship.

I just ran across a photo gallery of his frames (which include many that I have not seen before), and I was just amazed at the beauty of his work. It's probably rare to say this, but I think as a whole, we artists better get our act together and start painting things that are worthy of these frames, because in many cases, the frame is more inspiring than the art.

To see the gallery, go here

Technical Insights: Daniel Gerhartz

2011-02-24T12:57:00.001-05:00

Dan has started a blog that highlights the technical thoughts behind some of the paintings from his recent book. There are two posts so far, and both have great insights and close-up imagery.

Hopefully Dan keeps this up, I would love to read more from him and start to create a personal resource of all of these posts for my library.

For Dan's Blog visit: http://danielgerhartz.wordpress.com/

If you like the idea of saving these (or any webpage) for yourself, you could use Joliprint to convert the pages into pdf's. It's what I use, and it generally does a pretty good job -- a whole lot easier then copying and pasting everything into word or something. I then print them off and stuff them in a folder or notebook. (this makes me feel very studious, like I'm in fifth grade cutting out news articles or something)

Adam Clague Painting Demo

2011-02-17T08:57:00.001-05:00

A fellow artist and college classmate of mine, Adam Clague has been documenting his process as he works through a two figure painting. It reminds me of a Morgan Weistling setup (two school-aged children), but with a nice balance of loose, thin and thick brushwork. It's definitely worth the look and I think Adam is quickly becoming a really fantastic painter and someone to keep your eye on. Find it all on his blog, adamclaguefineart.blogspot.com

Google Art Project - Another Video

2011-02-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

If you keep up with any other art blogs, or seen the news over the past couple days, I'm sure your aware of the mind-blowing Google Art Project. If you want to read more about it's features, Matthew Innis's blog goes into good detail.

What got me really interested in it was the quality images of the paintings. I wanted to find out about these "Gigapixel" images that they use, and just in general, how they photographed the paintings. Sadly, I can't find much information about the specific equipment and setup, but I did see a couple videos of the Google team setting up and creating the images. I'll keep searching for someone who can answer technical questions, but until then, the below Google earth video from 2009 has some insights.

Techniques - C.W. Mundy, Part 2 of 2

2011-01-31T10:38:00.001-05:00

Oil, 6 X 9 on Linen Panel

Demo: Flow Blue, Azaleas, and Copper
As we start, don’t assume that CW’s charismatic brushwork results from forgetting the fundamentals of drawing, value and color. His painting ability, knowledge, and mental effort are that much more in tune with the fundamentals of painting, which therefore allow him to work loose. A past reference to this would be the brushwork of Sargent, who could form an entire head with 20 brushstrokes, or even the modern day artists Carolyn Anderson, or Kevin Beilfuss who both use so little to show so much.

1. Composition, planning, & drawing

On a Claessens #13 portrait linen on Gatorboard (from Wind River Arts) CW marks out the frame reveal – which is necessary to keep in mind when painting small, making sure important information doesn’t get lost under the frame.

He draws with a small round brush and Yellow Ochre, paying most attention to his center of interest and marking other important landmarks. As in most paintings, this stage is critical for the success of the painting; a bad drawing means a bad painting.

2. Block-in

Working from dark to light, CW masses in the major shapes paying attention mostly to values and overall temperature; relying on his drawing for accurate placement.

3. Soften block-in

After the block-in, CW “neutralizes” some of the brushwork so that at the end of the painting, the final brushstrokes will have more importance. This softening technique also helps recede the tertiary areas, which is very important to achieving a life-like representation of what you actually are seeing, portraying how your eyes focus. To soften slightly in the primary or secondary areas, he wipes with one-ply Kleenex. To soften the tertiary areas, he uses two-ply.

4. Laying in foundations

After softening, CW moves into laying the foundation for the flowers. This involves laying in the overall value and shape, and refining the exterior edges.

5. Shadow side of flowers

With the same method as the block-in, CW lays in the darks/shadowed sides of the flowers first. He uses a technique called “Marbleized Paint” which was discussed in Part One.

6. Adding details and final strokes

Once CW has painted the major shapes, he begins adding more detail with final, thick brushstrokes. In the photo above, you can see that he has laid in many of the leaves, the thick reflection on the copper pot (Which as you will notice could have taken dominance in the painting, but he kept the brighter reflection, values, and details for the foreground object.), and the details of the Flow Blue vase, it’s shadows and reflections.

7. Laying in the reflection

CW continues with the details and adds the reflection to the table, which although simplified, adds depth to the background pot.

8. Correcting the darker value on the bottom of the brass pot

9. Correcting the edge of the flow blue Jardinière and making

sure the value is right for the painting.

10. Mirror check

Above is a picture of CW with a large mirror behind him. He always uses the mirror as a check and balance to his work. Because the execution of a painting goes so quickly, your objectivity is usually limited. But with the mirror, he is able to see it in reverse and this helps immensely in seeing the painting with a fresh eye.

If you haven’t already, check out part one of this post. It has some great content about CW’s specific mixing and painting methods. When tied with the above demo, I think you get a very thorough grasp of how CW creates his works.

To learn more about CW Mundy’s techniques, you can purchase his videos:
Mastering the Dramatic Still Life with C.W. Mundy
Painting the Figure
Painting the Still Life
En Plein Air Collection (Not a demonstration video, but an account of his painting trips)

To keep current with CW’s news and events, visit his blog

Techniques - C.W. Mundy, Part 1 of 2

2011-01-28T11:27:00.004-05:00

I had the great opportunity this past fall to meet CW Mundy and to watch as he gave a still life demonstration. CW doesn’t fit the typical artist mold (you know . . . artsy long-haired Frenchmen with a goatee and cup of espresso), instead, he is a kind, beach clothes-wearing man with a booming voice and down-to-earth character. Matching this personality are his paintings, which follow no Salon or traditional style, but are loose, impressionistic, and filled with moving color.

I have wanted to focus more of my posts on the actual techniques of modern painters, and CW is a great place to start. Below is part one of a demo that he (and his wife Rebecca) so graciously sent over so that we can visually see the steps and techniques that he uses. Part two will walk us through one of his paintings step-by-step.

Materials and Methods

Color pots:
In the upcoming part two, as well as at the demo I attended in the fall, CW creates “pots” or piles of colors. The pot colors are color values in the main subject areas that he needs to paint, and they are mixed prior to painting.

Take for example a typical landscape, you have the sky value and color as a mass, a mountain range as a different value and color mass, then you have the foreground as a different value and color mass. The logical thing to do is to makes piles of those 3 values, so you can do your painting without having to continually mix paint as you go. That will take you out of your “zone” if you have to continually mix paint for the masses.

Bellagio, Lake Como 9 X 12

Also, there's a unifying factor that's crucial with color. Each pot color in this landscape is proportionally mixed with each mass color in the other two. In other words, the sky has some of the green from the foreground and some of the purple from the mountains. The green foreground will have some of the sky color and some of the mountain color in that pot. The mountain pot color will have the proportion of the foreground and the sky colors. This will unify the entire painting with color.

On location at Lake Como

Marbleized technique:
In addition to these loosely mixed pots of color, CW mixes paint in two main ways. The first is loosely mixing on the palette, either from modifying the pot colors, or creating a custom color. This mixing is done on the palette but as you can tell from his work, the colors are at most, folded color . . . never mixed together to form a flat color.

Now what is really exciting and important, besides just mixing paint on the palette, he will load up his brush with a pot color and then dip it into the pure chroma of the tube colors around the outer edge of the palette, stabbing various colors and picking up globs of paint that lay outside this main volume of pot color. Without mixing it, he will directly paint onto the canvas and thus "marbleize" the paint as he forms the stroke. He also finds that the effect is more easily accomplished using alkyds rather than straight oils, because alkyds have less pigment allowing them to marbleize better. Seeing this in person really blew my mind, I had never seen painting like this before and it seemed extremely exciting (and scary), but keep in mind that you need to know how and what color you are aiming for, if you get it wrong, you either have to scrap off the loads of paint, or add even more paint to edit your previous strokes.

Lighting:
When in the studio, CW generally lights his still lifes with warm light. As photographed in the post to come, he uses a high wattage tungsten floodlight. I’m not completely sure of the brand, but it looks like a 500-1000 watt unit that would probably cost a couple hundred bucks. He does not light his palette and canvas with the same light. He finds it is very important to have them always under natural light (in his studio, he has large windows behind him).

Palette:
CW paints with both standard oils and with Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyds (Alkyds can be mixed with traditional oil colors, or can act as an underpainting, but should never be used above a layer of traditional oils. Alkyds dry with less elasticity and will cause cracking if above the more elastic, traditional oils.) In CW’s case, he either uses a full palette of one or the other.

Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Light
Yellow Ochre (convenience color)
Cadmium Medium Red
Alizarin Crimson
Cerulean Blue
French Ultramarine Blue
Viridian
Terre Verte Green (convenience color)
VanDyke Brown
Dioxazine purple (convenience color)

(Notice the two pots of color here)

Tissues:
CW does not use paper towels to clean his brushes, instead he has a box of Kleenex tissues beside him for single use wipes. When he needs to wipe a brush, he grabs a tissue, wipes the brush, and then throws out the tissue. It’s fast, they are in a handy box, and are fairly cheap. Just don’t get the fluffy ones with all the lint and lotion.

Brushes:
Long-handled sable flat brushes: Rosemary 279 (but Langnickel 5590 will also work) – these are the brushes of choice for myself, and many of the “living masters.” The Rosemary’s are much more durable than the Langnickel, but both brushes create beautiful effects. They are fairly soft, and do take some getting used to compared to a hog bristle brush.

Various bristle flats and sable rounds

Stay tuned, Part Two coming soon.

Painting Provincetown Video

2011-01-26T10:19:00.001-05:00

Below is a video put together by Jon Goward and Paul Schulenburg. It is 35 minutes of interviews and conversations with the 12 artists that were a part of a group painting trip to the Cape this past Summer. Some of the artists include Jeremy Lipking, Ignat Ignatov, Stapelton Kearns, Michael Klein, Mark Hanson and many other well-known painters. This is the third year that this group (plus and minus a few) have gotten together, and the paintings have resulted in several shows and obvious friendships.

This video is a great way to learn more about some of these artists, and to get a glimpse of them working, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The video can't be embedded here, so to view it, jump over to YouTube: Painting Provincetown

Painting Folder

2011-01-19T11:55:00.001-05:00

I'm a bit of an art pack-rat, I have files, cd's, and shelves of art prints and books. If I'm not painting, I'm probably trying to get an art fix from looking through magazines and websites.

I love finding a new artist, or a painting that just blows my mind. Every artist is so unique and they take different approaches to their subject, their color choices, and even the way they mix and apply paint. That is why art is so great, each work is unique, there can never be another like it. The artists emotions, ideas, sensibilities and even brush hairs are in their paintings, and I find that so cool.

So, here a few recent additions to my art files:

Epiphany Portrait - Hal Yaskulka

Keira 16x12 - Hsin-Yao Tseng

Man in Blue 30x20 - Michael Carson

Mark Tennant

Pink Dress 16x12 - Hsin-Yao Tseng

The Cellist, 1908 - Joseph DeCamp

The Hug - Hal Yaskulka

Casey Baugh Updates

2011-01-11T19:57:00.003-05:00

I was on Casey Baugh's site the other day and noticed a lot of updates that I thought I would make you aware of.

Casey just finished his first solo show with Wendt Gallery in NYC and his site has the 22 paintings from that show. I really loved Casey's previous paintings and some of these new ones aren't exactly my favorite, but there is no doubt that he is an amazing artist and perfect for the contemporary collector.

In addition to all the new works, he has added an archive section with a selection of his older paintings and drawings.

Casey has also started a new form of teaching through short videos. These videos walk you through one of his paintings and have in-process photos with voice-over. He is calling this "new" form of art demonstration Art Unlayered. I really like this concept and think that it could evolve into something great. For $15 each, these HD videos give you about 10 minutes of insight into his process. Below is a sample video from Casey (watch it on YouTube for the higher quality):

Not Far From Home - Daniel Gerhartz

2011-01-10T11:20:00.000-05:00

This holiday season I received Daniel Gerhartz book, "Not Far from Home." It was self published and is offered through Liliedahl Video Productions (where his video demonstrations are also available). The book is 175 pages and co-written by Angela Sekerak, who studied a couple years behind me in art school and is equally a great artist and designer, helping Dan bring his work the presentation it deserves.

I used to work in both the publishing and printing industries, and I can say from experience that this book is one of the most beautiful and well-printed books that I have ever seen and definitely the finest in my library. It's cover is linen and gold-leaf and the interior printing has great color, a nice varnish on all the images, and the ink registration is spot on page after page. Kudos to The Fox Company, Lithographers, Inc. for a magnificent job on the production.

I have always enjoyed Daniel's paintings, but felt that sometimes they were to pastoral and maybe even cliche, but this book has changed my mind. Seeing them side by side and at a higher quality has put them in the category of timeless and masterful. He has accomplished a feeling of contemporary color and composition with century old brushwork and layering, and all this while working from life -- which he says is the one key to his success.

The book contains a forward by Richard Schmid, an intro by Dan, and a thorough biography by Angela. There are also 128 images, close-ups, studies, and one demonstration.

As a conclusion, this is one of the only art books that I feel is worth the cover price. I understand that because of shorter runs and self-publication that a lot of artists need to charge double or triple what you would expect from a large publishing house, but if Dan can create a book of this quality, everyone else should be able to as well. If your an artist or collector, you should have this book, and have it out so everyone can admire it.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

I put this little video together for our friends and family, and if your reading this, then I consider you a friend.

From me and my family, I wish you a very Merry Christmas. Thank you.

Weekend with the Masters Videos

2010-12-20T15:39:00.001-05:00

My friend Taaron Parsons has posted a few videos on YouTube from the "Masters" event. They are from a panel discussion where Richard Schmid, Scott Burdick, Rose Frantzen, Carolyn Anderson, Quang Ho, Sherrie McGraw, Dan Gerhartz and Jeremy Lipking spoke about the various advancements of technology and if they have positive or negative effects on art and artists.

I thought this discussion was great. I'm not sure if it's as exciting without being their live, but if you have an hour, it would be worth watching. Check out all the videos here.

And you can start with Part One below:

On a similar note, American Artist has released a special "Workshop" magazine that focuses on the "Masters" event. The price is fairly high at $20, but if you didn't have a chance to go, or you want a little keepsake if you did go, it might be worth the price. I initially thought the price was so high because of the included DVD, but the videos on it are more sales pitches than a documentary of the actual event. If you do want it though, you should hurry to your local book store, my Barnes & Noble only had one copy left.

Been a little busy

2010-12-08T14:44:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the lapse in posts. I had a great family vacation in mid November and then the normal holiday stuff the last couple weeks. Hopefully I'm back to normal now (at least till Christmas).

I forgot to post some previous photos from a Putney Painter day a few weeks back, so here they are below:

This is John Smith . . . he brought along an old wood drawer from a desk of his, and set up his Still Life inside. I thought that this worked really well with the overhead lights. I generally like my light source coming from the side (like from a window) or downward, at a 45 degree angle, and this method is great to keep in mind if you can't control or are painting under standard room lighting.

Richard Schmid had a great start with a Chinese doll. I wish I had some better pictures of this, but it was really stunning in person. Richard painted the background tone the night before (using paint and some medium) and then wiped out the dolls face. This technique creates a great effect of luminosity. Below is another in-process shot of one of his paintings that uses the same pull-off technique:

Above is Richard Schimd demonstrating his techniques of painting sticks and twigs on Tatiana Sink's painting. He used a combination of palette knife and brushes to create the shapes. He keeps the shapes fairly rigid and his paint mixtures are thick and not over mixed, making sure all the various colors are very visible.

And finally, below are two in process shots of my study from that day. I still have a bunch to do on it, and I will take some more pictures along the way.

Nikolai Blokhin

2010-11-02T16:30:00.002-04:00

I don't know much about this artist, except that he is from Russia, was born in 1968, and that he can really paint and draw. His website can be found here.

These images say it all, so here you go:

Another day with Richard and Nancy

2010-10-29T10:27:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I had the amazing privelage of spending the day at Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik's house. My friend Taaron and I met up with Daniel Keys and Michelle Dunnaway and painted a figure in Nancy's studio.

The painting time was fantastic and a lot more intimate and focused than the Putney Painter days that I have been to. Both Richard and Nancy's studio have great north daylight windows that are about ten feet in the air and 20 or more feet wide. This was the first time that I had painted in pure north daylight . . . most of the time I use 5000k lights that have a similar effect. The light was much softer and diffused than my bulbs, and the shadows were a little brighter and smoother (especially in the morning hours).

During a break, Richard took us into his studio and showed off some recent stuff. We also got to pick through some of the hundreds of paintings he has stacked up. After we finished painting, we persuaded him that we all needed to look through more paintings, and he pulled out two stacks that had about 75 studies that were done over the years at the Putney barn, and at the Palette and Chisel.

If that wasn't enough, we watched a performance by Nancy and her cat Zorro, and spent the rest of the evening talking over dinner at a local restaurant. This kinda stuff gets me so excited about being an artist, about learning and painting in this time period, and about the real value that it holds in our society.

My painting:

Couple paintings

2010-10-27T14:57:00.000-04:00

I just ran across these two paintings that align nicely with some previous posts of mine. I enjoyed them, so I thought you might like them as well.

Gustave Klimt: Two Girls with Oleander

Little side note: I used to work in landscaping during art school, and Oleander is an incredibly poisonous plant. If we were trimming the plant, we had to make sure we didn't touch our let any of the plant touch our mouths. Oleander gradually slows your heart down till you eventually die. Another landscape worker was trimming the bushes after a rain, and some of the dew and drops from the leaves landed in his mouth, he was found an hour later almost unconscious and was rushed to the hospital.

I wonder if there is some message in this painting . . . having two young girls looking and playing with such a poisonous plant.

Thomas Dewing: The Piano

Edmund Tarbell

2010-10-25T15:33:00.001-04:00

In a previous post, I spoke of Thomas Dewing and highlighted some of his extraordinary paintings. Dewing was a member of a small group of elite painters in the New York/Boston area known as the Ten American Painters (referred to mostly as "The Ten").

Seated (left to right): Edward Simmons, Willard L. Metcalf, Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, Robert Reid

Standing (left to right): William Merritt Chase, Frank W. Benson, Edmund C. Tarbell, Thomas Dewing, Joseph De Camp

Another member of this group was Edmund Tarbell. He was born near Boston and graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, along with two other artists that would also became members of The Ten, Robert Reid and Frank Benson. After continuing his studies and traveling in France and throughout Europe, he returned to Boston and soon after held the position of his former teacher, Otto Grundmann (Edmund was 26!).

Tarbell also co-founded The Guild of Boston Artists in 1914, and in 1919 became the principal of the art school at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in D.C.

Most of the examples here are of his interior figures which he painted later in his life. I can see some similarities to the work of Dewing, and I wonder if that was the composition and subject style of the time, or if "The Ten" influenced each others works and subject matter. In either event, I absolutely love these paintings.

More on Edmund Tarbell:
Art Renewal Center
Wikipedia
flickr

More on "The Ten"
Antiques and Fine Art Article
Amazon
Wikipedia

Modeling for the Putney Painters

2010-10-16T22:26:00.001-04:00

I got to spend another day with the Putney Painters -- but no painting for me, today I was the model.

Below is Richard Schmid's start. He probably painted for 30 minutes total today, he was bouncing around between all the other artists, helping and instructing.

The best of the day was Nancy Guzik. Below is her start and finish. I really love those drawing lines . . .

Here is Katie Swatland and her final painting.

Macintosh still life - 12 x 16

2010-10-08T23:27:00.001-04:00

Just finished another still life. I think I'll move on to a figure or head study.

Finished fall still life

2010-10-07T10:30:00.001-04:00

Last night I was able to make some final adjustments to the still life I painted last weekend. I think I'm going to paint one more still life while the things I've seen and heard from Nancy Guzik and Richard Schmid are still fresh in my mind. I find that I don't have to worry as much about drawing and other things while painting still lifes (figures and heads need to be much more exact) and I can focus in on developing color and brushwork. Richard and Nancy both take a slightly different approach to still life painting, but both are very concerned with getting notes of color in right away, and then judging all other decisions off of that. Richard will directly paint the shapes in the exact color, while Nancy creates an initial drawing using the local color of that object for the lines, and then puts a stroke of the exact color into the shape. I have always done notes of the lightest light and darkest dark for the sake of my value judgements, but never all the major color notes. I think this new approach will help me create more colorful and life-like paintings.

Painting with the Putney Painters!

2010-10-02T21:41:00.001-04:00

If life had a check box for "Painting with today's living Master," then tonight I would be cheking it off my list. I honestly never thought I would have the privilege to paint with Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik, and the Putney Painters -- to be a part of that vibrant painting environment is just as much an encouragement as it is a learning experience.

To top off the day, the Putney Painters threw Richard a mini birthday party with 3 cakes, a pie, great conversation and apparently Richard's favorite present, jokes.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Nancy Guzik Painting:

Kathy Anderson:

Richard's Birthday Bash:

My Painting: (Still a little work to do, but not to shabby for having Richard and Nancy across the room!)

Last Day: Weekend with the Masters

2010-09-28T23:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has taken me a few days to wrap up the final day of the event, but after an early flight, no sleep, and a lot of catching up to do back home, I'm finally getting back to a normal routine.

I had the privilege of having the entire morning of the last day free, and sat in on Nancy Guzik's still life workshop. Nancy is such and incredible teacher who talks non-stop about how and why she is doing each stroke or color mixture. She works slowly and accurately, making every stroke, shape, and color exactly what she wants . . . if a color isn't "pretty" or the stroke doesn't give her an "ahhh" feeling, she removes it and tries again. She reveals that there are no tricks or secrets to a good painting, just focus and a determination to make it exactly what you want.

Later in the afternoon, my friend Taaron and I were also able to get a critique from Richard Schmid. It was a memorable moment for us both, and I will take to heart the comments he had and apply them to my work.

American Artist magazine has really created something special with this event. I have no doubt that it will alter the world of art for the better, continuing to create and instruct artists into technically skilled and passionate people, advancing high-quality representational painting for the good of us all.

Thanks to Allison and the other editors and staff at the magazine for giving me this opportunity, it will be a memory that will never be forgotten.

Day 3: Weekend with the Masters

2010-09-26T02:15:00.002-04:00

Today was a little more relaxing. I checked out a few of the various workshops and demos during the morning, then jumped into Dan Gerhartz's workshop and watched a few minutes of the demo and then set-up with the class and painted the model.

I didn't take many photos today, but here are at least a few from Morgan Weistling and Carolyn Anderson's workshops.

Here is the plein air I painted on Friday and the quick head study from today:

Day 2: Weekend with the Masters

2010-09-25T02:36:00.001-04:00

I can't write much because it's getting very late, and I'm getting very sleepy, but below are a bunch of photos from today's events. I made my way into many of the workshops, including Gerhartz, Lipking, Mundy, Weistling, CJ Beck, Albert Handell and Nancy Guzik.

There was also an evening duel demo with Scott Burdick and Dan Gerhartz that was really fantastic. It was great to see each of them tackle the same subject (which was artist Michelle Dunaway) in a unique way, while still resulting in well-executed final results, Scott Burdick was more immediate with a "slap it down" style, blocking in everything and then refining from broad to focused, while Dan Gerhartz was more slow and reserved, getting down an initial drawing and then working right with final color and placement.

In addition to the crazy day, I was also able to get a little painting in, I'll try to get a photo of it later and post it tomorrow night. Till then, here are a few of the pics.

Lipking Workshop

Morgan Weistling Demo

Dan Gerhartz Workshop

Nancy Guzik Workshop

CW Mundy Workshop

Evening Duel - Brudick and Gerhartz

Richard Schmid book signing

Day 1: Weekend with the Masters

2010-09-24T03:01:00.001-04:00

Had a great first day at the event, both seeing many great demo's and lectures, and also meeting many of the top painters alive today.

I started off the day helping out in a David Leffel demo. He doesn't use any solvent like mineral spirits or turpentine, and only cleans his brushes by wiping them off on a paper towel. He said that he can't waste the time of washing his brushes or palette . . . He does use a gel medium from a tube. (I'm trying to find out the exact name and brand, so I'll post it if I find out.)

I then jumped into Scott Christiensen's demo where he was painting from a previous study and explained his approach and techniques.

The highlight of the day was Richard Schmid's demo. He painted a still life of oranges, peaches and carnations, and had a ton of light conversation and jokes--keeping the crowd very well pleased. (Sorry for the poor photos, it was really dark in the large hall.)

The rest of the afternoon was spent peaking into Sherie McGraw's head study demo of Morgan Weistling, Scott Burdick's lecture on the beauty of art and the craziness of the modern art movement. I was also able to jump outside for a minute and peak in on a plein air workshop.

To top off the day, there was an absolutely extraordinary panel discussion with Richard Schmid, Quang Ho, Sherie McGraw, Jeremy Lipking, Scott Burdick, Rose Frantzen, Dan Gerhartz and Carolyn Anderson. The topics began around technology and it's place within representational painting, and then also drifted into modern art, social media, and photo manipulation. If you can find a video out there on the internet, it will be well worth the watch. I was literally on the edge of my seat, and each of the artists statements had some great nuggets of truth and inspirational little quotes.

Well, it was a great first day, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow which is very workshop intensive and filled with even more demos. I hope to do the same as today and as I'm around helping out with the event, try and jump into all of them for at least a few minutes.

Blogging from Weekend with the Masters

2010-09-21T16:04:00.001-04:00

I'm headed off to CA tomorrow for the Weekend with the Masters event held by American Artist magazine. A friend of mine, Taaron Parsons, and I will be assisting the staff and master artists during the event. I'll try and post each night some pictures and any of the great info I hear.

Can't wait to meet anyone else that is going . . . See ya there!

Stillscape - The Art of Sean Beavers

2010-09-10T14:49:00.002-04:00

Golden Light, 34 x 21

Still life as a subject matter has always left me underwhelmed. I'm not sure if it's the in-animate objects, artificial light or over planned compositions, but even the most well executed painting will lose my interest much quicker than a figure, landscape, or even interior.

Flowers or other natural items certainly help, adding that touch of life and nature to the still objects, but yet a certain aspect of "air"and life always seem to be missing.

From Available Light, 15 x 10

Like usual, my conceptions of a specific painting style or subject get completely thrown. This time it was by Sean Beavers and his "Stillscapes." They are changing my mind on the art of still objects by infusing life with scenic backdrops and compelling natural light. Not much needs to be said about his technique, he has a highly refined style, nailing each value and temperature creating not photo-realistic paintings, but in-person, life-realistic paintings. Upon seeing them, I was instantly captivated by the beauty and have almost daily peaked back at theses images over the last few weeks.

Anjou Evening, 30 x 30

Sean earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and graduated with the Rhodes family medal for outstanding achievement. He currently lives in southern Maine and teaches drawing and painting at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the University of New Hampshire, and The Sanctuary Arts in Maine.

Sand Box, 15 x 9.75

There are many other captivating still-life artists working today, Daniel Sprick & Daniel Keys are two more of my favorites. Although this love/hate relationship for still life continues, I can easily respect the artists for their masterful techniques, and perhaps like many things, if I spent more time painting still objects, then I would discover their beauty just like these artists have.

The Secret Light of Dusk, 15 x 15

Evening Voluta, 22 x 14.5

In Light of it All, 12x8

Creative Artists: Thomas Dewing

2010-08-30T09:43:00.001-04:00

The turn of the 20th century was a vibrant and changing time for art. There was the full acceptance of Impressionism, the dominating realists and portrait work of Sargent and other like artists, and the birthing of modern art. It was my naive conclusion that all of the highly "creative" painting that would be done at this time would be from the artists blazing the way toward modernism, but through more study, I have found several that were both creative and yet still distinguished representational artists. I did find one artist in particular that jumped right out at me, he was both beyond his time, and still grounded in realism.

Thomas Dewing (1851- 1938) was an American artist born near Boston, trained in Paris at the Académie Julian, and eventually settled in New York City. Dewing is classified as a Tonalist (the most famous Tonalsits being George Inness, James McNeill Whistler, and John H. Twatchtman), and is one of the first painters to apply this predominantly landscape painting approach of tonalism to figure painting. This use of a tonal color palette, his foundation of classical realism and the addition of more impressionistic brush work created extremely unique and mood filled paintings.

In addition to this fairly new style, Dewing also had a unique compositional style that set female figures in full-body poses with plenty of open air, almost like a present day graphic designers use of white space. This slight twist on composition really made me gravitate to these paintings.

There are some designers today that use white space to add breathing room and simplification, while keeping the elements and layout in perfect balance, and then there are bad designers that when given the same elements will produce a barren, unpleasing design because they have poorly placed those elements. I think Dewing must have been a great designer, making him a well rounded artist that combined color harmony, technique, and highly developed skill to create masterful paintings that were unique for their time, and even today.

My Favorite Artists

2010-08-27T10:38:00.005-04:00

Christoper Volpe just commented on my last post and asked me who my top 4 artists where. I don't believe I have clearly mentioned them before, so here they are with a bonus of one extra, making it my top 5. They are in no particular order since that depends on my mood and day.

Richard Schmid is the living master. He has been able to absorb almost all of what past art and artists have taught us, and been able to tie it into his own personal style and ideas. I feel his life and painting has set the course and standard for art today and has not only started the revival of representational painting, but also the rise of alla prima and plein air. The day I picked up his book Alla Prima as a freshman in art school was the day I fell in love with painting. I knew then that I wanted to become not just a designer or illustrator, but an artist, and that I would spend anywhere from minutes to hours of each day thinking about or creating paintings for the rest of my life.

Anders Zorn was the contemporary painter of the past. His brushwork, naturalist touches, and everyday beauty makes him just as relevant today as he way back then. I hope that every one of my paintings could have skin tones like his, and could convey the beauty of a person and their surroundings, no matter who the model.

Jeremy Lipking's work echoes the painters of the nineteenth century with his own additions of "wet," long brushstrokes, transparency and luminosity, and moody and deliberate color relationships. If I was asked which contemporary artist in a hundred years would garner the best museum locations and reach the highest prices at auction, Jeremy would be my guess.

John Singer Sargent: Whether a sketch book drawing, watercolor, mural, or oil painting, Sargent holds the place as the greatest artist in the history of man kind. I know all artists and collectors may not hold the same opinion, but chances are, he is still a favorite of theirs. Skill and brushwork are the usual reasons (anyone who can use large, bravado strokes to create an entire arm or pleat of a dress, and sculpt a face with no more that 20 strokes is a genius and master in my book), but another reason is the reality and mood that he brought to his paintings. The various works of Venice and especially his paintings of bead stringers where the first paintings that made a real mark on me as a high-schooler and got me interested in art.

Quang Ho is a modern day impressionist that holds the ability of creating amazing paintings out of what seems to be random strokes and blotches of color. His paintings are at the top of my list to someday see in person and hopefully even purchase one for my own collection. I secretly have the desire to paint like this, to be able to develop enough skill and technique that I can place the right stroke, in the right place, with the right color and value, combining just enough of them to create a realistic and breathtaking piece of art.

Other artists I adore:

John White Alexander
Carolyn Anderson
Scott Burdick
William Merritt Chase
Nicholai Fechen
Dan Gerhartz
Childe Hassam
Johanna Harmon
CW Mundy
Ilya Repin
Burton Silverman
Joaquin Sorolla

The list could go on and on, but I've blown enough time as it is, and all this looking at paintings is getting me all excited to paint. Who are some of your favorites?

John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women

2010-08-25T22:24:00.003-04:00

During a recent family vacation, my son and I stopped by Cooperstown, NY and visited the Fenimore Art Museum. Before getting into the great show, museum, and paintings, I would like to do a little promo for Cooperstown.

It happens to be one of those places that just driving through makes a person consider moving. With a beautiful lake, Rockwell like town, and Catskill mountain landscapes that still hold the presence of the Hundson River School, I could easily picture myself living in this nearly perfect town (to bad it's in the middle of nowhere making family and friends to far . . . perfect place for an art colony or commune though!).

Back to the Museum: The Fenimore's collection includes American and New York historical fine and folk arts, including works from the Hudson River School, collections from the Cooper family, various portraits and life masks of historical figures, and a large collection of American Indian art.

Rosina Ferrara, head of a Capri girl 1878, Oil on paper, 13 x10 1/4

The reason for my visit was the 23 paintings and drawings in their current exhibition entitled "John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women". Sargent has always been one of my top four painters (the exact order switches almost daily) and the more Sargent I see, the more impressed and passionate I become.

Lady Eden, 1906 43 x 34 1/2

I cannot stress enough the pleasure and necessity there is in seeing paintings first-hand. I think this current generation is deluged by digital media, and that we are really missing a key part of art when we see these paintings only through our computer screens. To my personal guilt, I have yet to see first hand the works of artists I consider the masters of today. I'm sure I would learn and be invigorated so much, that my own painting would greatly prosper. I tend to think of it like this: if I can see and study paintings through pictures, I will gain knowledge, if I can see them first hand (and if I'm lucky, even touch the paintings), then it will become personal and a true learning experience, and last, if I could ever earn the privilege to paint with those artists I would become a part of that creation, which will directly influence and change me.

Mrs. Abbott Lawrence Rotch, 1903, 56 3/4 x 36 1/4

I was not permitted to take photos of the paintings, so the majority of the images you see are off the web. Because of that, I can't show any great detail, but I can convey some of what I read in the exhibition catalog.

Resting, 1875, 8 1/2 x 10 9/16

One thought provoking idea within the catalog was the idea that the late 19th century American and European societies were intrigued by more ethnic regions and their people. In the works of Sargent, the people of Spain, Morocco, Middle East, and Southern Italy fit this niche. I find it really interesting that the world at that time thought that Madame X was crossing the line and even extremely provocative while beautiful dancing Spaniards, a nude Egyptian women, and naked men and boys lying on the beach were then and even now hardly ever mentioned. Is this because she was the same race as those making these conclusion? did they view the other paintings as more documentaries on the world, like a national geographic magazine?

Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) 1883-84, Graphite on paper, 9 3/4 x 13 3/16

The majority of the catalog highlights the history behind each of the paintings, and marries them with Sargent's youth, schooling and travels. It's a great complement to the exhibition, both during the viewing of the actual paintings and as a memento for my shelf. Definitely worth the $25.

This is my super man telling his mom all about the exhibition (to be completely honest, he was more excited about the path, field, and lake behind the gallery, but he did talk about the paintings a little.)

To see a large gallery of Sargent's work, go to jssgallery.org

One last note about Cooperstown, if you didn't know it already, it's the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Oil on Wood Study

2010-08-20T23:15:00.002-04:00

I have always been interested in the old masters and their various painting techniques. One thing I have been wanting to try was painting on wood. I have previously painted on gessoed panels I prepared myself, but they were to absorbent and I couldn't get the smooth, wet strokes that I like with a fine weave linen canvas.

After researching creative paintings that still embody traditional techniques, I immediately thought back to the wood panel and how it could be used in a more contemporary way. Being a sucker for the beauty of wood, I knew I wanted to make it part of the painting—not just what the painting is on. This use of grain isn't a new idea, but has predominently been used by illustrators, not necessarily fine art.

I just finished this little study to figure out the technical issues and to find out if painting on wood could work for me. I don't know if I'll continue on and develop a large "studio" painting, but I think there are a lot of creative ideas that can evolve from this.

Let me know what you think.

Weightless

2010-08-10T18:04:00.000-04:00

Jacqueline Marr, Bubble III

As a child I had a recurring dream of my younger self being able to float around our house. Not flying, but being in a weightless state, hovering up to the ceiling and floating around while my brother and sister were still on the ground. There was a while that I actually thought it was true, that somehow I just grew out of this random ability to defy gravity. I know now that I watched enough TV and thought about it so much that it was always on my mind as I went to bed -- now I dream of ice cream cones and falling off cliffs . . . I wonder what that means . . .

Cali Rezo, Levitation (digital painting)

I think we are all mesmerized and interested in this thing that we will probably never achieve—absolute weightlessness. The crowds watching levitating magicians, inventors vain attempts at personal flight, and maybe even the pasts fascination with angels is proof to that. It is a simple twist of everyday life and it creates countless thoughts and stories every time I see an image depicting it.

Jeremy Geddes, Heat Death

The current fall issue of Poets and Artists highlights artist Jeremy Geddes and his recent work that portrays hyper realistic scenes of cosmonauts floating in barren urban scenes. In a recent interview with Australian Edge, Jeremy commented about this new body of work:

"With these paintings I’m trying to leave the narrative ambiguous and open to interpretation, whilst juxtaposing enough disparate elements to make some sort of interpretation necessary. I’m keen to never give enough clues to block any potential explanation the viewer might bring. I want to spark questions, rather than answer them."

I thought that this concept of an ambiguous narrative was really interesting and something that has been unconsciously drawing me into various contemporary paintings for a while now. Later in the interview, Jeremy mentions that while he is creating his works, he does have certain concepts and emotions that he attempts to convey, but that he tries to leave it open enough for interpretation.

As we have learned throughout the last century, man has a wonderful time figuring out his own interpretation of art, applying his current situation and emotions to the subject and arriving at his own conclusion. It seems that even if the feelings are bad or repulsive, the viewer is much more likely to walk away from the painting feeling positive about it, simply because he solved it for himself.

In the right hands, and with proper technique, this ambiguity could help move the current standard for art toward a more representational foundation. Capturing the eye of those critics and collectors that interpret art with their own ideas, and handing them a better product to write about.

Jeremy Geddes, The Cafe

For your further enjoyment, here are two videos that portray some weightlessness . . . .

Michael Zavros, Falling August

Cali Rezo

Creative Artists: Geoffrey Johnson

2010-08-02T15:27:00.003-04:00

In an attempt to be more creative with my painting, I am doing a fair amount of research and web browsing to discover something that will spark new ideas and concepts. Over the next few months I will be exploring and experimenting with new concepts as well as keep up my normal painting schedule. I will post the things I find interesting along the way.

When first stumbling on this concept of creative representationalism, one artist in particular came immediately to mind. Geoffrey Johnson, born in 1965, is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy, the first and oldest art school in the US, and has been selling out his shows for years now.

Born in North Carolina and now I believe living in Georgia, Geoffery has an extremely compelling style that fuses still urban landscapes with the movement of figures and crowds. He began his career by painting landscapes much like the one below and eventually began incorporating figures which were soon coupled with monochromatic urban scenes, creating a style and concept that is all his own. Geoffrey's work does border the fine line between aesthetic and representational art, but I doubt there is a collector or gallery that wouldn't love to have one of his works in their collection.

Check out more of Geoffrey's work through his galleries: Principal Gallery, Shain Gallery, & Hubert Gallery

More thoughts on creative art:
I believe the art community, and myself, should limit ourselves to a strict criteria when it comes to creativity. It's easy to see that modern art has opened the doors to just about any material and technique. While this might make it easy to develop something unique, it might not be creative. Anyone can strap some neon lights and paint on a canvas, or drip paint from a pendulum suspended over a canvas, but that doesn't say anything about our past as painters, our skill and technique, or the exact feeling and message that we are trying to convey (unless it's chaos). If we limit ourselves to classical techniques and materials, we can insure that our work will stand upon the shoulders of the old masters, as well as the test of time.

Brad Kunkle's work (as described in the post below) uses gold leaf, a technique that was used in the Egyptian pyramids and ancient Rome. The use of gold and oil paint together has been used for centuries, and Brad isn't the only contemporary artist doing it, but he was able to add his own creativity and a high level of skill to create something entirely new.

Graphic designers and agencies do this every day, and in some cases the best advertisements take a unique spin on something common or classical (I saw the below Billboard for McDonalds in my town the other day . . . It's a good example). Imagine if the marketing world took hold of the concepts of modern art, we would probably see car salesmen trying to sell cosmetics by screaming at women and slapping colorful starbursts all over. But yet we see in every makeup ad the idea of "natural" beauty and clean, soft light, as if every model is a Greek goddess (and you too is you buy the stuff).

This narrowing down of materials and techniques (which is still very broad) will produce a potential for higher creativity than would otherwise be possible, and could also gauge what is "acceptable" representational creative art. From an investment point of view, collectors are concerned with the whole gamut of art history and how an artists work fits into it. We have all seen artists fade in and out of popularity, catching the latest trend or it's resurgence. If an artists work could be in sync with the foundations of classical art, while still bringing the current world and his personal thoughts into it, then he has a much better shot of becoming a "new master".

As in my past post, I don't think a painting needs to be more than paint on canvas or board, the use of other materials like gold, silver or who knows what else may be a rough road to travel. As we have seen by Geoffrey Johnson and countless other artists, creativity and sound technique is all you need to create something worth while.

Where is the Creative Art?

2010-07-28T13:44:00.003-04:00

Gustave Klimt

A couple weeks back, I saw posted on Facebook that it was Gustav Klimt's birthday (July 14, 1862) and it immediately made me think of the countless times that I have recently heard the comparison of contemporary artist Brad Kunkle's work to Klimts. Being very familiar with Kunkles work, I decided to learn more about Klimt to make a comparison for myself.

Brad Reuben Kunkle

Both artists use gold leaf and oil paint together on canvas, and both focus primarily on the female figure/portrait (which is probably the most common and popular subject matter). So, past this use of gold, I really didn't see much unique similarities that would justify the hype.

The more I looked through the various paintings, the more one major thought came rushing to my mind. Whether you like their works, or think they are similar, I think the greatest point is that they both are doing more than just painting reality, they have gone a step further and added creativity. Design, simplicity, materials, composition, abstraction . . . these are all elements within their work, and also considerations and judgments that they planned for well before starting to paint.

Gustave Klimt

I am a firm believer that a painting (or "art") needs to be nothing more than a glimpse of the beauty in our world. Whether an exact representation of the subject or the artists judgment on what elements are specifically important. Both of these general approaches encompass the majority of paintings in the "non-modern" art world and I'm happy to spend hours looking and creating them. But I now see that although the majority of these types of artistic works are filled with great brushwork and exquisite renderings, they may lack the creativity or maybe even better said, the potential for creativity that limits them from being ageless masterpieces.

Brad Reuben Kunkle

This creative touch that is so apparent in Kunkle's work (and so non-existent in most of today's popular representational masters) has really got me thinking, and a bit convicted, that I could go further with my art and pay more attention on the design and concept of a piece. I bet that if artists took the time to be more creative, we would see greater individuality and perhaps a monumental new era that could stand up to the 19th century masters or in some respects the Modern Art age that predominated the 20th century and today.

Gustave Klimt

The shift to be more creative in the late 19th century (that Klimt was clearly a part of) was taken to the extreme and spawned Modern art. Losing almost all technique and natural beauty, modern art became only creativity and the striving need for something unique and shocking. Maybe this time around, with the right combination of technique and creativity, and maybe with the help of artist like Brad Kunkle, we can actually get it right.

Gustave Klimt

Brad Reuben Kunkle

Note: In the late 19th century, Klimt was highly rejected for his paintings. The main cause of this was for his erotic and overtly nude pieces. I am personally discouraged by this strange association with nudity and sexuality to highly creative art. I feel that these additions pushed art toward the shocking and obscene that modernism was hungry for. This ever growing rise of nudity in both modern, and in some cases, classical art is desensitizing our culture and instead of conveying a new and undiscovered beauty, it is stripping beauty away from intimacy and personal relationships and slapping it onto canvases to be shared with the world. This is strictly my own opinion, but for fear of adding to the noise and problem, I err on the side of caution and stay away from it in my subject matter.

Rebecca, 9x14

2010-07-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

Just finished this little painting of my sister-in-law Rebecca. I've been working on a huge painting of her for a long time now and I need to keep taking breaks from it so I don't go crazy. I think this little painting will act as a good study for me, there were some problems that I solved that should help with the big one . . . it's always hard for me to play around, or try out different things on a big painting. I get scared of building up to much paint, or wasting a big canvas, but with these little paintings, I could care less if it doesn't work out and I can always just throw them away if I'm not happy. I wish I could get my head to think like that for the big ones too, I bet the outcomes would be even better (and quicker).

I was planning on taking more photos throughout the painting, but it moved pretty fast so I only got three.

Inspiration: Sir Frank Dicksee

2010-07-07T17:03:00.002-04:00

I just stumbled on a collection of paintings by Sir Francis Dicksee and saw some really great paintings that I was completely unaware of. I didn't know much about him or his work, and previously thought of him as a genre painter and member of the pre-raphaelite movement. Upon reading his biography, he apparently only has a loose association with the movement – mostly because of his general style and popular genre paintings like the Romeo & Juliet or Othelo works that you most likely have seen.

Francis Bernard Dicksee was born in London, 1853. He studied in the studio of his father, Thomas Francis Dicksee, who painted portraits and historical genre scenes; he then enrolled at the Royal Academy in 1870, was elected RA in 1891, and became it's president in 1924. Through some early studies with Henry Holiday, a designer of stained glass, Dicksee grew to enjoy the decorative and detailed aspects of painting. With the further influences of Fredric Leighton and G.F. Watts, Dicksee filled his wonderful compositions with orchestrations of color and elaborate detail.

It's because of this attention to composition, detail, and decoration, that I find it an inspiration for my own work. I can't imagine the amount of time and devotion that went into these paintings. I consider them masterpieces and I hope to someday create works that warrant the same title. Although I personally like a loose, painterly style, I admire these works very much, and feel that they still have plenty of exquisite brush work that is generally unnoticeable in much of today's "classicism" and photo realism styles.

Other interesting historical notes is that his sister Margaret Isabel and brother Herbert Thomas were also painters, along with his uncle John Robert Dicksee and his aforementioned father.

Sir Frank Dicksee passed away suddenly on the 17th of October 1928.

For more on Dicksee, check out the Art Renewal Center info

Wet Paint: Repose #1

2010-06-16T23:46:00.001-04:00

Just finished this little painting. Been wanting to do it for a while now, but kept feeling like the larger paintings should come first. This is the kinda stuff I really love to do and I think I'm going to bust out a couple more before I embark on some more bigger canvases.

Max Turner

2010-06-15T10:07:00.001-04:00

Max Turner is an instructor at the California Art Institute; other faculty members include artists like Tony Pro, Glen Orbik, Ryan Wurmser, and many other greats. I first saw Max's work several years ago in his self-published book Faces. When looking at his charcoal head studies, I instantly thought they were reminiscent of Nicolai Fechin.

Max's world is all about faces. As a child, he would rummage through the trash, looking for the popular fashion magazines of the day, just to get a glimpse of the latest cover illustrations by Harrison Fisher or Jon Whitcomb. He was born in the small, and art baron, town of Bingham Canyon, Utah, and was a soldier in World War II, a printer, machinist, foundry worker, and eventually an instructor, artist, and sculptor.

There isn't much about Max or his work on the web, but after seeing the below photo on Tony Pro's Facebook profile, I was reminded of his drawings and set out to find his book and to see more of his work. His books, which now include Faces2, and Figures & Faces are not available through any means other than from him directly.

Without knowing any of his contact info, I stumbled across a site called Bonanzle which was selling some drawings and paintings under the name Max Turner. After contacting the seller, I found out that it was actually Max himself and I was able to purchase a book and a head study from him. The below image is a photo taken of my new drawing which I just got put in a frame.

It amazes me that Max, along with probably hundreds of other great artists are fairly unknown and unrecognized for their work. It may be the cost of being a teacher, and not a gallery artist, and perhaps they just live on through their students (Tony Pro, Jeremy Lipking, Aaron Westerberg and others in Max's case), but in any event, I wish they were more known and rewarded.

For me, my most influential teacher in art school was Brian Jekel. I can't imagine the sacrifices he has made just so young artists like myself could be set on the right path . . . I hope to someday make him and my other instructors proud by becoming the type of artist they dream of for their students.

Jeremy Lipking Demo

2010-06-12T22:02:00.003-04:00

I went to Arcadia Gallery this Saturday to watch a demo by Jeremy Lipking. There were at least 50 people crammed into the gallery for the 2 hour demo, and after almost the first hour being taken up by set-up, discussion, and the initial stages of painting, Jeremy was still able to get incredibly far with it (The photo below is the final painting).

In the crowd I also saw Michael Klein, Dorian Vallejo, and several other artists. If you haven't had a chance to view Lipkings current show, try and make it down to the gallery, or view the paintings at Arcadia's site by clicking the "current exhibition" link. Thanks to Steve and the rest of the team over at Arcadia for making this event possible, it was a real treat.

Painting in FAV 15% in Fine Art Studio competition

2010-06-11T14:02:00.003-04:00

My painting July Serenade was a top 15% finalist in the Fine Art Studio's online painting competition. Check out all the great paintings here. Congratulations to the winner, Aaron Westerberg, with his painting Going Out. The Judge was William Wray, a really cool urban landscape painter that is also the illustrator responsible for that awesome Ren & Stimpy style and those "gross" detailed illustrations that I always loved seeing on the show.

Aaron Westerberg

William Wray

Bill Wray (He goes by Bill as an illustrator)

Day in Vermont

2010-05-19T23:11:00.002-04:00

I had the privilege and honor of spending this past Monday up in Vermont with some great painters (and ticks, mosquitoes, and black flies).

I joined Daniel Keys, Michelle Dunaway, and Putney Painters: Rosemary Ladd, John Smith, and Lori Woodward Simons in the town of Ludlow to paint an amazing apple tree in bloom, and then later in the day, a picture perfect farm (with clothes on the line!). Throw in a little lunch and antiquing for future still life elements, and it was just about a perfect art day.

Daniel Keys was up giving a workshop at the Village Arts of Putney, and from what I heard and saw, anyone would benefit from the insights and techniques of quite possibly the next big "master". Keep an eye on this guy . . . his amazing still life's are just the beginning.

Michelle Dunaway was most recently a finalist at the Portrait Society of America's annual competition, and her body of work is truly some great inspiration for me (and for you) as I try and focus on more figurative works. (that's Rosemary Ladd standing next to Michelle above)

Above is all of us lined up along the road painting the large apple tree, and below are the two studies that I painted (about an hour and a half each), definitely rough and not frame worthy, but hopefully they are either a good start or color reference for some final paintings.

Schmid on patience

2010-05-10T16:59:00.007-04:00

I have been working on a very large painting for just about 3 months now. I am determined to get it just right, and I'm going insane, painting and re-painting one section of the face in particular for the last month and a half. I only spend about 8 hours a week on it and I'm working at a crawling pace to make sure I'm doing it right. Before this crawling pace, I had re-painted the head about 20 times, expecting that each time I scrapped it down and re-painted it, the right strokes would just flow out as easily as other parts of the painting.

It for some reason made me think of Richard Schmid and his writing about patience. He touches on it lightly in his book Alla Prima, but when grazing through the book, I couldn't find what I was looking for.

After some searching, I found it in a word document I made a few years ago compiling Richard's old "Notes from the Hayloft" that he used to write on an older version of his website.

. . . some measure of perseverance and tenacity is necessary at various (and often unpredictable) times throughout a painting. Sometimes things go smoothly and I can simply enjoy what I am doing. Other times I slam into a problem and the only way out is to slow down to a crawl, concentrate until my teeth hurt, and bring every faculty I have to bear on getting exactly what I want, no matter how long it takes. It's more than simple endurance. It's real mental effort and the inspiration fairy has yet to appear at such times waving her magic wand of easy solutions. I alone must solve my problem. I have to clear my mind of everything else, think hard, analyze, explore my options, plan a strategy for the immediate situation, and then do whatever it takes. Sometimes it means scraping off what I have done and starting over again and again.

It looks like I should finish the painting sometime in the next week or two and I'll be so happy when it's done. For the rest of the spring, I will be doing some smaller paintings and some plein air . . . which I can't wait for.

If your interested in Schmid's old "Notes from the Hayloft" check out the wayback machine and click through the old versions of his site: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://richardschmid.com

Harold Speed on Modern Art

2010-04-26T13:15:00.004-04:00

I am slowly working my way through Harold Speed's book, Oil Painting Techniques And Materials. I'm only through the first chapter but there are some great quotes and content that I want to share before I forget them.

I have never been fond of swearing (most likely because it was never used and punishable within my home growing up) and Harold, while talking about modern art, tied the two together so well. Hopefully the below quote will make you think twice about swearing, or encourage you to expand your painting "vocabulary" (or if necessary, both).

The use of swear words by ignorant people is quite excusable, because they have not the wit to use, or the knowledge of, just those words which would forcefully express what they want to say. And failing to give their expression the force they desire by the legitimate use of words, they throw in some nasty expression of entirely alien association, like a bad smell, but calculated to give a shock; which gives them the satisfaction of having made a forceful remark. The violent use of colours and forms adopted by much so-called advanced art nowadays, is just like these swear words. They want to create a sensation, and not having the wit to use the wonderful instruments of expression that are at the disposal of the modern artist who is prepared to follow the straight and narrow way, they would destroy the restraints of tradition and rush to the use of swearing yellows and screeching reds, of clashing lines and jarring planes, in lieu of anything really forceful to say.

Making Oil Paint

2010-04-23T10:34:00.007-04:00

I mainly use Gamblin and Winsor & Newton oil paints (I also use some Rembrandt, but the quality is noticeably different). I recently saw a Discovery channel special on the making of Gamblin paints, and it got me wondering if Winsor & Newton manufactures paint the exact same way. Luckily, I found on YouTube an episode of "How it's Made" (another Discovery channel show) featuring the Winsor & Newton process. After watching both, it is clear that although the process of making paint is the same, it seems that Winsor & Newton focuses much more on exactness, quality control, and lab testing. This is probably tied closely with the fact that Winsor & Newton is a much larger company and has a reputation as the "best" oil paint to keep up. From a personal, hands-on point of view, I like each brand for their own qualities. Gamblin has a generally fantastic consistency and transparency, but Winsor & Newton's colors seem purer while the consistency is a little thicker with less transparent in some cases (which may be tied to the actual pigment, not the manufacturing process).

To really study the options and differences between these brands, I've ordered their hand-painted color charts (which I honestly didn't know existed). This way I can put the swatches side-by-side and make sure I'm choosing the right brand for the right color.

For the Winsor & Newton click here
And for Gamblin, go here and at the bottom you can send an email requesting one.

Classical Painting Atelier

2010-02-08T10:08:00.005-05:00

I recently received Juliette Aristides new book, Classical Painting Atelier. Juliette taught with Jacob Collins at the National Academy in New York, and then became a founding member of the Water Street Studio. She currently runs her own atelier (ăt'l-yā'), Aristides Classical Atelier in Seattle, and has proven herself a driving force in the resurgence of the classical movement.

As best I can describe, this book is not a "how-to paint" book, but more of a how to learn how to paint. There are many short lessons throughout the book that walk you through some of the key projects you would encounter in an atelier (cast drawings, master copies, monochromatic painting . . .), but other than that, the book simply outlines principles and concepts that an artist should study. Improving your work through composition, value, color, and just hard work.

The Introduction and first section were my favorites, as it gave a history of the atelier and Juliette's personal opinions and feelings about education and the need to turn back to classical/representational art. The Composition chapter was the most detailed I have seen (although I can honestly say I haven't studied much more than the basics). She applies both mathematics and harmonies into how the masters composed their masterpieces. She also overlays these principles onto the paintings that used them. I am not a strong believer in some of these principles but I will definitely focus more on my compositions and always have it in mind while I create a new work.

Overall, a very valuable resource for my personal library. Juliette has also written a previous book, Classical Drawing Atelier, which I have now put on my book wish list.

For a more detailed review of the book, visit the Art Renewal Center

Autumn

2010-01-26T08:37:00.005-05:00

Just finished this new painting. It's 20x30 oil on linen and is actually a section of our backyard (I left out the ugly chain-link fence and swing set!). There are a bunch of trees in our lawn, and a wooded portion just past that, which results in way to many leaves. To be completely honest, I didn't finish the raking before the snow started to fly -- I'm definitely fearing spring for that singular reason.

Because of the slightly weird composition (head so high on the canvas) this painting has an oval top to draw your eye up. Some of the bigger named artists are doing this a lot lately (Jeremy Lipking in particular) and I was pretty excited to have a chance to do this and to eventually get a cool frame.

For those who care, I also made some minor edits to the final painting of my demonstration below. Scroll down to the Part 3 to see the final version.

Richard Schmid: The Landscapes

2010-01-09T10:45:00.007-05:00

"there is a fascination and tranquility brought about by nature . . . as close to happiness as anything I know of."

- Introduction of Richard Schmid Paints Landscapes, 1975

My wife was very good to me this Christmas and gave me the new landscape book by Richard Schmid. The book is a large, 11x14, coffee table style book with over 300 paintings and drawings.

If it hasn't been apparent yet, Richard is on the top of my "favorite artists" list. Not because he is popular or I'm trying to get on some band wagon, but because I am absolutely amazed at what he can do with paint and a brush. There are countless of his paintings that have so much reality (in some cases, beyond reality). There is so much space and depth -- a result of his exacting values and beautiful edge work. If you were to mention artists who have the best handle on color, Richard's name would come up. If you were to mention value, or drawing, or brushwork, again, his name would be one of the first mentioned. In all the areas that make a painting successful, he is a master of them. That is why I fill my shelves with his books and videos.

The Lanscapes is organized by location and season, starting in Chicago and then New York, New England, and International locations. It is light on text (I read through it in a couple hours - taking my time at each painting) but it's written very well and a pleasure to get some background behind many of his paintings. There are also several photos of him painting on location and progress photos of three or four landscapes.

If you don't have any books by Richard Schmid, get Alla Prima first, and then this one. There are hundreds of paintings that haven't really been seen before, making it an archive and history of one of our centuries great masters painting his favorite subject.

Fine Art on TV

2009-12-17T15:08:00.008-05:00

I can honestly say, among with many other artists, that some of my first memories and desires for art came from watching it on TV. I didn't grow up in museums and galleries, or have lavish coffee table books showing the masters, my introduction to the arts came from Bob Ross and other "craft" painters on air Saturday mornings. Now, I'm in no means elevating Bob Ross's technique or saying that his landscapes are examples of exemplary art, but to a 10 year old, watching him carve out a mountain, or make glassy flat water was enough to get me excited about creating something myself. Those few sparks, along with other influences like my parents, grandparents, and school friends, are what most likely steered me toward this life I'm living.

I've always thought that art, and in particular, the making of art, is such an interesting thing, and completely different for each artist. Now a days I get my watching fix from the painting dvds of Scott Burdick, Jeremy Lipking, Burt Silverman, David Leffel, Casey Baugh, Richard Schmid, and others (My bookshelf is getting pretty full). But for those millions of average viewers and aspiring children that don't know about these "insider" videos (let alone finding the money to buy them), there still isn't much out there except for some old re-runs.

All of the above to simply say - "I think there should be more".

One glimmer of hope is a show titled "Star Portraits." This show originated from the BBC in Europe and is now airing on Bravo Canada (new and improved with a new host). Sadly I can't get this here in Connecticut, but thanks to YouTube and the rest of the internet, we can all get an episode or two. The show combines a Star personality with three portrait painters who battle it out for two weeks. In the end, the Star picks their favorite and gives some money to a charity. The viewer leaves inspired, enlightened, and very interested in next weeks show.

Here are a few links I found:

The old BBC Show: YouTube
Bravo Show: www.starportraits.ca
Trailer: YouTube

Putney Painters and Friends

2009-11-23T21:24:00.008-05:00

This past weekend, I stopped by Susan Powell Fine Art for the reception of their current show "Putney Painters and Friends". The Putney painters, if you don't know already, are a group of painters that regularly meet and paint under the guidance of master artists Richard Schmid and his wife Nancy Guzik. I had the pleasure of meeting many putney painters and local artists -- including the amazing floral painter Kathy Anderson, and Katie Swatland, who continues to get better and better with each new work. The gallery was unbelievably packed and was a testament to not only the success of the gallery and painters it represents, but also the renewed interest in representational painting. The below paintings are a few of my favorites. Check out Susan Powell Fine art on Artnet to see the rest of the show.

Kathy Anderson
Catnip and Cosmos

Dennis Sheehan
Early Winter

Rosemary Ladd
Birch Bark Nest

John Kilroy
Next to Godliness

A Moment's Beauty

2009-10-26T16:12:00.007-04:00

Over the past month, I have been showing some work at Beardsley Fine Art, in their "A Moment's Beauty" group show. The Reception was this past weekend, and I had the pleasure of meeting many of the other artists as well as collectors and art lovers from the area. Beardsley gallery is a fairly new gallery that pride themselves in showing only the best of today's representational art.

In a short time, they have begun representing some of the biggest names in art, including Burton Silverman, Glenn Harrington, Dennis Sheehan, and many others. It was an honor to be a part of the event, and hope this is the start of a long-lasting relationship with both the gallery and the other artists. (By the way, that stunning lady next to me is my wife - and model)

Burton Silverman

Glenn Harrington

Katie Swatland

Sargent and the Sea

2009-10-20T10:35:00.007-04:00

My brother and I had the opportunity to visit the Corcoran Gallery this last weekend to see the John Singer Sargent exhibition. Seeing the scrapbooks and sketch books of Sargent, along with the hundreds of framed drawings, was a very humbling experience. The amount of work Sargent devoted to just the above painting (En Route pour la pêche) involved numerous sketches and then individual studies of each figure (all from life, without using photography and probably having to pull a lot of things from memory for the final painting). If I was limited to those conditions and needed to devote that amount of time for constructing a painting, the quality of my work would have never been equal to even the lesser painters of that time and I would only paint a few paintings a year. John Singer Sargent isn't just a Master because of his finished paintings, but also because of his devotion and work ethic to develop and construct the paintings that dominated the art world of that time.

Below are more works from the exhibition and their collection. If your anywhere near DC, get over to the Corcoran (it's also right next to the White House and the other national monuments, making it a perfect day for sight seeing).

Painting Demo - Part 3

2009-10-07T17:09:00.006-04:00

Here is the last of my painting demonstration. The below pictures take you through the final steps of refining the skin tones and the background. I wouldn't consider the below final, because after taking a few days away from it, I always find things to touch-up and re-do.

At this stage, I warmed up the skin tones on the back and the left arm (mostly in the darks). Although my reference photos seemed to be producing that almost purple tone, the colors were looking a little muddy and out of the norm (remember, nobody is ever going to see the reference photos, just the painting). I also started with the hand and a little more dabbling in the background.

Not much to be said here, just working my way out . . . trying to be "brushy" and soft edged.

Apprehension, 24 x36 - Here is the the "final" painting. If I make any major changes, I'll post an update, and if you see something that looks off, or needs fixing, let me know.

Update: After some time away from the painting, I felt that the neck/jaw line could use some editing. Although the source material was as I originally painted it, it didn't do the model (nor my painting) the justice it deserves. Below is the Final painting - at least till I find something else to fiddle with.

Oil Painters of America Paint Out

2009-09-29T17:03:00.007-04:00

Below are some pictures from the New England area paint out for the OPA. There were about 12 of us up in New Hampshire for the day, I was able to fit in two oil sketches, some lunch, and some great conversation before I had to make the long drive home. Below are a couple pictures of myself that a local photographer took, and then some pictures of the other artists.

Painting Demo - Part 2

2009-09-21T16:45:00.006-04:00

Here is the continuation on my painting of Kelly. (I haven't named this painting yet, so if you have a good suggestion, just add it as a comment).

At this stage, I added more detail to the face and neck, and then started the darks of the hair. Also, you will see that I added a warm tone to the dress, this is intended to show through the darks of the dress to add some color variations and luminosity.

Here, I have added the main details to the hair and continued to refine the skin tones and edges.

I then moved down the back fixing the values and colors, and getting most of the painting done in the dress.

Working my way out, I work on the arms and some of the background. I'm really trying to be as accurate with as little strokes as possible as I move out of the main focal point. I want the exteriors of the painting to be very "brushy" and soft edged.

More to come soon.

Painting Demo - Part 1

2009-09-18T11:54:00.005-04:00

This is a demo of a painting I started about a week ago. I am further along than the below pictures, so I will post Part 2 shortly. The painting is 24 x 36 stretched linen and I'm working from two photos combined in photoshop (foreground and background). For the best color, when painting from photos, I work off my computer screen -- the colors are truer because it is light producing the colors instead of pigments.

I started with a basic drawing, making sure everything was located in the right place and focusing on the details of the face. The drawing took about 3 hours. I then lightly sprayed it with some fixative and then toned the canvas using a mixture of Transparent Oxide Red and Ultramarine Deep.

Next, I did a block-in of the key features. Using mainly the local color of the area, I just wanted to get enough down so I can make the correct color judgments when I do the final strokes. I used a large hog bristle Signet brush for the block in, mixing the paint with some medium to keep it translucent -- this way I'm keeping some of the canvas and tone showing through the strokes.

I start right into the eyes, forehead and nose, slowly adding more detail and surrounding color. This is about 4 hours of work from toning the canvas to this point. Drawing accuracy and color is always in the front of my mind, if something is wrong, I scrap the whole area down and start over again (I did the eye twice and the nose three times)

More to come in the next day or two.

Southwest Art - 21 Under 31

2009-08-27T09:45:00.004-04:00

I have been selected for this years "21 under 31" emerging artists issue of Southwest Art. The editors picked my painting "Katie" for the article and there is a Q&A section beside.

Make sure you grab an issue--there are some other great artists (my favorites: Kyle Stuckey, Katie Swatland, Julio Reyes, and Daniel Keys), and an article about plein air painter, Brent Jensen.

My Palette

2009-08-17T13:01:00.009-04:00

Over the next month I will try to be more informative about my painting technique (just in case someone might be able to learn something). The below post is a list of my tools, and then in the near future, I will also document a painting so everyone can see the steps and amount of time it takes to create a "studio" painting.

Oil Paints:

A. Gamblin Titanium Zinc White (this is a great white that has a great blend of opaqueness and transparency) - If I'm not using this, I also revert to just Zinc white

B. Cadmium Yellow Light - I'm trying out the Utrecht brand because of price and it is fairly close to the Winsor Newton that I usually use

C. Yellow Ochre Light - Rembrandt (Rembrandt paints have a great consistency out of the tube, but after a few hours, they tend to get "plasticy", so I only put a little on my palette at a time to keep the paint fresh)

D. Cadmium Red - Winsor Newton (Best brand of paint in my opinion, so I try to stick with it for the reds, but it is much more expensive than the others)

E. Alizarin Crimson - I like both the Winsor Newton and Gamblin brands

F. Terra Rosa - I rarely use this color, but there are key times when mixing flesh tones that it is the purest way to get a reddish hue to the checks and nose

G. Transparent Oxide Red - I used to use Burnt Sienna, but this color is far more transparent which is always something I'm looking for. This is without a doubt the color I go through the most--it seems to find it's way in almost all color mixtures.

H. Viridian - The green. You can usually get any green from this . . . it is on the blue side, so I add a lot of yellow when painting grass and trees.

I. Cerulean Blue - This is one of those colors that are not necessary, but it is always so close to the color of the sky when landscape painting, and it "kills" a flesh color so well, that I keep it on my palette so I don't have to mix it every time.

J. Cobalt Blue light - I don't use this much, but it is a very pure blue and is helpful when I don't want something to get to purple.

K. Ultramarine Deep - My second most used color. All warm and cool blacks usually start with this as the base, and this is used to create a lot of my greys.

Other Paints: I use a variety of yellows depending on the situation, in addition to the two above I also use Lemon yellow, cad yellow medium, and Yellow ochre medium. Sap green is the only other color that is not on my studio palette but I bring it with me when landscape painting. It is much closer to most foliage and I do a lot less mixing when I bring it along.

Tools:

L. Silicoil - (has a little spring coil inside that is more gentle to the brush hairs than a mesh brush cleaner) - usually filled with art grade mineral spirits (and sometimes turpentine - I don't really care which)

M. Medium in Palette cup - Schmid mixture: 1 part stand oil, 1 part damar, and 5 part mineral spirits. I use this to initially thin down my paints. It adds a very "liquid" feel to a painting and stops any "chalking" of the more opaque colors. Once I add it to a paint mixture, the mineral spirits evaporate fairly quickly, so if I go back to it, I generally dip my brush in the mineral spirits to get it back to the consistency I like (which is fairly thin, slightly thiner than softened butter - more like elmers glue)

N. 3.5-4" blade - For cleaning off the palette and for creating fine lines in a painting (I found it works much better than a palette knife, it is stiffer and you can place it just the way you want)

O. Sable Rounds - Various brands (you get what you pay for) ranging in sizes from 2-8

P. Langnickel 5590 - Sizes 6-30 (they must have their own sizes because normally a 30 would probably be gigantic, but it is comparable to a 10 flat in the Signets below) - the brushes of choice for most of the major painters today (Schmid, Lipking, Baugh, Burdick, Gerhartz . . .) An absolutely great brush that creates beautiful strokes and effects. The hairs are very light, so they take some getting used to.

Q. Robert Simmons Signets - Flats 6-12 - I use these for all the block-ins and when I want a very transparent, brushy look

R. Palette Knives - the cheaper of the Italian brands, but they have held up for the last five years. I have a size 6 and 10

S. My Palette - Tempered glass glued to a light-grey spray painted masonite board. 16x20 (I also have a plein air setup with a home-made guerilla type box. Maybe I will show that some time in the future)

T. Paper Towels - Viva towels from Kleenex - not just because Schmid uses them, but because they really are the best for painting.

U. Claessens Oil Primed linen - From Utrecht, either 820 or 13J. Mounted onto Gatorfoam for plein air and small paintings, stretched over bars for larger studio paintings.

Ok, that's pretty much it. I do have some cheap, really large brushes from the painting section of home depot for those really large block-ins, and I have a bunch of miscellaneous tools like canvas pliers and such, but I assume everyone has stuff like that. Stay tuned for more over the next couple weeks.

New Britain Museum of American Art

2009-08-04T23:34:00.007-04:00

I recently visited the New Britain Museum of American Art. It is a great space here in Connecticut and has a surprising collection of representational painters and Illustrators. Saturday mornings are free admission (although it's worth the money anytime). Below are some of my favorites from their permanent collection. If you are ever in the Hartford area, make some time for this great place.

John Singer Sargent - Miss Cara Burch (1888)

John Singer Sargent - Tarragona (1908)

Robert Henri - Spanish Girl of Segovia (1918)

N.C. Wyeth - Illustration from Treasure Island (1911)

Maxfield Parrish - Dusk (1942)

Childe Hassam - Le Jour du Grand Prix (1888)

Self Portrait

2009-07-13T15:32:00.004-04:00

I recently purchased a drawing video showcasing Burton Silverman, a true fine art master of our day and an illustration master from yesterday. He uses this toned paper and white and black charcoal a lot, so I wanted to try it out with my own twist.

I have been trying to focus on drawing lately. Back in art school, you draw for hours each day and for the years that I have been out of school, I have been trying to squeeze as much painting in as possible that I forgot how great it was to just sketch and draw (you don't have to worry about dry time, or stretching canvas, or setting up your work area . . . . you just grab a pencil and go).

Lemons

2009-07-09T12:46:00.006-04:00

Lemons were on sale at the grocery store this week, so I bought a bag for making some homemade lemonade. I saved these three from the juicer and was able to paint lemons while I was drinking lemonade.

Yale Crew

2009-06-02T20:35:00.006-04:00

The Yale Crew boat house is a few minutes away from us, and a couple weeks ago, I was able to ride along with the coaches during a practice. This is a painting of one of the members who came to get some extra rowing in before practice. He was just coming back to the dock when I got there and this was the first shot that I took (I told him I was just setting up my camera, but I really liked this picture – I hope he won't mind).