Thunderheads

Gouache sketch on blue paper, 3" x 4"

I have been working hard on several paintings that are more

complicated . They require a lot of concentration, but leave

me little time for daily painting right now. I don't want to go back

on my resolution, but being preoccupied with painting is the point

here, I think(?). Not a daily race to see who can publish first.

So, I've posted one in the series of small landscape sketches in gouache

that I have been doing all along. Gouache fascinates me, because you

can use it either like watercolor (transparently), or opaquely, the way

it is really meant to be used. I like the leeway that gives me to experiment.

This particular study doesn't have any transparency in it, and was painted

fairly thickly, kind of like an oil painting. Anyone who loves oil painting
would love working in gouache!

Thanks for visiting today.

The Vision

6 1/2" x 9", Oil over prepared underpainting
(unfinished piece)
I am happy about the direction in which this
is going. It is a variation on a pose that I have
used before, and with which I am endlessly
fascinated. In this version the red dominates.

The Beautiful Parakeet

3 1/8" x 4 7/8" - Pastel Pencil on Wallis Sanded Paper

I am working on some more complicated

paintings right now, and cannot be a "painter"

as such, every day. As everyone knows who

uses them, we paint when we use pastels.

I am very fond of this little drawing. I'm thinking

of going to the pet store - I asked them if I

could photograph their birds and they said

"yes" - to get some more material.

Monotype of Spring in the Blue Ridge

Oil Color Monotype, 5" x 4" , painted on zinc, transferred to

Rives BFK using an etching press. click here to bid

This is a small monotype done in a loose fashion. I love this tech-

nique, and wish I had more time to do them. They're tricky though-

for every five that you do, maybe one or two are keepers... Although

this isn't my favorite - I've done so many - it has a nice feel

to it, I think.

Thanks for visiting.

Drawing of Donald Copper

6.5" x 8.5" , Graphite on Drawing Paper,

click here to bid

Figure Sketch in the Studio

Oil on Belgian Linen monted on board,

5.75" x 7.5" , click here to bid

This was really fun to do. It started out as a quick

sketch in mechanical pencil on some linen canvas

that I had. Then I coated that with polymer medium

with a little turquoise acrylic in it.
Then I painted in the light areas with a little white

and yellow oil paint.

After letting it dry over night I glazed it with Liquin

and Gamblin's Transparent Earth red, and it was all

stream-of-conciousness after that. I know it is loose,

but I rather like the effect, particularly the balance of

the bright turquoise blue and the bright spotlight.

Unfortunately, the beautiful effects of the paint don't

really come across in this photograph. Belgian linen

has a tighly-woven, exquisite surface that is unlike

anything else. It gives a delicate quality to your paint

passages that you sure can't see here! Just try to imagine

it....

Monotype of a New Orleans Fountain Statue

Oil Color Monotype, painted on zinc, printed on BFK

Rives printmaking paper using an etching press

4.5" x 5"

NFS

I didn't have the time to do anything new today, so

this is my offering. I've always been fond of this.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunset Sketch

Oil on Gessoed Wood, 5" x 7.5", click here to bid

I photographed this right after I finished painting it, so that explains

the glare. This was really fun to do. I used a different medium today,

which was essentially just linseed oil with some solvent in it. I usually

use Winsor & Newton's Liquin, and have for years, because it is such

a good glazing medium. But, this is a very frank sketch, so something

where you can just push and smear the paint around is best for

something like this. It's really fun.

Another good sketching medium is Dorland's wax medium. It also has

the advantage that it dries almost instantly, and, it can be buffed up

with a cloth when it's dry. How weird is that? Mix a little Liquin with it

to make it more fluid, and it's really great. By itself it's good for palette

knife work.

Thanks for visiting today.

Christina

Oil on Board, 7 " x 9.5 ", SOLD

I have been working on this image over a series of

years, actually, and am glad to have finally resolved

it. The contrast of her almost-black hair against the

turqoise background is something that has always

obsessed me, but I couldn't rectify the colors in her

face with the rest of the painting. I finally decided to

just "go with the flow", and I'm pretty happy with the

results, which aren't really true to life due to my

camera. Her face is really more colorful than this.

The Young Egon Schiele, a pencil drawing

Graphite on paper, 5.5" square, NFS

I've been getting ready for my weekend workshop all
day, and haven't had time to paint, so I thought I would
"cheat", and post something I've already done.

I love this drawing. I love Egon Schiele's work, bizarre
and idiosyncratic as it is, there is so much beauty there.
I know some people have a difficult time finding that
beauty, but for someone who loves to draw as much as
I do, it is very evident.

Poor thing, he died at a very young age (early 20's I think)
of the pandemic flu in 1918. What a waste of a great talent.
Well, he certainly produced a lot while he was alive.

This was done from a photo of his face at the age of about
sixteen, and clearly shows his intelligence and sensitivity,
I think.

Thanks for visiting today.

Sophie by the Window II

Oil on Canvas on Wood, 7 1/8" x 10 1/2" SOLD

I did not paint this in one day. I have been working

on this painting on and off for a few months now.

It is a copy (in reverse) of a painting I did of my

daughter about seven years ago. I just love the

composition and colors so much that I had to do

another one. It was painstaking, but worth it, I think.

I love the orange/gold/yellow kimono jacket contrasted

with the purple/blue/white kimono robe, and the light

in her hair. Isn't she beautiful? (on the inside, too)

The Actress

Oil on Primed Paper, 4" Square SOLD

Well, so far, I'm doing well with my resolution to

paint every day. I'm really enjoying it too. It's so

stimulating! There are just so many things to paint.

I love painting people, and I love landscapes too.

I have a weekend-long workshop this coming

weekend, and then on Monday I'll be teaching all

day, so I'll have to see how I can work things out.

I don't relish the idea of ignoring my family, but

sometimes one has to do this.

I remember reading, in Life with Picasso, by

one of his mistresses whose name escapes me

at the moment, that he used to paint all night,

and she would deliver his breakfast to him in the

morning. What service! Of course, she was an artist

too - not that that mattered to him, of course......

Then there was Mahler and and his wife Alma Schindler,

whom he forbade to compose...............

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, Nijinsky and his wife - boy
these guys were intimidated by their wives'
creative urges. What a shame.....

I'm lucky - I don't have that problem. Thank God.

Thanks for looking.

Winter Sunset

Oil over Acrylic on 6" square Linen-covered masonite board

click here to bid

This small painting is part of my resolution to myself to do a painting

every day except Monday (I teach all day).

I finished the figure paintingyesterday. I'll probably do another painting

this afternoon as it is only 1 pm. We'll see what happens!

This is inspired by a photograph, but the
rest is imaginary.

I wish it would snow!

Sonia's Back

Oil on Stretched Canvas, 7.75" x 10", SOLD

Here is that painting I showed the beginning of a few

months ago. I finally finished it! Don't ask me why it

took so long....you don't want to know. It's a loooong

story.

Anyway, I have another post today - a small landscape

painting I partially made up. But I am very happy with

this one, if I do say so myself. I love the colors. I used

my chromatic grays that I mix to paint the drapery that

she is sitting on. It came out perfectly. Just a little

dioxizine purple and some chromatic gray warm!

So much fun.

Sorry about the glare.

Thanks for visiting today.

Storm over Green Fields

Oil on linen laid down on wood, 6" x 8" - click here to bid

As it is the beginning of the New Year, and as life has taken me away

from my work so consistently in recent months, I have made a New

Year's Resolution to complete a painting at least six days a week,

starting TODAY.

These paintings will be for bid starting at $100 in my eBay store.

They will range in size from "4 square, to 8" x 10", or sometimes larger,

and I can't promise they will always be oil paintings, as I love to experi-

ment so much.

This painting was photographed literally the minute after

I finished it - that is why it is so shiny.

Thanks for visiting, and I wish my "followers", and all else who visit

here the Happiest of New Years!

Priscilla

Sunset on a Lake

Another small gouache painting. Will they ever stop? No matter what else I am working
on, I can't help coming back to these. This one was done on light blue Canson pastel paper
and I rather like it...... Size isn't everything, you know.

Thanks for stopping by.

Purple Hill

This is another in the series of tiny gouache paintings that I am addicted

to doing. This is a bit smaller than it really is, but nonetheless, it is

small. I don't know what it is about this medium that encourages me to

work in a miniature mode - perhaps I was a monk doing manuscript

illuminations in a former lifetime - but I sincerely enjoy it. This will

be on a sheet of four on blue paper.

This color isn't completely true, but it's close.

Thanks for visiting.

STANDING MODEL WITH GREEN PILLOW

SOLD

This oil painting was begun on a piece of paper, and then

I decided to affix it to a canvas board with archival adhesive.

It has a bit of nice texture because of this. I always liked this

image, and this is th second version I've done of this .

Thanks for visiting.

Opium Poppy in Gouache

Gouache on Canson Watercolor paper,

4 1/4" x 4 3/4"

Model Back and Colors revisited

FOR SALE SOLD

I decided to re-post this painting tonight, because last

night's image was photographed, and did not do it justice -

I couldn't stand the way the image looked in the end.

So, after using a quick-drying varnish this morning before

going to teach my class, I scanned it in my printer tonight,

and here is the painting the way it really looks. The true

colors, and minus the strange blue glare/glow of yesterday!

Model Back and Colors

Oil on Wallis sanded pastel paper, 7" x 12" SOLD

This painting is much more luminous and lovely than it looks

in this photograph. It is not matte, but rather quite glossy.

It might seem strange to be painting on pastel paper, but quite

a few people do it, because it is an impervious surface, and also

archival. -- To tell the truth, this actually started out as a pastel

drawing, but halfway through, I just got the urge to use oils. There

was something about the light, and the color of the drape that

she is sitting on. I felt like doing a loose, sort of bravura study

and nothing lends itself to that like oil paint!

Head of Hypnos lll, (God of Sleep)

Pastel, Pastel Pencil, and Vine Charcoal on White Paper, 7" x 12"

This is number three, because this actually is the third drawing that I have done of this

head. I have about eight photos of it from many angles, and am just sort of obsessed with

it, I guess. The drawings never look the same, and I have never yet really tried to create the

feeling of the bronze that it was originally created from. I'll have to do that next - that's really fun.

I was fairly satisfied with this, though not completely. There is some inherent ethereal

beauty in this face that makes it difficult to make it appear manly, although in the actual head

itself there are many manly elements that are particuarly evident from certain points of view.

I also find it intriguing just that they had a god of sleep to begin with, and always feel I

am creating something "unusual" to say the least, when I draw this object. I just never

tire of it. I think it is so beautiful. I'm sure I will do many more.

Ancient Roman Sculpture of a Child. ca 10 BC

SOLD

I decided to go back to working in pastels today, although I'm

alternating this with working in oils, to honor some commitments.

For some reason, I really get inspired by images of ancient sculptures.

This child was particularly moving. One doesn't see many sculptures

of many children extant - particularly one this expressive! It was

marble, but I decided, with my "artist's license", to take some liberties

with the color, so I could give it a blue background. I love blue!! Any

chance to put blue in a picture I will always take. And there are so

many hues of it! Actually, my oil palette has about eight blues on it.

They areso inspiring.

Anyway, this is my offering for today. And, as I said recently, I am

beginning, slowly, to offer these things for sale again in my eBay store.

There will be more information about each item there.

Thanks for your interest in my work.

Bearded Iris in Gouache and Watercolor

FOR SALE HERE

My gouache class is going to start working on flowers in the coming week,

and I'm just trying to get together some examples in watercolor and

gouache.

The truth is, I prefer the combination of WC and gouache to just

plain gouache, which I find rather mat and dull. I like the variations

inherent in combining both mediums into one piece. Of course

there are many beautiful gouache paintings, and I have used gouache

exclusively myself, but for right now, I'm gravitating towards the

watercolor/gouache combination.

Tomorrow I need to get some real flowers to work from. I hope I can

find some interesting ones to work from. I just wish summer were not

over, and that flowers weren't so expensive! Maybe I should move to

Florida!!

Black Sweet Peas

FOR SALE HERE

Ever since I lived in Blacksburg, Virginia, when my

husband was going to Architecture school, I have been

fascinated by black sweet pea flowers. They grew wild
around the house where we were living, or perhaps,

someone had planted them there. I did several monotypes
of them in oils, all of which I loved, but unfotunately, I no

longer have my favorite one.

This painting is gouache and watercolor, yet again. I'm happy

with it, although I don't feel the same sense of mastery that

I do over oils. I haven't had the years of practice yet. I'll

just keep plugging along. The color in the picture is actually

a bit more red, and while I tried to correct it, it still doesn't
come across totally as it really is. No problem. It still looks

like some black sweet peas, and that was my objective for

the day.

I just love this medium!

Thanks for visiting .

Late Afternoon in Florida in August

FOR SALE HERE

I did this today while I was teaching my oil painting

studio class. I had very few students for some reason.

I teach gouache - which this is - in the morning, and

I had already gotten it going, and couldn't bear to stop.

My students were very accomodating however, and we

all had a wonderful afternoon!

Rose Tulip

FOR SALE HERE

I am having a real tug of war lately between my oils and my gouache.

I have things I really have to get done in oils. Paintings that are unfinished

make me very uncomfortable.

This morning I painted all morning, but I noticed that my heart just

wasn't in it. Have I become a "gouche painter"? Who knows? But it

sure seems like it. For one thing, it's just so much easier. No solvent,

no washing the brushes when I'm done. And, there is something about

the particular mercurial characteristics of the watercolor and the

gouache that I just love.

We'll I'll just keep this up like this for a while and see how it goes.

Today I asked the angels to help me. I believe that they did.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunset Sky

This is another in the series of small gouaches that I have been doing

lately. I painted in oils all morning, and just couldn't keep from grabbing

the gouache by about 3 PM. This isn't the greatest piece I've ever done, but

it has a certain feeling that I like. I figure if I keep on doing them I can't

help butget better and better. Anyway, it is really fun.

Thanks for visiting today.

Oil Painting of Figure Back in Progress

This is what some of my paintings look like underneath. This is a

variation on a grisaille underpainting. I have talked about this before.

That word is based on the French for our word gray, gris, and refers to

a monochromatic underpainting or underdrawing. In this particular

case it isn't completely monochromatic, but as I was working on a toned

canvas, I was able to use just a lot of white and a bit of color to work up

my figure after drawing it in with a pencil.

Because I know that graphite has a tendency to migrate up through paint

layers (weird!!), I sprayed my drawing heavily with both a polymer and

Damar spray. I know I will be also using a lot of glazes and layers of Liquin

painting medium, so I am not that worried about it. I teach this method,

which is called the Indirect method, as opposed to the Direct method

(think Van Gogh and John Singer Sargent - no pencils there, and no

underdrawings either), at the Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia,

where I live.

I am very happy with the way this painting is starting out, and have a

pretty good idea about how the color harmony is going to proceed at this

point. Now, I just have to force myself to stop working in gouache........

Thanks for visiting today.

Imaginary Landscape #4 and a Page of Gouache Studies

I 'm glad that they let you format where the pictures go in this thing, I certainly

wouldn't want one picture sitting right on top of the others.

The smaller pictures are not as small as they appear, and are more distinct in reality. I

had a lot of fun doing them . Both pieces were done on Fredrix Watercolor Canvas. I just

can't get enough of working on this substance. It is just the greatest.

I know I have to start working in oils in a few days, to fulfill some commitments I have

made (you have to earn that money!), so I will really savor my last few days of working

in gouache and watercolor - a truly wonderful combination. Everyone should try it.

If you are at all afraid of watercolor -- try gouache! - there's no such thing as a mistake

in gouache, because you can cover everything up!

Happy painting!!

Imaginary Landscape #3

This is another watercolor and gouache piece, done in class as a demo for my students

yesterday. I was lucky it came out so well. That doesn't always happen!!

This was done on a wonderful new product which I just love! Fredrix Watercolor Canvas.

I had been painting on it already in oils, because it has a lovely smooth, delicate surface,

and I had been using mostly paper and panels, because I Hate canvas generally!! But this

stuff is very different.

But, for watercolor, and gouache, it's absolute revelation! You can lift, wipe back, lay

washes, remove whole areas of color - you name it, it's more like working with oils

practically when you work on this product. I've been having so much fun, I can't wait

to get up in the morning! Of course all days aren't successful ones, but one can always

try, and always hope! I'm planning on filling this whole sketchbook with these landscapes,

exectued entirely with brush, and having a feeling of being partially imagined. I've got

13 to go. The paper in the book is Canson watercolor.

I usually begin by covering my picture area with Winsor and Newton Lifting Preparation,

because right now I like to paint skies, and it is enormously helpful. Of course this isn't

necessary on the Fredrix Watercolor Canvas, but I sometimes do it anyway.

So much fun.

Thanks for visiting.

Imaginary Landscape #2

This is another example of a completely painted gouache landscape that I made for my

new class today. I was pretty happy with it, although I don't think it really comes across

very well in the photograph. I just love working in gouache. It is so forgiving. I even did

a decent demo in class in it today. Demos are ususally problematical for me, but I find this

medium very "friendly" and also intuitive.

I almost feel like it's "guiding' me to do the right
thing in a piece.

I could do this for twenty-four hours a day.

Imaginary Landscape #1

I was making some examples for my students in a gouache class that is going to begin

tomorrow, and I wanted to create an example of one done entirely with a brush - no

pencil lines at all.

This is what I came up with.

It isn't very big, but I like the colors, and

the composition. I feel the contrast is rather dynamic, and I wouldn't mind being in that

place, either.

Thanks for visiting.

Gouache and Pencil Standing Figure Life Study

This is a drawing I was rather pleased with, and it is missing

the head because it was a demo of using gouache ("gwash" -

opaque watercolor) in washes with a pencil, to quickly sketch

the figure, and capture the contrapposto stance. (where one

side opposes the other - very popular throughout history).

This model was also very graceful, but had such a sad face

I could hardly bear to draw it - but as previously stated, that's

not why it's missing.

Milena in "Essence" Technique

This piece was done in the "essence" technique, which, I

just recently learned, Degas invented to be able to work in

a medium that looked like pastel which he would not have

to frame. -- Although Degas is thought of as being wealthy,

and was, in fact related to Italian nobility, his brother's

erstwhile, failed cotton business in New Orleans placed a

great deal of financial pressure on him during many years

of his life, so I guess he was looking, like most of us do, for

ways to economize. -- In this technique, the oil is soaked out

of the paint overnight on blotters, paper towels - Degas

apparently used cardboard - then scraped onto the palette

the next day.

Then, the paint is diluted with solvent (essence in French)

and can be painted on any unprepared paper surface.

Fun!

More Advanced Demo from my Drawing into Painting Class

This is a semi-colored grisaille underpainting done over a drawing done

with a mechanical pencil and then covered with a thin layer of acrylic

medium tinted orange. The oil colors used to develop the picture so far

where simply black and white, with a bit of brown and green on the mag-

nolia blossom.

The interesting color phenomenon occurring here is do to a situation

known as "optical grays". That is that any medium (center of a value scale

of five values) gray placed near a color or about the same value and intensity

will take on the complement of that color. Notice how the sphere appears to

be blue in parts. This is because the background is slightly orange. The

sphere is really only a gray made of black and white.

Color is amazing.

2nd Project Demo from my Drawing into Painting Class

This is a demonstration of a grisaille underpainting that has been partially

painted over, by painting into a wet "imprimatura", or layer of transparent paint.

A grisaille, some of you may not know, is any monochromatic underpainting, but

is called what it is because the word gris means "gray" in French, and in the early

days of the development of oil painting technology, underpaintings were most often

done in black and white, or raw umber and white. Leonardo actually used brown,

and a close inspection of Vermeer reveals that he sometimes used a greenish color.

Anyway, this type of painting is known as "Indirect Painting", in that you separate

the drawing, or "form" part, from the color part. It is actually the easiest type of painting,

and is believed to have been developed in Flanders by the Van Eyck brothers in the late

14th C.. -- My underpainting in this demo was done in black and white acrylic, but in my

classes, we use Mars Black and Titanium white, because Mars black is the leaset oily black,

It is important to keep the lowest levels of a painting almost oil-free, and then gradually

add oil (fat) as you build up the layers of the painting. This lessens the chances of cracking

and crazing of the paint surface over time.

This type of painting is directly opposite that done by alla prima ("all at once", "at the first",

who began working in the late 16th, early 17th C.'s, such as Frans Hals and Rembrandt. Later

on, Van Gogh and John Singer Sargent, and Mary Cassatt are marvelous examples of this

direct approach in which one both draws and paints onto a bare canvas, creating form and

color all at once with the brush.

Thanks for stopping by.

Desi Standing

This little sketch I did at an all-day figure drawing
class I taught today at The Art League School in
Alexandria, VA. The model was so beautiful, I now I
did not do him justice, but let's face it, how much can
you do in ten minutes. The drawing practice is the
thing, after all.

Sophie's Back - Oil on Linen

Oil on Linen, 15' X 19" SOLD

Sorry, it's been a long while since I posted, I know.

You know that old saying, "Those who can do do, and

those who can't, teach"? - Well, that's been me for the

past few months. I don't mean that I literally can't

make artwork, I just mean that the economy has

forced me to spend more time teaching ( I teach

private workshops in my home).

I enjoy doing this

tremendously, but preparing for them requires a

tremendous amount of time and effort.

For instance, I am teaching one for the next several

weeks. It meets on six separate days. Just painting

the examples for it, doing the research, typing up

the text, putting together the reference materials

for the students, etc., has taken me three weeks of

solid work. Fortunately, I do enjoy that as well. I

think I was a monk in a former lifetime.

But it's time to get back to work!

And I mean ARTWORK!!

Thanks for visiting today.

Nautilus

Go Here to Bid

Pastel on White Archival paper, 6" x 8"

I did this drawing today in my "veils" pastel technique, using

many thin "glazes" of pastel powder over a charcoal drawing.

It is hard to see in the photograph the beautiful surface of the

drawing, particularly the different textures - the difference

between the soft, velvety backgroundm the grainy table,

and the smooth and shiny shell. This is a very fun technique

and is one that I teach in my class and in workshops.

Thanks for visiting today.

A Roman Woman, C.100 AD

Go Here to Bid

Pastel and Charcoal on White Sketch-weight Archival Paper

This is a drawing that I started at home, continued as a demo for my students in 

class as an example of my "veils" technique - which involves using many thin layers of color and applications of fixative combined with charcoal drawing -

and finished at home.

I used the Sennelier "Fixatif  Latour",  which comes only in a spray pump bottle.

It is wonderful because it has a citrus base,  and unlike most fixatives (many 

pastelists refuse to use any fixative at all,  as a mattter of  fact there is a big lack

 of consensus about this...), you can spray it right in front of your face. You don't

even have to go outside. It has two drawbacks:  one is that because it is not solvent-

based,  if you are working on a thinnish paper,  as I was here,  it can actually cause

the paper to buckle. But of course this is not problem with Wallis sanded, or even

Canson pastel paper. Secondly, because it is a pump,  one often gets little spots if

the nozzle isn't 125% clean.  You can see the spots if you look closely in the pink part

of this piece.  Sometimes that has its advantages.  Sometimes not!

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon Arabesque

  Sold                                             Oil on Board, 6" x 8"

  I just wasn't able to do anything today.  One of  THOSE days...

  I don't know if it was the gloomy weather or what, but nothing

  was happening.  So, I decided to post something I did last year

 and sold in my eBay store - that explains the watermark in

 the lower right corner.  I've always liked this pose, and was

 happy with the way the painting turned out, so I don't mind

 showing it.  I hope you enjoy it.

 

 Here's hoping tomorrow is a more productive day.

Thanks for visiting.

Blue Cloud Landscape

Go Here to Bid

Pastel on Black Canson Pastel Paper, (9"' x 6")

I did this drawing as an example for the students in my

"Painterly Pastel" class at the Art League School in Alexandria,

Virginia, where I teach. This is a really fun way of working.

When people first hear black paper, their ususal reaction is

"yech", black velvet!! Elvis, tacky horses, farm scenes!!  But, it

is actually a very beautiful medium, because it makes the colors

glow.  This is a very loose interpretation of a landscape, but I do

love the blue cloud.

Oil Sketch of Liz

Go Here to Bid

Oil on canvas, 5.5" x 5.5"

I really enjoyed doing this quick oil sketch of Liz, a young woman who used to 

model for me in my classes.  It was done from a photograph, as is most of my work,

except my work done in class.  This is mostly because my studio is about as big

as a small walk-in closet.  But, my husband is about to build me a new studio in

the backyard,  which will be 10' x 15'. I know that's not large, but after what I've

been working in for the past 17 years,  it will seem like an ice skating rink - and,

there will actually be room for a LIVE model - at last!!. Also I'll have more room

to teach workshops at my home, which is something I really enjoy doing.

Thanks for visiting today.

Isla Morada Hybiscus

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Oil on Canvas laid down on board, 7.5" x 9 3/4"

I did this from a photograph outside of the Casa Thorn, 

a  wonderful B&B we stayed at in Isla Morada in the Florida Keys. 

 The whole

place seemed enchanted, from the wonderful woman

after whom it was named, to the myriad of fascinating

objects with which she had decorated it - all things she

had collected during her incredible 91 years. Everywhere

you turned there was something beautiful to see: Moroccan

screens, carved ivory netsukes of sensitive nudes, unique

paintings from the 1940's,  photographs of her friends - who 

just happened to be Frank Sinatra and his ilk - and plants

everywhere inside and out.  Giant palm trees, flowering

plants, with Cambodian granite heads peeking out from

behind.

 I've been thinking of painting this since last

August, and I finally did. I'm really happy this evening.

Lesli Pensive

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Oil over Grisaille on board

This is a portrait of a young woman who has modelled often

for my classes. She is incredibly talented in her own right,

being an actress with an incredible voice, and also, obviously

very beautiful. The color of her hair is what inspired me to do

thi s painting.

Figure in a Blue Light

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Oil paint over black and white grisaille.

This is a painting of my favorite all-time model,

Sharon. She never fails to inspire. I love this image

so much, I actually did another version of it in another

color scheme. That may seems strange - until you look

at Degas. Not that I am comparing myself  to that

19th C. Master, who is one of my idols.  But, he did

literally recycle poses and positions of models from

one painting or drawing to another. It's fascinating.

He was the most modern painter of his group, no doubt.

History will show this to be true as time goes on.

Thanks for visiting today.

Sophie at Fifteen

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Oil Pastel and Mechanical Pencil on Gray gesso-primed canvas, 4" square

This is a picture of my daughter when she was about 15, I think. I have

done a lot of paintings and drawings of her, and she always looked very

sophisticated beyond her years. I like this image because she looks more

her age, and also displays her "lost-in-thought" character.

I have a large set of Sennelier oil pastels - well two really. One, I put

together little by little over the years as I could afford them, and it also

includes Holbein and Caran d'Ache oil pastels. Except for the Holbeins,

which are square, I keep them sharpened to a point with a large-hole

pencil sharpener. The other set I finally bought on sale. It is so

I can hardly stand to use it. It includes ten or twelve iridescents that

breathtaking. They look white, but iridesce to yellow/purple, pink/green,

orange/blue, and so on. Those are also all sharpened to a point.

They are fun to work with, because you can just draw with them, or, you

can manipulate them with palette knives or brushes, and also with

painting mediums. For this piece I used Winsor & Newton's Liquin Detail

Painting Medium, as I was working so small. I don't generally care

for working on canvas, because of the texture, but this was OK. I have to say

in this case, the photograph truly does not do the piece justice.

Two Golden Pears

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Soft pastels on Sennelier Carte Pastel Board, approx. 7" x 5"

These two Bosc pears weren't in very good shape anymore, but they still had

some beautiful colors in them, and in the right light they were worthy subject

matter. I had a piece of Carte Pastel left, in one of their colors - which are very

strage, by the way - this one is sort of a cross between tan, curried chicken, and

moss. I scanned the image. Whether a photograph or a scan, it's terribly difficult

to give a color image its due. The "golden" quality doesn't really come through, for

some reason. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to imagine it.

Thanks for visiting.

Angel from Another World

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Pastel on Wallis sanded pastel board washed with blue watercolor, 10" x 6 6/8".

This is an interpretation of a photograph of a cemetary angel. I really like the

colors, and I love working in pastel. I never get tired of it! It is a wonderful break

from painting. I don't have to wash and brushes, and I love to draw!

15-Minute Color Sketch of Standing Nude Female Model

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6 1/2" x 11 1/2" on Canson Mi Tientes paper

This was done as a demonstration for some

students in class a couple of Saturdays ago.

I teach a figure drawing class every Saturday

morning, and have for about 17 years - has it

really been that long? I can't believe it.

The problem here was to work with a very

limited selection of Carb-Othello pastel

pencils (wonderful!!), on grey paper, or any

mid-tone colored paper of their choice.

The colors they had to work with were: White,

Naples Yellow (Conte), Sanguine, Light Blue,

Cadmium Red Light, Brown, and a Black

charcoal pencil.

This demo really was only 15 minutes. My

class is 3 hours long, but I don't like to take

up too much time with demonstrations, because

we spend quite a while warming up, and also

I am very against the idea of having my students

all trying to draw like I do. I've been drawing for

54 years. Most of them have just started.

I like to encourage my students to find their

own voice, and although most do realism, I don't

demand that either.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oil Sketch of Posing Male Nude's Back

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Oil on Gessoed and Oil-Primed Archival Paper, 7" x 10"

This is a quickly-done limited palette oil sketch done in class

as a demo for students. I was quite happy with the results here,

and am only selling it because, like everyone else, I haveto make

a living. This model, unfortunately, moved to Floridathis year,

much to everyone's chagrin. He was a fine person,and a fabulous

model.

Peppers and Turquoise

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This is a very small painting. It is only 6" x 3". Therefore, I was able to do it in just
one afternoon. I like the colors. I deliberately made the background and foreground
turquoise. So often paintings of this type have brown backgrounds, or the reverse.
That can undoubtedly be beautiful - but it's done all the time. I wanted to try some-
thing that I don't see all the time. Whether or not it's successful, I'll leave up to
you. It sure is fun to be painting again though.

Thanks for visiting.

Margie's Angel

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This oil over brown under-painting was done on a gessoed 6" x 6"
masonite panel. The main part of the features that you can see
are the underpainting. There are many glazes as well: transparent
Gold Ochre, Indian Yellow, Transparent Red Earth, Transparent
Yellow, and then also a great deal of opaque paint.

This is a fun way to paint. Solve the drawing part first, and then
you are relatively free to fool around with color.

Thanks for visiting today.

P.S. You may have noticed that I've added Google Ad Sense to my
blog. I hope you don't think that mercenary of me.....times are
hard......for everyone.