Fall Classes Start Monday

Quick Sketch of Phoebe

Welcome back!  We have a full class starting Monday and I'm excited to get started. See you all at GCA next week.

Something Smells Fishy in the Studio

The Bronzino

                                                                                                              It's that time of the year again... Time to clean out the mess in the studio!  Just a quick reminder if you have things stored in the racks be prepared to bring them home tonight. Who knows what it will smell like by the Fall session!

Self Portrait Show in June

Self Portrait

                                                                                                         The Eleanor Ettinger Self Portrait Show is coming up from June 14th through July 14th.  It's great to see all the different takes on self portrait in one room. I'm looking forward to it.  This is my painting for the show.

Monday Is Demo Night

Since there are only four classes left in our last session, I would like everyone to come prepared to paint along with me.  I hate the idea of taking a painting day away from you with so few to go. The demo will be there to peruse on the breaks and I will still come around to see how your doing.  

Don't Starve Your Palette

Recently, I noticed the tendency of students to squeeze out small bits of paint for a class.  Painting when you don't have enough paint affects your whole attitude toward the work. It says "I'm probably not going to make a good painting so why waste good paint."  That's a poor position from which to start anything.  If you want to progress, then as a student, it's your job to use enough paint to learn.  Some may say cost is an issue but I think if you look at the bigger picture, the cost of hampered learning is much higher. Learning to paint can be frustrating. But some frustrations are easily fixed with good brushes and enough paint. 

Sometimes you won't use all the paint you put out. Nothing is more annoying then when I put out paint and don't use it. It gets a skin and it's done.  If you feel this too, then get your palette knife and some old support.  Make a simple study from palette scrapings.  It's fun and instructive!  Don't worry over it, don't do a drawing under it.  Just practice mixing the right color, value and shape. Place them in their relative proportions.   The more you paint, the more you learn!

Below is a small (8x10) palette knife study done with palette scrapings. Try it.
This idea is not mine, I read it in a Richard Schmid book years ago. Thank you, Richard

New class Demos

Here are some recent demos from class. Sorry I haven't been keeping up with posting them as promised. I know it's helpful for you to see them here.  I talk so much during demos they come out kinda wonky 'to my eye'. That makes it easy to forget posting them.

A few more sketches from Italy

When it's cold out and I'm all bundled against it, I get through by daydreaming about wonderful warm places I've painted.  Remembering the great people I met on painting trips and spending hours outside in the sun always warms me.  Right now, I'm thinking about Castello Del Bosco, that memorable place I went to last year.  Some have asked me to post more sketches from the trip so here you go!    

 

John Singer Sargent

Sargent study, by Richard Piloco
Click on picture to enlarge.

In class last week, we talked about making copies of Artists work for the purpose of understanding how they group their values, used color and handling of paint... etc. Nothing works so well as a diligent study of a painting you wish to understand better. You may think you 'get it' by viewing a good print but it's surprising how much deeper your understanding will be when you copy it.  Many years ago, I made a copy of  Dr FitzWilliam Sargent,  John Singer Sargent's father.  Sargent's painting is a bit of a caricature when compared to his oeuvre.  But it's a great example of his directness in application of paint.  I painted my copy alla prima (no drawing prep, all at once) to keep in the spirit of the original.  I was surprised how simple his large shapes were conceived, and held, through to completion of the study.

    So, find a good print of a painting you love and break it down, understand it on a much deeper level.  Then bring that new found knowledge into your own work!

Welcome back

 I hope everyone had a fun and productive summer!  If there are any paintings you are particularly proud of, bring them in.  Has anyone done 100 heads?   Here's another white sheet on a chair from many years ago, and a swollen stream from the hurricane last week.  See you this Monday!

 

More Castiglione Del Bosco 'Field Paintings'

I mounted some more of the Italy sketches from my recent trip.  I may work on them in the studio and/or use them for a larger paintings but for now they are just as I made them in the field.  I still have a bunch more to mount, about 28 in all.  I'm doing it little by little, when there's some more I'll post them.  Hope everyone is getting their summer sketches done. You should have several by now.

Keeping In Practice This Summer

White and off white sheet

White sheet, a bit more time spent.

White sheet, getting a bit more context.

Several weeks ago my students asked what they could do to stay in practice this summer.  My first answer was do 100 heads.  Later, I realized there isn't even a hundred days before we start again.  So, here is an example of something I do when I don't have time to work on something more ambitious, or just to have fun.  I throw a white sheet on a chair, and I paint it.  I try not to get to involved in the nuance or make the painting special.  I just try to quickly capture the colors, values, and shapes that I see.  Above are 3 examples so you can see how gruff the handling is.  It isn't important to articulate the folds perfectly, just make precise notes of color that are the right shape.  Capturing the shapes is very important, make shapes with your brush strokes.  And then do some articulation on top of those.  These should be done quickly- 1 hour 2 at the most.  Don't think finished painting, think, are the colors honest, are the values relative, are the shapes strong.  So go paint!  And have a fun summer.

Last Class of 2011

We had a great model in class last week.  She is worth a better effort then I was able to summon, but here it is anyway.   The Castilione del Bosco landscapes are next on my mind. I will post them as soon as I glue them on supports.

Castiglion Del Bosco

I just got back from a trip to Tuscany organized by my friend and colleague Marc Dalessio. It was one of the most paintable places I have yet visited. And to top it off, I met a bunch of great people without whom I can't imagine a future trip! More later, but for now here are some paintings from the trip.

Janus Workshop

I'm happy to announce that I am teaching a workshop at the Janus Collaborative this summer. They have a great program and I'm proud to be associated with their talented faculty.

You can find the details at-  http://www.januscollaborative.org/workshops.html.

My Workshop

Happy New Year!

Phoebe Reading... waiting on me to suggest a pose for a sketch.  Hand pressed into her face...so engrossed in the latest book she didn't realize I already painted her vignette. (9'x12').

Hope everyone had a great holiday!  For those in my class see you tonight.

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Star Wars Visions

The 'Star Wars Visions' Book is out!  It has a bunch of great paintings in it,  and I feel lucky to have been part of it.   It's on my coffee table. I will enjoy looking at all the work, and say to friends... I know him, her, and him...  All this talent...

New Class Demos

Just photographed these head studies.  Some of my students have been waiting for me to post recent class demos. The first two are from session one.  The last is not a demo, its of my son Lucas who gave me some time in exchange for a new (toy) 'Beyblade' $7.95.   Totally worth it, till he gets wise.  For now, I'm working the scam.  

  For those who don't take my class, these demos aren't finished paintings, they are an example of process.  I spend a lot of time talking and answering questions, and get very little time to concentrate on painting.  I post them in the spirit that they are learning tools. They are usually Life size and painted alla prima. But the second image (which is particularly rough) was a demo of  repainting right on top of dry paint in a direct way.

  

 

Some new sketches

Here are some more of the Italy paintings.  There are still more from the Marsiliana trip which I will post when I photograph them. The bottom Three are not from the trip.

Corsini Chapel at Marsiliana

Room behind Chapel

Fishing Boats at Porto Ercole

View of farm land from the wall at the main house. In the distance is Mount Argentario.

Wall on the west side of the complex

Wash drying in the nearby Hamlet

In the courtyard

Under dense Wisteria

Passageway in Porto Ercole

Also in the courtyard

Acadia Park, Maine

Head study

Acadia Park, Maine