First Class too the Life Boats

This is a demo piece from the painting class I have been teaching at Boothbay Regional Art Foundation. One of the lessons when we are doing Black and white work is if you are gonna break up a value mass..make sure it's worth it. In other words if you are painter that says "I like details" make sure those details are worth breaking up the big statement your piece makes from a distance. I'm big on simplifying at the moment so that's my angle. Let me know if you like seeing stuff from my class or if you are interested in attending some classes.

The spring sale has ended early due to the overwhelmingly positive response. I think that is what shut down blogger for a couple days.... Yes I'm kidding.

Frosted



Frosted, 9x12" available



    Here is one of my favorite pieces from my painting sessions at the Bristol Dam. "Frosted" 9x12". If you click on the image, the detail should be pretty sharp. Finally after two years of taking blurry photos..... Thank for stopping by.

Odds and Ends

Recently I started teaching through the Boothbay Regional Art Foundation in, you guessed it, Boothbay Maine. For now the class is just an intro to oil, focusing on being comfortable with medium and figuring out what you want to say with it once you are comfortable. The Plein Air Classes will be starting in late spring. All the classes are really affordable and you can drop in a week if you just happen to be here for a week so please contact BRAF @ (207) 633-2703 or visit their site http://www.boothbayartists.org/  for more info. 
This piece is a 6x8" of a little slice of life that caught my eye inside Paul and Pharr Schulenburg's studio. Its titled "Pharr's Side"

Snowly Moley

 I was right!! At the end of my last post I stated that because I was talking about spring that snow would come again.. Not only was I right about it but for being smug we have had  three different snow storms since then. One storm was nice enough to deliver almost a foot of snow. Free.

  There are a few more snow paintings to share here and this one is from before my recent advance in photographing my work. Some subtlety is lost. It is a 24x30 titled "Blizzard Road Bristol Dam" and was painted a couple months ago when we received the first installment of our three foot plus base of snow...

Did you know that the original spelling of snow when translated was spelled "S-N-F-O-W..?
 Then, my ancestors right here in the North East, New Englanders ... Changed it to S-N-O-W...
 Because they were tired of the F in Snow..........

 OK,  read that last sentence out loud.

  I wrote that.. thanks for stopping by.

Bristol Mint

      This piece "Bristol Mint" (30"x40") is one of the few survivors of the great war of 2010-2011 winter. This war took place at my easel and many tubes of paint are gone, resting peacefully (and empty)  for the freedom of my brush stroke...
 Seriously though I must have used a gallon of white this winter and have a coffee can full of brushes that are paint frozen solid and worn or just worn. All this waste and usage seems quite worth it when you get that one you are really proud of.. This is one of those pieces.
 I would love to hear what you think of it. 

  Even though we recently received a gift of about 4 inches of snow I am confident that spring will start any time now and boy am I ready for it. I am sure because I wrote that, we will get snow again.... thanks for stopping in.

January Shanty

This lil piece (6"x8") was painted about a couple months ago but as i write this......yes, it is snowing. Most of what had built up has melted and the mud has taken over. The landscape is a little tough to paint if your into postcards.

I couldn't decide on today's quote so two it is!!

Quote1: "Real painters understand with a brush in their hand ... what does anyone do with rules? Nothing worthwhile."  Berthe Moriset.




Quote 2 : "Do not worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to."  Robert Henri.

Frosted

 Here is a piece from a while back. As you may be able to see here I have really been trying to work on my paint application and I really am enjoying the feel of a loaded brush. try it. If you click on this image and then again you will see what i mean.
  Anyway,  I will be posting a bunch more now that hibernation has ended and the snow is melting. I am also looking into doing a proper websitesoon. So if any of you have recommendations, warnings or just something you think I should know, please chime in. Thank you.

Quote: "Nature is a dictionary; one draws words from it." Eugene Delacroix