"Garden Painters" oil 8 x 10

I met up with some friends to paint today, maintaining social distance.  It was a treat to paint with some friends, to have conversation and create.  This spot has a building behind it with beds of lilies.  I was most interested in the gathering of women, so painted them.  As you can see in the process photos, I was undecided about the background; leave the building in, take the building out and use a building or two from down the street, take all the structures out.  I opted for the latter.  Thank you for looking, as always.  You know I love your comments.

Day 245 "From the Garden" 12 x 9 ink and watercolor

This morning, a few of us met up at my friend Gail's house.  Her gardens are lovely.  We spent some time hanging out on her porch, chatting and drawing this bouquet of peonies.  It was a lovely way to spend some time.  I drew the flowers while there, then added watercolor later from my memory.  
This is my two hundred forty-fifth daily drawing.  Thank you for looking.  

Day 191 "Studio Door" 7 x 7 ink & marker

Last summer I painted at a friend's house for a local garden tour fundraiser.  Her studio door was open and surrounded by flowers.  It was very inviting and a fun day talking to all the visitors.  Here is the painting from the day, and above is a pen and ink sketch with gray marker, of the scene as well.

This is my hundred ninety-first daily drawing.  Thank you so much for looking.

"Garden Doorway" 10 x 10 oil

This lovely antique home has a beautiful and inviting patio leading you into the studio.  I was intrigued by the window on the far side of the studio.  I often say that I love to paint the idea of "through".  This alluring path into the studio brings the viewer in, and then through. I first laid in the approximate color and value of the inside room, then worked through the flowers and the layering of the flowers and carved out the wall behind them.  The day began overcast, but then the sun peeked through.  I quickly made an indication where the shadow line was on the wall, and modified the painting to include the sun.  The house was on a garden tour so there were a lot of visitors talking about plants and mulch or no mulch and the beautiful  beds surrounding this house. 
Thank you for looking. 

"His and Hers" oil 9" x 6"

$125 and $10 S&H

My painting class met at a local home with lovely barn, gardens, antiques, and details.  It was a  feast for the eye.  Every place my eye stopped I found a vignette to paint.  A few of my students were new to painting outside so we worked on taking the infinite and narrowing it down to a manageable piece.  Outside is filled with texture, shifting light, undefined boundaries, and a myriad of colors.  It can be overwhelming. I showed them how to simplify the subject into a light and shadow pattern.  "His and Hers" is a demo where I began with two accurately drawn shapes - you can see them when you squint.  The light of the column, the porch and part of the rockers was one shape.  The other shape was the rest of the painting, and began as an averaged dark yellow/orange/green  into which I built the details of window, chairs, and wall.   I'm planning to return to this bucolic spot time and time again. It is a smorgasbord!

Direct the Eye with Color

       I am beginning my new class session today.  We're focusing on color for the next 7 weeks - a good choice for winter, when color outdoors is a little more elusive.   This morning's class is about choosing your color notes as part of the overall design and leading the viewer's eye with those choices.  The students will choose still life props from a selection of strongly colored choices.  When there's a lot of vivid color (or neutral color) you adjust your choices to direct the eye to the center of interest.  Of course, there's a lot more to directing the viewer's eye; but in one class, we'll concentrate on one component of the equation, and I'll reference the others more tangentially.  

 Look at the image here, which, by the way, belies the snowscape outside my window this morning.  This shows my block in, and finished painting for "Breakfast Al Fresco", painted outside in our neighborhood during the local art festival one May day.  You can see in the initial block in, that the strongest color notes lie in the bottom left, red shirt, yellow table, blue flowers.  Those decisions were made at the start of the painting.  My idea was to invite the viewer to the table in this lovely outdoor setting.  I lay in those richest notes very early, and kept them throughout.  The luscious greens, flowering plants, everything else are just slightly less in chroma.  Of course, there are a lot of other elements drawing your eye down and to the table, but for today... chroma is key.