Drawing for Beginners class at SAS

Just a quick note to let you know that there are a few spots left in my upcoming "Drawing for Beginners" class at Scottsdale Artists' School . It meets on Thursdays, 9:00 to 12:00 for 4 sessions and starts on January 10, 2013, ending January 31st. I really enjoy teaching this class, it's great fun.

Annual Holiday Miniatures Show at Abend Gallery

My new little painting "Sun Worship" is on sale now at the annual Holiday Miniatures Show at  Abend Gallery. The show opened with a reception this past weekend - hope you can get to Denver to see the show.

Portrait of Jim

"Portrait of Jim", Oil, 30" x 24"

My brother, Jim Tracey, is a wonderfully creative musician, actor and artist. I've been wanting to paint him for years. I wanted to create a painting that referenced music and where we grew up together (Michigan, hence, the maple leaves) and I also tried to show his indomitable spirit.

Summer Camp at Chez Brandon

Where I live, there's been one ominous dust storm after the other. It's best to be inside your house when they happen, or at least not driving or walking or riding your bike, which is of course not always avoidable. One of these days I'll paint a dust storm. I'll be like Turner, riding on the outside of the stagecoach in the midst of a galestorm, face fiercely bared to the elements, to feel what it's like to be in a gale. On second thought, maybe I won't be like Turner. It depends on the dust storm, I guess.

One thing for sure: even if you are inside, a dust storm is bad for oil paintings with sticky mediums, dark backgrounds and murderously particuloid on varnish days. I have a nice place to paint in, but the least bit of dust swirls around and gloms itself to my paintings. An artist friend advised me to "tent my paintings". I don't think she actually meant "go out and buy a little tent and set it up and put your paintings in it", but that is what I did after I visited a local big box store and children's tents were on clearance for fourteen dollars. I have this set up in a bathroom but you could also put one in a garage. If I had an attic or basement, I would set it up there.

Actually, you could also just set up a sheet over a table and set your paintings under there.

Before I had this tent, I put my paintings in a narrow closet and closed the sliding door, but the closets are carpeted and I'm convinced they shed microscopic particles of alien fuzz.

"Rachel in my Studio"

30" x 24", oil. Available for purchase at Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA.

This antique low-backed portrait chair shows up in a lot of my paintings, only this time I've covered it up with a draped cloth. I'm happy that I finally figured out how to adjust my skylights so that I get nice dramatic light that is a little diffused and not blasting like a laser beam (I live in Arizona! hey, we have sunlight here). When I do this again I'm going to push the podium back a few more inches. The trick is to set the easel up so that I can see the subject and what's on my easel at the same time while being able to back up several feet, not always easy to do, depending on the room. My subject is a wonderfully talented young woman, so beautiful and great fun to paint.

"Mia in a White Turban" in a collection featured in Aug. 2012 issue of American Art Collector

"Mia in a White Turban" is featured in a photograph in the recent August 2012 issue of American Art Collector magazine as part of a story about a wonderful art collection in Virginia. I love seeing my paintings hang in a collector's home and I'm especially happy to see this painting in this particular collection.

3-Hour Portrait Demonstration: Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012

On Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012 from 1:00 - 4:30, I'll be demonstrating how I paint a head and shoulders portrait (like the one above, although I probably won't be painting a profile). This demo is presented by the Portrait Artists of Arizona and the afternoon will include light refreshments.

Here's the address:
Studio 1307, 1307 N. Scottsdale Rd., Tempe AZ 85281


The fee for the demo varies according to whether you're a PAOA member or not - members get an early-bird discount if they sign up before 8/1/12 - and non-members pay a slightly higher fee, but the fee at the door is $40.00. Please come!

"Surf at Gull Cove" at The Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT

My painting Surf at Gull Cove (oil, 12" x 16") has been selected to be in the Impressions of New England show at the The Bennington Center for the Arts in Bennington, VT. The show runs from July 14th through September 23rd, 2012, with an opening reception on July 21st.

I'm honored to be in this show and so happy that this particular painting is in it. It's one of the paintings from my journey to Monhegan Island, Maine within the past year. Seeing this painting lets me experience all the senses I felt when I was on that rocky spot - the salt spray, the crash of the waves, the incredible blues and greens of the Atlantic and the excitement of being so close to some serious surf. I'm ready for another trip to Maine.

"Drawing for Beginners" class at Scottsdale Artists School, begins July 11, 2012

Registration is now available at Scottsdale Artists' School for my summer class "Drawing for Beginners", starting July 11th, 2012. The class meets for four Wednesdays, July 11 -Aug. 1 from 1:00 to 4:00. For more info, please contact the school.

I really enjoy teaching beginners and I hope you'll consider signing up. Don't worry, I won't make you draw goldfish, unless you want to, of course.

Abend Gallery "All Gallery Show" opens tonight, April 20, 2012

Abend Gallery's new "All Gallery Show" opens tonight (Friday, April 20, 2012  Opening Reception 5:00 - 9:00 ) with lots of food and artist demonstrations - if you're in the Denver area, you need to be there! I'll have a few of my paintings on exhibit at the show, including this one:


 Wait and See, Oil, 12" x 16"

Principle Gallery Blog: News about the show, "The Expedition and Beyond"

Our show in Alexandria is coming up fast - it opens less than a week away, Friday, April 13th, 6:30 to 9:00. Please come by for the opening if you can! Here's what Principle Gallery says on their recent blog entry (scroll down to see my circular painting of Mia Bergeron featured in the post).  http://principlearttalk.com/2012/04/06/women-painting-women-the-expedition-beyond/


Mia in a White Turban, Oil, 20" tondo

"Pink Ranunculus" Oil, 12" x 9"

Great fun with this one. I have to admit, I had as much fun with those slimy green, wormy stems as I did with the blossoms.

It looks like I'm painting lots of still lifes, doesn't it? I usually have a few paintings going at the same time. Right now I have a portrait commission on one easel. I work in layers so I'm waiting for it to dry somewhat before I can continue. I also have an ongoing landscape on a second easel, which spreads out into several days, since the lighting effect only lasts for around 40 minutes each day, and some days I have to skip all together. Right after I finished these ranunculus, my roses in my  garden started to bloom, quite annoyingly all at the same time. I'm travelling from easel to easel, not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Paintings for "The Expedition" show

All three of these paintings are about to be packed up and shipped out soon to "The Expedition and Beyond" show at  Principle Gallery which opens April 13th. On top, left to right, Mia in a White Turban, China Frog and Red Peonies and bottom, Gardenias in an Indigo Vase. (See my previous couple of posts about the show.)

That chair holding up the painting shows up in a lot of my portraits. Don't worry, the painting on the chair is just there for this photo and I took it down so it's safe now. The structure on the right is a coat tree with dowels; I use it for holding my palettes so I don't leave them lying around.

Catalog now available for our April show at Principle Gallery

The catalog for our April group show, "The Expedition and Beyond" at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA is now available for $19.00 - you can order it here . The catalog is 58 pages and has on its cover Diane Feissel's beautiful painting of the beautiful artist Rachel Constantine.


Click here to order:    http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/328522

Workshop: "Painting Children from Life", March 3 - 5, 2012, Oro Valley AZ

I'm teaching a three-day workshop on painting children from life this weekend in Oro Valley, AZ at Toscana Studio and Gallery . How hard can it be to paint children from life? Answer: it's hard, and sometimes really hard. Sometimes you have a child set before you who seems to have just had three cups of coffee and a pillowcase full of Halloween candy. Many artists who do this plunk children down in front of televisions and DVDs for sittings, but they run the risk of encountering a child with a blank and zoned-out expression. I've taught this class before and had a lot of fun with it. There might still be a few spots left in the class, so if you can make it, I'd love to have you there (click on the link above for more information).

"The Expedition and Beyond" - Principle Gallery, Alexandria VA, opening April 13, 2012

I'll be in a group show at Principle Gallery with the group of women I painted with in South Carolina back in late 2010. The show is called "The Exhibition and Beyond" and my work is featured with work by Mia Bergeron, Rachel Constantine, Alia El-Bermani, Diane Feissel, Catherine Prescott, Cindy Procious, Shannon Runquist, Terry Strickland, Kate Stone, Stephani Tewes, Alexandra Tyng and Sadie Valeri (see the artist links to the right of my blog page). More about this show coming soon, but first, here's a slideshow preview (special thanks to the amazing Strickland family for producing this):

The Jade Sphinx: Learning to See With Artist Paul Foxton Part I

I'm sharing this interview with my artist friend Paul Foxton (there's a part 2 also). Paul thinks deeply about art and the process/product debate - anyone who earnestly desires to learn to draw and paint realistically should read everything he writes!

The Jade Sphinx: Learning to See With Artist Paul Foxton Part I: The Art of Paul Foxton You can learn how to draw better – that is the lesson of the blog Learning To See , written and illustrated by artis...