Linda Tracey Brandon's Blog

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

2012-01-15T15:13:00.001-07:00

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...

"Tumbled Cherries" at Abend Gallery's Holiday Miniatures Show, Dec. 2 '11 - Jan. 7 '12

2011-11-28T18:22:00.001-07:00

My little painting "Tumbled Cherries" is at Abend Gallery's 21st Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, which runs from Dec. 2, 2011 to Jan. 7, 2012. Here's the ad for the show in the December 2011 issue of American Art Collector Magazine.

"The End of the Beginning" - Large Works Show at Abend Gallery, November 2011

2011-11-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

My painting "The End of the Beginning" will be shown at Abend Gallery's Large Works Show, Nov. 4th through Nov. 26th, 2011. Here's the ad for the painting in the December issue of Southwest Art Magazine:

November Featured Artist at Trekell & Company

2011-11-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Some of my work is showcased in the November newsletter of the artist brush manufacturer Trekell & Company - thanks, Trekell!

Paintings of Monhegan Island, Maine

2011-10-04T15:57:00.001-07:00

I recently had the chance to paint with a group of artist friends on historic Monhegan Island, Maine. Artists have been travelling to the island for decades to paint the rocks, coast, forests and maritime scenery. This was a wonderful opportunity to experience a landscape so unlike where I live now, and of course to share ideas and learn from other plein air painters. Here are two paintings of mine:

"Morning at Gull Cove", Oil, 12" x 16"

"Surf at Lobster Cove", Oil, 12" x 16"

And here's a photo of me with some wonderful artist friends...

L to R: Judy Carducci, Sue Braswell, Me, Greer Jennison, Alex Tyng, Carolyn Lewis, Diana Ansley

Print ad in October, 2011 issue of Southwest Art Magazine

2011-09-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

One of my recent gardenia paintings is now available at Abend Gallery in Denver, CO and here's the ad in the October, 2011 issue of Southwest Art Magazine.

"Tumbled Cherries", Oil, 6" x 12"

2011-09-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

A new little still life I finished recently, taking advantage of this year's crop of Queen Anne cherries.

Missing Paintings

2011-08-06T18:40:00.002-07:00

I had a minute of mild panic today when I thought I had lost a sketch for a figurative painting I've long been eager to get to. I had drawn it a couple of years ago and today I was finally ready to start the painting. I'd kept the sketch taped to the back of a board which, in retrospect, was maybe not a great idea. (Note to self: take photos of sketches and download onto computer, file under "Sketches for Future Paintings".)

Anyway, I found the sketch, which was only a simple working sketch, but I started thinking about all the paintings and drawings that have gone missing over the years. There seems to be a lot of representational work in particular that has disappeared. This may have to do with the lowly market status of much realist art in the latter part of the 20th century, or it may have to do with the state of many private art collections after the mayhem of the two world wars.

"Miss Nichols", by Philip de Laszlo, c. 1912. Image taken from the de Laszlo archive trust website. Painting is currently missing.

Take, for example, the status of many of the paintings by Philip Lexius de Laszlo, a famous 19th - 20th c. portrait painter widely regarded as Sargent's successor as the world's leading society painter. There are pages and pages of missing paintings and drawings found on the above de Lazlo website . I wonder if this sad state of affairs has to do with the fact that most of these paintings are portraits and the heirs of the paintings either didn't care about the work (or the person) or maybe the heirs simply have vanished as well. It didn't help that much of de Laszlo's clientele was that of now-vanished European aristrocracy.

There are a couple of books available about de Laszlo. The one I have is "A Brush With Grandeur", available on Amazon.

Photo of de Laszlo's self-portrait is taken from http://www.wikigallery.com/.

Congratulations Alexandra Tyng!

2011-07-29T10:59:00.001-07:00

, My friend Alex Tyng is a well known portrait, figure and landscape painter and has a fantastic new show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine. Her big canvases take your breath away. Opening reception is August 5th and the show runs through August 28th, 2011.

New Painting: "Gardenia Frieze"

2011-06-15T11:25:00.001-07:00

"Gardenia Frieze", Oil, 12" x 24"

This painting is now available for purchase at Abend Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

William McGregor Paxton

2011-04-18T14:21:00.002-07:00

“Let the surfaces flow into one another in a supple envelope of light & paint
Find a new motive
Make the picture look as if it were painted in one sitting
Paint as large a piece as possible at once
Never paint on one piece too long at a time
Do something somewhere else to rest your eyes
Paint neither too thickly nor thinly
The quickest way is the best
Compose by masses of light & dark or dark & light
Chiaroscuro is what makes pictures rich
Seek a noble and ample design
Make the objects swim in the air
Paint all things in relation to the focus.”
- William Paxton, 1901

William McGregor Paxton (1869 – 1941) was a Boston-based painter who, along with the artists Tarbell, Benson and DeCamp, painted portraits as well as interiors and exteriors using a generally impressionist palette. He painted a world of beautiful women sipping tea from china cups as sunlight streamed through windows.
The book I own on Paxton was published by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1979, William McGregor Paxton, 1869 – 1941 . It’s hard to find, which is a huge shame, as there’s a lot of useful information for artists as well as having wonderful reproductions. The maxims quoted above are from the frontspiece of the book and I think of them from time to time as I paint, particularly the “Make the objects swim in the air” advice.

Here’s a Paxton painting courtesy of http://www.artrenewal.org/ :

More Still Lifes From William Nicholson

2011-01-05T12:27:00.005-07:00

Here are some more still lifes from the book The Art of William Nicholson, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2004

I’ll quote from the book about his still life work:
“Nicholson’s still-lifes are generally considered his finest work, and there is no question that they show a greater range of feeling and development than any other type of picture he made. If in his early examples he might make traditional views of, say, elegant vases or glamorous arrays of flowers, he kept testing the theme, moving from large-size, vaguely allegorical and somewhat bizarre examples, such as The Hundred Jugs , an image of a kind of jug warehouse, to increasingly informal views of seemingly random objects. It is in his still-lifes that [his] colour is most daring and sumptuous, and he is most experimental in in his feeling for illumination, exploring the brightest, most silvery and golden tonalities, and also sheer darkness, from which reflective objects send forth glimmers of light.” p. 16

The Hundred Jugs

Art Books: William Nicholson

2011-01-02T16:40:00.005-07:00

First of all, before I forget – hope your New Year will be happy and prosperous!

I’ve been meaning to write about the books in my art book collection for quite a while and while I've posted a couple of entries on some of my books on this blog, I haven't been terribly disciplined about this . At first I thought I’d move sequentially through the stacks (for example, you’d get a long series of posts about all my books about drawing, since that is what’s on the top of the shelf) – but on second thought, I think that random selection might be best. I’ll start the new year with the book that’s been on my desk for several weeks now, The Art of William Nicholson (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2004). [I just checked the price on Amazon – you really need to buy an art book when it’s first released, particularly an exhibition book. They get very expensive very quickly!]

Nicholson was born in 1872 in Nottinghamshire, England and died in 1949. Although he painted many portraits (and portraiture accounted for the main source of his income), today he is primarily remembered as a still life and landscape painter. He began his artistic life as a graphic artist which undoubtedly influenced his strong sense of drama and design in his later work.

His still lifes are sensually painted and are often painted from interesting vantage points. He also plays with light conditions, such as dramatically footlighting objects or having objects lit from behind. Shadows often play an integral part of the composition. I love looking at his still lifes.

Sullivan's Island Painting Expedition, November 2010

2010-11-16T20:31:00.013-07:00

It's been nearly a week since I've returned from a week-long painting trip in a beach house on Sullivan's Island, S.C. with 11 other artists. I've been searching for the words to describe how much fun this was, how much camraderie we shared and how much I learned from the intense and talented artists I painted with.

First of all, the artists and the links to their sites:

The artist who signed up to go, should have been there but couldn't make it:

Lisa Gloria

And two artists who were with us a lot and generously did so much for everyone, Shannon by feeding us an incredible oyster roast and letting us set up easels in her home and Stanka by standing in FREEZING cold while we painted her:

Shannon Runquist

Stanka Kordic

This painting group was set up by Sadie, Alia and Diane, the amazing, hardworking artists who set up the Women Painting Women blog . They've written in their blogs about the group and the terrific show at the Robert Lange Gallery in Charleston, SC . Please, visit their blogs to see more photos and hear more about our group. My heartfelt thanks to these wonderful artists for creating this very special event and to the gallery for making the show such a hit.

My Painting at the "Women Painting Women" Show at the Robert Lange Gallery, starting Nov. 5th, 2010

2010-10-02T16:44:00.005-07:00

My painting "Is it Dusk or Dawn?" (oil, 24" x 36") will be shown at the 'Women Painting Women' group show at the Robery Lange Gallery (see the gallery's blog at http://paintdifferent.blogspot.com/2010/08/women-painting-women.html ) in Charleston, S.C.
The show features over 50 invited women artists from all around the world and opens Nov. 5th, 5:30 to 8:30.

The show began as a result of Sadie Valeri's idea for a blog about women painting other women. Sadie writes about the genesis for the show on her own blog here: http://sadievaleri.blogspot.com/2010/09/women-painting-women-show-at-robert.html

A subgroup of women artists will be renting a house on nearby Sullivan's Island for the week of Nov. 5th - Nov. 12th, painting models and plein air landscapes. Sadie includes a list of them on her blog. I'll be there with the group and, I hope, blogging about it. I'm really looking forward to both events, the show and the painting group - there is so much talent and of course it should be a lot of fun as well.

Congratulations, Ilaria Rosselli del Turco!

2010-08-29T20:15:00.003-07:00

I don’t want to miss the opportunity to congratulate my friend Ilaria Rosselli del Turco, a wonderful artist who has been recognized for her excellent work by having a painting accepted into the prestigious BP Portrait show at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Ilaria’s painting “Portrait of Geneva “ will be hanging at the BP show through September 19th, 2010. You can read more about the BP Show at http://www.npg.org.uk/. You can read more about Ilaria on her website http://www.ilardt.com/ and on her blog at http://www.ilardt.blogspot.com/.

Workshop at Scottsdale Artist's School, July 6 - 8, 2010

2010-07-09T17:37:00.004-07:00

I had a terrific time at my workshop this week at Scottsdale Artists School - it's a treat to paint with such good artists (and nice people) - thanks again, everybody, it was a real honor and a lot of fun to be around you. (Sorry about the 110+ heat here... .)
Pictured Left to Right: Ju Oshiro, Larry Herron, me, Paolo Acuna, Greer Jennison, Nancy Sage, Chris Cook and Doug Bell

William Whitaker Signature Brushes From Trekell

2010-07-01T09:54:00.004-07:00

I'm excited to see that Trekell (http://www.trekell.com/) has added a new line of high quality brushes as 'William Whitaker Signature Brushes'. Mr. Whitaker (http://www.williamwhitaker.com/) has been my teacher and is a true master, as well as being a terrific human being. His finely detailed paintings are beautifully crafted. We can't attribute this all to the brushes, but they look good, don't they? Anyway,I plan to order some of these as soon as I can.

Here's the link: http://www.trekell.com/William-Whitaker-Signature-Brushes_c_91.html

Photos from PAOA Workshop, June 19th, 2010

2010-06-24T18:09:00.004-07:00

Here are a few photos from my 3-hour workshop last Saturday for the Portrait Artists of Arizona group. We had a terrific, beautiful model (thanks, Jessica).

I'm teaching again in a couple of weeks at Scottsdale Artists School (see info in the right column). I'm looking forward to all of us having a chance to paint a model for three days in the same pose - we'll deal with gesture and design issues as well as the usual portrait concerns. Contact SAS or me if you have any questions.

Art Books: New Book from Dorian Vallejo, "Drawings: Inspired By Life"

2010-05-12T21:41:00.010-07:00

Dorian Vallejo is a wonderful artist living in New Jersey who has collected together a volume of his work, "Drawings: Inspired By Life," available at http://www.drawingsfromlife.com/Pages/Book/Book_Page.html . The book is $38.99 plus shipping (this sounds like a fantastic bargain to me).

I can't wait to get a copy of this book - I've been a fan of his for a long time. He has been a huge inspiration to me in my own work. What a treat to see all these in one volume. Bravo, Dorian!

At the Jack Richeson Co. booth last week, PSA Convention, Reston VA

2010-05-03T08:41:00.003-07:00

I just want to say thanks again to the wonderful people at the Jack Richeson art supply company (http://www.richesonart.com/) for letting me demo at their booth at the Portrait Society of America convention last week in Reston, VA. Their products are terrific and I really enjoyed working with them. (I wish I'd taken a photo of the other side of this canvas I'm working on - aluminum stretcher bars - I'm ordering them from Richeson on my next big commission.) Richeson also has, hands down, the best brush soap I've ever used.

I also wanted to thank my friend and incredible artist Juan Martinez (http://www.juanmartinez.com/) for bravely sitting for me for the demo. He is a chief instructor at Toronto's Academy of Realist Art and has written extensively on training in the classical tradition. Juan is also a TV star - check out his site for more information about him and his work.

'Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it' - Leonardo da Vinci

2010-04-07T09:43:00.003-07:00

I had a nice discussion with an artist last week about painting portrait head studies. She felt she was pretty accurate with still life paintings, but when it came down to painting heads in a tight time frame (two or three hours is a tight time frame) she didn't do as well.

My off the cuff advice was to continue doing the still life studies, but what I should have advised her to do was to get one of these planes of the head casts. Many years ago I studied with a woman who made us do a charcoal drawing of this cast before every portrait painting. That practice really helped me understand the shapes and relative values of what is going on with a head as the different planes turn away from the light source. Naturally, this head is a prototype, not an actual individualized head and so all results will vary. But it will help you form a set of presumptions in your brain - not assumptions, presumptions -to look for when painting from life. (In other words, you can presume there is an indentation below the lower lip - but it's not always there in every subject. And if it isn't there, you might decide that this characteristic is something that you might want to pay special attention to.) It helps you to see the sculptural forms as you paint and (important when there is a timer ticking) with practice can help you make judgements a little more quickly.

This is a cast designed by John Asaro many years ago. My own cast is an plaster one (notice the cracked base, glued together when it fell out of my car. Rats.) The newer ones are plastic (gray plastic, I believe) and are more durable; they are available here: http://www.planesofthehead.com/index.php I've also seen a variety of good planes casts on the internet.

Using Binoculars

2010-03-25T10:05:00.003-07:00

I've been using these for a few months now and I think they are a terrific tool for anybody who wants to improve their work from life. I am of course indebted to the indefatigable David Kassan for this suggestion (http://www.davidkassan.com/).

I know what you're thinking... this is just a tool to render the life out of things, and who needs all that detail? But hear me out:

1. These aren't just any binoculars, these are the Pentax 0.5m Papilo 6.5 x 21, 'extremely close focusing' 0.5m/1.6ft binos. In other words, you don't have to be standing too far away to use them, as you would with other binos. They are good for a situation where a model is on the other side of the room from you, for example, or where it's awkward to walk up and get a closer look at what you're doing.

2. You don't use them for designing a painting, or planning the concept, or squinting for shadows, or even necessarily for detail. You use them to establish accuracy of placement. I find them especially useful to help me with any spatial confusion I might have on an object. In other words, if I can't really see what is in front of something else, I might be tempted to treat the whole area as one unit. This is fine if that is what you want in your painting, but if you want to add detail, or sharpen an edge, etc. for any aesthetic purpose, it is nice to see what you're doing and make an informed decision. It's a decision making tool, basically.

3. The binos help you focus your mind on the area you're painting. This last point surprised me, frankly. I suppose it's a little like putting blinders on a horse - you're not distracted by the nonsense going on next to you, or what else might be rumbling around in your mind at the moment. You're focused on getting one particular area correct - that's it.

Drawbacks in using these include arm strain from holding them up to your eyes, and the sheer goofiness of how they look when you put them on top of your other glasses.

Three Day Workshop, "Painting the Three-Quarter Pose" July 6th, 7th, 8th in Scottsdale

2010-02-19T18:06:00.005-07:00

I'll be teaching a three-day workshop this summer at Scottsdale Artists School (http://www.scottsdaleartistschool.org/) on July 10th, 11th and 12th, 2010. The class will be on painting the portrait pose with hands, a "three quarter figure" pose. This will give us an opportunity to explore the expresion of an individual's personality using body language and hands. We'll also address drawing, values, strong design, accurate color, as well as clothing concerns.

I've set up the class for oil painters, but I see no reason why you shouldn't work in drawing media if you wanted to draw from a model in the same pose for three days.

I've taught this workshop a couple of times during the past several years (I've posted a photo here from a few years back) and I'm really looking forward to teaching again this summer. I'll write more about the workshop and how to register for it as we get a little closer to the date - meanwhile, please contact me if you have any questions.

Congratulations, Sharon Knettell!

2010-01-30T20:05:00.005-07:00

Congratulations to Sharon Knettell for her beautiful painting, featured on the cover of the March, 2010 issue of Artist's Magazine!

(Click on her link - http://www.sharonknettell.com/ to see more of her work.) Sharon has been a great help to me in setting up my own studio for life painting sessions and I love her passionate and sensual work. She has a remarkable talent for arranging color in her setups. I'm including a photo of her teaching at Scottsdale Artists School a couple of years ago - she brought her own costumes (tutus, corsets, etc.) for the models - really great stuff.

New Drawing DVD coming soon from David Kassan

2010-01-24T19:41:00.006-07:00

New York artist David Kassan is a terrific draftsman and generous teacher who does beautiful work (see my previous post in 2007: http://lindatraceybrandon.blogspot.com/2007/09/drawing-with-david-kassan-in-brooklyn.html ).

His new drawing DVD is about to be released - to see the trailer, click on the button at http://dvd.davidkassan.com/ and then sign up for email notification. Of course, I haven't seen the DVD yet, but I'm sure it will be a good one.

Gerome Exhibit at the Getty Museum, June 15 - Sept. 12, 2010

2010-01-21T07:40:00.003-07:00

Fans of Jean-Leon Gerome (French, 1824 - 1904) will be happy to hear that the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles (http://www.getty.edu/visit/exhibitions/future.html ) will be hosting a special exhibit of Gerome's work from June 15th to Sept. 12th, 2010. This particular painting, Pollice Verso, has long been one of the jewels at the Phoenix Art Museum and it's good to know that it will be part of the show. I'm also attaching a photo of the sculpture of Gerome with his gladiator models at the Musee d'Orsay.

Artdaily has more information about Gerome here: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=35768

Oil Sketch on Frosted Mylar

2010-01-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Frosted Mylar is an affordable and archieval support if you plan on painting lots of figurative work from life. If you're generally new to doing this kind of life work and don't want to waste a lot of expensive linen during your first sessions, try the frosted Mylar. It's good for open studio sketches and for making preliminary sketches for paintings on more traditional supports. In my case, I was trying out a new pair of binoculars in an open studio situation and I wasn't sure if I would be able to find the right place to set up. (I'm going to blog about binoculars later.)The Mylar comes in a big sheet which costs around $5.00 (the portion shown is a quarter sheet). It's opaque and semi-absorbent - actually, it's a little hard to describe, but the strokes show up well and I especially like the way transparent paint reacts to it. I've taped the sheet onto a board to do the actual painting. I've been wondering how I'd frame this piece - I think I would glue the edges of the Mylar to a white gessoed board of the same size and then put the piece under glass (with a spacer between the glass and the Mylar). Everything I've read about Mylar indicates it's archieval but I might still be inclined to put it under glass and treat it as I would a drawing.The open studio session was three hours, but I wiped off my first head and started a new, smaller version, so this one is at about an hour and a half of painting. My wonderful teacher William Whitaker (http://www.williamwhitaker.com/) showed his students how to use Mylar a few years ago and since then I've seen other artists using it as well.

What color did I mix to make that, anyway?

2009-12-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

This post probably comes under the catagory of "studio tips". I have high-chroma, "modern" colors on my palette as well as some earth tones, thought I don't usually use all my colors on a particular painting. To make things more complicated, I like to try out new colors, especially tubes I have hanging around the studio. (This is a byproduct of having had several excellent teachers, none of whom, by the way, even remotely paint the same way. ) Lots of times I find myself wondering, how did I get that color when I did that painting?

I've started to lay out little blobs from my palette for every painting I do onto cheap glossy paper. I'm also keeping a record of the mixtures I use. This one, for example, is the palette for the painting of the girl in the tondo below. I was seeing what I could do with one yellow, one red, one blue, black and white. I wrote on the corner of the sheet the brands and names of paint and pinned it to the wall. After the painting was finished I hung the paper palette onto a coat hanger so I can put it in my closet.

Art Books: Rose Frantzen's Portrait of Maquoketa

2009-11-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

I paint for hours nearly every day and like a lot of artists who paint a lot, by the time I get onto the internet my brain is a little.... well, it's often hard to come up with something that I think might be interesting to you, the reader. If I'm in the middle of a project (which I always seem to be) I don't like to post much about it.

Then I realized - if I could share my art library with you - THAT is something I like to write about and you might find pretty interesting as well.

I'll start with a hot-off-the-press book by one of my favorite living artists, Rose Frantzen. Her new book is published in conjunction with her show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Portrait of Maquoketa. More information about the show is located on her website, http://www.oldcityhallpress.com/ and her book is available there also (it sells for $49.95, plus shipping).

I don't even own this book yet and I'm recommending it to you, how do you like THAT. I've studied with Rose and she is an amazingly talented artist and teacher.

Yesterday's demo at Tempe Center for the Arts

2009-10-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here's my model Christy - Oil on linen, 18" x 14" - great model and very nice person. I'll be doing another life demo in two weeks, same time, same place.

"Shadows of Unrecorded Trees"

2009-10-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'm (slowly) working out a system where I can work on multiple paintings, most importantly, landscapes, at certain times of the day, returning over and over again to the same locations at the roughly the same time to take advantage of fleeting light conditions. Since I live in Arizona I can pretty much count on sunshine nearly all of the time, but on the rare day that it's cloudy, I hope I'll be painting (you guessed it) clouds.

So, for example, this is the corner of a wall that catches shadow patterns from trees from roughly 8:00am to 9:15am. I worked on this for around two weeks, using binoculars when I felt the need to examine something more closely (and of course just walked over to it whenever I felt like it). When 9:15 came along, I packed my gear and moved on to an indoor still life which caught a certain light at a certain time of the day.

There is so much to recommend in this sequential method. One big plus is that I can work on larger canvases - at least, larger than the small 8" x 10" or so plein air sketch size. I'll write more about this later on.

More on the "Faces" show at the Tempe Center for the Arts

2009-10-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to everyone who braved Tempe Octoberfest traffic and came to opening night of the "Faces" show last weekend. The show will run through Feb. 6th and will feature periodic demos by local artists, including me (Oct. 24th and Nov. 7th, from 11:00am - 1:00pm) - for more information and a map please visit www.tempe.gov/TCA/gallery .

Here's a photo of my three paintings hanging in the gallery. Tempe framer Dave Owen of Montgomery Frames (http://www.montgomeryframes.com/ ) did a fantastic job with these - it isn't easy to find high-quality handmade circular frames. Thanks, Dave!

"Faces" Show at Tempe Center for the Arts

2009-09-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

Kamila, oil, 20" tondo - one of my paintings in the upcoming show titled "Faces" at the Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, Arizona.

When:

Exhibition Dates:

Oct. 3, 2009 - February 5, 2010

Opening Reception:

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Where:

Tempe Center for the Arts

700 W. Rio Salado Parkway

Tempe, AZ 85281

Phone: 480.350.2829

For more information and a map, please visit www.tempe.gov/TCA/Gallery.

From the show description: "Each human face is a narrative about the journey of the individual. Every line, scar and freckle is unique and tells a personal story to the individual and others. The way a person wears their hair, winks their eye, twitches their nose, or cracks a grin are the expressions of personal preferences, feelings and ideas. "Faces" is an exhibition that will feature a wide range of artistic and scientific approaches to exploring faces from traditional portraiture to contemporary renderings and the technical understanding of the human face in new media, forensics and medicine."

I'm scheduled to demonstrate portrait painting at the Museum on Saturday, October 24th from 11:00am - 2:00pm and again on Saturday, November 7th, from 11:00am - 2:00pm. Please stop by, see the show and say hello.

Painting in Richeson 75: Figure/Portrait 2009 Competition

2009-07-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

My painting "Spiral Wrap" (Oil, 24" x 12") was accepted into the Richeson 75: Figure/Portrait 2009 Competition. The exhibit can be viewed online in a few weeks at http://www.richeson75.com/ .

"December Roses in a Tondo" in the Richeson 75 Still Life/Floral Show

2009-06-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

I had my painting "December Roses in a Tondo" accepted into the Richeson 75 Still Live/Floral show, available for purchase at their site: http://www.richeson75.com/stilllife/index.html

I'm doing a series of tondi and experimenting with various frames.

Solo Show at the University Club, Phoenix, AZ - Dec. 4th - Jan. 31st

2008-11-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'll be having a solo show at the University Club in Phoenix from December 4th, 2008 through January 31st, 2009. I'll be showing some of my landscapes, still lifes and portraits. I hope you can come - I'd love to meet more of my blog readers. The photo above is the interior of the club (built in 1917 as a residence).

The Opening Reception is:

Thursday, December 4th, 2008
5:30pm - 7:00pm
University Club of Phoenix
39 E. Monte Vista, Phoenix, AZ

Hors d'oeuvres and no-host bar available
RSVP to Helga uclubphx@qwestoffice.net or 602.254.5408

Some Drawings From Henry Yan's Workshop

2008-05-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to a few days of Henry Yan's workshop in Scottsdale last week. Henry has a wonderfully expressive style which is fully explained in his book (see his website at http://www.henryyanart.com/ ). I'm posting a couple of my drawings; the first is a twenty minute pose and the second is a three hour pose.

August Roses

2008-03-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

I donated my painting August Roses to the Scottsdale Artists' School Beaux Arts Bash, the school's annual fundraiser. This year the Bash will be held on Saturday, April 26th.

I have been going to the Bash for many years and have collected quite a few good pieces by some of my favorite artists who have taught at the School over the years. Here's a link to the Bash for more information:

http://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/beaux_arts/bid/651

A "Portrait Trade" Blogsite

2008-03-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

I read about this in a recent http://www.artistsmagazine.com article and I thought it sounded like a good idea: people get together and draw each other. The blogsite that is encouraging the swapping is run by an artist named Rama Hughes at http://www.theportraitparty.blogspot.com.

Artists at all levels of training can benefit from this concept. At a recent workshop, Bill Whitaker suggested this idea to his class: line up an artist friend and set a timer for 30 minute intervals: you paint your friend for the first period and then your friend paints you. No expensive models, no long model breaks.

Painting Children at Scottsdale Artists School

2008-02-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

We are halfway through the class - the models are terrific (and so are the students). Here is Shannon on the model stand.

Ella

2007-11-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

Another terrific child model! I'd like to adopt these girls. I have new lighting in my studio, I opened up a skylight and I love the effect. She sat for me for two or three hours; after she left I spent a long time fretting about the dress (which is too big for her), adjusting color, the background, softening edges, etc.

"Painting Children From Life" - 6 week class at Scottsdale Artists' School begins Feb. 9, 2008

2007-11-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

Scottsdale Artists' School has started enrollment for my 6 week Saturday morning class "Painting Children From Life" which begins on February 9th, 2008 and runs until March 15, 2008. The cost is $270. Here is the course description in the School catalog:

Children present particular joys and difficulties for the figurative painter. Painting them from life is a challenge because they are notoriously prone to move when they should be holding still for the artist. However, when life painting is done well, a portrait of a child painted from life can have an unsurpassable honesty, directness and beauty. Also, a child posing for a life portrait has a unique and unforgettable window into the creative process which might foster a lifelong interest in the arts. We will discuss lighting, clothing, posing the body and ways to keep the child engaged in the portrait process as well as proportional differences in head and body between children and adults. We will concentrate on the child's portrait head but we will also paint seated children if there is interest. We will discuss ways in which great artists of the past have painted children. Students should have considerable practice in life work before taking this class.

To enroll, please visit the School website at http://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/ or call 480.990.1422.

"Yellow Roses", Oil, 36" x 24"

2007-11-14T19:23:00.001-07:00

These (supermarket-bought) roses bloomed for a long time; amazing, really. The ones on the table were in little glass vials with rubber stoppers, which did not leak in the slightest.

Mina (2 hour study)

2007-10-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

I painted this beautiful 10 year old on Saturday. I posted my painting on Saturday afternoon and promised I wouldn't tinker with it, but I was wrong. When I got my painting back to the studio and looked at it, I decided the catch lights on the eyes were too bright so I toned them down by making them smaller and cooler. I also threw in some white strokes in the blouse. This is what the painting looks like now.

Anyway, I'm teaching a class on painting children from life next semester at Scottsdale Artists School. When children can really sit still - gosh - what a treat it is to paint them this way. Mina was wonderful!

In an ideal world I'd paint children in multiple two hour sessions.

"Bad Birthday" - Oil, 12" x 16"

2007-10-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

This one was great fun. I found out that cupcakes dry out and sag after a few days, but icing stays remarkably stable. A slightly scalloped saucer (say that fast three times) is a nuisance to paint as an ellipse; the next time I attempt one I am going to do a grisalle, I think.

Open Studio Model #2

2007-09-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

I had a good morning at Open Studio today and I feel pretty good about this one. I did a couple of things which I hope I remember to do next time:

I forced myself to go slowly by (roughly) sketching in charcoal for the first sitting. Three hours is plenty of time for me to do a study, usually, so I don't need to rush things, especially if I'm not teaching (where I talk and sometimes lose track of what I'm doing). The charcoal sketch also helps me observe the nature of the model. Do I have a good sitter (she was fine, by the way), does she tend to drift or slump, and if so, which way, and is this the pose I really like or should I be on the other side of the room if I can get myself over there? It also helps me muse about what I really like about a certain face. In this case it was - of course - those marvelous cheeks pouffing over the chin.

I'm putting a head into the fog and taking it out again. Over and over, in the fog, out of the fog, ending up (I hope) out of the fog.

When you use certain earth reds - I had a Vasari Terra Rosa on my palette - you have to be really careful or else when you blend, the red takes over the whole mixture and turns the skin tones to bricky muck. If I hadn't blended - if I had just set down the planes in strokes and left them -the Terra Rosa might have been okay. The next time I paint a full color range head, I'm going back to my Gamblin Transp. Earth Red, which is a much less potent paint than Vasari.

"Only A Promise of Happiness"

2007-09-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of this book right now: Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art, by Alexander Nehamas. http://www.amazon.com/Only-Promise-Happiness-Place-Beauty/dp/0691095213/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3239434-3962862?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191078257&sr=1-1 I thought these quotes were interesting:

"Nothing is attractive, even if all it invites is contemplation, unless it sparks a desire to devote part of one's life to it." p.70

"Beauty is the object of love and, for better or worse, love can be provoked by anything, sometimes even a streak of red paint or a blue spot on the upper right-hand corner of a painting." p.74

"Beautiful things interpose themselves between me and what I already want. They give me new things to desire. They are valuable not just as guides but also as destinations[.]" p.134

Lots to think about in this book, and we haven't even gone near the "truth is beauty" theory. I'll add to this post as I read more of this book.

Drawing with David Kassan in Brooklyn

2007-09-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

I seem to know a lot of figurative painters who work in a variety of realist techniques. I'm going to start putting some of them up on my Blog, for a variety of reasons. One, because I like them and I want them to get a wider exposure; two, because I've learned a lot from them and if you are an artist reading this, you might, too; three, if you are interested in buying art, go take a look at their sites as well as my own site; and four, because maybe now I can get them to buy me coffee or dinner.

I was in Brooklyn on a portrait commission this summer and visited the very talented David Kassan in his studio. We drew a model together and had a great time (well, I did, anyway). I'm going to see David again in 2008 when he comes to teach at Scottsdale Artists' School. He's teaching a class on the portrait head, March 17th - 21st, 2008 - go click on the Scottsdale Artists' School link to find out more about it. David is a wonderfully articulate teacher and I'm really looking forward to the class.

A Photo From My Summer Workshop at SAS

2007-09-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

I finally found the photos I took from my August 2007 workshop at http://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/ . It was a three-day workshop with the title "Painting the Three Quarter Portrait Pose with Hands". I taught a version of this workshop last year at the school as well; I like teaching this class because I like the challenges of composing a painting in which you can use body language and clothing to indicate a sitter's character. But it's difficult in that each time the model gets up for a break the clothing changes slightly and so do the hands and fingers. It is compositionally difficult also because you have to decide how to crop your figure in your painting area without running out of room on your canvas. All this in three days. It's a good thing that my students were terrific and were up to the challenge.

By the way we had a terrific model as well - he played on the guitar for us during the breaks as a bonus. Here is his website: http://www.bandinghendrix.com/

Open Studio Model Number One

2007-09-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I've had a lot of access to three-hour portrait sittings with models at Scottsdale Artists School. If I had my way, I'd be there every time they offer a session. I often have models at my own studio and I do a lot of still life work when I don't have a model around to keep myself fresh, but really, nothing beats the energy of working around other artists.

Still, this leaves me with a lot of portrait heads stacked up around my studio. I never quite know what to do with them all. I received a good tip a while back (thank you, Debra Jones): clip them onto a coathanger and hang them up in a closet. Of course, this will only work well if you have a loose canvas to hang. Here's what I do: I cut good quality primed linen into large rectangles and tape or tack the linen onto a board and take it to open studio. That way I don't have to worry so much about centering a head and I can also crop the painting later if I choose to. If the painting turns out to be a disaster I haven't gone to the trouble of stretching it onto bars.

This is a three hour open studio painting I did a while ago and I thought I'd post it here; I'm leaving in the tacks in the photo so you can see what I'm talking about. Look at that dramatic uplighting! I think my friend and fellow teacher Tracy Schact set this one up.

What's On My Easel Today: A Little Girl With Ringlets

2007-09-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

This one is 20" x 16", on a gessoed hardboard ground; not my favorite surface, but it works fine after an initial layer of paint gets put down.

Every time I start painting an outdoor figurative like this one, I think to myself, "oh... piece of cake, no problem." And then it is always a bit of a struggle. They look easy, don't they? I think it's pretty hard to do them so that they are aesthetically pleasing and there is a truly recognizable likeness, specific enough so that you could pick out this child from a room of similarly beautiful little children. That's important, unless you are working on what I think of as a generic painting.

It helps if you have a breathtakingly beautiful little girl like this one, who loves to model. This was painted from a photo, but I wonder if she would sit for me if I gave her a dvd to watch.

Teaching At Scottsdale Artists School, Fall 2007

2007-09-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'll be teaching a class on painting the portrait head at Scottsdale Artist's School in Scottsdale, Arizona, this fall. Here's the information as it looks on the School's website, http://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/ :

Oil Portraits From Life
Weekly 6-week Session, on Tuesdays, from October 9th - November 13, 2007
6:30pm - 9:30pm
$270