This is a 3 hour painting of one of my favorite models.   I painted this on a medium gray toned panel.  I began by blocking in the shadows with burnt umber and then built up the lights.  Much of the green tone was created by mixing raw umber with lemon yellow.

This was a very odd palette that I used for this painting.  I had burnt umber, raw umber, lemon yellow, ultramarine blue, terra rosa and white.  I could have really used black or some nice transparent reds but it was a challenge to make due with what was there.

This was exciting.  My friend, Sharon Will and I had planned a night time painting session at the local ice cream stand, but blustery winds and occasional down pours forced us to adjust our plans.  We actually tried to wimp out of painting at all, but that is the beauty of the buddy system, you hold each other accountable.  We finally agreed that we would go and paint the dramatic sky for one hour.  The back of the local library faces west and backs up to an orchard so it is perfect for sunsets. We painted from the backs of our cars which helped keep the cold winds at bay.  This was the most intense plein air session ever!  The sky changed every 30 seconds.  Every minute was literally a new painting.  The sky started as gray with purple striped clouds with small peeks of pink and orange.  The orange continued to grow and finally the sky opened into a lovely green blue.  At one point a bright orange cloud sailed by and was made more dramatic by the backdrop of deep purple clouds.
I did not pay much attention to the foreground but I think I could go back to the same spot and work that part of the painting separately.

I am now hooked on sunset paintings!

This is one of the paintings that I did at the Robert Liberace workshop at the Southern Atelier in Sarasota, FL.
I originally had a strong highlight placed on the models head with the background lighter than her face.  Rob pointed out that if I lost the highlight and darkened the background the figure of the model would become the focus.  The adjustments took a few minutes and I was very surprised at how much stronger the painting was.

Lesson learned; simplify, simplify, simplify!

This is my first oil painting since returning from a workshop with Robert Liberace in Sarasota, Florida.  The workshop was 4 days and was held a great school called the Southern Atelier.  I felt like a kid in a candy store at this workshop.  Not only were there lots of demos but there was also a good amount of personal critique from the instructor.  I found him to have a very good eye for zeroing in on where students needed help, and his way of teaching was informative and encouraging.

I also learned new ways to paint that I was unfamiliar with before.  I found his method of traditional painting very user friendly.  He started by laying in the shadow with burnt umber and sienna and then building up the lights.  He payed special attention to the transition in the half tones by using a drawing brushstroke that helped soften and blend but did not overwork the edge.  He emphasized that the lights should be thick and opaque. 

I layed out this still life to practice his method.

Here are the links to his website as well as the Southern Atelier.
www.robertliberace.com
thesouthernatelier.org

This is a painting of one of my favorite models named Rose.  She is a very theatrical model and the back drop of red was perfect for the drama of the under lighting.  I started this painting three times.  I loved the pose and the set up and at first I wanted a hard Toulouse Lautrec type feeling, but my model is a very sweet person and the hard seedy persona of the divas that Lautrec painted did not fit Rose.

This is my first attempt at painting a portrait mini-size.  The model is a favorite of mine who has many wonderful costumes representing the time of the voyager's.  They Voyager's were French fur traders who basically were the truck drivers of their day.  They hauled furs in large canoes during the late 17th and 18th centuries using the Great Lakes and the rivers of "New France" as their passageways.  Their strength and endurance are legendary.

This was a challenge to paint this small.  Jerry's costume was more elaborate than what I feature here but at this size  and the time constraint (three hours), I felt that editing was called for.  I left out his many shiny necklaces and focused on his coyote hat.

Well I finished it!  In my blog a couple of weeks ago I posted the start of this painting.  It was inspired by a large hot pink pastel heart I had won as part of a prize for the Great Lakes Pastel Society members show.  I had pondered adding some foliage into the background but then figured that would distract from the figure.  I also cropped the painting at the hip, since all of the attention was up towards the face I felt the legs and long shirt did not add to the overall composition.

I plan on using the heart for more under paintings, stay tuned.

This was a set up that focused on value.  The flowers were very bright and soft and many of the colors within the set up different versions of grayed tones.  I used black on my palette in place of blue and found the range of gray tones encompassed the whole color wheel.

Last year I was commissioned to paint the portraits of three lovely daughters.  Each daughter is to be painted at the age of five.  I painted the oldest, Lauren, last year.  This year it was Katelyn's turn.  The paintings were completed using photographs and color studies from life.  We chose to do the photo session during the summer, using the beautiful slanted light of the evening (Lauren) and morning (Katelyn) for a soft back lit feeling.  I followed the photo session with having the girls sit for a color study.  Their mother kept them busy drawing at a table or reading stories while I literally held up pastels to them and created a color palette for the painting.  For Katelyn, finding pastels that matched her pink dress and her blonde hair was very amusing to her.

Back in the studio I went over the photos and found a couple that I liked.  I blended two of them to do a study of her features and sent off the pencil sketch for the parents approval. 

Once that was approved I used the pastels I had set aside from the sitting and created a color sketch that is a small version of the finished piece.  This gives the parents a clear idea of what the painting will look like when it is finished. Color study

Then it was time to work on the final painting.  I posted the photos, pencil drawing, and color study next to my easel.  The portrait usually starts off quickly and then the process slows down as I refine the features and make certain I have the likeness.  Katelyn has amazing eyes and beautiful coloring. She is a lively,smart, and friendly girl.  I wanted to capture all of those qualities of her personality.

I look forward to painting the portrait of the third daughter in a couple of years.

In Michigan we do not have earthquakes or hurricanes, we have February.  This week was the beginning of spring.  On Friday the temperature hit 68 degrees and I went to Dodge Park in Sterling Heights to paint.  Because the path is paved I loaded everything in a little red wagon and walked along the river until I found this cluster of trees that begged me to paint them. The sun was very bright and there was not a lot of color.  I love the rich green of the river and the sunlight as it sparkled on last years dried grasses.
What a great way to greet spring!