Eggs, Three Ways

This painting continues my keep it simple mood. Before I started this, Humpty Dumpty came to mind and I thought it might be less messy to use blown out eggs. I had to google how to do it and I must say it took some severe lip pursing to get the job done.

Meadow Grass

While walking by a roadside meadow a few days ago, I spotted tall, thin grasses with these wispy cattails. They were so delicate; I thought it would be an interesting challenge to paint something with essentially no mass placed in a jar with no water. Primarily, it is a painting of air.

Mike

Wow, look, it is not a still life. Although I suspect portraiture will never be my thing, after watching Sherrie McGraw do a portrait demo, I attempted to apply some of her portrait principles while doing the above study. Some of her recommendations: Don't model in the shadow--the shadow is the stability and should be simple and structural; Don't over soften the transitions from shadow to light and finally-- Go for the easiest solution!

Sherrie McGraw Workshop

Last week I attended a Sherrie McGraw workshop at the Wethersfield Academy for the Arts in Wethersfield, CT. Sherrie is an incredibly accomplished artist, a generous and gentle person and a wonderful teacher. Above, you see Sherrie, her still life setup and the beginning of her painting on a toned canvas. Her first suggestion?-- work on the still life set up until you are dying to paint it.

Big and Small (A Second Look)

I didn't have much time for painting this week so I mucked about with the painting below which was previously posted. The rather sharp transition from the light to the shadow side of the large mug bothered me so I made it a more gradual change. Somehow, the background color ended up changing as well.

Sea and Egg (Shells)

This painting just got dropped off at Gabe Da Silva's lovely Frame Shop and Westville Gallery on Whalley Ave. in New Haven. Although I will be at Erector Square this weekend, several new paintings will be hanging at Gabe's gallery for this weekend and beyond. So if you can't make it to Erector Square this weekend stop by Gabe's sometime.

The studios at Erector Square will be open noon to 5, Sept. 25 and 26. I will be on the first floor of building 3.

Eggshells with Lime

City Wide Open Studios is next weekend! The above painting isn't brand new but I will have it with me at Erector Square, Building 3, Room A 2-4, September 25th and 26th from 12 to 5. Just like last year, Rita Brieger, Rob Jacoby and I will be sharing a space. The buildings will be full of interesting art.

For more details about the whole event which occurs over several weekends visit http://www.cwos.org/

If you are any where near Erector Square, 315 Peck St., New Haven, CT. next weekend come say hello!

Lime with Pear and Vase

This will be in the upcoming New Haven Paint and Clay Club Members Exhibit which opens September 19th at the John Slade Ely House in New Haven. I had lots of fun with this one--used loads of paint and painted rapidly--sometimes it feels great not to think too much--just let the paint fly.

Lemon Wedge with Two Cherries

Here is one more cherry painting with the last of this season's cherries. (Where has this summer gone?) This painting is now at Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison, CT.

Bluebird

This painting combines two tag sale finds--the small scale milk bottle and the latest find, the glass bluebird.

Tidal River

I was in the mood for painting something other than a still life, so took a tour through my old vacation photos. This painting was based on a photo taken while on Edisto Island, South Carolina several years ago. I remember lovely tidal rivers and marshlands.

Bull Thistle

The purple flowers of this thistle looked so pretty out there in the field. When I went to pick some -- ouch, ouch, ouch -- every bit of this plant was covered with spines. Since then someone told me it is bull thistle. I found a funny site on line called Eat the Weeds. You can actually eat the stalks after stripping off all the spines. Supposedly, the stalks taste like bitter celery. I am going to take his word for it.

Untitled 102

Leftover paint plus playing with shapes and colors yields another untitled landscape.

Mixed Bouquet

Here's one of my last paintings from the workshop and the last technique tip from Stanley Bielen about painting a still life arrangement against a dark background. You start with toned paper. Stanley generously provided some pre-cut pieces of dark green Canson Mi-Teintes paper that he had sealed with matte medium. When painting, you then match the value of the paint to the paper for the background. You can then focus on the bright colors and lighter values of your subject -- here a bouquet of marigolds and carnations.

Lemon, Bowl and White Cup

These were done during the recent workshop. The top one was completed first. Mr. Bielen's only comment was "paint it again". I had to change the setup a little, hence the spinning lemon.

Marigolds

This was the first painting I did at the Stanley Bielen workshop. Below you can see Stanley beginning the first of two demos he did during the week. Here he had quickly toned the canvas using Indian yellow mixed with a little black.
This was about halfway into the demo. After the toning, there was a quick underpainting. This was followed by the "loading the lights"; using generous amounts of paint to establish the light values.

King of the Hill

I just got back from Bennington, Vermont where I took a fabulous still life painting workshop with Stanley Bielen. It was an Art New England workshop which is sponsored by the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

The above painting was done before I left for the workshop. On upcoming posts, I will tell you more about Stanley Bielen and the workshop and show you some of the work I completed there.

Shaker and Jars

For this painting, I toned the panel with red acrylic. I then painted with oils, "lifting" the oil paint to expose a few bits of red.

Untitled 101

The actual title for this painting is failed still life turned upside down and turned into a landscape--but that seemed too long. Actually, the still life disaster turned into a good opportunity to just play with colors and shapes.

Lindy's Orchid

I don't grow orchids but my friend Lindy in Texas does. This was painted from a photo taken at my last visit. Some frown on painting from photos but I think whatever inspires you to paint is fair game.