Deborah Secor: Today's Art Class

The Sky and Clouds class results

2011-11-19T14:20:00.001-08:00

Cloud demo, PanPastels and sticks on Pastelmat, 9" x 15"

If you would like all the details on how to paint the sky (Chapter 7) and clouds (Chapter 8), please visit my free book blog: Landscape Painting in Pastels

If you're interested in purchasing my pastel paintings visit: Paintings for a Song

If you're interested in viewing or purchasing my gouache paintings go to: Deborah Secor: Gouache

Farewell! Keep painting, gang!

Deborah

November 17--The Sky and Clouds

2011-11-14T13:59:00.001-08:00

Sangre Storm, 9x12"

Come along to the final class this week!

I'll be teaching my favorite subject, the sky and clouds. We’ll review beautiful clouds, luscious grays, the light of thesky and how to achieve clouds that float. I'll do a lecture that's fairly extensive, plus a quick demonstration so that you have time to paint.

Please bring your own resource photograph. Any size or color paper will do. Any medium is welcome.

The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30. $25.00 at the door. Please RSVP to reserve a spot so I can be sure there's space for you at a table. Our space is limited.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

Moving Water class results

2011-11-11T10:30:00.001-08:00


Rushing water demo in progress, 9x12"

The idea of this painting is to express rushing, tumbling, splashing, energetic, lively, and powerful water. These are the rapids, where water fights its way downstream against the impediments of rocks and boulders.

To paint this effectively, remember that gravity constantly moves water to the lowest point, so first find the direction the water is moving. Then analyze what's happening under the water, which always affects what you see on top. Ask what's shaping the water: a large boulder, a crevice between two or morerocks, a sandy beach, a graveled pit.

Think about the volume of the water that you see. Deep water moves more sluggishly much of the time, due to its own weight. Shallower water can more easily bounce and splash over and around rocks in the rapids.

Whitewater gives the impression ofmovement—the more churned up, the whiter it is. I suggest you start with darker colors beneath to establish what is affecting the shapes of the moving water before adding lighter colors. Put pure white away until the very end. Whitewater becomes opaque, which means that unlike clear water it tends to cast shadows, and shows shadows cast on it, too. This adds to the impression of depth, mass and volume in your painting.

Use different strokes to add rhythm. Find a characteristic stroke, but vary it slightly indirection or gesture. Repeated identical strokes become a dull pattern that is NOTrhythmic. Varying textures also makes the water more believable. Use the haiku principle. A simple and stylized impression that's brief butpowerful will have more visual impact than excessive detailing.

It's also a good idea to analyze whether your composition will be best expressed in a horizontal or vertical format. Horizontal gives a low, swinging style, while vertical gives dramatic drops. You might consider exaggerating this for effect, perhaps using a long, narrow sheet of paper.Consider different colored ground, as well. An overall color commitment unifies a painting oftentimes, while using strongly contrasting or complementary colors can give some *pop* to the view.

I hope you have fun painting this energetic and lively subject.

Keep going, gang!

Deborah

November 10— Moving Water

2011-11-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

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Please RSVP. **Note this, even if you're a 'regular' student and think you're signed up! The space is limited--there are four remaining spaces. If you physically wrote your name on the list at class last week, you have a space reserved. Otherwise, please send me a quick email saying you're coming. I just want to make sure we can organize the space. Thanks.

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The beauty and energy of rushing, tumbling water is the subject of this week's class. Find a photo that shows lots of splashing, moving, energetic water. Look for good color, interesting shapes and strong value contrasts.

We'll examine how express the tumble (downhill) and direction of water, how it moves and swirls around and over rocks, places where you're likely to find slow or fast moving water, and the creative ways you can use color, line, edge, value, and different kinds of strokes.

Any type or size paper, and any medium you want to use, is welcome. Think creatively! Does this painting want to be small, an exquisite gem of a little painting--or would a larger, much more close-up section delight you more? Bring your own photos, please!

As usual, the class is $25.00, payable at the door. Again, your RSVP is appreciated.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

The Mesa (and Volcanoes) class results

2011-11-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

Class demo in progress, 9x12", Pans on Pastelmat

Our class last week was standing room only! It was fun to have that much energy going on in the classroom. I sneaked in a good long lecture on painting foregrounds, which is of course what these paintings of the grassy mesa often are comprised of, and did the above demonstration to get people thinking a little more. It's painted on a piece of 9" x 12" yellow Pastelmat, using mostly PanPastels and a few sticks.

Probably the most salient points about painting such a piece are:

The foreground must function to support the subject of the painting and not distract the viewer’s eye.
Allow your viewer to arrive at the focal area, providing a visual pathway of some sort.
Arrange various components to direct the eye, moving it quickly or slowing it momentarily, or perhaps allowing it to rest briefly in an area of quiet calm before moving on.
Because the greatest color, contrast and detail reside at your feet, it’s necessary to walk a fine line between enough and too much, if your center of interest does not reside there.
Use shapes to give movement to the work, making the foreground a vitally important and motivating part of the composition, an appealing and lively portion that does not distract.
Oftentimes patterning is the key to solving foreground dilemmas simply because it creates an illusion or suggestion of detail without becoming disruptive. Look for the repeated overlapping colors and characteristic shapes found on the ground, such as low-growing grasses, small bushes, flowers, weeds and dirt.

Break up the foreground using:

• a fence line                                       •contrasting colors
• a vertical bush or tree                    •rocks
• overlapping grasses or bushes      • achange in plane
• shadows                                            •a reflection in a puddle
• a streak of light                                •patches of snow
• a road or pathway                            •a dry wash or sand patch

Keep going, gang!

Deborah

November 3— The Mesa (and Volcanoes)

2011-10-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

Volcanoes, gouache, 2.5" x 3.5"

I live on the west side of Albuquerque where the mesa rises up, fronting several extinct volcano cones. The views are wide open, spectacular vistas of windswept grasslands, dark lava extrusions, and gentle slopes, or views of the city settled down into the tree-lined river valley with the giant range of the Sandias behind that. It's really quite spectacular, in a gentle, rolling way. On Thursday this week we'll look at the low growing bushes and grasses and various colors ofrock surrounding the old volcanoes.

This subject will give us a chance to discuss the basics of painting a composition that is mostly comprised of the foreground plane, including the issue of patterning, capturing aerial perspective in the horizontal plane, and how to keep the foreground interesting and supportive, but not distracting.

If you don't have any photographs of the area, let me know and I'll email a couple to you ahead of time so that you can print them out. I won't have prints on hand for this class!

As usual, the class is $25.00, payable at the door. Please RSVP if you haven't signed up already. Because these are my last few classes (ending on November 17th) I've had a little more participation, and our space is limited. If I know you're coming we can arrange things so everyone has enough room. Thanks.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

October 27- Sunlit Snow and Shadows

2011-10-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

What is more beautiful than sparkling snow and shadows? This gorgeous subject is inspiring. We'll take a good look at the basics of painting snow, including the value shift that occurs and the challenge of a white subject, as well as looking at therules for shadows that are so clearly seen on snow. This will probably be a rather lengthy lecture and demonstration, but should be packed with information for you to take to the easel.

I’llbe painting in gouache with PanPastels over the top, so you’ll get a taste ofwet and dry media together.

The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30. Any medium is welcome, as long as there are no strong smelling solvents. Bring a drop cloth for the table and floor, please.

As usual, the class is $25.00, payable at the door. Please RSVP <---(clickable link) if you haven't signed up already. Because these are my last few classes (ending on November 17th) I've had a little more participation, and our space is limited. If I know you're coming we can arrange things so everyone has enough room. Thanks.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

How to Make a Lousy Photo into a Wonderful Painting class results

2011-10-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

A less than perfect photograph gives you, the artist, the opportunity to add to what you see, bringing your own vision into the process. Whether you're combining several photos into one, or simply have one of those photos that has something you like but isn't quite satisfying, I encourage you to experiment and see what you can come up with.

Here's one of my awful photos. It has such beautiful shapes in it, but the color and values are awful. Compositionally it needs help, but not a lot.

I suggest doing several credit card sized thumbnails to help you see. Start by drawing what is there, in order to be able to find exactly what it is you really find visually stimulating and interesting. I suspect you will easily spot things that don't please you.

I'm not at all happy with the tall dark tree. Half or less of an object never seems to work very well, plus the shadow it casts really cuts off the entrance to the picture. You can't enter it easily. But I love the massing of the bushes on the left side and the curve of the dirt road. The middle and far planes need work, but they should support the foreground, where I believe the interest lies.

After playing around I found this composition seemed most satisfying. I further refined it in a final thumbnail sketch:

This would be a good starting point for the painting, and from here I would do a more complete drawing, somewhat larger in size and further developed.


'Awful photos' demo, Pans/sticks on gray Pastelmat, 9x12"

Here is my unfinished class demonstration painting, which combined five photos into one composition. All the photos were taken on the same day in the same location, yet each had different aspects that contributed to the success of the whole thing.

At the moment I wouldn't call it a "wonderful" painting, but I think it holds the promise of becoming one, given a bit more studio time.

You can see the three key photos I cobbled together, and my finished sketch, which is 4x6" in size. I like to sketch in pencil first, then move to the Pitt markers for the values they provide.

I believe that sketching from your photographs will inspire you, whetting your appetite to paint. It should help you see the beauty and rethink the problems.

Often using 'awful' photos as resources results in the most beautiful paintings, perhaps in part because the struggle helps you see more clearly.

Keep painting, gang!
Deborah

November Classes--The End of an Era

2011-10-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

As I announced previously, I've decided it's time to move on to some other things, so I'm not planning to teach any more weekly classes next year. As far as I know, these will be my last three classes. Hope you can join me!

November 2011 Classes

November 3— The Mesa(and Volcanoes)

The low growing bushes and grasses, and various colors ofrock surrounding the old volcanoes on the west side of Albuquerque are a special subject to me. We’ll examine how to paint the mesa and the beautiful sweepingvista beyond. Look for your own resource photographs of this area to use forpaintings.

photo (c) Larry Seiler

November 10— Moving Water

Let’s look at the rhythms andcolors of splashing water as it moves over rocks. Find a photo that inspiresyou to paint, with good color, contrast and interesting shapes.

November 17— Clouds and Skies

What better way to end 23 years of teaching than with myfavorite subject? We’ll review beautiful clouds, luscious grays, the light of thesky and how to achieve clouds that float.

Please contact me to reserve your space in these classes now.

October 20- How to Make a Lousy Photo into a Wonderful Painting

2011-10-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm no photographer and maybe you aren't either. I usually end up with four different kinds of shots: the really horrible ones that might as well be thrown away; the occasional winner, that probably should just be framed; a certain percentage that are okay and seem like they can be used for paintings just as they are, and all the rest that are pretty awful but are too good to throw out.

That last type is what we're going to look at this week. These awful photos usually have some promising elements, parts that could become an interesting painting, but miss somehow. Maybe the composition is blah, needing a little tweak, or the color is dull and needs some oo-la-la added to it. Perhaps you took it from a moving car and the foreground is blurred, or it reminds you of the time and place and is your only shot, so you want to make it work.

I’m going to share several of my own relatively awful landscape photographs with youand discuss how we could go about making them into good paintings.We'll look at how you might use elements from different photos to improve the composition, or add ideas from your own experience or memories to make the painting more successful than the photo. You can use any subject, of course, but because I've worked in the landscape for so long I'll be examining that.

Look through your photos for some awfulinspiration of your own. If you have multiple shots of a subject, or a series of the same subject taken at different times, bring them along. If you have only one photo, that's okay too. Bring along a sketchbook and pencils or whatever you like to use to draw, so you can do some preliminary sketches. Any size or color paper is fine, any medium will work.

As always, the class is $25.00 payable at the door. The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30.

Please RSVP <---(clickable link) if you haven't signed up already. Because these are my last few classes (ending on November 17th) I've had a little more participation, and our space is limited. If I know you're coming we can arrange things so everyone has enough room. Thanks.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

Fall Mountain Vista Paint Along class results

2011-10-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

This class turned out to be most interesting. We all painted from the photo below. It has so much going for it, but it's not perfect. We discussed at length what was of interest, what seemed weak, and possible ways to recompose it.

Photo (c) Jeanine Patterson.

Strengths:

beautiful colors in sky, lake and trees
excellent contrasting values
nice shapes in the lake and middle hillside

Weaknesses:

low horizon
two tall and two medium trees
trees the same height

This is a "here and there" painting. In other words, it has trees right up here in front, and a distant view out there. There's little linking here with there. We discussed using one big spruce tree right in front to establish where our feet must be, as well as possibly using one aspen as a 'pointer' to guide the eye up toward the area of greatest interest. The question was, which ones and where?

We agreed that the area of greatest interest is the sheen on the lake surrounding the curve of the hillside. The complex positive and negative shapes, the contrasting values, and curving shapes draw the eye.

It's best to make some sketches to see what looks good, of course. I tried using one large tree on the left side, but it seemed unbalanced. Then I tried one medium tree on the right to break up the large mass of the middle hill, but that seemed stunted. I liked the higher horizon line.

In the end , as a result of our discussion, I decided the composition worked well with a high horizon, a pointer gently guiding the eye into the area of interest, and the large pine tree establishing the footing for the viewer.

Demonstration (in progress), 9x12" pastel

My students took off with the idea and reinterpreted it in different ways to suit their own style and thoughts. It's always fun to see how the class discussions feed into the resulting paintings. Each one is unique.

Keep painting, gang!

Deborah

October 13- Fall Mountain Vista Paint Along

2011-10-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

At this class I plan to hand out a printed photograph you can use for your painting, the same one I will use for my demonstration. This means that I need to receive an email from you CONFIRMING that you're coming to class at least one day in advance, or I won't have a photo for you to use!

I have a beautiful shot of a grand vista in Colorado with some very interestingchallenges in it: distant aspen-dappled mountains, a blue lake, and largepines and aspens in the fore. I’ll pass out the photo at class and lead adiscussion on how to solve the problems.

Bring your materials and comeready to explore what you think will work. I'll be working in PanPastels and sticks on Pastelmat paper, but you're more than welcome to bring any medium. The image is horizontal, and you may use any size paper or canvas you like, but it's in the standard 8" x 10" or 16" x 20" format.

This is more of a composition, design and color theory class than an actual "paint along"--but it's a close as
I get to that, so come on along and let's give it a try together!

As always, the class is $25.00 payable at the door, and this week I need your RSVP to provide a photograph for you.

The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

Colorful Aspens class results

2011-10-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

Aspens, 12" x 7", pastel

At last week's class we took a closer look at the anatomy of these lovely aspen trees, examined the bark a little, and discussed how to paint the light, leafy foliage and sky holes. Above you can see my demonstration painting, completed in the course of that day.

I cropped it and saturated the color of the original photo, blurring the tree behind it so I wouldn't be tempted to paint too much detail there. I removed the scanty little trees in the foreground, and reshaped the foreground considerably, as you can see. I never meant to copy the photo--in fact, it only launched my thinking and helped me to show the students how to begin the drawing/painting process. Very soon I brought to it the memory I have of the lively look of these lovely trees that shimmer in the breezes. For the purposes of our demonstration I wanted to draw near enough to show a bit about how to paint the bark and some of the details of foliage.

My best advice, when painting taller trees particularly, is to find the entire outside geometric shape of the foliage and trunk. In this case I began with a long, slim oval. If a few leaves protrude beyond the edge of that initial shape it's no problem, but encompass the entire top-to-bottom, side-to-side shape in essence. In this case I let the treetop go off the page and shrunk the trees behind it for more of an organic sense of perspective.

The light colored bark is diagnostic, but please don't use too much white to paint it. Find many colors that may be combined to create 'gray', the color that really best describes this bark, both in the sunlight and shadow. Don't pick up your standard, everyday gray. Locate the darker (not black) striations in areas where there might be stress, such as where branches protrude or the tree flexes in the wind.

Foliage is open and leafy, with the 'balloons' often elongated and loose. (See the chapters on how to paint trees and how to paint foliage for further information.) Use a characteristic rounded shape to describe aspen leaves, utilizing the 'haiku' approach at the intersections of the balloons of foliage, the sky or background. Details should be implied, not over-described.The color of the foliage can be almost a rainbow, with emphasis on warm, pale yellows, oranges and greens. Flavor those colors with lavender or magenta underneath, to give *pop* to the colors, relying on the blue sky behind the oranges for the same.

Sky holes shouldn't be mechanical, large-medium-small holes where the balloons intersect, but should be well designed, rhythmic and visually interesting. These openings give the tree dimension and help to lead the eye around the tree. Smaller gaps are slightly darker in value (but the same color) as the sky, because of intervening small branches.

I hope everyone is having fun painting these colorful, lively trees.

Keep going, gang!
Deborah

A Change of Direction

2011-10-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

To my dear students and friends--

For over 23 years now I've enjoyed teaching art classes, but recently I've begun to feel a divine nudge to move in a different direction.

My husband and I have been actively involved in various ministry opportunities over the last 13 years, primarily reaching out to the poor and homeless. After a time of caring for my aged mother before she passed on, we now feel that we're being called back into another more intense period of service. Neither of us is sure what that will be, but it's time for me to take a sabbatical from teaching in order to be available to find out from the Lord where He will lead us.

This gives me a lot of mixed feelings, as you can imagine. It saddens me to think that I won't prepare and teach a weekly class, and see those who have become friends over so many years together, but it also lifts my heart to think that I may end up serving in a way that is exciting for its spiritual implications. Since you know me, no doubt you know that I believe with all my heart, mind, soul and strength that I must be about the business of spreading the gospel, the good news of salvation from the Lord Jesus. So you know this is most important and uplifting to me, too.

Because several of you have generously paid in advance for a few classes, I can't simply disappear--which I wouldn't actually do anyway (although I admit it was a temptation, as it's hard to say goodbye to weekly classes after this length of time.) As it stands, I plan to offer classes each week from now through November 17th, the week before Thanksgiving, so that those of you who have already paid for classes have the opportunity to attend. I already have the October classes planned and posted, and will post the November plan in a couple of weeks, too. So I ask you to please consider what you've invested and take the remainder of what I owe you in the next few weeks.

If there's one thing I've learned in my walk with the Lord it's that I shouldn't try to read His mind, so I'm not making any plans that are more definite than this. Is this the end of classes, my total retirement from ever teaching again? I don't know. My plan is to finish this year (we always take a break after Thanksgiving, so that ends my teaching year), and to wait on Him to see what comes next.

I have begun writing another book, and may present it in a weekly blog format, as I did with Landscape Painting in Pastels. This one may be for sale at a modest cost. I don't know yet. The topic is a bit different, but one I feel really compelled to write. It actually derives its content from this class blog and a lot of other classes I've taught over the years. I'm giving it the working title of:

BREAKTHROUGH!

Exercises and experiments you can do to

· advance your artwork to a new level

· break out of the doldrums

· or just have some fun!

When/if it becomes a reality I'll be sure to post a link here for you.

So, that's the big news, the new plan, and my hopes, all rolled into one BIG announcement. We'll see where this leads next.

Meantime, see you in the next six weeks, I hope.

Keep painting, gang!
Deborah

October 6- Colorful Aspens

2011-10-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

This week is the PERFECT time to study aspen trees! It's cooler and the trees along Sandia are already painting the top with licks of gold. I’ll show you some of my tips on how to capture thegorgeous colors of aspen trees turned to gold.

Well start with a review of thebasics of tree anatomy so that you can draw the trunk, branches and balloons of foliage more accurately. I'll also show you a bit about how to approach light colored bark in and out of shadows, andtalk about ways you can handle the background trees or mountains. I want to take some time to discuss tree holes and the sky behind the foliage, too.

Bring your own photos or borrow oneof mine. I have a wealth of photos that a friend took recently and I'm more than happy to share them with you. I can't afford to print a zillion copies, but if you'll let me know I'll send a couple of files to you ahead of time and you can print your own.

Any medium is welcome, as long as there are no strong smelling solvents. Bring a drop cloth for the table and floor, please.

As usual, the class is $25.00, payable at the door. If you plan to attend, please RSVP now.

The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30. Feel free to bring your lunch. Remember, we're at the new location at CCF.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

October Class Schedule

2011-09-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

October 2011 Classes

October 6- Colorful Aspens

I’ll show you how to capture thegorgeous colors of aspen trees turned to gold.

You’ll get a review of thebasics of tree anatomy, a bit about how to approach light colored bark in and out of the shadows, andsome ideas about how to handle a background and the sky behind them.

Bring your own photos or borrow oneof mine (reserve your print in advance, please). Any medium is welcome.

October 13- Fall Mountain Vista Paint Along

A NEW class!

Joinme to paint an inspirational photograph together!I have a beautiful shot of a grand vista in Colorado with some very interestingchallenges in it: distant aspen-dappled mountains, a blue lake, and a largepine and aspens in the fore. I’ll pass out the photo at class and lead adiscussion on how to solve the problems. You bring your materials and comeready to explore what you think will work. Use any media you like. I'll be working in PanPastels.

October 20- How to Make a Lousy Photo into a Wonderful Painting

I’m going to share several of my own‘awful’ photographs with you and discuss how we might go about making them intogood paintings. So often a picture has some promising elements, but it just misses.Don’t toss those out! Let’s discuss how you can use several photos and combinethem into one successful composition. So look through your photos for someawful inspiration!

October 27- Sunlit Snow and Shadows

The rules for shadows are so clearlyseen in the snow. I’ll also give you a review of the basics of how to paint snow in sparkling sunlight (but I'm not going to paint all those snow-dotted trees--come see why and what I do instead!)

I’ll be painting in gouache with PanPastels over the top, so you’ll get ataste of wet and dry media together. Any medium is welcome.

PLEASE NOTE: At the present time I plan to continue classes until November 17th, so if you have any credited classes, please arrange to use them during this time. No carryovers to 2012, please! Thanks, gang!

September 29- Critique and Potluck Brunch

2011-09-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

We’replanning a painting critique andpotluck brunch this Thursday, and we’d love to have anyone join us. You might have attended ourcritiques before-- if you have you know how ~~fattening~~ delicious itcan be and how much fun we have!

Bring your paintings ready to show, but not necessarilymatted or framed. I’ll be happy to look at work in progress, as well. I’d loveto view a small body of work so that we can get a sense of the direction you’retraveling, and will happily guide you in questions you have about individualpaintings, too. Any medium, style, or subject matter is welcome.

At the critique we’ll start with brunch and a discussionabout what it means to grow as an artist, especially as you become more maturein your work. Does that mean that you cease to change? Of course not. But thechanges change, if you know what I mean. Let’s talk about it! Then we’llview the work of one artist at a time.

We’re in a new location, in case you haven’t joined usrecently, at Christ Community Fellowship church. We still have a small kitchen with a microwave, if you need to heatanything. It’ll be informal--we’ll be using paper plates. Bring your artworkand some kind of wonderful dish to share.

Class begins at 11:30, but the doorsopen earlier to set up the meal. As usual, the cost is $25.00, payable at the door. If you plan to attend, please RSVP.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

Cloud Boxes Tutorial

2011-09-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

I just have to link you to this wonderful little tutorial by artist John Hagan on CLOUD BOXES.

I've used this as a theory for years, taking things a little farther, but I want you to see the original idea, and his wonderful illustrations. Here in New Mexico we often see this kind of perspective in the sky.

Put this one into your favorites!
Deborah

September 22- Extract Nature’s Colors

2011-09-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Let nature inspire the colors you use.

The colors of nature are truly theinspiration for the way we think about and use color, of course. In this classI want you to spend some time making a record of various colors you seetogether in the natural world, extract color charts from what you observe, and then create an interesting abstract painting using the charts.

Perhaps you see cottonwood leavesturning colors, or the grasses in the front yard. Maybe you’re inspired by aristra on your deck or some flowers, or weeds that are beautiful (the colorscan be!) Remember—not the pot on the porch, not the paint on the wall—onlynatural colors. It’s best if these are strictlyrelated colors (i.e. not the sky behind the trumpet vine, only thecolors of the plant itself; the flowers and their leaves, not the warm, dark dirt below them.)

You can see in the photo how I've chosen some of the colors from the trumpet vine and arranged them into a palette of colors above the photo. You can do one of several things:

You might want to take good color photosthat are fairly current before this class and print them out to bring with you.
You could make some color studies on location and bring photos with you of the things you studied. This could be more practical if you decide the entire cottonwood tree is your best inspiration, for instance.
You may alternatively choose to bring items to study in class, perhaps a ripe pear, a beautiful flower or weed, some leaves on a branch, whatever you like.

In class we’ll make a palette of colors from nature, whether you use a photo or work from life—but the trick is, we will NOT paint those references. Instead, Iwant you to find beautiful harmonies ofcolors and analyze the proportions of each one, as well as analyzing the dark andlight, warm or cool colors, and then use them to make a color chart.

From this youwill paint an interesting abstraction in class. Do I hear someone muttering that you don’t like abstracts, that they never work out? Well, never fear--this exercise will give you a template to use, so that won’t be aproblem.

To do the class you'll need a clean, white surface large enough to accommodate a palette of five to seven color swatches, as well as whatever paper or canvases you want to use to paint the abstractions. I have templates for the experiment in abstraction that are 7" x 8" or 6" x 6"-ish, which you can adapt to make larger. I suggest keeping it somewhat smaller in size, however, because if you're inspired by this experiment, you might want to make more than one palette and/or abstraction. It's really quite interesting to see the results.

So come this week with an adventurous spirit and see what happens! I'm sure it will be fun andinspiring!

As usual, the class is $25.00, payable at the door. If you plan to attend, please RSVP now.

The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from 11:30-2:30. (Feel free to bring your lunch. We have a microwave.) Remember, we're at the new location at CCF.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

Inspired by the Artist class results

2011-09-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

I often find the work of other artists inspirational, and over the years have come to rely on dipping into the visual stimulation of looking at artwork to spur me to be more creative. In this Internet age that has become easier to do than ever before. Our recent class was meant to stir up some creativity this way.

We began by reviewing the elements of art to help analyze what this artist did so well and give us a handle to grab onto as we experimented. I challenged my students to look at this list and find three of the key descriptors about the artwork they were examining. It's just too easy to be overwhelmed by how good an artist is at doing what you would like to do, and thus missing the way or ways you might actually learn from them!

Here's a list of basic art elements to examine:

Color

Is the color soft, harmonious, monochromatic or brilliant, exciting and saturated? Is there a pleasing unity or contrasting variety of color? Color creates mood.

Contrast

Many elements may contrast in a painting; size, colors, values, etc. The area of highest contrast draws the eye first.

Texture

Physical strokes on the paper make texture, as does the look of a surface quality. Varied textures makes interest: rough, smooth, soft, hard. One texture is flat and boring.

Strokes

Consider the variety, energy, and the scale of strokes. They can be thick, juicy and descriptive, contrasted with smooth passages.

Detail

Smaller touches that describe how something looks. Eye-catching. Too much overall becomes no detail at all.

Edges

Soft and hard edges, both “lost and found”, help to sculpt space in a painting.

Line

The continuous mark made on some surface by moving a pen or brush, or the edge created when two shapes meets. Often an outline, contour or silhouette. Adds emphasis, but can detract if over used.

Gradation

Gradating of elements in size makes linear perspective, and in color and value makes aerial perspective. It creates form, and moves the eye around a form.

Repetition

Repeated elements make interesting variety. Monotony results when there is little variation.

Balance

Balance is created by repeating same shapes or giving equal weight to all quadrants or parts of a composition, or may result from a harmonious use of the elements.

Dominance

One to three dominant elements are interesting and may harmonize a composition, adding needed emphasis.

Form

Form has height, width, depth, defined by light and shadows. There are two types of form, geometric (man-made) and natural (organic form). Often key in painting a still life or a portrait.

Movement

The overall direction of the eye through the painting, giving action to the piece.

Rhythm

Syncopated movement that starts and slows the eye’s path through the painting.

Proportion

Creates a sense of correct scale so that all the objects appear to be related properly in space.

You'll recall from last my last post that I was inspired by Richard Schmid's floral sketches. My demonstration painting was meant to use three key elements of his work that I wanted to emulate: the clean edges and soft transitions he creates; the exquisite rhythms of his work, and the beautiful variations in texture he uses, especially in the backgrounds.

I worked in gouache on a piece of Arches 300 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper that's approximately 6" x 8" in size, using a photograph of some flowers I had on hand.

While I can't claim to have digested all of the information in this one quick painting, I was greatly inspired by his work and I learned a lot from emulating him. That's exactly what I hope this lesson will do for my students. Be inspired!

Keep going, gang,
Deborah

September 15- Inspired by the Artist

2011-09-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

(I've made a slight change in the direction of this class. Hope you all find it ...well, inspiring!)

If you could paint like another artist, who would it be? Why? what does that artist do that catches your attention? In this week's class you have a chance to emulate that artist's work!

You’ll need to do a little researchahead of time for this class: find paintings by an artist who truly inspires you. You may not paint like Degas, but that doesn't mean you can't derive some inspiration from what he does--or anyone else does--to add to your work.

The idea is not to copy one of the artist’s paintings. I want you toexamine a small body of work and ask whatit is about that work you’d like to learn to do.

For instance, I don't think there is anyone who does floral still lifes better than Richard Schmid. If you want to paint flowers like he does, search out examples of his work and see what he does so beautifully.

Likewise, I think Marc Hanson paints the best nocturnes. In 2010 he did a nocturne every night, and you can look at some of his results on his blog. If night paintings turn you on, explore this work! (Page down to look back over the range of paintings there.)

Do you want to learn how to paint juicy, expressive portraits that are gestural and strong? Karin Jurick painted 100 faces last year. Check out what she's done, and ask yourself how she did it!

You need to be able to look at a range of paintings on the subject you want toexplore, not just one. I suggest a minimum of five paintings that have some commonality. For instance, if you want to emulate Degas, choose five of the ballet dancers. Don't mix up figures and landscapes. Stick to one subject. Bring these five pictures to share in class this week, ready to post so we can all look at them (from books,magazines, or the Internet--email a link so I can easily access it online, if you want to look at them together on the computer.)

Think about this ahead of time: what are the most salient elements--the color, gesture, line, detail, contrast, or...? Ask yourself what this artist did that makes you want to imitate the work. Yes, you can translate from one medium to anotherto some degree, so if an oil painter inspires you, go for it.

Then I want you to derive a composition using the key elements you observed, andgive it a shot in class. Keep it smaller in scale but not miniature in size.Any subject, any paper, any medium is fine.

Do your homework on this one!

Three Square Inches of Inspiration class results

2011-09-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Boy! This turned out to be a fun and productive class! Above you can see my little bits of inspiration, using a few paintings I admire. Dreama's cat was a total blast to paint. Loved the colors and gestures. I didn't come anywhere close, but it was still fun! My buddy Ralph Parker's painting had mixed results, and I love Mike Hindle's work, but it's tough to emulate. I enjoyed every moment of my experiments, however.

It's too easy to get overwhelmed by trying to copy a whole painting, and usually copying presumes you have already developed a facility with the medium and are simply learning the fine points of painting. This experiment is different. These little paintings give you the chance to:

limit the scale (small is easy and fun!)
notice different parts (look closely)
try new solutions (how did she DO that?)
make new observations (look how she did it...)
be inspired!

As you look at a painting by an artist you admire, you start to look into different things. Things like the basic, underlying abstraction, the really challenging spots, those places where the artist solved a problem you're having (reflections, glistening eyes, transparency, etc.), or just plain gave you a chill with the beauty created there!

So I suggest you make a little 3" viewfinder and start to move it over the surface of the paintings you have hanging in your house to look for special ideas, solutions, and inspiration. Then set up to let that guide you, as you make it your own.

Have fun!

Keep going, gang!
Deborah

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September 8- Three Square Inches of Inspiration

2011-09-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

a 3" part of Dreama Tolle Perry's painting 'Wanted'

Have you ever copied another person's painting to try to figure out how they did it? I have and it can be really helpful! For instance, I'm inspired by the painting above. (Please be sure to go fall in love with Dreama's work!)

However, copying can have its drawbacks. I often find that I'm less than satisfied with the end result. It's a bit of a losing situation, after all. I can't really do what the artist did, yet I'm constrained from making it too much my own by the premise. So, why copy the whole thing? I mean, you learn things from different parts of the painting, so maybe just looking at those parts would be helpful.

That's how the idea for this class was born. I want you to be inspired. Look for work that you want to emulate. Any subject, and kind, any time... Analyze what it is you like about this work, and locate the areas that just jazz you. Choose 3” square portions to replicate.This gives you the opportunity to examine the colors, strokes, layering, anddetails the artist chose to use, as well as giving you a look at the underlyingabstraction in each small section. It’s fascinating to see how just a smallsection of a painting can be a work of art in itself.

It's far more helpful if the painting is in the same (or an applicable) medium, and about the same scale as it was originally painted. If you find a reproduction that was originally a 24" x 36" painting and is reduced to 6" x 8" in size, when you print it you'll be trying to copy strokes the size of cat hairs! Instead, consider using the work by other artists that you have on your walls at home, or search the internet to find a painting that's one-to-one in size (not easy to find--and you may need permission to print it), or come to class and use one of my pastels...which I hope will be inspiring. (I'll bring my portfolio with me.) You might find smaller paintings reproduced in books or magazines that approximate the scale of the original.

We'll do three different little paintings 3" in size inclass, all of which may be derived from the same painting, or different ones. That's up to you. It's very helpful to make a 3" square viewfinder out of stiff paper or mat board to use for finding that area that inspires you, and to put in place over the painting as you work. Yes, you may take a photo, crop and print it, and paint from that, if you prefer, but make sure it's printed the same size as the original, and that the color and quality are excellent. Painting from the real thing is best--but we can be flexible and still learn things! Do what appeals most to you.

You're welcome to bring three small pieces of paper, or mask out three areas on one sheet--it doesn't really matter. You might find it so much fun you want to do more of them, so take that possibility into consideration. They aren't laborious and don't take very long to do. Feel free to bring other paintings you're working on to continue in class, as well.

I bet you’ll start to look ateveryone’s paintings differently after this class! It’s quite inspiring.

As usual, the class is $25.00, payable at the door. If you have not already signed up and plan to attend, please RSVP now. The studio opens about 11:00, and class is from11:30-2:30. (Feel free to bring your lunch. We have a microwave.) Remember, we're at the new location at CCF.

See you Thursday!

Deborah

Cliffs in Detail class results

2011-09-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Our cliff class was very successful, and I saw some tremendous work being done by my talented students!

I demonstrated using stick pastels on yellow Pastelmat this week, to show the process of building up to the details. It's not finished yet. Here's a shot of it, and a couple of details for you to examine. I like to keep things very loose and build up to the details slowly. As I worked on this demo the area of greatest interest emerged as the middle-right section of the painting where the light is strongest.

All rocks are shaped by pressure,temperature, erosion and friction. Most notable is the wind that blows dust andsand, smoothing and sculpting rock; the falling rain, flowing water andcrashing waves that tumble and carve rock; the scorching heat and sub-zero coldthat stress and crack it; and the tremendous forces of rock sliding over rockthat pares it away with the ever-present pressure of the earth itself. Time andgravity move and change rocks. They’re slowly pushed up into mountains orsifted down riverbeds and gradually ground away, becoming smaller and smaller. Wedon’t sense this change because it happens so slowly. Rocks seem stable,constant, firm. It’s this seeming permanence that must first be communicated.

Look for the special way that rocks relate to one another,whether the rocky face of a sheer precipice or a pile of loose boulders thathave tumbled together. The weight of rocks causes them to fall to the lowestpoint possible, often leaning into or on top of one another. Even the rockyfaces of a mountainside lean together as one giant cliff, made up of manyfacets, most often slightly receding as they climb upward. Smaller stones arethen slowly sifted into crevices or between and around boulders, creating morevisually engaging complexity.

As always,I recommend you do a good underdrawing, sorting out all the planes of the rock.Find the relationships of the cliffs, how they run into one another and changeangles, how the details of light and shadow show depth.

Start withthree values. Find those rocks that are darkest and be sure to get them inplace, then look for the medium values -- usually where the most color willreside. Then look for and establish the lightest values. Be sure you understandwhere all the various planes of the rocks lie. Look for characteristicfractures, striations and places where wind has worn the rock smooth. Draw inany holes, caves or hollows using light and shadow to indicate them. Drawstains and chelation (where salts have risen to the surface) accurately inorder to paint accurately. This is the part of the process where you canresolve any difficulties, simplifying anything that is too complex for you toportray.

Becausecliffs are large and upright, usually they will face into or away from the sunto one degree or another. This means that you must identify the direction ofthe light and stay consistent throughout the painting. Remember that the angleof the sun remains the same, though various rock planes may jut into it or bedeeply hidden from it. Shadows have no random shape of their own so be certainthat the angles of the shadows and light explain the various rock planes toyour viewer. Shadows shouldn’t be too black. Be sure to make them colorful,using a variety of dark blues, browns, reds or purples. Don’t let sunlit areasbecome overly chalky and whitish in color.

The cliffsmay be any color, but around New Mexico we find red rock cliffs. If your cliffs arered you have a chance to use a large variety of pinks, oranges, purples andyellows, even greens and blues. If your cliffs are gray be sure to constructgrays using tertiary colors (red, yellow, blue or green, orange, purple) orcomplementary colors in your palette (red and green, blue and orange, yellowand purple combinations) rather than picking up your gray pastel first. If,after layering them or using them as broken colors, you haven’t arrived at agood gray, it’s perfectly acceptable to use gray very lightly over the top,allowing some of the other colors to emerge.

Take into account linear perspective, especially where there are strong striations in the cliff face. Find your eye level, where the straightest level occurs, and establish the proper angles for the strata above and below that line. A strict vanishing point isn't necessary, nor is any strong adherence to plumb or level lines. Let the cliff remain natural and not forced looking, but respect the linear perspective to give an additional sense of depth to your painting.

Usecharacteristic vegetation in your painting to soften edges and contrast withthe rock cliffs. Be careful not to obscure too much of the cliff with trees orother vegetation or you’ll lose the continuity of the rocks. Pay closeattention to scale. Nothing destroys the illusion of depth like a strangelyout-of-scale tree or bush.

To give the illusion of space in your rock cliffs you mustremember the laws of aerial perspective. Blue each color slightly and lightenit as it recedes from the eye. Soften edges and diminish details in thedistance, and lessen value contrast in the distance. Save the interestingdetails for the foreground rocks.

I look forward to seeing what comes of this class exploration.

Keep going, gang!

Deborah

September 2011 Classes

2011-08-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

BeInspired

I hope you can join me for the next set of classes in September!

September 8- Three Square Inches of Inspiration

Copying is a tried and true means oflearning how to paint. I want you to explore another artist’s painting thatinspires you.

However, in this class, instead ofcopying an entire painting you will choose 3” square portions to replicate!This gives you the opportunity to examine the colors, strokes, layering, anddetails the artist chose to use, as well as giving you a look at the underlyingabstraction in each small section. It’s fascinating to see how just a smallsection of a painting can be a work of art in itself.

You will do three different ones inclass, all of which may be derived from the same painting. This requires you tofind a photograph that’s close to the same scale as the original painting, oryou may use a painting from your own personal collection of another artist’swork (or, if you like, you may use one of my original pastel paintings in theclassroom.)

I bet you’ll start to look ateveryone’s paintings differently after this class! It’s quite inspiring.

September 15- Inspired by the Subject

If the idea of painting somethingnew seems a little daunting, this class is for you!

It may be that you’ve toyed with theidea of painting a still life or an interior. Maybe you’d like to exploreanother genre of landscape or paint a seascape. Perhaps you want to learn howto paint birds or other animals. In this class you can delve into whateversubject you’d like to explore.

You’ll need to do a little researchahead of time for this class: find paintings by an artist whose subject matterinspires you. This needs to be a range of paintings on the subject you want toexplore, not just one. I suggest a minimum of five paintings on the subject. Idon’t want you to copy one of the artist’s paintings exactly, I want you toexamine the body of work and see whatit is you’d like to emulate.

In class we’ll put your examples (from books,magazines the Internet) on the board and see if together we can figure out whatis key—is it the color, gesture, line, detail, contrast, or...? Just what is itthe artist did so well that makes you want to imitate the work and whatelements are most necessary? Yes, you can translate from one medium to anotherto some degree. Do your homework on this one!

Then you’ll derive a composition andgive it a shot in class. Keep it smaller in scale but not miniature in size.Any subject, any paper, any medium is fine.

September 22- Extract Nature’s Colors

Bring in photos of places you pass frequently,things right in your own habitat and as current as possible. Perhaps you see acottonwood tree turning golden, or the grasses in the front yard. Maybe you’reinspired by a ristra on your deck or the last of someflowers, weeds that are beautiful (the colors can be!), or the color of the Rio Grande where you walk.Remember—not the pot on the porch, not the paint on the wall—only naturalcolors!

You need to take good color photosthat are fairly current before this class and print them out as inspiration, ormake some color studies on location. In class we’ll make a palette of colorsfrom the photos—but the trick is we will NOT paint those references. Instead, Iwant you to find beautiful harmonies of colors and analyze the proportions ofeach one, as well as finding dark and light, warm and cool colors and then usethem to make a chart, from which you will paint an interesting abstraction inthis class.

Don’t like abstracts? Never havethem work out? This exercise will give you an formula to use, so that won’t bea problem. Come with an adventurous spirit and see what happens! It’ll be funand inspiring.

September 29- Critique and Potluck Brunch

Often a critique is the mostinstructive class of all!

Bring a body of work for us all tolook at. We’ll set up all your work on the board and on easels, so be sure thepaintings are ready to tape up or show on a piece of foam core/cardboard. Noneed to mat or frame things, though you may bring framed pieces if they’reinstructive (however, they won’t be ‘critiqued’ per se.) Work in progress isfine, too. If you wish to join us for lunch and the critique, but not show yourown work, that’s fine too.

Bring a dish to share and we’llenjoy a day of food and paintings. We have a microwave and a toaster over, ifneeded. This will be a paper plate meal.

I’d like to put out the word aboutthe critique to other artists in our community, so if you’re a member of anyart groups I’d like to let them know. I’ll design a flyer you can use to helppromote this class. Let’s spread the word!

September 1-- Cliffs in Detail

2011-08-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

Red Cliff, gouache

In this new class we’llexamine the drama, light and color of rocky cliffs like the one I painted above. This one is in gouache, but you could use any medium to accomplish it. The challenge oftenis how to use enough color, detail and line, without overburdening the paintingtoo much, but this will be a detailed demo. I want to discuss how color works in the upright plane (not solely red rocks, though I may paint them since we see them so often here.) We'll talk about painting details and how to give the impression of depth and recession, as well as how to drape the foliage so it's believable.

Look for a close-up with some interesting detail. If you have one with good strong light and shadow it will give you the opportunity to paint both, and it's visually more interesting. I wouldn't try to paint a gigantic vista, although this may be a good chance to paint the Grand Canyon or Canyon de Chelly. Focus in one one interesting area of a cliff and make it the subject of your painting.

I have a few people already signed up, but I'd like to know if anyone else is coming. Please RSVP via this link. Class is at our new location at CCF. The studio opens at 11:00 for set up, and class is from 11:30-2:30. Any medium is welcome. $25.00 at the door.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah

The BIG Vista class results

2011-08-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

Above you can see the demonstration painting I began in class. I used PanPastels on a piece of white Pastelmat paper 18" x 9" in size. I'd say there's about a half-hour to an hour of work in it up to this point. It needs to be finished, of course.

First of all, in class we discussed some of the key points about painting a large open space. To review, we identified the four values of the landscape. Do you know these? They are light, medium-light, medium-dark and dark. That is: sky, ground plane, mountains and trees. It's a generalization that doesn't work in all cases, but is true often enough to be quite useful. Things become a rule because as a rule they are so. (See chapter three, 'Angles and Consequent Values', in John F. Carlson's Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting (1929), for more information on this.)

There are five rules of aerial perspective that landscape painters use all the time. As the eye looks into the distance: Colors become cooler. Colors become less intense. Detail is lost, edges soften, and value contrasts diminish.

I have yet to establish the detail in the fore-to-middle ground in the demo painting above, but the color is already starting to work. Notice how the yellow-green grass becomes much bluer in the distance. Likewise the more distant mountains have less purple. There's a reason for that, another set of rules that, as a rule, work: In the foreground you see all the mixtures or red-yellow-blue. In the middle ground the yellow is filtered out leaving purples (mixtures of red and blue.) In the distance red is filtered out, leaving blue. The atmosphere is basically a big blue filter. Leonardo observed and recorded this phenomenon. He said: "Thus if it is to be five times as distant, make it five times bluer."

So at it's most basic level you could reduce the landscape to three colors, like this:

The box on the left side looks harmonious and correct to me, while the box on the right feels upside down and unbalanced. That's because the blue filter usually causes us to see the landscape the way it is on the right: yellow foreground, purple mountains, blue sky.

In his book John Carlson states the law of aerial perspective: "All colors become cooler in color and lighter in value as they recede from the eye, except white." Why is white an exception? Because technically it's a value, not a color! White becomes slightly duller and often shifts to rose or yellow at great distance, becoming pure white as it nears you. But the rest of the colors in the landscape are progressively filtered to become more and more blue, and lighter and lighter in value.

Here in New Mexico, where I live and teach, we have to take into consideration altitude and humidity, as well. We have plenty of altitude, rising from 5,000 ft. to over 14,000 ft. in the highest mountains, but we have almost no humidity. At altitude the air is literally thinner than it is in lower regions. The lack of moisture means we have clear air that allows us to see details a hundred miles away! If you're painting on the beach, you need to take the reverse into consideration--more air, more vapor, less detail much sooner. But there are days when I can see the crisp edge of a mountain I know is 50 miles distant--it looks like its across the street. To paint believably here, edges stay tight and crips much longer than they do elsewhere, something you have to consider when viewing someone else's artwork.

I found a wonderful illustration that might interest those working on still life, portrait or other genres of painting. It's self explanatory: Atmospheric Perspective. The visual alone is worth looking at. Test yourself before you read it and see if you can identify the nine recession cues mentioned there. (Hint: some are mention in the five rules above.) These cues can help you create the illusion of air between the nose and ear in a portrait, or between the apple and the copper pot behind it in a still life.

Keep going, gang!
Deborah

August 25--The BIG Vista

2011-08-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

I had a real treat yesterday that's likely to translate into an interesting demonstration on this subject. We took a drive up into the Jemez Mountains and although it was stormy, I have some wonderful photos of the BIG vista to inspire me.

I love painting the vast, open spaces. It's a chance to play with aerial perspective about as much as anyone ever gets to in New Mexico. (Some call it the "Land of Enchantment". Others call it the "Land of NO Humidity" = little atmospheric regression.) Our topic will be how the air affects the landscape.

Find a good photo with lots of rich information leading well back into space, includingall four value masses: the sky, mountains or mesas, trees, and foreground. We’lldiscuss ‘the rules’ of distance and look at how to control values, colors,edges and use effective strokes. Think BIG, at least in scope, if not in scale. You may paint any size piece, of course, and use any media you like.

For those who were with me last week, I encourage you to apply that lesson to this week's painting. Don't just rush ahead to the next painting. Why not look around for an inspirational color scheme from another artist and see if it can be incorporated into the painting you plan to do?! Analyze how the artist used color expressively, what kinds of layering or strokes were incorporated, and the balance of warm or cool, and light or dark colors. This may help you do two things: consider the values in the big vista photo you're using, and free yourself of the tyranny of the color in that photo!

I also suggest that if you plan to come to next week's class on CLIFFSIDES (September 1), you might consider combining the subject matter with this week's class, as well. Perhaps you have some photographs of your trip to The Grand Canyon or Canyon de Chelly, or others locations that include a cliff and large panoramic vista. That would be a good subject for this week and next, and you might find next week's demonstration comes at a good time for the details of the painting. Just a thought for you...

Please RSVP if you're coming to this week's class and are not already enrolled. The class is $25.00 at the door. And remember, we're meeting in our new location.

See you on Thursday,

Deborah

Color Wheel Paintings class results

2011-08-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

This turned out to be a very instructive class, even to the instructor (not an uncommon thing!)

Here's what we did. I gave the students a cartoon to use, derived from a photo of a barn:

Feel free to copy and print to use for your own color studies.

You can see that I reduced it to grayscale so we could see the values easily. I asked them to paint the 'real' colors first, then using another person's painting as inspiration, to interpret the colors they had used and plug them into the cartoon.

Then I asked them to use the color chart to derive new colors, for instance in the third box (in the lower left of the four color studies above) I moved three spaces to the right and used whatever color I found there. My inspiration was Carol Marine's painting of the green apples you see to its right.

The class was quite revealing, as they often are. I think the most inspiring idea was to look at the color work from other artists, but not just copy it. By plugging it into the cartoon we were forced to take a step away from the 'thing-ness' of it, and think about why the color worked and how to apply it to an entirely different subject. The cartoon releases you from dealing with subject matter, to concentrate only on the color.

But we discovered we needed to look at the balance of colors, too, and sometimes it was good to pull out a little bit of the application, like how the artist built up a beautiful color relationship by layering or putting colors side-by-side, and in what measures, to make one area more beautiful in our color studies. Interesting!

Here you can see the first of my studies inspired by Susan Ogilvie's painting to its left. I love what happened with the roof, sky and trees, as well as the fore. The barn in sunlight and the darks still need work, I think. That can be my next two color studies. I want to analyze how she used the blues amid the the green/red areas.

It needs more time, and probably at least one more class devoted to it, but it's a good way of inspiring color, I think. I hope you all will find it inspiring and have some fun with it.

Keep painting!
Deborah

August 18--Color Wheel Paintings

2011-08-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Color is the lifeblood of a painting. Do you ever wish your paintings had more expressive color? The kind of color that makes your toes curl? Exciting! Inspiring. Gorgeous. Inviting. Brilliant. Mellow. Lush. Strong.

Is there art you look at and just long to be able to do what the artist has done with the color? It might be bright, saturated color. It could be muted, moody color. Perhaps it's a certain set of colors that just grabs your heart. Well, this week I want to help you analyze and think about color, and challenge you to push it a little farther in your own work. It's a simple, concentrated but fun exercise!

First of all I want you to find art that has color that inspires you. Take some time before this class--and this is CRITICAL to the class--to find examples of paintings with color that really, truly catches your breath, thrills and delights you. It can be from any era, any artists, any medium, anything--but remember, it's about the COLOR. Bring prints from magazines, books, or photos you print out of these paintings with you to class. Find at least three different color examples, and even more if you're inspired.

Bring a virgin white sheet of paper or canvas that you can divide into four 4"x6" sections (or bring four smaller pieces), your painting materials, and the photos of other artists' paintings you love.

We're going analyze colors on the color wheel, except we aren't going to use a wheel. We're going to use this color chart, designed by Don Jusko.

courtesy Don Jusko, www.realcolorwheel.com

It will simplify things if you print out a chart for yourself. I've broken it into two 8.5" x 11" halves. I'll have my chart at class for you to use, but you'll have to share.

I'll give you a simple, fun color exercise in class! Come ready to think and play. It's a color class, so pastelists take note and bring your colors. Painters have it easy. Any medium will work.

Please RSVP if you aren't already listed as attending, because I'm preparing handouts and would like to know the number to bring. Space is limited!

Remember, we're in the new location, meeting at Christ Community Fellowship near I-25 and Paseo del Norte. If you need directions, email me and I'll send them.

See you on Thursday!
Deborah

Beginning Critique and Through the Water class results

2011-08-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Clear Water Stones, 5" x 7", gouache on Arches #300 c/p

It was so good to get back to class again!

We began with a critique, looking at 3 or 4 paintings from each studentto determine the direction and improvements each one wants to make, not only inindividual paintings but on the whole. I really have a talented andenthusiastic group of students.

Following that, I gave a short lecture on how to paint rocks underwater, with ademonstration that was done mostly using PanPastels. Above is a painting Iprepared to show how effectively you can paint this subject using gouache, andbelow is an example of how you can approach this subject in pastel.

High and Dry, 9"x 12", pastel on Pastelmat

To paint underwater rocks I suggest you begin with aphotograph that inspires you. Find a photo that shows large and small, wet anddry rocks, has shadows caused by interesting light, and features some reflectionson the water to indicate its movement.

Choose a medium tone that will allow you to build both lightand dark areas. Do a good sketch showing the placement of the rocks, either incharcoal or pastel. It’s not necessary to draw every single stone, but locatethe major players, and then loosely indicate the size and general placement ofscattered stones in non-essential regions.

Don’t be afraid to go dark in the early stages. Usingsaturated colors of the proper value will also work to your advantage when youmute the underwater rocks with further layers of pastel.

To create the impression of water over rocks is really afairly simple process. Select a color that will portray the water, whether it’sa blue-gray or green-tea color, and lightly glaze or feather over the color inplace. Don’t cover the lights and darks beneath, and don’t obscure all thecolor with a thick layer.

Then add highlights in the reflections, bubbles, floatingobjects, and ripple lines in the water. A reflection obscures what is beneath,so paint from bottom to top, but leave room for paler areas on top. To paint aripple, think of two mirrors pointed in different directions, catching thecolor of the object they’re pointed at. Use sharp edges to create theimpression of liquidity. To paint a floating bubble, draw an ellipse on thewater in a color darker than the surface, then ring it with light and carefullydraw in the light colored dome. Pay attention to the direction of the light andshadows, and where you see highlights.

Keep going, gang!

Deborah

Pay Attention: Photos

2011-08-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

A little dividend for my student friends about....

TAKING BETTER RESOURCE PHOTOS
Focus on what you most likely will paint.

Look for subjects that you actually want to paint, not just ones you respond to on the scene. It might be true that the thousand flags flying over the capital are stunning, but ask yourself if you really think you’ll spend the time needed to capture all the myriad colors and details, or if you might more reasonably want to focus on one or two flags for a painting. Serendipity is delightful, but composing the photo with your painting abilities and skills in mind makes for a better resource in the long run.

Take more than one photo of a subject.

If you find a subject you think will make a good resource, don’t limit yourself to one quick ‘grab’ shot if you can. Take several shots from different angles, close up and farther away. You may be able to stitch them into one shot, or make one painting out of several of them. You never know when you’ll want to know what was to the left or right, or what was casting that weird shadow! More is better.

Let the day and place work for you.

It’s easy to say the light is wrong, and you just can’t get good photos, but that derives from your attitude and what you hoped to get. Forget about it! If the day is gray, look for beautiful color amid the gray, focus up closer to details or look for textures, or shoot into things like shops or through car windows. If the wind is blowing, look for subjects that show the movement of the wind, tipsy flowers, blowing hats, or dust and leaves obscuring the sky. If it’s rainy, look for reflections or raindrops. Don’t neglect to take interior shots, or shots looking from the inside out.

Remember what your camera does.

Do more than point and shoot. Pay attention to how the scene changes when you lift the camera to look at the viewfinder. Does it put everything way out at arm’s length? If so, you might need to use your zoom. Would the photo be clearer if you walked closer to shoot the photo? (Sometimes the quality of a zoom shot is lower.) If you’re shooting people, using the zoom is a good thing, as it puts them at ease, unconscious of the camera. Be sure, however, that if you take a ‘character’ shot you get a signed model release. If you have a recognizable person in the painting you need one.

Don’t forget you can control the settings manually.

When shooting into direct bright light you can end up with silhouettes, lens flares, and an overly contrasted photo. Move to one side or point the camera upward or downward, or arrange to shoot with your camera in the shadow cast by an object. You can change the camera settings so that you shoot darker or lighter photos, too. Bracket pictures so you have a range of light conditions, if you’re unsure. Shooting in shadows is equally challenging, sometimes resulting in gloomy photos. Learn how to adjust the ISO to a higher setting, if needed.

Focus on the main thing.

Don’t get distracted trying too include too much in one picture. Are you shooting shadows? Get several shots of the shadows from different angles, close up and further back. Then take a shot of the thing casting the shadow. In this way you defeat the propensity of the camera to average the light. Shoot light pics, then dark pics.

Pay attention to the background.

If you have a choice, try to position yourself to avoid complicated overlapping patterns. Look at what’s in front of the shot, too. Again, several shots might be in order here. As the artist you can pick and choose what to use from each photo.

Straight and level is best.

We’ve all seen the cute tipped-camera shots. You basically get more into a frame that’s straight and level. Sometimes it’s hard to correct the sloping horizon line in a painting, so getting it straight helps.

Horizontal or vertical?

Don’t forget that you can change the format of your camera! There may be times when shooting a vertical shot will give you much more interesting possibilities, including elements in the he foreground to higher in the sky. At other times the horizontal format is far preferable. Just don’t’ get into one habit. Change it up. Shoot the scene both ways!

Basic geometry counts.

Look at the underlying geometry of the place you’re shooting. Compose so that the circle moves into the square, or the oval is at the one-third mark. Don’t forget the ‘rule of thirds’ when composing: visualize that tic-tac-toe game drawn over the scene and place key elements where the lines intersect. Remember that these rules are made to be broken, but it takes good planning to break them effectively.

Get creative.

Lie down under the tree. Climb up on the wall or stand on the bench. Put your hand into the shot, or include your foot. Shoot into or through something. Look for reflections to shoot. Find a strong diagonal line. Look for a smiley face to shoot—they’re everywhere. Sometimes these shots give you a creative boost for a painting. Sometimes they just keep you looking and thinking, so you’re excited by the process again.

Blowin' Blossoms
It's spring in New Mexico!

And the Girls Looked On...

August 11--Beginning Critique & Through the Water -- New Location

2011-08-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

As I was out walking this morning there was just a hint of a taste of a bit of a cooler feeling in the air, and I realized fall is actually headed our way. We still have a few weeks of warm weather to come, and I hope some more rain, but fall is waiting in the wings!

So, are you ready to settle down and start to paint again? I know I am.

This week we're going to have a beginning critique. We've come to think of a critique as a way to end a class or workshop but Iet's shift our thinking a bit. What is a critique meant to accomplish? I think it should be a means to keep or get you moving. I often talk about finding the "point of friction", that place where as you let out the clutch the engine engages, so look over the work you plan to bring and see where you think you'd like to go. Usually that means finding the place where you need to know or need to grow. We'll certainly look at each piece with an eye to improving it, if you're still in the process of working on it, but try to paint the 'big picture', too.

Rock photo to use in class.

Then I'll do a lecture and demonstration about how to paint underwater rocks. If you would like to, you have permission to copy and print the photograph here and use it for the class lesson. We'll examine the way the colors change in and out of the water, how the edges shift and the values mute when the rock is beneath the water. There's a bit more to it--things like refraction and ripples and light patterns, but come to the class to learn about those!

Please RSVP (clickable link) if you haven't already. The class is $25.00 and you may pay at the door.

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Now for the big news: we're going to start meeting in a NEW LOCATION this week!

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We will be meeting in a nice room inside Christ Community Fellowship, 5908 Anaheim Avenue NE, located off of San Pedro north of Paseo del Norte Blvd. So many of you responded positively to the idea of relocating to a more central spot that I’m even more enthused than I was about this change.

The classroom is quiet and private, has plenty of tables and chairs, a nice little kitchen for coffee and tea (plus a microwave if you want to heat your lunch), and the parking gives us easy access. You can come via Interstate-25 or travel on surface streets. If you plan to come to this class, let me know and I'll email directions.

Class will be the same time as always 11:30-2:30. I'll open the classroom around 11:00 if you'd like to come and set up ahead of time.

See you Thursday!
Deborah

August Class Schedule

2011-08-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Startingthis month I’m scheduling four-class blocks. I think it will be easier for you to check your busy schedule up to a month in advance. YES, you may sign up for individual classes. As soon as you know you will be able to attend, click the link and let me know. You may pay at the door. I'll post the class announcement on the Monday previous to it. I need a minimum of four students to make the class a go!

The cost of the 4-class session is $100. Please RSVP for ALL FOUR classes here. < Clickable link

Beginning Critique & Through theWater

Pleasebring up to three paintings for the critique. Then we’re going to warm up afterour summer away with a look at rocks underwater. I’ll supply the photographs,you bring your materials, and we’ll examine the way that colors change, edgesshift, and values mute when a rock is beneath the surface of water.

August 11 RSVP < Clickable link

Color Wheel Paintings
Here’s a chance to play with some creative colorwork. Have you wanted to enhance color? This may help you begin, or movefarther along, in your experiments. In this new class we’ll use the colorwheel to locate the major color groupings, and analyze how to further harmonizecolors from there. I’ll help you select colors that shift away from thephotograph to further enhance the painting’s mood and voice. Please bring some examples of other artist’spaintings that you think use excellent color that intrigues you (books,magazines, photos.)

August18 RSVP < Clickable link

The BIG Vista

We’ll bepainting the open, vast spaces today in order to be able to see the evidence ofhow the air affects the landscape. Find a good photo with lots of rich information leading well back into space, includingall four value masses: the sky, mountains or mesas, trees, and foreground. We’lldiscuss ‘the rules’ of distance and look at how to control values, colors,edges and use effective strokes. Think BIG, at least in scope, if not in scale.

August 25 RSVP < Clickable link

Cliffsides

In this new class we’ll examine the drama,light and color of rocky cliffs. The challenge often is how to use enoughcolor, detail and line, without overburdening the painting with too muchdetail. Look for a good close-up with at least as much detail as in the photoat left. This may be a good chance to find out how to approach painting yourphotos of the Grand Canyon or Canyon deChelly!

September 1 RSVP < Clickable link

Class is held Christ Community FellowshipChurch from 11:30 to 2:30 on Thursdays. Bring your lunch along and watch the demo for the first hour, then work at your easel. Classroom opens at 11:10.

Summertime....and "rearranging the furniture"

2011-07-25T17:01:00.000-07:00


Evening Dance, gouache, 2.5" x 3.5"

Coral Downpour, gouache, 2.5" x 3.5"

Summer has finally come to Albuquerque. Well, at least the monsoons have finally come! Last night we had a good old-fashioned summer thunderstorm. Lightning, thunder, and a real gully-washer. True, the humidity is up high today and the swamp cooler isn't really very cool, but I'm still grateful for every drop of much needed rain.

I'm on hiatus from classes for now, which has given me time to do a few other projects and to paint a little here and there. It's nice to have a break, but I love to teach so I'm planning my classes. As of now, I'm still kicking around ideas and tinkering with some techniques to show you when we resume. Lately I've found myself thinking we need a few changes. I'm in the throes of rearranging things and to see what feels right. It's kind of like rearranging the furniture and recovering a couple of pillows--fresh and fun, but not so you bump your toes too badly when you walk through.

I'm planning to resume our class the second week in August, but I'll let you know when I have more details!

Meanwhile, hope you're painting! Think summer skies. This is most definitely the season for them. Have fun!

Deborah

July 14--How to Use Photoshop for Paintings

2011-07-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to refer you who are enrolled to this post, which has all the information about the class, and you might also look at the one after that for the results, too.

Class is from 11:30 to 2:30. Bring your sack lunch. I'll have iced tea and coffee available. The lecture portion is approximately 2 hours, with Q&A follow-up. I'll send direction to my home in Taylor Ranch to those already enrolled.

See (some of) you on Thursday,

Deborah

PanPastel Workshop?

2011-07-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

The demonstration painting from last week, done in PanPastels on gray Pastelmat.

I'm considering a two- or three- day workshop here in Albuquerque this fall/winter on HOW TO USE PANPASTELS. I'd like to offer people a chance to see how to handle this wonderful addition to the medium of pastels, learn some interesting new techniques, and see how I do it. I'd most likely demonstrate several different subjects, so my students would also benefit from information about how to paint the landscape, and then have time at the easel to paint.

My idea is to offer the option of purchasing an introductory set of Pans and tools, and of course some Pastelmat paper, for those who are ready to go for it.

I have a location in mind that's close to Interstate 25 and Paseo del Norte, which is fairly central and "freeway close". It has tables and chairs, good skylights (and additional lighting), a small kitchen area, plenty of parking, and is nice and quiet. Students would only have to supply a portable easel, although they could bring their Pans, too.

I'd just love to have the opportunity to show you why I love PanPastels so much! Your input is welcome... What do you think?

June 30--Paint the Night Sky

2011-06-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

Nighttime paintings can be a lot of fun but rather challenging, too. At this class we're going to explore painting the landscape at night, with a closer look at the mystery and beauty of the night sky.

First of all, I want you to go outside and LOOK at what you can see. Get away from bright lights as much as you can and notice how dark or light the sky is, what value difference there is in the hills or trees or plants around you. Look at your feet, note the shadow of your car or house. Analyze the value structure... Not everything at night is black! Take some photos, if you're able, and just see what you get. Digital cameras are fairly remarkable this way.

I find it hard to take a good night photo showing everything I want, although I occasionally get the "lucky shot" that works out. It's more satisfying to me to seek out other interesting pictures and combine several different ones to make a more exciting painting. look around and see if you can find photos to use, perhaps as many as three, and think creatively about how you'll put different parts to use. You might grab the hills or city lights from one, the sky from another, and the closer trees or foreground information from a third.

Do you know that there are websites containing photos you can use for paintings? Naturally, if you copy one of these photographs faithfully you won't be able to enter it in the big shows, so be cautious how you use them, but for our purposes it's fun to find some different resources to use, and combine them into one different place altogether. Here are some from Morgue File that I might use this week in my demonstration:

(And remember, you might use some of your new found Photoshop skills to make a combination you like!)

We'll do a quick critique of work in progress, so feel free to bring your painting along for us to view and discuss briefly.

Our class is at the Paradise Methodist Church on the west side of Albuquerque, 11:30-2:30. Come at 11:00 to get set up, and feel free to bring a sack lunch. I'll have iced tea for us. Please RSVP (<--clickable link) if you haven't reserved your space already, but don't hesitate to come on along at the last minute! The charge is only $25 at the door.

Any medium is welcome (as long as there are no strong smelling solvents), but I'll be doing a demo with my PanPastels for the class.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah

Photoshop for Paintings class results

2011-06-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

As I prepared for this class I realized that there are a lot of tutorials out on the Net devoted to Photoshop Elements, but most of them are for people using it for advertising or photography. Yet in the last few years I've interviewed a lot of artists in my role as writer for art magazines and many, if not most of them, use this program as a tool to manipulate their pictures to use for paintings, in some way or another. Perhaps there's more online about how to do this than I found, but nonetheless this class turned out to be quite interesting to teach and instructive for my students.

Basically I outlined the various functions found in the Options Bar, Toolbox and Palette Well, before beginning to show how each feature can be used. If you're fumbling around in PSE, don't forget to use the online Help menu. It's worth your time to find information on the work area functions. For instance, this photo helps you understand some pretty basic but very important tools if you work in PSE 2.0:

(Adobe Photoshops Help photo)

I mentioned that I'm no expert, but there are certain things I do creatively that anyone can do to revive a dark, uninteresting photo, often making it into a colorful and unique painting subject.

My first tip (not original to me): start with a duplicate copy! Once your original photo is tucked away safe and sound you'll be far more inclined to just play around to see what you can do. I also suggest that you try whenever possible to use a high resolution photo so that when you crop you still have a clear, if smaller, print. I often crop several compositions out of one large photo and play with each one to see how I can tweak it, flipping them horizontally, changing the color scheme, heightening contrast, and even rearranging or adding elements.

Here's the photo we used for most of the demonstration and lecture I did:

It's a pretty dull image but it has some interesting parts to it. I like the variety of angles in the overall composition, from the line of each of the banks, to the angle of the hills, and the implied angle of the clouds, hinging at the slightly leaning vertical tree on the left-hand side. That foreground tangle is blah as it stands, but could benefit from more color or contrast, and might even add another interesting angle if handled properly. The whole photo would benefit from cropping.

In the course of our explorations, when we reduced the photo using Image > Adjustments >Threshold and discovered that there's a small rectangle of light in the geographical center of the photo. Sometimes the simplest tools reveal something so basic! That will need to be addressed in the composition, either by cropping or by changing some of the values.

Probably one of the most useful tools is the Enhance >Adjust Color >Color Variations function. I routinely push the Color Intensity slider all the way to the right so that I can see the extremes of color.

I simply analyze what the image will look like if I add red, add green, add blue, add cyan, add purple, or add yellow. (The menu uses increased or decreased red, green and blue.) Of course, I can slide it back so it isn't so bright, but this way I know what will begin to happen, even if it's only adding a bit of subtle yellow to the mix. You can do this multiple times, choosing to add a little bit of red, or a bit more blue, or some purple, before saying okay.

After some quick playing around together, we came up with this outrageous version of the original photo:

And another version looks like this:

We just touched on some of the wonderfully fun things you can do in this program, but I hope it launched a few people into their own further explorations!

Have fun, gang!

Deborah

How to use Photoshop for Paintings

2011-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Although I'm no 'expert', in this week's class I'll show you how I use Photoshop Elements (PSE) to prepare photographs as resources for paintings. So often a photograph is unsatisfactory and we start making plans to change things when we paint it, but those pesky pictures can become so domineering that it's hard to escape them sometimes. The 'autopilot' function of painting in the right brain takes over and we end up painting more of what's there than we wanted to.

Photoshop is a great means of changing the photo to match your vision, as well as allowing you to explore different options using the many tools you have available, whether it's merely cropping the image or making it into a whole different world. I'll show you how I use PSE's many simple functions to change and rearrange things.

This is a survey class, meant to help you understand what each tool does and show you the possibilities. Bring your notebook and pen (but please leave the laptop at home.) You'll end up with a series of several steps that will get you to the place where you can explore on your own, without fear of losing everything. I use Photoshop Elements 2.0. The tools I utilize are commonly available in Photoshop, no matter the version, so you should be able to adapt what I do.

The space available at my computer is quite small, and class is limited to only five students. This class is filled already, but I will repeat it from time to time. If there's enough interest, I'll add advanced sections to the classes to show you even more of the features of the program and help hone your skills.

See (some of) you on Thursday,

Deborah

Gouache Basics class results

2011-06-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of smiles at this class! I think we all had fun and the gals learned a lot about what gouache will (and won't) do. We spread out at my little table and messed around.

I did a demo using two different papers, Arches 300 lb. cold press and white Pastelmat, just to show how differently these papers behave. Here's the demo in progress:

I think you can see some of the obvious textural differences in them just from this shot. The Pastelmat, on the bottom, is a much more absorptive paper and allows the paint to bloom, while the Arches is crisp, giving nice edges. Both have their uses, of course.

We talked about:

paint brands and what constitutes gouache (pigment, gum arabic, fillers)
papers and how the paint behaves (I did a little show of work)
brushes to use (I choose synthetics)
different strokes and means of blending colors (get a blender brush!)
color shift as gouache dries (most colors darken)
adding color, as you depend on the gouache to lift (gouache is never 'dry'--meaning it re-wets)
how to paint details (a lot of it is illusion)

Here's the top demo painting, on the Arches, after another hour of finishing work:

Those of you who know me will be amazed to hear that both the demos are 5" x 7" in size! That's pretty huge when you're used to 2.5" x 3.5"--one-quarter the size of this sheet. I also painted upright on my easel, which is a bit challenging, but it worked out well in the end. (**And I used a wonderful photograph courtesy of David Patterson for the resource. Thanks, David.)

I hope the women who attended this class will end up enjoying gouache and using it now that they've experimented. It's a dandy medium, that's for sure.

Keep going, gang!
Deborah

June 16—Gouache Basics

2011-06-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

A simple "how-to" class in gouache, just to get you started.

Gouache, which is simply opaque watercolor, has all the positive characteristics of watercolor and many characteristics that I love about pastel. Like pastel, you can work from the darks and add the light colors over the top, as well as correcting as many times as you need to, and as in watercolor you can work wet into wet, use washes and various other techniques.

I'll teach the basics at this small class, letting the you play with whatever inspires you. We'll work from photographs, share the same color paints, play around with different brushes, and just find out what this fun and versatile medium can do.

I'll provide two different kinds of paper, and the paint and brushes for an extra cost of $10, or you may bring your own. You'll need a small palette of some kind, such as a white dish or plate, or a plastic watercolor palette, and a small jar for water.

This class is limited to five students. I have space left. Please RSVP (<--clickable link) to reserve a seat, if you haven't already. Pay $25.00 at the door + $10 optional materials fee.

* At my home in Taylor Ranch 11:30- 2:30, bring a sack lunch. I'll send directions via email by Wednesday to those enrolled.

Paint the Summer Sky and Clouds class results

2011-06-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love to paint a billowing summer cloud looming over the hills? Well, I love it, as you can see from the example above. As promised, this is a PanPastel on Pastelmat, which is turning out to be the frontrunner for me in terms of painting materials, especially for these sky paintings.

I'd like to link you to two chapters in my free online book, called Landscape Painting in Pastels. First, take a look at the sky. There are some generalizations to keep in mind, among them:

The sky is lightest at the horizon.
The sky is darkest at the zenith.
Even a slight gradation suggests this arch.
Use more than one color layer.
Winter skies tend to be purple-blue.
Summer skies tend to be green-blue.
The sky is brighter in the sun’s quadrant.
The sky slightly darkens opposite the sun.

And next let's examine the clouds. Likewise, some 'rules' you might want to take into consideration:

Clouds are whitest directly overhead.
Clouds are dull and yellow-pink at the horizon.
No cloud is pure white.
Do not begin clouds with white.
Try the green-peach-lavender triad for grays.
Clouds have tops, bottoms and sides.
Clouds cast shadows on other clouds.
Clouds glow from the center outwards.

I suggest finding a photograph that is inspiring but not so complex that you're baffled about how to paint it. Do some cropping, if so, and find what expresses the scene without overwhelming you, or take it into a photo program and use a filter such as Smart Blur in Photoshop, to simplify it to shapes and values/colors. Print that out and use it as your resource, at least to begin with.

If you look down at the last post you'll see a photo of a painting demo I did at IAPS using the same photograph for inspiration. Don't limit yourself, thinking you've already painted that one--"paint it again, Sam!"

Keep going, gang!
Deborah

June 9--Paint the Summer Sky and Clouds

2011-06-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

PanPastel demonstration painting on the easel at IAPS

Here in New Mexico our summertime skies are spectacular, with layers of beautiful clouds, blossoming thunderstorms and beautiful virga falling over the spectacular mountains and plains. I just returned from doing demonstrations using PanPastels at the 2011 International Association of Pastel Societies convention, where I painted our gorgeous skies, so I'm all warmed up for this class.

On Thursday we'll discuss how to paint various kinds of clouds, looking at the structure, color, contrasts and 'rules' of clouds in the daytime summer sky. Any medium is welcome, as usual, but I'll be doing a demo with my PanPastels for the class.

We'll do a quick critique of work in progress, so feel free to bring one along for us to view and discuss briefly.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah

June & July 2011 Classes REVISED SCHEDULE

2011-05-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

There's no class this week. I hope those of you who are local will attend the IAPS convention! I'll be at The Pastel Journal booth on Friday and Saturday, as well as demonstrating PanPastels at their booth. Drop by and say hello.

Because of conflicting room availability at the church where I hold classes, I've had to revise our class schedule. Below is the new plan. I certainly hope you'll join me! Please contact me now to reserve your space.

June 9--Paint the Summer Sky and Clouds
Our summertime skies are spectacular, with layers of beautiful clouds, summer thunderstorms, and beautiful virga falling. We'll discuss how to paint various kinds of clouds, looking at the structure, color, contrasts and 'rules' of clouds in the daytime summer sky. Any medium is welcome. (At Paradise Methodist Church, 11:30- 2:30.)

June 16—Gouache Basics
Gouache is opaque watercolor and has all the positive characteristics of watercolor and pastel. Like pastel, you can work from the darks and add the light colors over the top, as well as correcting as many times as you need to, and as in watercolor you can work wet into wet, use washes and various other techniques. I'll teach the basics at this small class. We'll work from photograph, share the same color paints, play around with different brushes, and just find out what this fun and versatile medium can do. I'll provide two different kinds of paper, and the paint and brushes for an extra cost of $10, or you may bring your own. You'll need a small palette of some kind, such as a white dish or plate, or a plastic watercolor palette, and a small jar for water. This class is limited to five students. Reservation required. (At my home in Taylor Ranch 11:30- 2:30, bring a sack lunch.)

June 23—How to use Photoshop for Paintings
I'll show you how I use Photoshop to prepare photographs to use for paintings. I use Photoshop Elements 2.0, but the tools I utilize are commonly available in Photoshop, no matter the version, so you should be able to adapt what I do. The space available at my computer is quite small, so we're limited to only five students. Reservation required. (* At my home in Taylor Ranch 11:30- 2:30, bring a sack lunch.)
FULL

June 30—Paint the Night Sky
We'll explore painting the landscape at night, with a closer look at the night sky. I'll challenge you to cobble together two or more photos to create a nighttime landscape with a dramatic sky, perhaps including clouds, the moon or stars. Any medium is welcome. (At Paradise Methodist Church, 11:30- 2:30.)

July 14—How to use Photoshop for Paintings
I'll show you how I use Photoshop to prepare photographs to use for paintings. I use Photoshop Elements 2.0, but the tools I utilize are commonly available in Photoshop, no matter the version, so you should be able to adapt what I do. The space available at my computer is quite small, so we're limited to only five students. Reservation required. (* At my home in Taylor Ranch 11:30- 2:30, bring a sack lunch.)
FULL

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Class Policies

The cost is $25.00 per class, payable at the door. I greatly appreciate it if you contact me to let me know you're coming. Occasionally, if the class is quite small, the location may be changed.

May 26--Final Critique and Class Potluck

2011-05-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

You're invited to our final critique and class potluck. This will mark the end of our current session, so come ready to show your work from class and anything else you want to share with us. We'll have our usual class potluck brunch, too. Bring along a dish to share. We always have such interesting food!

First, let's talk about what, in my opinion, a critique is meant to be. It's not necessarily a detailed analysis of each painting done one at a time, although in some instances that may come about. Instead, I prefer it to look at a body of work. This gives us a chance to see the progression of ideas through several paintings, noting things you're obviously enjoying and doing well, as well as the spots that have challenged you and may need more attention. This is why it's unwise to bring only the paintings you deem successful or finished--sometimes there are gems of information in those pieces that make us squirm. I see my role as supportive, helping you to grow and move on in your pursuits, whether you're a professional or amateur painter. Even two or three paintings will reveal a lot, although more are welcome and definitely reveal even more about your art journey. Don't hesitate to bring along work I've seen, and even pieces that have been viewed in previous critiques, framed or unframed, if you believe they will help illustrate your progress as a whole.

What you won't get at one of my critiques is criticism. By that I mean no one is there to pass severe judgment or find fault with your work, disparage or denigrate what you're doing! I look at a critique as an opportunity to help you find the "point of friction." That's the place where, as you let the clutch out the gears engage and the vehicle moves forward. Finding this place takes a critic that you trust, someone you know has your success in mind and wants you to move forward, but understands that this can be complex and requires an artful touch. I don't want to grind the gears or fail to get you into gear, if you understand the metaphor.

It's easiest if your paintings are ready to lean against the wall, already taped on a board so that you don't have to laboriously remove a lot of packaging or tape them up to view. We've found the Clearbags are great for transporting artwork, and wonderful to view paintings you're holding in your own hands, but not that great for the critique because of the reflections.

I think it's a good idea to spend some time thinking back over this session, as you prepare your paintings, to analyze which classes seemed to inspire you most and why. This session has been so fractured by various intervening events (the classroom not being available, my son's wedding, etc.) that it's hard to recall what we did back in March, so here are the topics we studied:

Rocks Under Water
Stylized Negative Trees
Jigsaw Painting
Ten Minute Challenge
Be Inspired by: David Lloyd (interiors)
Seascapes
Mapping Movement
Memory Painting

Of course, you can review the classes here on the blog by simply going backwards. Please feel free to bring anything you would like to have considered as part of the critique, in any medium.

So please come prepared to share some food and talk (AND see some of my art from 11:00-12:00, while we eat). Then we'll take time to look at one another's paintings. I'll be your critic, not the class as a whole, and each one of you will have time to show your own work. The cost is just $25, payable at the door, however please let me know if you plan to attend. Thanks.

See you on Thursday,
Deborah

June Classes Offered

2011-05-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm offering four classes this June, all on Thursdays at the usual time, 11:30-2:30. The first two will be in my home, and the second two back at the classroom at Paradise Methodist. The charge is only $25.00 at the door. Reservations are required for the first two, as space is limited.

June 9--Paint the Summer Sky and Clouds
(at Paradise Methodist Church)

Our summertime skies are spectacular, with layers of beautiful clouds, summer thunderstorms, and beautiful virga falling. We'll discuss how to paint various kinds of clouds, looking at the structure, color, contrasts and 'rules' of clouds in the daytime summer sky. Any medium is welcome.

June 16--Gouache Basics
(*in my home)

'Fall Reds', gouache

Gouache is opaque watercolor and has all the positive characteristics of watercolor and pastel. Like pastel, you can work from the darks and add the light colors over the top, as well as correcting as many times as you need to, and as in watercolor you can work wet into wet, use washes and various other techniques. I'll teach the basics at this small class. We'll work from photograph, share the same color paints, play around with different brushes, and just find out what this fun and versatile medium can do. I'll provide two different kinds of paper, and the paint and brushes for an extra cost of $10, or you may bring your own. You'll need a small palette of some kind, such as a white dish or plate, or a plastic watercolor palette, and a small jar for water.

This class is limited to five students, on a first come basis, so please reserve now if you want to take part.
Please let me know if you want to see another class like this one offered and I will form another session when we have enough participation.

June 23--How to use Photoshop for Paintings
(* in my home)

I'll show you how I use Photoshop to prepare photographs to use for paintings. I use Photoshop Elements 2.0, but the tools I utilize are commonly available in Photoshop, no matter the version, so you should be able to adapt what I do.

The space available at my computer is quite small, so we're limited to only four students

FULL--if you want to sign up for another class like this one, please let me know. As soon as there are four who want to sign up I'll organize the day and time.

June 30--Paint the Night Sky
(at Paradise Methodist Church)

We'll explore painting the landscape at night, with a closer look at the night sky. I'll challenge you to cobble together two or more photos to create a nighttime landscape with a dramatic sky, perhaps including clouds, the moon or stars.

Memory Painting class results

2011-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

We had an intimate class...but fun and productive! I think this class is most helpful in showing you how much you rely on the photo or not. That alone can be so instructive. We talked about how the "bones" of a painting appeal most to artists, while the "skin" seems to matter more to the viewer.

I used this photo for my demo.

I spent some time looking at it and deciding where the major shapes resided, using my hand to 'paint' it. For instance, the large cloud shape along the left-hand edge stops about 2/3 of the way up, where the right-hand cloud is approximately half way. Each mass extends beyond the middle halfway mark, so they can each be described by circles that overlap slightly.

After gazing at the photo for a few minutes and analyzing it well, I put it behind me on a desk (where I couldn't cheat and sort of 'see' it--that's just too tempting!) I painted one pass over the paper to record the memorized shapes and colors and arrived at this:

It's painted using PanPastels on a piece of yellow Pastelmat paper, giving it a lovely soft focus, slightly blended look. I felt the colors were creeping into the sunset hour, so I pushed it that direction, adding a hint of color to the sky suggesting the setting sun is off to the right. This came about as I painted, not as a result of the photograph. I checked the details more as I progressed, to find the various cloud shapes when needed, but freed myself to make a painting out of it that contained my own ideas.

I hope you'll enjoy using this technique yourself.

Have fun, gang!
Deborah

Class 8--May 19 - Memory Painting

2011-05-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Nighttime City, 18" x 24, pastel

How's your memory? They say if you exercise it, it grows stronger and more acute. Do a crossword puzzle or Sudoku every day and your memory stays sharp.

How about your visual memory? Are you relying too much on the photograph as a visual guide? There's nothing wrong with panting from a picture, but you have more stored in your visual memory banks than you believe. I created 9/10 of the painting at the top of this blog, Nighttime City, using only my visual memory. It's very freeing and fun to do!

Bring a photograph of any subject you want to paint (8x10" or larger suggested.) Compose it well, so that you really like what's showing. We'll paint with the photo taped to the wall or easel across the room, working as we walk back and forth from the photo to the paper. Any size or kind of paper is fine, but I think you'll find it much easier to use the same format paper as your photo (i.e. a long rectangular photo on long rectangular paper, or a square photo on square paper), and if you feel the need to simplify even more you might make the photo and your paper the same size, as well.

This exercise is a good test of how long and how accurately you can remember a visual image, but it's also a way to strengthen your reliance on what you already know. You'll use skills you've already honed to make an effective painting. I think you'll find the painting you do this way will be simpler, using beautifully distilled shapes that effectively represent what you see. It frees you to enjoy making the photograph into your own rendition of the painting, not slavishly copying it because "that's how it looks."

We'll do this exercise and then paint for the remainder of the class. Next week is our final critique, so you might want to finish up a painting or two.

See you on Thursday!
Deborah

Mapping Movement class results

2011-05-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

I find sometimes the simplest things inspire us to see differently. When I discovered how to track movement in my paintings I started thinking of composition with a slightly new twist. I decided to find where my eye landed first in a painting, in order to determine the area of greatest interest. Using a simple experiment that I tested with my students' observations, I began to realize that there are no hard and fast absolutes but generally most of us tend to look at the same compelling elements first. In a painting with good, strong 'bones' the direction and speed of the movement is fairly predictable.

Movement is the energy of a painting, the motivating factor in shifting the viewer’s eye from place to place. We tend to repeat movements that please us. Think about the successful paintings you’ve completed already and determine whether you can find connecting threads of movement, or put up a little show for yourself and identify the kind of movement you use most often. For instance, you may be inclined to use a centered and circular motif in your still life compositions. Perhaps you use strong zigzagging diagonals in your figures, or calm horizontal movement in your landscapes. Knowing your habits will allow you to either use this inclination to its best advantage, strengthening what's already working, or encourage you to try new things

Put the painting under consideration in good light and try this experiment: First cleanse your memory of the image, perhaps by gazing at your palm. Resolve that when you look at the painting you'll identify where your eyes go immediately. You want to find that spot where you can't help but look inside of the first three seconds. Do the experiment two or three times, gazing at your palm first, and see if you keep looking at that one place. I know it's impossible to forget the image in reality, but that's okay. Just repeat this a few times and see what happens.

Now analyze why. What is so compellingly interesting in that area? By the way, don't assume you know where your eye goes. Do the experiment and actually look. There's no right or wrong answer, but it will teach you things.

Once you have a good idea of that starting place, the Center of Interest (COI), repeat the experiment and identify what direction your eye moves next. From the COI, do you look right, left, up, down or at a diagonal? Again, do it a few times. Start to track the movement your eye makes through the painting.

Establish a couple of things. Where does your eye slow down and linger? Where does it slip quickly along, without spending too much time looking? What's the difference? Is there a spot where it stops completely? Is that where you want your viewer to stop?

Ask a couple of other people to do the experiment, too, and see if they have similar responses to yours.

Generally you'll find that there are some compellingly interesting elements that will draw your eye no matter what. First, faces. We're wired to examine faces, so expect your viewer to look there. Cars and other vehicles, which have front 'faces', also draw the eye, but not as forcefully. Compositionally, high value contrast grabs attention. Wherever the darkest dark and lightest light come into proximity your eye is almost sure to go. That is, unless there's a spot or area of brilliant color, a contrasting shape (one triangle amid circles), one sharp edge or line, or a singularly detailed area. If all of these are present and developed to the same degree the eye will bounce around crazily instead of moving on a well designed path.

Want to play? Examine this painting. Do the experiment above, identifying where your eye goes first, what directions it moves, where it slows down and where it speeds up. Don't just look at it and make assumptions. You might find some interesting things doing the experiment.

Okay, let me share the journey my eye made in this simple image.Yours may be very different from mine. Or not.

The white highlight is unavoidably the COI. From there my eye travels up to the smaller highlight, over to the stem, down it and across the shadow to the left. Then it does a little slow figure 8 around the colors there, up around and over to the edge. The long arrows are quick movements, down to the shadow across it, where the soft shadows slow it down again, making a zigzag path up and around and back down again. Those short, zigzag arrows are slower areas. The flat top edge finally draws my eye up, where I may begin the journey again.

Here are some other paintings you can analyze.

Roads or pathways of any kind draw the eye to the apex and unless there's another spot that has more interest, the journey might end there. The shapes, values and colors in the sky most likely draw the eye in this painting. The overall triangle of trees in the foreground is like an arrow pointing to the apex of the road, too. Lines like the ones on the highway can also be very compelling to the eye, unless controlled by value, as in this case.

Edges, colors and contrasting values play very important roles in the movement in this composition.

Did I mention this isn't science? You might take a look at James Gurney's blog to see several much more sophisticated approaches to the idea of tracking eye movements, if you want real science. Mine is a technique meant to get your gray matter thinking about the elements of art and how they work to move the eye. I believe there's value to practicing this little experiment, because in time you'll be able to spot trouble areas.

You may realize that your eye slowed down where you didn't want your viewer gazing that long. Better soften the details, perhaps along the foreground rail. Or you might notice that the COI is competing with another spot too much. Better clarify the value contrast, tighten an edge, heighten color--or vice-versa, in the competing area.

My students seemed to enjoy playing with this technique and remarked that there's more than one way to analyze composition.

Bingo!

Keep going, gang!

Deborah

Class 7— May 5 – Mapping Movement

2011-05-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

'Cool Morning Walk', 17" x 11", pastel

Have you ever taken the time to analyze movement in your paintings? It's a fascinating study and one that will help you think about composition. I'll show you a simple but effective way to find and track the movement of the eye, which may not be an exact science but will aid you in making decisions about what to include or take out of your paintings.

We’ll take some time to track the direction the eye goes from start to finish through different paintings. Please bring one or more of your own paintings with you to share so we can all practice finding the movement in various pieces. I’ll discuss the importance of controlling movement with shapes, contrast, color, edges, etc.

Please bring your seascapes to share with us, as well. I'm curious to know how you enjoyed the class, and what you would like to see added to it.

Come prepared to paint whatever you're working on currently, under my supervision, for the remainder of the class. Next week will be out final critique so you might want to finish up a painting in progress.

See you on Thursday!
Deborah

Seascapes class results

2011-04-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

"Island Sea"

I’m no specialist in seascapes, since I've lived in New Mexico for 30 years, but I grew up on the beaches of California and spent a lot of time looking at the sand, cliffs, water and waves. This class is thus a survey of a few things to pay attention to as you paint the beach and ocean, not a specific inquiry into each element, which would require far more study.

Obviously we’ll be working from photographs, so let’s start with a good candidate for your painting. The shot of the beach and wave looking straight out to sea (A) can be boring, creating horizontal stripes that require a lot of creative widths to be very interesting. That’s actually a more challenging composition than you think. Too often it’s static, so if you choose this composition, carefully vary the widths of each band of color and be certain no line rests on the horizontal center line.

Instead a slight angle looking up or down the beach (B and D), including some of the sea, can often be more inspiring and interesting to paint. If there are cliffs or rocks, waves or splashes, wet sand or foam, you have many more opportunities for a compelling and vibrant scene.


C

Or you might find a shot taken from above (C) gives a great vista, showing cliffs, waves, water, rocks, and possibly shadows, etc. This can be equally fascinating.

No matter what, you should analyze the view and look for any tangents, such as the rock that‘s just kissing the horizon line in D. Push that rock up slightly, or drop it significantly under the horizon to create a sense of depth in different ways.

It might also be advisable to rotate your photo so that any horizon line is level as you paint it (D.) The ocean doesn’t slope sideways but a photo can make it appear that way. Establish a straight and level line of the visible horizon on your paper. Rulers are great tools invented for this purpose.

Let’s look at the sandy beach. I find it advisable to establish the local color of the sand, including sand wet by the incoming tide. Keep in mind that all beaches slope down toward the water, whether steeply inclined or not. Notice that you can see the sand color beneath the water in the shallows. Depending on the medium you’re using you might lay this color in first and layer over it, but no matter the procedure keep this sand color in mind as you paint. Wet sand is slightly darker and reflective. Add darks first, establishing the color of the wet sand as containing the dry sand color in a darker value, and then add light sky colors over the top.

Add footprints last, often made up of a rim of lighter sand color on one edge and shadowy colors beside it.

Beach rocks can be interesting and compelling elements in the composition. All of the rules for rocks need to be observed (planes, planes, planes!) However, these rocks are softened by wave action. Paint them with planes that have softened edges, paying attention to the characteristic fractures or holes.

Look at the submerged rocks as a darker color beneath the water, and add the flow patterns in the sand created by the receding water to capture the sense of rocks set down into the wet sand.

Cliffs along the beach will also add recession to a painting. Use more contrast and stronger, more saturated colors in the foreground, progressively using bluer and paler colors in the distance.

Look for sets of waves, although the intervals and interrelationships of these sets is widely variable. Notice they all enter the beach from the same direction, usually following the beach line, but affected by any rocky outcroppings, manmade breaks, or a shallow or steeply inclined bay.

A wave is a complex shape. The water is moving due to its own energy, the contours of the sand and rocks beneath it, and whether or not there is a swell in front of it impeding its travel or behind it pushing it on. Keep all the lines of a wave rounded and fluid, no matter how hard-edged they are. Simplify the contours to see the relationships, defined by the values. Paint the colors beneath these shapes and add lighter colors as you progress, as well as reserving details for last.

The curl of a wave has a foamy splash where it lands on top of itself, and sea foam describes swells, cross-currents, back washes, and breakwaters. Oftentimes the brightest light in view is not this foam but sparkling reflections where sunlight dazzles. Notice in the photo below where the strongest lights are located, in opposition to the direction of the sunlight.

There’s a small but sometimes key element to pay attention to as you paint an incoming wave that has flattened and now speeds its way up the beach in a gently curving arch, marked with foamy bits. Look for the shadow you will often see along its edge there. It isn’t a hard line, and its edges fluctuate like a ribbon, helping to make the wave seem fluid and lively.

Simplify the wet sand if the foam patterns are too complex to portray well. For instance, in the photo above you might make the arc of wet sand lavender, forgetting the foam there (yellow arrow.) Look for the color of the sand influencing the wave color, progressively growing darker as the water deepens, and use foam patterns to suggest water movement.

Is the color of the ocean darker near the horizon or lighter?

There is no hard and fast rule regarding this. It depends on the angle of the light, the conditions of the sky and the relative height from which you’re viewing things. I suggest you rely on your photograph to give you needed evidence of water color and value. However, I often find that the horizon line can become so blurry as to be nonexistent in some photos. I usually choose to show it somewhat more clearly in at least one location, which I find gives the viewer a solid sense of distance.

Let me share a few of my gouache paintings with you, each of which is 2.5" x 3.5" in size, on various kinds of paper:

"Sparkle"

"Sandy Shore"

"Sentinels"

"High Tide"

"Summer Bay"

"Wet Sand"

Class 6— April 28 – Seascapes

2011-04-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

'Honeymoon Sea', pastel, 9" x 12"

Even though we don’t live near the sea, let’s take some time to explore some of the rules of painting the ocean, waves, cliffs and sky. Bring a good photo with excellent contrast, a simple subject, and good color.

I'll be concentrating on how to paint the incoming waves, the beach along the shore, and a bit on rocks and reflections.

'Beach', gouache, 2.5" x 3.5"


'Cliffside View', gouache, 3.5" x 2.5"

'Island Sea', gouache, 2.5" x 3.5"

You're welcome to approach this subject in any medium, any size you like, and on any paper that works for you, although I generally recommend using a lighter colored ground.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah

Reminder--No class

2011-04-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

There's no class this week, but I hope you'll paint anyway.

You might take another look at the interiors painted by David Lloyd and be inspired. Set up in the house and paint a quick, loose piece capturing the light and color there, or perhaps shoot a photo at the restaurant you visit and give that a go.
Or take your easel out into the sunlight and paint the garden. My iris are blooming!
Or spend a quiet couple of hours at the easel completing work you began in class. After all, you have a "spare" day, since you won't be coming to class.

And may each of you enjoy this season when we celebrate the Passover and the resurrection of Christ!

Blessings--but I won't see you on Thursday this week.
Deborah

Class 5— April 14 – Be Inspired by: David Lloyd (interiors)

2011-04-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Last session I presented the first inspirational slide show and discussion (devoted to Robert Genn), and it was so well received and instructional that I'm doing another one.

This time we'll look at the interiors painted by a favorite of mine, David Lloyd. Although he isn't as high profile as Genn, I think his light-filled, painterly visions of gracious homes painted in acrylics are quite worthy of study. I'm always looking for inspiration to try new subjects, and the idea of painting a "roomscape" or cafe scene is something I think would be interesting, so I offer this class to encourage and stimulate both of us.

'Tradition and innovation are of equal interest to David, and he believes one need not be shunned for the sake of the other. The familiar, impressionistic underpinning exhibited in his work reveals his roots as a traditional oil painter, while he currently utilizes the vibrancy and flexibility of modern acrylics to push the boundaries of this orthodox foundation. Often working in the abstract, David believes that freeform rehearsals are key in keeping his realistic pieces fresh, loose, and full of movement. This marriage of abstraction to verism, and modern medium to classical technique serves the artist's drive to create exceptionally dynamic paintings. Whether using simple washes, complex layers, or impasto techniques, David stretches his medium to its limits.

Influenced by 20th century illustrators, graphic artists, and classical painters alike, from realists to abstractionists, the breadth of David's interests yield a technique he describes as "a painterly fusion."'

--taken from David Lloyd Gallery

We will also do a mini-critique of anything you're painting. This is meant to give you a boost along the way on one or two works-in-progress, to help you see where to go or trust what is already working. (Please understand that this is not meant to replace the final critique, at which I want to see how you have RESOLVED some of the issues we discuss in the mini-crit, as well as viewing a small body of your work and talking about your goals for the future.) And bring along your 10 Minute Challenge paintings to show us, please!

We'll have an open painting session after that, in which you can begin to apply some of the critique information, under my supervision, so bring along your materials and supplies as usual.

See you on Thursday!
Deborah

Ten Minute Challenge class results

2011-04-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Personally, I found this exercise to be one of the BEST we've done in my classroom in a long, long time. I learned a lot from it, and I saw some wonderful things happening in my students' work, as well. I must give a hearty thank you to Carol Marine for this idea, which was one of the Daily Paintworks Challenges in February this year. I've admired her paintings for a long time and I know she's a busy workshop instructor. No wonder!

At the top is the sheet I painted yesterday and below are some close-up shots to show you the details. I found gouache to be a great medium for this experiment, although I was certainly tempted to use pastels. The ease of making color adjustments, as well as using edges and overlapping in pastel, lends itself to quick work, while the color shift and drying time of gouache may seem to work against you, but in actuality I think it resulted in some 'happy accidents' (a phrase I'm a bit tired of using...let's say 'pleasing incidents' instead.)

apple 1

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Let me share some of the work done by my students. These were all in progress, and all are in pastel. Most of the divisions were in the 4"x6" range or smaller. We painted a total of 80 minutes yesterday, in 10-minute increments with breaks, of course. A few were a little frustrated at first, some just took off flying, and we all had to push ourselves to do the last couple of them, but in the end I think each of us benefited from this.

Annie's apples

A couple by Carol


Jaffa's red bottle

Lisa's apples

All in all, this was another good class. I hope those of you who are taking part remotely will try this one and find it as helpful as we did.

Good job, gang!
Deborah

PS I have had to adjust this class schedule. Some dates have been changed and one class has been added, so please see the Current Class Schedule page for details.

Class 4— April 7– Ten Minute Challenge

2011-04-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

You’ll divide your paper or canvas into eight smaller squares/rectangles, select a single simple object and paint it eight times, allowing only ten minutes for each one! You can change the viewpoint, alter the light, angle it differently—but only ten minutes per section. Can you say spontaneous?

This class was inspired by the Daily Paintworks Challenge posted by Carol Marine. I suggest you take a look at the paintings there for some wonderful inspiration!

It's easiest if you use one simple object and paint from life. I find it inspiring to have a colorful ground, too, since I'm painting the object over and over, so you might bring colored paper, a cloth or whatever you desire as a background. You aren't trying to paint the thing in radically different settings, or vary things too much, it's just that painting the same object eight times can get a little bit boring, so if you want to change the shadows or vary the arrangement a little, I think that's fine. However, don't lose sight of the main point and get bogged down in the variations.

Go look at Carol Marine's painting, as well as what the others have done at DPW, but with an eye to the lesson, not the final product. It's not a competition to be creative or original, it's an opportunity to learn to express an object quickly and effectively. Speed will add fresh strokes to your work, and repetition shows you how to most effectively describe what's there. In theory the progression will show!

The idea is to paint it fast and well, learning to distill your strokes as you go, in order to express the thing effectively. If the object or the ground is too complex, with too many details, it takes longer to paint it effectively. I'll have my timer on hand and we'll paint together for ten honest minutes at a time. So remember KISS--keep it simple, sweetheart!

I think it's best if the squares or rectangles are in the 4x6" range, minimum, or a little larger. You can also use two small pieces of paper/canvasses and divide each one into four. Keep them the same size. I'll do a demo of one quick example in class.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah

Puzzle Painting class results

2011-03-31T16:27:00.000-07:00


Bosque Colors, (second pass) soft pastel, 12" x 18" Wallis paper

Whoo hoo! Color is a blast!

Okay, I had so much fun in our class today that I couldn't wait to show you the outcome. Above is how my demonstration painting stood when we left class. Now let me show you how I got to this point, which is technically not completed, but is well on its way.

First I cut one of the grayscale photos into sections by value. (See this post for materials.) This sounds easy but people over-think it too much sometimes and make it harder. I literally use a pencil to draw an outline of the simplified value shapes, ignoring details or complex shapes, and then cut them out like a jigsaw puzzle. Then I organize them into values, grouping areas of similar value together, to arrive at 4 or 5 values. Today's photo had five values. Here's the original photograph I used:

I reduced it to grayscale and arrived at this:

I also used Photoshop to posterize it, as I mentioned in the post below this one. Here's how it looks:

I love the elegant simplicity of the shapes this way, however as the artist you should feel free to choose the shapes you'll use.

I did something like this:

Don't get tied in knots over this part too much. I cut the photo up and taped the matching value sections on a piece of paper, grouping all the light values on one sheet, all the darks on another, etc. Then I selected each of the 5 colors. This part is so valuable and sometimes a bit challenging.

Below is a photo of one color grouping, as well as all five sheets with their value shapes taped in place (taped at the top in the first one, and on the right-hand side in all the rest of them), as well as the colors I chose. I made a little mark next to the cut-out, matching it in value as closely as possible, then used that chosen color as my benchmark. I made a long stripe of it on the paper and placed color candidates alongside, touching the two color edges to see if they were the same or similar in value. If I can't see a line dividing them they're close enough. You have to close one eye and squint like crazy, allowing your eyelashes to filter out the color, to see if they match--or you can hover your value finder over each color and make sure they're the same value that way.

Medium values

Nothing is perfect, and frankly if you don't find the exact right values it doesn't matter that much. You'll probably make yourself crazy if you try to do this by reducing photos of your colors to grayscale. Instead, learn to do it by eye. You'll develop your own color sense, and choose colors you like. Just do your best and have some fun finding a nice variety of colors for each value. You don't need to become slavish, just take your time looking and deciding. You're going to make a painting with ALL these colors, but it won't look 'real'. It will be a color explosion!

**NB: your photo will most likely make the lights white, but go just a step darker, since nothing is as white as white.

Then tape your paper in place, and using the second grayscale photo make a quick line drawing of the shapes in charcoal. Then close your palette, place the pieces of paper with the color charts and chunks of pastels on them next to the easel and begin plugging your chosen colors into the correct areas. At first it will look like a crazy hodge-podge of colors, but don't worry, just do it. Put ALL the light colors into the light area, ALL the medium-lights into those spots, ALL the colors chosen into their appropriate areas. It will look messy and fun, something like this:

Pass 1: Plug colors into the appropriate value areas.

You'll be much happier if you use the grayscale photo to begin with. It's hard enough to decide where the mediums reside, or where the medium-lights should be, without being driven insane looking at a color photo. You don't have those colors--and that's why this experiment is useful, so don't fight it. Go with all the crazy-fun colors, applied where they're meant to be, determined by the values.

Broken color close up.

After you've plugged in all the colors in the value areas, and have completed one pass, so that the whole page is covered with a layer of pastels, you'll begin to paint using this very select palette of colors. Don't open up your palette and start using more colors. Only use the 20-25 colors you've specially chosen already. Do at least one more pass with them, and if you're able, I challenge you to complete the entire painting using these colors alone!

I believe this slightly frustrating, somewhat confusing, but more than worthy struggle will help you determine the value of a color, and see that you can paint a piece with a limited palette. Value is the motivating force of a painting, and color is the energy. Go on painting, layering colors, using broken color, finding nuances. Don't strictly adhere to the puzzle. After a while, you might want to begin painting from the color photo, but only use the limited palette of colors to paint. You'll be amazed. I suspect you'll be using colors you never would have chosen from the original photograph. Just let yourself enjoy the color experience.

And have fun!

Addedum: Posterize the image

2011-03-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm preparing the demonstration for our class tomorrow in which I show how to determine the values of the colors, grouped into masses. I'm using Photoshop Elements 2.0, which has a neat feature. You can POSTERIZE the image.

To do it use

>Image >Adjustments >Posterize

I find that 5 values works best in most instances... It's a great way to start thinking values of colors.

I'll show you in class tomorrow. If you want to bring your laptop, that might be a good way to go.

For the rest of you following along (lurking), I suggest you experiment with Photoshop and see what it can do!

See you tomorrow,

Deborah

Class 3— Mar. 31 – Jigsaw Painting

2011-03-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Using a photograph of a landscape subject we’ll reduce it to jigsaw puzzle pieces, defined by value, in order to better see the underlying shapes. Bring identical prints of your photo (**one in color, and two reduced to grayscale, i.e. black and white prints of it), scissors, tape, a grayscale finder, a sketch pad a little larger than your photo and your materials and paper with you. We’ll cut and paste today.

This class is completely explained in Chapter 24 of my book, Landscape Painting in Pastels, "Make a Puzzle Painting", if you would like to look over the entire concept ahead of time. There are illustrations of all the materials needed there. I'm a bit reluctant to point you to the chapter because too often students try to do the whole lesson at home ahead of time, and then come to class to show the results. Those who are not participating in the weekly classes will most likely benefit from doing the experiment shown there, of course, and I urge you to give it a go, but those enrolled in the class will find additional information and help at class, plus we'll be doing things slightly differently.

So, for my enrolled students, I suggest you look over the chapter and come prepared to do the work in class. I'll do an extensive demonstration showing you how to find the values of the colors you'll use, and we'll make one finished piece derived from ALL the colors you found, rather than making three color sketches, as is shown in the chapter.

Find a good photograph, one you have taken yourself. Be certain it has at least 3 values represented clearly. However, you may use this photo if you prefer.

permission for class use granted

Bring with you to class:

color photograph of a landscape subject with an excellent range of values
grayscale copy of that photograph to cut up (blurred, if you want to)
grayscale copy to view (not required, but helpful)
sketchpad
a few sheets of copy paper
value finder
scissors
tape

You'll find it easier to do this with a clean palette of pastels, so that you can view your colors clearly.

(If anyone wants to, you most certainly can adjust and apply the principles used here to oils, acrylics, watercolor or gouache, using the time honored tradition of making color charts. It will aid you in determining the mixes of colors used, and their specific values, before applying them to a painting. I suggest painting alla prima, of course, rather than mixing colors on your canvas or paper. Think "one stroke = one color".)

Please also bring your tree threesome from last week, to show in class, and any other paintings in progress that would benefit from a 'curbside critique' (not the same as the final critique.)

See you on Thursday, gang.

Deborah

Stylized Negative Trees class results

2011-03-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Spring Pinks, 12" x 9", soft pastels on yellow Pastelmat

This class is meant to help you see the rhythm, balance and shapes of different trees. Start by looking at the overall outside shape of a tree: Is your tree an oval, triangle, square, rectangle or a circle? This should include all or most of the upper branches, but not slavishly. Squint to decide, and if a few little branches or leaf clusters are lost that’s okay.

First, in your sketchbook draw the geometric shape of the tree and fill in the area with charcoal or pencil. Then remove the shapes that describe the overall branch patterns.

This is partly to see what’s actually there, but I also want you to spend some time designing the shapes. Don’t allow any indentations to be identical is size, scale or shape. Trees tend to repeat patterns, but artists look for interesting visual variations.

I like to do this in Photoshop. Make a positive shape filled in with black, and use the eraser tool to remove the negative ‘sky’ shapes. Whether you use charcoal, a pencil or your computer, the trick here is to keep thinking of the negative shapes as much as you can. Design these to be varied and rhythmical and you’ll arrive at an interesting shape. Don’t try to draw the background, only think of it as empty sky behind the tree. Don’t look at them as trees, but tree-like patterns.

Find the sky holes that are most descriptive, including the trunks and branches if you can see them. Scale may play a role in this, in that a smaller tree with flowers on it may show far more gaps, while a larger tree may only show a few. Squint to decide which ones are key and what can be ignored.

I want you to approach the painting the same way, to some degree, as a positive tree against a negative sky (or background). Sketch from your design the interesting and varied tree shape you chose. Don’t look at the photograph of your tree, only your drawing of it. Think flat!

Take some time to get this shape recorded on your paper. I use charcoal to do this. You may find yourself wanting to tweak the drawing as you go along, so at that point you can begin painting. But here’s the catch—only paint the negative. It might be best if you tone white paper or use a colored ground for this. Carve away the shapes with a color or colors.In the demo below I used Wallis paper toned magenta, drew the outline with charcoal, and carved away the negative with sky blue.

quick demo carving away negative shapes only

The painting at the top of this blog post is the one I did during class from the exercise. I think seeing the negative shapes helps--you really have to paint what's behind before you paint what's in front. I began with a charcoal shape drawing, then added the grass, far greens of the trees and the blue of the sky, thinking negatively. Then I completed the tree.

Have fun--and keep going, gang!
Deborah

Class 2— Mar. 24 – Stylized Negative Trees

2011-03-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

'Apple Tree', gouache

Class 2— Mar. 24 – Stylized Negative Trees

We’ll explore painting three different trees using a technique that carves away the negative spaces. Bring photographs of three different trees that you can view completely from top to bottom and side to side, or nearly so. You’ll make one painting containing all three trees, much like a botanical illustration, using the negative painting technique.

__________

The 'style' I refer to in the title of this class is about the approach to seeing and drawing the trees, not necessarily creating a negatively painted tree, as you might have envisioned! No, this isn't a dark where there should be light painting, it's a tree designed by carving away the negative shapes. You'll see a demonstration explaining the process, which will employ some of the same steps we used in this class.

You have a choice. You can either use a small sheet of paper for each tree, or one larger sheet on which you paint each tree individually. I simply want you to approach each tree as a separate project.

Please find photographs that clearly show the entire tree, of any type, in full leaf or bud, of any size or shape or age, in the spring, summer or fall (excepting bare winter deciduous trees.) Try to find ones where you're easily able to sort out the tree from its background, not a grove that makes it hard to decide where one starts and the next stops.

Feel free to use any of these photos, with my permission, for your paintings.

Bring the paintings you began last week of rocks underwater, as well as your drawings, for a quick critique.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah

PS I suggest you consider signing up for this webinar on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM MDT: FREE Online Event: Painting from Photographs with Maggie Price

A short video on how to erase a portion of a pastel painting...

2011-03-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hope you enjoy this. This short bit was recorded in my studio and is totally an experiment, but might help you see what I do. Please feel free to ask questions!

Rocks Under Water

2011-03-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's class was intense, with not just one but really two demonstrations. First I did a couple of quick drawings in pencil to show how to sort out rock shapes, especially finding the three planes: light, medium (or half-light), and dark.

Then using a sheet of white Pastelmat paper about 9" square I did a charcoal underdrawing, changing it from a rectangular format (see photo and sketch at bottom) to a square, and painted using PanPastels. Here's the result, which is still in progress:

In order to paint rocks underwater it's necessary to consider the rocks first. I suggest drawing them well, showing the underwater rocks with their shadows, if they're visible, and then consider the water's action, reflections, and ripples.

A drawing will help you see more accurately. Do a good sketch showing the placement of the rocks, either in charcoal or pastel. It’s not necessary to draw every single stone, but locate the major players, and then loosely indicate the size and general placement of scattered stones in non-essential regions.

Ask yourself what makes the rocks look wet. In the sketch above you can see that the dry rocks are generally lighter in value, while submerged ones are slightly darker. The water line indicates the shape of the rock, as well. You can clearly see the shapes and shadows cast by those beneath the water, although the contrasts are not as dramatic.

WetCanvas RIL pic by Godzoned

Also notice that underwater rocks take on a monotone, colored by the prevailing light and any sediments carried by the water, influenced by the local colors of the rocks themselves. Ripples cast additional lines of light that sculpt stones underwater.

Reflections, along with light and shadow, affect how you see the water and stones under the surface.

I suggest you paint from bottom to top, beginning with the river bottom, any stones seen beneath the water, then its surface and any rocks above water.

I saw some wonderful pencil drawings begun in class as my students started to sort out rocks, both wet and dry, water and its reflections, bubbles and foam, and the shoreline rocks and trees.

Keep going, gang!
Deborah

New Class Session This Week

2011-03-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sketch on gray Pastelmat, charcoal, white and sienna pastels

Class 1— Mar. 17 – Rocks Under Water

Find a photo that shows rocks under the water, including large and small, wet and dry rocks. It’s nice if it also has some shadows caused by interesting light, and features some reflections on the water to indicate its movement, if possible.

In this class, which launches our next eight week session, we'll take a nice, long look at some of the special characteristics of rocks under and out of the water. I don't want you to think of it as a painting of a stream, or even as a painting of rocks, but as a study of the habits of light and shadow, value and color, texture and detail, that creates the illusion of wet and dry rocks.

Find a photo something like these (found in the WetCanvasReference Image Library The images posted below are free for you to use, per the agreement at WC RIL.)

by tonyjazz


by Stalksthedawn

by Kathryn Wilson

by a friend

In this class we'll begin with a drawing demo, to explore how a simple pencil sketch can express the needed elements. Print out your photo and bring it along so that you can examine the details. Bring a sketch pad and pencils, or whatever you would like to use for the drawing.

In addition, I'll also demonstrate a study painting on Pastelmat (available for sale in class by the sheet) using PanPastels, charcoal and two or three stick pastels, much like you see at the top of the blog today. I'd like this to remain a good study, rather than trying to complete it as a painting, and may use several photographs for various sketches to show you how to approach this study and teach the rules about rocks and water.

Oh, and if you want to join our class this week, we're in the same place as always, at Paradise Methodist church on the west side of Albuquerque. We meet at 11:00 to set up and the demo starts at 11:30. Class goes until 2:30. The cost is only $25.00 per class.

See you on Thursday!

Deborah