Another attempt at painting clouds...

Here's another attempt (unfinished) at painting clouds I did during the workshop with Mike Windberg. I never got to paint the bottom part (water/ocean), since I was not satisfied with the clouds and the painting is more about the clouds than the water...

2nd attempt at painting clouds during the workshop, Oil, 6 x 8"

Clouds Rolling In

A few weeks ago I took a workshop on painting clouds in oil with Mike Windberg at the Windberg Art Center in Georgetown, Tx.

Below is the first painting I did in the workshop. I struggled quite a bit and Mike had painted quite a bit on it to show me different things. So when I came home it felt like some else's painting. So I reworked it until I felt it was mine... still not too sure what to think about this one...

Clouds Rolling In, Oil on stretched canvas, 11 x 14"

Which one do you prefer?

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a pastel workshop with Liz Haywood-Sullivan, PSA. I really enjoyed it and she's a very good painter and instructor. We had a very nice and talented group of artists from the Austin Pastel Society. Using the same photo reference, on one day we did a painting on a black surface and the next day we used a white surface with a washed (alcohol) underpainting.  Neither of them is finished. But which one do you prefer?

Pastel painting on black paper

Pastel painting on a wash underpainting

Old Pot and Oranges

Last week I went to a 5-day (open-studio) workshop with Dalhart Windberg at the Windberg Art Center, Georgetown, TX. The idea was to paint something of our choice and get critiques and personal instructions. This was a great opportunity to learn and I enjoyed every minute of it.
The school has such an impressive collection of objects for still life that I decided to start with that. I got quite a bit of help on finishing this (as part of the learning process :)

 

Old Pot and Oranges, Oil on canvas board, 14 x 11"

Golden Cottonwood

Last week I went for another 3-day workshop at the Windberg Art Center with Mike Windberg. The subject this time was the "fall colors".  I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it. Among other things I learned to work on  an oil painting over a few days. I'm happy with the final painting (below). It is more detailed than I'm used too. I must say that Mike W. has added quite a bit to the foreground for learning purposes ;)

Golden Cottonwood, Oil on canvas panel, 14 x 11"

Oil study #174: Hill Country in the Morning

This is a reworked piece from my last workshop in Fredericksburg with Virginia Vaughan.

I was supposed to paint a sunrise, but I got mesmerized by all the quick changes of the light and the clouds. I got to watch the best part of the sunrise, but didn't paint it :( Then I decided to turn around and paint the landscape in the opposite direction, which was interesting (and still challenging) and it didn't seem to move so fast (that's what I wanted to believe anyway).

I'm not sure I conveyed the right time of day (early morning), otherwise I'm happy with the clouds.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #173 - plein air and Workshop with Virginia Vaughan

I went to a 3 day workshop with Virginia Vaughan at the Fredericksburg Artists' School last week. We had a small group of very nice people willing to work from sunrise to sunset. It allowed me to try things that I wouldn't have done on my own, e.g. sketching farm animals and painting the sky at sunrise and sunset.

This painting is a rework of one of the studies I did the first night. It was supposed to be a warm up study before the study of the sunset but I spent too much time on this one and was not ready for the (fast moving) sunset :(

Looking at this one brings me right back into the workshop. I'm pretty happy with the field and I will try to paint more clouds...

Oil on panel, 6 x 8"

Workshop with Qiang Huang - #3

Here's my last painting from the workshop. I tried the neutral background partially in the light this time. I like the 3D effect on this one.

Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10"

Workshop with Qiang Huang - #2

I wanted to see Qiang paint a rose. We didn't have any roses around but had plenty of wildflowers. He made it look SO easy. I thought I would give it a try. It was not easy, but I'm happy with the result.

Oil on canvas 10 x 8"

Workshop with Qiang Huang - #1

Last week I attended a WONDERFUL workshop with Qiang Huang and hope to assimilate everything I learned.

Here's my first painting (with Qiang's help) I did in the workshop. The background is used as a stage for the objects (similar in theater). It's dark with a neutral color and the objects are in the spot light. The colors of the objects are also more saturated (than the background) and they seem to come out of the dark and pop up. There is also room in the painting for the whole setup, nothing is cropped. I never knew what to do with the background and I usually avoided painting it. But this gives me ideas for further experimentation. Thanks Qiang!

Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10"

Color swatch & palette knife: Fire in the Sky

I'm leaving for a 3 day workshop with Qiang Huang this Wednesday in the Hill Country.
I registered a few months ago for this still life workshop. I didn't expect to get hooked with the plein air. Anyway, the suggested palette is different than what I've used so far (warm and cool primary colors plus white and burnt umber) so I decided to make a color swatch (below).

I had quite a bit of paint left when I was done with the swatch so I decided to play with a palette knife. I didn't really have a plan at first, but you can see the influence from the plein air :) This was so much fun to do!!!

Oil on canvas, about 5 x 8"

Workshop - Oil study #95: Green Flower in Red Creamer

This oil study was done the day after the brushstroke exercise and after a demo/instructions about the use of grays (as opposed to saturated colors). It looks like I worked on my grays and forgot about the brushstrokes... I was happy with the inside color of the creamer (warm gray) , the gray on the left side of the creamer and some of the darker red brushstrokes.

Oil study, 6" x 8"

Another oil study done during Carol Marine's workshop #93: Cherries Reflected in Ceramic

This oil study was done at the workshop after the value exercise, but before the brushstroke exercise.

Oil study, 8" x 6"

Brushstroke exercise

Here's a few takes on a brushstroke exercise we did during Carol Marine's workshop. With a limited number of brushstrokes we had to render a convincing shape. The shadow side of the apple on the first one was too light, in the second one it was too dark and I was satisfied (and tired) with the last one. I'll need to practice some more...

I also learned not to be afraid of wiping off part or the entire painting when it's not working. So there were a few wipes before the first one.

Value studies from Carol Marine's workshop

At the workshop last week (with Carol Marine) we did some value studies. The first one is the same pepper I had painted in color that day (see previous post).

The next day we did three more value studies with 3 values. We had 30 minutes for the first one, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes for the next two. We had to choose which value (dark, medium or light) would be dominant, which one would be secondary and the "smidge".

My first value study is an orange on a plate where the medium value is dominant, the dark secondary and the light the smidge. The second value study one has a dominant light value, a secondary medium value and the smidge is the darkest value (the cherry and the cup). I wanted my third value study to be dark dominant... in 5 minutes... well I tried it and wiped it not long after. If I recall it was definitely the dark value dominant but there was not much else. It looked like a mess. This exercise turned out to be more difficult that I anticipated. Probably because of the time constraint. But almost everyone did better with less time. It forces you to make quick decisions and stick to them. You don't have time to change your mind anyway.

BTW: here's a group picture for the workshop.

Oil study from Carol Marine's workshop

I really enjoyed my workshop last week with Carole Marine. Here's my first oil study I did during that workshop.

I may have cropped my picture a bit too much on the right side. This way it almost looks like a kiss (the pepper kissing the edge).

Oil study, 6" x 8"

Momentum... and learning opportunity

I'm afraid I lost the momentum here... even my exercise routine took a hit this week :( And I'll have a hard time to get back to it in the next two-three weeks. I'm leaving for the International Association of Pastel Societies convention in Albuquerque, NM this week and then I'll have my twin sister visiting me here in Austin from Canada for few days after that... I'll try to post in between...

Here's some exciting news: I registered for Carole Marine's workshop in July at the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in San Antonio.

I've been following Carole Marine's blog since mid-January and she inspired me to paint daily and start my own blog. One day she posted a painting of a ceramic bunny she did that day (#706) and the painting she had done of the same subject about two years prior (#20) to that (go to January 21 of her archive page). WOW, what an improvement! If she improved THAT much with daily painting in two years, I'M IN. Even if I improve half of that, I'll be happy. Hard work and discipline paid off for her. I'm a hard worker and I can be disciplined so it should pay off for me too, right?

Since I was at the beginning of learning to paint with oil, I decided to use the blog to record my journey. And someday I'll have some paintings to refer back to... If at the same time I can inspire someone else to paint (or do any other activity :) daily then that will be the cherry on the sundae!

I've been doing oil studies (almost) every day since January and I'm ready for some instruction. I still have a lot to learn but feel like I have plateaued. So learning with an instructor in a group will (hopefully) help me to move forward faster. I feel ready for it. And it will be a pleasure to learn with a painter that has already inspired me :)