Sunday, November 22, 2015

Portraits Inc Workshop, Birmingham, AL

My thanks to everyone at Portraits Inc, and especially to workshop coordinator Laura Murphey for making the experience so great for us all!

We had the chance to try out my new workshop syllabus, which involved a Day One morning monchrome oil demo, with students painting their portraits from life in monochrome oil and Torrit Grey, if they chose. Wonderful samples again provided courtesy of the Gamblin folks - thanks Dave and Scott:)

I liked this format quite a lot, warming up with an oil monochrome, then painting from the live model again the second day, but in color. There were eleven students (one had to drop out at the last moment) and plenty of room in the portrait gallery for 11 easels and two live model set-ups.

You can tell they are focused by their stance!











The workshop was followed by the "Down South" Portraits Inc meeting, with artists and sales associates, coinciding with a terrific show and a packed house at the adjacent Beverly McNeil Gallery.




If you are in Birmingham, be sure to stop by to see the portrait and fine art galleries, pick up a "tiny treasure" painting, or commission a portrait!

And remember:





Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Webinar now available! Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color & Light

If you missed the webinar with ArtistsNetwork, you can view it here...I thought it would be edited to a short version but the whole thing is available, which will be great if you are ever having trouble falling asleep:) It's about an hour.



Monday, September 21, 2015

My daily palette, to accompany Artists Network's free online webinar Tuesday Sept. 22, at 1 pm eastern daylight time

There isn't enough time available during the webinar to go through the palette colors in detail,so I am providing it here for anyone who would like:)


https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4077641495097249026

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Samantha, life study, monochrome oil with Torrit Grey

At the Portrait Artists of Arizona open studio yesterday our model Samantha held a STANDING pose all day! In order to try out some methods that I'll be incorporating into future workshops, I came with an oil-primed linen panel, already primed opaquely with Gamblin's Portland Gray Medium (PGM). Materials were white, black PGM, and Torrit Grey.

At each step, the toned ground offers the option to cover up mistakes, either by lifting marks out with mineral spirits or just painting over them with another coat of PGM, which will match the background perfectly.








Saturday, August 1, 2015

Apologies! I posted the incorrect dates ---Just scheduled: Workshop November 15-19 Birmingham AL, hosted by Portraits Inc



Please contact: workshops@portraitsinc.net  to register.
This workshop is open to all artists - please contact me if you have any questions about whether this is the right workshop for you!



Sunday, July 26, 2015

Janet Napolitano, Preliminary Study, oil 20 x 16

This small study is one of several I am doing to prepare for next month's opening of "Women Making Faces", an exhibition of the Chandler Center for the Arts's Vision Gallery.

Janet Napolitano is one of three subjects I've selected for my entry into this inaugural event, showcasing the work of ten women portrait artists who live in Arizona.

The show opens with an reception from 7-9 pm on August 14, 2015 and will run through October 24, 2015, with an Artists' Meet and Greet, along with live painting demonstrations from 7- 9 pm on September 18 - stay tuned for more details!!







Sunday, June 28, 2015

Tumbling Roses, oil on linen, 18 x 14

With this still life, I decided to experiment with non-lighting- diffuse, non directional light. I thi8nk this makes for a more difficult approach since it doesn't allow for strong light and shadow patterns to created form and design. The plus side is that the light and colors are so soft, they seem to melt into the atmosphere.


Friday, June 26, 2015

Dori and Rachel Double Charcoal Portrait from Life

This morning we were in for such a treat - our open studio coordinator, artist Dorothy Ray, arranged for two models, a mother and daughter, to sit at the Mountain Artists' Guild in Prescott.

I wish I could remember what kind of paper I used - some type of pastel paper that's been in my closet for way too many years- mainly because I don't like the surface and would never buy it again, sigh. But I did like the color:)

Dori and Rachel, charcoal on something, 16 x 20.


Friday, June 12, 2015

Harley Brown: American Artist oil study, 20 x 16 - accepted into the OPA Western Regional Competition, August 7 - September 7, 2015

Harley Brown has been one of my closest mentors and has also become a very dear friend since I first studied with him over twenty years ago. I am really honored to be included in this Oil Painters of America competition, and wish I could attend! 






Wild Horse Gallery
802 Lincoln Avenue
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
(970) 879-5515

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Painting Luann, Mountain Artists' Guild, Open studio

It is always a delight to find out what our wonderful model artist coordinator, Dorothy Ray, has  lined up:)

This morning, Luann...I thought I had more canvases here, but the only one I did have was a Fredrix panel, but too absorbent for my tastes. I found that I couldn't get the surface covered with enough slickness to really let me move the paint the way I wanted to... so here's the thing: you dance with the one who brung ya, right?








Saturday, May 2, 2015

Portrait Society of America 2015: Opening Night Face-off

At 5:00 pm on Thursday night, fifteen artists gathered to paint 5 models before a packed crowd in the Grand Ballroom at the Hyatt in Buckhead, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Both artists and models draw numbers so no one knows in advance where he or she will paint nor whom will be modeling - it is such fun, and in my group were Kate Stone and Carol Arnold, both spectacular painters. The finished demonstrations are auctioned during the weekend, with the proceeds going toward the scholarships the PSA offers each year. Here are several photos showing the process - time flying until the final bell rings at 7:30 and the event is concluded. You can see all the paintings here, on Matt Innis's excellent blog, "Underpaintings"


Above, an overview of one end of the ballroom. All of the painting stations were set up in the center, so that conference attendees could move around the perimeter to watch each artist's progress.

Here are some of the steps:






Above, part way through painting our model, Sarah. You can see artist Katherine Stone painting next to me. Carol Arnold was on Kate's left. I used for the first time the Natural Pigments's Artefex oil-primed linen panel, with thanks to George O' Hanlon who graciously donated the panel. It's a beautiful panel, and I will look forward to using more of them.


Above, artists painting the model in red. And below, my artist friend Annette Goings must have been saying something funny as she took these pics:)



 Below, my finished portrait of Sarah. Oil. 20 x 16.


Below, showing artists my brand new fabulous NewWave grey palette, complete with a thumb gasket to prevent aching hands while holding the palette. It's a beaut,and best of all I got to keep it - thank you Kyle!


Jaime's Lemons, oil 6x9, for The Portrait Society of America's Mystery Sale, Friday May 1, 2015

One of the wildest and most fun highlights of the Portrait Society of America's Annual Art of the Portrait Event is the 6x9 Mystery Sale - more than 200 small panels, unsigned on the front, are donated by the PSA Faculty and invited artists, where all are both unveiled and sold in a matter of 30 very, very short minutes. Only after the panels are purchased (each at a fixed price of $250) is the buyer allowed to take the panel, turn it over and find the name of the artist who painted the panel. So much fun!

Here is the panel I donated,  fresh lemons painted from life, picked from my niece and nephew's yard.


Friday, May 1, 2015

Promoting your work in the 21st Century: Self-publishing - presented at the 2015 Portrait Society of America, Atlanta, GA

As part of a panel discussing various approaches to promoting your work in the Twenty-first Century, I joined teammates Scott Jones (Legacy Gallery) and David Gluck and Kate Stone (artists and bloggers, Painting Stuff to Look Like Stuff) and addressed the concept of self-publishing for artists.

Rather than try to guess at how many handouts to bring, or to see people frantically trying to write down the notes from powerpoint slides, I'm just sharing the info here so it can be read at your convenience.

To simplify, I focused on three basic tiers to publishing art books:

1. Self-publishing, Print-on-demand (POD);
2. Self-publishing, short run (up through about 5,000 copies); and
3. Big publishing clearinghouses (e.g., North Light Books,Watson-Guptill).

_________________________________________________________________________________


The following table highlights the basic differences between self published POD and short-run:



Courtesy Amy Strickland, Matter Deep Publishing

_________________________________________________________________________________

Considerations in Self- Publishing


 •Template flexibility

•Hard/soft cover/digital options


•Cost/Pricing/mark-ups/profitability

•Editing

•Design assistance

•ISBN

•Marketing

•Distribution


…all of which should be driven by your book’s purpose.

________________________________________________________________________________

Some examples of Print-on-demand publishers

Blurb
Lulu
MagCloud (now part of blurb)
….and more being added every day :)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Why stop with books?

FinerWorks

_________________________________________________________________________________

Oh. And if you want to hire some help with your soon-to-be-published book?
Don't call me. You already know what I know.

Contact Carly Stickland at Matter Deep Publishing. contact@matterdeeppublishing.com 





Monday, April 13, 2015

Bob Anderson, life study, 16 x 12

From Friday's Open Studio at the Prescott Mountain Artists' Guild. Bob is one of the best models at the MAG - he works at Prescott's Palace Bar (on the infamous Whiskey Row) and has fabulous western costumes he wears daily. He was authentic right down to his boots and spurs, but I would never have enough time to paint the whole look in a three hour session!




Sunday, April 5, 2015

Brushwork detail, William Whitaker: American Artist

Having received the most gracious email from artist Donna Colleran, whose beautiful portrait also won an ward last week, I'm posting some additional details as requested. I particularly enjoy the process of just putting the paint on the surface and then leaving it alone. Sometimes very hard to resist smoothing it all out, sigh.