Second Day of Painting in Converse

I painted a well-known landmark--a Shell gas station on Route 18, the second day I was in Converse. The home across the street had just been sold and the owner granted permission to set up my easel on their property, which offered a nice shady place to paint.

Pet Portraits

I made time for a couple of pet portraits in August too. I was able to photograph the chihuahua myself -which is always helpful when you're doing a painting. I was struck by how delicate and tiny she was. This is a 9" x 12" painting but she is about life size--weighing in at three pounds.

Panda, a shih tzu from Columbus, was another project I worked on and his owner was very happy with the painting, which included a detailed background.

Still Life with Pears and Copper Kettle

Still Life with Pears and Copper Kettle

Painted at Lakeside during a still life class I taught in August. I love the glass reflections and of course pears are my favorite fruit to paint.

Great Dane Portrait

My son has a Harlequin Great Dane named Khloe who is nine years old and I painted this piece from a photo he sent me that was taken when she was five. She's a sweet, gentle dog with a queenly air. When she walks into a room or anywhere, for that matter, people notice her.

Khloe 11" x 14"
oil on canvas

Ohio State Murals

Last week I painted a couple murals, one of Woody Hayes, another of Ezekiel Elliott, in a 'man cave' for a client in Michigan. Yeah- he was born in Ohio, but he still lives in Michigan, and loves his Buckeyes apparently.

These are acrylic paint and measure about 52" x 42".

Oglethorpe County Courthouse, Georgia

This piece is a commission I did for a client who will give it to her mother in law, who served as a judge there for 30 years. This courthouse had some distinctive arches around the windows. More and more, I find myself very thankful for resources like Google when people send me blurry cell phone pictures.

I used the client's photo but changed the season to spring and cleaned up the landscaping.

20" x 24" oil on canvas

Napoleon Barn

We painted this Napoleon landmark at The Armory Arts & Event Center Thursday night. Will probably have another class in two or three weeks. PM me if you are interested. I demo as we paint and finished up the edges on this on tonight. I love the teal color of this building and the hot peach roof- just a gorgeous scenic barn. I'm hoping to do a plein air of it on location this summer. 

11x14 oil on canvas

Portland, Maine

I took photos of lobster boats in Portland, Maine when I drove home from a painting trip this past summer. The colorful reflections, lobster boats, traps and shipping containers tell a story and I plan to do more pieces along the same lines. This is the first, a smaller 11" x 14" where I made the boat the center of interest.

12" x 12" Portland Harbor

Fall Painting

FALL COLOR

9x12 oil on canvas

This piece is a demo for a class I did in September. We all used the same photo reference but it's amazing how differently everyone's paintings looked when we were finished. A common error, even when I point out easy ways to judge proportion, is to make the focal point too large. About half of the barns ended up in the center of the painting, even though I was careful to point out that the barn rests on the left side of the canvas.

What I really like about this piece is the brilliant fall color in the background which manages to remain cool and unobtrusive because of the ultramarine underpainting and lack of detail.

Another Portrait

Jada 11" x 14"

oil on linen

Jada posed for our Saturday morning group. She is eighteen years old and moving to California this year to go to college. I think I've made her look a bit older than she actually is.
Jada won Miss Buckeye State, which is a huge honor. You have to be smart!

This painting was done 90% from life in one pose and I finished her dress and the background home using a photo reference.

Pastel Portrait

This is a pastel of our model, Jessica, completed in one session. I used Ampersand Gessoed paper in umber and Rembrandt and Nupastels for the most part.

16 x 12 pastel on Pastel Board

I Didn't Stop Painting

A few people have asked me when I'm going to start updating my blog again, and the answer is today. I recently began working full time and it's limited my painting time. But I'm still painting and I'll share some of the good ones over the next few weeks.

This is a painting of Jessica, a model who posed for our portrait group in September. Jessica always manages to look like a different person every time she poses.

16" x 20" oil on canvas

Dip Nets

This is a restaurant where we painted in Port Clyde when it was raining. I loved the colorful lobster buoys and the yellow reflections from the overhang. My friend painted facing the other direction.

More Paintings from Maine

Here are two more paintings from my trip to Maine. These were painted from similar locations at slightly different times of day. One was a relatively calm day and the other one was painted on a day when there was a small craft advisory.

I love the way the sky and water can make a scene completely different from one day to the next.

Port Clyde, Maine

I spent last week in Maine with eight other artists. We rented a house and plein air painted during the day and drank wine in the evening. I had never been to Maine before and the rugged beauty of the coast was a joy to paint. We stayed in the St. George area, in the tiny village of Port Clyde.

I am sharing a painting of some row boats I did while standing on the deck of the local coffee shop, Squid Ink Coffee.

9" x 12" oil on canvas

Iris and Buster

Iris is the granddaughter of a friend and she took a nice photograph of her when she visited her recently. I loved the red boots and baggy sweatshirt. I added the little Westie for interest.

16" x 20" oil on canvas

Can We Take Him Home?

Tim Horn Workshop

I attended a two and a half day workshop with Tim Horn last week. He is an excellent instructor and had some helpful tools for painting outdoors. There was nothing that was new to me, but watching him actually using the tools-one was a color isolator- reinforced the idea that I should be using them as well.
Tim's work is all about light and shadow and the first full day of the workshop was cloudy, but he still managed to impart some of the wisdom that has made him one of the top landscape painters in California.
I did not do a decent painting in this workshop, but I did create one I liked at the B&B where we stayed.

12' X 12" The Glen House

Mallard Lake Oak Openings

I used a photo taken by one of my students to paint this demo for a weekly painting class I'm teaching this month. It's a local metro park near the place where I am holding the class. I photograph every step then throw them into a Powerpoint presentation so they have a step by step map for their painting. Many of the people taking this class have never painted before so it's very helpful. They also have a print of the original photo so they can see what I modified to create the painting.

Last painting for the Spring Session

11" x 14" oil on canvas-- from a photo I took when I was in Phoenix and the students did a pretty nice job with it too!

Paint Party

A few week ago I helped out with a fund raiser and our project was helping little girls paint teacups on canvas. All the kids were dressed nicely because the theme was an American Girl Tea Party. One child was sooo adorable I couldn't resist taking her picture and painting her painting her picture.

11" x 14" watercolor