Art Show!

I will be showing two paintings in the San Antonio Art League and Museum's 87th Annual Artist Exhibition, opening Sunday April 9th, 2017, 3-5 pm. The opening is free, and the show will run until May 27th , if you can't make it that day. The museum is in a beautiful building down in the King William area. 

The two painting that were juried into the show are Winter Deer Skull, a hyper-realist oil painting that I worked on for about a year, and a little butterfly painted on gold leaf. Deer Skull also won an award, I'm not sure what exactly, but can't wait to find out! The little butterfly looks amazing as you walk around it, the gold leaf shines and changes with the angle.  Sadly I didn't take better pictures or videos of the butterfly before I took it in, I wasn't expecting it to be picked. It's always a gamble entering pieces into a juried show, because you never know what kind of art the jurors will like.  But luckily this time the gamble paid off, and I'll have to wait until later to get some better photos of the butterfly. 😀

 

Winter Deer Skull, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches.

Gold Butterfly, acrylic ink and resin over gold leaf, 5 x7 inches.

San Antonio Art League and Museum
130 King William St
San Antonio, TX 78204

http://www.saalm.org/

Storm Clouds 3/11/16

This was the view out my office window a few months ago, one nice and half stormy afternoon. I tried to enhance the sense of depth in the painting, fixing what the photo lost. The photos I took looked flat, and lost how the layers of clouds moved into the distance. Some parts were also messy in the photos, so I moved clouds around and took some out.

Storm Clouds 3/11/16, oil on panel, 6x12 inches, finished.

Here's the progression from sketch to finished painting. This painting was done with no medium in the bottom layers, so the paint would stay wet and be blendable all day. The top layers did need a little Neo Megilp medium added to give transparency to the color, and make very thin glazes possible. For instance the blue sky has a very thin layer of pure blue over it that makes the color more intense.   

Storm Clouds 3/11/16, painting process.

I found a new tool to use for the under drawing this time, watercolor pencils. Regular pencil smudges too much to be used under oil paint, because graphite is non-polar just like oil paint, so they're attracted to each other. But I like a detailed drawing to start from and pencil is a natural fit for that because it can be very precise, and faint enough to not show through the paint, unlike ink or charcoal.

Starting sketch with watercolor pencil.

Water-soluble graphite doesn't interact with oil paint, so the drawing stays put nicely. The drawing can be painted over with water too, and the color gets much darker. I tried that at first, in the top left corner of the painting, but it wasn't really helping so I didn't do it anywhere else.

Storm Clouds 3/11/16, detail.

Here's a little detail from the left side of the painting, showing the smudgy grey clouds in the front, cumulus clouds behind them, and the background layers of clouds.
This painting is currently for sale in my Etsy shop here.

Working on This Weekend- 5/17/15

I finished a few little things this week, that's always fun. All three of them are now available in my Etsy store.

Winter Thistle, mixed media drawing on paper, 5x7 inches, finished.

I've been trying to finish up some of the many little drawings that I have floating around, and I started this one quite a while ago. I started the drawing by transferring the pencil outlines, tracing them with pen, and then scrubbing in shading with charcoal. Tracing with pen works nicely, because it doesn't smear or disappear when the charcoal is added over it. After that I refined the dark areas with more pen work, sharp pencils and charcoal, and added in the white highlights with white acrylic paint. 

Beach Shells, oil on panel, 5x7 inches, finished.

This is another picture I gave up on and put away before finishing. But I tried again, and now I think it looks finished. The sand has shape and interest to it, and the shadows on the shells make sense now. 

Dam Sunset, oil on panel, 5x7 inches, finished.

I love the colors in this one, and after a few tries the grasses look good too.

AZ Aspen, oil on canvas panel, 9x12 inches, unfinished.

Still working on this one, I tried another color on the fence, and this time it looks better. The fence and sidewalk at the bottom still need a little more work, but it's close to done.

Working on This Weekend- 5/10/15

 I finished a few things this weekend, trying to clean up a bit so I can start new pictures.

Dry Wash, charcoal drawing on paper, 10x14 inches, finished.

This drawing came from a photo my mom took in the desert a few years ago, of the patterns in a dry creek bed after a rain. It's charcoal on soft paper, with highlights in white pastel and white acrylic paint.

Beach Shells, oil on panel, 5x7 in, finished.

 I started this little painting about a year ago, and then didn't like how it turned out. But I reconsidered abandoning it and worked on the background a little more. Now it's more finished looking, the sand is interesting to look at and has a sense of distance and shape.

Dam on West, oil on canvas panel, 5x7 in, maybe finished.

 This is a little sunset painting I started a few months ago and then didn't know how to finish. I added detail to the grasses in front and worked on the road today, and maybe it might be done now.

AZ Aspen, oil on panel, 9x12 in, unfinished.

 Still tinkering with this one, the clouds were easy, but the tree and the fence in the front have been trickier. And for some reason the colors are hard to photograph, they come out looking strange no matter the settings. 

Winter Deer Skull, oil on panel, 16x20 in, unfinished.

Working on the grasses in the background of this painting now, but there's still a lot to do, just because of the size.

Three Pink Roses

Here's the finished painting of pink roses from the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, in front of the Auld House. The Auld house is a historic farm house built in the 1880's that was donated to the San Antonio Botanical Garden, it was moved from the original location and rebuilt in the garden. 

Three Pink Roses, oil on panel, 8x10 inches, finished,

Three Pink Roses, detail, oil on panel, 8x10 inches, finished,

Three Pink Roses, detail, oil on panel, 8x10 inches, finished,

Three Pink Roses, progression, oil on panel, 8x10 inches, finished,

For sale here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/224530506/three-pink-roses-original-oil-painting?

Toy I

Toy I, with the model.

I wanted to try some still lifes based on my favorite colors, Prussian Blue and Alizarin Crimson, with little toys and items from around the house. This is the first finished picture in that series, it features one of my favorite model horses that I've had since I was little.
This painting was done on canvas, but I wanted the bottom white part smooth, so I built it up with many layers of gesso and sanded it smooth. After that was smooth I poured on Prussian Blue mixed with Galkyd and let it form the drips.

Toy I, oil painting on canvas, 12x24inches, finished, 2013.

GIF of Toy I, showing some of the layers that went into the horse.

GIF of Toy I, showing the layers that went into the whole painting.

Toy I, with the model.

Working on This Weekend-11/23/14

I was stuck working on some little pencil drawing for the last week, because it was too cold outside to spray them with fixative. But Sunday was nice and warm, so I was able to fix them and work on the next layers.

Hall House Deer Skull, pencil drawing with white acrylic highlights,  5x7 on bristol paper, finished.

This drawing is mostly pencil, with a little white acrylic paint to bring out the highlights, and that white paint made a huge difference, the drawing looked pretty flat before the whites were brightened.  

Thistle Seed, pen and charcoal, 5x7 on bristol paper, unfinished. 

 I did the underdrawing for this with copic pen, so the sharp spines wouldn't be blurred by blending the charcoal. Making this look 3D will be my goal, because even the photo looks pretty flat.

Torrit Grey Lady, oil painting, 11x14 on a canvas panel, unfinished.

I've been wanting to paint a figure for awhile now, so I picked a vintage erotica picture to work from. These pictures are old enough that the copyrights have expired, and there are tons that would make beautiful paintings. Also I prefer these "real" figures over the oddly photoshopped anatomy you see in most modern photos. She needs a good name too, but there's time to find the right one.

Deer Skull, oil painting on Gessobord, 16x20, unfinished.  

This is the big picture I'm working on now, and it's slowly progressing. I wasted some time drawing in grass in the background and then losing the drawing when I tried painting over it, but I was trying to figure out how to deal with the grass and I think I'm closer now.  With a mid-tone background I can draw in the light colored stems of grass and add in the darks around that.

Working on This Weekend-8/5/2013

Better late than never I guess. I added all the pictures to this post a year ago and then never finished it.

Guadalupe Fail, 9x12, oil on canvas panel, unfinished.

I never finished this one, it just got too messy, but the colors were nice in some places. Might be worth trying to paint this scene again eventually.

Weaver's Needle, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished.

A little 3 hours painting from a photo my mom took in Arizona.

Rhino at SA Zoo, 5x7, pencil and charcoal on bristol paper, finished, sold.

A three hour drawing from a picture I took of the rhinoceros looking lazy at the San Antonio Zoo. I had a hard time figuring out the shadows on his face, until I started drawing the shadow and realized there were two horns and not just one.

Butterfly II, 5x7, oil on Claybord, unfinished. 

It was a really cold day at the Arboretum when I took this photo, and it was around freezing the night before too, so it was a nice surprise to see a butterfly. I had a hard time identifying it, turns out there are lots of orange butterflies in Texas. So I submitted a photo to the nice people at butterfliesandmoths.org  who identified it as a Danaus gilippus, or Queen butterfly.

Sophie, the best studio cat ever. 

Viola

This pansy is the first painting that I did on Claybord*, and scrubbed in colors in thin glazes. The white areas were scraped back to white, and then painted white. The nice thing about Claybord is that the gesso layer is extra thick so it can be painted over and etched back to white without scratching through it. But the drawback is I've seen oil paint flake off more than once, I think the board sucks all the oil out of the paint and the pigment falls off. So now I mostly paint on Gessobord, which is slightly less absorbent and save the Claybord for pencil and ink drawings. 

Viola, 5x7 oil on Claybord,  finished.

Viola, detail, 5x7 oil on Claybord,  finished.

Viola, 5x7 oil on Claybord,  framed, finished.

You can find Viola in the new book "Flowers in Art: Contemporary International Artists" by Cindy Ann Coldiron. It is a beautiful book showcasing all types of flower art from over fifty international artists. The book is available from amazon.com and many other retailers.

*I have not been compensated in any way by Ampersand, I just love their products.

Beach Quickies

Little 5x7 oil paintings done a few months ago, before and during a trip to Port Aransas. All done in less than two hours.

Clouds and Seaweed, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Pelicans, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Morning Color Sketch, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Night Clouds, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, finished, 2014.

Quickies

All of these paintings were done in less than three hours, and mostly in one sitting. I had to come back after the first layer dried and add in the bright whites in the clouds. 

Weaver's Needle, 5x7 inches, oil on canvas panel, finished.

Weaver's Needle, detail of clouds.

Port A Dunes,  5x7 inches, oil on canvas panel, finished.

Port A Dunes, detail.

Wupatki Grasses, 5x7 inches, oil on canvas panel, finished.

Long Landscapes

Two 4x12 inch landscape paintings on canvas. First one is of Four Peaks in Arizona, and the second is a view from Big Bend, in west Texas. 

Four Peaks, 4x12 in, oil on canvas, probably finished.

Four Peaks, detail. 

I changed the color of the blue in the sky on Four Peaks, the first color just didn't match. So the clouds aren't quite blended to the sky in a few places, but I don't think I'll spend any more time on this one.

Big Bend, 4x12 in, oil on canvas, finished. 

The sky is one of my favorites, it came out a subtle blue and blends into the haze of a hot afternoon. 

Big Bend, foreground detail.  

The paint on the rocks at the bottom is shiny from the Galkyd medium, to help it stand out from the far away background. The sky and the mid-ground was painted with no medium, so it's matte. I also found  a new trick for making really thin lines. The grasses were very tedious to do with a paintbrush, so I dipped a thread in paint, pulled it tight and stamped it down. Paint stayed exactly in a thin line, and some of it kept some raised texture. I think curved shapes could be made by carefully dropping the string from one end, too.