New Cracked Eggshell Painting!

 

 Hello Folks!
I know it's been a while since I have posted. I plan to get a lot more regular with it this year. Just been a little on the busy side.
Here is a new eggshell painting I just finished! I had a lot of fun painting this one!

Wave Demo In Palm City Process Shots

Hello Folks!

Last Wednesday I did a one hour Demo for the Palm City Art Associates in Palm City, Florida.
I love doing demos, and I think this one went particularly well. Seemed like everyone had a great time including me! Here are a few process shots and the demo below.

 I brought a finished painting with me and just demonstrated how I begin them.

 The size is 30 x 20 making it the largest demo I have ever painted.

  I was actually impressed with how far I took it in one hour. Doing a large wave in that much time is not easy.

  

A shot of the crowd. I'm told there were around seventy five people present.

Above is a shot of the Demo (to the left) and the finished Wave painting (to the right).

 

30 x 20 Oil on Canvas

Click Here To Bid

Although the finished Demo is not complete enough to send to one of the galleries, I liked it to much to wipe it away. I will be putting it up for auction on Ebay at 10pm tonight starting at $100.00
The finished one will be going to one of the galleries and will retail for $6,500.00.

Click Here To Bid

Wave Painting Process Shots

 I did a quick sketch first on this wave, something I do not normally do on them. Because of the complexity of the breaking part, I wanted a bit more of an accurate drawing before I began painting.

I wound up covering every drawing line anyway but I think it was a good exercise.

It is 18 x 32, one of the bigger waves I have painted.

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Color Palette For Painting Ocean Waves

 This post is by special request, and since I promised...

12 x 16 Oil on Panel
This one is a larger version of the 6 x 8 study

 The first thing I learned about painting the color of waves was that color is not even close to being the most difficult thing about painting them. For me, the most difficult thing about painting waves was that the values are so close together that just making something slightly too dark or too light can ruin the picture. Value, not color, was and still is, the most difficult thing to figure out when painting a wave. I painted several waves in black and white, from black and white photos, before moving on to color.

Two new 6 x 8 Wave Studies - Currently Available at Scottsdale Fine Art

 The most important thing I observed from walking on the beach, is that waves are grey. The easiest way to make grey, is black and white, All of the colors pictured below have black in them. All of my wave paintings have black in them. I can't tell you how many times I have heard, "black deadens the painting, nature has no black in it, waves need to be painted in full color, YOU can't use black"...and on and on and on. Well, I use black, a lot of black, actually.  The first mixture on the list is straight Black and White. You don't have to use black if you have your head dead set against it. You can grey the colors with the opposites if you prefer. A touch of orange for example, greys the green and blue nicely, and I do that as well. Another great way to grey these colors is to use "Winsor & Newton Raw Umber Green Shade" - It is one of my favorite colors.

The below is a sample only. I do not mix these bands up every time I paint, nor do I use only these colors. It is just to give an idea of what I use.

8 x 10 Demo Available for purchase. Link at bottom of post.

#1. Straight Black and White.

#1a. This is straight black. I put this on the page to show that no wave painting I make ever comes close to going full black. They all stay very much on the light side of the spectrum.

#2 - White, Black, Pthalo Green, a touch of Pthalo Blue.

#3. In between these two color bands I do a lot of mixing.

#4. White, Black, Pthalo Blue, Diox Purple

#5. White, Black, Pthalo Green, a touch of Pthalo Blue, and Raw Sienna.

#6. White, Black, Pthalo Green, Raw Sienna

#6a. Pthalo Green and  Raw Sienna without Black in it. Look at the difference! Looks more like the color of grass than an ocean wave.

#7. White, Black, Pthalo Blue, and a touch of Pthalo Green. The opposite of mixture #2.

I do a lot of mixing in between the bands of color. It is impossible to tell someone exactly what color things in nature are because the change slightly so often. This is is just the basic colors I use, but by no means all of them. I would say, that I have mixed thousands of slight color variations in the time that I have been painting waves. I am thinking of doing another ebook on wave painting, and going into much more detail, but they do take quite a bit of time.

Below is a shot of me with some of the wave paintings. It is difficult to understand the sizes online so I posted a picture of myself in there to give a feeling for the size of the large one. I'm holding the painting pictured at the top and the study for it, also to give an idea of the sizes.

This one took a long time to post, hope you liked it...If anyone is interested in buying the color palette demo pictured above,, it is $100. plus shipping. It comes with a print of the sample painting as well. Click the Paypal link below.

Ocean Wave Painting Demo - Step By Step

I am really surprised at how many people have asked me to do a post on a wave demo. Actually a lot of the requests were for a DVD but I don't have the resources for that right now. 

I may do a short Youtube video soon,  after I finish up a few other projects.

This is a 4 x 8 inch study for the large 18 x 32 I have posted.

The above was painted in ten minutes. I block in the big shapes very quickly.

Even though it is very different than painting a still-life, many of the principals are the same. Starting with big shapes for example, and than working on the smaller ones later.

Above is how it looked after about twenty minutes.

It's amazing how much I have learned about painting by being forced not to rely on drawing first!

The above stage was after about an hour of work.
This demo was painted all in one sitting, wet into wet. Unlike my still-life paintings which are painted in layers, and have to dry before moving onto the next layer.

 

I think that the most important aspect of a painting is that it "feels" like the subject. I try never to paint everything the same way, but instead to paint it, in an appropriate manner to what it is. I wouldn't use wild and free brush strokes on a still-life and I also don't think a wave painting should be drawn in a mechanical way before beginning to paint. Of course that is just my opinion.

I am not going to mention the colors that I use in this post.
I will do a separate blog post on the colors I use in painting waves really soon though.
 There is only so much time I allow myself per post.

The whole painting took about three hours to get to the point above.
The study is 4 x 8 Oil on Panel

 Above is the framed finished painting. "Foam And Spray" 18 x 32 Oil on Linen
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

Red Apple Progression

 SOLD
 

I haven't painted one of these in about a year. I really enjoy doing them. I'll describe the point again so anyone new to this blog doesn't have to go searching through old posts to get the point.
The first two apples in the painting are just the drawing stage. The two apples in the middle have one day of painting. That is how they would look if I didn't glaze them with richer color. The last two apples are completely finished. It's a painting about the progression of a painting.
Those of you who were in one of my figure drawing classes might notice the use of the "High Focus Drawing" in the Apples. I always try to get as much rhythm into them as I can.

"Randy" ! - Some Images From My Recent Portrait Class In Stuart, Florida

A shot of my finished Demo 20 x 24 Oil on Canvas

The model here is my good friend Randy Orwig, the best model I have ever worked with. He doesn't move...barely even blinks.

The overhead light was really distracting. All of the lights were on the same switch so we had to put a cardboard box o

ver our model.

That's Jordan's painting on the right and a close up of it below.

I wish I had more time to finish it.........

"The Jester" - A New Orleans Mask Painting

I bought this Mask in New Orleans over a year ago and have been waiting for the time to paint it since. I finally just decided to put the time aside and do it. I figured with Mardi Gras here, now was a good time to post it.
It's 18 x 24 Oil on Panel. The first painting I made in 2013.