Monday, July 23, 2007

Schmidty Goes Deep

12" x 12" oil on masonite
Growing up in PA, I was a long-suffering Philadelphia Phillies baseball fan. I really began to follow them closely in the early 1970s. One of the bright spots was a 3rd baseman, Mike Schmidt. The terrific infield of Dave Cash (2nd Base), Larry Bowa (Shortstop), and Schmidt at 3rd provided the team with its nucleus for the mid-70s thru early 80s. They won the World Series over the Kansas City Royals in 1980. Ah, the memories.Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Keeping America Beautiful (?)

12" x 9" watercolor on 140 lb. Arches
Sometimes even the most mundane of objects can be made interesting when painted. This trash container contrasts nicely with the beautiful scenery in a nearby park.Posted by Picasa

Friday, July 20, 2007

Sky, Rocks & Sea

20" x 16" gouache and oil on primed cardboard.
Some from reference photos, some from memory. I wanted to do some work with gouache, so this was it. Small accents done in oil when the gouache had dried. Sort of Milton Avery-like. He's one of my favorites. Thanks for looking!Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 15, 2007

The Farm - Detail

The Farm - Detail shot
I thought it might be of value for people to see a close up of some detail in these paintings.
I hope it helps to see what's going on.Posted by Picasa

The Farm

18" x 24" watercolor on 140lb. Arches (unframed)
$15.95 (free shipping)
Another fun sample of a rather quick watercolor. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Detail - Pumpkin Patrol

Here is a detail on "Pumpkin Patrol" and an example of what is called negative painting. The light wash is applied first. When this wash is dry, a second darker wash is applied to sort of "carve" out shapes and values to present different shapes. It takes some practice and I'm still learning, but this is what makes watercolor so interesting and challenging!
Give it a try.Posted by Picasa

Pumpkin Patrol

9" x 12" watercolor on Fredrix watercolor canvas (unframed)
$15.95 (free shipping)
I've started to experiment with the Fredrix watercolor canvas material. It sure makes
working in watercolor a joy. It's easy to correct and lift paint. This painting is a further demonstration in using negative shapes to "carve" forms and make new shapes. See detail posted in the next frame.Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Details - Charles Sovek palette at work

Here is a detailed shot of Charles' palette after completing another gem. Again messy, but who cares when you can paint like him?! Notice the group of small round containers in the upper right of the picture. This was a little setup he developed for use in his plein air work. The back-most container contains corn oil. Yep, corn oil. He uses this to clean his brushes by swishing them a few times in the oil and wiping thoroughly on rags. Cool. Next, two small containers: one with pure stand oil and another with a 50:50 mixture of turpentine and stand oil. These are used as his medium to mix with the paint to add luster and thin the paint. The last, front-most container contains pure turpentine that he uses in the initial lay in. To the right (almost out of the picture frame) hanging off the easel was his mixture of titanium white and the stand oil/turp mixture. He mixes this up until it has the consistency of mayo or yogurt. He then uses this white when he wants to lighen a value, or add highlights. Further down the right is a razorblade glass scraper he uses to clean the palette of dirty/unwanted color. His palette itself is made of plexiglass to save on weight. In the front is an old Spam can (cute touch!) to keep dirty rags, towels and paint scrapings.
Well, that's it for the ws pictures. It was tons of fun, I learned a lot of great tips and lessons that I have put into use in my work. It is so sad that we lost this great master artist, but I am very happy his work lives on in the many people he taught over the years and through his fine books.Posted by Picasa

Charles' palette - close up

I was interested in getting a close up of Charles' palette after he was finished with a work. Here it is - he made no excuses for the messy state and he didn't need to. The results are what counts and he kept his colors clean throughout the demo. Notice he uses round brushes. For this ws he rarely used any flats.Posted by Picasa

Day 4 Hollyhocks - South Mountain, AZ

Day 3 was an indoor painting day. Charles had a model come into the school for a day's worth of figure painting. For some reason, I can't find the photos of this day's session. Rats.
Day 4 of the ws saw us going to a farm located south of Scottsdale. Charles did this wonderful demo of a group of hollyhocks. The thing I remember the most about this demo was the way he developed the background hill. He brushed on a shape of pure yellow and then followed it with Ultramarine blue and Cerulean blue. He mixed the paint right on the canvas to develop the rich greens you see here. Amazing results!Posted by Picasa

Pinnacle Peak Fountain - Complete

Here is the completed painting. Isn't it a beauty?Posted by Picasa

Day 2 - Pinnacle Peak Fountain

Day 4 of the ws had us at Pinnicle Peak, just north of Scottsdale, AZ. We stopped at an outdoor shopping village and Charles decided to paint a nice-looking water fountain. Here is the completion of the block-in.Posted by Picasa

Day 1 - Close up

Here is a nice close up of the finished still life. Check out all those juicy colors!Posted by Picasa

Day 1 - Finish

Another view of the finished still life of Day 1.Posted by Picasa

Day 1 - Finished Still Life

Here is a view of the finished still life painting.Posted by Picasa

Day 1 - Still Life Block-in

Day 1 continued with a still life painting demo by Charles. The ws students were gathered around his easel taking notes and pictures as Charles put in the first stage values, shapes, and color notes.Posted by Picasa

Value and Color Demo

This value and color study was done by Charles on the first day. It is very similar to the lesson presented in his fine book "Oil Painting - Develop Your Natural Ability."Posted by Picasa

Tribute to Charles Sovek - Master Artist!

I was fortunate enough to have taken a painting workshop with Charles at the Scottsdale Artist's School in April 2001. It was indeed an honor to meet and learn from this great artist. This picture was taken on the last day of the workshop - after the critique session. Charles is the good-looking gent on the left.Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Urban Delight

22" x 30" watercolor on 140lb. Arches (unframed)
$25.00 (free shipping)
My first full-sized watercolor in quite a while. Trying out some new things with granulation of color. Thanks go to the great artist Don Andrews and the advice and wisdom he provides in his wonderful new book "Interpreting the Landscape in Watercolor."Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Frisco (CA)

16" x 20" Acrylic on illustration board
An uphill view of a steep street in San Fran, CA Posted by Picasa

Vacation

16" x 20" oil on canvas
I wanted to go for a watercolor type look to this work in oil. I left large shapes "open" by unpainted canvas (trees). The outlines and contours were done using india ink and I left the drips as a note of interest.Posted by Picasa

City View via Bridge

12" x 9" watercolor on 140lb. Arches
A view of the city (any) from a suspension bridge. Abstract in execution and dominated by warm color, tempered by some cool.Posted by Picasa