Why Artists don't get real work done

Here I am, swamped with volunteer stuff, a show coming up, all huge list of things I need to get done ... and I am working on "Some Peeps," an entry I hope to get ready for the Washington Post's Peeps Diorama contest.

This is the rough version.  My 11-year-old is helping me add more adoring fans and finish the set.   The entries are due March 15th.

Imagining the Still Life

I had started this painting (you can see an earlier version of it in a previous post) and when the still life was taken down, I had nothing to go on in terms of finishing it.  That is, except "what it needs."  It wasn't all that hard to identify what I wanted to finish/fix, but some of the choices would have been a lot clearer with the still life in front of me (never a photo -- sorry to those who believe in them, but I don't work that way).  It was actually freeing to deal only with the painting, much to my surprise.  This painting will dry in time for my March 21 show.  

First Day on the Water for BCC Crew

Today was the first day down at the Potomac for my daughter's crew team -- it was windy but beautiful.  The Kennedy Center is always a challenge to paint.  Its cantilever terraces loom over the water's edge, making it always seem too massive.  We've got a whole crew season I'll be working putting it into perspective.

Nude in the Studio, Again

I took a different approach to the nude in the studio today, making the touch even lighter.

Yellow Barn Gallery, March 21 & 22

Three weeks from now, the place to be will be the Yellow Barn Gallery, 7400 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo MD.  Saturday March 21 and Sunday March 22 from 12 - 5, I'll be at the gallery with my work on display and for sale.

The show, entitled "Attention Restoration Theory," is a gathering of my work from recent months when I'm able to escape from my daily responsibilities and focus solely on the problems of color, shape, light and how to capture an emotion and a moment in paint.   Although there's some similarity in the frenetic pace at which I paint or plan a library program or a regatta, the focus in painting on a visual experience is like nothing else.

I hope you'll enjoy taking time out from whatever challenges you to share a little immersion in art.  It may not change your life, but if Attention Restoration Theory applies to you as it does to me, it may just recharge you for the future.

Nude in the Studio

Better? 2nd & 3rd Look at the Trail Painting

After my initial sketch of the trail I wanted to go back in and fix many of the things I couldn't get to in the first pass -- so I cleaned up the color, put the light spot behind the trees, silhouetted the jogger  ... is it better?  My next step was to clean up further -- tie some of the larger areas together so it wasn't so many individual moments, but a more cohesive experience.  Better still?  I don't know if I'm done yet, but I'm liking the evolution.

Still Life in progress

I started painting this still life today in a class designed to teach fundamental painting techniques -- not remotely my usual subject or approach to painting... and yet... I think I'm learning something.   Never having gone to art school, I've been learning by doing, not necessarily a bad thing.  Still, there are plenty of technical aspects -- the chemistry of painting-- that I know nothing about and if the paintings that come out of this are better for a little chemistry, all to the good.   

Wonder Woman, part 2

I had first intended to add a flag to the picture, but it was suggested to me that I put the stars on her costume instead.    Not sure what, if anything, I might do next.

Wonder Woman in the studio -- work in progress

In studio class today, we had a model and challenge of painting her in two different poses on the same canvas.  She was dressed as Wonder Woman.   This is the initial sketching in of what I think I'll be doing with her -- a large, cold, imposing figure facing a smaller, warmer, seated disciple.  How very odd - but if I ever needed to stretch my mind around painting way outside what I'd usually do, this would be it.