classwork

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Practice for my birds in flight class with Ian de Hoog. 

I've painted birds for a while now but it's funny don't often paint them in flight. This class is opening up a whole new view!

Two birds I see around my house: House Sparrow which is quite plentiful all year long. And the titmouse which has returned to Southern New Jersey for the winter. 

Saw my first yellow rumped warbler at one of my bird baths yesterday; they migrate through here in terrific numbers 

bluejay

I got this reference photo from one of the sites that offers reference photos to artists--maybe, probably, Paint My ) Photo-- but so long ago I've forgotten where. I'll have to do some investigating ... I really love the photo and have painted it a few times.

limited palette

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A very wet limited palette painting: cobalt, rose madder genuine, and aureolin. Amazing how many pretty colors you can get, and lovely grays.

Fun mixing, even if the painting is blah.

classwork

Class #2 of painting like Charles Reid with Megan Swoyer: one of my dahlias painted a la CR and a copy of a small still life of his where I swapped out his mustard jar for something taller. A little annoyed at myself for being too tight and trying too hard on the still life.

As my mom used to say, every day can't be a winner.

classwork

Took a class with Paul Talbot-Greaves through Artefacto yesterday. I love his work--the greens he makes are astounding: strong but still natural--and I love his subjects-- he lives in Yorkshire.

I took a class with him previously, a couple of years ago, and I think we did four paintings ... All of which I really struggled with. For some reason I always had trouble figuring out the reference photo. And I made some mistakes with this one too. But you don't know what they are so I'm not going to tell you!

ldg: hockney sketchbooks

                  1 minute each

                  2 minutes each

Watched the video of a class with Frances Stanfield of London Drawing Group today. They offer a variety of classes. This is the third one lately focusing on David Hockney. 

We started with some quick drawings, something I always enjoy.

Then a 2 minute drawing, which we then painted. Was not keen on doing this one, but because I wasn't enthused I just kept adding to it ... Not making any claims for the painting itself, but I began to enjoy the process.

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I did this after class, maybe as the beginning of a Hockney-inspired sketchbook. The same scene, one near, one far.

It's kind of nice to draw with a crayon--its so soft.

classwork

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Drawings for the Ian de Hoog class I'm taking. Having difficulties with the heads, especially the titmouse's! His head is quite large.

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These are all drawn on watercolor paper--Hahnemuhle and Fabriano--and may be value studies.

Still have to draw one a bit larger, 11x15, to paint.

snowscape

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Attempting to paint a Ron Ranson style landscape ... Broke one of the cardinal rules though and fussed over the frozen river too much. So I went back and worked it even more! The final version is above.

classwork

                        9x12

Red-winged blackbird painted using a step-by-step tutorial of Ian de Hoog's.

He has a number of tutorials on painting birds, and other subjects, on Patreon.

ref photo

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A quick sketch of a view in Portland, ME,where I was this time last year. And where I wish I was again.

Started a class with Ian de Hoog at Winslow Art Center today: birds in flight.

Very much an introductory meeting today, but I did these two little contour drawings.

And painted this little pitcher while I listened.🙂

copying Charles Reid

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                         8x11

In a class with Megan Swoyer last night we copied two paintings from Charles Reid's book Painting Flowers in Watercolor.

It's been a while since I looked at my Charles Reid books, and I think I really needed this reintroduction.

I took a 5 day workshop with Charles in 2010! It was a great experience, watching him draw and paint. And we got a lot of work done too.

classwork

                    10x14

Snowscenes painted in a Birgit O'Connor class. I like how she encourages you to just do what you want! 

I painted these on Fabriano paper, which I haven't used in some time. I used to use their blocks all the time, but came to feel the paper was too soft for me.

Recently someone recommended Fabriano sheets, and that's what these are painted on. I like the surface texture; the paper stays wet but isn't (too) absorbent.

I did lose some dramatic darks when the lower one, especially, dried, but that my fault, not the paper's.

ref. photo

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I took dozens of photos of the Portland lighthouse when I was in Maine last fall. This is my first attempt to paint one.

homework

                       8x8

From Susan Greenstein's class.

I found the images of these pots on Google's Arts & Culture app.

Below a drawing of a little fish that belonged to my mother.

classwork

Our 2nd day in Susan Greenstein's class we worked on lettering and using images from Google's Arts & Culture app.

Across the top are the first lines of a poem by Langston Hughes that I've loved for many years, "Motto."

I play it cool

And dig all jive

That’s the reason

I stay alive.

 

My motto,

As I live and learn,

            is:

Dig And Be Dug

In Return.

 

Homework is to work of a couple more images also using lettering.

Looking forward to trying more images 

sunflowers

Drawings from a terrific London Drawing Group on sunflowers with Jo Blaker.

I got a 100 sheet pack of Canson XL mixed media paper, 12x18, and I am enjoying just pulling sheet out.

today, day 2

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Uff. Well today's effort is quite a mess. It annoys me that, despite the fact that I see them regularly, I cannot figure out how to paint dune grasses. I think I'm maybe going to have to paint a lot more messes.

Might as well add this disaster: too much water, not enough paint. Words for my tombstone!

today

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Paintings done from photos I took on my bike ride this a.m.

Going to try to keep it up all week.

And my homework from Susan Greenstein's class. I feel like I could/should have made a more sustained effort ... But I always was a little sloppy about homework.

classwork

                     9x12

Painted these in a class with Megan Swoyer; you can find her classes at Greenbush Media.

The greens are kinda weak ... Maybe I'll experiment and add some strong greens. Can't ruin a painting I'm not crazy about.

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classwork

I signed up for a 2-session online class with Susan Greenstein at Winslow Art Center. I've taken a couple of other classes with Susan there and I like the way she teaches, and I love her own artwork, which you can see on Instagram 

This class is about drawing objects about the house with a brush pen.

I'm looking forward to expanding my mark+making vocabulary and to getting more practice with patterns.