May 2014 (belated)

The first of my series of tree paintings is done. Its creation saw a challenge at every step of the way. I did so enjoy painting this 30 by 40" piece, however. The subject is a magnificent dead live oak tree standing in a field south of San Antonio. Live oak trees are beautiful trees that don't lose their small leaves till the new leaves start coming out in the spring, which happens so imperceptibly that you never get to see the tree without its foliage till it is dead. A lot of live oak trees have died from oak wilt in recent years. I do see beauty in them dead and alive. The strength and structure of this one were fascinating to me and the sunlight playing on the branches reminded me even more of a statue. The background was inspired by sketches I made in the car while Robert was driving through West Texas to New Mexico last year. I called the painting Scarlet's Live Oak, as I was listening to "Gone with the Wind" while I was painting and the tree's resilience reminded me of its strong, if unscrupulous heroine fighting to survive.

The photographs are of me and my work at Dr. R. Rodriguez's dental practice on Blanco Road in San Antonio.

April news

This weekend I won't be in the parking lot of Texas Treasures in Boerne, Texas like I planned.

I have been painting my first abstract inspired by a book about Kandinsky.

This portrait was started in class last year. The model is a friend of Edward's from Wales. It was done entirely from a 5x7" photo (the canvas is 8x10"). It is a challenge to enlarge and I find it really helpful to see the two side by side, closer to the same size. My version still needs a lot more work, which I knew, but now I clearly see that, in addition to repainting the mouth and adding more hair, I need to strive for the softness of the photograph.

 

March 2014

 I am working on "Caddo Lake (1)", a painting I started last year. I really like the top part of the painting, the bottom part needs adjustments. Looking through my files, I found a fast plein air painting I did in 2010. Tanya had invited me and Irena to her beautiful log house where I painted  and we watched the deer in the high grass from the balcony.

 

 The brown teapot was a fast study with 3 colors. I am glazing the white teapot, it needs more glazing and some more work on the teapot and reflections.

• . The first Wednesday of every month I work at the River Art Gallery in La Villita, downtown San Antonio. This week we had a lot of tourists from Canada and the cold northern states. Unfortunately it was not the usual warm, sunny weather.
• The second Saturday of April I plan to be on the porch of Texas Treasures in Boerne to show my paintings. 

Tomorrow, on Sunday March 9th, we have a reception for our spring show at the Emily Morgan from 6 to 8 pm. Anybody in the area is welcome!

Class work (Feb 2014)

January flew by and I didn't get to start on my series of new works yet, although they are on my mind almost constantly and I started doing research for them. I reconnected with friends. I am still cleaning the studio (and the house) and one of our cats was seriously ill, which took a lot of my time. He is doing better, but the recovery time for his condition is very long.
The following pictures are of work I did at Edward Povey's classes.
The first one is from the drawing class, I took the class for the second time and I now have a better understanding of all the skills needed. The final drawing doesn't look like much, (I picked a simple composition,) we only had a few hours, but I did a lot of measuring to get an accurate image of my subject.

 The second one is from the class on perspective.

The last one is from the class on painting correct tonal values. I need to do some glazing on it and will show you the finished painting in March.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

 I wish you a magical holiday season!
Thank you for your continued interest in and support of my work and favorite occupation.
Many of you know that I spent the last months in company with the 4 brothers. The painting was delivered yesterday and I will miss the brothers. It is my biggest painting yet (30x40", 76 x 101cm), took many hours and taught me a lot, including how much more there is to learn.

It is time to clean the studio, however, and focus on new art projects including an exhibit in Waring, TX in the spring.
Have a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2014!

Emily Morgan Reception

On Thursday, Dec 19th, from 6 to 8pm the TAG group has a reception in the Emily Morgan Hotel next to the Alamo in San Antonio. There will be artists' demos and a cash bar. I will be there and was thinking about going to see the Christmas lights on the Riverwalk afterwards. I haven't seen them, since I stopped working with the Italians who used to come around Christmas time. For those in the area, let me know, if you would like to come.

Dec 2013, portrait comparaison

 As some of you know, I was asked to paint the same picture twice. The first one was for Justin (yellow background), the second one for his little sister (pink background). I did not look at what I had painted the first time and started from scratch for the second portrait never comparing with the first one till, at the very end, Justin pointed out a problem and showed me photographs of the painting he had at home. My goal in not comparing them was to make two very different paintings. If I ever find myself in this situation again, I will probably start comparing earlier. Yes, Phyllis, I find (like you do) that I can see errors better in a photograph of the painting than the painting itself.
I find it interesting to compare the faces. Enjoy!