Self Portrait: Finished? 2
Doing this self portrait has been more that an eye opener. It forces me to paint what is there not what I want to see. I am still tweaking this likeness and am convinced that I could work on this painting forever making small changes here and there. My husband, Jeff knows my face better that I do and he has been very helpful, pointing out areas that need attention. I haven't shown him this version so I may have more corrections once he sees it.
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Everyone said that so far, my self portrait was too critical, so I have prettied it up a bit and refined the nose, mouth and eyes.
I really did it on purpose. After all, what could you have said if the portrait made me look gorgeous. It's a passive aggressive way of getting compliments. And it worked. Thanks everyone. I hope we all agree that now I look pretty enough.
The final stages have included softening the skin tones by blending the shadows. The nose needed to be a little wider and the mouth a little thinner. I also placed a few more highlights in the hair and made the shirt a neutral color.
Self Portrait
The self portrait continues with adding some details. I worked a lot on the eyes, nose and mouth. With so many shadows, it is wonderful to work the face as different shapes and see how much it actually winds up looks like me. I am very happy with the eye that is in shadow and the nose. The other eye needs a little more work. More details to come in a later blog.
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I am back to the self portrait. It didn't take long to add some color by filling in the hair and face. I also put in a gray green for the background. Highlights and reflected light on the jaw give the face dimension. With just a few modifications to the mouth and nose, I can start to see how the finished piece will look. Next time, I will focus in on the details of the eyes to really capture a likeness.
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Faded Door
I GOT IN!!!!!
Faded Door was accepted by the California Art Club for the upcoming CAC Exhibition at the Women's City Club of Pasadena. I am very happy and excited to be among the artists to be juried into the show. It is a great honor to hang next to the exceptionally talented patron members who were selected. I am overwhelmed. WOW!
The show starts on June 23, 2008 to November 26, 2008 and the artist reception is July 12, 2008 at the Women's City Club, 160 N. Oakland Ave, Pasadena, CA. All the details will be listed in my Event and Galleries Files and I will have more to say about the show in future blogs.
Self Portrait
The last time I did a self portrait must be at least ten years ago so I thought it was time for another. At that time I only did a pencil sketch but this time I am going to attempt an oil painting.
I decided to tackle this painting the same way I do my plein air paintings so I got out the sketch book and first did a sketch.
Self Portrait: Sketch Step 1
The second step was doing the values on the canvas. This was relatively easy since the lights and darks where worked out on my sketch. You can use any color that you like so I picked purple by combining Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red Deep. This is the same color I use to start on my landscapes. I first do the darkest areas and then lighten with white for the mid tones. I leave the toned canvas for the lightest.
Self Portrait: Value Sketch Step 2
Keep watching. I will continue painting tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how my self portrait evolves.
Plein Air Painting at the Huntington
Blooming Yuccas
The Huntington Library and Gardens has some of the happiest plants you will ever see. Right now they are all in bloom, from the roses to the cactus garden. Some of the plants are in such a profusion of growth that they barely look real. I joined Lynne Fearman to capture these glorious specimens in oil paints.
I headed for the lily pond and found the rain bird sprinklers running so it was a challenge to find a spot where I wouldn't get wet. I set up and sketched first to help me focus on the important shapes. During this process I decided to concentrate on the yuccas that where in bloom (Blooming Yuccas) and let the pond be a base to set off the plants.
I scheduled to meet Lynne for lunch at 12:30, so I needed to get the colors and mood on the canvas quickly. Lynne and I had a lovely lunch and her painting of the gardens is wonderful.
Because of the short time I was painting, I needed to refine a few shapes in my studio. I added detail to the tree on the right, darkened the shadows on the pond and refined the lily pads. I am very excited about the result. What do you think?
Plein Air Painting
Fern Dell
Griffith Park has so many different areas to paint, today I ventured to the Hollywood side of the park to Fern Dell. It was overcast and even rained a little bit but the green ferns were still an electric lime green that jumped out at you. I met up with four other artists, including Janet Snodgrass, Roy Moffatt, and Ruth Myers from the Valley Watercolor Society, for the paint out.
The day may have been overcast but a few times the sun came through the clouds to light up the trail and stream. All the cool humidity and green, felt more like Oregon than Los Angeles. A passer by told me that this is were the holodeck scenes for Star Trek: The Next Generation were filmed. Only in LA. I love that kind of information.
I plan to take advantage of this location when the weather turns hot. The shade and cool stream will be a great retreat when the valley hits 100.
There is also a path to the top of the hills where you have a view of the Griffith Observatory. That sounds like fun to paint too.
Seaside Painting
Ocean Shore
Today I am finally able to write about my class with Karl Dempwolf which took place a month ago at the ocean. I always try to start one painting which I then put away and finish later, and have a second for Karl to do his magic and paint on. This was an especially interesting exercise of the exact same place, because my vision and Karl's were so different.
I saw a wide expanse of sandy beach with the waves breaking against a crescent shaped shore. My painting above is the result of that impression.
Karl, on the other hand, saw a tucked in cove which included all the details surrounding my easel, the tree overhead, the bush to the left, and the rock up the shore. Such a different interpretation of the same view.
California Art Club Gold Metal Exhibition
The California Art Club has an annual Gold Medal Exhibition at the Museum of California Art in Pasadena. Today, I was able to go with my fellow artist, Janet Snodgrass. There are too many wonderful paintings to list all here so I will only highlight some of my favorites.
Pictured above is a painting by Phillip Starke. This painting is a tribute to the California Impressionists with its gorgeous colors and rich tones of lavender and green. I'm inspired to try a painting in this tradition.
Early Light by Carol Cooke
This big, little painting was among the miniatures and I fell in love with it. Though only 8x10 it had a great presence with depth and detail of a much larger painting. All that and it still retained a fresh, easy hand.
Malibu Canyon by Charles Muench
Another miniature with depth and colors that jumped over the limits of its size. I have been painting plein air on smaller canvases and was inspired by these two little gems. They both exhibit an ease with detail that is my next task to incorporate into my smaller pieces without overworking them.
Roman Temple Ruins by Joseph Paquet
The composition of this painting is remarkable. I never would have thought to paint this scene. The shadows of the trees falling across the strong lines of the wall and steps form so many interesting shapes. That sliver of sky at the top behind the rolling hills is just enough to ground the scene. The judges agreed with me and awarded this best landscape.
These are only a few of many more amazing paintings. Don't wait to see this event. It is only on for a few more days.
Around the Oaks Again
First Around the Oaks
I wanted to do a second painting from one of my outings and had not gotten around to it till today. My original blog called Around the Oaks was done on an overcast day with subdued colors. I really liked the composition so I wanted to try this scene again but with more intense colors.
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