Somewhere in Time Finally Finished
I am finally posting my finished painting of the Pitigliano street scene called "Somewhere in Time." It has taken me longer than usual to finish this painting but I am finally satisfied with the result. I have had a lot of help from many friends who were not afraid to give me the needed critiques to improve the final vision.
My goal was to capture the mood, as I remember it, from my trip to Italy. Pitigliano was the first hill town we visited and walking down the dark, narrow streets I come across this couple silhouetted against the reflected light in the background. The scene stopped me in my tracks. It was a moment that typified the charm and timeless quality of Tuscany. I immediately understood the unique quality of light that is Italy's attraction for so many artists. The luminous light is inspiring. I have done my best to capture that mood and feeling. Comment on or Share this Article →
Honors for "Morning on the Rocks"
Sunday night was the reception for the Thousand Oaks Art Association 2009 Open Juried Show. I have friends who live in the area and this art show is a great excuse for everyone to get together. The judge, Michael Zakian, is the Director of the Fredrick Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University, so I was very pleased to have two paintings juried into the show.
Most exhibitions announce the prizes as soon as the judging is completed, but for this show the TOAA builds the suspense by waiting until the night of the reception. Also each category only has two prizes, First Place and Honorable Mention. With so many great paintings in the oil, acrylic category, I was very pleased to receive the Honorable Mention Award for my painting, Morning on the Rocks.
The show continues at the Thousand Oaks Community Gallery through February 27, 2009. Comment on or Share this Article →
Lynn Gertenbach Demonstration
As Vice President of the San Fernando Valley Art Club, one of my jobs is to book the wonderful artists who will be demonstrating at the monthly meetings. The February meeting was a full house for artist, Lynn Gertenbach, who painted a scene from the Malibu lagoon. There were nearly 100 people in the audience to see Lynn's demo on February 3rd.
Lynn told the group how she uses warm colors over cool and cool over warm to get a vibrant and luminous glow to her paintings. Lynn's combination of colors give her paintings an inner glow. Her colors are so yummy, you want to dip a spoon into them and eat them up (please, don't try that at home).
Lynn also advised everyone to make sure they mix a lot of every color so later it isn't necessary to try to match up the same color again. To keep her colors very clear, she always is cleaning her brushes or picking up another brush before moving on to apply a different color. She cleans her brushes with walnut oil, not turpentine, so her paints have a creamy texture.
I was very inspired by Lynn's demo and hope everyone else had a great time. I wanted to run home and try to duplicate her vibrant colors. Everyone came up to have a better look at her painting at the break.
The demonstration ended with Lynn donating the demo painting to be raffled off to one of the lucky attending members. WOW! That was a great gift and the San Fernando Valley Art Club is very grateful to Lynn for her generosity and for sharing her talent and knowledge with us.
THANK YOU LYNN GERTENBACH.
Lynn's Finished Painting