"Fuego de Colores"

($125.00.......8" x 10".....Water Soluble OIls on 2" Depth Cradled Gessobord)

Today you are looking at "Fire of Color" (translated from the Spanish title). It is a palette knife oil painting using lots of paint. It's designed to represent my South Texas roots and inspire you with bright color.

All of my abstract palette knife paintings have gestural writing included, but actual, readable text is no longer a consideration for these types of works. I am reserving my lettering to canvases, watercolor or other mixed media works.

Design considerations are still a factor here. The orange is taking up just a bit more space than the blue, but the orange being such an intense color is definitely taking center stage. And even though all of these colors appear very intense, they are all diluted to some degree. Color is diluted by adding black, white, gray, or some of the complementary color. The darkest color is actually a very dark green created by mixing Phtalo Blue (Red Shade), Ult. Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad. Yellow Light. Yellow appears in all of the colors represented and this limited palette is why they all work together.

There is also a vast range of edges and line work going from totally blended to slightly blended and to a sharp edge. The writing also creates movement and energy along with some of the color shapes at slight diagonals.

The title was inspired by the flame looking shapes coming out of the orange. Integration was helped by allowing some of the base color (dark green) to be peeking through the entire piece. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"South Of The Border"

($60.00......6" x 6".....Water Soluble Oils on a 2" Depth Gessobord)

No quote today, but the title surely fits the colors in this piece. It is an abstract created with oils and palette knife. You can see hints of lettering that were also deconstructed by swiping out portions of the letters.

Most of the colors that were laid down first were the very intense ones. What brought it all together was going over portions of those colors with a swipe of black (mixed, not out of a tube). Depending on the pressure exerted with the palette knife determines the "skipping" over some of the first layer to create very interesting shapes.

This might be a good time to talk about canvas vs. gessobords. I do not use canvases at all for palette knife. My preferred surface is something very smooth. The palette knife seems to work better on all of the Ampersand Gessobord Panels and Cradled Boards. I also like working on Hot Press Watercolor Paper for the same reasons. Paper is nice since you don't need to commit to mounting or framing it. Gessobords are more expensive than paper. The difference is that the paper tends to absorb a lot of the paint. I haven't tried to use gesso first on the paper, but that might be a great option.

Besides experimenting with new materials and techniques, the skill that needs to be honed to perfection is the art of noticing what is happening while you work. Ask lots of questions, pray, take a walk, call a friend, and then go back in with fresh eyes. It's all part of the process. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Underbrush"

($60.00.....6" x 6"......Mixed Media on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)

This piece may or may not have a quote. It is acrylic paint so I could take that option tomorrow.....but probably not. Sometimes words are not needed. After taking a walk this morning and noticing a lot of underbrush around the fence line, I decided to come back to the studio and do a small abstract. Unbeknown to my conscious mind, the piece which was created very intuitively, ended up looking like the tangled "stuff" that was very impassable....just a different color. The solid yellow green that has no texture is a direct contrast to the underbrush. In case you want to go deeper in your thinking, this piece also represents the way our thoughts get tangled until we walk into a clearing where there is nothing to obstruct our path. Just chalk this soliloquy up to the meanderings of my mind today.

I began this piece by brushing on some gel matte medium over a 6" x 6" cradled gessobord, followed by the laying down of silver leaf. After I brayered over the leaf and dried it with a hair dryer, I mixed up my paint. Because it is acrylic I liberally added some retarder to the paint with a palette knife to have an open window of time before the paint dried.

After doing my first pass with all three colors of paint, I decided to start over, so swiped through the entire arrangement, knowing I wanted the yellow green to touch four sides of the design space to create a cruciform format. So I laid down the dark green first, follow by the yellow green and white. (only one pass of the knife with that untextured color.)    I then started laying in some line work with a bamboo pen to reveal the silver...swiping it out a few times before I was satisfied.

What is interesting is that I changed the orientation of the piece which revealed what looked like an open wire fence and the brush behind. It proves that we often end up with a piece that directly reflects what we are grappling with internally. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Bird of Paradise"

($60.00......6" x 6".....Water Soluble Oils on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)

Leftover paint is put to good use by creating small abstracts. It offers more practice with how to lay down paint with gestural marks, doing some writing with a bamboo pen, and then deconstructing part of the lettering by swiping through it.

So as you might guess, this piece was created with leftover paint from "Autumn Red". It has the colors of a "Bird of Paradise" without the bird. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I am beginning work on a 30" x 40" canvas.....a 12" x 12" canvas....and finishing up a 24" x 30" canvas. I will be showing the process on the 12 x 12 beginning tomorrow, and cropped areas of the larger ones will come in November.

Those of you who are lettering artists know that the process always slows down when you get to the lettering. And that's the case with the 24 x 30. To make the best use of my time, I have decided to begin the other two pieces so that the heavy gesso and fluid acrylic paint can be drying while I letter. Trying to dry these types of applications with a hair dryer is like watching water boil. It drives me crazy!

Some of the other recent decisions I've made are to eliminate quotes on all of the abstracts created with a palette knife. But I'm stepping up the lettering quite a bit on all of the canvas pieces. There will be 2" versals, gestural writing, and script on all of these with some of the lettering readable from across the room. It's all very exciting and I will share bits and pieces of those works as I go along.

Another good bit of process information is to have smaller canvases and gessobords on hand for prototypes for the larger ones. Working on a range of sizes stretches the creative process and gives yourself more versatility as an artist. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Autumn Red" (final)

($400.00....12" x 18"....Water Soluble Oils on a Flat Gessobord...Presented in a Custom Frame from Balcones Frame)

The end of a painting is always a bag of mixed feelings...especially when there is an inspiration photo to compare side by side with the painting. Because of the abstract and painterly effect of palette knife painting, it is best to withhold judgement and simply place it on a easel in the studio and leave it there for a few days.

The emotional appeal of these types of paintings has nothing to do with exact representation, but has more to do with the amount of paint and the "gestural" quality of the strokes. At the end, I did leave my image on the full screen of the computer and made a side by side comparison. There is no question that the painting was inspired by the reference photo, but there are also some obvious differences.

So I guess my advice is to make sure the color notes and shapes are reasonably correct and then enjoy the movement and direction of the palette knife strokes. The absolute beauty of this type of painting is the way the light hits the painting which is due to the extreme texture and movement of the strokes.

Because I am using so much paint, I use coupons "ad nauseam" and every time I am near a Hobby Lobby or a Michaels...I buy paint. Winsor Newton Water Soluble Oils are still my favorite because they are a thicker viscosity than other brands of regular oils. It is also quite nice not to deal with Gamsol or any other type of mineral spirits.

So I now feel as though I am getting my "sea legs"....so to speak and encourage anyone to at least give it a try. It's very addicting and you might just find a new way to communicate visually. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Autumn Red" (draft 2)

This might be laborious for some of you, but I do have a few palette knife compadres out there and we are all curious about how each other creates our work. There is still a lot to do, but it has dramatically changed since yesterday.

The biggest problem in showing a painting in progress like this.....is the outcome. If I don't like it, it will be another "wash" and I will start over again. I do want to keep these experimental pieces rather than scraping them off because it informs all of my future work. But so far, I am not throwing in the towel yet. And those who know me well....know that I am one determined "little 'cus"!

The only thing to say about today's work is that I am continuing to mix color and lay down paint. The touch does become very important since too much pressure on the knife will disturb what's underneath. So "one swipe" in one area is it!

Seeing it on a computer screen tells me I need some more very dark areas, so that will come tomorrow. Now I am out the door to do some photography and enjoy the beautiful weather. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Autumn Red" (draft 1)

Today's posting is the first draft of an oil. (12" x 18") It shows the stroke direction and values created with the palette knife. This is representative of app. (2hrs) worth of work. Most of the time was spent mixing paint. It will eventually look like autumn in the Texas Hill Country.

Selecting an image to spend a lot of time with is very important. If there is a lukewarm response to the inspiration photo, the process will become very laborious....very fast. So the first thing I endeavor to do when out with my camera is to find shots that show a great deal of contrast and contain colors and texture that resonate deep within me.

And the fall is a very good time to go out with a camera and look for those shots that will inspire you back in the studio. The particular photo I am referencing for this piece was taken last fall on Cow Creek Trail. (Only in Texas do we have such fabulous names for back country roads!) I have almost exhausted my supply of photos, so I am ready to go out and do it again.

Since I am already familiar with the palette knife, I am now trying to be more creative with the palette knife strokes by using different sizes and changing directions slightly with each stroke. Because the paint is thick, it will reflect the light better with this approach.

This type of painting is not for the impatient person. It does take practice and confidence to lay down those strokes of paint in such a way that it communicates a semblance of the landscape.  Deciding on what values get laid down first is the hardest part.  It's almost like a chess game....calculating the next move.

I must love it because I keep doing it! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Running Through" (final)

(unavailable.....12" x 18".....Water Soluble Oils on a 2" depth Cradled Gessobord)

First attempts at something are always difficult before they are easy. I did take a few liberties with this piece so that the stream flowing through the rock will be more convincing. For that reason I am not posting the photo, but eventually I will in a future piece.

The hugh "take away" from this piece are all of the lessons learned by simply laying the paint down. And that's what it takes to master something. It is a matter of learning something with each piece and making the observed corrections in the next one.

It has been my personal experience that it is better to move forward and finish the piece rather than scraping off the paint repeatedly. It is good to then use the piece as a reference and appreciate the progress made in the next one. Many of these type of pieces will need to be painted before I feel truly comfortable exhibiting it, but I will switch to flat panels to cut down the cost and then when something turns out really well, I can present it in a frame.

It is a misconception that everything created needs to be exhibited. I have fallen into that trap and am now determined to chalk those pieces off as learning experiences and keep practicing. The reasons for considering every piece as an exhibit submission are very real and often hard to overcome. Materials are expensive and there is always a tendency to want to redo endlessly until the life is literally sucked out of the piece.

However, some of the top oil painters in the country will say that an artist needs to do at least (100) smaller works just to get the hang of things. And even though I've created much more than a (100), there is still a learning curve going from small to large.

So why am I "rambling" on about this today? Because it helps me sort out my own process and hopefully helps other artists to realize that not all pieces need to be hung or sold. Those discarded pieces are memorials of "new beginnings". And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Running Through" (draft 1)

(12" x 18"......Water Soluble Oils on a 2" depth Cradled Gessobord....first draft)

This is the first draft of a 12" x 18" oil painting of a scene at Bull Creek here in Austin. It's good to see it at this stage for those of you who are on a "palette knife journey" because it is easy to give up at this stage and assume that all is lost. The good news is that you simply need to keep laying in the colors until you're finished. It's a "faith" lesson.

My thought process in all of these abstract landscapes is to think backwards. In other words, I laid down a very dark brown/gray color over the entire piece first. That enables me to scrape back to that dark color when forming boulders and rocks.

The next step is to decide what shapes and colors should go down next. For me that means to study the photo (or real time image outside) and think about it in layers. In other words, the trees cannot be laid in before the ground and everything behind the trees. So by thinking backwards, it's fairly easy to know the next step.

And of course, there is a lot of color mixing going on and the larger the painting, the more space is needed to mix those colors. I now have an 18" x 24" palette which works beautifully.

If all goes well, I will post the inspiration photo with the final piece. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Palm Branch"

($60.00.....6" x 6".......Water Soluble Oils on 2" depth Cradled Board)

There is no quote on this piece, but the word palm is written and then deconstructed by covering up part of the word. The lettering in these type of pieces is intended to create movement and a variation of line. This is an abstract of a palm branch describing its movement and color.

I was careful to use at least three values of green and three values of the tan to give the piece some depth. So this is something that still must be considered even in an abstract piece. The piece was created very much like yesterday's posting by mixing the colors and placing them on the support in varying amounts.

The greens are taking up a greater percentage of space. The dominance of one color in a abstract will calm the somewhat chaotic nature of abstraction. Dominance of any of the design elements always brings more harmony to a piece of artwork. This is very important to remember so that you know exactly what to do in order to calm a piece down when there are too many competing elements. This is an important design principle in all mediums.

It is also important to keep the shapes in mind. I intentionally added more yellow green going from the center down to the right hand corner and connecting with the other yellow green that goes off at the top. And anytime a shape can touch three sides of the design space is a good thing.

Rhythm was created by using the same directional strokes and bringing in a slight diagonal vertically and horizontally. The gestural lettering creates some more rounded lines. And by virtue of the tool itself (palette knife), some edges are sharp and some are blended into the neighboring color.

So abstraction in general is all about design. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Surf"

($60.00......6" x 6"....Water Soluble Oils on a 2" Depth Cradled Gesso Board)

Today began with a warm up with palette knife and oil paint. Hopefully, I will have the larger one over the finish line very soon. The inspiration for this image came from a color magazine of interior rooms. No quote.

For those who like to have fun with your palette knife, this approach is a good warm up and an excellent way to practice mixing colors from a limited palette. Of course, the palette is set up with a warm and cool of each primary plus white. That makes (7) colors on the palette. At least one of each of the three primaries plus white created the tan color. The mint green was created with Pthalo Blue (just a touch), lemon yellow, a touch of cad red light (to gray it down) and then lots of white.

Having a thorough knowledge of the color wheel and all of the direct complementary colors is essential to changing the intensity of any of the primary colors. Beginning with a small abstract such as this keeps it simple enough to focus on just (2 or 3) colors at a time rather than the full range of values typical in a still life, landscape, or figurative work.

So my double palette consists of lemon yellow, cad. yellow med, alizarin crimson, cad red med, ultramarine blue, pthalo blue, and titanium white. From this you can mix all of the other colors in all their tints and shades. I am writing about this again only because I know that some of you who follow my blog are still struggling with color. The reason I know that is because you've told me. And to quote another teacher who had a profound affect on me...."Always go back to the basics."

It's quite like a professional golfer who changed swing coaches to improve his game. The new coach started out the instruction with...."This is a golf club." And he had already won a lot of titles! So never feel bad about reviewing the basics to improve as an artist. It's the smart thing to do.

The technique I used on this small abstract was to cover the entire space with the tan color. The bottom layer was darker than what you see on top. I then swiped on a few strokes of the mint green, white, and a small bit of orange. The next step was to take a knife and make several gestural movements which mixed all of the colors a bit. I didn't like that so I kept going over it with my palette knife and then applied the mint green and white alternately with a single aggressive stroke. The word "aggressive" is important because the movement of that stroke is what gives the piece energy.  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Gray Feather" (final)

($125.00......6" x 12".....Watercolor on Fabriano 300 lb. CP.....Mounted on a 2" Cradled Board)


"I wrote it down and my heart was healed." This quote succinctly describes what happened after our ten year old son was killed. Sometimes the only way to process something that painful is to write down the wound along with the scripture. It is often the only way that healing comes.

This piece is actually the same color range of an earlier one having to do with noticing, naming, and writing things down. I now have a desire to do a third one to make a collection. Working in a series is an excellent way to look at a similar topic or image and create it with a variation. It is much like a melodic line in music that is repeated with embellishment as in a Mozart Sonata.

For those who don't know my background, my degree is in Music Education and so the idea of comparing the two disciplines has always been fascinating to me. The parallels between music and art are stunning!

Since the first draft of this piece, the values have changed in the feather. The background mono print is darker than the first draft because of the photography. Today's image looks exactly like the original and the grays are the big attraction.

In the meantime...in between doing small works like this...I have begun some larger works. It is quite a challenge to do all of this simultaneously, but I'm always up for a big challenge. I have decided to do some palette knife oil paintings with no lettering just to focus my attention completely on the technique and colors of the Texas Hill Country.

So my encouragement today is to try working in a series and see what happens. The landscape will soon be changing dramatically and offer up some opportunities to really go neutral. And that really excites me! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"State Of Mind"

(Experimental Piece.....6" x 12"....Water Soluble OIls on 300 lb HP)

"Resting is a quieter state of mind." This is a deeply felt quote by me because I often struggle with maintaining a state of rest and a quieter state of mind. The word "quieter" implies that there is a comparison being made. And there is indeed. The opposite of quiet is noisy and chaotic and not a good place to be.

This is classified in the category of my gestural landscape pieces. This was yet another warm up piece in preparation for larger oil paintings based on the landscape. It is in the landscape that infinite value ranges are visible to give an artist unlimited motivation to interpret realistically or with various degrees of abstraction.

My dilemma as far as process goes is having a block of time to finish a larger work alla prima. (wet-into-wet) I don't like splitting up the time since a skin will form on the paint overnight and with the technique of palette knife this does not work well.

Since yesterday, I have made a large palette (18" x 24") out of float glass attached to the same size heavy duty white foam core with white duck tape. The important part is keeping this palette very wet until the painting is finished. I will be storing it in a shallow storage container and another one for the actual painting. This will allow me to spread out the time it takes to finish a larger piece into (2) days. Both of these containers will have a sponge in them saturated with water. A large box can also serve the same purpose if the painting is really large and simply laid on the floor with a sponge in a dish underneath the box.

This is all about strategies and process. To quote myself....."Process is the breath of creativity." So it is very useful to sit down and think about the process of any type of art you might be creating. If the process is faulty, the results will be "iffy" at best. Changing a process involves looking at the areas where there is weakness. If color is the weak link, it is worthwhile to find out everything possible about color. It could also be technique or  materials.

I have yet to meet a successful artist who uses inferior materials. Cheap oil paints, watercolors, brushes, acrylics, and papers and other supports will not yield the same results. And that's exactly where I am in my process right now. I am examining every thing I use to make sure my results are the best they can be. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Start Over"

(Experimental Study.....11" x 14".....Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord Panel)

"Start over and see what happens." Starting over is part of life and definitely part of the art process. It is not always fun to start over, but it is part of the "learning curve". I have noticed that artists have an innate desire to skip the "learning curve" and go straight to the successful painting.....including myself. And wouldn't that be dandy!! It is not reality.

To break new ground or even to elevate existing skill levels, it is so important to simply go to the studio or wherever else you do art and simply begin. Equally important is observing what is actually happening on the canvas, clayboard, or paper. There is generally a few things that are worth saving in an experimental piece, but there might be a need to start over. Such was the case with the piece I created this morning.

This was my third effort with a lot of wasted paint. (Some can be scraped and reused, but very often it simply needs to be tossed.) And this, too, is part of the learning curve. It can be costly, but the techniques of mark making and how to deliver the paint to the surface is experimental in nature and requires practice.

I consider today's piece an oil and palette knife study rather than a finished and polished piece. But the good news is that I now have several pieces to study and they will definitely inform me in my continuing study.

I do think I prefer paper for these types of abstract pieces because there is a drag to the surface that allows for more expression. So tomorrow I am switching to 300 lb. HP. Since I already know that I want to go in the direction of gestural abstract pieces, the only thing to do now is to continue to work with these mediums and tools until I feel my artistic voice shining through with clarity.

I also have a desire to switch to canvas and acrylics with the same goals in mind. What a journey! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gracias" (final)

($180.00......6" x 12".....color block......mounted on a 2" depth cradled board)

"Gracias is the fertile soil of gratitude." Along with the title, many changes have taken place and here is the final. This piece will be in an exhibition sponsored by Capital City Scribes this coming October.

This piece shows the drama created by implementing a hugh contrast of size. Contrasts are so important and the drama created will vary depending on the amount of contrast. If there is a slight contrast of size, that will certainly give the piece some energy, but a large contrast will deliver the drama in spades.

My main contrast in this piece was size, but the same principle holds true for a hugh contrast of line and its direction, color, value, and texture. There is also a hugh contrast of light and dark (1 and 10 on the gray scale and values in between). Another contrast of color that I used was the contrast of extension. This contrast has to do with the percentage of space a color occupies. In this piece, the dark green juxtaposed with the desert bronze color is almost equal with the darker values, but taking a slight edge. If one of these colors had some real dominance, there would have been less drama and more unity.

You can also see that the principle of repetition (echoes) is one of the power drivers of color block pieces. The same holds true in mosaics. Repetition creates rhythm and pattern in a piece.

One other thing to note is the "cowhide" type of spots on a few of the pieces which helps to break up some of the straight lines. The gestural writing in the paint does the same thing.

It's really all about design which can take a piece in any number of directions. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Gracias" (draft 3)

(draft 3)

Tomorrow I will hopefully be posting the final. The name will also be changed to "Gracias". You can see that several things have been removed and several pieces have been added.

Every decision that an artist makes when creating a piece changes the direction of that piece. My decision to have a hugh contrast of size in the color blocks greatly influenced the direction it would take. All of the pieces you see today are already adhered to the board out of pure necessity. It is very difficult to keep them all in their places while trying to cut and decide where a new piece will go.

This is similar to creating a mosaic, but has an altogether different texture. This is my fifth color block piece and they really do look like metal when sprayed several times with spray acrylic coating. This one is particular nice because of the Duochrome Desert Bronze....a Daniel Smith Acrylic. It is impossible to see the shimmer on the computer screen, but it is a stunning color in the original.

Another important tool to have on hand is a see through grid ruler. They are available at most office supply or craft stores. It would be painstakingly slow to line these blocks up and keep them straight without this ruler. They are also good for ruling up your lines for lettering.

Tomorrow you will see the smaller color blocks forming a shape from top to bottom. There will also be a fairly good size block of the bright green. By limiting the colors down to about (5)...I am able to create a lot of echoes (or repeats) and that unifies the piece. There will also be one color dominating....desert bronze. So as I finalize the piece, I will be making sure that color takes up more of the design space. (And I might change my mind and make the green dominate.) And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gracias" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

Last evening I decided on a finished size of 6" x 12" in a vertical format. A few blocks have been completed and laid on the support. Nothing will be adhered until everything has been decided.

What I decided this morning was to have a larger contrast of size, so I will be cropping some of the pieces you see, making new ones, and including a variety of small sizes mixed in with the larger ones.

Contrast of size adds a lot of drama to a composition and brings the viewer in to a particular area, especially if the contrast is quite significant. So my plan is to have some smaller blocks that are less than an inch in size to create a focal point and a lot more repetition of all of the colors. This does take more time, but is well worth the effort.

It is always a good idea to notice the size of shapes in other artists' artwork. By analyzing and comparing how you respond to contrast of size, you will fully comprehend the power of this important contrast. When everything is too much the same size, the piece may be unified, but lack energy. In fact, contrast is the number one most important design principle....especially in a day and age when we are all bombarded by visuals.

So it might be a good idea to analyze as much artwork as possible to take note of all of the contrasts you see. Be looking for contrast of line (including edges and direction), color, texture, shapes (size), and values.

Analyzing a particular piece of artwork is more valuable than simply reading about design and trying to include the principles in your work. If you can see it in a finished piece of art, it will make a lot more sense and be more easily understood. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Across The Way"

($180.00.....6" x 6".....oils on gessobord flat panel....presented in custom frame))

"A good vantage point is often found across the way." The best quotes come to me in comparing art to life. In this quote, what is true when painting "en plein aire" is also true when pondering a decision in life. Having a good vantage point always comes into play.

This small palette knife painting was created at Bull Creek here in Austin. Because palette knife painting often has a build up of paint without a ton of detail, it is best viewed from a distance. So when standing back from the piece you can see several large boulders with a reflection in "greenish/gray" water and a sandy bar in the foreground. I did tilt the grays in this piece towards purple to be a direct complement to the yellow greens and grays in the piece. And that is where I am in my painting process today.

I am playing around with the color to achieve a scene that is identifiable with a lot of color interpretation. My ultimate goal is to go even more abstract, but that takes patience and time to master so I am still working on that long range goal.

After creating (3) smaller pieces from Bull Creek, I am anxious to use another photo from that area in conjunction with my smaller pieces as color references to create a larger work. One of the challenges to larger "wet into wet" techniques is that it really needs to be finished in one session. Even though the paint is oil and takes a long time to dry, it does begin setting up within 24 hours and is not as workable...especially with a palette knife.

At the moment, I am thinking about inching my way larger with a 10" x 10" or 9" x 12". It's all very exciting! I just need to work up the courage to jump into it and get it done. And isn't that the way most new processes work? So there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Stepping Stones"

($180.00......6" x 6".....Oils on a 3/8" depth Gessobord Panel....Presented in Custom Frame)

"Stepping stones will get you from one place to another." The stepping stones in this image allowed me to cross over water as well as go a bit higher on the rock. This is a beautiful metaphor for real life and choosing the right stepping stones (or choices) to reach an important goal.

In art, process is another word for stepping stones. It is important to think about what you're thinking about. In fact, an interesting exercise is to write down the questions that come to mind as you are working through the process of creating art. The very act of doing this can identify some more decisions you need to include or some you need to leave out.

In this oil painting, one of the first decisions I made was to decide what to paint. It was painted on location so the information I could have included was vast. It is quite necessary then, to have as one of your first decisions to select what to include in the painting. This sounds like one of the most logical first things to think about. I thought that, too, until I began to read that one oil painter (whose work is very skilled and mature) spends as much as (3) hours studying the area to be painted before putting paint to canvas. This was stunning to me.

So my next thought was to try and determine the myriad of things I should be studying during a (3) hour period. And that is where I am in the process today. Some of the things that came to mind were things like value studies...shapes...identifying the root colors and how intense or diluted the colors are...etc.

So my next paint out will include a clip board and pencil for taking notes rather than starting to paint first. I will also take a lot of photos as well as using a view finder before painting. This is a very important topic and my hope is that you will also be thinking about all of the questions that need to be asked while creating art.

I have a theory.....if you ask the right questions...you will get the right answer. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Hill Country Grays"

($180.00......6" x 6"....oils on a flat gessobord panel.....presented in a custom frame)

"Trust in God is the bedrock of all other freedoms." I chose not to inscribe this quote into the oil paint. However, it will be attached permanently to the back and be included in the interpretation when exhibited. We are blessed to have an abundance of rock in Central Texas. It is a characteristic of our region. Texans are proud of the United States and very proud of our state. We celebrate this fourth of July with thankfulness in our hearts.

As to the piece I have been working on entitled "Color Poetry", I wanted a bit more time to think about its direction and the other decisions I need to make to bring it to completion. In the meantime, I have recently been outside painting. The piece today was painted on location at Bull Creek right off of 2222.

The rock is a favorite subject when painting out in our area. By using a double palette (warm and cool of each primary) plus white, I am able to mix a full range of cool and warm grays. You can clearly see the contrast in the rock formations. Some of the grays in the rock have a bit more yellow cast and some have a bit more blue cast to them. This creates a push/pull in the painting that I find most interesting. 

My love of the palette knife continues. The way the paint is delivered to the surface is a bit different than the brush. I always lay down one undercoat of paint first. That color is determined by what I need to have peeking through with trees, rocks, etc. In this case, I mixed a very dark gray by using ultramarine blue, cad. red medium, and cad. yellow light. I also reserved part of this paint to mix with white to create some of the other grays.

By having this very dark gray over the entire surface to begin with laid the groundwork for exposing the bits of dark gray that appear on and in between the rock formations. It also mixes with the dark greens and the blue in the water to create those darker values.

I began the piece by laying in the rock colors first and establishing the strong diagonal. Next came the green that appeared above the rock and then I worked on the water. I laid the water colors in by dabbing them on carefully and then rock my palette knife over them to create the look of ripples. Foreground interest is very important to me, so I chose an angle that included a tree. The tree trunk also creates another division of space from top to bottom.

This diversion from mixed media was a pleasant change of pace. My hope is to do some larger palette knife paintings. This one (6" x 6") took me about two hours, so the challenge is to have a large block of uninterrupted time to complete a larger painting in one day. I like to work wet into wet, so finishing in the same day is a hugh deal. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.