"Jubilant Praise"

($40.00.....6" x 6"......Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"Jubilant praise from the Texas landscape." We have our share of colorful surprises in the Central Texas landscape. I have even seen Christmas wreaths made from prickly pear cactus. What a great way to have a Texas Christmas!

There was a deliberate attempt on my part to create this "jazz painting" by imposing a time limit of one hour. It was a bit difficult for me to stop fussing, but I did manage to finally stop within my time frame. 

And this is an excellent way to keep yourself from over thinking the process. You will surely see things you might want to change, but by changing the speed of the painting by sometimes speeding up and sometimes slowing down, the happy accidents will surely come. 

This is also a concept that is used to practice difficult pieces of music. By practicing slower than is really necessary, the fingers master muscle memory. And then there are times to set the metronome a bit faster to see where you need to go back, slow down, and try again.

Another thing that really helps with all of this is to make sure you keep your supplies and your palette arranged in the same place. It will be the surest way of getting to your easel every day. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Green and Red"

($40.00....6" x 6".....Water soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"Green and red are joyful expressions of Christmas." Red berries always remind me of Christmas. There is a reason they are so compelling. They are the most powerful of all of the direct complements...especially when the green is dominant.

In this piece, I was continuing to experiment with "jazz painting". It is a very loose blocking in of colors and many overlaps and gestural strokes with the palette knife. I did use a reference photo and placed the darks, midtones, and lights in the same places. After that, it was a "free for all". Over thinking the process can cause the whole process to look contrived.

One of the big surprises in this one was the exciting greens created with pthalo blue, cad. medium light, and alizarin crimson plus white. This combination was used in all of its tints, tones, and shades in several layers. The leaves were suggested rather than realistically interpreted which gives the piece its energy. In this way, all of those diagonals were created and overlapped.

What I typically do when I think the piece is almost finished is set it on an easel next to my computer so that I can see the photo and the painting side by side. After stepping back, I check to make sure the darks are dark enough and the lights are light enough. In most cases, I need to add more dark values which brings the whole image together.

So if you find yourself wondering why your piece (whether it's mixed media or a painting) is not reading well from a distance, it will almost always be the values. Squint your eyes, and you will see exactly where to make the values darker. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Here and There"

($40.00......6" x 6".....Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"A little here and there gets the job done." A "give and take" in the rhythm of doing anything will get the job done.

Yesterday, I went totally abstract with no visible sign of a realistic image. Today, I tried to ride the fence and leave enough traces of my image to be recognizable. It is successful, but also more difficult to accomplish. A good word to describe this process is "jazz painting". That term has been used a lot in lettering and the whole process feels the same way to me. 

I made no effort to "gray down" the sky color except for a bit of white added. It is pthalo blue and very intense. That one color choice gives the piece a lot of energy. The red / orange was "grayed" slightly with ult. blue so it also creates a hot combination with the blue. Add the gray of the the trees and the variations of green and the palette creates balance between the neutrals and the intense color.

Another strong contrast is the over blending in many areas to create extremely soft edges right next to a variety of hard edges. Soft and blurred edges will also cause the color to recede which adds a lot of depth.

One thing I am learning about painting this way is that it is extremely easy to overwork the piece. It is also good to work all over the piece rather than one small area. That keeps things from getting too tight. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.