Happy New Year

Grazing 8x8 oil on museum board

for purchasing info click here

I'm experimenting with a new auction format for my smaller paintings.

I think the element of chance will make it fun so check it out by 

clicking the info link above.

It's always green in Burgundy no matter what the season.

Not all the cows are in the barns so I can still catch a few 

roaming the fields and grazing.

Your FREE print update:

For those of you who opted in for the print as a thank you for your support

that was offered in my last newsletter here is the update-

Everyone that is state side should be receiving their print by the end of the week.

For my friends in the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland,

Spain, Portugal, Japan and Israel- (I hope I didn't leave anyone out)-oops
and Malta,

I will be sending yours out myself as soon as I have them in hand,

so hopefully you'll have them in January.

I'm sorry you have to wait a little longer but I hope it will be worth it.

Please contact me if you don't receive it so I can check the status of your order.

brucebingham@gmail.com

Oh- and if you missed out on the offer and would like info on specials in the future, 

just sign up for my newsletter on the right hand 

side of my blog that says- receive my newsletter- and you'll be

the first to hear.

Happy New Year and may this be your most creative year yet!

LuLu

Lulu  8x8 oil on museum board

I did this painting for my friend, and fellow dog enthusiast, artist Steve Cook.

Earlier this year Steve captured a wonderful memory

in paint for me of Robi and I riding on the ferry

from Sicily to the Italian mainland.  I wanted to say thank you 

by painting his puppy Lulu for him.

I just loved this photo of her, in her 'bling' on the beach,

enjoying herself.

Green Cabin

Green Cabin  8x8 oil on board

to purchase click here

There is a campground near my house with small cabins for rent painted

in different colors.  Most of the people that visit are Dutch, who 

find summer and fall in Burgundy quite warm.

The green one really caught my eye against the colorful leaves.

Kronenbourg Beer

Kronenbourg Beer  5 x 7 oil on museum board

to purchase click here

There's a little cafe down the street from my house where

the locals like to hang out. I love the Kronenbourg beer sign

and see it often.

Produced in Alsace it has over 40 per cent of the market share in France!

Sports Center

Sports Center 8x8 oil on museum board

for purchasing info click here

No matter where I go in the world, some things never change!

The season is here!  I hope all my stateside friends

enjoyed Thanksgiving (and football). I've just returned from

a wonderful break stateside for a family wedding.

I really enjoyed seeing everyone.

What would I do without the internet and Skype?

Value to Color

Some of you might agree that one of the most stressful things

 about moving is finding a new hairdresser.

It can be a nightmare that comes back to haunt you

like my bad perm back in the day.

When she asked me to stand up and then only cut one side of my hair I knew I was in trouble.

The good news is that my roots aren't gray anymore:)

They're black, or dark brown.  I should say 'they were' because I've already gone elsewhere

to fix the problem.

You KNOW it's bad when your husband notices!!!

It was one of those things that got lost in translation....

So what does it have to do with painting?

It really highlighted (no pun intended) just how important value, hue and temperature are.

Value being the very most important thing even if it's not as exciting as color.

When I'm having trouble with a painting it is usually with the value.

It's not quite as easy to spot on a canvas as it is on your head,

but a piece of red plexiglass to view the painting through

can work wonders to help you figure out the problem.

This is how a few of these value studies turned out in color:

Thanks for viewing my paintings.  I welcome and appreciate your comments and questions.

Do Breaks Help?

My painting I bought from Dreama:)

Some of you know I had a whirlwind summer with back to back workshops with Ovanes Berberian and Dreama Tolle Perry. (Both fabulous artists and teachers). It was a heady mix of extreme color boot camp overlade with brushstroke abandon.

Afterward I continued to twirl my way across a rainbow palette like a giddy grade school-er on ice skates for the first time, dancing to disco. It was euphoric but a little like eating all the icing and forgetting about the cake.

To fully learn something, I believe it's best to go all in, (you might have noticed).The more you immerse yourself the more you'll get in return. The method of my madness is to practice a new skill until you can naturally incorporate it into your work more effortlessly. For example, I always try to break up my canvas into unequal areas. I feel it creates more interesting shapes, it appeals to me more and is a basic principle for creating a good composition. Now I don't consciously think about that when I paint, it's almost like second nature.

Did I say too much icing on my cake? Hard to imagine I know. But now I'm evaluating just how much I want to add to my creative diet and evaluating what direction to head next. Every small break, whether it's a weekend or moving, is an opportunity to start over again and for me getting back to basics is a great way to do that.

I really love the drawing process and decided to begin with 3 or 4 thumbnail sketches of each scene followed by a value painting. Most of the problem solving is done in this phase and then I'm free to jump into the painting more intuitively. I especially like working from a black and white reference and allow the color harmony to develop on the palette.

The learning continues and the color adventure is a life long project fueled by personal preferences. The opportunities for improving painting skills are endless and it's my feeling we should do this as often as we can. Workshops, breaks, changing locations, seeing things with beginner's eyes, making a fresh start are all helpful in developing a rich and unique creative life. More cake anyone?

How I've been working things out:

Thanks for hanging in there with this extra long post. I appreciate your time, your comments and welcome

your questions.