Austin Pets Alive Demo by Bruce Bingham

Glow

oil 6x8

available

A large amount of my studio time is spent practicing.

That's when I'm trying to focus on one or two 

techniques and just experiment.

I have no expectations on whether the painting will turn out well or not.

Most often when I don't worry about it and just enjoy the

process I'm much happier with the result.

In this painting, Glow, I was working on value compression

and variety of mark making.

This is what I think is fun;)

Here is a chance to win a 12 x 12 portrait of your pet!

I'll be doing a demo at the event on February 19th

if you're in the Austin area and can join us.

Otherwise you can purchase $10 tickets for the drawing

and your chance to win a painting of your pet.

click here or go to

www.brucebingham.com

All proceeds go to Austin Pets Alive.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Traveling light with water soluble oils

I started off the New Year with a trip to Sedona, AZ.  It was my first visit to the area and I was amazed by the scenery.  It was a time to relax with family but I still painted five little studies.  I wanted to travel light so I took a limited palette of water soluble oils for easy clean up.

Sedona Red

oil  6 x8

$175

click here

It's true they aren't as buttery and smooth as regular oil paints but I found that using a medium, fast drying linseed oil, intended for them made them very workable.  IMHO it's best to just load your brush and paint pretty thickly from the beginning, working a little medium into your pile of paint to find the consistency you like.

Sedona Yellow

oil  6x8

$175

click here

The colors don't have the transparency of some traditional oil colors and if you're like me and often use transparents first you'll miss that.  And of course glazing is out.  But who glazes in plein air anyway?  So what you might miss is made up by extra suitcase space sans your turp container and solvents and all the extra time you save with the easy non toxic clean up.

Great way to travel light.

Thanks for following along!

Sedona Art Finalist December 2016

Quittin' Time

12 x 16  oil

I love it when I have good news to share.  I want to thank

Charlie Hunter for selecting me to be finalist in the

Sedona Art Prize December 2016 competition

Charlie can weave a tale to lead you through a painting like

nobody's business.

These were his entertaining comments about the painting:

"Judge's comment: Bingham settles the question art historians have been asking for decades: "What would El Greco have made of  1940s-era Ford Trucks?" He would have liked them a lot, obviously.

Dang! This has some beautiful passages! Look at how the rail of the bed leads us in; to the cracked-open door; where we get to sit, in excited dread, looking at the possibly-impending thunderstorm until the fear of a hidden nest of wasps somewhere in that scratchy upholstery gets a little too unsettling, and we burst out -either direction- into that excellent field behind.

THAT, boys and girls, is what "leading the eye through the painting" is all about."

If you'd like to read what he says about the other finalists click here:

http://www.sedonaartprize.com/about-sedona-art-prize/finalist-paintings/finalist-paintings-december-2016

Enjoy and thanks for following along!

ps- Don't forget the free drawing for a set of five gift cards I'm giving away at the end of the month!

I'm giving away five sets of these:

Enter now by clicking here:

https://www.brucebingham.com/

Texas Gold by Bruce Bingham

Texas Gold

12 x 16  oil by Bruce Bingham

I put together a 30 second video showing a

step by step progression of this painting in process.

 hope you enjoy it!

Click here!

If you need to do a little last minute shopping or just want

something for yourself don't forget to visit the

Castle Gallery Holiday Show on line.

http://www.castlegallery.com/

Thanks for following along and 

Happy Holidays!

WAOW National Juried Show

Last weekend I went to the WAOW National Juried Show

at the RS Hanna Gallery in Fredricksburg.

Friday morning we were able to get in a short paintout

before it started pouring rain for the rest of the weekend.

But it did little to dampen our spirits and we carried on nicely,

all snug and warm in the beautiful gallery,

watching Nancy Boren's demo.

This was my first show with WAOW

(Women Artist's of the West)

and it was more fun that I can tell you in this blog post.

A great group of friendly and supportive artists.

Later on Saturday a group of us gathered in the warmest room and

did dueling demos:

Jessica Henry:

Heather Arenas:

And me.

Just click on the names above to see more of their work!

Here's my demo of a jazz musician at the

Continental Club in Austin.

We even had time for a little creative window shopping between down pours.

And Maren Phillip's Texas size breakfast

with an astonishing amount of butter!

 You can see Maren's work here.

If you'd like to view the prize winners or the entire show

you can do so by clicking here.

Thanks for following along!

Bruce Bingham Sedona Art Prize Finalist

Bucket List

by Bruce Bingham

12 x 12 plein air oil

There is so much I have to be grateful for and recently I've been

feeling extra lucky.

I was so honored and fortunate to become a finalist in the

Sedona Art Prize October 2016!!!

I was thrilled beyond words to be selected by judge Carl Dalio.

If you'd like to see the other finalists and what Carl 

wrote about each work click here.

This painting was an outdoor still life that I set up in the summer.

I was doing a picnic theme at the time and this one was 

particularly fun to paint.

It's one that I really felt good about, especially the bag of chips,

do I've entered it multiple competitions.

This time it was a winner!

I love it when that happens!

You can't ever win if you don't play.....

If you'd like to see more of my work visit: www.brucebingham.comwww.brucebingham.com

If you'd like to sign up for my newsletter click here.here

Thanks so much for following along!

A little fun with my friends

What kind of trouble did I get into last weekend in San Angelo?

Well what happens in San Angelo doesn't stay in San Angelo.

IT GETS BLASTED OUT ALL OVER THE INTERNET AND FACEBOOK!

First it was the Collector's Stampede Party.

Hanging out with Shelby Keefe here in front of a couple of her favorites from the week.

Click on her name above to see more of her gorgeous work.

And of course I saw somethings that I absolutely couldn't possibly live without.

Here's a little painting of a gas station and a bus that

Charlie Hunter titled:

Bubba Watkins Daddy's Texaco

A must have.

Great to see Hai-ou Hou again so soon after the OPA Salon Show.

She painted an irresistible Open Field shown below.

Below is Suzie Baker's awesome little Old Timer:

Turner Vinson showed up the next morning with his baby Byrd and

won the Open Quick Draw.  Way to go Turner!

Marc Hanson was the judge for the Competition and Open Quick Draw.

Fortunately they were judged separately and I lucked out with

Best Concho Street Scene.  Thank you Marc!

But I couldn't drive back home with out Nyle Gordon's

amazing truck painting from the Quick Draw.

There were 35 artists there all week for En Plein Air Texas working like maniacs.

I wish them all continued success, they really deserve it !

Thanks for following along!