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.

Colorful Crosswalk

Colorful Crosswalk  8x8 oil on museum board

for purchasing info click here

This was one of those paintings that was pure pleasure to

create.  Except at the very end when it fell

face down onto my palette.

#@%! happens.

I figured it was meant to be and that the repairs

actually worked out to make the painting better!

I feel like some of the things I've learned this year

are starting to show up in my painting.

In my next post I'll go into more detail about what I'm

doing to help make things 'click':)

Cote D'Or

Cote D'Or  8x8 oil on museum board

for more info click here

 This is the time of year in Burgundy when the magic happens.

I'm not talking about Halloween, I'm talking about the wine harvest.

The vines show off their fall colors and is why this area in Burgundy

 is called Cote D'Or, the Gold Coast.

Each village celebrates with a wine tasting and lots of discussion

about how good the wine will be from this harvest.

It does look like a promising year for the wine with a wet spring and a long dry fall

that forces the wine to struggle to survive.

Robi and I have really enjoyed these long warm afternoons and wish they could last forever!

At the end of the day

"Happiness is found in friendships we make along the way."

-unknown

Where shall I start?

To my good friends near and far, I couldn't have made it through this move without you. 

And special thanks to those who came to visit (three different sets of them) and help me re-acclimate to my French life.  I couldn't have indulged in all the laughter,

the decadent cuisine, the incredible desserts, foie gras, meursault , chocolate, award winning macaroons

 all by myself now could I?

After all, what are friends for?

Thanks for the calories, I mean, memories!

Now it's time to, squeeze back into my work britches.

It must have been the French who invented sans a belt pants.

At the End of the Day 6x6 oil on museum board

more info click here

I loved the quiet intimate mood of this couple.  I can only guess what they were discussing. You might be about to tell whether you're a optimist or a pessimist by what you think they are saying.

I worked on this painting in the morning but wasn't satisfied with it and moved on to

something else. Just when I was about to clean up for the day I decided to pull

it back out and do a "make it or break it" maneuver.

I had a few colors left on my palette and some nice gray mixes.  I went back into

the painting, eliminated all the fussy detail, and kept what I felt was essential.

 I can only speculate on this couple's conversation and it was the same with the

painting process. I took a gamble and gave it a shot. In this

case I like what happened at the end of the day.

Say Cheese

Say Cheese  6x6 oil on museum board

for purchasing info click here

Each of these cows has a unique look and personality.

This big girl came running up to me with a big smile

on her face, practically begging me to paint her!

Say Cheese!

Loved Ones

Two in the Brush  6x6 sold

I always miss my paintings when they are sold but the

beauty is in knowing they have found a good home where

they are loved! 

Now that I'm resettled in France and surrounded by my

cow friends, you can count on seeing alot more of them:)