The School of Light and Color

I am proud to announce that I am now an in- resident, workshop instructor at The School of Light and Color in Fair Oaks, California. This is a vey well known art school owned by Susan Sarback, an internationally renowned oil painting artist and author of the very popular book, "Capturing Radiant Light and Color". My first weekend workshop there, earlier this month, was "Learn The Six Skill Sets of Drawing". I had some students as far away as Hawaii attend. My next workshop will be in April, and I will be teaching my On-The-Go Ink and Wash Sketching technique. Hope to see you there!

A portrait in progress

I teach an acrylic painting class at a local University Art store two Thursdays a month. It is a two hour class, and we paint everything from still lifes, landscapes, and portraits. This handsome young North African man is a portrait we are currently painting. I started out by painting in the man's basic skin color (the local color of his face) and then quickly sketching in some purple shadow values to start to bring out the features of his face. Next came some high light values with a few of them in some colors that I was observing from the reference photo. Exact colors are not too important at this stage. It is more about establishing features with value shapes and just starting to get a feel for color hues in the face. The final (but not completed) stage here shows more facial hues and continued value exploration. The portrait is getting a little less crude and more polished as I continue to explore colors, values and the planes of the face. Lesson here?... paint the rough facial hues and value shapes in order to begin the process of organizing the face. This process can take hours to days depending on how long you want to paint at each session. I tend to crawl at a snail's pace so that each time I sit down to paint again, I approach my subject with a clear head and fresh eyes. At each session, I "polish" just a bit more. This process for me cannot be rushed. At each stage, as the face "emerges", my eyes are more sensitized to the facial hues, values, planes, and edges on the face. When I start a portrait, there is a lot I flat out do not see, but as I polish, I begin to see more and more! NEVER think that you can go for all the facial nuances from the get go. It just does'nt work that way. Stay tuned for the final stages.

Direct To You from Sunny California

This is a 5"X7" itsy bitsy watercolor painting I did last December. I used the last of my Manganese Blue for the sky. REAL Manganese blue, not the contemporary fake stuff. I'm so sad, but take heart, David!...they still make Opera.

Thank you, Karla!

Thanks to fellow blogger, Karla, I was able to add a link to my new "On-The-Go Ink and Wash Sketching" booklet in the gadget section on my blog's right hand sidebar. Now visitors can click on the booklet's cover and link to my Blurb.com page to review and purchase it. Just type in the title or my last name in the site's search box. Here is an example of an on-the-go ink and wash sketch. I will be teaching this technique in a workshop sponsored by the Sierra Watercolor Society in Reno this March 10 and 11.

HELP

This is my new 22 page On-The-Go Ink and Wash booklet that can be ordered through Blurb.com, but how do I get a photo and link onto my side bar like on Carol Marine's blog? Help, I need somebody, help!

A rose is a rose is a rose and by any other name is a rose.

This is a painting I did for my wife for Valentine's day. Why buy a rose when you can paint a rose.

Happy Birthday!!!

I know that this is suppose to be my "art only" blog, but I can't help it, because I am so excited for the Egyptian people...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!