Another day on the desert

As long as you're going to think anyway, think big. -Donald Trump

Sometimes we think small in the studio .... a study from our landscape essentials class.... nothing local this time ... guess I'll need to take a trip to Arizona to paint this one en plein air.

oil on canvas pad 6x8

Outing to Balboa Park

It was a great day for an outing so we went to Balboa Park and the Art Museum .... starting with the Coaster Train .... great view of the coast and the ocean from the upper deck... clean comfortable cars .. and , of course, the "ol geezer" price of only a couple bucks :-) ahhhhh such fun

the is the top of the station... right in the middle of the city ... then on around the block to catch bus #7

It was clean and light traffic for the middle of the city

balboa Park had a free trolly and a very amusing tour guide to motor us around the park and familiarize us with what and where of the park

We did arrive at the art museum which had 2 great special shows ..... Spanish art old to new and... Gustav Stickley... plus many other permanent hangings ... it was a great museum and the students enjoyed all the fine art

Some one was caught snaping fotos in the private showings :-)

On the grass in front of the botanical building there just happened to be a tribesman looking for dinner

We invited him to be a model at the atelier so he had dinner later on
We let ... tired but very happy for  a pleasant trip back and dinner at Whole Foods deli

Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life. -Isaac Bashevis Singer

Show some kindness today

Kindness causes us to learn, and forget, many things. -Madame Swetchine

so,,, be kind today


To produce a quality studio landscape painting I am told there are a series of steps.... the first being to go out on location, stake some fotos and then do a plein air painting on the spot ....
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors
Next step is to take the  foto and make a value study .... the value study can be done in the field prior to the plein air painting and used for a reference guide to paint the plain air painting..... see my value study below ... I did not get to do a plein air painting of this scene so my value study is made from the foto.... sometimes we need to make several value studies and select the one that works best

A final canvas size is selected and a pencil sketch is made to the scale of the final canvas... this helps when transferring the image to the canvas... my sketch is below

Final step prior to beginning the painting is painting a color study...... notice we tried several color schemes before we begin ..... sometimes we might do as many as 6

Thanks for taking this mini tour on creating a studio landscape painting

Value Study charcoal on smooth newsprint 4x5

Pencil sketch to scale 6x7 1/2

Look for the good things

There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to go -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall. -Bernard Malamud


..........but I just go to the beach

Who wudda thot

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow them. -Louisa May Alcott

Now being a model has never been a dream of mine... nor even a thought  ... but today the model was late due to car trouble and I was asked  by the instructor, Jeff Watts, to model until she arrived. I was not sure that I could sit still for 20-30 minutes but it all went well ... even some in the audience complimented me on a good job and asked if I would model for the class sometime. Jeff stated he would hire me to model if I wanted to ... all very flattering ... I may do it on a limited basis but I want to paint much more than model.
The Atelier wants to pay me for a foto shoot and additional modeling..... hey, who knows... I may be on the front of "Old Geezer Magazine" next  :-)

Jeff Watts  oil on canvas board 6x8 .. 20 minute gesture painting

Another day slavin' away

Here I am slaving away at school all day while you are enjoying your summer vacation.... going places ... doing things ... taking time off ..... but I must hit the books ... study day and night ..... draw and paint in between .....

Could anything good be hiding in a bush ?
Believe in something larger than yourself.  - Barbara Bush

hmmmm .... I got Friday off

The end of a really great day.

Down to the Beach

The beach is near so I had to head on down to Beacon Beach .... "down to the beach" is not just a way of saying it... take a look .... it is DOWN ...... and the tide was in ... when the tide is out there is much more beach
So I went there at the end of the day to catch a sunset ... not much of a sunset today but still lots of people .... and they stay until the last moment when the beach closes
Notice that all the surfers are not young kids.... there are lots of "old" kids from the Beach Boys era
Finally the sun gets closer to actually setting .... still lots of folks down there in the water and on the beach .... those in the water all had wetsuits on ... heh

Land of Fruits and Nuts

:-) ..... take that anyway you like
After a wonderful drive down the eastern Sierras and across some desert county I arrived safely and parked on the street ... as you can see it is not very crowded ... however, down by the beach it is very very crowded. To hear the concert in the park today I would have had to park a mile or so away ... not that I mind walking a mile but to walk a mile and then push my way thru a crowd at the beach just did not seem like what I wanted to enjoy. This evening I will go down to a different section of the beach at sunset.
Notice that apples grow here on this property... I picked one off the ground and ate it.
There are always flowers ... here are a couple of my favorite which I shot today.
Enjoy

The old must stick together

All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible. -Frank Richards




No body told me I couldn't do it... so I did it.. not knowing it was highly unlikely or impossible - Unocchio :-)

The Carson Valley Art Association has an anual hanging in August at the local College... the theme is always a photo chosen by the memebers and eveyone paints the same picture ... but they are all different and that's the fun of it all.
This year it is a picture of an old barn here in the Nevada-Sierra region. I love old barns, old cars, old dishes and old people :-)   ... but I may not like old food, just depends how ol it is.

Here is my effort of the "senior" barn ... it is a knife painting on 14x18 stretched canvas.

oil on strectched canvas knife painting 14x18