I am a Contributing Author of this New Book!

I was very excited when asked by GMC Publications to be included in the newly published Painting & Drawing Techniques and Tutorials for the Complete Beginner book. Some of my tutorials and lessons from my previous colored pencil book have been included with the works of five additional artist authors Paul Clark, Adrian Burrows, Noman Long and Richard Rochester. 

This book includes some really good information with beautiful illustrations and easy to follow steps about how to draw in charcoal and pencil, and how to paint in watercolor, acrylic and oil painting. It is a great resource for artists who wish to learn about these different mediums from supplies to lessons and it's all included in one book. 

This book is available through Amazon.com at this link.

 

Abstract Painting Workshop

 I always like to try new techniques in art because I believe we learn from each different medium. I decided to participate in a 2-day abstract acrylic painting workshop titled Intuitive Art taught by Theresa Girard. Theresa is quite an accomplished artist and excellent instructor which really helped me because (as you know) my art is very detailed and realistic. I really hoped this class would help me loosen up a bit and experiment with shapes, value, color and line. Above is a black, white and three shades of gray value study, 12x12". I think it's okay although I'm not sure what to do with it next.

 This pieced together study is an exercise in charcoal in which Theresa instructed us to move in make certain marks with charcoal and then move away from the painting. We did this several times, in and out making various lines, marks and shapes. In the end we cut them up and reassembled the squares. I like what I've got started here and plan to do something with it.

The other three photos are of the various paintings done by students at the end of the second day. We walked around and Theresa critiqued our work and gave us suggestions. I won't show you mine, it's a big blob right now! I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, learning from Theresa and also learning from my colleagues in the class. I definitely would take another abstract workshop, while I was extremely tired from thinking so hard after the two days, I enjoyed the journey to abstraction!

Big Fish Painting

I worked on this painting in the early fall of 2015 but I'm just getting around to posting it. I had seen a similar fish painting in a store, really liked it and thought about purchasing it. An artist friend came over to my house so I showed her a photo of the painting I liked and said I was thinking about buying it. She suggested I buy a big canvas and paint a fish myself, she said "what do you have to lose? Just try it." So that's exactly what I did. I bought a 36x36" canvas and used the photo of the fish painting I liked just as REFERENCE. I changed the fish to make it my own and really had fun with it. 

My painting is really a fun, decorative piece painted in acrylic. The first photo shows how I started with a very basic underpainting. I mixed black and ultramarine blue for the background and a beige for the fish. Next I added colored glazes to the fish mixing my acrylic with gel medium to make it transparent. I applied the paint on the fish with brushes and sponges. I had the most fun with the eye because it is so definitive and strong. The second photo is the fish in progress and the third shows the finished painting. The last picture is my finished painting hanging over my couch. I love to look at it every day and think about what I learned while painting in acrylic.

Acrylic Painting

In the beginning of January I began taking an acrylic painting class with instructor Kelley MacDonald at the Providence Art Club. One of our first exercises was to take our subject and paint it first in black and white, second in black white and one mid gray and third in black, white and all shades of gray. It is a great learning exercise to help me become familiar with my subject before I paint it in color. I had to really think about simplifying the subject into first only two values, then three and then all values and I spent several hours on the exercises. The lesson plan helped me learn more about the different values in the turtle's shell before I took into consideration all of the colors.

My finished turtle painting is on 8x8" canvas.