It's a Puzzle

I worked on this piece in three and a tenth class sessions. The third session I spent my time with my internal struggle wanting to make up color, value and temperature. It really should had taken less than ten minutes to finish this piece but I wasn't willing to accept what I was seeing. I wanted to make it up.

 I kept trying to push the shadow flowers brighter and warmer than they were. Finally, I had a break through. I realized that it was one big puzzle.  The ceramic vase, the flowers and the background had to be compared each time to ensure they were not alike.   They were very similar and the point of this study was to see the subtle differences of the objects . The next session, I finished this immediately and started work on another puzzle.

How's Your Values?

I painted a live model yesterday and was surrounded by wonderful artists. I watched their painting techniques and the layering of paint. It was awe inspiring. I wasn't able to spend enough time on my own and I see that it is flat.  I am seeing this more with the way I am painting with the brush. I am ending up with everything in the mid value range. I need to take my time, compare and see. Start with the darkest dark and compare. Return to the basics and simplify the shapes.

Instructor's Demo

I attached the painting that an instructor demoed for me Wednesday as I began to make it too complex.  She simplified shapes by combining darks and lights. It looks 3 dimensional. Notice the difference.

Painting and Posting

I  have painted everyday but not posted. So here is another catchup session. I returned to working on stage 2 paintings. I found I was overworking and not paying attention to the values enough. I took a large canvas sheet and did several studies. This is just one piece.
I see that I am rushing through the process and not comparing my darks.  This is a good lesson. I have become lazy and it shows.  It is always good to reevaluate your work  and be honest with yourself.

Professional Instruction and Practice

I am learning figure drawing and painting.  I can't get over how fortunate I am to have professional instruction from Terry Muira. His  teaching method works. Here are my three paint studies created from one class session. It is hard work and, as with anything, you need to practice, practice, practice.

Color Intensive Workshop Lesson

The more you learn art, the more you need to remember when composing a painting. I spent three hours drawing this piece. I still ended up with a tilted vase and short legs on the horse. I need to keep practicing.
I realized as I watched the beginning class demonstration, that there are steps I have skipped. I need to return to the basic steps when painting.

11x14 Oil On Board

Last Friday's Open Studio Portrait

I have spent every waking hour drawing, painting and reading art. At times, I have been extremely frustrated and I love it. Why? Frustration to me means I am being challenged and I love  a good challenge.
Here is last Friday's portrait study.  I had a difficult time with the model's right side of her face and eye. I couldn't get the face to turn rather than appear flat.

Learning Color Takes Practice, Patience and Great Instruction

I am attending my third Color Intensive Workshop at School of Light and Color  and it is amazing how much I learn every time I attend. (This is my third time through). The energy, information and the instruction from Susan Sarback is always good. 
I think this current study is a wonderful learning tool. I have a problem with my medium values, dulling my colors and making my shadows too heavy.  This will help me as I continue to train me how see and paint color.
The photo was taken with my cell phone so the quality isn't that great but I think you get the idea of what the beginning stage looks like. 

Painting Portraits

12x16 Oil On Canvas Sheet

Here is the portrait study from my other class. I take it after the figure class so I can keep the momentum going. The model was wonderful and the class is always good.

Figure Painting Is Hard But Worth It

12x16 Oil On Canvas Sheet

I have a love hate relationship with my figure painting class. It is hard.  It is so hard. It is so $@*! hard.  I love it. I spent the afternoon painting a study with ultramarine blue and titanium white. I continued to learn about the cast shadows and form shadows. Great lesson but it was hard.

Painting So Much I Didn't Have Time to Post

I am catching up on my postings today. I have been busy studying, painting, practicing and learning.  Here is the completed study from the School of Light and Color.  I whined out loud a few times during the painting process. Why?  I couldn't see that the magnolia and the shadow were the same value. I asked the instructor if I have been painting my shadows too dark all this time. Thank goodness she is a patient teacher. " No,  the value of the shadow and the flower are, in fact, the same", she explained.  "Squint harder".  I squinted and squinted and I still couldn't see it. She finally mixed the paint and put the value down for me. I am telling you, this was a difficult study and  a perfect learning tool!

8X10 Color Study

This Is As Far As It Goes

I caught an aggressive cold that was going around after Thanksgiving.  I can't remember being that  ill since I was 6 and it genuinely surprised me that a cold could take me down.   I slept two weeks straight and limited my activity for a few weeks afterwards - not by choice-  I just didn't feel well. I didn't even  paint for about three weeks which lets you know how nasty this thing was.  That is why I didn't get back to this study until today. I found it in the freezer and  I filled in the white spaces and called it done.
Here is the finished study on a 9x12 oil on board. I think it looks fine incomplete.

Hot from the Kiln

Pompeii Ash and Temaku Cone 5/6 Glaze

Pompeii Ash and Power Turquoise Cone 5/6 Glaze

I ran my kiln with a few of my wheel thrown pottery  pieces. They are fired with  cone 5/6 glazes, Pompeii ash, temaku and power turquoise. I prefer the temaku glaze , the reddish brown glaze, since I am partial to the brown matte.

A Sincere Thank You

I would like to thank all of you who purchased my paintings. Sales have continued to increase this past year and it  is all because you. It means so much to me and  I hope you enjoy them as much I enjoyed creating them.
Thank you, again,
Eva  Marie Tanner-Klaas

New Year's Resolution

Pastel artist, Rob Decker, and I spent New Year's Day celebrating the unusually warm weather painting at Harris Beach on the Oregon coast.  There was a wide range of ages from children to octogenarians wanting to know all about plein air.  A few promised to return the next nice day to paint with us. So, if you are looking for a New Year's resolution, why not celebrate the beauty along the Oregon coast creating art with the local plein air artists. Cast out your fears and live your dream.  As Rob always says to people who wish they could sit outdoors and draw like him,  "I saved you a place right next to me. Pull up a chair".

Rob Decker, myself and the famous Minnow  in the background

Moving the Horizon Line

It was a beautiful day on the coast with whales going by and sightseers.  I went out about 10 AM and painted until 4:45  PM with fellow painter, Rob Decker.
I started the morning  with a warm up painting of the park entrance road surrounded by trees on an 8x10 board.
I then turned my attention to the ocean and did a few value sketches. That is when I  asked Rob his thoughts  about moving the horizon line of the ocean and sea. I wanted to know was it better to paint what I saw or adjust the horizon line down between a large rock.  He thought I would run into a perspective problem.  I decided to paint both. It was fun. I put the 5x7 boards next each other on my easel and painted them side by side.I need to add some branches and a few waves but here are the results.
As you can see, these are similar to yesterday's studies but with more detail.

Park Entrance painted on 8x10 board with oil

Ocean Study with Horizon Line Lowered painted on 5x7 board with oil

Ocean Scene Study with Normal Horizon Line painted on 5x7 board with oil

Paint Faster - I Am Freezing Here

Standing on the coast painting is wonderful... even when it is freezing. It just motivates you to paint faster.
Here are three. Yes, three oil paintings I painted this afternoon with my oil brushes and mp3 player.
This work will be in the Crescent Harbor Gallery in Crescent City, California.

6x6 Oil On Canvas  simplified without surrounding brush

5x7 Oil On Canvas with simplified brush work

9x12 Oil On Board with minimal value change

The Art of Juggling

So, I was a volunteer whale watcher  for the WhaleSpoken.org organization this week in California talking to people about the grey whale migration. I swung by the Tuesday Painters in Oregon to pickup some art supplies for a friend when I was offered a juggling demonstration by a local artist, Mary Jo. Rob Decker, well known pastel artist and drawing instructor,  turned the tunes to an upbeat Japanese cowboy singer and Mary Jo's hips started swaying as she started to juggle.   Her juggling balls actually light up which makes it not only fun to watch but easy to find if she drops one.
Whale watching, Japanese cowboy music and  juggling artist all in one day. What are the odds of that happening? 

Alive and Well - Celebrating My Son's Graduation from College

Devin, The College Graduate

Me and My Husband

My Brother, Brady and My Sister-in-Law, Patricia

Uncle Brady and Devin

I am alive and well after swearing I would not get the local cold virus going around. Well, never say never. I was down for two weeks which meant no painting nor drawing... just slept and whined.  The cold could not stop me from celebrating my son graduating from college so here are the pictures from the Casablanca Moroccan Cafe. Still had fun between sniffles and coughs.

Still Life Drill

I met with fellow painters Tuesday to study, talk and work on our art. I did a still life drill of persimmons. I made the same mistakes that I have done in the past. I continue to not push the dark or push a bright and I forget about proportions.  I have a tendency to make objects larger as they recede. Where is  this logic coming from?  I need a good old fashion paradigm shift to push me past this.
How?  Practice, practice and more practice.

Side By Side

I decided I would push myself in open studio today by painting two side by side paintings of the model. I found I worked on one more than the other. Then the last 15 minutes, I had to make a decision as to what  strokes I needed to finish. It was a fun challenge.

One canvas sheet is larger than the other.  The model's  head was slightly tilted and sure enough... I straightened her face out. Darn.  And she has Kewpie doll lips and I just couldn't capture them. But, hey, I was painting today and that is a good thing.

Blonde's Are More Fun - To Paint

This was a fun portrait. The model was blonde with very pale skin and large blue eyes.  I didn't want to paint her skin too pale because it would look chalky. So, the instructor suggested I kept the under painting on the light side. 

Fresh Air with Plein Air

8x10 Oil on Gessoboard

Here is a plein air study from Lone Ranch just outside of Brookings, Oregon. I had a wonderful day painting with friends on the coast. We attracted quite a group of people interested in what we were painting outdoors as they watched us create these quick studies. It was nice to be outside in the fresh air.

Howdy Cupcake - SOLD 12/2011

SOLD at Manely Art Center

I painted with Kathy Huxley and the Tuesday painters today and it was bring your favorite dessert day... not planned but just happened. We were all inspired by Randy Blasquez's cake painting.
We are, also,  loving this idea because when we are done, we get to eat the yummy desserts.
Here is my "Howdy Cupcake" painting on a 6"x 6" canvas, oil with palette knife.

I Think I Need A Bigger Brush

First of all, I am trying to type this on my laptop on my lap and the cat insists she wants to be on my lap, too. So, she is trying to hurry this blog post along. Cats have priority in our house.
I have been in my studio painting a large 3 foot by 4 foot painting of the Yosemite studies I did last month. I found out a few days ago that  I needed to paint it in a landscape format rather than the portrait format I did. That is kind of important to know when painting a large scale painting. I thought I had worked out all the bugs with this portrait studies and was confident I could do this.  But, if this is my biggest problem, shame on me for complaining.

Plein Air Painting on the Coast

So, here is my progress so far. It is going into a financial planner's office. He has been very patient waiting for this.

3'x4' Oil in Progress

Oh and in between this large painting, I run out to paint with Rob Decker and Kathy Huxley at the beach.  By the way, Rob Decker is now considered a national artist. He is working with the National Parks.

Abstract Thinkers

In Randy's class today, we became abstract thinking artists. It was  a fun lesson. Here is my incomplete study. I will finish it in the morning before my next class. Great instruction, Randy. Thank you.

Is It The Easel Or Me? One Of Us Is A Little Off

Here is my finished study of five objects. That little bowl gave me grief but the rest of it wasn't too bad... as far I can remember.

I had to straighten the bottles a bit. I was telling the instructor that the reason why I end up with crooked bottles is my crooked easel.  I just need a better, expensive easel. Well,  she laughed and said you think it is the easel?  Between me and the easel, I am hoping the easel is a little off.

Slight Adjustment

I made a slight adjustment to this last portrait study. It was too pale. Here is the results.

One More Session...

One more session and this study is done. I do love this stage.

Girl Talk

It was a good time in portrait class.  It was a  small group of women. We were all  painting, learning and chatting. Nice. Here is my study.

Statue Study

I wanted to paint a study of a statue of Jesus that I photographed.  I am working out the color with this.
Here is my first attempt at it. I painted on an 11X14 canvas sheet.