It's Go Figure Day

Here are the results from today's figure class.  You get quite a bit of instructional attention when you attend this course. I had issues today. It happens. Great class. Great instruction.

Composition, Notans and Color - Oh My

Art instructor Randy Blasquez took us to whole new level today in class. She had us time ourselves with notans or value paintings. Yes - paintings. We created a still life drawing and then we had five minutes to paint the value study. The subject was red roses, a reflective vase, a green apple with a green background and paisley umbrella. Not easy.
First, you had to ensure you have a good composition and get those values correct using a dark grey, medium grey and white. You could push it to 5 values if you wanted. I tried to keep it to 3 or 4 values.
Then  once you worked out the composition and values, you had to paint the still life with color while referring to your value study.
Here are a few of the notans or value studies I did with my finished painting.
Not easy but outstanding lesson. The class paintings were all lined up at the end and the quality of  work was incredible. Everyone excelled at this lesson.
Remember, all of this was completed in an afternoon four session which includes our one hour lunch break. Amazing!

Sure enough - the first notan I have everything snack in the middle. Second notan is not bad.

Third notan is too far right.  The fourth notan  is better - Yes. I painted over it with color.

Finished composition but is my focal point obvious? So much to remember!

"Bathing Beauty"

Here is my first posted DPW painting challenge. I think this is a wonderful way to improve my skills and ensure I paint. 
I call this piece "Bathing Beauty".  I enjoyed this and was thinking afterwards, I should paint a larger painting. 

"Bathing Beauty" By Eva Marie Tanner Klaas 6"x8" Oil On Gallery Wrap Canvas $50.00

Adjustments To One & Painting Another

I made adjustments to yesterday's study and I worked on a second study. I am trying to improve my perspective, distance and clouds. I added light to the fields. Added more trees to the background. The red barn was too distracting so I a removed it. I changed the other barn structure. I dulled down the color of the receding fields.
In the second study, I used cool red under paintings. Magenta, red oxide and alizarin criminson.  I added more color to this study. The previous study was a limited palette.

Adjustments made to "Waiting For The Lilies"

"Fertile Ground" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas 8"x10" Oil On Canvas Board

"Waiting For The Lilies" - SOLD

This is an 8"x10" oil study of the lily fields south of Brookings, Oregon I named "Waiting For The Lilies". This field is part of  one of largest lily growers in the world.
 I wanted to study distance, perspective and clouds in this piece. I worked out my values with a drawing with three values. I did not put an under painting on the canvas. Instead I blocked in the values with transparent paints. This was a quick study so I would not overwork it.This artwork and others will be available at the Manley Art Center from March to April on the classroom panel walls.

SOLD

Our Lady of Fatima Is Heading to Florida

This is the pilgrimage statue Our Lady of Fatima that has traveled for 65 years. I followed her to several churches to see her and marveled how people reacted to her presence. It was lovely. In this photo, a wreath of flowers was placed on her head. In another ceremony, she was crowned and the dedication was in Portuguese.  I watched the way children reacted when they saw her. They would stare into her eyes. I saw grown men drop to their knees and pray. Amazing.

Beautiful statue. Beautiful message. Love.

Practicing Planes Of The Head

I like practicing the planes of the head.   It helps with portraits. Here are few quick studies.

Love/Hate Relationships With Figures

I continue to have a love/hate relationship with figure painting. It is difficult. It is stressful because of the time constraints and decision making. Yet,  all of this makes you a better painter.  You have to successfully draw and describe foreshortening.You must learn to organize the values and shapes.  You have to know a form shadow from a cast shadow. You have to decide what is the best brush stroke to show a plane or cylinder. There is so much more... Sounds like plein air, doesn't it?
Here are two of my figure studies.

A Year & A Brush With Brookings/Harbor, Oregon

I spent as much time as I could painting  last year on the Oregon coast. I decided to compile a few of the paintings into a Blurb book and called it "A Year and Brush with Brookings/Harbor, Oregon". Here is the link if you would like to preview or purchase it. Enjoy!

Improving Landscapes Takes Great Instruction, Notes and Practice

Here is my study from yesterday's class with Terry Miura. This is a limited palette with black, yellow ocher,  transparent red oxide and white  I watched  the instructor's demonstration, wrote down notes and then when he has finished, I use my notes and his demonstration to paint a similar study while I in class.

This study was started without toning the canvas. The trees, barns  and clouds were draw in.  Perspective lines were drawn into the field to remind one to paint a plane, (I needed the reminder). This means horizontal brush strokes. The darker shapes were blocked in and the sky and land were slightly toned to separate the dark, mid tones and lights. This this is just how the painting started. There was another hour and half painting and asking Terry questions.

Great demonstration. Fantastic instruction.

Landscape Study  9x12 on canvas sheet

And Yet Another Homework Assignment

I spent the morning painting my next homework assignment. A tree. A naked tree or deciduous tree. One that had lost it's leaves.  I used a limited palette of payne's gray, transparent red oxide and white. Sound familiar?  I worked out my sketch before painting. Did I mention this was a plein air homework? I had several people stop by to watch me paint and ask questions. It was such a gorgeous day.

What? More Homework?

I had homework this week. Yes, homework. Basically the assignment was to use a limited palette and paint from the work of famous portrait artists like John Singer Sargent. Nothing hard about that, right?
This was created with white, mars black, and transparent red oxide. Amazing what color you get out of those three colors.

Our Lady Of Fatima

I just came back from seeing the Pilgrim Our Lady of Fatima statue that has been traveling around the world since 1947. What a beautiful statue.  She is at Our Lady of the Assumption in Carmichael, CA and will be there until Thursday and then she heads to Oroville , CA for one day and back to Sacramento on Friday at St. Philomene Parish.  She will continue to be in the Sacramento area.  This is a must see.  Visit the  website is www.pilgrimvirginstatue.com to learn more.

Know Your Tendencies

Know you tendencies. Have you ever heard that? Well in art, I hear it all the time.  I have a tendency to  not fix my drawing issues. That cause problems later on. Then I am forced to fix it and it causes frustration.  Apparently I like to be frustrated... right? Then I end up with an overworked  painting. So I am not posting yesterday's study because it is full of my tendencies.

"It's Good To Be King" Pillow

I love decorative pillows. I have them on our bed, couch, chairs, and bench. I stack them everywhere. So I decided to put  my cat artwork on pillows. The first one created is of Benjamin's painting called "It's Good To Be King". This is a 20"x20" throw pillow. It is made in the USA  out of cotton and is washable. Everything I love about a pillow.
It is currently for sale at Zazzle.  Zazzle is a retail store that allows you to sell your custom merchandise.  Click here or Benjamin below to see more.

Click Benjamin to see more.

Cat Tail Gallery's Newest Updates

I posted more work to my website.   Just click on the picture below and it will take you there. Enjoy!

Cat Tail Gallery

Festival Of the Art In Stout Park

Attention all you starving artists! Here is an opportunity to sell your art and visit Brookings, Oregon. Apply now for the Festival Of The Art in Stout Park located in Brookings, Oregon. Just follow this link.
You can also find them on facebook. The due date is March 13th so don't procrastinate.

How About Calling It Half A Marathon

I ran my errands this morning and arrived at Patris Studio just when the model was taking a break. Perfect timing. My goal - yes, I had a goal - was paint loose, think about my brush strokes and think about the warms, cools and values. I painted six portraits. Two short poses and I moved around for the long pose to finish four portraits. If I didn't like the painting, I scraped it. No worry.
Here are two of my studies.

Self Portrait Homework

Homework? Yes - homework.  The assignment was to do a self portrait with direct light using black, white and transparent red oxide painted.  You needed to create warms and cools, be aware of soft and sharp edges and think about the paint strokes.
I don't spend much time looking in the mirror so a self portrait was traumatizing. Where did those wrinkles come from? Since it wasn't part of the assignment, I just ignored them.

40 Strokes And No More - You Can Count On It

"40 Strokes Only" - You can see my stroke counts on the side of the study. 

I had a blast in Randy Blasquez's class yesterday. She demonstrated brush work and showed the class how you could  paint a still life with only 40 brush strokes. Then it was our turn.
This exercise forces you to  think about how you are going to use those strokes. I opted for the big, flat brush off the bat with large pre-mixed puddles of greys - both warm and cool. I loaded the  brush with as much paint as I possible could and carefully laid down the paint on the shadow side. Then I took another big brush loaded with light from 5 different puddles light colors.
After that,  I had to decide how I was going to apply warm and cool greys to the body. Would I have enough strokes left over for highlight?
Now each time you fill a brush with paint and use it, you must count it as a stroke. Drawing the object doesn't count. Only when you start filling it in. Lift the brush off the canvas and you must count it as a stroke.  I had to test a highlight to see if it was light enough and it counted as a stroke. The brush stroke tallies were off the side. You can barely make out numbers I wrote down to let me know how many stroke I had.
Great study. Excellent lesson.

Another Iris Color Study

I posted last week's iris color study where I painted it to a value and color stage. This is a finished piece of the iris setup.  The focal area is the iris in front of the vase. It is more defined than the rest of the painting.  It has more contrast, sharper edges and description.  The rest of the irises are soft and not has defined.  The background, shadow, vase and tabletop does not distract you. Your eyes should go the focal point. The front iris.
When adding color, you need to stand back at a viewing distance to ensure the color is showing but not in a sweet way - IE having too much chroma. You dab a color and step back. If it is readable and works, then you continue with that color. If not, mix, dab and try again. This is the same method with changing value.
I did not start with a transparent wash. Instead, I mixed my colors and carefully loaded my brush with paint  and used short brush strokes. This allowed  me to "layer" the color. This means you must think and be precise with each stroke so you can leave the colors underneath. It takes a lot of concentration.
Great lesson. Great instruction.

"Irises and  Vase Study" Oil On Canvas Sheet

New Paintings At Patris' Studio and Gallery

I have new paintings for sale at Patris Studio and  Art Gallery in Sacramento, CA.  A few of these paintings were from the 30 days 30 paintings challenge I created for the Leslie Saeta event.
This will give you a wonderful opportunity to see the other artists' paintings too. You will not be disappointed by the quality of work.

Problems With Values Doesn't Make Me A Bad Person

I worked on this study in class of an iris and white vase. I had to simplify it because I didn't have much time. I was focusing on value and color.   Again, I paint on canvas sheets so that when they dry, I can write my notes the back. So here is my value and color study.

Mapping Lincoln

I was invited to a model session to draw  President Lincoln. He left his formal wear at home and came casual. The poses were 20 minutes which gave me time to map his features.  He was a wonderful model as he posed perfectly still.

Marathon Painting

I spent the day painting portraits for 5 hours. Maybe not a marathon but I painted 4 and then headed home to rest. I will do this again with a limited palette. My goal is to become sure of the paint strokes. I've said it before, you have to paint a 100 portraits and then paint 100 more.

Another Great Adventure

I was in Crescent City, CA enjoying a gorgeous day.  It was perfect for capturing a picture of the Battery Point Lighthouse. The problem is there is a seawall in front of it that blocks the view. So I had to climb up a wet, mossy,  fallen tree to get this picture. Why? There are signs all over warning you not to walk on the seawall due to sneaker waves. So this is the best way to get a picture.  My husband was on the ground taking a picture of me taking a picture and saying "Be careful. Please,be careful".

Here is another scene that is pretty cute. These snowmen are made out of crab pots.  Notice the Christmas tree.

 You can barely make out the California sea lions in the left hand side of the background. I have heard biologist call them the California loser males. They are the sea lions that lost the battle that would entitle them to mate with the females. So they all come up North to hang out for the rest of their lives. There are quite a bit of them all over the piers and beaches.