I Thought Painting Was Supposed To Be Relaxing

So, I am still reinforcing techniques on how to complete an oil painting.  I need to pay attention to the focal point with sharp edges. Soften the edges of other objects. Check my directional brush strokes. Look at my shadows and re-check my values. Look at my relationships. Ask myself does it make sense? Keep the painting looking fresh.
Hey - this sounds like work.

Don't Brush Off Brushwork

I am constantly learning brushwork. This weekend I attended a 2 day workshop at the School Of Light and Color in Fair Oaks, CA to help improve my brushwork skills. We were taught how to hold a brush, different ways to lay down paint - thick to thin, color mixing techniques and more.
These are just a few of the pieces. Yes - just a few.  The workshop was outstanding!

A small study to learn layering color without mud.

Another small study to practice brushwork.

A painting to reinforce what I learned.

I Swear I Have Been Painting

I have been painting but most are in the stinker stack. Here is better one from a class last week.

Magnolia Study With Palette Knife

Oops - What Happened To My Painting?

I painted with a group at William B. Pond yesterday where I painted a small 5x7. I was happy and packed it away in my guerilla box. When I opened the box at home, I had not packed it properly and  half the painting was wiped away. Oh well,  I still got outdoors to paint. No picture but a nice memory.

Express Yourself Again And Again

This is  my progress of learning expressionism. It it quite challenging. I also have a tendency to paint the same type of compositions.  Hmm. I guess I should be more aware of that, too.

Toss Me The Palette Knife

I truly love creating these palette knife paintings. After I took the picture, I noticed my bottle was a little wonky. Yes - wonky. So I will fix it later.
This originally had two flowers in the still life setup. I struggled for an hour trying to get that other flower painted correctly. Finally, I just scraped it off the canvas telling myself it was my painting and can do whatever I want. Wow - it is about time I figured that out.

"Pucker Up" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas- 8"x10" Oil on Canvas Board

This is created with pure color at the beginning. The bottle was pure ultramarine blue and then adjusted. The lemon in the shadow was cad. green light and the light side was lemon yellow. The flower started as a cobalt blue with light. The table cloth started with perm. rose with lots of white and then viridian  carefully layered on top with with lots of white.
My background was magenta and purple.  Oh and the shadows were ultramarine blue for the bottle and thalo blue for the flower and lemon. All are adjusted to the correct value before layering the color.

Score!

I am so happy with my newly acquired art pieces for my collection.   They are 3 beautiful bowls by Chris Thompson from his incredible 1000 bowl project to feed the hungry. He spent a year and a half throwing these bowls.  I followed this and was hoping it be in town but missed it.
Guess what? I stopped by the E Street Gallery in Sacramento to see another artist's incredible show and found Chris' bowls.  I am still grinning ear to ear. Love his pieces and his the reason behind it. (Check out his youtube video for more information).
The most difficult part was choosing from the selection available. Thank you, Dot, for being so patient I made my decision. I have to go back for a few more. (Forgive the pictures. They cannot capture the glazed colors. Trust me. They are incredible).

These can be used as functional bowls, decorative on the wall or both. They have wire hangers attached to the foot of the bowl. Starting at the top and left to right the sizes are  8", 12", 12 1/2 across.

Saturday Portrait At Patris' Studio

I spent the early evening drawing from a live model in Oak Park at Patris' Studio and Gallery.

Portrait on Gray Toned Paper with Conte, Colored Pencils and Crayon

Don't Brush Me Off

Here are two still life pieces that I did in classes. One is palette knife layering colors which I enjoy.  The other is brush. Since I am learning the brush strokes, the work is demonstrated directly on the painting so it isn't necessarily all my work. Most of it is but not all.
I showed the palette knife to a fellow painter and her preference was my brush painting. It was the bold strokes.
Although I like them both, I lean more towards the palette knife for pragmatic reasons. Why? Clean up is easier and it is easier when layering colors.

Brush work.

Palette knife.

What A Week!

I have had a wonderful week making plant markers, gardening, walking on the beach, visiting family and friends, baking and cooking for my dear husband and petting sheep.  Here are some pictures.

Gerry at low tide on Harris Beach, OR.

Plant markers made out of porcelain.

More plant markers out of stoneware.

Starfish ballet.

The girls waiting to be put into the barn for the night.

I can hike this.

What is a week without a cute kitty moment? This is Poco.

Preparing With Pottery For Spring

I am getting ready for my garden this year in my pottery shop by making custom plant markers. The last two years I kept the markers simple, unglazed and used a sharpie pen to mark my plants. (I have sold several hundreds of them too as they work great).  This year I will stamp them with what I am growing and brightly glaze them. I am also making a few extra for friends and family. 
The clay markers are drying in my dryer and the first batch should be going into the kiln tomorrow.

Comparing Different Painting Methods, Colors, Feeling, and Stories - SOLD

I have painted and posted several different painting styles of the same scenes. Today I thought it would interesting to compare these two pieces of the American River at the Watt Avenue Bridge.
The brush work in the first example was completed last year onsite at the American River. You can see there is a lot of green in this painting. To me it has a sense of calmness.
It has a nice memory to it. Another artist friend, Trude,  and I spent the morning at this site painting together.  She was drawing and using watercolors and I had my oils. It was a gorgeous day and  fly fishermen were wading in the river.  There was a golden retriever playing in the water.

On Site Plein Air Brush Painting On Linen - SOLD

The palette knife was completed in my studio yesterday where I changed the color to an autumn theme. There is a lot of oranges and yellows. It has movement and excitement.  I was toasty warm inside my condo while it was cloudy and cool outside. I was sipping hot chocolate and happy to be painting. Again, nice memory associated to this work.

Studio Palette Knife Painting on Board  - SOLD

So the question is which do you like better? What influences your preference? Is it the brush or the palette knife?  Are you more influenced by the colors, the feelings, or perhaps the stories when you look at the paintings? For example,  my husband Gerry has a preference towards palette knife paintings.  He was immediately drawn to the vibrating autumn colors in the second painting.  I am drawn to the brush work painting.  I like the stillness.

"American River Gang"

It was too overcast and cold for me to go out today. So I took out one of my previous studies, a board, and palette knife to create this painting. 
This particular scene is on the American River off of the Watt Avenue bridge. This is close to our condo so it is a convenient place to paint.

"American River Gang" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 8"x10" Oil on Board with Palette Knife

In Memory Of Earl - SOLD

This is a portrait of Earl the cat.

"Earl"  - 8"x8" Oil on Gallery Wrap - SOLD

"Lady In Red"

I took an oil brush study and painted another one with a palette knife. What a difference the layered color makes.

"Lady In Red" Oil With Palette Knife On Board

It Is Raining - Hurray

I am so happy it is raining today because we really need it. It did interfere with my plans to sketch San Fransisco today by way of the mega bus. Instead, I decided to pull out a few of my studies and palette knife.
I have painted this scene, Sailor Bar, several times in different styles with brush. This is the first time with a palette knife. The difference? The color is purer and I don't have to clean up the brushes.

"Sailor Bar" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 8"x10" Oil with Palette Knife On Board

Urban Painting

I painted this today with a couple of plein air painters near Sacramento High School in Sacramento, CA.  I think I could push the values a bit more but I am happy with the progress.

"Off To Work" by Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 8"x10" Oil on Canvas Board

Express Yourself

 

This is today's study and the instructor put his marks on the background and the blue bottle. He then put a a few color suggestions in the bean pot shadow and highlight.  He pushed the flower color more than I initially did. Great study and lesson.

Still No Whining

I took yesterday's study and painted it on an 8"X10" board in oil. Yesterday's was on a canvas sheet.
I pushed the color just a bit more and painted thicker.

"Have A Glass" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas  Oil on 8"X10" Board

No Whining

I was able to finish this piece with no whining. Hmm. What a coincidence... or is it?

Watercolor Value Studies

I came home this afternoon after figure open studio and painted continuous value studies until it was time for dinner.  Here are a few watercolor examples.  I was pleased with the progress. The worse part was waiting for the watercolor to dry.

Simple value study.

One color value study and keeping the white of the paper.

Messy value study.

Keeping it simple.

A Black And White Affair

I bought inexpensive, black and white acrylic paint at Joanne's last night. Today I set up a still life and took out my studies from the last month. Goal? To practice my values. I was resistant with the first one. I didn't want to compare but rather just get through the lesson. Then I started to see, compare and join like values. The work improved after each one.

Watering can with lemon

Two vases, bottle and oranges.

Orange, bottle and pottery vase

Orange and two bottles

Teapot with two pomegranates

Watermelon slices, bottle, copper pot with lid and flower

Viewing Art

I headed to another gallery today to see “Richard Diebenkorn/Franz Kline: The Black and White Show.”  There were lithographs, etchings, and ink on paper. I looked at each piece up close and then far away. Amazing what how inspirational black and white can be.

Richard Diebenkorn - Seated Woman - Lithograph

 

 

Megabus to SF's Legion of Honor and Back

I hopped on the mega bus to San Fransisco today to see Andrew Zorn's exhibit at the Legion Of Honor.  The exhibit was wonderful  and what a great way to see the city. I spent 6 dollars for the mega bus round trip and didn't have to pay for parking and gas. I did have to pay for the metro buses in SF but my Legion of Honor admission was reduced by two dollars for taking public transportation. Not bad.
I spent time in Chinatown and decided that I would return in two weeks to sketch the city. I can't wait.

Urban Plein Air

I was up early painting this morning to meet up with some Urban painters and before I knew it, it was time to go home.  Good day.

Urban Plein Air on 8"x10"Canvas Board in Oil

Being Subtle

This exercise was a bit "subtle".  It was pink, white and soft lavender and made my head spin. I struggled to turn the form on the white teapot!  But.. it really was a great lesson.

Pushing Color

Here is my color study from my expressionist class.  It was one of those paintings where  I just wanted to be  done.  I didn't know what to do with background and I changed the color of the larger pot too much.
Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.

Values

I like this value study.   I used a palette with ivory black, white, transparent red oxide, cad. green light, cad. red, cad. orange and lemon yellow.  I painted over a 5"X7" gesso board  and looked at the relationships and compared the values. The brush strokes we kept loose.
Again, I took two photos of the painting. I edited one in black and white  using my smart phone application  to see how I did with the values.