Painter's Progress

 Since taking the how-to-paint-daily workshop in Rockport, I have been painting more... if not daily.  (My abraded cornea hasn't helped.)
But Ms. Kennedy's tips and "rules" have been a big help.

The spot light definitely helps add interest to even the most mundane subject.  I didn't have any fresh flowers, and was tired of the oranges, lemons and onion, so I pulled out a floppy little teddy bear that a dear friend gave me years ago.

Do you know what a CHALLENGE it is to mix brownish tans with blue, yellow red and white? 

At least my effort seems interesting. 

 I have no idea WHAT I was thinking the day previously when I dragged out my totem tiger (made in Germany.  Very detailed.
Again, getting the oranges, golds and shadowed tones was tricky... let alone decent stripes using the relatively large brush I was using.
But again, I'm surprised that my mish mash of strokes are recognizable at all.  MUCH better than what I could have done before the workshop. I definitely learned a lot about observing.  Perhaps I should read up about observational painting, too!

 The crow is finished except for a signature.

Remind me NEVER to to plaid in OIL paint again.  Acrylic would have been SO MUCH SIMPLER! This needs a little something extra.  Or maybe just a fresh start!  (I was painting this without a reference... funny how it has a different "feeling.")

And another painting with no reference.  I was painting for the sake of putting paint on a background.  It turned itself into a landscape.  I feel a childlike pleasure in the memory of applying the paint and recognizing that it looks like "something."  Have you been anyplace that looks like this?  I have been to places that were like the different parts of the painting (reddish soil, purple mountains, prairie grasses), but never a single place with "all of the above."

Painting Demo and talk by Paul Pedulla: graphic minimalist

     The Chelmsford (MA) Art Society presented Paul Pedulla (a native son) last night.  What a charming, unassuming fellow!  

     He had already done a lot of his painting:  the composition and major shapes.  It is for a gallery assignment on the subject "7".  Paul picked a building with that address in the town where the gallery is.  He reasoned that would allow him to do an isolated building (a preferred subject) in a simplified, graphic style (also preferred).

     He paints with acrylics because he wanted to be more "green" and avoid the smells and fumes that can accompany oils.

 I'm sure there were some audience members who wanted him to DO MORE PAINTING.  We had to be satisfied with a couple of lines indicating shadows of eaves, some black shapes for windows, and some highlighting for reflections in those windows.

 I think everyone was in agreement that sometimes you have to rotate your painting to get a good angle for hand and brush.

 What was most astonishing to me was the upward trajectory of his painting successes, recognition and sales.
He took a class in 2006, met a gallery owner in 2007 by accidentally including her in a casual party at his house in Maine, was written up in a popular Massachusetts art magazine in 2008, was next discovered by an "art scout" resulting in representation at Serena and Lily (described as an Upscale Pottery Barn),  and he has been off and running ever since.

He admitted that his earlier professional life involved free-lance copy editing for well known Masachussetts corporations, and international real-estate building projects.  I'm thinking that knowing what to include and what to leave out served him well while writing as much as it does when painting.

Encouraging story!