RAIN!!

It's raining today, and yesterday, and a few days ago.  We haven't seen this much rain all at the same time for over a year!  HOORAY!  Our aquifer will go way up and the wildflowers will be wonderful in the spring!  This is the optimal time!!  For sure I will be out painting the wildflowers in March, April, and May!  Come join me!

Here is a watercolor I did several years ago of the wildflowers, enjoy, and check back in a couple of months to see updated paintings!

Passing time

Goodness, it's been several months since I posted here.  Time flies.  I've been very busy in school, taking a quick study class, working on thesis work, and learning the professional business side of art making and selling.  Ya'll would be amazed at what all it entails!

In the quick study class, we are painting a total of 100 paintings.  Small quick studies of 25 minutes to an hour and 1/2... in oil, on panels.  We are also doing 2 major finished paintings for this class.  Some of the work has been quick challenging, some a lot of fun!  This is a way of working I will probably adopt as a regular way of life.  I would like to do one small study every day... it is a great way to learn and practice technique andfigure out compositions.  Here are a couple of my studies...

We do several types of subjects, clothed figures, nudes, still life, and landscape.  The landscape paintings are mostly from life, plein air, and SO MUCH FUN!  I highly recommend plein air work for anyone wanting to learn to paint, learn color, and try out compositions.

New Ebay Listings

Hi All... Please go to my ebay store and look at the new auction listings I just posted... I think they should all find new good homes!
http://stores.ebay.com/Headlines-Art

Finished Painting... of July 27th post

Here is the final result of the painting I showed in its beginning stage on July 27... I am very happy with it... I took the scarf out and just dealt with the pose by using light and color to make it "read"........

Summer School is almost over...YAY!!!

This has been a challenging summer for me.  My school work has kept me inside most of the time with only short forays out to teach and twice to swim.  Our weather continues to be horrid, 100+ temps and NO RAIN ... everything is drying up and seems about to blow away.  On the up side, I turned 61 on August 1st and I survived!  Soooo, I think I will stop having b-day parties... maybe one more at 70!!

Currently, my work in school is going pretty well.  Here is my newest painting in watercolor of my friend Helen and her cat Oreo.  This is one of my thesis paintings and I am particularly proud of it...

I will post other paintings in a few days (6) when school ends and I have time to think again!

A good day!

Today got off to a rocky start, I was late to my class, and I was overtired.  But my students were wonderful, full of energy, full of good work, feisty, and challenging.  I was inspired by them, and now I have made significant progress on my own painting... I am posting it in it's present state.. but I have already decided to make major adjustments... I will post again in a week to show you the changes.

Good question!

Hello....... I had a good question from one of my followers, New Mexico Artists Web.  They wanted to know what I meant about 360degree increments when I referred to the photo I used for the sitting nude.  Many of you know that I am enrolled at the Academy of Art University pursuing my Masters of Fine Art.  I am doing the whole course online, the school is in San Francisco, I live in San Antonio!   When we are required to do a painting of a figure, since the whole class is doing the same work, the school provided us with very good photographs of the models, set up with excellent lighting.  The photographs are taken usually from many possible angles... 360 degrees.  So I could have chosen any one of  a dozen photos of the same pose.  Part of our evaluation is about how and why we choose the photo/angle that we do, what we are looking for in that pose, and how we choose to execute it, our style, etc.  The requirements are quite rigorous and thorough. 

Many people ask my how we can be graded on art over a computer.  We are required to photograph our work many times during its creation, and post those photographs on our class discussion page.  There, all the other students in the class and the instructor can view our work, and we are required to critique each others work and learn from all the critiques.  If anyone wants to see more information about this school, I encourage you to look at their web page.  This is one of the most respected art schools in the world, with students all over the world; recent classmates included students from the UAE, Switzerland, and Korea.  There are several of us in Texas.  Here is the web url:     http://www.academyart.edu/