New York City Value Studies

Hi,  I thought I would share some value studies with you today that I did using peach black tubed watercolor and my brush. These are currently hanging on my living room wall and they  remind me how much can be said with so little. Charles Sovek always said , " it takes 3 values to turn an object " I have learned so much by painting and focusing on values that now I almost do it automatically. You can be assured if a painting works in black and white it will work in color. I have also been spending time studying the work of Ted Kautzky  and his wonderful value sketches.

 I hope these two paintings have inspired you to try painting in black and white for a while .  Love to hear how it works for you and if I can help you in any way just leave a comment or email me. Well, a new Sketchbook Skool  sketchbookskool.com   Session starts next week so I am off to hit the streets with my sketchbook and fountain pens and of course a tiny watercolor kit. See you next time . Enjoy this beautiful day !

Teaching moment ... Start to Finish New York City Street Scene

Hi there, I have been busy painting, sketching, teaching ,traveling and planning .
 I would like to encourage you today to do a painting from a photo or outdoors if you live where the weather is cooperating , easier said than done I know. Those of you that I have taught I would love to see you put together what you have learned and have practiced into a painting of your own. Below I will share  the 3 steps I used to do that during my practice session today. I hope you enjoy seeing it and if I can be of any help to you please don't hesitate to ask as my purpose for  this blog is to encourage you and help you grow on your  own artistic journey.  I will also be more than happy to help you via Skype , FaceTime or email.  Enjoy and I'll see you next time.

 1. This photo was taken with my phone.

 

2. A quick value sketch done with Copic markers of a light, mid and dark value. I like Copic markers because they have no odor. Block in the values , this should only take a few minutes.

3. I only use the photo as a reference then once I have done a value sketch and have an idea where I am going I start painting , usually putting the photograph away and using my sketch , my imagination and what I have learned from practicing sound principles. Ask yourself what does this painting need ?  If you need help with your painting look at it in a mirror as this will help you see with a fresh eye. Remember less is more so let the viewer into your painting and leave room for their imaginations to take over from there. 

Snow Day Painting

Hi,
 Wow ! has it been snowing here in the Northeast , and what does one do on a snow day ,
                                                           
                   

     Paint
   

    Paint

   Paint


                               

How to make a Collage or quick Video of your Paintings

I am participating in a Facebook Art challenge posting 3 paintings a day for 5 days. This challenge was started by watercolor artist Kristi Grurssendorf  . It has been fun seeing all the art work posted over the last few weeks , works both old and new.  Many have been posting in a Collage form and I wanted to share with you how to do that if you are unfamiliar.

This collage is the first one I posted for this challenge and each section is a bit of a full painting but I think it works well as a whole. To do this I used a site online called Pic Monkey  once there you upload your photos and follow the prompts. It is pretty user friendly. I have also used Ipiccy to do this as well. For this post I had to go back and resize my collage because it was too big for  Blogger but it was easy enough to do. Both these sites do similar things and are easy to use.  I want to leave you with one more tip ,  My New Years post was a quick 30 second video. This was done using a site called Animoto  . You do need to set up an account. It is also easy to use. All these sites are free and readily available.  Have fun with these and paint, paint , paint.

Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year 2015     Animato Video

I made a short video for you , just click on the above link . I hope you enjoy it !

Workshop in Waterbury ,CT and Studio Space

      I had a wonderful opportunity this weekend to teach a fun group of ladies in Waterbury, CT.  I am always excited to share my love of watercolor with those around me . We worked on paint handling and learned about the many ways of approaching watercolor wet into wet, wet on dry  , dry brush . water to pigment ratio  and so on while doing little practice exercises and also talking about sound principles of painting like value, color, focal point and design.  They also  prepared a fabulous lunch , it was an enjoyable day for all .  Here is a pic of the group unfortunately one of the gals had to leave before I remembered to take out my camera.

One of the things we talked about over lunch was how hard it was to find time in our day to practice. Yup ! We all have the same disease and we all agreed we needed to schedule time in our schedules to practice just like any other appointment. We will make time in life for things that are important to us, right ? We also talked about studio space as some of the gals are in the process of finding a spot in their house to call their painting area.  Below is a pic of my painting area when I am in NYC , a corner of our living room where my easel is set up all the time when I am not using it to paint in the street. 

Plan, Place and Practice, Paint and then Paint some more..... Till next time.

Robin Hoods Bay ,UK The Excitement of Plein Air

      Here we are again back to plein air , this was one of my favorite places we painted on your plein air journey in the UK , way up in North Yorkshire . A beautiful little village right on the sea.
      Once again this was a race against the tide coming in. When working outside you really need to focus and leave the outside world out there. Forget about the people watching you , this noise, the bugs,wind, ect. and focus on what you want to say.
        Lay down your strokes quickly and stop. Stopping is a huge problem for painters whether inside or outdoors, we all have a noodling disease , am I right ? Haha ! I can hear you laughing as you know I am correct.  We like to fiddle with our paintings when we need to stop way before we think we should and call it done and do another and another rather than playing and picking...I hope you enjoy my plein air sketch from Robin Hoods Bay . It is part of my collection but I do hope to do a larger version as soon as I am able. I am teaching a workshop this weekend so hopefully next week. Till next time , Enjoy !