4 Reasons Why I Love to Demo

I had the opportunity of performing a landscape painting demo for a local art club this week. Last year I judged an art show for them, and they invited me back so I could share my thoughts and process regarding painting.

The demo was well attended and was full of enthusiastic kindred spirits.  I thoroughly enjoy the entire demo process because of a love of meeting new people, telling related stories, sharing what I've learned on my artistic journey thus far and because art is a somewhat private activity teaching and giving demos helps me connect with the creative community.

My subject was a location that I frequent that never falls short of being inspiring. I chose this particular scene because it had unusual shapes, appealing light/shadow patterns and excellent depth due to aerial perspective.

I worked from a photo displayed on a tablet beside my easel. Among the many points that I covered, I explained how and why I chose to redesign a landscape formatted image into a square format.

Given the brief demo time allotted, this painting remains in a "work-in-progress" status. You'll see this one again in a future post upon completion.

Wondering Eyes

Like it or not, we need to consider composition every time we begin a new painting. The composition is about arranging shapes in a pleasing manner within your picture.

Master artist: Edgar Payne wrote the book on composition called "Composition of Outdoor Painting." It's a must have book for any landscape painter. In it, he goes on to describe and illustrate 15 standard blueprints to build a composition. I won't list them all here but will point out how I incorporate his principals in my work.

A stable composition can engage a viewer, and a weak one won't demand any attention.  One can welcome a viewer into a painting, and another can become a road block or quick exit rushing them along to see someone else's work in a gallery.

The use of unequal distribution of shape and value are essential to creating interest. Strategic placement of brushwork, shapes, edges and contrast control how the viewer's eye travels within a design.

Dividing a space into thirds is an easy but efficient way of placing a center of interest/focal point. (Shown above).

The eye can bounce from one object to the next like a ball in a pinball machine. The goal is to design shapes that don't allow the viewer an easy exit. (Shown above).

To simplify, this can fall under Edgar Payne's "O" structure. (Shown above).

Title: Best Seats
Painted On: RayMar Archival Panel.
Medium: Artist Quality Oil.
Dimensions: 8x10 inches
Status: Available

Know Your Palette

Creating color charts is an eye-opening exercise that comes highly recommended by master artist Richard Schmid. Exact directions on how to execute these color tables are in his book Alla Prima. One of the best books written about painting in my opinion.

The purpose of the charts is to give the artist insight to how their chosen palette of colors interacts with each other. The charts then provide hardcopy color navigation to their color mixes. Understanding how your chosen colors interact is priceless information not only for the beginning artist but the advanced as well.

I don't use the charts for specific formulas per se but to support a visual memory as to which color combinations will get me closest to my desired target without convoluting the mix, in turn, helping accelerate the color mixing process.

Although a somewhat tedious job to complete, color charts can provide an incredible amount of information.  Depending on how many colors you use will determine how many charts, swatches and hours you will spend making them.

I'm currently using a modified double primary palette. Which is a warm and cool version of each primary color on the color wheel. Using just six colors plus white I tapped out at 500 swatches but could still mix a few hundred more if needed. This demonstration proves that a limited palette of color doesn't mean having a limited amount of choices.

I made these charts using acrylic paints on half sheets of canvas pad. Making them flexible, easy to carry and light weight.

Learn and Pass It On

I am an artist and a teacher. One of my favorite things to do as a teacher is to travel to different art centers, art clubs, and associations and give demonstrations. I get to meet so many fascinating people who are just as passionate about art, and how its created.

The subjects may include landscape, still-life or portrait but my primary focus is to share my knowledge in a fun entertaining way that will inspire the attendees to try a new approach to painting or to discover a way of seeing something that they haven't before. Just as important, I want to reassure beginning students that there are stages to learning that we all must work through to become better artists and encourage them to keep at it. 

Documented here is from a recent still life demo. Most venues provide wireless microphones and overhead video projection so everyone can see and hear.





Pictured above is a four step breakdown of my approach for this particular demo. Having only one hour to paint this, I wanted to show a systematic approach. (See my May 9th &16th posts to learn more approaches to painting). First is finding the composition. Second is stating the dark values. Third working middle values. Fourth, adding highlights and relevant detail.

Pastel Sketch of "Bill"

This is a pastel sketch I did of “Bill” our model for an evening at a local drawing group that I attend. I used a 5x7 inch grey toned Pastelbord made by Ampersand. I’ve included a picture of my drawing before I started to layer the pastel on top of it. The dark area on the bottom right of the drawing is just a shadow from my camera phone. (Click on the image above for a larger view).

Although I want the initial drawing to be as precise as possible I know that it’s only a starting point. I will make many small adjustments throughout the painting process. It is to be expected that the model will sit slightly different after each break, shift, tilt or a change expression during a session. Maybe these slight changes could be better for the painting. Over the course of a few hours many decisions must be made for the integrity of the final image.

This painting is unfinished and I find certain freshness in that. Much of the “process” is still evident and that can also give life to a painting.

"Bananas #2" Oil Painting Progression Video

You can also click here to watch the video.

"Apple Half" Oil Painting Progression Video

I shot photo stills as I was painting my last blog post “Apple Half” and made them into a brief instructional youtube video. Click the image above or  click here to watch the moive on youtube.

"At the Crossing" Oil painting progression video

Here is another painting progression video for your enjoyment. In this approach I used a yellow ocher and raw sienna under painting to map my value structure. Once the under painting was dry I began blocking in the major color shapes, then progressively refining each section to completion. You can also click here to watch the video.

Medium: Artist quality oil.

Painted on: Artist quality linen.

Dimensions: 24 x 36 inches.

"West Coast" Oil painting progression

This is a 10 step oil painting progression video of the Oregon coast. It documents only 10 of the numerous transitions a painting goes through to reach completion. In the middle stages of the video there may not seem to be any real changes going on but there are many subtle shifts happening within the landscape. If you keep an eye on the far left rock in the water you will notice by the end it has been intentionally moved more to the right to produce a more pleasing composition.

You can also click here to watch the video.

Medium: Artist quality oil.
Painted on: Artist quality heavy weight canvas.
Dimensions: 24 x 48 inches.

"Eggplant" high speed movie