Value Portrait in Watercolor

This is a demonstration that I did for my watercolor students when we were working on portraits. I wanted them to see the shapes using values and then think of color later. It is a nice quick exercise to do before any portrait... or painting for that matter.

Acrylic Poinsettia Painting

I had my students try acrylic instead of watercolor for our poinsettia class.

It was fun to try something new, twist our minds a little with a different way of painting.

This was my demonstration... 8x10 canvas board.

Watercolor Portrait from Life

My adult watercolor class has been working on portraits from live models

and this is the demo that I did for the class today.

Watercolor, 11x14 inches

Watercolor Portrait

Just Daddy and Me...

portrait commission

11 x 14 inch Watercolor

Watercolor Halloween Pumpkins

I had hoped to have this finished today to wish everyone a happy halloween but it will have to be a Happy Halloween with a work in progress photo.

Watercolor on quarter sheet watercolor paper

Ok, finished now.

Night Watercolor Study

Just a quick demonstration/study I did for the class today to show what you can do with night.

The lit gas station, dark against darks, highlighted roads, silhouettes...

I will definitely do more of these on bigger paper.

The students had many references to choose from. 

You can see some of the photos they had to choose from here.

http://mklart.blogspot.com/p/homework.html

watercolor on 5x14 inch paper

Tissue Paper Watercolor Texture Sunflower Painting

We needed to loosen up in my adult watercolor class so we did some very loose sunflower under paintings on quarter sheet watercolor paper. Then took some tissue paper and 50% water/mod podge mixture to glue the tissue (some use rice paper) paper down controlling the wrinkles. Then painted over the dried tissue paper with washes and color letting drips and the color settle where it wanted to. It is hard to let go sometimes and just let it happen. We were feeling the sunflowers, not painting details. Does that make sense? A good lesson.

Below is the Heinz factory in Pittsburgh that I used this technique on from a while ago.

Where's the Grapes?

I went out a few weekends ago to photograph some grapes as reference for my adult watercolor class. Drove to many places and found they were harvested or none on the vine. So I went to Costco, bought some grapes, cut some vines and took them home. I used twist ties and the backs of chairs to set up the grapes and vines against a strong evening sun and photographed.

This is the demonstration painting that I did for the class. We focused on the warm light coming from behind and the cool light reflected from the sky above. Using my artistic license I took out the twist ties and darkened the background to keep the focus on the warm glow.

Well, now what?

sold

I  wonder what this Basset Hound is thinking?
I kind of feel like I interrupted his morning.
watercolor dog portrait on quarter sheet watercolor paper

Succulent Demonstration

This is a quick demonstration I did for my teen art camp today. We talked about point of view, mixing grayed greens and layering with shadows. This was a tough class for them, but they worked and came up with some wonderful paintings. You can see their work at 

www.room101art.blogspot.com

acrylic 8x8 inches

Plein Air in Peninsula, Ohio

 

sold

I had such a wonderful time a few weekends ago participating in a plein air competition in a little town called Peninsula, Ohio. If you are ever in the Cleveland, Akron area, you should stop for a visit. The town has a railroad station that is part of the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad, bike trails (bike one way, take the train back for $2), an old canal, river, shops/galleries, art center with classes, food, and super nice people. It is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park area... so much to do...
Anyway, I found a quiet street corner to paint this fun wooden chicken advertising a Bar-B-Que fundraiser... and I just found out it won second place in the plein air competition.

Lemons and Glass Watercolor

My adult watercolor class has been such a joy to teach. It seems like all the pieces have been falling into place for my students and their last few projects have been the best. Here is the demonstration I did of our last project. Believe me, they nailed it!

watercolor on quarter sheet 

Pastel Portrait from Life

My son came home from college with a new haircut. We had him model for us.
Pastel 11x17 on Wallis paper.

Gregory Pastel Portrait

I have a few commissions coming up and thought I would do a quick portrait of my son to warm up a bit. He looked at it and said, "Why so serious?"  It is hard to catch him in a serious photo. He usually has a goof off face.  I think he was surprised to see that I had a good photo of him to use.
He comes home from his freshman year/university in a few weeks. Can't wait to see his goof off face.
Check out his blog              17x17 inches on sanded paper
UPDATE--- Just found out this painting won Best Portrait in the Associated Artists of Butler County Spring Show!

Sky, Water and Waves Demonstration

This is the demonstration I did for class today. We talked about cloud shapes, how this cloud was backlit and how the water color is a bounce off the sky. We also talked about calm water and rippled water and how the colors reflect off the angles of the ripples/waves. We looked at many examples and it was good to observe and learn the form/shape of things and how the light sits on the shapes.

and here is a small 5x8 inch demo I did of waves.

Church Roof Lines, Southside of Pittsburgh

I was invited to be part of a show called 89, the Neighborhoods at Gallery Sim in the South side of Pittsburgh. The show has images from many of the 89 Neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. My 10 x 10 inch, acrylic, is of the roof lines of St John the Baptist, Ukrainian Catholic Church in the South side neighborhood. Churches are an integral part of the neighborhoods and give a history of the population there. SOLD

Sketches at the Zoo

We went to the zoo on Friday. Both of our sons are into art/animation and we all took sketchbooks.  I follow James Gurney's blog and have wanted to get a little sketch kit together like he uses. It was wonderful in size and supplies.  I started with pen and ink on the moleskin watercolor book and did the watercolor washes at home. Next time I will do the watercolor washes on site and draw bigger.  Here is a link to one of my son's gestures from the day. And here is a link to my other son's blog. Hopefully he will get his sketches up soon. Lots of links today, but the info is good.

Summer Camp Schedule is here!

http://www.room101art.blogspot.com/p/summer-camp-info.html

We have plenty of new projects and plans for students to explore different mediums, styles, techniques...
Registration is now open. Please email to get the registration form.
Room 101 is located in Mars, PA north of Pittsburgh.

Ukrainian Egg Class

I had a wonderful day teaching the art of Pysanky, Ukrainian Easter Eggs at my studio yesterday. One of my students posted pictures and an interesting description of her day so I though I would share the link.

http://jeudaly.blogspot.com/2012/02/pysanky.html

The traditional eggs are beautiful, but I especially like the ones where the students go their own direction.

Ball Jar in Acrylic

Acrylic Ball Jar on 8 x 10 inch canvas panel.

This was done as a demonstration for my teen class. 

This was a good lesson in observation for them. 

A great project to do using just values.

Garlic Pastel Still Life

Yay, I got to paint today! 

This is not quite done. If you want to see the finished piece it will be at the Culinary Show at Galley Sim on the Southside of Pittsburgh 

from February 3 to March 26. 

This is pastel on mounted wallis paper 8 x 16 inches

Here is a link to another artist's version of the same still life set up. 

Hey, Hey You!

I imagine this gentle dog has a gruff voice.

Watercolor on quarter sheet. sold