Down on the Farm

A customer that had bought a cow painting asked me to do some companion pieces. She had many happy memories of summers on her Grandparents farm, a Mennonite dairy farm near the Blue Ridge Mountains. She was sad that her Grandmother had left the farm for a nursing home and that her children would not experience the farm. Someone just last week had

said to me that we buy things that remind us of where we want to be. I had never thought about that but she is right, since I made the decision to move to New Mexico I've been buying things like an antique horse collar and other rustic Western things.

Toys from the 50s

I found a rusty old Radio Flyer red wagon that had been kicked to the curb by my neighbor. I asked my class to bring something that would have been in their red wagon to the next class. Everyone in the class grew up in the 50s and 60s so they knew what I was talking about. Ferris brought baseball bats. I have a Teddy Bear. Leslie brought her wonderful doll collection including Raggedy Ann and Andy. I had so much fun painting them. I posed them on a child sized chair that my daughters Great Grandfather had made and put the spot light on them. Ann had been obviously been 'loved' a little more than Andy.

Counting Paint Strokes = Big Shapes

Today I taught my class a Peggy Kroll Roberts exercise to help them simplify and use more paint. The goal was to cover the whole canvas in only 25 strokes. I practiced the day before and my first attempt was 43 strokes, way too many. It is the long narrow painting at the top.
  The next attempt was the demo for my class. The pressure was on and I made it! Just 25 strokes and the whole canvas is covered. From here I may add more detail but I am happy with the colors, values, and composition so it will be worth my time to work on it more.

Dairy Day

This little 4 x 4 painting was among three that size that sold this weekend. My daughter is in vet school and had a calf that she trained and groomed to show at their Dairy Day event. Rajah was a very well groomed and beautiful calf, but a little stubborn about trotting around an arena.

still life demo

I taught a class today and the emphasis was on separating darks from lights. I showed the method of making the dark paint thin and the light paint very thick. It makes a more interesting painting to have a variety of surface textures.  I was trying to do this in 30 minutes but did at least make it in 45. One of the students bought this painting and left with a wet canvas.