Happy New Year!

It probably seems like I fell off the face of the earth - but I haven't!  Life just gets in the way sometimes.  So, here we are in the New Year and I can start off with a resolution of painting more often.

Last week I took a painting workshop in South Pasadena with a great artist (and great person as well) - Leslie Saeta.  It was a 3-day workshop and we painted ONLY with a palette knife the entire 3 days.  The workshop was held in Leslie's studio (which is actually the carriage house behind her house that has been converted into her studio).  And one evening Leslie even has us over for dinner.  The entire 3 days were terrific.

On day one of the workshop, we did these apples . . . while trying out this new technique.  This painting is on a 6x6 panel.

The second day of the workshop, we painted boats and reflections.  The boats are on an 8x8 panel:

If you like a "painterly" style painting, you will like palette knife paintings.  You can really see the strokes and the paint.

So, Happy New Year - here's to more painting and more often!
 Linda

Girl in Swimsuit

So,  haven't painted in about 3 weeks -- life is getting in the way!  I hate it when that happens.   But, I painted today - did a 6x8 study of a girl in a swimsuit.  Here she is:

It's All in the Hat

While I was up in Petaluma last month taking a painting class, one of the days we had this model who donned this darling hat.  So, took a couple photos of her.  In today's painting class, I decided to try and paint from my photograph.  It is a loose, impressionistic version of the photograph.
Linda

No faces, just pomegranates

My painting teacher had an empty easel for today's class,  so I decided to fill the spot.  We painted a still life of pomegranates.  Great day!  Stopped at the Oceanside Museum of Art on my way home as I wanted to see the exhibit of Francoise Gilot - a French woman who had 2 children by Picasso and was married to Jonas Salk and lived in La Jolla.  She is 90 and still alive - and spends her time in La Jolla, New York and Paris.  She paints mostly abstracts, not a subject I am usually drawn to, but loved the colors and it wasn't so abstract that you couldn't pick out birds or trees or sailboats.  Lovely exhibit.
Here is today's painting:

Workshop of Faces and Figures

I recently took a 3-day painting workshop from a teacher I have not taken from before - Al Tofanelli.  He was terrific!  We had a live model all 3 days of the workshop and did lots of small studies.  We started with  10 minutes value studies in black and white . . . here are three:

 The next day we stayed with faces, but moved to a limited palette - again, these are quick studies, not finished paintings:

The last day, we did figures - 40 minutes poses:

The workshop was super fun - only 6 of us in the class -- and on the last day, 4 of the 6 students had to leave at noon - so I had a semi-private lesson in the afternoon.  This workshop only reinforced that I love doing figurative work.
Linda

Another face . . .

I received an e-mail today that contained an inspiring quote:

"A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource.  All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely.  All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."    Jorge Luis Borges (writer)

I am still trying to shape my art . . . here is the latest face:
Linda

Self Portrait

What better way to start a figure and faces journey than to practice on someone who is readily available:  me!  I had painted a couple of self portraits several years ago.  A photo of the first one I painted is posted first -- a very dear friend of mine said it looked like John Lennon!  Not quite the look I was going for.  Ha!  So, here is the first one (it is okay to laugh):

Okay, now here is the latest painting -- and I don't think anyone realizes how difficult it is to get a likeness of someone until you actually try to do it.  So, I don't think it looks like me -- and it is a little primitive, but I have to start somewhere.  I do think it is interesting to see how my painting style has changed over the last several years.  So, i think the important thing is to keep painting and see what happens.  Will keep you posted . . .
Linda