Sharon's Back

Drypoint Etching, Printed on Archival
Italian Printmaking Paper, 3 1/2" x 4 3/4"
$75.00 Go to eBay

This is my model Sharon again. Always
graceful, and always inspiring.

Sharon Posing during Figure Class

Drypoint Etching printed on Archival
Italian Printaking Paper, Image area
5" x 7", margins, 2" $100.00

I did this from a photograph that I took of
this model. She has been modelling for me
personally, and for my classes, for about 12
years. I have done at least ten paintings of
her. She is a fantastic model, even now at
the age of 50, after bearing, raising, AND
homeschooling six children! She just has a gift
for modelling. And, did I mention - she's also
an artist, with a real gift for color, but unfortunately
not a lot of time to make art. I own one of her
paintings. It's a luscious painting of a tomato done
in acrylic. I keep it in my kitchen, and get enjoyment
out of it every day.

I did say, when I introduced myself, that I would
be working in several different media. I just can't
help it. It is not that I am a dilletante. I actually
have a Masters in Printmaking, but have been
much more of a painter in the past 25 years. But,
every once in a while I get struck by the urge to
make drypoints.

They don't take long. All you have
to do is make a drawing with a diamond-tipped
scriber on either a zinc, copper, or acetate plate,
ink it up with etching ink, soak your paper and blot
it, and then run it through your etching press, and
Voila! You have a print. And you can make about
ten more good prints.

To get more than that you really do
need to have your plate electrolitically steel-faced
(can't do that to plastic, of course). They (whoever
"they" are...) have actually taken some Rembrandt plates
that he himself cancelled by scoring them with a big
X - indicating he didn't intend to make any more prints
from them - and had them steel-faced, just to make
money off of them. Greed will make people do really
inane things. Expecially in the art market.

Bearded Iris

Watercolor and Gouache on Arches Cold Press

Watercolor Paper, 4.6" x 4.6" $100.00

I really thought this bearded iris was spectacular
and I just had to do a painting of it. I didn't have
much time though, so it is really just a sketch.
Next time I think I'll use oils. They are SO much
more forgiving! I'm so glad that its finally spring!

Phalenopsis Orchids at US Botanical Gardens

Watercolor, gouache and pencil on hotpress watercolor board,
4" x 5 3/4" $100.00

I was very intrigued by these orchids. I was at an orchid exhibition.
They were everywhere! They were purple, white, cream , pink,
tiger-striped - just about anything you could imagine. Of course we
see them in the supermarket all the time, all alone in those pots.
But this was in a huge room FULL of orchids of so many varieties.

It was mesmerizing, and so beautiful.

Purple Datura Flower in the National Botanical Garden

Gouache and Watercolor on Watercolor Board
4" x 5 3/4" $80.00 go to eBay

Wow!!

That was all I could think when I saw this
spectacular Datura. It was about seven
inches long, with a trumpet-like opening
(I'm sure you'll eventually see a painting
of that also...) that was about 4" in diameter.

I was a little embarassed, because I was so
transfixed by the beauty of this plant that I
couldn't move for a few minutes. I had to keep
staring at it; got fifteen pictures of it,
from every angle that I could.

This is a very sketchy picture, and, except for
the color, I hardly feel that I did it justice -
except I have to say I do like the looseness
of the composition. There were so many other
types of vegetation around it - other smaller
orchids, types of leaves and grasses - it would
be very daunting to paint all in detail. One has
to be in the mood. And frankly, sometimes I
am. But not today.

Pewter and Cherries with Turquoise Fabric

Pastel on Wallis Sanded Paper, 4" x 4" $100.00

This is a fragment that I chose to select out of
a larger still life that was placed inside of a black
"drawing theater" - a black box that is only open on
one side. It is fun to place objects in it and then play
around with the angle of lights shining on still life objects
in the box.

Different types of effects can be created by how
far inside the box the objects are placed, and also,
from how far an angle the light shines in, or across.
I use this in my drawing classes with just black and
white objects to teach tone and value recognition.
But it was fun having this colorful still life contained
in this box, and even more fun working on the
sanded paper, which never seems to stop holding more
pastel.

I had a happy accident when I sprayed the piece near
the end with Sennelier Fixatif Latour for pastel. It is
not an aerosol, but rather comes in a plastic pump
bottle, and sometimes spits out little circular dots
of fixative. This happened on the pewter goblet,
making just the right kind of texture for that object!

Sunset over Italian Garden

Oil on Paper Laid Down on Board, 4" x 5" $85.00 eBay

This is an interpretation of the gardens of Tivoli,
done from an old photograph. I have actually done
several versions of this, in different sizes, all over black,
or, brown and white underpaintings. For instance, I did
one that had a brilliant red and yellow sunset, but I prefer
this blue-green, analagous color composition. The photograph
that I worked from was black and white, so I always have made
up the color, and it has always been a good exercise in color
harmony and using my color imagination.

Pink Torso Fragment Pastel/Charcoal Drawing

Pastel and Charcoal on Archival White
Drawing Paper, 18" x 24"

I have to admit it, I did not do this
drawing today. I did it a few months
ago. But I had to teach today, and I did
not have a chance to paint.

This was done from a black and white
photograph of a Greek fragment. It
was probably a Venus. But it certainly
was beautiful - and it was SO inspiring.
I love painting....but I have to say, this.
to me, is another form of painting.

I guess everyone acknowledges that pastel
is a form of painting. I teach this technique
at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA.
We use veils of color, starting out by drawing
into a layer of pastel color with the skinniest vine
charcoal until we get an image we like. Then,
we spray every layer except the last one, using
veils and veils of color. It is really fun, and can
produce ethereal or powerful results, depending
on the values and colors you use, and also depending
on what you do with your fixative.

I love this drawing.

Demo Pear over Charcoal Drawing on Rag Paper

Oil on Gessoed 100% Rag Paper, 6" x 8"
$90.00

This is just a little sketch I did in class for
my students today. We were discussing
grisaille (black and white underpaintings)
only today, we were really just using a charcoal
drawing as our grisaille.

It's fun, because if you spray the drawing with
Krylon Crystal Clear Spray, and then with Damar
Retouch Varnish, you can paint over the charcoal
drawing, and it's almost like an underpainting. It is
fun to start out by glazing with a yellow, and then
painting into that with opaque colors. Of course, I
did this so fast, my students were more successful
on the whole. That is what I love about teaching.
Seeing people succeed, and helping them to do it.

Sunset and Tree

Oil on gessoed masonite, 4" x 4" $100.00 SOLD

This was the view out the window yesterday - that
blue was so deep - and I had to paint so fast to catch
the firey pinks and oranges before they were gone.
I have learned that it is best to glaze the sky over
a white background when you have a situation
like this, so it was so nice that I could just grab
this little gessoed Gessoboard panel. I like the con-
trast of the asphaltum-colored treetop just barely
catching the light - and I love ANY color that
has anything to do with Naples yellow, like the
bright pink on the right that seems to be shooting
out of the side of the picture. I was happy with this.
It's just a little sketch, but I find it peaceful.

Sunset over a Russet Field

Oil on Gessoed 100% Rag Board, 4" x 5" $100.00

Blue Stripes Pear

Gouache on 100% Rag watercolor paper, 6" x 8"
$100.00

This pear was sitting in some extremely bright
sunlight. These strange diagonal stripes were being
cast by something nearby, and it was casting an interesting,
varied shadow itself. The shadows really were blue,
but in the interest of color harmony and fun I decided
to make the most out of the blue, because I just loved
the combination of the red and blue together.

Gouache is such a fun medium to work in. It is so
forgiving. You can work transparently or opaquely,
and there is no such thing as making a mistake! You
can just cover up whatever you don't like. I find making
gouache paintings particularly relaxing.

Head of Apollo - Oil Pastel Sgrafitto Drawing

Oil Pastel Sgrafitto Drawing on Rag Board
4" x 5"
This is an example of a wonderful technique
that is very ancient, very fun, and easy to learn.
It can also produce beautiful results. As a matter
of fact, you may have even done it in elementary
school when you took a piece of tag board and
covered it with lots of different colors of crayons,
covered all that with black crayon, and then scraped
through to reveal the colors underneath.

The first sgrafitto was done on simple pottery long ago -
scraping through one colored glaze to get to another
one. It was used beautifully on Greek vases. Breughel
used it in certain passages in his paintings to create
patterns in fabric. He would glaze a dark pink, for
instance, over a lighter color, and then use the end
of the handle of his brush to create a floral or other type
of pattern to mimic fabric.

I have experimented with every type of Crayola crayon
that has been made. My favorite were "Silver Swirls", because
they had colors that were like the patina on bronze statues:
lustrous bluish greens, teals, bronzes, russets reds and oranges.
I would lay these down thickly massed together in random
patterns and cover that thickly with a smooth layer of Caran d'Ache
Neo-Color Oil Pastels in Olive Green or Brown or Black. Then,
using any scraping tools (scraperboard tools are good for this)
you can draw and create the most beautiful pictures. My favorite
subject matter is ancient sculpture. My favorite tool is a cylinder
that has six equal-length wires coming out of it that enable me to
draw with curved cross-hatching easily and elaborately. It is really
fun!

Silver and Flower

Oil on Gessoed Masonite Panel, 4" x 4" $50.00 SOLD

I have had this silver cup for awhile, as you can see,

for it is quite tarnished. But I found that interesting

to paint. The camellia is another fake from my still

life cabinet at school. I just liked the way they looked together

on this silk shawl with a cut velvet edging. It's unusual,

but I love the color combinations. I was experimenting

with thick and thin paint in this piece. It is thinnest in

the cup, as I am sure you can see.

Field with a Stream in Rappahannock Valley

Oil on Gessoed Archival Rag board laid down on same,
5 11/2" x 4 1/4" $40.00 SOLD

This is a scene in Rappahannock County, on the way
to the Blue Ridge. From a photo again. But, I don't
feel bad about it. Sometimes I find I can be more
imaginative when working from a photo than when
working from life. The memory comes into play,
and also there is a freedom to work with color that
the overwhelming presence of Nature sometimes
stifles in me.

I know Degas rarely worked outside,
and he is one of my idols. So, I guess if it was good
enough for him, it's good enough for me. I know that
when he died his family found boxes of photos in
his apartment - some of a nature they were not
so happy with, so they threw them out. Many were
photos he had taken himself.

I was quite happy with this small picture. It gives me the
same feeling that I have when I am out in the country, so
I must have caught something about the lanscape.
It makes me happy, and that is good.

Memento of Florence

Oil on 100% Rag Board laid down on same, 6"x 6"
SOLD

When my parents first visited Italy back in the 1960's
they brought my sister and I each one of these small
guilded cherubs. I have had mine ever since. It came
from Florence. At the time I never suspected that I would
one day go there and study. Now that was so many years
ago I can hardly believe I was ever there. But, being there had
a profound influence on how I think about and make art.
I'll always be grateful that I was able to go there. It is an
amazing city, and for an art student, an impossibly stimulating
classroom.

Blue Ridge Mountain View

Oil on Gessoed Wood Panel, 3" x 5" $90.00

I felt like doing a landscape today, but I didn't have time
to drive out to the Shenandoah, so I dug through my box of
photographs and found one I found inspiring. I never tire of
making up pictures of that place, and never tire of going there.

Brass and Carnation

Oil on Gessoed 100% Rag Board laid down on same, 6" x 6"
$75.00 SOLD

I really enjoyed doing this painting. I loved how the colors of the flower were subtly reflected into the surface of the brass container, and how the leaves had all sorts of variations of green in them. I felt the brass was quite shiny and successful, so I was happy with that, and I liked the contrast between the solidity of it and the wispiness of the flower.

Are you familiar with Caravaggio's masterpiece of a still-life? The one in which he just has a basket filled with fruit and leaves silhouetted against a plain, but vibrant yellow background? He was such a master of composition, that just the negative spaces (background shapes) in the picture are positively hypnotic. Each time I just happen upon that painting in a book I am once again completely in awe of it.

******************************


NFS

This is another spring offering. It is an oil color monotype that I did many years ago down in Blacksburg, Virginia. I picked the morning glories, then sat in front of them for about four hours with a zinc plate, a tiny paintbrush, some oil paint and turpentine. When I was done, I printed the image on to a piece of dampened Italian printmaking paper using my etching press. --Monotypes are like roulette. But this was a winner, and it is something I will never part with. I love morning glories. Their beauty is so ephemeral and ethereal.

Blue and Purple Irises on a Pink Background

Oil on 100% Rag board supported by board, 7" x 11"
95.00 go to eBay
In honor of spring I just had to paint some flowers, but I really wanted to paint some irises, and it's not iris season yet! So, I raided my still-life cabinet at The Art League School where I teach, and found these lovely, though undoubtedly unusual, artificial ones. I have to admit too, this painting took more than one day..... it took two. -- Just painting the background took several hours, and I wasn't satisfied until I covered the original white background with some pink and "tonked" it with some phone book paper to get the texture. NOW, I liked it!

For anyone interested in learning to draw or paint out there, even those learning to draw the figure (I've been teaching that for about thirty-two years) you can learn a tremendous amount by observing flowers. Their endless curving, interrelated parts, delicate relationships, and constantly changing perspective - depending upon your point of view - are all issues that one deals with in drawing the figure, or anything for that matter. So if you are interested in improving your drawing, get yourself a sketchbook, get a stem of freesia, and do a drawing of the spaces in between the flowers. You'll be amazed at how much you'll learn, and, what a relaxing and satisfying experience it is. God is in the details.

NOTE - "Tonking" just means blotting your wet oil painting with telephone book paper (must be only that paper), and was named after Henry Tonks, who was the President of the Slade School in London in the early part of the 20th C.. A very useful practice.

Red and Yellow Pear

Oil on Canvas on Wood Panel, 5" x 7" SOLD

This pear didn't seem to know if it was red
or yellow, but it was just so beautiful that I
had to paint it. It was hard not to eat it, because
it was perfectly ripe. Capturing that type of skin
in paint is a challenge, but I was pretty happy
with this painting. - It was interesting how the
highlights on the belly were a cold pink! You
wouldn't expect that....

Painting fruit and vegetables is such a challenge, and
it is so satisfying. It is a great teaching tool, also. In one
class I teach that is all we paint the entire quarter. I am always
so impressed with what my students come up with, and always
surprised at how much I learn from them. Painting is color,
and Nature offers infinite variety to challenge an artist.