That Pink Thing, alla prima oil painting

That Pink Thing was the last alla prima oil painting I did for my still life class I started in October. I have to say this was also one of the paintings I liked least from my class. While I liked the composition and a few of the components (e.g., the tablecloth and acorn squash, in particular), I made poor choices in the execution of this piece.

I zoomed in some on the objects versus working smaller including more of the space surrounding the piece. While the colors harmonized overall, my application of the copper bowl wasn't as successful as I had done previously (e.g., It's Not Easy Being Blue and Fruit with Vessels. I'm probably reacting to the softness of the edge which makes the bowl feel more ceramic than metal. The white vessel next to the copper bowl proved the most disappointing because I screwed up the perspective of the blue stripe. I may go back and simply paint over the area to make the stripe nonexistent; you know, blend it in more. We'll see. Oh, and did I mention "that pink thing" in the back drove me nuts because I simply hated it. I'm sure most of my disdain stems from my not doing fabric well. But, as I posted previously, I'm going to make that something to work on in 2009.

It saddened me to realize that the new art classes will be starting at Fleisher in another couple of weeks. I had considered signing up again with Giovanni Casadei, but decided to hold off and do some work on my own at home. I am reviewing my goals for this year and I'll probably post something related to that as I've become more intentional about those musings as of late.

On a final note, I will do a better job at photographing my work. Susan Martin Spar over at her art blog The Daily Muse recommended that I include close-ups of the surface to highlight my brushwork. I'll be more diligent with either doing such close-ups or making certain that when you click on the painting itself the enlargement sufficiently displays the surface texture. Thanks for your recommendation Susan!

Yellow Speaks, new a la prima oil painting

Fear not, I have been painting. I'll post the work over the next few days. This posting and the upcoming pieces are the final paintings from my a la prima painting class at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philly. The timeline for each was between 2 1/2 and 3 hours.

The above a la prima oil painting was the fifth piece from my oil painting still life class with Giovanni Casadei. As you can see I slipped a little in my pacing and didn't finish it. I've improved greatly as has been shown elsewhere on this oil painting art journal. The green drape needs highlights. My hope is to return to this painting and finish it over the Christmas break.

People in the class complained about that brown jug. Ironically, I really enjoyed painting it. I enjoyed painting this piece even though I'm still working on my brushstrokes. Giovanni continued to drive home his new age montra-ish talk about the importance of experiential painting and "feeling" the process while painting.

On a more earthly level, I think the colors and lighting balance well; the sense of space strong. The table covering is one of the more effective I've done. I put painting drapery as high on my list of things to practice.

Thoughts anyone?

Vases with gourds, a la prima painting

As you can see from this most recent painting from my Monday night still life class at Fleisher, I'm still struggling with speed and economy in the a la prima approach to oil painting. I think I'm making progress, though.

I feel much more confident in handling large compositions such as this. My previous efforts usually would have me focusing on a section of a larger composition. Opening myself up to seeing in new ways and experiencing this new way of recording what I see have already positively affected me. I'm excited about that. I wish I had the opportunity to paint between my Monday sessions. I'll have to speak to the wifey about making the time for that to happen (either inside or outside). Or, I'll have to do something about it at night.

Regardless, I hope within the next four classes, I'll have things more clearly worked out regarding the speed at which I work. Of course, increasing the speed at which I work must coincide with a growing economy of my technique. If I can't combine speed with economy then, without doubt, I'll become increasingly frustrated (though I won't be giving up any time soon.)

But, who knows, this growth may simply take more time. That's not my plan, but you've heard of the best laid plans of mice and men, right?

A la Prima, the joys and frustrations

I had class again tonight at Fleisher. Overall, it went well. I'll post the painting in another day or so (I need time to take a good pic of it).

One of the great frustrations for me is that I'm not working fast enough. In an effort to challenge myself, I've been choosing to paint the ENTIRE still life. That means I'm not finishing things up before the end of class (thus, my last painting isn't complete).

One of the great joys for me is that I'm enjoying this new style of working (a la prima). Overall, I'm finding it challenging but also very rewarding. I've got a lot of issues to work through as I push to embrace a la prima painting but I'm confident that I'll get there. Actually, I'm quite excited to get there!

So, tomorrow or Wednesday, I'll post my painting from tonight. I look forward to your comments.

Vase of Flowers, a la prima

This is my first painting from my A la Prima Still-Life in Oils painting class at Fleisher. I wasn't happy with it; so much is wrong with it. As you'll see in my second painting, I tackled more of the whole still life which made me happier.

I think it is just a new way of thinking and working that completely threw me. I have to say that I like working on a gray ground. The canvas texture gave me some issues. I'll have to look into getting some smooth panels to work with.

The biggest issue from the first class was my frustration at the teacher not making all positions manageable since it was a still life class. (I'm happy to report that the second class he did just that and all angles were workable.)

Better experience this time around

I came home from my second class at Fleisher last night and I have to say that tonight's class was SO much better an experience for me than last week's session. Giovanni came over and spoke to me almost immediately after class began. I'm sure he realized that I wasn't happy last week.

He encouraged me to not look at the act of painting as a rote script to follow; technique being a stale end in itself. He also spoke quite passionately about "feeling" what you paint and loving the experience of painting.

The act of learning to see is critical to my way of thinking. It's the foundation of what I'm trying to accomplish with my students at school. That's the reason I took this class at Fleisher in the first place. I want practice in capturing what I see in the moment of seeing it. I'm excited about next week's class. Let's hope I can reinforce what I took away from last night's class.

My last painting for my class

Last night I completed my final painting in my seven-week summer Still Life Painting class at Fleisher. I started out on a different subject than what I ended up with. Frankly, I was not feeling very engaged when I first got there. I think it had a lot to do with the fact it was my last class (i.e., disappointment) AND we were doing a one-session painting (i.e., anxiety).

I had not done a one-session painting in many, many years so I was nervous how I was going to begin. Now, what artists did as a preliminary sketches to determine value and work out compositional problems are hot items on the Internet. On Google or ebay, all you have to do is type in "postcard paintings" or "painting a day" and you'll get overloaded with results of varying degrees of quality.

So, the final product is unfinished. I plan on returning to it this week to finish it up. The issues I want to tackle are the background and, in the process, refine the shape of the bowl. I think I can also go in and take care of the thickness of the tallest stem. Once I define the foreground and background and add some cast shadows the piece will be stronger (and I'll be happier with it). Overall, it's not horrid or even half bad considering where I am with my skills.

Thoughts anyone?

Water-soluble oil paints

Someone in my class noticed me cleaning out my brushes with water the other week. She had never heard of water-soluble oil paints which is the type of oil paints I use.

When I went to Rutgers University, I had used both regular and alkyd oils. Even while in school I had occasional bouts of outbreaks of small blisters that would itch; almost like a fungus. I tried gloves but that only made my hands more itchy. I thought I'd have to give up painting forever.

It wasn't until much later that I first heard about water-soluble oil paints. What a surprise it was! Here was a medium that I could reintroduce into my life. I found a book on Amazon called Painting with Water-Soluble Oils by Sean Dye. I really enjoyed this book. It had plenty of examples and feedback from other artists. I'd recommend it. You'll have to purchase it from resellers via Amazon since it's no longer carried by Amazon.

I'll provide some additional thoughts in another post.

2nd painting from still life class

After three weeks (9 hours of class time), we got another still life set up. I overworked the pitcher, but overall this painting has a more consistent rendering across the piece than my first painting for this class. I'm not happy with the shadow behind the pitcher either. The lights moved so this shadow wasn't the same as when I first blocked it in. It's not a show-stopper but I notice it more than I'd like to.

Since this summer class only has seven classes, our last painting will be al a prima. That should be interesting! Perhaps it will help me loosen up even more. I seem to run into the issue of being somewhat painterly in some areas and tighter in others. It's something I'm hoping to work on as I try some pieces at home on my own. I may try to do compositions of one or two pieces. We'll see.

1st painting from my still life class

As I indicated in my previous post, I have been taking Still Life Painting at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. David Berger is my instructor and it's been highly enjoyable and beneficial to me as well. David is a great instructor; honest, informative, attentive.

This was the first still life we worked on. It was part of a larger grouping each member of the class was responsible for isolating elements for their composition (without moving them, obviously). 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it since this is the first painting I've done in about four years. The background object ends up looking more like a tree and less like a vase, primarily because of the palm tree-like shadow. I should have scaled it down or changed the orientation so you could see the flowers in it. I suppose I also could have made the shadow look like a flower, too.

I also found myself loosening up the more I got into the painting. As such, the bowl is tighter than many of the other components. I'm also not that happy with the lime though it was as dark as that. It dominates a bit too much in my mind. 

But, I'm still happy with it. After all, if you're not willing to make mistakes then you're not going to make improvements.

And so it begins ...

It's been awhile. Shamefully, too many years. I graduated in 1990 with my art degree. I painted for a bit after college. As I got older though, I found that other aspects of my life had overshadowed any artistic goals I harbored. Now, one house, one wife and two kids later I look back and wonder where did all of that time go.t 

So, this is my journey back. I am just about finished taking classes at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, PA. I happened upon their website and was intrigued by the course offerings and the reasonable prices. 

I'll be posting pics of the two paintings I've done up to this point.