New Work: Sunset over the Hilltop

Sunset over the Hilltop  oil on canvas, 36  72 inches  sold, private collection

Large canvases allow you a lot of room to work and explore. This canvas was all about that sun and how the light and color changes across this 6 foot space.

Some of the original sketch work is visible in the sky. Since there was a lot of area to cover, I used a number of arbitrary colors for the sky just to keep it interesting. Then I left it alone and kept working on the rest of the oil, purposely avoiding the impulse to add something to the sky in the early stages.

Once the rest of the painting evolved, the sky just got better all by itself. Last, I concentrated on creating more light and glow over the entire surface.

New Work: Ocean Patterns, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Ocean Patterns

Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

$4200 unframed

This is an oil started as a demo in my June, Making it Fine Art Workshop at my home / studio in Castle Rock, CO.  This is my first seascape in oil, but since we were all in class to make some new moves, I was compelled to begin an ocean canvas for the first time.

It all began with a good start, locating the brightest and darkest parts of the scene, freely using a variety of colors - some arbitrary to keep things interesting. I had severely cropped the source photo from a recent trip to Galveston, TX. This image represents just a fraction of the original photo. 

I kept the brush marks loose and free. As it turned out, any number of color combinations could have been used here and I will do so in future versions. My focus to was make an engaging work of art without being too representational. There is much for the eye to take in with the overall textures and colors shifting along the vertical and horizontal directions.

This three foot square oil is a nice success, a sketch for larger works to come!

Article: Beautiful art made of coffee, wine and chocolate

Here's an enjoyable article from the Washington Post by Nicole Crowder, photo editor for the Washington Post’s photography blog, In Sight. Check out the article for more images.

Spilled coffee turned into a scene from “Peter Pan.”(Giulia Bernardelli)

Excerpt from the article:

Each morning after breakfast, while the rest of us are polishing off the last few drops of coffee, 28-year old illustrator Giulia Bernardelli is using her cup’s remains to create dazzling and whimsical scenes across the white surface of her northern Italian kitchen. From musicians and famous faces to imaginative scenes from famous fairy tales like Peter Pan, she began sharing her creations via Instagram, (@bernulia) where she has since garnered more than 27,000 followers.

[Whimsical food creations transform an ordinary dinner plate into culinary canvas]

Less than a year ago, Bernardelli came across coffee as a medium for her art by chance: She accidentally knocked over a cup of coffee and noticed a world of beautiful shapes before her.

None of her creations are planned in advance, she says. Instead, Bernardelli prefers them to have the feeling of being found creations that were stumbled upon by happenstance with an ephemeral quality.

“Everything that I needed was around me, if I looked carefully. I decided to replace the paint brush with what nature offered, such as leaves, fruit skins, food. All these elements feature different colors and textures.”

Amy Winehouse. (Giulia Bernardelli)

New Work: Forest Light oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches

Forest Light

oil on canvas 40 X 30

Steamboat Springs Center for Visual Arts

Over the years I have attempted a lot of oils and not all of them ended up as finished works. This piece was begun about three years ago and put aside. 

Had I made a better start at the time, this painting might have essentially finished itself By offering a clearer path to resolution. Instead, the canvas was a muddy muddle without clear areas of focus. It was unappealing and I didn't have any ready solutions to take it forward.

This oil was in a stack of orphan canvases that needed help. My plan was to add three things the canvas lacked: contrast, drama and clarity. Thanks and gratitude to my teacher Wolf Kahn for those insightful tools.

The painting was already dark enough so that when I added lighter areas, the oil was immediately more appealing and happily, the contrasts began to emerge. Immediately I had a better composition to work with and more options presented themselves.

Greens are not usually a focus of my works but since I was pushing off with this older image, I wanted to gamble with a variety of greens in a way I hadn't attempted before.

To increase the dramatic effect and depth, a number of colors were tried in the background: pink, orange, rose, blue, and purple. There wasn't a color system at work, I was contrasting the greens with an interesting array of color to see what would work best. As it turned out, I found a way to weave all the colors together creating the effect of a left to right motion. It was a nice counterpoint to the predominantly vertical composition.

The last touches were the blues in the upper right foliage and the few bright red leaves. Both moves added complexity and additional points of interest in a subtle way. 

In the end, it took patience, a bit more artistic experience and clearly seeing what was needed to bring the painting to life. 

I'm going back into the orphan stack to see what I can fix next.

New Works: Chromatic Forest oil on canvas

Chromatic Forest
Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches

I began this oil as a demo at my Making it Fine Art Workshop in Marshfield, MA last year. Sometimes the creation of artwork is not a logical or linear process and this oil is a good case in point.

The oil began nicely - a very nice start and one of the teaching points of the demo. Once it was shipped back to my studio, I did a bit more work on it but didn't have a clear direction of where I wanted it to go.

Since there are always others oils in progress, my attention was drawn to other canvases. Months later I was going through the stacks of unfinished oils and found this 30 x 40 behind a number of larger canvases. Once I saw it again, some fresh ideas and directions came to mind using lavender and aquas in the forest. The unexpected foliage color set up the light in the background nicely and I was able to achieve a balance of transparency and density. The oil then became a playground for more colors, contrasts and atmosphere.

In the Studio: June 8, 2015

There are a number of works in progress right now, 4 are shown here. It hasn't been dull lately with all these starts. I'm creating a lot of problems and enjoying the 'chess' game, searching for the solutions. At this point, the paintings are talking to me, telling me what they need.

It is very important for me to have a lot of works in progress at the same time. The advantages are many, but one of the most important is that it keeps a single painting from being too precious.

Everything is up for grabs here. Subtle or sweeping changes can be made - whatever makes for the best possible outcome. When I get to a dead end or stopping point, another painting in the studio is calling for attention.

Someone is arriving from out of town for private lessons today. It's always fun and a thrill to share ideas in the studio.

Exhibition: Total Arts Gallery, Taos NM Opening

Here are some photos from the opening of my Two-Man Exhibition with Kim English at the Total Arts Gallery, Taos, NM in May 2015. It was a great evening. Thanks to all that came and to everyone at Total Arts for the great show!

The exhibition is up through the month of June.
view the exhibit here

Kim English, left

Ken Elliott, left

Kim and Ken outside the gallery on opening day

My oils in the exhibition: