Monday, December 28, 2009

Snowy Days

A tribute to our white Christmas in Dallas. It never snows here, so the excitement of a snowy Christmas Eve and then yards and houses covered in white snow on Christmas morning made me feel like Santa came! Some even made snowmen. Because of the holidays and also my latest project the guitar players, I have no new paintings. So I found these two to post just to say hello to you. The one on top was done years ago in Naomi Brotherton's class. She is known for her night paintings, so here I have not only a night painting, but, a snowy night painting. The second painting is not complete. I am working on a couple of house paintings, plus doing a lot of research on trying to find out what to do next with my guitar players. I found an artist that is highly regarded for his fantastic portraits. I love his work, and it is close to what I am imagining for the guitar players - just capturing the essence of their expressions, but, I am shocked that his work seems to be unfinished and sketchy, yet he is regarded as highly accomplished. Don't get me wrong, I do love his work. In the meantime, I found a book in all places, at my mom's house on our Christmas visit. This book posed the challenge for an artist to go beyond painting what you see. Create tension and vibrancy by purposefully selecting the appropriate colors. Right now all of the ideas are jumping around in my head and I have to either wait for them to calm down or just experiment to move on.

I will posts the name of the book next time (it is in the car right now). Hopefully, I will have something new to post for you soon!

Happy New Year!