Three Persimmons

Three Persimmons  Oil on Linen  8 x 8  SOLD

I've been busy in Vancouver with my parents recently so I haven't had a chance to practice the techniques that I learned in Mike Svob's workshop. However, I've been practicing thumbnails, trying to come up with different designs for the same image, and seeing which one is most dynamic, for a future painting. This sounds elementary and easy, but it's actually quite difficult to rethink a photo considering adding gradations,  simplifying the shapes and creating a pattern of three values - light, midtone and dark. If you can get through this step and feel really good about one or two thumbnail designs, the next step of painting from your thumbnail by matching the values, is really freeing. A bit scarey but freeing! I highly recommend you try it. 

This is a little painting a did a while back. I received this beautiful table runner as a gift. It's made from recycled Sari's. The persimmons added to the exotic theme, but it was really all about painting the beaded and sequined fabric. I love exotic fabrics...

Three Persimmons

Mike Svob Workshop - More

  

This is my second painting in Mike Svob's workshop. This one is in oils, and I was trying to use a colour scheme I don't usually go for. I'm more of a warm palette person. I'd like to try this one again with a warm palette and more intensity to the colours. Below is the reference photo

The second day of the workshop Mike painted in oils. The process was a little different but the concept was the same. We chose a reference or references, created 5 or 6 thumbnails trying different emphasis and compositions.  This is really hard to do and requires a lot of practice to come up with many different scenarios of the same image. Mike just whips them off and has endless ideas. The most important part is breaking the thumbnail into three values - light, midtone, and dark, then paint from the thumbnail instead of the reference, using any colour, as long as it's the same value as the value field in the thumbnail. this process creates a new vision from your reference material. In fact you could paint several paintings from the same reference this way. I'm so excited to practice this new approach and see where it leads me.

Mike Svob Workshop - More

Workshop with Mike Svob

This past weekend I had the good fortune to be able to attend a two day workshop with Mike Svob, an artist from Vancouver BC. His work is collected all over the world and much loved for his wonderful sense of colour. He is a terrific, giving instructor, has a great sense of humour and really worked hard at assisting everyone. As workshops go it was a five star and we all gained valuable knowledge to build on our painting skill base. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop from him, I would highly recommend it. He has a five day workshop coming up in White Rock in August and it's posted on his website if you're interested. He also has a book that you can buy online called Paint Red Hot Landscapes That Sell.

Mike believes in creating value study thumbnails where you can try a variety of scenarios, and if the thumbnails aren't, you don’t go ahead with the painting. The value studies are broken into light, midtone and darks. The values that fall in between are pushed to the value that they are closest to, or as Mike says “whichever value guy he seems to be hanging around with.” Mike believes that value is the most important aspect of a painting and if you get the values right, you can assign just about any colour in that value spot.

Here is Mikes reference photo. He cropped down to the two people on the left. And here is his new design using this reference.

I totally loved that he changed just about everything in terms of colour. It was so exciting to watch the transformation and he did it so effortlessly.

The first day we painted in acrylics and the second day in oils. Below is my reference photo and the acrylic painting that came out of it using his techniques.

Sorry it's a bad photo because I photographed the photograph to save time in searching for it on my computer.

I've been very focused on painting from life for both my still life work and my landscapes in plein air, so this has excited me SO much because I don't have to capture the perfect shot on the perfect day, or wander around looking for a terrific scene being lit by a heavenly beam of light. Not that I don't love plein air of course! But now I can trust myself to make some of it up and have a wonderful time doing it!  I'm sure many of you have been interpreting a great deal more than I was willing to do, so you might not find this so exciting. But this way outside my comfort zone and I'm totally pumped about it!

Workshop with Mike Svob

Plein Air

This past weekend my painting buddy Sharon and I  managed to get in a bit of plein air painting by the seaside in Oak Bay. It was our first time out this season, and of course I forgot a few necessities, like my garden gloves that I use to paint. But the funniest was that I didn't have my usual paint colours, and I realized that I was using someone else's palette. I had brought a box of paints that had been suggested by an instructor for a workshop I took a while back.

 

This scene is just a few hundred yards from the Oak Bay Marina Coffee House, where I will be setting up my still life show tomorrow morning. It will be running the whole month of June, so if you live in the area and are out for a walk along the beach front, drop by for a coffee or bite to eat and enjoy the show! 

This is a Mexican inspired painting that will featured in the show. There will be 7 or 8 other Still Life paintings as well.

Plein Air

More Still Life Step by Step

So where have I been this year? Why am I blogging so infrequently? Well...I’ve been busy with family. My parents are both quite elderly and living in Vancouver, and I’ve been travelling back and forth quite a bit, and will  continue to do so. Add to that my full time Display Design work, my art shows, my own family, the house and garden etc. and something had to give. So blogging has slowed right down, and some months painting has as well. However, I’m fortunate to live close enough to visit my parents to help them out, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. So please accept my infrequent blog posts and please send me a comment when I post, because I love to hear from all of you and appreciate the feedback.

This is another commission piece for one of my collectors. There is a series of these long narrow still life pieces coming together. They are all 24" by 12" on Gallery Wrap canvas with the image wrapping around. I applied some texture to the canvas first with modelling paste to create some energy and movement, and to add another dimension to the painting. Starting with a value study in Transparent Red Iron Oxide, I then built layers of transparent or semi-transparent paint in the fruit. I like to use these transparent colours, because the light can pass through right to the white of the canvas, creating an inner glow in the fruits.. 

The fruit bowl is cobalt blue glass with some rings of texture running around it. I started to build the reflective quality of the glass, and the beaded table center underneath.

Everything but the table cloth is now fully painted.

I completed the table cloth, added depth and colour to the shadows, and added more texture and colours to the beaded table center. Again like in my last post, this was a commission for a strip out of one of my existing original paintings, so I used my previous advise and tried to see the image with fresh eyes, trying not to ask my myself how I painted parts of the image last time. For me that's important in order to enjoy the process and not second guess myself. I have one more painting left to complete in this series of six and this next one features star fruit, something that I've never painted before, so I'm looking forward to that!

More Still Life Step by Step

Still Life Step by Step

This is a commission piece I recently completed. The commission request was to paint a section from another of my originals, capturing the essence of the image, but in a different format. The original was square and this one is long and narrow. I don't know how you feel about painting similar images in different formats, but I find it very challenging. Instead of enjoying the process and problem solving naturally, with spontaneity etc, I find that I keep asking myself, "how did I create that effect last time?" or "how did I mix that colour?" I decided to approach this painting slowly and to fight the urge to ask myself those kinds of questions. To force myself into a fresh approach.

 

 I painted my value study in Transparent Red Iron Oxide. I prefer this colour to Burnt Sienna for example, because it's transparent, and the light passes through it to the white of the canvas. Subsequent layers of other transparent colours such as Napthol Red and Hansa Yellow, again allow the light to pass through the paint to the white of the canvas, creating an inner glow in the peppers. 

 One thing that I found extremely difficult was the rounded edge of the colander. I used a grid to draw the image, capturing the turn of the bowl, and the proportions, instead of sketching loosely in paint and adjusting as I go. But during the painting process I inadvertently  made small adjustments to the edge of the bowl and kept changing the shape and losing the circle. Without the line continuum, I kept reading the shape incorrectly. I had to regrid in some areas twice during the painting process to get the shape back again.

In the end it was a lesson in both patience and persistence, and I was pleased with the outcome. But the biggest lesson on this one, was to see the painting with fresh eyes, and to not go where I'd already been, trying to second guess myself. It allowed me to experiment, improve on the outcome, and most importantly, to find the joy of painting the image a second time, as if it was the first. And that was a well learned lesson for me. How do you handle commissions and requests to paint a similar image in a different format?

Still Life Step by Step

Summer Citrus

Summer Citrus  Acrylic on Canvas  16 x 16  $500

This still life was painted from a series of photos I shot in my garden last summer. I loved the light reflections on the glaze of the pitcher, the bowl and the fruit. There was a lot of light play on the tablecloth as well. I enjoyed interpreting the various components in the colour scheme of blue and yellow, carried through in the tablecloth, and the fence and foliage in the background. I think the final effect is quite harmonious.

My Tuesday night Still Life Painting Class had a go at this image as well. They had a photograph to take home and work on for a few weeks, between our painting from life studies each week. I was very pleased and impressed with the results. Unfortunately I didn't get any shots of their work, but they're a bit shy anyhow. 

I'm getting ready to hang a show this upcoming Sunday April 1st, for the Oak Bay Artists Society. A group of sixteen of us, is having a show at the CAC Gallery at Cedar Hill, April 1 - 8. This is a preview show for the Oak Bay Artists Spring Studio Tour, taking place on April 14 & 15, 12 noon - 4:30pm. Both shows feature some wonderfully talented artists and a host of mediums. If you're in the area, drop by and say hi! We'd love to see you!

Summer Citrus

Oops!

 Silk & Things  Oil on Linen  11 x 14  

On exhibit at the FCA Spring Exhibition at Goward House

....a little mistake. Well you know how sometimes a message gets passed along and by the time it arrives to you the info isn't quite right? Well that's what happened with the message about which of my paintings was accepted into the Federation of Canadian Artists Spring Exhibition. The one in my last post was not accepted, but this painting, Silk and Things was! If you're in the area, the show is on at Goward House, 2495 Arbutus Rd until March 28th.

And if you like the painting below please "LIKE" it! This painting is in this months BoldBrush Competition, and you can vote by clicking here and when the voting page opens, click the "Like" button below the image. Thank you!

ACRYLIC PAINTING CLASSES

Coming up on March 20th is a new set of Acrylic Painting classes that I'm teaching. This set is about painting reflective surfaces. If you are in Victoria and would like to join us, we have lots of fun while learning! The classes are at Monterey Center in Oak Bay, Tuesdays Mar20 - April 24, 6:30 - 9pm,  6/$75

Register by phone @ 250 370-7300 Reg#103003

My new website has a newsletter that comes out every 4 - 6 weeks. Apart from my classes and shows, I also include an educational section covering an art topic to appeal to both art lovers and collectors alike. If you are interested in receiving this email newsletter, please click here and to view my website click here.

Oops!

Eastern Elegance II

Eastern Elegance II  Oil on Linen  11 x 14  $650

I'm pleased to tell you that my painting "Eastern Elegance II", has been juried into the Federation of Canadian Artists' Spring Exhibition, here in Victoria. If you are in the area the show is on at Goward House, 2495 Arbutus Rd, until March 28th. There are many talented, well known Victoria artists appearing in the show, and I'm honoured to be a part of it.

I had a great deal of difficulty photographing this piece. It's still not quite what it looks like in real life. The white pot is bleached out with the shadow contrast not really evident. I was getting a lot of glare because of the dark background and finally shot indoors in natural light. If you have any tips for photographing oils with dark passages, please let me know. 

I've just added some pieces to my new website as well as a few testimonials from some of my collectors. I invite you take a moment to view it, and highly recommend FASO to anyone looking for a new website provider. They provide a personalized, highly professional site with enormous options, and excellent support.

Coming up April 14 & 15, is the Oak Bay Artists Spring Studio Tour, with a group preview show to advertise the tour at the Community Arts Council Gallery at Cedar Hill Recreation Center, coming up April 1st. So there's lots happening in the next short while for all you art enthusiasts!

Eastern Elegance II

Noah Layne - Portrait Painting Demonstration

 

Hello at last! It's been quite a while since I posted. I've had some busy weeks teaching a Contemporary Still Life painting class, hanging a new show at the beautiful Marina Restaurant, painting a series of small works, and organizing a wonderful portrait painting demonstration, for the Federation of Canadian Artists. 

First thing first - the painting demonstration: Our guest artist was Noah Layne a well known Victoria artist. Some of you may be familiar with his work from features in  Artists' Magazine and Southwest Art Magazine, where he was named "One of 21 under 31 to Collect Now!". First of all, Noah is a wonderfully kind and sharing artist, whose relaxed style and humour made the demonstration so enjoyable. He is an award winning artist who believes in the importance of working from life.  His works are primarily concerned with portraying a realistic image through the use of light, line and color. He talked a lot about finding the form shadow and cast shadow lines in order to create the illusion of three dimensional form. He demonstrated this by casting a shadow on a piece of bent white card. He explained his technique of constant comparison; measuring and comparing facial proportions, and holding his paintbrush like a plumb line to compare shapes like the nose, mouth and chin, in relation to the straight line of his brush. He also talked about shadows in relation to the light source. When the light is close to an object the shadow will be dark and the edges crisp, and when the light is farther away the shadow will be more pale with a diffused edge. Noah has a great blog with many painting tips and step by step demos.

Some more of  Noah's achievements:

Noah has shown his work in shows and galleries across North America.
He has been a multi-year finalist in the the prestigious Art Renewal Center Salon.
Been a finalist for the inaugural two competition with the America China Oil Painting Artist League.
Been a multi-year finalist in the Artist's Magazine Annual Art Competition winning an honorable mention in 2010.
Was short listed for Canada's National Portrait Competition “The Kingston Prize” 2009.
Was selected to be a Hudson River Fellow in 2009 in New York.  A Jacob Collins founded fellowship.
Was picked by Southwest Art Magazine in 2004 as one of 21 artists under 31 to collect now! 

I've been having a very difficult time photographing my work in order to post. Between snow storms and rain, I'm also contending with daylight savings, which means up here on the 49th parallel, that it's dark when I go to work and dark when I come home, so I have to hope for a bit of sun of the weekend. I'm thinking of buying one of those table top photo tents. Do any of you use those and if so, can you give me some pointers as to size of tent and what power of light bulbs you use? I'd like to be able to photograph up to a 12 x 16 if possible. Is that too large?

I'll ask my class if they are ready to be featured on my blog soon. I thought I should get to know them first before dropping the paparazzi bomb. :-)

Noah Layne - Portrait Painting Demonstration

Still Life Painting Workshop

'Desire'  Acrylic on Canvas  24 x 24  SOLD

For those of you in Victoria, I have a painting workshop coming up next week. Just a few spots left so don't delay!  

Contemporary Still Life Painting - Acrylics

Tuesdays Jan17 - Feb 21

6:30 - 9pm

Monterey Center, Oak Bay

Cost $75 

To register call: 250 370-7300 Reg# 103003

It's going to be a lot of fun learning various acrylic painting techniques, composition, colour mixing, lighting, grisaille value study, and how to use a view finder. Come on out and join in the fun!

Please take a moment to check out my new website: http://www.clairechristinelfineart.com

Still Life Painting Workshop

New Website and New Show!

Morning Calm  Acrylic  16 x 20

Happy New Year! I always start the New Year by analyzing the past year, and planning for the new year to come. One of my goals for 2010 was to get a new website. I did it! Okay I left it to the last possible moment.... between Christmas and New Years I had the time to sit down at the computer for two days and I can now be found at www.clairechristinelfineart.com . Please take a moment to check out my site and let know what you think. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I've got the bones of it together and it was really fun to create. I went with FASO, recommended by fellow blogger Carrie Waller and I have to say that I'm really impressed with their product and their service is amazing! 

Another exciting thing that happened for me this year is that I started teaching still life painting classes in acrylics. That has been a very fun experience and also a huge learning experience. When we paint it's often very intuitive, and to teach you have to stop and think about each step and why. I learned all sorts of things about my process that I'd never really analyzed or put into words before.

I had some great experiences in shows and events throughout the year. One of the things that I realize is that with each great art experience I meet new artist friends. And it's those artist friend connections that make this industry such a rewarding place. The same is true of my blogging friends. The caring, sharing, support and enthusiasm is so rich in the art blogging world. We spend so much alone time when we're painting, but we go online and discover friends internationally. So I want to thank you all for visiting my blog and extending your kindness toward me, and becoming a cherished friend.

My first show of the year is at the Oak Bay Marina Cafe. Because it's on the water and surrounded by boats, I decided to show mostly west coast seascapes and boating paintings. The above painting is part of the show. If you are in Victoria and out for a seaside walk, drop into the Marina Cafe to warm up and enjoy my show!

New Website and New Show!