Jul 13 - Backlit Horse and Rider Demo for the Workshop

This 12 x 16 oil was done as a demonstration of the skies theory in the Color System during the July workshop. The theory is that there is a warm circle near the source of illumination and that it shifts to the Cool Box outside the circle.

I spent some time tweaking it a bit to bring it to this level, and might again go after it to truly finish it (getting those values right!) in the next few days. I'm pleased how the light comes through on the tail, though.

I'd like you to see that the source material is only the jumping-off point for paintings. Here's the photograph that inspired the painting. This is Frank Gerhardt on Bonus, his appaloosa gelding that he raised and trained. Quite a legend in our local area for trail riding!
I love the memories that have come out of my camera over the years. (And it allows me to deduct my horse expenses since I couldn't get these images unless I actually went on the rides!)

WORKSHOP spots OPEN! Northern California, north of San Francisco! Three days near the redwood country, and in the quaint town of Sebastopol.
August 17-19, $295 through the AWS group there in a lovely location, even if it is Color Boot Camp! Please email me if you'd like to hold one of the spots and I'll send you the contact info. If you've been too far away to do a Color Boot Camp down here in Riverside, this is your chance. I'm going east for the Maine workshop in September, then one here (Riverside) in October. As long as they continue to sell out, I know that what I'm doing has validity. COLOR BOOT CAMP!!

P.S. That color boot camp wanna-be in Scottsdale in their latest blurb is NOT an official Color Boot Camp. Only Elin Pendleton can bring you the "true" Boot Camp experience!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jul 12 - Revamping the Web Site

With the weather so hot and no relief in sight, I thought a nice blue image of Hawai'i might sooth your eyes.

I'm revamping the web sites, page by page, while I stay deep in the cool studio. I've found many images that have never been on the web--either I overlooked them, or they slipped by me. Here's one...

This is an acrylic painting (12 x 9) done on location from the loading docks of Coconut Island, the site of the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology in Kaneohe Bay, and the waters there were so clear that the docks seemed to float in the turquoise blues. This painting, "View to the Pali" is available for $225.

I remember that day of plein air painting like it was yesterday--I was a guest of the local art group to this usually-off-limits site, and would love to return another time to paint these glorious blues!

Hawai'i will always be in my heart, because my mom and dad lived there during the 1930s/1940s and knew "old" Hawaii before commercial air travel made it so convenient a tourist destination. My last trip there was to scatter their ashes per their wishes.

Here's an aerial view of Coconut Island, which used to be the private retreat of Edwin Pauley before it came into the hands of the University of Hawaii. I can see right where I was seated when I painted this!



You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jul 4 - Virtual pARTy Challenge, and a Demo

In the workshop this morning, I had to demonstrate morning light, so I picked up on an image from Linda Shantz, who organized a virtual pARTy for artists to do an image from the same source.

This is a 16 x 20 acrylic done for a morning light painting in the Color System, and depicts a very pregnant mare in a pasture. I modified the source material quite a lot and am quite pleased with this painting. Redesigning source material and making it one's own is the mark of a confident artist, with an arsenal of ability to make source material just the "jumping off point" for the art. I love doing this! And in front of the eleven participants, I finished this up for them in record time.

You can see the source material and some of the other entries here. Mine won't be there for a while until my registration is cleared.

Congratulations to new collector Louise Sackett from Santee, California, on her purchase of yesterday's painting of the California Coast in moonlight!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Moonlight Becomes you... Acrylic 9 x 12 Demonstration

Hello again! I'm in the misdt of the workshop here in my studio in Riverside, and demonstrated this acrylic painting for the eleven participants today. It's moonlight, and from images I took (in the late afternoon!) up along the Big Sur Coast of Northern California.

It's fun to work on changing daylight resources to other times of day, and not too difficult, once you're familiar with the Color System (in this case, cool box and lower the light values).

Tomorrow the students will be approaching morning light or afternoon light, and evening light with the full Color System. I hope to post some of their "Silly Paintings" they did today, but forgot to ask permission of them. It's been warm here, but not as hot as yesterday (over 100). The studio workshop area is cooler than outside by at least 15 degrees, and we have fans running, so it's not too bad.

For the Fourth of July celebration, a friend sent me this link, with a nice music video representing our diverse cultures under the umbrella of our freedom. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! ( http://www.bornagainamerican.org/ ).

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jun 29 - Onion in Oils, Lesson on Inherent Color, and Workshop Coming!

Back into the oils for an 8 x 10 study of a red onion! I love making up the new pillboxes--my old ones were crusty and the lids finally cracked after being in and out of the freezer so many times. There is something very familiar and exciting about putting those Color System hues in their appropriate boxes.

This painting is VERY important to Color Boot Camp graduates, because it focuses so much on the "INHERENT COLOR" (You know who you are who have heard this from me!) The onion's inherent color is a cool red--alizarin, from the cool box. I could not switch completely to the warm red (cadmium red light) when my brushes came around to the lit side, so it "reads right" even on that lighter side, because I obeyed the rule of inherent color by influencing the dominant color of the object. I definitely influenced that light side with those warm box colors, though. This is a nice study, available through ebay. Just search for "Red Onion Oil Painting - Elin Pendleton 8 x 10". I've decided that listing the work when I post the email to all of you is a good time-saver. Here's the link if you want to get there quick!

I've updated my web site with recent paintings, too--at least the elinart site. The Daily Paintings web site is only current to January. I hope to get more work on that done this week. I do have to elevate my leg for parts of my day as my hip injury heals.

The next workshop starts this coming Thursday--Fourth of July weekend. I have had one cancellation, so there is a spot available. Do you want the Color System Boot Camp? Email me!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jun 21 - Recovering, and the 30 x 24 Still Life

The still life is about as finished as it's going to be, seeing it now. It didn't take too much fiddle-arting around to get it to this stage with those open acrylics. I finished the "real" color note of that purple plate by breaking the Color System rules to get that luscious of a plate color--using the cools in the light. In man-made objects we can do that, and it creates a wondrous excitement in otherwise follow-the-rules paintings.

I've not done still life in a LONG time, and found it different from the old days. I think I need to do more, perhaps some smaller subjects, and revisit the onions and other fruits. It will come. I do love the energy of this painting in the brushwork.

Sorry about not emailing more often--last weekend I crashed the scooter and have been limping around here feeling sorry for myself. The bruises and cuts are nothing serious, except the one on my hip where I hit the pavement. Dang, that asphalt is HARD. I've got more colors than the Color System in my left leg! I need to keep it up for a few hours each day. Turns out my aikido training again saved my hide, because it could ahve been MUCH more serious. As it was, I hit and rolled and did a 360 on my shoulder before coming to rest on my back. I just went with the motion, and didn't brace, and perhaps saved my 60 year old bones. Scooter's fine, just some cosmetic damage.

So I'm fine now, and rarin' to go into the July Color Boot Camp.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jun 9 - The Acrylic Still Life Continues

Now I'm so much more pleased with this one. It is coming along well, with glazing done with traditional gloss medium and colors from the Open Acrylics, blending and unifying the upper left corner, and defining the green plate. The red grapes went in very fast, and yet are not painted as individual grapes. I'll still add much more, and have put off adding the lavender leftmost plate. I need to pull the entire composition together before making this bold statement.

I've thought about time of day for this painting, and it is definitely morning. I added bits of warm yellow to the whites, and of course there are all sorts of grayed purples in the shadows. Yes, even interiors can reflect the time of day--it just makes a better painting overall, in my opinion.

Every once in a while I like to share with you other artists' work, someone who has been in a Color Boot Camp. Since my epiphany of being a teacher vs. being an artist first, I want to share this site with you--this is my friend Louise Mellon, of Aiken, South Carolina. She paints what she loves and what is around her--mostly horses and their companions. I'm always pleasured by her courage in her work and her stunning designs. Check her work in progress through her blog: http://louisemellon.blogspot.com/

OK, OK.... if you want to be on the list for the October workshop, I'm going to take names. (Now stop pestering me! Just kidding!) I don't want to have to go to a lottery system, yet I understand everyone's frustration about not getting into a Color Boot Camp.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

June 8 - Back to the Normal after the Workshop

As I continue to cover the canvas, I'm working on the lower 2/3, bringing the colors back with the new, hopefully more effective design. The flowers "grew", and the plates moved down and off a bit. Again, I've moved to the Open Acrylics by Golden, to give me some more working time to make decisions. Although I love my traditional acrylics, working on a larger canvas tends to make me hurry when I'm using them.

I got a call from the Escondido gallery--suggesting that most of his clientele have homes that react better to "warmer" palettes. But he said that of all the artists' work he took over to show one of his high-end clients, it was my work that worked best. The Color System... what can I say???

Well, it is back to the "New" normal... It is mighty quiet around here now, after all the new Boot Camp graduates left yesterday, Sunday. The July workshop is full, and I'm looking at the second weekend in October for the next three-day Riverside Boot Camp. Those of you on the East Coast still have an opportunity to relax and paint your socks off in Maine in September. There's another three-day workshop scheduled for August in Sebastopol, but at this time is only open to their membership. I'll keep you posted if that changes.

Here's a photo from the workshop that was kindly sent to me from the Canadian contingent after she arrived back home. I send it to show the rack behind me with the work of the students from the first day--they did either moonlight or misty light paintings and the new "silly painting" using just the CS values. I'm wearing one of the "I survived Color Boot Camp" aprons, and of course, Sparky is doing his "bird on a wire" act.

Happy painting!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jun 6 - The Workshop for June and that Still Life

"When in doubt, paint it out," I said a few days ago. This 30 x 24 has been sitting on my easel since then, asking for attention. Today, after the workshop was over, I invited those interested to stick around and see how this would be changed. Most opted to continue painting after a great idea of pizza delivered to the door. They are dedicated!
So I redesigned the structure on this painting, now using the Golden Open acrylics instead of the traditional acrylics I started with. Fun, juicy and fast painting! Here I'm blocking in the lower half, and I glazed over a lot of the upper half with yellow ochre and gloss medium.

I redrew the plates and the vase larger and expanded the floral portion to more properly balance the composition. And just approached it as though it were differently composed in the first place. I like it better already!

The workshop is going well, with ten Color Boot Campers delving into nuances of the Color System, and taking control of their painting decisions, instead of letting the source material drive their work. It's refreshing to see the new paintings coming off their brushes! More tomorrow, and perhaps one or two will let me use their work in an email to you.

The second image is what the floral looked like after I did the major surgery with the brush and painted OUT the lower two thirds. Hey, I painted it once, I can do it again, and probably better. So it goes.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

June 2 - Paintings gone Wrong and Beauty Elsewhere

Uh oh. Some times an artist forgets what they're doing, and I'm happy to report to you that this painting is becoming a great teaching example of that!

Those lovely grays are gone now, and I caught myself getting so enamored with the small white rose, that I forgot one of the things I stress with students, "Don't rush the focal point!" So although this painting has some good things going on with it, I have a feeling that it is going to undergo some major surgery shortly.

Hey, this happens to all of us. But most of 'em arteests aren't courageous (or stupid) enough to share the ones that aren't going so well with the general public. I've had an epiphany of knowledge that I'm a teacher first and an artist second, so I see the greater good in sharing ALL the issues with painting, and that includes problems. Since I took this last image, I've painted OUT the lower 2/3 of the canvas. Gone. "When in doubt, paint it out." So it goes. See, I, too, have to slap myself up side the head and put myself back on track. The painting will get much better because of it. After all, "it's just paint".

On another note, here's a bit of beauty from my yard... after I took the image of the picket fence, I walked up to the front patio, turned around and took this second image over the koi pond to the rose garden. I love scenes like this... it may end up as a painting, too.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

June 1 - Continuing with the Acrylic Still Life

I'm still covering the canvas using only the cool colors--the whites you see are the canvas itself, which flies in the face of my normal procedure of toning the canvas. But since the source material is so harmonious and subtle in coloration, I wanted to use the whate canvas to "keep the sparkle" as I continue to develop the shapes.

Yes, not a BIT of warm in here yet, and the harmonies of color are really pleasant. I'm using the "Trifecta" of the sky trio with white to create all those areas of gray variations. All you Color Boot Camp Graduates will know those!

On the rest of the canvas, I'm just putting in the general shapes of the things--such as the grapes and the plate shadows. There is a bit of pure on the vase now, in the shadows on the left. Ultramarine and white. It looks so warm and advancing because with the Color System, if you use a cool color solo with just white added, and surround it with other cool mixes that have two or three others combined, there's an optical illusion created. That illusion makes the purer colors advance, and appear warmer. Can you see it?

On other news, I'm clearing out the workroom for the June COLOR BOOT CAMP here this coming weekend. Twelve people are going to fill their heads and canvases with the time of day system that seems to be revolutionizing painting for people who want good color, every time.

I'm putting in a white picket fence around my rose garden this week--here's an image of it in process. OK, all the stereotypes about "houses with white picket fences" come to mind, but I've always loved pickets and roses, and now I have both right outside my studio windows. Life is good. But then we also have a swarm of bees that came into the back yard this afternoon, so maybe not. A local beekeeper is coming by this evening to take them for his hives. That's the best for the bees, and they'll be gone before they can get hungry and testy.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 31 - Starting the Still Life in Acrylics

This is a 30 x 24 canvas, and the first lay-in of the large shapes is presented for you in this lesson on painting a still life using the Color System.

These colors are blends from the cool box, and create a harmony of related hues, and every one of them is at least two hues from that box. There is NO pure color at this stage. All of the shapes that are going in are going to play background roles for the coming layers.

I'm also attaching the photo of the setup I'm using, as this is from life. Sometimes the setup and arrangement of objects is just as important, if not moreso, than the actual painting! This is set up in my studio to the left of my easel, and is lit with one 50 watt halogen spotlight. I chose these objects from my "stash" for their unity of color and analogous relationships. It will be fun to see what happens with the Color System and my brushes!

I hope you'll enjoy the journey through this painting with me...


You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 22 - UCR Botanic Gardens Plein Air Primavera

Last Sunday found me on the grounds of the University of California Riverside Botanic Gardens as a guest artist for the Primavera event. Many fine restaurants and wineries were on hand with samples of their cuisine and beverages--and I enjoyed that as well as the light and activity.

It was a warm afternoon, and so I painted this scene of the tents, ribbon banners and people gathered around socializing in a quick 9 x 12 Golden Open acrylic painting. Mostly just gestural mark-making with the brush, nothing is clearly defined. But that lets YOU define it in your mind.

The warm and cool boxes are much in evidence with the light and shadows working together.

Here's another memory of the misty morning light in Florida, on the grounds of the Carriage Museum. Many ideas for future paintings down the "road" in reviewing these images. They are so peaceful. Grand place, as is the Georgia farm and the East Coast in general. I'm ready to return!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 21 - One from the Workshop (Mine) :-)

After the wonderful paintings from workshop folks, I thought I'd send you one of my own--done during the Florida workshop on the last couple of days.

This Amish image came from the collection of Judi Evans, and is used with permission. I used the subject to convey noon light, and loved the drama of the deep shadows and the interesting angle of the horses juxtaposed with the lean out on each side. Painting noon light can be fun, when the subject is as interesting as this one!

It is a 12 x 16 acrylic on textured canvas, and is available for $350, unframed directly from me. It's much better in person.

In other news, Rural Heritage Magazine is featuring my art relating to these draft horses in their upcoming issue. Summer work and big horses!

I'm also gearing up for the next workshop in less than two weeks!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 18 - Accommodations and more Florida

Another artist from the Florida Color Boot Camp, applying the Color System to make a good painting go into orbit. Nancy Moskovitz has a blog where she shares information on her art journey, and I was honored to have her among the wonderful group painting and learning at the Carriage Museum near the Villages, in central Florida last week. Her "AHA" moment, she says, "Just one? Learning how to use yellows, especially lemon yellow to create a morning mood. Learning how to keep sunlit fields in the distance with ochre. Thalo blue in sunlight; thalo green in shadow - wow!"

I just loved this evocative depiction of a common subject. Can you tell I love teaching? Both my Riverside workshops are full now, and I'm busy clipping and snipping around the gardens to neaten up the place after an absence of two weeks.

In Florida, below's an image of the Wisteria Lodge, one of two that were our accommodations for this workshop. Amazing place, the Austin Carriage Museum! Beauty in the site and beauty in the light. I slept in my Hennessy Hammock out in the trees and loved every moment of the Florida nights. The hammock has a bug net that prevents unwanted intruders, and it worked well even in the rain.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 17 - Home and Off to Paint Again

The Florida and Georgia workshops are history now, and I'm full of memories and have many images to share with you! I don't have images of my own work to share, since those paintings are either out of my hands or on their way home in shipping boxes. But I'm honored to share the work of one of the students, Jackie, who has said that knowing the Color System was the last key she needed to make her work reach that higher level. This is her 12 x 16 oil for her misty painting, and isn't it lovely? She already has a foundation of drawing, composition and a great "feel" for depicting the Florida landscape, so adding the time of day to her work is like the flowers on the icing on the decorated cake!

And here's the entire workshop on the front porch of one of our lodgings, on our last day, sharing the final images we were working on--backlit, and sunset skies. Represented are oils, acrylics and watercolors. Nobody had to say "cheese" to this group, and they all survived Color Boot Camp! I will miss them, and the fun we had. Some new terms they added to the CBCs are "Friggin' Green" and "Wine O'Clock". They want me to come back next year.This afternoon I'm painting on location at the UCR Botanic Gardens for their "Primavera in the Gardens" event. I hope to post the newest images later this week.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE--spaces ONLY in the Maine CBC.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 9 - Thank you and Goodbyes

Here's the demonstration painting for morning light done as part of the lecture for the Georgia workshop this week. It's a 12 x 16 and done with acrylics (traditional) on a board-backed canvas and is one of the views across the woods and hayfields of Georgia. I really like the light patterns that fall on the jump on the right of the scene. I've walked this path on Fay's farm many times and never tire of it.

The students ("Recruits") in the Color Boot Camps are producing outstanding work--all because of the Color System applied to their curret style and subject matter. I'm honored to be teaching such a great group, and will be heading optimistically to Florida tomorrow to meet up with yet another great group of folks with a desire to know the Color System.

Here I am doing the demonstration for noon light--on a 16 x 20 canvas in Golden Open acrylics, pill boxes at the ready! Fun demo, and I'll post the finished painting later this week.

I want to thank all of you--especially those to whom I've not had time to personally reply--who wrote about Shadow. It is tough to lose a pet, and those who wrote such kind emails cement for me the connection I feel to all of you, and for that I thank you sincerely. I have a busy life, yet there are those bittersweet moments of memory that still bring an ache to my heart.

Now I'm off to Florida tomorrow morning, and will be seeing new faces, new Color Boot Camp Recruits, with Sparky is by my side! I hope I'll have a good Internet connection while I'm there!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 8 - The Georgia Workshop Finished Up

It's Friday night, and the five-day workshop is finished here in Georgia, and what a great one it was! The students painted beautiful paintings, the time of day with the Color System keps falling off their brushes, and all went away worn out and ready to apply the new knowledge to their work.

I'm tired, but satisfied that I did my best in sharing the Color System with them. Tonight I reflect on how it went, what I can do better next week in Florida, and enjoy the quiet introspection.

Here for your pleasure is the 9 x 12 oil I did as a demonstration piece for evening light. This is "Susie" one of Fay's brood cows, and I quickly painted this for the demonstration and lecture of evening light. It is now in the hands of returning Boot Camper Joanna Karpay of Tampa, Florida, and on it's way to its new home.

And all of us had a silly night last night when they presented Fay (hostess on the left) and me with capes adorned with lines of praise and humor during the annual camp fire dinner we have now for the workshops. Note the full moon making fools of us all! What a great workshop, great place, and great folks!

Two days, and Sparky and I will be driving to Florida for the next workshop. Stay tuned for more images!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 6 - Georgia Workshop First Paintings

Yes, some of my students in the Georgia workshop do WONDERFUL paintings!!
After the value studies in the first day of the Color Boot Camp workshop, the "recruits" are given the challenge of painting without mixing--but choosing values (lightness or darkness) based purely on the colors straight from the tube. The results are wonderfully colorful, exciting, contemporary works. I share two of them with you in this email.

The first one of the draft horse is done in acrylics and is an 8 x 8 canvas. It was a great challenge for these folks to not mix colors, yet they all admitted that the exercise taught them volumes about the true values of their pigments.

When we know the values of our colors, it allows us to make exciting color choices and perhaps not trying to mix on the palette. It also showed the students that colors have an "inherent value" when they come out the tube.

The second painting I've attached is of a rooster done in oils. It is 9 x 12 inches and has a little glare on the right side. But it, too, is very successful in the exercise.

The third day has us doing misty light and finishing up our moonlight work from yesterday. These students are spot on with design and drawing skills, yet I have one who has not used acrylics before...just watercolors!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

May 4 - Workshop in Georgia Going On!

I'm in Georgia teaching the first of two workshops--five days of Color Boot Camp. This acrylic was a quick study done yesterday to demonstrate the value plan of a large light in midtones. The weather is WONDERFUL for this California gal, with rain ad cool breezes, I'm "plumping up" as the moisture kisses my face!

This image might look familiar to you because of my doing it for another workship at another time of day. This one is morning light, and that one was evening light. One can vary the time of day when working with source material with the Color System. Right now the students are doing a brand new exercise of painting without mixing any colors together--just finding the correct values by deciding which color straight from the tube is the value they need. Their brains are hurting!

The very sad note, and one of the reasons I haven't been able to post, is that we lost Shadow the Tibetan Mastiff pup to parvo virus a week ago. I cannot tell you how much of a hole his death has put in our lives, but it has taken until now to even write of it. He is buried up on the hill by Chiron's corral, and near the pond where he would drink and play.

Everyone else is fine, and Sparky is here with me in Georgia. A fun week ahead for all of us!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Apr 11 - Workshop Demonstration in stages

In doing these Color Boot Camps, I need to demonstrate times of day for the attendees. Here's the first step of the acrylic for backlight, and I'll present it here in stages, so you can enjoy the process as well as the finished demo. This is a 9 x 12 surface (under the workshop lights some glare upper right).

I start by saying how important values are for backlit subjects. So in putting a large dark area down and covering the canvas this much at the get-go, I've "darkened the stage" for the drama that is to come. It's a mix of thalo green and burnt umber. Those swirly marks are my "designing mind" planting the location of the focal points that are to come. More on this one tomorrow.

Here's another image from the April workshop, this one done by Christine F., who was absolutely pleased that the Color System created this 18x24 oil canvas without modifying her painting style or subject choice! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did seeing it unfold so quickly to this point in just one afternoon. It validates my faith in the Color System to help artists change their work for the better. I'd like to also quote a recent "CBC" attendee who posted this email to the ColorSystem group on Yahoo Groups:

I finally did it! After lurking in the shadows of this list, reading all the posts while drooling with envy, I WENT TO BOOT CAMP!!! And am I GLAD I did. It was way more valuable than I could ever have imagined. I learned, and learned and then learned some more. Elin is a fantastic teacher with an abundance of enthusiasm, knowledge and generosity. I enjoyed every moment...I suggest strongly that you get yourself to Boot Camp. And if you can't get there quickly, at least start by studying the color flash cards. Your life as an artist, and your paintings will never be the same! Thanks, Elin, FOR EVERYTHING.

Congratulations to new Collector Donna Matson from Los Angeles/Palm Desert on her purchase of my painting "Solitude" from the PAAR Whitewater Preserve Show. See the painting here (new window).

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE. (Spaces only in the Maine-in-September workshop now.)

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Apr 8 - Another Demonstration using Golden Open Acrylics

I am becoming enamored with the Golden Open Acrylics. I used them today (in their cool and warm pill boxes) for a demonstration for the Hemet Valley Art Association. The end result is this 16 x 20 acrylic you see here, called "Vernal Pools, Santa Rosa". Completely without reference except memories in my head.

What I enjoy about the Open Acrylics is the process of putting paint down that dries less quickly than traditional acrylics, yet still is tacky enough to have drag and blending opportunities, not quite like, but similar to, oils. The drag over the tacky parts is easily visible in the grasses. The blending is there in the distant mountains and water reflections. I talked the entire time during the demonstration, which lasted about an hour and a half. The HVAA were kind to let me come back, since I missed last month!

From the workshop, I wanted to share the moonlight painting that Harmony did on the last day. She really "got" it in this depiction of the waterfall--using a noontime color snapshot she took herself, and mentally changing the light to make this evocative view using the Color System. Just so you know, the paintings I'm showing from the workshop have had less than 5% of my hand, if that. Most, like this one, are 100% from the brushes of the attendee.

If you'd like a look into my life here at Two Trees, my friend Theresa who came through on a visit took these photographs while here. Lots of Chiron, and the workshop, as well as around the yard. I love seeing my life through another's eyes--it is full of surprises! Go HERE.

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My remaining workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE, updated. The June workshop is filled and I've opened another California one that goes over July 4th weekend. It already has two signups. Still one or two spots in Florida and several in September in Maine, though.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Apr 7 - Workshop Over, Next One Coming

I just opened the June Riverside workshop today, and already six of the ten slots are filled with deposits. Wow. I know that the Color System is such a needed tool for artists, as I can see that it works; I saw it in students' work this past weekend. I took some more images from this last workshop, and will be sharing their paintings with you in the days to come.

Here is the one I did as the demonstration for evening light, on a 12 x 16 panel in oils, using the Color System to convey time of day on the light falling on the pack mule and the landscape. It is a quick study, roughly done in about 30 minutes. However even at this loose stage, the light is set and the color "reads right" for the warm late afternoon. The students then took their own source material, and spent a half day doing their own paintings in evening light.

Here's Pat's 8 x 10 acrylic which she did from her own black and white photograph. I enjoy seeing every student's painting style in these workshops. And so fun to see the wheels turning in everyone's head as they THINK about painting!

I have a new flyer for the workshop in Florida. You can view it online here, and please share it with your friends "over there".

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE-Florida and Maine!

Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Apr 4 - Color Boot Camp in Progress--Student Samples

After the first full day of the Color Boot Camp ended, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the students' paintings instead of mine. They say one can measure the success of a teacher by the quality of the students. Everyone "nailed" the morning light lesson, after the opening morning learning the importance of values in designing paintings. Here are two of the students' pieces, both completed to this stage in just under three hours. I asked permission to share them, and they enthusiastically said, "Yes!".

First is Christine's image of an elephant in water. She came in with a standard photograph taken by a friend on safari, and it was a traditionally gray and blue photo. By applying the color system, and relocating the head off to one side, she accomplished the goal of creating a dynamic composition and also set the time of day to morning. She'll add the ripples and define the water and the details on this 12 x 16 oil later. But this painting shows a great "AHA" moment for her, in that she said she'd never think to add the yellow to the right side of the pachyderm.

Second is a morning landscape from an ordinary photograph taken by Claudette. She finished this large (16 x 20 oil) in the afternoon of the first day! Knowing what colors to use allowed her to push forward and really get what she wanted without fighting to achieve the gentle light of morning. All of the students were successful in getting the morning light in their work.

Tomorrow, they'll be doing sunsets and noon lighting. I'll share more of their work with you then, if you like. I'm so pleased with the way the workshop is unfolding for these students. Then there are my demonstration paintings coming, too...

There's still room in the May Florida workshop (Georgia is full), and the September workshop in beautiful Maine. Color Boot Camps for FIVE FULL DAYS!

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE (except for the June Riverside workshop).

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Apr 3 - First Day of Color Boot Camp

Today ended the first full day of the April Color Boot Camp here at Two Trees Studio. I am pleasantly tired tonight, yet smiling as I do when I know the students had a valuable day behind them. I demonstrated how to make a fairly good old painting I had much better, by the knowledge of the Color System I'm teaching. I took this 24 x 36 acrylic that I painted back in 1998, and with glazes and some enhancement of areas, transformed it from a ho-hum nice painting to a definite morning light piece. I'd painted it in 1998 during the month after my dad died as a series of pathway paintings, coming to grips with losing a loved one, and the path we are all on during this stay on earth.

In the Color System, morning light is suffused with yellow (mostly) and shadows take on some characteristics of the receding night sky. It was fun to change the areas of sunlight and shadow to reflect this, and yet to hold to the integrity of the original painting.

Here's the old version for you to see what the original painting looked like before the demonstration of how to fix a canvas.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 28 - Whitewater Preserve Evening

The second plein air painting for the show coming up on April 2 at Whitewater Preserve off of I-10 for your pleasure! This is a 24 by 12 acrylic, and I painted it SO fast.... Couldn't take any pictures of it in process, as the light changed so rapidly on that rock face on the right. I got that part in first, as I knew that as the light faded, the sun would leave those rocks. And it DID. So I painted this one mostly in the Cool Boxes of the Color System, using traditional acrylics, with just a few accents of warm on the water and wet rocks.

Doing the water while listening to the burbling ripples was such a joy. I was parked near the concrete creek crossing where many people pull off and enjoy the water, but at this time of evening, I was only worried about black bears. Sparky would have warned me, though. In this part of the pass area near Banning, the wildlife come down to drink, and the evening light takes on a special atmosphere. I love to capture it--(the light, not the bears!)

After painting the first oil, I went to leave, and they'd closed the gates on me while I was inside the Preserve! Fortunately, they didn't lock them, so I could come to this location and whip out the acrylics. Fun to do two paintings in two media on one afternoon. Yes, I do paint fast....

The April workshop is fast approaching, and I do have one spot available for anyone interested in a quick three days of INTENSE Color Boot Camp. Let me know... although nine is a good number, too.

Here's Sparky at my set up for the first Whitewater painting...he just woke up and is arching his back in a stretch--thus the strange pose. I hope you enjoy seeing the places "for real" that I paint?

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 26 - Whitewater Preserve off I-10, Plein Air

Oh wow, oh wow, wow! I went to the Whitewater Preserve (used to be the old trout ponds) off I-10 west of Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs late this afternoon. The land up there is gorgeous and rugged, and Sparky 'n' I were out in the middle of nowhere capturing this vista, looking north toward the San Gorgonio mountains. Old sycamores are everywhere, and the valley floor has grasses and brittlebush blooming. SOLD

My Color System is alive and well here in this 12 x 12 oil, yet so tempered by the dove grays and soft value changes that it is hard to find it unless you KNOW it. I'm so pleased with this one, because the recent series of larger studio landscapes has helped me to "nail it" in the field. I may go back once more--the turn-in for this show is coming up on the 2nd, but I'm asking another PAAR artist who's offered to take the paintings in to take mine--I'll be doing the April Color Boot Camp here!

Thank you all for the warm welcome back in your email replies to this post. I truly miss painting when I'm not doing it every day, and your comments help me to keep going!

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 24 - Baby Goats and Finished the "Secret Pasture"

I've been tremendously busy with springtime on the "farm" here--planting the raised beds, fertilizing and planting more citrus, and getting everything ready for the next Color Boot Camp workshop here in April. I'm so glad to be back to the brushes now, and finished the 30 x 40 of the "Secret Pasture"--another place where I'd love to spend time. Most of the finishing touches are related to the lights on the sunlit areas, and the addition of one horse off in the distance--thus, the "secret".

It's hanging on the wall behind me and I just so enjoy looking at it from across the room. I'll be back on Fay's farm in May!

Whooee, though...here at Two Trees it's been a long day! We doubled our goat herd last night with the birth of triplets from our milk doe Uke--six days early. From midnight to 2:30 I was on maternity duty with her in the brisk night air. Mom and kids are fine, two beautiful boys and one girl--who is the spitting image of her grandma! The middle boy is huge, and I had to assist to get him and his sister safely into their new world. Here they are only a few hours old, with mama, this morning.

Tomorrow I go out to the Whitewater Preserve to paint on location for an upcoming Plein Air Artists of Riverside show. This Preserve is the newest in a chain of open space parcels to allow the movement of wildlife, and links the corridors of the Mt. San Jacinto range to the San Gorgonio mountains to the north. It's good to be back painting!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 12 - Parent Washington Navel Orange Tree, Plein Air

At the request of one of the PAAR artists, and with her company, I went out to paint a landmark in Riverside today. I have wanted to paint this for over 20 years--the parent Navel Orange Tree that is an historical landmark in Riverside, at the corner of Arlington and Magnolia. This tree is one of two that are the original trees brought to Riverside and into California by Mrs. Eliza Tibbets in 1903. Her husband didn't think much of this project, so she watered the trees with dishwater. She sold cuttings from her trees for $5 each, an exhorbitant amount at that time. This one tree has survived and continues to blossom today. It is cared for by the folks here at the University of California, Riverside. The navel orange tree, and Mrs. Tibbets, changed the citrus industry forever. Available for $275.

This 12 x 16 painting is done in acrylics, and I stood in the median strip on Magnolia Avenue this morning to paint it. If you've ever been to Riverside and seen this bit of history, you'll recognize it right away! Standing in the median with all my gear, I felt at one moment like a homeless person, and then at another as if I were one of those people who hold advertising signs. Hard to ignore the traffic so close, but I had a few nice comments.

On other news, I am going to share that I owe a local art group a huge apology, for missing a demonstration I was supposed to paint on Wednesday. I just feel awful about it. I share this with you to show that even though I consider myself fairly organized, I can miss something really important. It just wasn't "in" my head, even though it was on my calendar. I could lean back on the excuse list of what has happened this past week--trying to save the red tail hawk, house guests coming and going, installation of new siding on the rooms above the studio (here's a picture), and even family health problems have thrown a few pot holes in the road.

But that doesn't take away my embarrassment about it, nor knowing that I let them down. I'm going to offer to do another demo (if they'll have me) for just a small bit of money to cover my expenses when they can fit me in. I love this group--so I am just sharing this with you to let you know that "stuff happens" even to folks who seem so organized. We're all just human, after all. Let's hope they can forgive my foibles. The siding is beautiful, but the pounding above my studio was a bit deafening.

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 9 - Back to Horses, but a Tad Different!

Some of you may know that I used to be in illustration, many years ago. This painting is SO not the Color System, but there are parts of it buried in the pattern of colors splashed over the rider and horse. It's a strictly illustrative piece to catch the viewer and bright colors do that!

This is a distraction from the greens of "Hidden Pasture", and is done for the HITS posters for the show jumping circuit. I've been getting their press releases, and like a gnat, finally got out and swatted this 20 x 16 oil off my easel. I hope they like it.

Those of you familiar with the Color System will have a hard time telling what time of day it is. After all, there's a green horse, and look at that cadmium orange on the breeches! And in the shadows, too. ACK! This kind of color rule breaking can make for an exciting illustrative image, where realism takes a back seat to "punch" to catch the viewer's eye.

On other news, we've had an interesting four days doing all possible to save the male red tail hawk that nests in our pines. According to the raptor rescue I called, he was poisoned by eating a still-alive homeowner-poisoned rodent. I cannot tell you how agonizing it is to see such a magnificent bird in such distress and to have such a sad outcome. We nursed it and tried our best, but because we didn't get to it soon enough, we were unable to save him. Red tails mate for life, and I hear the female calling for him. PLEASE, before you put out that poison bait for the rodents, remember this red tail hawk, and know that you DO make a difference, one way or the other. Here's a photo of him in our outer studio, when he was still alert and defiantly beautiful. The dowel was needed to occupy his beak while we fed him. Rat poison doesn't stop with the rats, folks.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 6 - Plein Air Quick Draw (Inside!)

The Plein Air Paint Out in Riverside culminated with all the artists doing a Quick Draw (actually painting) in an hour and a half. This year celebrates a major anniversary of the Riverside Art Museum which is housed in a lovely building designed by Julia Morgan. Ms. Morgan designed Hearst Castle and was a respected architect in an era of few women building designers. So the artists were instructed to paint some aspect of Julia Morgan's handiwork.

I set up inside the central atrium, where Saffron's restaurant is located. The end result of my time at the easel is this 7 x 5 intimate acrylic, showing the dining atmosphere, the artwork on the hallways and the light suffusing from the glass ceiling.

The painting went on to win an honorable mention that morning. It is available in a nice frame for $250.

On other news, the first painting I did in this week-long event won first prize in this competition. "Victoria Avenue Morning" can be seen on my February 22 blog entry (opens in a new window). This PAAR competition continues to expand its awards and I'm so proud to be a part of it.

And the same day, I get notification from the Art Show at the Dog Show that my painting "Guardian" has won the award for Best Entry Depicting a Doberman. You can see that painting on my blog here (also opens in a new window).

Can you tell I'm flyin' right now?

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 2 - Mt. Rubidoux - Plein Air Paint Out

From Carlson Dog Park, I looked up in evening light to see the cross on the top of Mt. Rubidoux, here in Riverside. I'd taken Sparky and Onslow to the park for some much-needed socialization time, and yet I had my plein air gear and couldn't resist this evening view of the mountain that embraces the city of Riverside.
This is an 8x8 canvas, cut down AFTER I painted it from an 8x10. It's done in acrylics, and with the palette of the Color System that conveys evening light--but a softer side, since the cross and the mountain are messaging a gentler feel. It still has the characteristic orange and alizarin where needed, but whispered rather than shouted into the lights and shadows. $295 with a lovely custom frame in silvery gray-blue.

You've commented that these have no signatures, and why? Because for this competition, one oor more of the paintings could end up in the Riverside Art Museum show, and for that venue, they've asked that we submit unsigned work at the judge's request. It's a bit odd, but we can do that. Ones that are not selected will be signed this week.

The only workshop this spring that still has spaces is the Florida one at the wonderful Carriage Park near Ocala. I hope there are future Boot Campers reading this, and that you'll find one of those spots for your learning time. I don't think I'll be coming east after this year--for at least a year, so this one in May and Maine in September are your only opportunitites to be "drilled" with the Color System at Color Boot Camp!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 28 - Plein Air at the Air Port

Yesterday's on-location spot was the 1930's Flabob Airport in Riverside. Now, some of you know that my mom had her private pilot's license when she lived in Hawaii before World War II, so I grew up with pictures and stories of flying small planes and pictures of even smaller airports.

Because of that history, I passed right by many of the artists who were set up on the OTHER side of the cafe (with its blue airport logo), driving around to the hangars to get the pilot's view. The management said to stay off the runway, so I set up on the taxi lane, and this is the first sight a pilot will see when he or she pulls in to park their plane. Flying in for lunch or breakfast is a hobby of many pilots, and the cafes at these small airports around the country serve quite good food!

I had fun with the Bonanza in the foreground, the plastic chairs in front of the cafe, and the ubiquitous wind sock. I felt as though I had dropped back in time as I was on the asphalt and carved out this 12x12 acrylic. And I know my mom was looking over my shoulder with a big smile. It is for sale for $350 in a nice custom frame.

The June workshop is now full, and thank you for responding so quickly!

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 27 - The Big One Further Along

Now I'm adding the details on this 30x40 oil, and now I'm about half-way through that phase. The contrast of light is beginning to come into play, as well as the contrasts of color, value and texture. I'm especially pleased with how the gates are placed, one painted dark and the other painted light. They seem to be like a comfortable couple of friends.

The open gate may bother some people who are familiar with "range protocol" which is to leave the gate as you find it, either fully open or fully closed. But I wanted to give a suggestion of possible entry into this space with the gate ajar, and just open enough for the soul to slip through. The distant mists are in place, and I'll be finishing up these details and lights after this weekend's plein air event.

Today I did two nice little gems, one of Riverside's Flabob Airport--it was like stepping back to 1930 to be on the taxi-way and painting the buildings and aircraft! That's a 12 x 12 acrylic, which I'll share with you when I get good images of it. The second painting was of local landmark Mt. Rubidoux lit by the last light of the sunset tonight, as seen from Carlson Dog Park (yes, Sparky and Onslow were with me and worn out!). That one, too, needs a better photograph.

Tomorrow I'm painting the Riverside Art Museum for the Quick Draw part of this week's event. I have some ideas of what to paint, not your usual "building in sunlight"... more to come!

There is only one spot left in my June Boot Camp Workshop, and I haven't even opened it up for deposit payment yet!!! The Color System just WORKS....

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 26 - Onward with the 30x40 Oil of the Pasture

Your art lesson continues with this 30x40 oil painting. The canvas is now covered with the inherent values of the major areas--there is no true focal point, although the lightest area near the gate, which is painted with the Warm Box of the Color System. This contrast of temperatures gives a distinct depth to the work, with the foreground sunlit areas contrasting nicely with the distant appearing hues from the Cool Box.

When I work on a large canvas like this one, it takes a bit longer to get it all together. Although it is further along sitting on the easel behind me, I enjoy seeing it at this earlier stage, knowing I was on the right track....

More tomorrow!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 25 - More on the 30x40 Oil

I have the title for this one... "Secret Pasture". Many times when I work on a painting, a title will come and sit with me and smile, offering its name, and so it is with this one. Seems I am moved to paint places like this one, seeking out secure and safe sanctuaries during these troubled economic times.

As I continue to cover the canvas, I am more concerned with maintaining the middle values than I am with the purity of the color. I still have NOT opened the Warm Box of my Color System. Look at the way the colors already offer their cool and distant feel, without any friction among them. Am I concerned about edges? Not at this time.

The movement of the arched fenceline in the foreground is repeated, upside down, in the distant edge of the field. Nothing is straight! To create movement in a painting, it is always a good idea to keep things angled, curved or tipped. If your goal is static feel, then make your design lines parallel to an edge. Locks 'em down every time!

On other news (I just love those three words!) my art was selected for the poster for the University of California Botanic Gardens Spring Show. Here's the flyer for it. Funny that the poster comes out with the same complimentary colors I've been using with my latest large landscapes--red-violet and yellow-green. Hmmmm....mystery afoot!

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
(June workshop, which still isn't officially open, is filling fast--only two spaces left.)

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 24 - Still Plein Air Painting and Loving It!

Two for one, today! The Spaghetti Factory building in Riverside is the first painting. I started and finished this yesterday on location, under wet skies, as part of the Riverside Plein Air Paint Out. Most of the other artists picked the diagonal corner across from the building, but I liked the distant sky light above the vined walkway on the opposite corner instead. This 12 x 12 acrylic was done, like the Victoria Avenue piece, completely with the Cool Box from the Color System. The streets were wet, and traffic was light, so it was a fun paint. Took me about an hour and a half for this artwork.

And for your additional pleasure, here's the second pass on the 30 x 40 oil that dominates my studio. I'm quite pleased with the way it is coming along, and will share more images of it tomorrow. I'm laying in the large color fields to get the canvas covered (no mean feat with this large of a surface!) and paying close attention to the mid-range of values that need to fill this area so that the gorgeous backlit foliage will really get attention. Again, I'm completely in the Cool Box as I paint the soft mid tones.
Workshops: I have six people for the workshop in June already, so if you'd like a taste of the Color Boot Camp here in California, please email me your intent. I'm giving a painting demonstration in Hemet next month (March) and I'm pretty darned sure those last four spaces will be gone by then. April's workshop is full with a wait list forming. The June workshop is set for June 4 (evening) through 7th, so you can mark your calendars. Cost is still $195 for three days and lunches. Email me your interest, and I'll hold you a spot.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE. (The June workshop isn't up yet.)
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 23 - A Big One - 30 x 40 Oil

I'm using some of the photographs I took in Georgia last year to create this morning light landscape of the forests, fields and fences of the area on Fay's farm. This is the rough design, painted over a scuffed orange wash to get rid of the white.

You can already see the tension created by the horizontal fence line, the verticals of the tree trunks, and the angled fence line taking you into the picture plane. Interesting how just a few lines can already create a feeling of depth on a flat surface. The color will only enhance this! I'll be using the Color System to depict morning light. I know there will be an animal or animals in the composition, but right now I haven't decided where they'll go. I know they'll be back further, so you'll have to seek them out, traveling the design path to get to them. Painting is such fun!

I've decided to open another workshop here at my studio in California--in June--the Three Day Color Boot Camp. Returning Boot Campers are "Repeat Offenders" and three timers are getting "Re-booted"! Looks like it will be from Thursday evening, June 4th through Sunday, June 7th. I have five slots tentatively filled so far, and if you'd like to be a part of the fun, just email me.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE. (June isn't listed yet.)
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 22 - Plein Air Week in Riverside

Victoria Avenue in Riverside is one of the most lovely routes through a beautiful city. Today I joined the Plein Air Artists of Riverside who were sited along its length painting on location as part of the Plein Air Paint-Out, through next weekend.

This is a 16 x 24 acrylic, and I completed it in about two hours. The weather was overcast, and no distinct light source defined any shadows. I didn't EVEN open the warm boxes of the Color System! I kept having to lift Sparky and walk into the ivy every time a Sunday dog walker would come by. The little protector was "on duty!"

And I had every plan to photograph this one while I painted it, but just did a head-slap about three-fourths of the way through when I remembered I wanted to do it! I will for the next few works during this competition week, giving you an idea of how they come together. Just be assured that this painting was completely done with only six colors and white--the Cool Box in my Color System--those pill boxes with paint!

The Color Boot Camp workshop last weekend was a great success. Two painters wrote about it, saying the following:
"Who would have thought that the "color system" would be much more than just color. It gives us a formula/map to keep us on track. And it helps us reaffirm our values through the correct color choices. Thank you so much, Elin. You are an amazing teacher. I cannot believe the energy and INFORMATION you put into your classes." - Pat Corbin Chao

“Elin taught us the practical applications of her Color System with bright, lively lectures and our indentured servitude to paint, paint and paint. Elin says that "painting is a journey" and I feel like I'm just starting off on the trail. For those of us that are just figuring out all of the painting stuff, there is an enormous benefit to using the Color System. If you don't know it, take a look. And if you have a chance to attend one of her workshops, don't hesitate. It's a blast!
And you'll learn a whole bunch to boot!” - Randy Smith

There are still spaces in the East Coast workshops--you get FIVE FULL DAYS of the Color System, and "Yellin' by Elin" in the Color Boot Camp.

Congratulations to new collector Ray Castenada of Miami, Florida on his purchase of two 16 x 20 still life paintings from my web site!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 17 - Workshop Finished, Evening Light Demo

This 9 x 12 acrylic was done as the workshop demonstration piece for evening light, using the Color System. Nine participants finished up three intense days of painting from 9 to 4:30, learning the Color System for time of day here in my studio last weekend, and this was from the second day, in the afternoon.

I used the cool box colors to lay in all of the distances and shadows before judiciously putting the warms into the nearby lights and on the meadow. Evening light is showing as the influence of cadmium orange on the lights, and an interesting thalo blue/cadmium orange light on that blue spruce.

The source for this painting came from one of the students in the workshop. I seriously edited the placement of objects to create a more pleasing perspective and eye-path. It was done with mostly traditional acrylics, but there were some Golden Open acrylics in the boxes now, so it was a compromise on which "ruled the day".

The next Color Boot Camp here in California is full (April), but if there's enough interest, I will open a third one in June with the same three-day format. There are still spaces on the east coast in three of my workshops--first in Georgia in May, second in Florida in May, and the third one during the Fall Foliage in Maine, in September. Now's the time to learn!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 13 - Horse in Pasture, Second Pass, Not Done yet!

Take a look at this canvas and compare it with the last post, and see if you can see what I've done on this 16 x 20 oil. I've spent my time going over the canvas, making those large initial color shapes far more interesting.

It isn't finished yet, but coming along nicely. I'll post it when the signature is on, and I've fixed some of the issues that are in my head about it.

One of the six value plans that I cover in my workshops is called "Gradation in large shapes" and this canvas is a perfect example of that. Every large color shape has been made more interesting with colors that are close to the initial shape's dominate hue, and yet are of a slightly different value, creating the gradations. Note the trees for the clearest example--the horse is more subtle in those variations, yet that's what makes it "look" like a horse.

I'm gearing up for the ten students to arrive later today for the beginning of the first California Color Boot Camp of 2009! They start out this evening with a "meet and greet", and then in the next three days we'll be using the theater for lectures and the outer studio space for painting. It will be incredibly busy! I've even made a new dvd for my lectures on both the values plans and the Color System for my lectures!

The April workshop is full already. I still have spaces in both the Florida and Maine workshops, if you want some "Color Boot Camp" treatment. I just love teaching!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Feb 2 - Going to Finish a Demonstration Painting

This is a 16 x 20 oil painting I started a year ago--in August--as a demonstration piece for the wonderful folks up in Sebastopol. I was demonstrating morning light, and painted it to this point in about 45 minutes, talking all the time!

Knowing the Color System allows an experienced artist to make good color choices quickly. However I'm sure you'll agree that this painting is far from finished! Now it's time to pull it through to that finished state by working with the larger shapes to make them more interesting.

On other news, I'm preparing for the first of two workshops here at my studio-- "Color Boot Camps" over the Valentine's Day weekend. Both this one and the new one in April are already full. I may open up another one in June, if there are enough interested students.

And just for fun, look how much Shadow has grown! He's three months now, and this was taken in the studio last night...(those floor tiles are 13" square)

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 18 - The Dog and Pheasant Painting Finished

The Welsh Springer Spaniel is now in the painting, and I've spent the balance of my "brush time" with the trees and background. I've made those areas more visually interesting by texturizing the areas with similar hues and values.

This image doesn't show the lighter values on the tree trunks, and for that I'm disappointed. There's a lot going on in those darks, and to omit them does a disservice to the work. This 12 x 16 acrylic is called "Flush", and hopefully will be shipped to Wichita for the show in March. On February 4th, I'll know if any of the four got in. Just around the corner!

Workshops in Georgia, Maine and Florida information can be found HERE.
You can see my entire blog here.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 17 - Welsh Springer Spaniel and Pheasant Continues

I've had some surprising comments on these paintings, and I need to share that I did a marathon of painting to get them done before the 14th deadline for the Art Show at the Dog Show. Now I share them with you as they had been developed, and at leisure, so these were all finished by last weekend. I talk about them in the present tense, because I wrote the draft messages while I painted them.

Now that that's explained...I'm still working in the cool box as I paint the pheasant. One way I can convey action in a flat, two-dimensional surface is to lose the edges of anything that is moving--such as the wings of the bird. He doesn't look "stuck on" when we lose edges, but rather blends in well to the rest of the canvas. Why do we feel we need to outline every edge of whatever it is we paint? To do so means we're relying too heavily on source material--generally photographs--and the action captured without the illusion of movement creates a static, flat image. So I spend a lot of time deciding which edges need to be lost to create that feeling of life and movement in my subjects.

I still have a ton of work to do on the background, but the initial values are in place now. And of course you can see the position of the dog, now, too.

The value plan for this one is called a "keyhole" because of the circular pattern with the lights in a generally round shape near the middle of the canvas. As far as which one of the six value plans, it's destined to be a small light, large dark in midtones.

And on other news, an American icon of painting passed away yesterday--Andrew Wyeth--died in his sleep at 91 after a long life of art and expression. His father, Newell Convers Wyeth created some incredibly beautiful works in value and design that made him the pillar of American Illustration of the first half of the last century. Andrew was most well known for his delicate portrait of "Christina'a World"--the young girl in the field looking away from us toward a farm house.

I hope that all my friends in the southernmost area of the country (Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina) will take note of the Florida workshop, where you will live and work for five incredible days on the grounds of the Carriage Museum while we paint the distinct times of day. The wonderful person organizing this workshop will be going on a trip in April, and hopes to have all the slots filled before she goes. If you're on the fence about this one, email me so we can chat about it. I'd hate for you to miss this opportunity!

Workshop Information can be found here.
You can see my entire blog here.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 16 - Hunting Dog flushes a pheasant

Can you see the misty morning light? Yes, I'm using the same colors and general design of the earlier "Misty Morning Horses" painting to get this one done quickly for the Art Show at the Dog Show deadline. It's always faster when I don't have to solve complex problems anew. If you look over the total body of an artist's work, you'll see many versions of similar subjects. We build on prior levels.

I'm covering the canvas with the cools--over 85% and because of the warm underpainting, the color excitement is already in place. When I use that phrase "color excitement" I remember one Walter Foster book (#63) by Merlin Enabnit. Even though the paperback is long out of print, I was always amazed at how he could get the "Color Excitement" (his term) for the juxtaposition of various pigments. It was fun to see all the ads he did for the foundation garment and soap industry (1940s) when I googled his name. One can still find his Foster Books on ebay.

You know I prefer to have a good background in before painting the focal points. And that's what's happening with this one. Tomorrow, more layers of color in this acrylic, and the pheasant. Then the painting will go to the dog(s)!

Workshop info for Florida, Maine, Georgia and California in 2009 can be found HERE.
You can see my entire blog here and Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 15 - Acrylic Lesson for the Art Show at the Dog Show

This is the lesson painting for the 12 x 16 acrylic that is entered in the Art Show at the Dog Show. For the next three days, I'll be depicting a Welsh Springer Spaniel. Yet again I'm focusing on the landscape being a strong supporter of the dog in action, flushing a pheasant.

A rough sketch starts me out in acrylics, done over the burnt orange underpainting, choosing a warm because of the predominance of the Cool Box Colors as the painting progresses. I do a cover-the-canvas every time to get rid of the white. I see so many paintings with those itty bitty white spots showing through--very distracting to a trained eye. By getting rid of the white, I have a surface that unifies if/when any of that warm peeks through.

The dynamics of the design are already apparent if you see those vertical strokes supporting the action in the center--just like the curtains on a stage. I'll be using a modified familiar background from another, earlier painting to make this get off my brushes faster. I will be looking for that "aha" moment when you recognize it--and when I paint to deadlines, I don't try to break new ground (except for "Guardian"). One thing about this, I have painted so much, that the repertroire of materials available is vast. If you haven't painted much, every painting is a discovery and challenge. I remember those days!

And as I hear from you about the cold in the majority of the continent, I want to send along an image from our recent 80 degree days. This is our driveway, looking out toward the street, taken in the morning with the outside temperature at 71. I fed the critters this morning in a tee shirt, and will be taking the scooter to the store just as soon as I finish this. I know, we pay for nice winters with hot summers, but it's hard to not enjoy such beautiful weather. I send it to you hoping it will warm up the room a bit.

You can see my entire blog here.

Workshop info for Florida, Maine, Georgia and California in 2009 can be found HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click HERE.

Jan 14 - "Incoming" acrylic is finished!

Here's the finished painting, dog and girl in bright sunshine on the water, holding a pole and reeling in the red bobber. Compare this finished painting with yesterday's, and you'll see how I developed the three-dimensional forms with the additions of distinct layers on top of the underpainting. This is especially viewable in the distant trees.

On the design, look at the line that the distant water's edge creates. It is just above the girl's knees, showing that we are looking UP at her--and she is drawn with that in mind--her shoulders are in perspective with the nearer one higher than the opposite one. The dog is below the horizon line, and so we're looking DOWN on him. You can see this in action by laying a straight edge along the dock edge and also through her shoulders--the lines will intersect at the water line on the right side!

The entry for the Art Show at the Dog Show has gone to Express Mail, and now I wait for the reply to see if this one or the others are going to get in. While I wait, I can't sell any of these, although you've asked about them. If they go to the show, they can be purchased online through their web site. None of them are over $500, and this one is $300.

I really like the painting, because that kid could be me at about age nine, however the dog would have been a dachshund instead of the wire hair terrier. (And my hair never looked that good!) In using the Color System on human skin, I flip the boxes, and paint the shadows warm and the lights cool--thus she seems to glow with life because of the reversed contrasts of temperature. Come to one of my Color Boot Camps to see this in action! My goodness I have four in 2009, one's already filled.

Tomorrow I share with you the third acrylic done for this art show, in three stages.

You can see my entire blog here.
Workshops for 2009 are HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 13 - The Dog on the Dock, Part Deux

This 9 x 12 acrylic is further along than I planned, but I got so captivated by the water and light, I just couldn't stop to take a photo earlier. The girl is even being blocked in, and the wire fox terrier even has 3-D form. Dang!

This will be called "Incoming" with the humor in whether the girl will be reeling in something or the dog will be going into the water after it--or both!

Interesting to note that I don't even sketch in the figure with pencil before painting directly on the background layers. I just pick a middle value hue that's close to what I need and put a "cutout" shape to localize the object. Then I paint over that to create the illusion of three-dimensional form. The dog went in as a white silhouette first, then warmed and cooled depending upon light sides or shadow sides.

I love acrylics for the ability to create layers--this is SO effective on water. I love oils, too, but hands down acrylics have it for creating the illusion of depth and transparency. I keep adding layers to the sky as well, continuing to go lighter with each application.

Shadow has settled in, and today (another 80 degree day) finds him saying, "What koi? I don't see any koi," at our pond on the front patio. One of the reasons I love painting water is because I can see and study it every day. Oh, that isn't a real crocodile, but it does make folks do a double-take!

You can see my entire blog here.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 12 - Another Dog Painting--Lesson in Acrylics

The second painting for the Art Show at the Dog Show comes to you with this 9 x 12 board on which I have painted some semi-transparent acrylic layers. The scene is a dock on a river, and there will be a girl and a dog fishing from it. In doing this painting, I want to have the scenery be a strong supporting player, so I've put the focal points up and away from the mid-point of the canvas (they aren't even sketched in at this point).
I'm using traditional acrylics for fast drying time and quickness of application. These quasi-translucent layers are painted over that burnt orange under painting, and are always with the cool box colors. We're off and running with another one!

Pesto, one of the cats in residence, wanted her picture taken since she hasn't quite adjusted to the newest arrival Shadow. Here she poses on the cat balcony off the large workshop room of the studio, eight feet up. She came out a little archway that goes through the studs and onto the large cat tower inside. We built the balcony to exit into the large enclosed "cage" under the eaves behind her--safe from coyotes and owls no matter what time of day! And safe for the songbirds that come to the feeder, just visible behind the bamboo. OK, today it was 82 degrees and sunny. Not even a jacket....

You can see my entire blog here.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Jan 11 - Guardian is Finished.

"Guardian" is finished now, and I'm quite pleased with the final image. Why I didn't make the wings black and tan as well? I thought about it (knowing that if this were a real creature, they most likely would be), and then decided that with the amount of bounce light coming and going on the dog and child, the white wings would enhance that, which I really wanted. So white they stayed, even tho' I deepened the shadow sides with the "sky trio" (you Color Boot Camp graduates know which ones!)

Paintings get to me sometimes, and "Guardian" does that. I have a hard time explaining it. In a feeble attempt, I'll say that, to me, it embodies the response of being loved, cared for and safely watched over. I may continue with this concept and express it visually in different ways in upcoming works.

Tomorrow the image goes off to the Art Show at the Dog Show (opens a new window), and who knows whether the judge will accept it? Will he/she have the need for the safety this painting conveys? Some people might think it is too sci-fi. Not me. Now, if it doesn't get accepted, I do not take it personally, nor think less of the work. Sometimes paintings don't fit with the wholeness of a show, or they've already juried in enough of that type. I'm at a point in my career where I paint for me, and if that doesn't please a judge, that's their loss. My work now touches enough people that one or two judges can't dent my belief in what I do.

So why enter juried shows? I find that when there is a gathering of specific people interested in a specific type of art, it is in my best interest to be a part of that. ASaDS is a show where the gathering of dog people validates my entry fee, the shipping and time involved.

You can see my entire blog here.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.