My Week Away

If I could have managed time for blogging last week, I surely would have. I thought I'd catch up when I returned to my hut - when I'd make more sense. Still a tad out of it, I think I caught me a cold. Not surprising given at one point, I'm teaching in shorts with sunshine and 82 degree days - then painting outside in 43 degrees by the weekend. Wacky.

I arrived in Hilton Head a few days ahead of schedule - my guy and Petey joining me. Petey got the best seat.



The workshop began Monday morning - the studio we painted in was excellent, spacious and plenty of elbow room for 17 artists, my assistant Vince Fazio (from the Sedona Arts Center and also an artist) and me. Fabulous space - I really enjoyed it.

8 x 10"
my demo on Monday
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Some of my talented painters at work.

4 x 4"
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My demo on Tuesday morning - very quick, very loose
and painterly, the way I love to paint.

Another talented participant.

A quick note about the desktop easel Kris and others are using - my guy custom-made these for my students who were interested - he made 10 and sold out at the workshop. They're a deluxe version of the one I've used for the past five years - very sturdy, you can set it to a dozen different angles and it folds flat for traveling in luggage. A new batch will be built soon and I'll offer them for sale in my eBay store - so I'll holler as soon as they're ready to purchase.

8 x 8"
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A demo I painted on Tuesday afternoon, from a student's
photo taken around Palmetto Bluff.

Tuesday evening, Ben Whiteside of the Morris & Whiteside Gallery in Hilton Head, hosted a get-together for all of my students and guests at the gallery - thank you Ben. We really loved that experience.

A very talented participant who used her iPad as a tool to paint from.
Smart girl, I was so envious.

6 x 6"
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My demo for Wednesday, a happy dog I met on the beach.

Another talented artist painting from her own photo.

6 x 6"
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My demo for Thursday, a longer day in the studio,
so I spent a little more time with it.

Not only one of my talented participants, Jerry is also the writer of the award winning comic strip Zits, creator of Baby Blues and one-time cartoonist for Nancy - we were thrilled to have him paint with all of us.

A fabulous, unique painting done by one of my talented students.

5 x 7"
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My demo for Friday.

I'm not kidding when I say I lucked out with 17 talented, eager, friendly, optimistic artists.


I enjoyed every minute of the time we worked together. It totally inspired me to get back to my hut and start painting as soon as possible.

After the workshop wrapped up on Friday, I headed straight to Charleston, met up with my good friends, Neil and Karen Hollingsworth - both extraordinary painters.



Above Neil and Karen was the view from our terrace at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning - I'm off to paint in Washington Park, something completely new for me.

A Charleston artist, Rhett Thurman - painting in the park. Rhett and I shared a model that morning.



That's the tip of my head and several folks watching me paint in the park, including a Charleston artist, Tate Nation (second from the right). Great guy, great painter.

6 x 8"
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8 x 10"
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These are the two paintings I did in the park, which were included in the auction that night along with all the other artists who participated - proceeds going to the local public school's art departments - a great cause. On Charleston Today's website, there's a cool video of the Painting in the Park - take a look.

The auction was so exciting - a big Thank You to both the Morris & Whiteside Gallery and the Sylvan Gallery for representing my work in the event - makes me very proud.

For now, I'm happy to be back to my hut and have a lot of catching up to do. If there are future workshops scheduled, I'll post that info on the right hand column - also take some time to visit the blogs and websites of those artists who shared their time with me, both in New York and Hilton Head.

I'm grateful to those who joined me last week, as well as Vince Fazio for the help in not only arranging the workshops but assisting me and the artists during the week - couldn't have done it without you Vince.

Back to the paints ~

"100 Faces, No. 50"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
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Oh my God - I've done 50! And I'm loving this project, I really am.

Safe to say I won't chime in until I'm able - I'll be painting with 17 artists, I can't wait. I hope to post glimpses of the workshop and the students' work and my demos - you may have to wait until I return home - it's hard to set aside time during a week like that. Friday afternoon, I'm off to Charleston for the big art weekend - Saturday morning I'm joining other artists painting in Washington Park - a new experience for me. Those paintings done Saturday morning are auctioned at the Charleston Art Auction Saturday night - proceeds go to the art departments of the local public schools. Big week for me.

Stay tuned, I'll be back to the blogging asap.

Happy Halloween

"100 Faces, No. 49"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

A good bit of the adventure of these faces is painting on different color grounds, this one on a bright rosy tone which was painted on loosely and not sanded down smooth. That little bit of texture is cool to work with, leaving traces underneath and around the edges - which I love to do.

"100 Faces, No. 48"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
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I'm quieter than usual - I've got a lot to get done for an upcoming workshop next week.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the faces.

"100 Faces, No. 47"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
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"100 Faces, No. 46"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
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"100 Faces, No. 45"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
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The thing about this one ..... I try not to dominate skin with pink tones, I think it can look chalky and cold. Usually, if I've reached this point, I add in some greens, golds - warm it up. In this case, I stopped - and truthfully, I stared at it for a good while. It touched me.

"100 Faces, No. 44"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

A dramatic subject to paint, strong features, intense - I painted him on a turquoise ground color, much like what surrounds the head. One of my favorites.

"The Red Line"

20 x 7"
oil on masonite
sold

One of my personal favorites - a double-decker ship embarking on a guided tour of the Charleston harbor.

detail

Please click here for a larger view.

"Hanging Out With the Fishies"

8 x 8"
oil on masonite
sold

A big thumb's up to Hilton Head Island - their beaches are very dog-friendly. When I'm away from home, and missing my Petey, it thrills me to meet the numerous, happy dogs playing in the water and digging up crabs. After all, they deserve a vacation too.

This new painting will be included in Howard/Mandville's 20th Annual Small Works Show - opening November 13th.

Please click here for a larger view.

"100 Faces, No. 43"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

Painted on an ochre ground, I leaned towards softening what was pretty harsh, with minimum color and brush strokes.

"Palm Monday"

12 x 11"
oil on masonite
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I've been playing with a palette knife in the recent months, mostly with the small portraits - and I wanted to give it a try with a larger painting. See if I could maintain some control, which is the tricky part to me - but I'm new at it. I went back to the photos I took of these two young men, thinking it would be a great subject to use the knife - the long leaves, the thick, stucco-like wall. Also realized I took the photographs on a Monday, hence the title. I labored over this painting - moving slow and deliberate - and I love the finished piece - mostly for it's strong color and additional texture. This painting will also be included in the upcoming Charleston Art Auction in November - a quintessential scene around the bustling market in the center of the city.

detail

Please click here for a larger view.

"METamorphist"

12 x 12"
oil on masonite
sold

I'm happy to have the green-light to show more of the new paintings - this piece will be one of four included in the 2010 Charleston Art Auction taking place Saturday, November 6th - a moment captured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

detail

Please click here for a larger view.

"Park It"

12 x 8"
oil on masonite
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A summer afternoon in Washington Square Park, New York City - not an empty spot on the bench.

Please click here for a larger view.

"100 Faces, No. 42"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

I l-u-r-v-e this one.

"100 Faces, No. 41"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

"100 Faces, No. 40"

4 x 4"

oil on masonite
sold

Now that I've hit No. 40, allow me to recap - with respect to the 100 Faces.

- my sources, for each portrait, come from police mugshots, public records. Please don't ask me again or my head will spin around and pop off.

- my purpose is simply to practice painting - to explore a human face - the skin, bone structures, all walks of life. I'm most interested in experimenting with different ground colors and how that persuades the final result.

- a few have remarked that several look as if I rushed through the paintings - well, that's the idea here. They're studies. They're not commissioned portraits. The experience here is to intuitively approach each one differently and stop when my brain says to stop. The lesson, to me, with painting, is placing brush strokes down quickly and deliberately. As to why I'm persuaded to labor over some and not others is even more fascinating. It's an exercise in going with your gut.

- the entire 100 Faces has been sold to someone who collects my work and I deeply appreciate that.

- I have a devoted blog for this series here.

And I thank you all for your comments and observations along the way. I am really enjoying what I'm doing every day.

"100 Faces, No. 39"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

I painted this guy on a mustardy background, perfect for skin tones, great compliment for oranges, reds and greens.

"100 Faces, No. 38"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
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Something came over me with this one - I painted slower than usual. There was more bone and skin to explore, wonderful grey tones hidden in the reds of the skin - the more I painted, the more dignified the subject became. One of my personal favorites.

"100 Faces, No. 37"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

"100 Faces, No. 36"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

I prefer to start painting on a dry ground - every so often I enjoy staining a white surface with an oiled-down color and working from there. I love the results, especially with these yummy umbers and olive greens.

"100 Faces, No. 35"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

The green you see is the ground I painted onto - after finishing the head and shoulders, I left it, thinking it was perfect as is. Great strong color, just loved painting on it.

"100 Faces, No. 34"

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

"100 Faces, No. 33" & a face for me to keep

The guy you see directly below is No. 33 - painted on a cranberry-ish ground.

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
sold

This one I'm keeping, the guy you see below is my guy.

4 x 4"
oil on masonite
nfs

"Embedded"

5 x 7"
oil on masonite
sold

From the lobby of the Hotel Monaco in Washington, DC - a guest embedded in the morning news.