"Pink Peonies"

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"Pink Peonies"

12 x 9 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Happy New Years everyone! I have so much to be thankful for such a wonderful year, excited to see what the future has in store. Can't think of any other way to ring it in other than painting.  I have been wanting to paint for a while and finally after all the holiday festivities I was able to do so. Peonies have always been a personal favorite of mine to paint, their color and texture are a big draw to me. It's a subject in which if you try painting every single hair on a dog it will not work in your favor. Either way it's a challenging subject matter to paint, but always a pleasure to do.

I start with a very thin layer of raw umber, not using any mediums either. I do not use any mediums through out the duration of the painting, I like to keep the toxins level as low as possible. This stage I like to concentrate mainly on the composition and placement of shapes. I am not concerned with details or getting everything perfect, just getting the overall placements in the right areas. Later on through the painting the shapes shift here and there that's why I like to keep this stage fairly loose. You can think of it as a gesture drawing, not concerned with proportions or details, just the sole of the drawing, the movement of life through out the drawing. 

Once the drawing is complete I then start with the peonies and its stems. This is the big form modeling stage. I am only concerned with getting the overall chroma and the turning of the form correct. Still not worried about details, just turning the form with the lights and correct chroma.

Once the big form molding stage is complete I then start with smaller form modeling. In order for this stage to work the big form modeling needs to be correct. I have found with a lot of my students they like to rush through this step. The importance of getting that stage right is overlooked at more often than not. Smaller form modeling is just a miniature version of big form modeling. 

I am still not completely done with smaller form modeling since the background and leaves are not done. I lay in the background and really like how it pushes the peonies forward.

I keep going back and forth with the small form modeling stages through out the peonies and leaves. The painting is finally complete and really satisfied with it. These peonies get me excited for the summer after these sub zero temperatures we are experiencing. 

Thank you for stopping by and viewing, wishing everyone a Happy New Years! 

"Peonies"

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"Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel.

I've been away from painting these small gems for a while now as you may have noticed.  I have been swamped with work that needed all of my attention, I finally was able to finish half of the commissions I needed to.  I miss doing these daily's for many reasons but I know I have to get more of my personal work going rather than concentrating all of my efforts in these studies.  It is passed the season of peonies but I was able to get some off the farmers market, they were not as fresh and lively looking as I wanted them to be but they still possessed beauty.  The process of creating this painting is similar to the other alla prima's.  Each peony I handled as a sphere only concentrating how the light wraps around the form, not worrying about details yet just how light skims across the form.  At the beginning stage when modeling the lights I do not put in the highest keys in values and the darkest values.  Once this stage is complete i'm able to complete the painting by just adding the smaller forms or details to each "sphere". 

I also wanted to give you guys some news in my personal life, I just got engaged about a month ago and have been on cloud nine since.  I met my beautiful fiancee in Florence, Italy when I was studying at the Angel Academy of Art.  She was studying for a semester through the University of Minnesota.  By chance we met and I fell in love at first sight.  I moved to Minneapolis to be with her and haven't looked back since.  You can read a snippet about it on her blog.  To say I am the luckiest guy in this world is a major understatement, I am beyond blessed to have found my beautiful fiancee.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoyed this one!  

"Rosas Bianco"

Click here to purchase this painting at my Etsy shop

"Rosas Bianco"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Over the weekend I did a study of a Norman Rockwell painting and learned so much from it.  I love doing copies because I always get something out of it.  Norman Rockwell is one of my idols, I love the way he paints texture on every subject he paints.  I also love the way he depicts stories in his paintings, he is known for being an illustrator to me though he is a fine artist as well as an illustrator.  I recommend to any painter out there that wants to keep learning and improving on their skills to copy a painting they really admire, you will gain so much out of it from the color choices to the brush strokes they used.  When I started painting this one today I thought it would of been a walk in the park, well I was in for a rude awakening.  White roses are extremely hard to paint due to their subtle colors, if you don't control the value and colors it can get really bad quickly.  I cannot tell you how many times I was just going to stop with this painting, especially after doing the copy I thought I was just going to easily get this one done.  Once I completely started to concentrate on the light and how to render its textures on the leaves and roses the painting started to come along.  When I was painting the leaves that's where I saw the light in the end of the tunnel, I started to remember what I learned from the Rockwell study and put those two together.  I'm glad I stuck it through I learned so much and really happy with the results.  I hope you guys enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by and viewing.

Norman Rockwell copy.

"Orange Roses"

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"Orange Roses"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

These orange roses were so much fun to paint.  I always find that roses and flowers push me the most in painting and this painting was no exception.  From the size of the canvas, to the amount of roses to paint in one session, it was very challenging.  Roses are so beautiful in their shape, colors, and intensity, it makes a delight to paint.  Roses can get pretty tricky to paint at times but I learn so much every time I paint them.  

I started with a rough drawing in the beginning I didn't want to get to detailed in this stage because I know I'll get most of the details with the paints.  Once the drawing was complete I stated the general colors for all the roses and stems, I keep the paints fairly thin at this stage not going to thick.  The colors I used were cad.orange, viridian, raw umber and cad. yellow.

Then I stated the background with cerulean blue, naples yellow and titanium white.  Once the background is complete I started on the right roses stating the darker values and their specific forms, I concentrate on just the middle to darker values leaving the lights for the next stage.

Once the darks are taken to completion I start on the lighter values and their specific forms.  I repeat the same process with the roses to the right, again starting with the darker values and their specific forms.

Then paint in the lighter values and their specific forms and take the roses to completion.  Once the roses are done I start on the leaves, stems and vase.  I start with the darkest values and their specific forms.

Then I add the lighter values and their specific forms and take the painting to a finish.  It was fun painting this one and loved the challenges it brought.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did, thanks for stopping by and viewing.  

"Peonies Bianca"

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"Peonies Bianca"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

These peonies were at my girlfriends sisters house and just loved how the light was falling on it, of course they're not in season anymore and at the time I was able to capture the essence of these peonies with my camera phone.  I usually like painting from life which is always the best way to go in order to get truer colors, but these peonies which I forgot I had in my phone were just to good not to paint.  It's a challenge to try to paint these beautiful flowers from a photo, they have such subtle colors that can be lost in a photo but since I've painting white peonies before I knew what to look for.  The photo wasn't actually bad at all, I think it captured most of the colors and subtle transitions I was looking for.  I do not plan to make this a norm taking photos with my camera phone but for this painting I think it works just fine.  The background was another challenge I was not looking forward to, to do a complete black background in one session is pretty difficult.  Painting with pure ivory black can get muddy really quick when mixed with other colors, I had to be extra careful to not mix it with the rest of my palette.  Like in any painting there's always challenges, the key is figuring it out and making a successful work of art.  

I started with the usual dry brush approach for the drawing stage, just a bit of raw umber on the brush.  I didn't want to get to exact with the drawing since I am painting peonies and prefer to do so with the paints.  After the drawing is complete I started stating the general colors of the peonies, just laying down the middle value of each color, not worried about stating the lightest and darkest values.  The colors I used were cad.yellow, viridian, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and titanium white.

Then I started to add some of the middle to darker values to give more depth to the peonies, I'm still not worried about details trying to get a feel of the peonies and its textures.  Then I state the background by just using ivory black, this is essential in order to get the right values stated in the peonies.  Then I go back into the peonies and adjust the middle values to the correct hue.  Since the background predominately covers the painting its important to state that in the beginning in order for the values to work well with each other.  

Then I start adding the lighter values to the peonies and take them to a finish.  As you can see in both stages I decided to work all of the peonies at the same time, I believe this method works well when painting these types of flowers.  They have such a unique characteristic when painting them I feel its better to work all of them at the same time.  Then I start stating the vase and stems, as you may see the vase blends in with the dark background the only thing you can see are the stems.  The colors I used for the vase and stems were ultramarine blue, viridian and cad.yellow light.  

Once the vase is complete I go back into the peonies and add any finishing touches it needs, which then I complete the painting.  I really like this painting and the challenges it gave me, to do it in one session was a bit daunting but glad I did it.  I hope you enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by and viewing!

"Roses"

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"Roses"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

These roses I gave to my wonderful girlfriend, she just got a promotion at her job and wanted to surprise her.  She brought it home after a while which I'm glad for, seeing how beautiful they are I had to paint them.  I've been painting fruits on marble for a while and wanted to re-visit flowers, painting marble is fun but you have to be very meticulous with every section of it or its not going to look right.  It's great practice as mentioned in previous posts but I do need a little break from painting them so much.  These roses are beautiful in shape and color, each pedal has its own value scale that can be challenging after so many.  I feel after painting marble for a while I can tackle on anything, funny thing is I said the same thing when I finished painting peonies.  I'm finding when painting new objects that it has its own characteristics, you have to just break it down and simplify it in order to better understand what you'r painting.  

I wanted to remind everyone again that I will be giving a live demo at the Uptown Art Fair, it'll be on August 5 which is this Friday from 1-5 p.m.  It'll be great to see you guys there!  I will also be teaching a still life and figure drawing workshops at the Bloomington Art Center, if anyone's interested you can now sign up for the classes.  Click here to sign up!

I started with the usual dry brush approach using no mediums and just a bit of raw umber on the brush, I went a little further with the drawing to get more of an accurate placement of shapes.  When the drawing was complete I stated the background using ultramarine blue, naples yellow and titanium white.  

Then I started on the roses all at once after the background was finished, I stated a thin layer of the middle value to give a base I can paint from.  Then I started stating the darker values with their specific forms, i'm slowly building up the paint and keeping my edges soft.

Then I state the lighter values and their specific forms and take the roses to a finish.  With the darker and lighter values before I state their complete tones, I start with a middle value first and lightly build to the final value I'm going for.  This allows me to keep control through out each stage.

Then I state the two little flowers on the sides and repeat the same process as I did with the larger ones.  The colors I used for the flowers where quinacridone magenta, cad. red light, ivory black and titanium white.  Then I start to paint in the leaves, I start with a thin coat of the middle value.  Painting the middle values first allows me to have a base where I can easily go lighter or darker.  

Then I stated the darker values with their specific forms and when that was complete did the same with the lighter values.  The colors I used where ivory black, viridian, ultramarine blue, cad. yellow and titanium white.

I used the same colors for the vase and also the same process, as you can see with the first picture just stated a middle general value.  Again when stating this middle value keep the paint thin so you can build up to it, its the age old rule thick over thin.

This is the finished painting after adding the lighter values with their specific values.  I really do enjoy painting flowers, it really pushes me to try new things with my technique.  I thoroughly enjoy experimenting new approaches with my technique, I don't think one can never be to content with their own skill level.  If I was then I wouldn't be pushing my self and always trying to get better, and to me thats half the battle.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did, thanks for stopping by and viewing!