Tag Archives: Glen Echo Park MD

More Good News ~ My Painting Selected for Annual Friends of the Yellow Barn Exhibit

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I learned yesterday that my entry was juried into the annual Friends of the Yellow Barn exhibit at Glen Echo Park.  The show opens today and runs through December 18.  The public reception begins at 4 pm this afternoon, with awards announced by juror, Kristi-Anne Caisse, Assistant Director for the Katzen Museum at American University, at 5 pm.   Y’all come if you’re in the area!  Original paintings make great holiday gifts!

Here’s my painting, based on the spectacular old growth Sitka spruces we saw out in Oregon awhile back.

Sitka Spruce, Oregon.

Reach for the Sky. Oil on Linen Panel. 8 x 10 in.

Calling Those Interested in iPad Art! Local Demos and Workshops!

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Those of you in the Washington, DC area will have several opportunities to check out the iPad as a tool for making art during the next few months.

There will be manageable 2 1/2 hour workshops during which you can get a good feel for ‘what’s the big deal about iPad art’; ‘what if I don’t know anything about iPads’; or ‘what if I don’t know how to draw a straight line!’

And then, if you want to learn more, we offer a couple of day-long workshops during which you can explore some of the details of the intuitive ArtRage app for the iPad.

Here are some of the many uses you can make of ArtRage on the iPad (click image to enlarge):

Illustrated-eg-of-iPad-use

Nudes in Charcoal

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A couple of weekends ago, I spent a pleasant two days in lovely Tilghman Island, MD, at a figure drawing workshop offered by Walt Bartman, of the Yellow Barn Studio and Griffin Art Center. Walt’s wife Robin provided superb hospitality, while Walt kept the seven of us busy with charcoal, graphite and conte. Maria, a professional model par excellence, served as our muse. Here are a few of my sketches from the weekend.

IMG_6518 IMG_6523 IMG_6525 IMG_6528 IMG_6529 IMG_6533 IMG_6534

Quick Sketches, Another Nude

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Last week at the Yellow Barn, we were graced with a fit and angular male model, Wayne, who maintained a very difficult pose with few breaks.

I chose somewhat unconventional compositions. For the first, I was seated at roughly eye level, looking from the top of his head down the length of his prone body (he was laying atop a series of folding tables that seemed none too stable).

nude 1

For the second, which was done more quickly than the first, I sat behind Wayne, a vantage from which his body looked like a lanky wedge.

nude 2

From whatever angle, Wayne is a wonderful model.

Quick Sketches, Nudes

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Working from a live model at the Yellow Barn, I made three quick iPad sketches week before last. I’m putting the best one first – you don’t need to look at the other two unless you REALLY want to.

nude 3

nude 2

nude 1

Fingerpainting Maria & Her Cool Sundress

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Maria and her sassy sundress were posing at the Yellow Barn this afternoon. I think I’m getting hooked on using my iPad & ArtRage rather than those messy oils! Here’s the result of today’s session.

Maria in sundress

Maria models in her sundress.

More iPad/ArtRage Art – Practicing with the Watercolor Brush

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I feel much less comfortable using the ArtRage watercolor brush (and oil painting tools) than I do with chalk, pen, pencil & paint roller. So I’ve been trying to trudge up the learning curve in watercolor. Here are my two most recent efforts:

A flamenco dancer I photographed during our trip to Cuba last Spring:

Dancing in Havana

Dancing in Havana

And a scene from Glen Echo Park, based on a photograph I took a couple of years ago:

Cuddle Up at Glen Echo Park

Cuddle Up at Glen Echo Park during a Cloudy Sunset

Another iPad Value Study, Followed by Color

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At my iPad art class last Thursday, the students and I worked on additional monochrome value studies, based on a still life, and then proceeded to add color. Here is my initial sketch,

Initial sketch, raku pot still life.

an interim stage,

Interim sketch, raku pot still life.

and the final product.

Finished sketch, raku pot still life.

Recent ArtRage/iPad Activities

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I’ve got 3 weeks down and 7 to go in the Intro to iPad Art class I’m teaching at the Yellow Barn Studio. We have covered some of the most basic how-to information about the ArtRage app and are now exploring/practicing various tools.

In the last week, at the suggestion of Walt Bartman, I tried simulating a traditional oil painting technique – making a monochrome value-study by rubbing out highlights in a toned canvas and then adding color at the value levels developed in the preliminary study. In the iPad framework, I used the paint roller to make a solid underpainting and then used a soft eraser to ‘rub out’ the lighter passages and then added a few darker areas using the chalk tool to capture the darks.

Here are the two stages of the first work I did with this method, painted from our lovely live model Kuniko. First, the study:

Kuniko

Kuniko in kimono, monochromatic iPad study.

And then the colored version:

iPad Kuniko

Kuniko iPad study, developed with color.

Keeping a Gouache Painting Simple

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In developing some PR for the just-ended Labor Day exhibits, I pulled out a photo of one of my earliest gouaches. Made on black paper at the suggestion of Yellow Barn teacher, Walt Bartman, I incorporated the paper’s rich black for the composition’s dark values — also his suggestion. I loved the outcome. Here it is.

Blue Girl, gouache on paper.

When I did the painting of grandson Max for yesterday’s post, I had intended to do the same thing, but wimped out in the end — not wanting a lot of black on a sweet baby’s face. I’m going to try again on my next gouache, but the restraint needed to achieve the simplicity of black shadows, etc. is hard hard hard.