Class Notes: Clearly Glass

For next few weeks in class we will be taking time to focus on glass. First, clear glass, that being the simplest. I love to paint glass and take a less-is-more approach that allows the eye of the viewer to fill in the blanks. The clear bottle at the top is only visible because of its highlights and that's the key to clear glass - it has to be clear. Shading on the inside, darker or lighter, makes the glass look dirty or even take on the appearance of something that is ceramic. Add a strong highlight and it will look shiney but it won't be clear glass. The painting below deals with colored glass; more about that later.

Notes from Eldon Warren

Check out a great "how to" on Eldon's blog. Scroll down on the right to LINKS and click on Eldon Warren, Impressionist Painter.
WOW!
His post "How DO You DO That?" - is step by step, walk through a plein air painting. Eldon is the master of the impressionist style with strong design and flawless brushwork.

Crestone Morning

This is my painting of a line of trees that bordered Spanish Creek. The Sangres are on my right as I look north.

SLV Painters Go to Crestone

Saturday, Sept 13th we headed to Crestone to paint in the Spanish Creek area with a group of local painters from Crestone. The event was sponsored by the local Land Trust which has preserved a 20 acre meadow along the Spanish Creek used for elk calving. Dee Bartee, Carol Watson, Rosie Perea and myself spent our morning at the foot of the Sangres on the cool, cloudless fall day. Our friends from the Land Trust arrived about 11 am, served up drinks, cookies, brownies and turned out to be very interested and enthusiastic about plein air painting as well as about the local area.

Class Notes: Apple - the new Pear

This composition, similar to the one below is basically a pyramid, one of the most simple and time honored compositional ideas - ever. Except this one is allowed to escape the picture plane creating a less formal feel to the entire still life. For the sake of variety a couple of the elements have changed. I got a little burned out on pears last spring and tho' I have never been as fond of painting apples I think there is much to be squeezed out - and that's not just juice.
I have noticed how, when confronted with familiar objects the tendency is to paint what we think we know, as opposed to really looking to see that thing as it really is. In this sketch the apple "breathes", while the one below looks like a shape that was cut out and pasted on.