The Art League of Alexandria, Va

July 12, 2014



 I titled this blog The Art League.  I am trying to decide which class to take there in the Fall.  My goal has been to improve my paintings of children, but overall just improving has always been my goal.  Here is a link the catalog if you are interested. 


The Art League Catalog

When I lived there it was so convenient to take classes from The Art League and there were so many outstanding teachers.  One semester I even took three classes.  Now that I live about an hour away, it is more difficult to drive to Northern Virginia from Fredericksburg. 

I've included notes from some of those classes in past blogs.  One blog was about Robert Johnson (if you use the search button you can find that post).  I took his workshops because I admired his paintings of flowers so much and have been painting some flowers from my garden lately.  Following what I learned from him here is  series of photos that loosely show the steps he uses. 

 

Loose placement of flowers and shadows

 Worked on front flower, continue to work all over canvas

Applied background

 

Decided to use carpet in foreground.  The vase looked better in earlier demo, might go back and rework the vase. 

By the way Robert Johnson has great demos on his website.  http://www.robertjohnsonart.com/Robert_A._Johnson_Art/Demonstrations.html

His book On Becoming a Painter is worth getting, too.  You can purchase it from his website.  I've almost worn out this book which I got autographed when I took the workshop.  I guess I'm a "groupie", at least one who greatly admires this artist's work. 

 

 

Demo of what I learned in Dreama Tolle Perry's Class

June 9, 2014

I would love to take another workshop with Dreama.  I have used the techniques learned in the class with her last Spring, but would like to take it up a notch and fine tune her use of brilliant color.  In the meantime I will just keep practicing.  I'm using this method for most of the paintings I do of local Fredericksburg emphasizing small flower gardens. 

Here is a step-by-step of the recent one I did of a house that is at the corner of Fauquier and Charles Street.  The painting is varnished and already at Heather Boutique on Caroline Street. 

 

 

Finished Painting 8 x 10

Step 1 - loose drawing of big shapes

 

Step 2 - transparent colors mixed with medium of 3pts gamsol, 2 parts linseed oil, 1 part damvar varnish

Step 3 - added the flowers with magenta and medium plus darkened up some areas.  The dark colors will later show through the opaque layer and help keep the color strong. 

Step 4 - did some re-drawing with the sculptor tool suggested by Dreama.

Step 5 - (wish I had taken a few more photos of this stage) - use opaque colors and colors mixed with white for the final layer.  Paint into transparent layer letting some darks peek through the top layer. 
 

Some last changes - after letting the painting sit overnight, I made a few changes.  I broke up the line of flowers and added some petals in the foreground. 

This is what I remember from the class.  If you ever have the chance, take one of Dreama Tolle Perry's Workshop.  She is such a fantastic teacher.

 

 

Examples of recent paintings done in this style

 

 

Learn to Paint

January 30, 2014

Part of my reason for having a blog is to include lessons and exercises that will help someone learn to paint, but with blogs that information gets lost in the archives.  I was thinking that a "search button" on my blog would help with that problem.  I hate to admit this, but I  installed one awhile ago, but forgot that it was there.  I moved it to the top right of this page.  I checked it out and it really does work.

There are  lessons embedded in old archives. 

Search for:

value
color mixing
how to start a painting
demo
color boards
exercise
Temperature
Edges
painting loosely

 (other search words work, but I know these do)

The topics are on one of my pinterest boards, too.  (Click on "pinterest")

Emphasis on loose brushwork - listed on Daily Paintworks

(This reminds me of the wonderful pies my mother used to make.  The napkins belonged to my grandmother.  It is a very sentimental painting for me.    My daughter-in-law has tried to teach me to make pie crust.  She makes great pies, too, and so does my son.  I am better at eating pie.