I wasn’t happy with the shadows, still. Thought they were too dark. I experimented with going over some with a thinned down layer of Kilz2.
It’s subtle but the shadows on the lower part and the left are ligher, and I’m happier with them.
Lightened all the existing shadows and finished the rest. Then my sweetheart tempted me with an offroading bicycle ride, so I decided the Spider itself can wait.
Well, I’m saying spider but I’m actually still on the web. No pun intended.
Today I had company. There were two water main breaks in the area. This was the one I located.
I continued working on the shadow this afternoon. I’d spent the morning prepping other parts of the house for a lick of paint, sanding and putting in filler.
Can you spot the mistake? I had to go white it out with Kilz. Fortunately in the afternoon’s dessicating breeze, I didn’t have to wait long for it to dry.
On two occasions I had an audience as the workers vented the hydrant just outside the corner of my property and created a lake in the street.
The workers wrapped up just when I had finished the shadows for all the spokes, so it seemed like a good time to quit.
A little bit of progress on the spider mural today.
Start circling…..
…what a tangled web I’m weaving….
Right down to the details on the wall is a different story. The surface is really rough and not easy to paint on.
OK, that’s enough for today.
This month I had a full class scheduled for my Painting for Absolute Beginners class at Borrego Art Institute. I only accept six students due in part to space, but also because the small class allows me to give more individual attention.
On Monday I emailed my students to check they were still on boards, but one of a group of three had pulled her back and was not sure she was able to come.
So, probably five.
Then the day before the class the coordinator for the group also said that she wasn’t able to attend, and because she was the driver, the third member of the group was also grounded.
So, down to three.
As I left the house on the Friday morning, prepared for three students, something told me to go back and get some extra water pots, just in case. As I was setting up, my phone rang. A lady asked if there was any room in the class, she was on her way into town. The reason she hadn’t called earlier was that she and her husband were rving in Ocotillo Wells, and they have no cell service there for their provider.
Well, as it happens not only is there space, but I have enough equipment with me! So we had a nice group of four students who all learned a lot and had a great day.
Working on the color-distance landscape exercise.
A few years ago I was introduced to the Glass Outhouse Gallery in Wonder Valley – just east of 29 Palms. It is in the middle of nowhere, even more than I am, and has a small gallery where Laurel and Howard hold month-long 2-artist shows, and a sculpture garden made of recycled material art, created by Howard.
Four skies in the Glass Outhouse Gallery
I had a show there a few years ago with my Mixed Media work and am scheduled to have another show there with that medium in January 2021. Yes, artists do plan ahead.
The cart shows that this is a hanging day.
As I have another body of work and enough Mixed Media to run two shows concurrently, I’m on their ‘waitlist’. A list of artists who, in an emergency can put together a show in a couple days. Last week I got the call.
The outgoing artist hadn’t picked up her work yet.
I had planned to take my oils and acrylics to the show in Monrovia this weekend, but with a quick call I managed to get that changed and this body of work was available for the month.
Nice little row, the last 4 ‘diamonds’
My fellow artist is Tami Wood. We both joked that our names are two four-letter words. Her work is made exclusively of recycled materials. We’ve called our show ‘Fleeting Passions’ because we both explore ephemeral aspects of our environment.
And room for the bin, that holds paintings I did in or for paint and wine evenings that I’ve taught.
After the show in Newport I brought everything up and hung the show. Howard will pin up the prices later.
I’m surprised the one on the left hadn’t sold at Newport, it had a lot of interest.
Because of existing commitments (Monrovia), I can’t be at the reception but Tami will handle that and I’ll do my share of gallery sitting during the month.
The painting on the right is one from my house – I’m down to the last few oils and acrylics and am selling at discount prices!
What I didn’t realize until I told another friend in 29 Palms about the late arrangement, I’d scored a show during the Highway 62 Art Tour – three of the four weekends in October, and the Glass Outhouse Gallery is one of the stops. Wow, I’m sure glad I decided to go for it!
Almost exactly the right amount of space, there was only one suitable painting I didn’t put up!
I feel bless that because of various issues outside of my scope, I now have a show with both bodies of work on the Highway 62 tour – I have Mixed Media work at the High Desert Medical Center!
Terry Hastings juried and curated a wonderful show at the art gallery in University of California Riverside’s Palm Desert campus.
Entry point!
It’s always nice when you walk in and know a lot of the artists already. This is my good friend Michael Angelo (Hernandez). Yes, I hang with Michael Angelo….
Captures of the structures in downtown LA
More color.
I wonder if they hung those from the top….
There’s always more walls….
No photoshopping involved here except to adjust the lighting and crop. These ladies heads really did align completely with the top of the row of paintings. I didn’t realize it until I was cropping the photo!
Love the middle piece.
More big paintings.
Even the cheese was more geometric than at some openings.
Fabric inspiration.
Oh, do we see something familiar to the left there? The th ing that is unfamiliar are the 6 paintings to the right. They are by Diane Morgan (dianemorganpaints.com). Definitely something for this show and not*** her usual style. When she arrived I said she needed to readjust her medication!
I like this one too.
Lot of detail work….
From the right, Diane Morgan, Terry Hastings, Jeni Bate.
We had a little sculpture too. Actually not so little.
These are littler sculptures.
That’s about it! I didn’t realize how much art there really was until I processed the images. It was a HUGE show. Kudos Terry!
Mary started out as a friend of a friend on facebook and then took my Painting for Absolute Beginner’s class, then became a very close friend. Shortly after that class, a couple years ago, I helped her create a painting for a friend. I hadn’t realized that she had not had time since then to pick up the brushes. A lot of life had happened. A few weeks ago I went over to help guide her through another painting. This time she has a new home with a wonderful front porch. We have to paint out on the front porch because she has cats and I have allergies.
A little cramped on that table but we make it work.
Mary lives quite a way from me so we get our painting stints in sporadically and yesterday morning I was able to swing by for a couple hours before her grandson’s party and my reception for her to make progress on this sunset.
We weren’t able to finish yesterday but hope that we will do in the next session. She made good progress. Part of the challenge has been vision issues. Mary recently had major eye surgery. She can see colors better now, but the amount of light is difficult for her and towards the end as the sun came over, she had to resort to the shades.
Still needs a little work in the middle, and all the clouds at the bottom need to go in.
Last night I guided a small group through a paint and wine class at Vanguard Gallery in Moreno Valley. One of my students had already taken classes with me, including the Absolute Beginners class and was happy to work through this painting of winter solstice sunrise across the Salton Sea to hone some of the skills.
We’re doing an underpainting to get rid of the white so in the final painting we’re not strugging with that aspect
We’re painting the sky part of the top coat
It’s easier to paint the bottom of the panel when it’s upside down.
Adding the sun.
All done!
Before you get too excited about my achieving second place with my chalk painting last Saturday in Moreno Valley, it was a very small field of competitors. I also had a small booth at the art fair and my beloved was being the store keeper for me, while I wore off my fingerprints. I discovered fairly early on that our choice of space to set up (chosen because putting Doug under the tree in the shade would allow me to use the umbrella to keep the blacktop I was working on from melting my fingers), was in front of the band. The band (there were several during the course of the day) and the between-bands background music was LOUD. So, to relieve Doug and allow him to walk around and repair his eardrums and sanity, I hurried through my work.
The need for speed was exacerbated by wind which took the umbrella for a tumble and meant I had to chalk with one hand while quickly rubbing the chalk into the now-scorching blacktop with the other. I finished in 2 hours, and apparently was the only one who completely finished, though other chalkers, intending to take until 4pm created larger compositions.
I had a limited amount of blue, so did the surrounding ‘atmosphere’ in red, rather than follow the original, and created far less clouds than on the mixed media painting this was based on. For this it’s more about the message than the accuracy of the map.
“That the world is round reminds us that we are on the same side.”
About 15 months ago, ‘Jo’ took my absolute beginner’s class. Earlier in the month, she took the class again, not having painted very much in between. One of the things that I ask at the beginning of the class is what the student hopes to get out of it. It can help me tailor the class a little to hopefully cover any specific items. In this class Jo was lucky in that she was the only one, so we got to discuss her progress a little more.
She had indeed painted the day before, using watercolor crayons. The papers were tiny piece of printer or drawing paper – not the best surface. Jo expressed that she had had difficulty making out what she had painted afterwards and had ended up using ink to define the items painted. Towards the end of the afternoon, after the standard Shadows exercise, we looked at Jo’s paintings and I thought we could tackle one of them as a larger watercolor and make a more realistic painting.
Working a little larger does help. This time we used watercolor paper (Canson 140lb cold press) – about 12×9″. I drew a quick value sketch first on a scrap to outline some of the changes that we would make to make the little barrel cacti look more round, and the rocks “rocky”. The main adjustments were addition of shadows/shading to bring out the shapes of the cacti and rocks. I suggested a simple blue sky/purple hills/sandy mid-ground behind the cacti in order to make them stand out from it, rather than a green one of a similar tone. The cacti flowers didn’t come out as well as hoped – I’m not by nature a floral painter and they were a little on the small side to do much more with than a bit of impressionism.
Jo said her husband thought everything she painted was wonderful, but when he came to pick her up after the class and we showed him the before and after, there was no faking those eyebrows shooting skyward. Here’s the before (on the right! 🙂 ) and the after.
Monday’s cactus painting on the right, and Tuesday’s redo with Absolute Beginners class and a little individual guidance.
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 