Learning loose figure painting

 These small 8" x 6" paintings were done in Doug's class. I was trying to do a loose rendering from a photograph, minimizing detail. The first painting is done on a wet red iron oxide toned canvas board. I had the shadow of the shirt to gray/neutral so the brighter blue was added on top.

 The next one (to the right) was done using less detail again and more broad strokes to get the shapes. I found it very hard to make the face as dark as it was in the photo with the hat shading it.

This is try #3. Doug's suggestion was to continue what I had done in the other two but with less colours in the skin tone and less background. The background is loose and more a part of her rather than a separate "thing". I am much happier with this one as she feels like she is leaning back on her arms.
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Mountains Revisited

I wish I had taken a photo of this painting in progress when I became "stuck". The painting on the right is in stage 2. The trees in the front were to fussy and the mountain shadow colours were not receding enough in stage 1. Doug corrected the shadow colour and "smooshed" all the trees I had painted in the front with a large brush.

This is the finished painting. I reworked around the painting with Doug's direction and suggestions and am now quite happy with it. The sky is lighter, more definition in the ground plane and of course the tree line reads correctly now.


"Mountains Revisited"
16" x 20" Oil on canvas
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Alberta Fall and Dinner Time

"Alberta Fall"
8" x 10" Oil on canvas board
#20101117A

"Dinner Time"   10" x 8" Oil on canvas board       #20101117B

I started taking a weekly group art class with Doug Swinton. We work on what we want and he walks around and helps as needed. I usually like to go in with a painting at least half done but did not have anything ready or photos of what I wanted to do. After asking what I wanted to paint, "Buildings" I said. He produced two photo references and away I went. The photos were really busy and complicated. The lesson here was to pare and chop the reference into something meaningful and interesting. His vast knowledge and very humorous way of teaching keeps everyone in the class entertained and progressing in their art journey.

Red Marsh

 Time to hurry and post some paintings I did before our holiday as I am hoping our son will make me another book of my year of painting from my blog postings (as a Christmas present).

"Red Marsh"

12" x 9" Oil on board

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The painting on the top is the finished painting. The photo below is the painting (almost finished) with the photo reference on my easel. I liked the feel of the photo so worked on it in a class I am taking with Doug Swinton. I found this painting very challenging, but am happy with the finished painting.

"Snow Ghosts"

"Snow Ghosts"

12" x 12" Oil on board

$175 unframed  #20007516

I painted this in Doug Swinton's class from a photograph. I cropped the photo then Doug showed me how to paint on the photo so I could have the bright snow where I wanted as well as change the foreground with paint until I had what I wanted. The other questions I had to answer about it is: 1. motive/interest: snow covered trees  2. dominant spacial: front  3. center of interest: 2nd tree in on the left  4. dominant value: dark  5. dominant direction of light: from left, shadows go right and 6. dominant temperature: cool

Sometimes working with Doug makes my brain hurt...all those questions, and that was before I could pick up a brush, whew! I read once that a painting is at least 1000 decisions (I wonder when they start counting).

Workshop with Doug Swinton-Sunday

click on picture to view larger

I painted these 8" x 10" oil paintings all on the second day in a work shop with Doug Swinton. Again, we set up Saturday night with clean, full palettes and lots of brushes. These paintings were done in the same format of approx. 20 minutes (up to 30 if Doug was distracted enough). Instead of 10 paintings everyone completed 8. We just ran out of steam.

To hear the groans when the photos were projected on the wall was really funny. The subject matter was so varied, there was something for everyone and we were really challenged to paint subjects or vistas we would of never chosen for ourselves. I went home with that really exhausted but happy feeling. I learnt a lot, especially where I was challenged...with values but could see the progression over the workshop. I would highly recommend this class to oil or acrylic painters, just be prepared to go through A LOT of paint!

Workshop with Doug Swinton-Saturday

click on picture for a larger view

I painted these 8" x 10" oil paintings all in one day in a workshop last weekend with Doug Swinton. His course was over an evening and two days. He taught the class on Friday night and did a demo, using a lot of examples and every day experiences to describe common problems in painting. We set up Friday night so we were ready to go first thing Saturday morning. He gave us approximately 20 minutes to paint the picture projected on the wall. With this lack of time we could not get bogged down in details and had to get over the fear of starting.

Doug walked from easel to easel to offer help, words of encouragement or to paint right on our canvas to explain the process. We then had about 5 minutes to put our wet paintings on cardboard in another room and clean our palette, then on to the next one. Wow, boot camp for artists! I will post Sunday's paintings later.

"Sunflowers"

The picture above is the painting about midway. I took it to my class with Doug Swinton as I was unsure of how I wanted to proceed. I realized with Doug's help that the photo reference composition was stronger than my layout. Doug helped me to make the flowers larger (like the photo) as well as with the background. I am going to paint this one again as I really like the shapes and colours.

"Sunflowers"

Oil on board 11' x 14"

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Calgary FCA - Doug Swinton Workshop

I painted ALL 10 of these 8"x10" paintings in a one day workshop with Doug Swinton. I have never painted on black canvas board before so that to was an adjustment. He put a photo up on a large screen and we had 20 minutes to paint it, then 10 minutes to clean our palettes and brushes and on to the next one. It was a heart pounding and very rewarding experience. We had scenery, animal (bison), floral and even a person to paint (really something for everyone and really pushing our usual comfort subject). Now to use what I have learned when I go plein air painting.....