Southwest Villa

Southwest Villa
Oil on Canvas Hardboard
11x14

Finally finished this painting.  It was not really a struggle except for the open window which took more thought than I expected.. But focal points are everything!

Chowdown For Hunger

  The last few months have been just a wee bit hectic.  Pottery students as well as painting students have kept me occupied.  But I found some time to setup at the Chowdown for Hunger event in Estero, Fl.

  I have not been physically painting but I have been studying it on a mental plane.   Which sometimes can be as challenging as putting a brush stroke to canvas.
  When I was first starting out on the art road I wanted to know how light works and why atmosphere effects it.  A mentor told me not to worry about it, just follow the suggested techniques/rules artists follow.  Ugh.. Not the answer I wanted to hear, because there has to be a 'reason' for the suggested rule.  So of course, me being far to inquisitive for my own good, I could not let the notion go and the hunt was on.
   After reading several texts on light waves and how atmosphere effects those waves, I realized that the eye is a factor too, on how these waves affect how humans see the world around them.  So off to find books on how the human eye works.  The time was well spent because while I only gathered a rudimentary understanding, it was all I needed to incorporate what I learned into my painting process. The work I produced showed a leap forward in how I represented light planes within my paintings. 
   Artists ask me how I was able to accomplish so much in such a short time.  They write it off as the fact that I have talent above most.  I can not emphasize just how wrong I feel their perception is!  Art is an understanding of paint and how paint is applied so that it represents objects.  So understanding the light and time spent learning how to draw with a paint brush was the key to starting to paint well.

    David Leffel, often called the artists artist, has been a wonderful find for me this winter.  I joined his website and watched some of his videos.   In the videos he mentions how painting is a study of science and how things work in life.  To which I heartily agree.