Well, I’ve plunged into the world of teaching online art classes.   I’ve been asked numerous times about doing this so I took some time and looked around at what was being offered in the area of online art classes and decided I wanted to offer something that would be more art school-like in content and approach, taking the artist who wants to work consistently and effectively, has goals and helping them achieve them.  I also wanted to be able to work with video, but make sure the student was able to download that video so they could save their lessons making it possible to work at their own pace and go back to the lessons again to review what they’ve learned, creating a great reference library of their own.  I also wanted to be able to provide an effective way to handle critiques, and make them available to keep as well.  So beginning August 2, 2009, its official.  Online class video lessons begin going out and my one-on-one student critiques will be starting up as well.  I’m anxious to see the student development and working with each one of them.  Technology is amazing.

After cutting the boards to size I cut the canvas 1/2 in. bigger so it can be trimmed. I dampen the bush to make the glue spread easier but don’t add water to the glue, it weakens the bonding strength. Spread the glue evenly on the board then press the canvas on the board. Use the rolling pin to roll out the air bubbles.

I usually prepare a number of panels the same size then stack them and place a larger board over all of them and place a 10 pound dumbbell to weigh them down.  I generally let them dry overnight then with a sharp utility knife I turn them over then trim off the extra canvas. If the corners come up I apply a small amount of glue with a small brush and press down.

For panels larger than 16 x 20 use 1/4 inch panels and gesso the back to prevent warping.

It’s easier to remember and compose large, flat patterns of dark and light and the results are different from painting from life and a lot different than painting from a photograph.  I’m forced to push value and color to make a statement from what I remember.  I can’t use detail because I won’t remember any.

Painting from memory works best for me when the lighting is more dramatic.  Sunsets are a good practice.  They’re too short to paint from life and photographs never do them justice.  The other benefit is that using your memory helps prevent altzhiemer’s, so use it while you have it.

There’s a little more time right now to paint for the sake of learning (although every painting is practice) and not have to solely keep up with the deadlines of  shows and galleries.  If you’re one of those whose sales have slowed down, now is the time to make more painting trips, try a different medium and spend more time drawing, because when things begin to pick up again your focus will change back to the rush of business and meeting dealines again.  It’s always hard to appreciate a slow-down, but when you look back on this you’ll appreciate the time you took for more development of you skills.

After deciding on one, I complete three different color studies to come up with different color schemes.  The next step is a detailed charcoal value drawing and then the final painting.  This process helps me to see studio painting as a process with a purpose behind each step.   It also develops discipline in planning, forces the meto think more about composition rather than what is presented in a photograph or plein air sketch, and it helps me to think outside the box with color.

When I was painting the Pusch Ridge Cliffs near Catalina State Park, the rocks were a bright orange because of the late afternoon sun but there was also shades of violet, red and some yellow-green because of the minerals and age of the rock.  If I were to mix all those variations together on the palette I would come up with mud, but when I mix and apply the value and temperature first (which would be a light value of orange) I could then mix the violet, roughly the same value, and scrub or blend them into the orange.  Some of the colors would blend and some would stay intense, giving the flat area a vibration of color, or broken color.  This way I can control how strong or how neutral the color should be.

The colors are also strong or richer on a cloudy day.  On a sunny day the strong sunlight washes out the color, you have to add more white to get it light enough, but on a cloudy day there isn’t any direct sunlight to wash out the color so it’s more pure.  Spend some time really looking at color on a sunny day and compare it to colors when its mostly cloudy.  No excuse now not to paint on a cloudy day.

Another spot is an abandoned road on the northwest side of Tucson.  The road sits up high and overlooks the Catalina Mountains — early morning and late afternoon are good.  It’s also a good spot to watch thunderstorms form over the mountains.  That should take care of November.

I start with two booklights that I bought at Barnes and Noble.  One clipped on top of the easel to shine on the painting and one down below shining on the pallette.  The light from the moon is a bluish-green so I replace ultramarine blue with prussian blue.  Also the lights appear cooler with the blue-greenlight and the shadows recede and become very dark and appear warmer or more red.  I work small, 8 x 10 or 6 x 8 and I work fast because it can get a little creepy out in the desert at night when the nocturnal animals begin to roam.  You can’t see anything but you can sure hear them.  A couple of painters that handle nocturnal painting well were Frank Tenney Johnson and presently Bill Anton.

  This is one of my nocturnal paintings.  I really enjoy the challenge, you might too.