Newsletter 2020 October - Phil Starke Fine Art

Phil Starke Studio Newsletter - October 2020

Phil Starke is a professional fine artist with prestigious gallery representation, participates in national museum exhibitions, and teaches workshops and online fine art courses.

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PHIL STARKE STUDIO NEWSLETTER

October 2020

Georgia is a great place to be in Autumn, leaves are at peak color, here in the 3rd week of October. I’ve been to the Blue Ridge Mountains several times and hope to get back a few more times before the leaves blow away. Here are a few color studies from this month.

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We are putting finishing touches on the studio. We had a driveway put in for easier access. I'm looking forward to workshops here in the spring.

Ready to pour the drive. Click image to enlarge

Finished drive. Click image to enlarge

I’m also wrapping up paintings for the "Small Works, Great Wonders" Show. It’s in Oklahoma City at the Western Heritage Museum on Friday, November 13 from 6:00-9:00 pm.

I just sent the paintings for the "Great American West Show" at Settlers West Show, which is online this year starting October 28 but the paintings will be hanging in the gallery and available for viewing during business hours.

October, San Patricio, NM - oil - 12 x 16
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Long Shadows On The Shoshone River
oil - 26 x 36 - Click image to enlarge

A View Through The Aspens, San Francisco Peaks
oil - 20 x 30 - Click image to enlarge

ARTIST AT A GLANCE

John Francis Murphy (1853-1921)

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John Francis Murphy was born in Oswego, New York on December 11, 1853. At the age of 15 he moved to Chicago with his family where he began painting billboards and theater backdrops, he also received a few weeks of training at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1874 he moved to New York where he was employed as an illustrator. He opened a studio at the 10th Street Studio Building which was designed for artists and was the home of many great American artists like William Merritt Chase, Albert Bierdstadt and Winslow Homer.

He started painting in the Adirondack Mountains and the coastal flatlands of new York and New Jersey. His early work was painted on site and was often a smaller scale. In 1886, Murphy made a 6 month trip to France where he was influenced by the French Barbizon painter Corot and Daubigny.

He exhibited at the National Academy of Design and was elected a full academician in 1887.

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ARTIST TIP

“Using Value Studies”

Whether you're outside getting ready to paint, or standing in your studio working from a photo it's always worth the time and effort to do a quick value study in pencil to workout the composition with big simple shapes of dark and light. It helps me to simplify the subject (which is very important) and create a better design. I look for the large dark pattern that flows through the whole scene and consider how I can improve on that shape because the goal isn’t to copy what's there but to interpret what's there with shape, value and color. This helps me see the whole composition better and eliminate details.

Even drawing animals, I try to see shapes of simple dark and light, and the more angular I keep the shapes the more solid they look. My goal is to see what I can eliminate to get down to basic shapes and values.