Latest Work
NEW CLASS! Drawing & Painting from Nature
Drawing & Painting from Nature Traditional and Expressive techniques Here’s a fun class to gain experience and develop technique in drawing and painting tools using nature as our subject matter. Working in a variety of drawing media and watercolours we will explore technique, composition and colour working from natural objects and your photos, and maybe even the figure. You’ll Learn: fun exercises that really improve your drawing make watercolours behave, or more likely, love them when they don’t! how to mix and use colour to it’s greatest effect mixed media ideas cool tricks for rendering natural textures like sky, fur, feathers etc. and more! You will: gain experience with graphite, paint & colour pencils explore the qualities of papers & boards complete 2 finished pieces Where: Clearwell Studios Accokeek MD When: Thursdays January 26 to March 1 10:00am to 12:30pm Cost: $75 special! $60! to register, leave a comment with your contact information
White Breasted Nuthatch
Here’s a familiar visitor in my mid-Atlantic yard, the perky nuthatcher, who is actually a big bug-eater, more like a woodpecker in habit. This bird loves the suet in the winter. They walk up and down the bark of the white oaks, quite agile with their clawed feet. This painting is 6″ x 6″ on a ‘gallery-wrap’ canvas, 1.5″ deep and painted with a continuation of the background, and so needs no frame. Here’s a close-up showing details, paint texture and brushwork:
Botanical Art Class
Botanical Art: Traditional and Expressive techniques A fast, fun class to gain experience and develop technique with drawing and painting tools and botanical subject matter. Learn to paint flowers, keep a gardener’s journal, use plant forms in expressive art, Come and learn some fun and easy ways to draw and paint from the bounty of your garden, or even just the grocery store! You’ll Learn: fun exersizes to improve your drawing easy watercolour basics cool tricks for foliage and flowers You will: gain experience with graphite, paint & colour pencils explore the qualities of papers & boards complete 2 finished pieces Where: Moyaone’s Wagner Community Center 2311 Bryan Point Rd. Accokeek MD When: Every Thursday from Oct 27 to Nov 17 6:30 to 9:00pm Cost: $60 (sliding scale available) to register, leave a comment with your contact information
It Ends up in My River
This studio painting is a view to the west from Piscataway Bay, looking out into the wider Potomac, downriver from Washington DC. It’s the first painting that I included litter and trash in – even though there is tons of it that I see every day. When you throw your litter out on the ground, there’s a good chance it will end up in my river. The Alice Fegusen Foundation runs the Trash Free 2013 program and collects tons of trash every spring from Potomac shorelines. Most of it is plastic bottles and cans. But there are a lot of tires, too, and the occasional refrigerator. Stormwater Sam
Garden Life: Bluebird # 1
Garden Life 1 was painted at my Community Garden in late March, when the bluebirds were first setting up their households for the season. Eastern Bluebirds are highly encouraged to settle in the garden, particularly because of their prodigious bug eating capacity. They especially like young caterpillars, which is most helpful to us. Bluebirds are selective and easily crowded out by other species. They need edge forest and open field areas to thrive. The nesting box you see is built and hung to their exacting specifications. They are the state bird of Maryland. But most of all, they are lovely. There is a fugitive quality to the blue in uncertain light. You detect a flash of some unlikely colour, and then the bird pauses in good light and you may catch your breath, because they are really, really blue. For a moment. Until they are gone. And, of course, they are somewhat mythical. It is my belief that no one can be truly unhappy if the bluebird lands on their garden gate. I am especially pleased how the under-painting shows the grainy character of the black locust fence posts, the wire fence and the bare soil of the early spring garden.
Tranform Dance
I took part in a a great workshop called “30 in 30″ led by Lisa Semarid at the Art League in Alexandria VA. This is a 25 minute left-handed drawing with hard pastels. I amazed myself with what I could do with my non-dominant hand! The whole day was all about getting out of your own way. “30 in 30″ refers to the 30 drawings we made in the first 30 minutes. We then spent several hours reviewing each persons’ evolution. Fascinating!! When you work too fast to think with your left brain, another kind of intelligence shows up and leads you.
