Painting a Nocturne

Painting "Liquors" - 16 x 12", acrylic on panel.....

I have wanted to try a nocturne for a while. The glow of the neon in the Liquors sign at Crispys in Beverly, MA drew my attention as I drove home after dropping off some art and decided I was up for the challenge!

I sketch the composition out first in pencil, and then in ultramarine blue paint.

Sometimes my first pass is flat local color. Other times, especially when I feel that value is going to play a big part in the final piece, I do more of a value study - which I can then layer the color on top.

Starting first layers of color

A few more layers.....

And then the finished piece:

"Liquors" will be avaiable at this weekend's Essex County Greenbelt Association's Art in the Barn, 82 Eastern Ave., Essex, MA

Friday, June 7th: 10am - 3pm
Friday, June 7th - Public Reception: 5 - 8:30 pm.
    Live music, food trucks, beer & wine
Saturday, June 8th: 10am - 5pm
    Live music, kids' activities
Sunday, June 9th: 10am - 5pm

Color for a Grey Day

How nice it is to be able to enjoy a touch of the tropics on a cold, grey New England winter day!

For the third year, the Haverhill Arts Association is holding a "Paint-In" inside the greenhouse at Nunan's Florist and Greenhouses in Georgetown, Mass. For three Sundays, we set up our easels, settle with in our sketchbooks, sculpt in clay - or work in whatever medium we choose - anywhere the main greenhouse at Nunan's. 

It is so amazing to work among all the color and beautiful tropical plants during the usually dreary month of January. There is colorful inspiration everywhere:

I usually have a hard time deciding where to paint - there are so many lovely things here! Besides the beautiful plants, there are wonderful statues, colorful pots and all kinds of fun accessories. Sometimes, I choose to set up a little still life. Other times I just  zoom in on a single plant. Then greenhouse is  usually fairly warm and bright, which makes it a pleasant place to be in the middle of winter.  It is also quite humid - which makes it a bit extra challenging to paint with acrylics.  I am used to painting quickly, in thin layers  - so paint that won't dry can be a bit difficult and requires me to be flexible. This year I decided to try working on canvas, since in the past I found that the paint on panels wouldn't dry at all. Experimenting always keeps things interesting!

One Sunday, I picked out a lovely tropical plant in oranges and yellows to paint. Here is my set up:

After wrestling with it for a bit, I ended up with this little 6x6" piece on canvas:

On Sunday, January 28, we will be having an exhibition at Nunan's from 12 until 3 pm to show what we have been working on the last few weeks. It is always fun to display our work in the greenhouse! More pictures to come......

Work in Progress

Work in progress.....

It is interesting to me, that while my more traditional still life paintings tend to start as a monochromatic value painting, my larger paintings of signs usually begin as a quick flat color and compositional layout. Thinking about playing with gouache painting at some point and concentrating on the color and composition alone......

Work in Progress....another small painting

Since I have been concentrating so much on my larger pieces this year with all the exhibitions I have had, I now have a very low inventory of smaller pieces - and some of my local shops and customers are pleading for more! So for the next few weeks, I think that will be mostly what I will be working on.....

This is an 8 x 6" acrylic on a cradled panel from the wonderful Salem Willows Arcade neon sign.

Works in Progress...

I have been thinking for a while about posting more works in progress as they are on my easel. It means more posts, but I have had some people tell me that they really enjoy seeing the process.  And with the fact that I have been doing more larger pieces, means I have less finished pieces to post and the entire process takes longer anyways.

So - give me some feedback!  I'd love to hear if you'd mind seeing a little more "behind the scenes" and see some of the paintings as I go.

Here is one to start things off.....an 8x8" painting for the upcoming 8 Cubed exhibition at the  Newburyport Art Association