Michael Chesley Johnson - About Boats

"The Simone & Rachel" 16x20, oil, en plein air

I've been painting boats lately. Boats can be complicated - they're full of compound curves. And boats can be undependable, because they go up and down with the tides, and they are likely to vanish when the fishermen show up for work. But I enjoy them. I like their shapes, especially when I have a big canvas and can let my whole arm swing as I sketch in their curves. I also like their proportions and consider them a worthy challenge. It's a good feeling when everything comes together just right!

The best boats to paint are the ones that are beached. If you can catch them at low tide, they will stay beached - it's not until the tide floats them that there's any chance of them being put to work. Today, I went over to Lubec, Maine, to paint en plein air the "Simone & Rachel," which is exactly that kind of boat. I've seen it at low tide several times, and I reckoned that at today's low tide, it'd be there again.

Once I got it back to the studio, I spent the afternoon adjusting values and edges.

Libby Caldwell - The Brave Little Boxer

Oil on Panel, 18" x 24"
Had great fun painting this dog - especially his face. I handled the painting of the face with short squishy strokes - rather like the shape and feel of the face itself. The water was painted surprisingly fast using thin paint. I used a palette of 6 colors.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Using Greys

Lately, I've come to love the use of grey, whether it's in oil or pastel. I've started using neutral greys to moderate strong color, rather than that color's complement. We've always been taught how a complement can neutralize a color. In my experience, the complement doesn't quite "kill" the color and, in fact, can often lead to an unintended color that doesn't quite fit the painting. Using a neutral grey, however, does the trick. It dulls the color perfectly. I suppose this is obvious to anyone who's academy-trained, but for me, this was a discovery and a real eye-opener!

For my pastel greys, I've been using the greys from the full Polychromos set and the set of 12 greys in the NuPastels. For oil greys, try the Gamblin "Portland" greys, which come in three values.

"Two Boats" 5x7, pastel

"Bernard Harbor," 8x10, oil

Vince Fazio - A Palette Knife Experiment

Oil on canvas 16x20 $300

This painting is almost all done with the palette knife, though it is a Sedona scene it somehow resonates as a colonial sort of thing.

Please Email me for purchase information.

Betsey Nelson-Full Sun

Betsey Nelson - Full Sun 12x9 oil $625
This is a quick start-painting. I usually work on something with a lot if intensity and get almost done (or done). I then leave the piece and come back with a fresh eye and try to clean up, strengthen or restate. Sometimes it needs nothing but a signature.

Carol Marine - "Standout"

Carol Marine - "Standout" - 6x6in. - buy, $100

Recently my friend Qiang Huang, another daily painter, gave me several sheets of thin blue plastic that I taped to the front of my "daylight" spotlight lamp (a fairly yellow light, even though it's called daylight). This turns the light almost completely white - near enough - which I am really enjoying! If this is something you'd be interested in, Qiang's 10-yr-old son is selling them - just go to Qiang's blog and click on North Light Filter.

Carol Marine -

Vince Fazio -"Sisters"

Oil on canvas 10x10 NFS

This was done on Father's Day and depicts my daughters on a recent trip to Lawrence KS. A gift to my Dad - Happy Father's Day!

Betsey Nelson-Patient and Pretty

Betsey Nelson-Patient and Pretty oil 12x9 NFS
This is an end of the day start for a painting for tomorrows work session.
I often end a studio day (or plein air day) with a quick sketch for the next day.
It gets me right back into the game for the next day. Sometimes coming into the studio fresh with nothing on the drawing board so to speak makes it harder to get into the mood to paint.
This start is simple with no detail yet has all the information any painting needs. The challenge will be to keep it fresh and still do all that needs to be done.

Carol Marine - "Apple Pie?"

Carol Marine - "Apple Pie?" - 6x6in. - bid

This is one of my favorites of what I've done lately. I did a larger painting too with a similar theme for my opcoming solo show at the Wally Workman Gallery (opening July 11th).

Adele Earnshaw "The Other Side of the Fence"

I've been painting lots of cows lately. This oil is only 6" x 6". I find small pieces easy to paint...they aren't as demanding!

Libby Caldwell-Journal Pages of New York 2

Another illustration in the hand made journal I took with me to New York in May. On my way to the Museum of Modern Art, I passed this hot dog stand, and was attracted to the light shining through the bottles.

Adele Earnshaw - "Chow Down"

This quick 6" x 8" painting really qualifies as a 'painting a day' as it only took an hour or two.
It's hard to paint pups without it being 'cute', so I put my emphasis on my warm/cool colors and used the long shadows for a strong composition.

Vince Fazio "Riverside Park NYC"

Oil on canvas 10x10 $125

An evening walk at Riverside Park on the upper west side.

Please Email me for purchase information.

Adele Earnshaw "Blue River Valley"

One of my favorite places to paint is in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where I spend a lot of time each summer. This 8 x 10 oil is of the Blue River Valley near Frisco.

I used a pre-gessoed panel, then painted another coat of rough gesso over it. If my painting surface is too smooth, I end up 'noodling' (getting hung up on the detail). This rough surface forces me to keep the painting loose.