Betsey Nelson- End of the day Utah

Betsey Nelson - End of the day UT 8x10 oil on canvas board $485
Returning to areas, photos, or still life set ups that you once dismissed as material for a painting is always a good idea. You may very well change your mind either because your eye is better trained or your palette more comparable to the scene now or your other skills have improved to be able to do the subject justice. Returning again and again through the years may also improve enlightening.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Afternoon Delight

"Cobscook Bay Afternoon" 5x7, pastel

Now and then, when you find the stress of painting too much, you need to go visit a friend. Take your painting gear, so you can paint while you chat. There's nothing like it! While the verbal half of the mind is engaged, the artistic half can have a field day. I went out to visit my friends who were camping at Cobscook Bay, where I set up in the shade with a cool breeze and a folding chair to sit in. I chose pastel rather than oil because there's just a lot less fuss with pastel. All that, plus a glass of wine - what a perfect afternoon!

Michael Chesley Johnson
www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com - http://mchesleyjohnson.blogspot.com

Betsey Nelson- Two Boats

Betsey Nelson - Two Boats 9x12 oil NFS
This is a start that i like and will go back to work on. If successful i will post the finished piece or successive steps to the finished piece. The intent of the piece has (thus far) been achieved. I was attempting to get the feel of dappled light on the two boats. As a painting gets worked and reworked the first steps of the painting,the start, can be destroyed in later stages. The artist can lose sight of the original intent and become engrossed in some insignificant parts/part usually only appearing on the artists radar and not at all important to the bigger picture. It can become just a figment of the artists obsession and on the larger scale insignificate to the viewer. This is one of the reason the student (and that would be all of us) needs to STEP BACK and view the painting as a whole.

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Vince Fazio - Acrylic Underpainting

"Tower" 24x30 acrylic on canvas NFS
This was a demonstration done in the gallery space at the Sedona Arts Center. Starting with a white canvas I did a few charcoal marks to start the drawing then jumped into a loose acrylic underpainting to start the painting process. I got as far as placing some palette knife work (still in acrylic) on the 'Tower' formations right hand side. I anticipate finishing with oils after more development in acrylic. Will follow up next week...

Please Email me for purchase information.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Pink Adobe Dawn

"Pink Adobe Dawn"
9x12, pastel, en plein air

I taught a workshop in Tubac, AZ, a few years ago. One morning we had gorgeous, early-morning light. In this scene, it was just catching the top of the palm tree and the inside of the window and arch in the adobe wall. I wanted to play down the color to give a sense of "first light."

You'll note that the palm counterbalances all the things going on over by the adobe arch. If you block out the tree with your hand -- one of my favorite ways of seeing if an element is really necessary for the composition -- the design suffers. The tree is needed. What's more, the tree also puts some interest up in the sky, which occupies more than 50% of the painting. Without the tree, the image would need to be cropped in some way to make a satisfactory composition.

Michael Chesley Johnson PSA MPAC - www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

Robert Burridge - Landscape Painting Collage

This painting started as a daily warmup exercise - my goal was to create a series of "elusive landscapes" based on the surrounding coastline of bays and wetlands in California, close to my home. I chose a horizontal composition and limited palette. 

To make a more "geographic and topographic" statement, I embedded collage materials in the gesso and paint to give a rippling effect - like viewing the landscape from near space, with the earth's curvature and mountain ranges clearly visible.

Original acrylic painting and collage on paper, 10x10 - $275 + $20 (shipping & handling)

Michael Chesley Johnson - Salt Marsh Overcast

Lately, I've been trying a new approach with my oil paintings. I've been using oil pastel for my initial block-in and then washing over it with mineral spirits to create an underpainting before applying traditional oil paints. Why? I find I can control the drawing better with oil pastel. And what's more, if you don't cover the underpainting completely, some of the wonderful "scribbly" marks will show through and energize the final surface.

I must warn you about oil pastels, though. They contain a non-drying vegetable oil. You must use enough mineral spirits to dissolve and wash out this oil so the following layers of traditional oil paints adhere properly.

Here's a recent painting I did this way. I like the way my underpainting shows through.

"Salt Marsh Overcast" 9x12, oil/oil pastel

$300+$10 shipping

www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

- Michael Chesley Johnson PSA MPAC PSNM

Michael Chesley Johnson - Salt Marsh Glimmer

This little painting is only 5x7, but I think it really evokes the sense of late summer here on Campobello Island in the Canadian Maritimes. A light fog tumbled in from the ocean into the salt marsh, throwing a cool light on the scene. But the grasses, which are just starting to change into their fall colors, lend a sense of warmth to the foreground. The cool light in the distance and the warm colors up front go a long way to creating an illusion of space in the painting.



"Salt Marsh Glimmer"
5x7, oil, en plein air - Michael Chesley Johnson, PSA MPAC PSNM

www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

Sands – Messing Around in the Studio

This painting started as a disaster of a drawing that I had to do for an illustration project. Seeing as I had nothing to lose I started playing with it – painted with watercolor, drew some more, added sawdust and layered paper onto it with polymer gel...  just experimenting.
This is what happened. 
These days this is what I do - have fun. 

You can visit my website to see more: www.peggysands.com
(FYI this is what my new class ‘Romper Room Meets Foundation Drawing’ is about.)