My DVD

If this works right, you can go see a bit of my DVD, Master Disaster, 5 Ways to Rescue Desperate Watercolors. My book and DVD Show you five steps to begin, work through and/or finish a painting with punch and pizazz. Check it out.

No Child Left Inside

Here is my latest (40 x 30, acrylic). For a person who never liked texture in my watercolors, I have turned into a texture queen in this painting. Actually, I spent a lot of time toning down first natural textures that occur with this style of painting, then the textures that I created or saved along the way. Does it work for you?

Van Gogh's Ear

There is an article in the current New Yorker, that I've been meaning to tell you about. Van Gogh's Ear, the Christmas that Changed Modern Art.

Based on a German book by reputable German academics, it says that Gauguin was quite the swordsman and went around with a sword often--and that HE cut off the ear...perhaps while defending himself with a sword. Evidently the cut was too clean to have been done by Van Gogh, people don't self-mutilate themselves that way and there are subsequent letters between the two men that imply that this is what happened.

So Gauguin ran off to Tahiti, became the first "primitive" painter and influenced Picasso with this style. And thus "the Christmas that changed Modern Art". Hmmmmm.

Check out My DVD

My DVD, Master Disaster 5 Ways to Rescue Desperate Watercolors, is now available on ArtistsNetwork.TV. You can view the first section for free here. Check it out.

Fake Reality

Here is a new painting that I've been trying to get under control from quite a while. When the imagination goes wild, design is crucial. But I can't be hindered by it. Thus I needed to calm this piece down and correct it's balance with the help of Kathy.

ISAP gives me a prize!

I found out today that Maxine Masterfield gave me a prize (6th place) in the ISAP Online International Open Exhibition 2009. Being my first prolonged foray into acrylic painting--and my first into this heavy texture that is capturing my eye--I am thrilled. Thank you Maxine, where ever you are.

Heavy Texture and "Realism"

I've been trying to create paintings with my new-to-me texture on a smaller scale. These are my Square Footers, 12 x 12. In the first, I tried to loose my new dependence on outlining, but the work ends up more realistic than I had planned. The second paintings is a definite extension of my recent work--on a more common topic, flowers. What do you think?