Terry Miura Challenge - Final

"Red Light Green Light"

Painting is 18x18x1.5" - Linen

I had fun with this. Each car has it's own personality and shape. As much as I wanted to leave more abstract shapes, I feel that I went a little too far on the cars. This was a great learning experience for me, and I enjoyed keeping it SIMPLE. I try to do this with all my paintings by starting each shape with only two values, and going from there. It is like a building block. Or as I say to my students, start with the silver dollar, on top of that put the fifty cent piece, then the quarter, and only if it is necessary, add more detail. Detail should be only the last 5% of a painting at most.....

Be sure to go to http://terrymiura.blogspot.com/ to check out the rest of the entries for this challenge. Terry is one of the best blogger's out there because he shares his thought process in a very honest and generous way. Much for you to learn on this site. And Terry, let's do this again soon!

Challenge with Terry Miurra...Progress

Here is my attempt at painting from Terry Miura's photo. The challenge is to simplify, and because I am on this path lately to simplify and paint with the concept in mind (rather than to copy), I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I haven't had a lot of studio time lately, but I started with the under painting a few days back. I don't always start a painting the same way, and to me this one called for breaking down the value shapes into no more than "two" values  - why not? I've been using a varnish medium to wash in my under paintings and decided to try it for the block in. The result is nice and transparent. My goal here, other than to simplify and stay out of the details, is to paint the "idea". I love street scenes, and have been admiring Terry's new Street Series.

In fact, I just finished a new street piece, but it had people and not cars. So I decided that I could do this in the same manner, kind of. Or I was hoping for the same type of result, where I would paint "shapes" not people, and "shapes", not cars.

Okay, for the concept. I was in Carmel last weekend where I got to get up close to some large paintings by Ken Auster. I just love the way he can take a city scene in San Francisco and guess what-- SIMPLIFY.

I bought his book and in it he talks about the way he will use warm and cool to bring life into a gray painting. So, I wanted to paint this piece with that in mind. Cool shadows, warm light. I want to do it without going crazy with color, which I have a tendency to do.

Today I had a chance to get back to the piece finally.  I wanted to establish the values again buy comparing the foreground to the middle ground to the background. To create distance you want to be careful to use the tools of a painter - cooler, softer, grayer, smaller, etc., as to painting recedes.

I'm hoping to finish this up and I'll post the final asap.

Challenge with Terry Miurra....Should be fun!

I consider myself very fortunate to be teaching at the School of Light and Color. First of all, Susan Sarback is an amazing artist and teacher. She founded the school in 1989. So not only do I get to teach along side Susan but also Terry Miura, David Lobenburg and others who are just amazing artists.
This week Terry has challenged us to join in painting a city scape in a simplified manner, so read up and join in the fun. I'll be posting my work and progress after I get started....

Simplify! - A Cityscape Challenge

by Terry

OK! Looks like we have a bunch of takers! WooHOO~!

I'm glad so many of you want to try this. I think it'll be very interesting and instructive not only to do an exercise like this, but to see how others solve the same problems. How exciting~

OK, so the photo above is the reference we will all use to do a painting. Everyone is welcome to try - this is just for fun, remember, so don't even worry if you feel like you're too much of a beginner. Just give it a try. I guarantee you'll learn something!

I think we ought to have some basic guidelines.

• Use the reference photo above. If you click on it, you'll get a larger version on your screen. Feel free to download it to your desktop to print it out or whatever you need to do to make it easier for you to paint from.
• Deadline. Let's say three weeks. You have to have it done and posted by March 11th.
• By "posted" I mean you can send me a jpeg via email, or if you're a blogger and you'd like to post your efforts on your own blog, just email me the link.
• Any medium.
• Any size.
• Remember the point is to simplify. NOT to try and render every damn detail.
• You may use some or all of the "rules" that I talked about in my last post. You don't have to use any of them. You can come up with your own set of rules. You don't have to have any rules at all.

Again, this is just for fun so do it in the way you feel comfortable. There are no rules as to technique or methods or sequences. I just want to see how different (or similar) our solutions are.

If you're a blogger, you might post the work-in-progress on your blogs. Might be fun, and your readers may want to try, too. If you do post your progress, please send me the link.

I think that's it for now.  Good luck and have fun~

Cityscapes are hard to paint not only because everything has to be drawn well, but also because there's just an overwhelming amount of information that needs to be processed. Simplification is key, but arbitrary editing of detail can easily end up with a weak painting that lack a sense of intent.   With so much "stuff", it's not easy to know what to include and what to edit out, especially because you know all that detail contributes to the texture of the city clutter.

One way to approach it is to have rules for editing –and you know by now I like rules. This way, you can do it systematically (more or less) and it helps me to get the painting going in the right direction. Here are some that I use often;

• Decide on a dominant color theme (in this case, blue green) and mix every color as a variation of it. (you want violet? start with blue green and bend it towards violet. Think of it as a violet-er version of the original blue green)
• Paint every element (car, tree, asphalt, etc.) in just two values.  Later on you can add a third value to the more important elements.
• Link all similar valued adjacent shapes.
• Have a large passive area. (Forces me to have an area with NO detail, juxtaposed against which the more active areas need less "stuff" in order to look detailed)
• Treat super sharp edges as exclamation points. Don't shout everywhere.

These are not rules for all painting nor are they for every painter. They're just rules that guide me to do what I do, and they work well for me. With another painting, I may have a completely different set of rules. The point is, having this type of structure is helpful in keeping my mind organized and focused. It helps me avoid making arbitrary and thoughtless decisions. 

I had this idea of inviting anyone who wants try this way of approaching the cityscape to give it a go, and sharing your results and thoughts on the experience.  I would post a reference photo for us to use - we'd all use the same photo so that we can compare and contrast how we each respond to the same problems. Wouldn't that be interesting?  Challenging, to be sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

JUST WHITE by Randy Blasquez

Just White, by Randy Blasquez, 30 x 30 x 1.5"

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still out here. The holidays this year were wonderful, but I got off to a late start as far as planning goes and I thought I'd let you know what I'm up to lately.

Classes are going great. What a blessing it is to work with a student over a period of time, and see tremendous progress. I'm starting to really see what happens when a student comes in and wants to learn to paint after perhaps many years of thinking about it. It can be daunting to be sure, but with a little encouragement and some continued effort, a little light begins to shine. When I see this little light begin to shine, I know that this particular student has been reading about art, visiting art galleries and museums and sketching. These are all huge in the scheme of things if you want to grow. And the next thing you know this student is stepping out of their comfort zone again and taking another workshop with a new instructor. They might begin to see where their weaknesses are, and address them by taking a drawing class. Or they might try painting the same paintings again, only working out the flaws. But when I have a student that brings in her/his work from home to share with me, I know they are on the train to success. They are on the train to success because they are doing what it takes, making time to paint and paint and paint....

This is when I get excited about their excitement about painting, because I remember how that feels, and still does. It feels like a whole lot of joy!

So, as this year begins to come together I know I want to take some classes with Terry Miura and glean some of that beautiful design juice from him. The way he is painting the figure right now is amazing.

I have decided what shows I want to enter if I can get my act together, but I have not set my sights too high. 

I'm considering renting a studio space close to the school. Just looking around right now.

I'm hoping to go to the Weekend with the Masters event in September in San Diego. 

And I've been busy painting some large scale paintings for a new gallery.  I am ready to make delivery in a couple of weeks so I decided to share one of them with you today. The rest will get posted after all is said and done, and you just never know.

Just one more thing, I'm seriously considering a workshop abroad next year and have been doing the footwork for that, so if you want to know more, just ask! Beginners Welcome!