What's on the Easel

14x11"

This piece is not quite finished. It has been sitting around the studio for months, something I started last year.

I took the photo while in Southern California visiting my niece Kimberly in LA. We went to "The Grove". Everybody had a cell phone in their hands.. I decided I wanted to paint this and call it, "Texting at The Grove".

I've decided to go ahead with the piece and paint a larger version. I wanted to work out the problems with the smaller piece before I finish up the larger one.

28 x 24"

When painting something this large you really want to have the issues resolved as much as you can before the start, and in this case, before the finish. I glazed in a transparent wash and have been building layers of color. My plan is to go with thicker paint in the lights, while keeping the transparent qualities of the darks. 

I'll let you know how it goes and post the finish..

This is a picture of my working studio, with a new painting on the easel. This is the start, again transparent washes as the underpainting. Next will come the heavier paint passages. I have worked out the initial design and value plan, only I will add a lot more light into the flowers. I want to keep the background in shadow. I took the reference photo for this piece at the Ovanes workshop in June a couple of years back. What's important to  me in this piece is keeping the light quality to read "outdoors".