Summer Class Schedule at Studio Blasquez and Patris Studio Gallery

10382 Donner Pass Road, Unit 2

Truckee CA 96161

Summer Schedule of Classes with Randy Blasquez

AT STUDIO BLASQUEZ:

We will start at 10 am and end at 4:30 pm, with a short lunch break. I will be covering many of the basic foundations of painting, while working with each individual student on their own particular interest. I want to work with you on your problem areas, taking one at a time, and moving on from there. If you sign up for a class, from there we can talk about your personal goals. You will get plenty of personal instruction.

Location:  Studio Blasquez - 10382 Donner Pass Road Suite 2
Cost is $75

Paint Days are on Wednesday:
May 28
June 11
June 25
July 9
July 30
August 20

*Note. Please email me to sign up for this class. ranblaz@hotmail.com or call - 916-952-7914.
These dates may change due to sign up fluctuations. 

I will also be teaching at Patris Studio in Sacramento on select Tuesdays this Summer from 11:00 am till 3:00 pm. We will work on the basics, still life set ups or you may work from your own photograph.

Location: Patris Studio and Gallery - 3460 2nd Avenue, Sacramento
Cost: $40
Contact me at ranblaz@hotmail.com or 916-952-7914 to sign up for this class.

Paint Days are on Tuesday:
(the first date is posted, with more dates to come)

Tuesday June 17th - We will be studying the concept of division of space within the composition, values and brushwork with a fun exercise or two. 

It's All About Relationships....

"Last Ski Day at Squaw Valley"
Oil on Linen
10x10"

“When the student begins to see each color in true relationship to the rest, he becomes a painter… Everything begins and ends here”. 

                                                                                                                 Sergei Bongart

Do you know what Sergei was saying here?  I am certainly still learning but I do believe that we need to continually compare every shape, value and color relationship as we paint. 

The basic relationships that we are comparing to each other are value first, color, color temperature, edges and texture. The order after value are not so important in order of significance, it will depend on the order of thinking that the artist follows.

So, thinking, is the key word here. We must think through each step as we paint. One of the most important things we think about is relationships.

If painting were easy, everybody would do it. But it is not easy. It takes a lot of dedication, practice and study. We have to LEARN to THINK LIKE AN ARTIST as we paint. 

I like to start a painting using the rule of simplicity by squinting and sketching a notan or three in order to simplify the design. I will break the subject down into 3 to 5 shapes. This is where I will compare values. 

Which shape is darker? Which one is the lightest shape and which one is more of a middle value. At this point you will need to decide which value will be dominant. From here everything is compared to what it is next to, but also you must step back and compare the values as a whole. Or you can do this in your design while sketching out your notan.

Here are some examples of a notan design:

In this case I used a couple of gray value brush pens to quickly mass in the shapes. I was looking for the most pleasing design. Our eyes will see the design more accurately in a small sketch. This sketch must have a border in order to contain it - this is the first and most important element in design. The border must match exactly the proportions of your canvas.

I liked the third option best, it is middle value dominant, the light is secondary to the middle value and the dark is the smallest shape. This is the a very important element of design, and one we want to work out before we begin our painting.

Now you have the basic design for your painting. How great is that? If you keep this design as you work through the thinking process of comparing in a step by step manner, you can't go wrong.

Please let me know what you'd like to talk about next regarding the painting process and what area gives you the most trouble. I love talking about this stuff.

Workshop Day Two

I have to share some photos from yesterday's workshop. We had a wonderful day out at Lover's Point in Pacific Grove.

After the sun began to set we found the light to be amazing, and continued to paint.....

I haven't had a chance to take photos of the artwork yet. I've been here for three weeks already and this view never gets old. It changes so many times each day as well as throughout the day. The colors are very inspiring.  Going home on Friday.

Workshop Day One - Rain at Fisherman's Wharf

We had rain today for the first time all month. It also happened to be my first day teaching a workshop here in Monterey. It's okay, it was still beautiful, although a bit chilly and wet. We made arrangements to paint on the pier under a patio roof to stay dry.

I loved working with my students from the Sacramento area, I have missed them. Above I demonstrated how to paint a notan before starting the initial study. This gave us the opportunity to concentrate on the design element and at the same time observe what was in front of us.

The most important thing out there is to relax, use your view catcher and look for a way to simplify what is in front of you. It was a challenge because we had to stay under the patio to stay dry and so our options were limited. Everything around us was rather busy, complicated and overwhelming. So it was a good exercise in learning to make it into a simple design.

I painted a quick Notan study. We used a two value design concept to begin the study in paint and after that we added a third value. The important thing is to keep it simple and make the decision about the dominant value shape. Our choices are the dark, the middle, or the light value. Always in a good design, one of them will be dominant. It doesn't matter which one - you will have a middle keyed painting, a darker painting or a light key painting. 

Try to keep an attitude of exploration. Try things and don't worry about mistakes. It is all an experiment! Take your time and paint as many Notan studies as you need in order to find the best design for your painting. 

After this you are free to paint your color study with the value design already established, which will free you up to think through the process in a more creative way. Just be careful to stay within your value shapes with smaller variations of value, using color. Simple as that! But as they say, not easy. This exercise will teach you to see and "think" like an artist.

Rainy Day at the Wharf
Oil on Linen Panel,  6x8"

Last Night and This Morning

 Patris arrived yesterday evening to stay a couple of days. We had a great time last night just before sunset on Lover's Point, just had time for a quick study.

This morning was bright and sunny, a little breezy, but we went out again to catch some color. Tonight we head over to Sunset Drive to catch the sunset, although it will be cold. We decided last night to bring our cars over and park them to block some of the wind. We will see how it goes, but it was so beautiful last night we have to give it a try......

Fisherman's Wharf and Lover's Point

Light at the Wharf
Oil on Linen Panel   8x6"

The Point
Oil on Linen Panel  8x6"

The pink stuff is out in full bloom now. The weather today will be the high 60's which is the warmest since I arrived. My friend Patris from Patris Studio and Gallery will be here to paint with me tomorrow. And the students for the workshop next weekend will be arriving on Thursday. My friend Dee will be here this week also. I'm ready for it!
Have a wonderful Easter my friends....

Plein Air Convention Day Three

Carmel Beach Afternoon

Oil on Linen  8x10"

Buy it Here

I painted this piece yesterday afternoon when all the painters went out. I have to say that being out there with these big names is a little like going out on the golf course with Tiger Woods. Scary. But I made myself get out there. I had never been to the beach south of Carmel. Wow is it beautiful. After painting here I went on a little drive to the State Park area where I found a bunch more painters. I enjoyed watching a few of them for a while, including Kathleen Dunphy. I loved her little piece. It is amazing to see all these umbrellas out there where the artists were painting together. What a sight.

Day Two at the Convention

"Docked"
Oil on Linen Panel   8x6"
Available HERE for $95 for the rest of April

Yesterday I got to go out and paint a little while between conference presentations. I didn't get finished with this little piece so I finished it today.  One of the most enjoyable things about coming to this event is that I get to meet other artists out there while painting. I painted along side a lovely lady who is also a teacher, from Texas yesterday. Her name is Maren.  I hope to paint with her again soon.

This morning I got to see a double demonstration with Randy Sexton and Larry Moore. It was very intertaining! They painted a model on a motorcycle up on stage. I'll try to get some photos of their finished works and post them for you..

This is where I was out on the Wharf again yesterday. The group went out to Asilimar this evening to paint, but I decided to take a break and paint tomorrow. We are going to Carmel Beach.

Thanks for stopping by....

Plein Air Convention Week in Monterey

"At the Wharf"

Oil on Linen Panel  6x8"
This painting is available HERE for $95 for the remainder of April

I arrived in Pacific Grove a couple of days ago and unpacked my gear because I'm gonna stay awhile.
I'm here for the Plein Air Convention, but I'm staying to paint and teach a workshop. I found the cutest little cottage here in Pacific Grove. The weather is beautiful after driving down from Truckee in the falling snow. Then a night at my daughters house in Sacramento, and the drive to PG.

I was a little tired if you know what I mean. But I got up early and got some things unpacked, showered and went for a nice little walk to the beach. Only three little blocks to the Ocean, right at the Lovers Point Park. What a great location! I'm scoping out places to set up and paint. The parking situation looks pretty good for those students who are coming to paint with me. We might have to move our cars every couple of hours or park on a side street. But that's not so bad. I need to make sure there are restrooms nearby too.

At the convention I will be going out to paint in three or four locations. They are taking us to Carmel Beach, Point Lobos, Asilomar State Beach and Fisherman's Wharf.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Convention and I've had a couple of days to get settled in. Today I went out and painted with the Plein Air Painters of Monterey. They hosted a paint out at the Wharf.
Before I met them this morning, I stopped west of Lover's Point.

"West of Lovers Point"

Oil on Linen Panel   6x8"

This painting is available HERE for $95 in April

I had to get out there today and get my fingers dirty. I have not painted outdoors since last June in Southern France. As you may have guessed, I'm not really that much of a plein air painter. By that I mean I don't usually hold up out there for long before I start to loose energy and focus. So I paint in the studio for the most part. But that doesn't mean I don't believe plain air painting is essential. It is! 

I've been working very hard to get more healthy and take care of myself. So the rest is in God's hands. I do know this, if I can keep at it, I will. 

These two pieces are just to get me going and I'm hoping to get some more in this week out there, along with about 700 other painters that are here for the event. My plan is to paint small and keep it simple. My goal is to paint using the transparent color wash method to design in an abstract manner as I begin each painting. From there I want to lay in thick confident strokes of color using a large brush. I'm hoping to get more confident and more bold as I go. I feel better just getting started today. I  am pretty rusty so let's hope it gets better!

The week will be packed full, but I will try to keep you posted. But the weather looks good and I'm gonna get out there and paint!

New Inspiration and Exploration

Yesterday my dear friend and fellow painter and I spent some time in the studio together. She liked a photo I had taken last January of a snowy tree scene. I had been wanting to paint it myself so we set out to see what we could do with it. 

I decided up front to stay away from copying the photo, to just let something happen and to have an attitude of exploration. From start to finish I made decisions based on this attitude. I've never had so much fun painting in my life...

I began with the Color Wash Method using my special "sauce" by dipping my clean brush into the varnish and then touching the pure pigment on my palette. I am carful to stay with the transparent colors in the beginning. I was thinking about harmony and musical notes as I designed the trees, going dark initially, with the knowledge that I can go back into the darks to adjust values.

Now, more opaque color comes into it, and I enjoyed the process of painting back into my initial design with a middle tone, painting negative shapes to design the trees.

Here I decided to add some lights into the sky using the negative shape technique. I thought this would help me see the middle values better so I could continue to adjust as I went along. The fun thing about this "attitude" is that I just wanted to see what "happened" as I tried ideas driven by inspiration. 

At this point I had no idea how things would turn out, and that was okay! It was so very freeing to paint this way. You can see I decided to paint the snow using cool shadow mid-light values and then warm light. Still painting negative shapes into the initial dark pattern. Letting things happen here!

Still thinking "what if" I added some very warm lights into the area of the more distant trees. I was having a lot of fun ignoring the "rules".

Looking at it again, I decided although I liked the warm lights, that I wanted to push those trees further back and simplify them. Still thinking "what if" I also went into some of the forward tress with a lighter value of cool gray to suggest cool reflections into the shadow side. I softened some of the edges and threw in some final pinkish highlights to bring the eye to the focal point a little bit, but I wasn't working real hard to create a strong focal point. My concept was more about the patterns of dark and light. I also adjusted some of the shadow areas in the snow in the forward area to bring in some patterns of mid-light value. 

After this I decided I wanted to try painting the same scene again in a different way to see what happens. I was in full creative mode at this point. A rare occurrence. I was loving it.

My idea for the concept of this piece is to use more color and lighter values. It will be more of a high key painting with some pastel color. I started with the same wash technique, but I used a lot of the Rose pigment mixed with some warmer yellows and Oxide Red to get a very warm pink underpainting. I enjoyed using a mid-light cool blue violet opaque color to design the negative shapes of the snow and sky at this point. 

I will have to go back tomorrow and work on this next piece because today I have to finish my taxes. Ugh! But such is life. I plan to continue to explore painting this scene in difference ways, keeping in mind that I want to let things happen in a more abstract way, while trying different concepts along the journey. I'm thinking after this next one that is 16x20", I'll go big with a square format. Can't wait!!

New "COLOR WASH" DEMONSTRATION...

I finally got back to the studio today, We've been busy finishing up with the last of the big move up here to Truckee (yes still at it), and getting ready to put our house in Folsom on the Market. Brought up some more art supplies. I need a bigger studio!! Or perhaps I have too many supplies? No. Never.

Anyway, I had fun today with my painting. I felt free to do what I wanted for the first time in a while. It always takes some time to get going again after a trip, but today I was determined to just have fun and explore. I need to do this every time!

The workshop went very well last weekend in Sacramento. I can't wait to do it again. I thought it might be a good idea to demonstrate what I taught - the Color Wash Method - so here ya go..

I started with the varnish wash of pure color. You can see I let it run. No worries here because it just adds to the abstract glowy thing that I like. My goal is to allow some of the washy color to show through to create abstract shapes. The scene is snowy with shadow in the front and very little afternoon light coming through from the distance. The sky wash was a pink created with pure rose on my brush dipped into the "sauce" or varnish. I painted on top of the pink wash while it was still wet, which allows me to manipulate the edges and blend when I want to. If I don't want the blend, I use a loaded brush with a light touch. I like painting into and around the trees with the sky and mountain color in a negative way in order to describe the foreground trees in a more abstract way.

I blocked in the bushes in the foreground using Transparent Oxide Red mostly with a little mixed violet added to the brush at the same time. No mixing yet. Then I began to add the opaque paint on top of the wash. I also added some mid-tone Yellow Ochre colors for some of the lighter areas to describe the branches a little bit.

Here I began to paint the shadow and light areas of the snow. I was hoping to create a nice design of shadow to create interest and a nice pattern of light that will lead the viewer into the painting. I concentrated on letting some of the abstract shapes come to life on their own while painting around them with a loose and loaded brush stroke.

I finished the shadow area of the snow in the foreground and moved into the background again to manipulate the tree limb shapes while softening and/or describing them.

I really loaded up the brush for some final strokes....