Free and Easy

Quincy, my "step dog" is a lively, loving dog whose tail never stops wagging. I wanted to do this portrait keeping the idea of movement, as it defines him. I chose to be spare and loose with brush strokes and not "finishing" the portrait to give the sense of a moment in time.

Making Changes

This image proved much more difficult than anticipated. I struggled with the design and the simplicity I wanted to create. I realized that the branch in the foreground was killing the painting. I attempted at first to diminish it but soon realized it needed to be gone completely. Then I decided to make it more abstract too. Not sure how I feel about the results but I think it's a good example of making big changes in a painting.

Paintbrushes

Often, though I enjoy painting them, still lifes don't make a lot of sense to me. Why combine the various elements...for what reason. But this just made sense.

Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Sunlit Birches

This pastel was done as part of the Gallery On The Green in Woodstock, VT Save the Barn benefit.

A Challenge

One of the more difficult paintings I have done. I had to "talk" to myself continuously during the process of creating this image. It was important that I not make the highlights on the lit church side of the street too white and that I balance all the other lights in the painting so they aren't too bright and not compete. Then there were the cars...how to hint at them and not be too visible. Once again I went for the abstraction of shapes to create the recognizable story.

Ducks

I was in a park with my son and saw these colorful ducks. Loved their reflections but was frankly surprised when it came out. I was hoping to capture their fluffiness along with their movement and color.

Family Reflection

With the first snow, I'm posting a warm painting. I was drawn to this family walking on the beach and reflected in the water...a fine moment.

Majestic Cow demo

I saw this cow in Peacham looking off in a regal manner and had to paint her. I was almost done when I stepped away and saw that the shadow was way too green to hold up against the overall warmth of the painting. So I added some warm oranges and reds to the foreground shadow and lightened and softened it a bit and the cow went back to being the hero.

Autumn Light

I am always attracted to light, and the light in Autumn can be magical. Driving home from Peacham one day I was stopped by the beauty of this scene. I thought it would work out best as a pastel in order to get the different textures that one can achieve with the strokes of pastels.

cherries

Sometimes, I just want to paint cherries.

Outlook Oil Demonstration

I was drawn to the yellow field in Peacham which overlooked the hills in the distance. But, I thought for a painting, it would be nice to add some cows both for hits of color and to highlight the overlook. Having had training in illustration, I often combine more than one image to create my painting. The other interesting thing that happened is that because I photographed stages of the painting, I realized at one point that I had gone too far with detail because the image before was better. So, I wiped away at much of the foreground in order to once again bring focus to my hero...the cows.

One of my first beach paintings. I am drawn to the light and how it shimmers around people on a sunny beach day. These people were packing up at Stinson Beach on a rare sunny day there.

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OIL PAINTING WORKSHOP IN TUSCANY

September 14 to 23, 2011 (includes traveling days)

Join award winning artist Aline Ordman for a fabulous week of painting, eating and enjoying the beauty of the Tuscan landscape. We will be staying at the beautiful villa community of Quercia Al Poggio

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Copper Pot Demo

My students wanted me to do a demonstration of a copper pot. I had an 18 x 18 inch canvas and realized that in order to get the demo done in a reasonable amount of time...say around one hour....I need to work fast and loose. The result was once again reinforcing the concept of painting shapes with regard to value, intensity and hue rather than "thinking copper pot"

silver pot pastel

This demo in pastel of a silver pot was part of the same Community College of Vermont class where I demonstrated the glass jar. Both have the same theme...that is, to look at the abstract shapes, colors and values rather than think about a silver pot. From this concept, the pot then emerges.

Suntan Lotion

Painting figures in a beach setting is a favorite of mine. The light and the colors inspire me to be loose in my brushstrokes and not too detailed. I also love the casualness...capturing that moment in time where someone does something for an instant.

Onions

I always find it's fun to paint onions

Street Fair

Part of a series I did putting people in ordinary environments. Still working on doing this in a looser way.

Sky at the Fells

On this first day of snow flurries and slippery roads I am remembering summer and painting this pastel at the Fells historic site in Sunapee, NH

The Quarry

While in Maine last summer, among the places I saw was a quarry where tons of seagulls hung out. The rocks and flowers surrounding the water were lovely though the smell not great!

Glass Jar

This is a pastel demonstration from my Pastel Intensive I am teaching at the Community College of Vermont. My students were intimidated by doing glass so I told them to get out of their heads about "what it is" and just paint the abstract shapes they saw and like a little miracle, the jar emerged.

Pears Demo

Lots of photos but I think a good step by step demonstration of my little painting of pears done in class yesterday. The concept was to use the idea of 10 strokes...make each stroke definite in both value and color. Some of the photos look like they are the same but each does have another brush stroke added.

Copper Pots

Just a fun still life exploring the wonderful reflections of metal...in this case, copper.

Olives

The "lead in" to this small 6" x 6" painting were too unclear...shot with my now old camera. I now have a new one that I hope will allow me to show more demos that come out clearly. Doing small paintings can be very instructive in learning to be expressive in both color and brushstrokes. I know, this painting needed the martini glass!

Foggy Cows

Also a little different for me. I was drawn to the cows emerging from the early morning fog.

Something Different

Well, something different for me. I was attracted to the abstractness and uniformity of color of this scene. I "finished" (the version with more windows) and decided that with my somewhat wacky perspective, I needed to get back to the more abstract look of it. So, I took out a lot of the windows which I felt gave too much detail and started to transform it into too much of a "scene" and I also softened a lot of the edges. Not sure I have accomplished my goal, but here it is.

Winter Horses Final Painting

As promised, here is the final version of the painting, Winter Horses. I realized when uploading the images on the previous blog, that I liked an earlier version and that when I added the snow beneath the rocks, it took away from the horses...my heros of the painting. I also saw that the painting was "too warm" in color and needed cooling down. I added some white to punch up the horses as well.