pochade_palette

A Natural Approach part 15

Elegant description of what painting can be…

Short video from the Frick Collection

Beyond the palette + Edges

Vicki Sullivan asked about edges so I dedicated the second half to this demo on edge treatment. The first portion is how I think of my palette mentally going "beyond the palette" or off the edge...

We will continue with the Natural Approach series next week.

Link to Paintings

It's been a long time since I updated my website, so I posted a few images of older pieces for you all to study. If you have any questions or requests for video demos regarding a particular piece, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!

Part 14 of A Natural Approach series

The portrait for me is always psychologically frustrating, I want it to look perfect right away and it never does. Watch here how I build up forms slowly trying to get a likeness. It's not there yet, so you are experiencing the real pace at which I work now...

Next week we will try a different demo, I have an idea already.

Social Media Livestream

I haven't looked at the companies Instagram account for a while so I thought I'd share it with you all so we can see what is happening together. You may be familiar with some of these artists and you may not. Hope you enjoy it, the quality of the screen share wasn't as nice as I had hoped. Maybe I can figure something out....

Commission Unveiling

For a significant part of the fall season I was working hard to finish up an important commission "Peony Garden" 43x67 inches on 3 different panels, one of my biggest garden scenes I've attempted to date. It was a project for a client in Utah through Maxwell Alexander Gallery.

I'll post some follow up images or I can answer some questions if there are any.

Happy New Year to all, wishing you a prosperous 2023 in your art making journey!

A 2 hour session! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

If I'm going to finish this painting I have to start putting some time in, so I decided to do a two hour block. I hope you enjoy it and I will see you next week.

Cloud Formations

"First one has to love nature with all ones heart and soul, and be able to study and admire it for hours on end. Everything is in nature. A plant, a leaf, a blade of grass, should be the subjects of infinite and fruitful meditations; for the artist, a cloud floating in the sky has form, and the form affords him joy, helps him think." William Bouguereau

Below is a link to a short explanation on cloud formations that may help you in landscape painting. 

It is better to know wha...

Winter Landscape

This is a repainted version of a sketch I made on location in 2021 here in MA. It has been one of my favorite paintings kicking around the studio so this was a pleasure to make.

Hope you enjoy it!~ Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Delicacy of Brushwork

This painting is another great example of different kinds of brushwork, look at how sensitive of lines he is making in this piece throughout the tree and conversely, piling on paint in areas like the foreground, rocks and building. 

This is an excellent example by Swedish artist; Anshelm Shultzberg 1886 in Demolishing the Old Orphanage. Oil on canvas

A Natural Approach Part 12

Hands. Everyone says hands and mouths are the hardest to paint... probably true. There is so much character in the expression of someone's mouth and eyes etc. The hands tell a story, and this woman definitely has a story. I didn't do them justice but it was an enjoyable time painting them. 

Next week we will change course and do some landscape painting for the Monday evening upload.

With Nature

I don't have a lot of my new work up on my old website so I thought I could post a few every once in a while. I recently photographed this for an article and it made me think of showing you all. 

It is a large work measuring 72 tall by 35 wide, one of my biggest to date that is still around (some were attempted and thrown out or destroyed). The piece was conceived during the pandemic and it was a time when many people were isolated and going for walks to keep their mind in tact. Th...

We paint with Paint

I had friend say one time that in order to "paint thick... you have to paint thick". What was meant of course, is that you are not going to make luscious paintings full of energy, if you are afraid to mix a pile of paint.

This painting by Jean-Paul Laurens, The Late Empire: Honorius is a perfect example and also a big inspiration for me. The paint handling is out of this world, it reminds me that paintings need to be viewed in person and not just through our ph...

A Natural Approach part 11

Welcome back! We continue the series with session eleven, I don't know how long I will continue on this but it is just getting fun. I really want to walk you all through a real painting and this is the only way I know how. Part by part, step by step...  I hope you are enjoying it. If you have any suggestions for extra content in between please let me know in the comments below:)

Berber Bride by Josep Tapiro 1896

This is a stunning watercolor, I like to share things that move me on a really deep level so you can experience it with me. This piece hits me in so many ways but the level of detail is extraordinary. In watercolor as well... amazing.

Cape Cod Sketches

I will usually continue my plein air work in the studio after the fact, and not necessarily with any kind of reference. I find that when I'm out in nature I just enjoy the moment rather than stress out about making it a great painting. 

This video is an example of how I will carry on with my sketches from imagination. 

I go through four paintings so be sure to view to the end, there are some nice snippets if you watch closely! 

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my Patrons here on Patreon.

The community here has been encouraging for me as a creator, social media often times is over saturated and not very personal. I feel this is a closer experience to sharing my life with the people who care about what I’m up to. My wife and I are having a beautiful weekend visiting the Cape, with our dear friends who are truly the greatest supporters of all. God bless 🙏🏻

First look at my other Black Friday piece.

I have these two new pieces available through Maxwell Alexander Gallery for their Black Friday show. It's an online showcase of affordable work meant as an introduction to new buyers.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Natural Approach part 10

We've gone through each stage of how a painting advances. Beginning with the study (completed in acrylic, then oil). Moving into the larger work by blocking in large sections of the painting and eventually developing smaller part; visualizing and inventing the color harmony the entire class. This is an important aspect of this series, not only is it valuable to see how I render something over a longer period but the main take-away or benefit you will receive, is the importance of conceptualiz...

First Look at a new piece of mine called "Midnight"

A small 5x7 inch completed painting with a few studies that I do when I'm thinking about stuff... I've been exploring landscapes with the addition of cows, inspired by farms scattered around our area in Massachusetts. 

It's a common thing that has been painted hundreds of times before, but maybe I can bring a new perspective on it. I've noticed that if I start with an idea of something I have witnessed many times or thought about for a while, then the composition usually feels more...

"Rooftops in the Snow" Gustave Caillebotte 1878

The color harmony and values observed in this piece are amazing; it's on the more impressionistic side of work I study, but a really good example if you consider how efficient it is within a close context of color/value relationships. 

Caillebotte's direct application of paint lends to a nice atmospheric affect that is influenced more by brushwork vs. form modeling. Though, there is a lot of exceptional drawing here as well! 

I hope these examples can give you an idea of...

Years in the making

This painting by George Inness, (Scene at Durham, an Idyll, 1882–85, Oil on canvas on composite board) took the artist 3 years to complete. Next time you feel like "finishing" a piece remember artists before used to spend a considerable amount of time making them look the way they do...

A Natural Approach series part 9

A painting is not a photograph... don't forget that.

When you are at work painting from a photograph it is hard to remember why you are doing this in the first place. Don't forget that a painting was never intended to be a photograph, they are two completely separate and distinct things. 

Most of the comments or what you hear today with regard to realism is "wow, it looks so much like a photograph!" We've all heard it, but it is actually quite annoying. 

Have you ever heard anyone look at a sunset and say "wow, that sunset...

Follow the light: a technical tip

One concept that I briefly skimmed over during the last session on A Natural Approach, which you may have missed because it was slipped in during the mixing of the ambient light falling on the woman's face... Anyway, the idea was if you are aware of the light source and try your hardest to visualize how the light is acting (an artist can study the physics to move beyond mere guessing) then you can paint anything you conceive in your mind. By relying heavily on nature as your guide; truthful e...

A Natural Approach series part 8

The portrait is starting to take form, it's not completed but I was able to push it further this session and I'm happy with the direction things are going. Enjoy and comment below!

This is the first time I've embedded the video directly to Patreon without having a third-party link, so if there are any issues I'll go back to the former way of using YouTube.

Amaldus Nielsen 1838-1932

Norwegian painter that was brought to my attention by Patron supporter, Kasmin Johnson. I wanted to pass along the info if you are not familiar with this artist. 

I particularly like the few that I posted. 

Thanks Kasmin!

A Natural Approach part 7

Leave questions and comments below! Enjoy

19th century painting and photography

I've been thinking a lot about new work that I would like to do in the near future, and this Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret keeps coming back as a source of inspiration. The use of B&W imagery in this piece brings to mind the project we are currently filming, A Natural Approach.

What I want you to notice about his technique here is not just the similarities of pose; though they are striking, and what he did or didn't render from the photographic reference. Rather, examine each imag...