Blondheim Art Original Paintings

Still Life Study
Oil On Paper
8x10

See my paintings HERE


Painters Journal



The above is a little study I did during the first Sunday Studio Session yesterday. I had set up a little still life for us to use. Bob was drawing, and I painted it. I didn't feel that it was good enough to finish so I abandoned it at this stage. Valerie painted cool cats!! I really love the Sunday Open Studio sessions. I hope more people will start coming. We installed paintings in frames, painted, drew and enjoyed the afternoon together. I did this a few years ago and it was really fun. I let it go but discovered that I really missed the group and so I have started again. Yesterday was the first session. Open studios are a lot more fun than a regular class, because you get to work on whatever you feel like doing. I do frame installation, and give marketing advice and some informal instruction or demonstrations.

I always have some chips or munchies and cold drinks in the ice box. We play all kinds of music. It's a blast!!! My next session is August 5. Let me know if you would like to come.



Painters Tip




Developing Studio Paintings from Location Studies



I have spent a lot of time in the last couple of years doing location studies rather than finished paintings. I still do some alla prima but that is usually only at paint outs where alla prima is required, or for small paintings. I like to do starts or block-ins on location and finish them in the studio where I have more time to develop them. It seems to be the perfect way to paint for me.

I am an expressionist after all, not a realist painter, so the scene in front of me is merely a jumping off place into the painting. It gives me an idea and then the painting take off on its own.

I also use the small field studies to do larger more complex paintings in studio.

Translating a small painting into a large one takes a fair amount of adjustment for success. In a large format there are going to be larger spaces or dead areas. This is not apparent in the small version. It will be rare that a small painting can be reproduced in a larger format exactly as you painted it initially.

Here are some ideas to help you make the transition.

Do several small contour sketches of possible improvements in the composition for a large format.

Use a grid to lay out the current painting, so that you see dead areas or potential compositional problems for the larger painting.

Think about color and value changes for the larger painting. Is the lovely rich color in the small version going to be overwhelming in a larger painting? This is something I have had to learn myself, because I like strong color saturation. I am learning to reduce the color a bit in larger studio paintings so that they don't overwhelm the viewer.

Now is the time to correct any compositional errors that were made in the first painting.

Start with large brushes and keep it loose, not getting fussy in a large format until much of the painting is done. You will want to retain the freshness of the original painting but refine it a bit more.

It won't hurt to take a few photos out in the field to use for reference, but try not to depend too much on them. Better to take field notes on values,color light direction, time of day and use the original study for your references.