Back to work

I've started another in the beach series, this one is from Castiglioncello and more about the colors on the beach than kids. I'm trying a different technique to see if I can get away with less layering. It's kind of cool with just the black and white, so I thought I'd post it before I put in the color.

Another in the series

This is another large canvas, 4'x5', much easier for me to deal with but an interesting challenge of layering oils, you basically have to paint it at least twice. I'm gearing up for a show at Paradigm Architects on First Friday in December, so hopefully I'll be posting many more paintings in the coming weeks.

On another very sad subject, my sweet beautiful dog of 14 years died yesterday. She was such a large part of our lives that it feels very empty in our house today, and especially in the studio where she either kept me company under my desk or kept watch outside the door making sure I was safe. I will miss her terribly.

Exercising my memory

This is a charcoal I did of the Ponte Alle Grazie on the river Arno in Florence (the apartment we stayed is in one of the buildings). It was kind of an exercise to see if I could use the same technique that I had learned on a landscape. This method really makes you look deeply at what you're drawing. I had never noticed in the photo that there is someone fishing under the bridge, I like how it gives a sense of proportion.

My first oil

Now that I'm completely inspired from my trip (and school has started), I've decided to try an oil painting. In the past I've stayed away from oils because of the toxicity and preferred working in acrylic, as well as being impatient for things to dry. But they have come up with water soluble oils (go figure), the process is a little different because I always start with a black ground and oils are more translucent, so it takes a few layers to build up the color. But all and all I love the look of it, because of the translucent layers there is much more depth than you can get from acrylic.

I have started a series of kids on the beach, the first one being in acrylic and 48" x 60" very large that I painted for my house. The rest of the series has been in my head, however, I've just finished the second one in oil. The image is one from Positano, our day at the beach, an italian mom and little girl, it's on a wood panel and is small for me 20" x 30".