Today's Study - An Indigo Bunting

Today's study is an Indigo Bunting.  Such a pretty bird and so hard to get the exact shade of blue right.  I won't be posting a study for the next few days as I'll be on the road visiting cousins in Te Horo, a small coastal town on New Zealand's west coast, north of Wellington.  Another adventure!

263 - Eastern Bluebird

7" x 5" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S.

SOLD

Today's Oil Study - An Oriole

Today's oil study is an oriole.  I started the day by doing a New Zealand Stitch bird or Hihi, but the background caused problems to I put it to one side and will finish it later.

75 - 262 Oriole

5" x 7" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S.

Today's Oil Study - A Nuthatch

I've not done a study for the past couple of days but I'm back at it.  This little 7" x 5" oil study is a white-breasted nuthatch, a North American species that we definitely don't get in New Zealand!

261 - White breasted Nuthatch

7" x 5" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S.

SOLD

A Productive Day!

 

8" x 10 Oil on gessoed board (still untitled)

I didn't do an oil study today, but instead painted two oils for one of my galleries.  I can see how the 5 x 7 studies have really improved my brushwork - but still a long way to go before I get to where I would like to be.  What is the saying?  It's the journey, not the destination.

6" x 8" oil on gessoed board (still untitled)

Today's Oil Study - A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Today's oil study jumped right off the brush.  Some studies are like that - others take more effort.

260 - Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

7" x 5" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand

SOLD

If you are in New Zealand and would like to purchase this, the BUY NOW button will work for either NZ or US $.  (it's about NZ$90). It will be mailed to you as soon as it is dry in about a week.  If you're in the U.S., I'll mail it when I arrive back in the States - mid-May.  

Oil Painting Workshop - Breckenridge, Colorado July 9-11 2012

I'll be teaching a small, three day workshop in Breckenridge, Colorado, July 9-11. 

Oil Painting Basics from Study to Studio

This three day workshop will concentrate on the basics of oil painting; composition, learning to see large shapes and values and seeing and mixing color. Following my daily painting demos, students will paint small studies which they can later develop into larger studio paintings. Intimate class size ensures plenty of individual attention.   Class size is limited to 6 so register early!  Email me if you have any questions. 

Tin Shop
9:00 am – noon and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
$450, materials list provided w option to purchase materials
Registration 3 days in advance – 970-453-3364

A Landscape for my Daily Painting-From-Life Challenge

In addition to doing my daily 75/75 bird study, I'm also working on my 60/60 challenge - that is 60 paintings in 60 days, from life.  This is 33 of 60.  I've been painting the hills outside the studio and this is yet another attempt.  It's a small piece - 6" x 8".  I'll be showing some of these New Zealand plein air paintings at a group show titled, 'Under the Southern Cross' at the Santa Ysabel Gallery in San Diego County, this coming December.  My sister Joanne Hanson and artist buddy Joe Garcia, are the other two artists in the group show.  They've been painting with me in New Zealand the past two months.

Ignore the little dark things at the bottom of the painting - they're the gizmos on my easel that hold the painting in place.

Today's Study - Great Blue Heron

Today's study is a Great Blue Heron - finally done after wiping a couple off.  Some days are like that!
This is the North American species - though there is a white-faced heron here in New Zealand which is about the same size as the N.A. tri-colored heron.  The background on this piece is warmer - more orange than you see here.  For some reason I can't get an entirely accurate photo of it.

259 - Great Blue Heron

5" x 7" oil study on board

US $75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand
SOLD

If you wish to purchase this piece and you live in the U.S., I'll mail it to you when I return to America in about a month - mid-May.  If you're in New Zealand, the painting will be mailed as soon as it is dry in about a week.  Paypal will convert your payment to NZ $.

This second painting is a little piece (4.5" x 5") I did this morning for my 60/60 Challenge project.  These are the Mt. Bruce/Eketahuna hills that I see from my cottage.  I'm starting to get a glimmer of understanding as to why Cezanne painted the Sainte-Victoire Mountain over and over again.  These hills never look the same way twice and I feel compelled to paint them over and over again until I get it right.

Two more landscapes for my 60/60 Challenge

I'm way behind schedule on my 60/60 Challenge (60 paintings in 60 days from life - no photographic reference).  These two landscapes are my 30th and 31st.  Just over halfway done!  I painted this first little study looking out the studio window to the hills of Eketahuna/Mt.Bruce, about 25K north of Masterton on New Zealand's North Island.  It's just a tiny piece - perhaps 4.5" x 4". Today was chilly and windy, so looking out the studio window was as close as I wanted to get to 'painting on location'.

The first piece gave me an idea of how I could 'fix' the second piece that I'd painted a few days earlier and didn't like.  I simplified it and concentrated on values.   I've noticed such a huge improvement in my little 75/75 bird studies by doing them daily, I'm hoping the same thing will happen with my on-location studies.  *sigh*  Nothing good comes easy!

The Hills of Eketahuna

10" x 8"  Oil on gessoed board

Today's Oil Study - Cactus Wren

It's been a while since I've painted a cactus wren so I've done one for today's study....a break from New Zealand species.  Like the other studies,  it's a 5" x 7" oil on gessoed board.

258 - Cactus Wren

5" x 7" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand

SOLD

Today's Oil Study - Another Tui

I really liked the tui I painted a couple of days ago.  It's hard to just suggest vegetation in a painterly way, especially the New Zealand bush which is a myriad of greens. This study is my second attempt to suggest the NZ bush without noodling it to death.

256 - Tui (2)

7" x 5" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand

SOLD

If you're in New Zealand and would like to purchase this study, the Paypal "BUY NOW" button willtake your NZ credit card and convert it to NZ dollars.  I will mail it to you once it is dry in about a week.  If you purchase it from the U.S, I will mail the painting to you once I return to the U.S. in mid-May, about a month from now.

Yesterday's Oil Study - Pied Oyster Catchers

These little guys are Pied Oyster Catchers,  a common bird native to New Zealand.  It's easy to see them at Sandspit, north of Auckland, where at high tide they stand around in the parking lot.  My internet has been really restricted so yesterday's piece didn't get posted until today, though I did
paint it yesterday - honest!

SOLD

255 - Pied Oyster Catchers

5" x 7" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand

If you're in New Zealand and would like to purchase this study, the Paypal "BUY NOW" button will take your NZ credit card and convert it to NZ dollars.  I will mail it to you once it is dry in about a week.  If you purchase it from the U.S, I will mail the painting to you once I return to the U.S. in mid-May, about a month from now.

Today's Oil Study is a New Zealand Tui

I'm really happy with the way this study came together.  It's a New Zealand tui.  While I was painting it I could hear tuis singing outside my studio.  They have a beautiful song!

254 - New Zealand Tui

7" x 5" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping with the U.S. or New Zealand

SOLD

If you're in New Zealand and would like to purchase this study, the Paypal 'buy it' button will take your NZ credit card and will convert it to NZ dollars.  I will mail it to you once it is dry - in about a week.  If you purchase it from the U.S. I will mail the painting to you once I return to the U.S. mid-May - about a month from now.

Today's 75/75 is a Magpie

Today's oil study for my 75 for $75 project is a magpie (North American).  We have magpies here in New Zealand too, but they're an import from Australia...black and white, stockier and a shorter tail.

253 - Magpie (North American)

5" x 7" oil study on board, unframed

US$75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand

SOLD

Please note:  If you purchase this study and you live in the U.S., I will mail it to you when I return to the U.S. mid-May.  So there will be about a six week delay before you receive it.

Today's 75/75 is a Chickadee

Today's oil study for my 75 for $75 project is a North American species - a chickadee.  I had fun doing the background on this because the board I'm using here in New Zealand is slightly different than what I'm used to painting on when in the U.S.  I've also started using a painting medium - and find that I like it!

252 - Chickadee

5" x 7" oil study on gessoed board, unframed.

US$ 75 plus $6 shipping within the U.S. or New Zealand

SOLD

If you live in the U.S. and purchase this painting, please be aware that I won't mail it to you until I'm back in the U.S., mid-May.  So rather than the usual 1 - 2 weeks before shipping, it'll be about 6 weeks before you receive the painting.  By then it will be good and dry!

Painting with the kids of Eketahuna

Yesterday morning I worked with some of the local kids making banners for the Anzac Day memorial at the newly restored Anzac Bridge in Eketahuna (90 minutes north of Wellington on New Zealand's North Island).  As my father spent five years in Europe with the RNZAF during WWII, my grandfather was wounded and gassed in WWI and great uncles were killed at Gallipoli, I considered the time working with the kids well spent.  Kay Flavell, director of NPS Mt. Bruce where I'm currently artist-in-residence, is responsible getting the ball rolling for the restoration of the neglected Eketahuna Anzac Bridge. It was built in 1924 and inscribed with the names of local soldiers lost in WWI.  Anzac Day, first observed in 1916, commemorates Australian and New Zealand men and women who were killed in war as well as honoring returned servicemen and woman.

I had a great time with the kids who worked well and enthusiastically..quite a few budding artists among them!

#27 and 28, 60/60 Challenge

Aghhh!  What was I thinking when I planned two daily painting projects at the same time?  I'm seriously behind on my 60/60 Painting Challenge (one painting a day from life, for 60 days) but this is only day 3 or 4 of my 75/75 project (75 bird studies for US$75 each) which will continue for 30 days.  I am doing a 30 day residency at NPS/Mt Bruce, a few minutes south of the farming community of Eketahuna at the south end of New Zealand's North Island.  The peace and seclusion means I have absolutely nothing else to do but paint and sketch.

Yesterday, my painting buddy Joe Garcia and his wife Anne stopped by my cottage with the gift of a radio and a bag of feijoas.  What gifts!  I was getting pretty tired of the songs on my Ipod so now I can listen to talk shows and news.  Joe and I painted in the afternoon at the Anzac Bridge just south of Eketahuna.  The low mountain range (or tall hills?) to the west are the Tararuas....so the first piece is titled, Rain on the Tararuas.  

60/60 Challenge #27

Rain on The Tararauas

(painted from the Anzac Bridge south of Eketahuna)

8" x 10" oil on gessoed board

Yesterday morning I painted this tiny opaque watercolor of the view from the cottage, looking over the hilly farmland to the east.  

60/60 Challenge #28

Opaque Watercolor on 300lb Arches Cold-pressed Paper

75 for $75 is Back!

This month, I'm artist-in-residence at NPS-Mt. Bruce, just a mile down the road from the Mt. Bruce Wildlife Centre, so I decided with this 75/75 project to paint both New Zealand and North American birds.  As I'm right in the middle of another project, the 60/60 Challenge (60 paintings in 60 days, painted from life) I'll hopefully make two posts a day - one for each project.  Where do I get these crazy ideas anyway?

I've been trying to figure out if I need two different payment buttons - one for NZ $ and one for US $ - but then I realized that it isn't necessary.  If you're in New Zealand and wish to purchase a piece, when you use your credit card you will be charged the current exchange rate in NZ dollars.  Postage is the same in both countries.  But PLEASE NOTE:  If you're in the U.S. and purchase one of this month's 75/75 studies, I won't mail them until I'm back in the U.S., mid-May.  So rather than waiting a week or two to receive it, it'll be about six weeks.  By then the painting will be good and dry!

Phew, this is almost too much for my right-brain to comprehend.  Stay tuned!  I'll start posting the studies tomorrow.

#25 and #26 of the 60/600 Challenge

I've moved into my home-away-from-home for the next month, a cottage at NPS Mt. Bruce, about an hour and a half north of Wellington on New Zealand's North Island. There's only one other artist-in-residence here right now - a writer named Elizabeth....so this should be a productive month with few distractions.

I was up bright and early this morning and painted the scene from the cottage.  The landscape interested me because the hills were dotted with little sheep which appeared turquoise in the shadow - but by the time I was ready to paint the sheep in, they were gone.  Oh well - they'll be back and I have lots of time to wait!

#25 60/60 Challenge

#26 60/60 Challenge

This is just to the side of the cottage - great old trees that are so thick and dense I could stay dry in a heavy rain. I did this piece as I was intrigued by the warms and cools and wanted to see if I could paint it without noodling it to death.

On the Road Again!

I made a commitment to paint and post (here)  a piece every day between March 6 and May 6th...but I'm on the road.  I'll be back to painting on Saturday (U.S. time) or Sunday (New Zealand time). On Saturday, I arrive at NPS - Mt. Bruce where I'll spend the next month as artist in residence.  Mt. Bruce - the New Zealand native bird sanctuary is only 1K down the road, so I'll have plenty of opportunities to photograph and sketch the birds every day or two which is the main reason I'm spending the month there.  The month at Mt. Bruce will also give me time to catch up on the daily 60/60 Challenge.  

As I don't have a painting to post today, I'm posting a photo I took yesterday at Whiritoa, just south of the Coromandel Peninsula on New Zealand's east coast (North Island)  A cyclone nailed Fiji four or five days ago and is having an impact on New Zealand's weather with lots of rain in some areas and amazing waves.

#23 and 24, 60/60 Challenge

I spent yesterday painting the creek where I learned how to swim.  It's a tidal tributary off the Mahurangi right below the house we lived in...fresh water when the tide went out but salt water when the tide came in.  We shared the creek with lots of fresh water eels - not quite like swimming with dolphins!  Both pieces are 12" x 9" oils.

60/60 Challenge #23

60/60 Challenge #24