D'Anjou Pear in Late Afternoon Light

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If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see my paintings completed in late afternoon light and also a bunch of my paintings of pears.

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Best,

Quince in Late Afternoon Light (+ Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn cover Europe's “The Final Countdown”)

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Since it's Friday, I thought I'd share this great video of Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn covering Europe's “The Final Countdown” on The A.V. Club. The youtube description reads, "Yes, it’s only the second week of Undercover 2015, and we’re already looking at our second and third banjos of the season. But behold the power of Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, who took the classic-rock staple “The Final Countdown” and reimagined it for banjos and wig. Yes, when Fleck—who’s been widely recognized as one of the instrument’s greats for decades—showed up at AVHQ, he asked whether we might have a “hair metal” wig for him to wear. Since this is also Onion HQ, we’ve got a whole wardrobe room, and a new look was born. (For her part, Abigail Washburn teased her hair and added a headband.) Fleck took the wig with him, and the duo—whose latest collaboration is called simply Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn—has been playing “The Final Countdown” on the road."

To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

D'Anjou Pear in Late Afternoon Light (+ Artist Mario Robinson's new book)

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I wanted to share the good news of the release of artist Mario Robinson's new book, Lessons in Realistic Watercolor. Mario is a contemporary master in every sense of the word. The book features Mario's amazing watercolor techniques and provides practical advice for artists of all levels. Richly illustrated, the book features over 100 of Mario's paintings as well as works by past and present watercolor masters, including John James Audubon, Henry Casselli, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Stephen Scott Young and Michael Lowery. Here's a link to the book, and a quote about it:

"I love this book. Mario Robinson is a contemporary master. With humility and virtuosity he adeptly guides us through every step of how to make a painting. He is giving a great gift by sharing his working practices and secrets. Robinson follows a long line of American masters who have used the watercolor medium to capture the nuances of the fleeting moment and the soul of the American sprit." ~Bo Bartlett

You can see videos and learn more about the artist here. Also, if you're in the New York metropolitan area, Mario is giving a lecture on his work and "Portraits in the American Tradition" at the The Florence Academy of Art (US) on Friday, April 29. I wish I could go!

To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Blue & White Porcelain Cup in Late Afternoon Light (+ Live Demo auction ending soon)

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(auction includes detail views)

Tonight the auction for my live demo painting fundraiser ends. If you look closely in the painting, Still Life with Silver Cup, Two Blueberries, and Muscat Grapes, there's one of my "self portraits" down the center of the cup's reflections. My annual live demos honor the memory of my friend, Jami, and all proceeds from this auction will be donated to the Jami Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship at Arcadia University.

Ending Soon - tonight at 9:15 PM EST

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(auction includes several detail and framed views)

If you're interested, I posted photos from the event, including a photo of this painting on the easel. Also, I invite you to watch the 2 minute time lapse of my live demo below. Hope you enjoy it.



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All my best,

Three Asian Pears in Late Afternoon Light (+ studio photos)

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As promised, I have some photos of my new studio to share with you. I'll post a few at a time in my Studio | World album.

The first few photos show the entryway. Hanging there is trio of original works: a little ink on paper painting of mine, a seascape of mine, and an original hand-printed and hand-signed letterpress print by Seth Godin.

Seth's print includes an epigram from his book, The Icarus Deception, that I read every time I walk into my studio. The first line is "You are not your career" and the last line is "fly closer to the sun." I posted a detail shot of the whole thing so you can read it, if you're interested.

All my new studio photos can be found here. Hope you enjoy, and I'll add more soon.

If you'd like to purchase my work, you can view my Current Painting Auctions and then view All Available Paintings.

All my best,

Bosc Pear (The Green Stripe - La Raie Verte)

Private Collection

The painting references Henri Matisse's The Green Stripe (La Raie Verte), also known as Portrait of Madame Matisse -- a famous portrait by Matisse of his wife, Amélie Noellie Matisse-Parayre. He painted it in 1905.

Last week when I posted Pomegranate in Last Light, I shared a bit about my new studio and the light it has in late afternoon and last light. I loved your email replies about this topic.

Since it relates to this conversation about daylight and last light, I wanted to share my favorite app on my phone: Sunset and Sunrise. I have only a few apps on my phone, but I like this one. It tells me exactly how long it is until sunset, as well as last light. It also includes the exact percentage that daylight is completed. I sometimes find it useful and fun when I am deciding what and when I want to paint.

If you'd like to purchase my work, you can view my Current Painting Auctions and then view All Available Paintings.

Ending Soon
Pomegranate in Last Light
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Pomegranate in Last Light

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In my new studio (photos coming soon), it's new for me to have natural north light and woods outside my windows. As I am adjusting, I am seeing the potential for deep exploration with the north light. I'm not sure what this means just yet, but I do know that the low light in the late afternoon & last light reminds me of some of my favorite paintings by Rembrandt.

Speaking of which, I was planning to spend time tomorrow with the Old Masters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then meet up with the folks at Vasari. I came down with a head cold yesterday, so it will happen next month instead. Thank you for your awesome email inquiries about my upcoming visit, and I will be sure to post about my adventures -- I'm fortunate to live so close to NYC.

Ending Soon - ends tonight at 9:30 PM EST

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Best,


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Framed View:

Fall Apple in Late Afternoon Light

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I've mentioned before that Vasari's alizarin crimson is the best there is. Since I used a lot of alizarin crimson in today's painting, it's a good time to share that Vasari launched their new website recently. Take a moment to check them out; they are an inspiration:

"Like the painter’s apprentice, we still carefully handcraft our colors in small amounts and even fill every tube by hand." [from Vasari's website]

I'm a huge fan of Vasari paints for their purity and handling and consistency, and later this month when I am in NYC I plan to visit their Chelsea showroom.

Happy Monday,


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Eggplant in Afternoon Light (+ New Video; + Sedona Workshop)

Thank you for the flood of wonderful emails regarding my knee. I'm so grateful for your support!

Sedona Workshop Thoughts
I wrote an update about my two remaining 2014 workshops, and I have received several requests to talk a bit about my recent Sedona Arts Center workshop. Tomorrow I'll post snippets of feedback from workshop participants. For now, I'll begin with some related thoughts that have to do with how I begin my paintings.

For me, painting is a daily practice and meditation -- one that is intensely spiritual, transformative, and personal -- and I speak about this in-depth during my workshops.

I find that every single workshop participant expresses how invaluable it is to experience my painting demonstrations, during which I explain my painting process from start to finish.

While there is good reason why it should be impossible, I am able to continuously talk while I am painting to explain my strategies, thinking, intuition, meditations, inquiry, reasoning, joys, ideas, challenges, color mixtures, struggles, questions, and so on.

Workshop participants of all levels share that they learn immensely during my demos because I explain everything from my first brush stroke to my last -- from an open-minded and non-judgmental place. They also say that it is equally as helpful that I occasionally do not have an explanation for something I choose to do in a painting!

New Video: Golden Series painting

In the spirit of these thoughts, the video below captures the first brushstrokes of my most recent painting (background: I shared about my Golden Series paintings in my last post).

If you're in a quiet place, during the 2-min. video you can listen to the pouring rain outside my studio window.

Click here to watch or you can view it below:



The auction for this painting ends Wednesday, June 18th at 12noon.

If you enjoy this video, share it using the links below or click to tweet it.

Happy Monday,

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Here's how this painting would look framed:

Blueberries in a Wabi Sabi Bowl with Mint (+ Tree of Life)

Private Collection

As part of my Paintings of Handmade Pottery project, the handmade bowl in this painting is from an amazing place - Patagonia, Arizona. The bowl is actually called a "wabi sabi bowl" and it's now one of my favorite pieces of pottery. I visited the Tree of Life in Patagonia in May, and am visiting there again this summer because it's so incredible and beautiful. I'll write more about the Tree of Life soon.

In the meantime, I want to re-post what I shared about "wabi sabi" back in April. I'm still reading Leonard Koren's book -- have you read it or heard of it? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so consider leaving me a comment here. I look forward to hearing from you.

Workshop News
I am thrilled to soon be announcing an upcoming workshop for fall 2013 at the John F. Peto Museum in Island Heights, NJ. Look for more details about that in the next week or so.

Ending Soon
Red Grapes in the Last Afternoon Light auction ends Monday, July 8 at 10:30 AM EDT. View Auction

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All my best,

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Red Grapes in the Last Afternoon Light (+ How High Will You Fly?)

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The story of Icarus came up in my life recently, and I couldn't help but think of this and this. I would encourage you to take a moment today to consider the type of thinking about art and artists that Seth brings up (hint: How High Will You Fly?). If you have any down-time today, I'd also recommend that you check out Fly Closer to The Sun and this book. It's all well worth it.

Update on my Contest for FREE Private Painting Mentoring session ($450 value):
All the applications are so amazing; I am having an incredibly difficult time choosing the winner. Thank you for your patience.

Ending Soon
The auction for Avocado Half ends soon at 12:45 PM EDT. View Auction

If you're interested, you can also view all my Current Painting Auctions.

Happy Monday,

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Here's how this painting would look framed:

Golden Series: Strawberry, Plums, and Peach with Handmade Cup (+ Contest Giveaway !)

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Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my blog, and I painted this in the afternoon light (it's the third painting in my new Golden Series). I think the afternoon light in my studio is particularly powerful because it reflects some of the Schuylkill River light.

As a THANK YOU for your interest in my work over the last 5 years, I am GIVING AWAY 5 signed prints. The details of the contest are HERE.

ENDING SOON!
The auction for Still Life with Pear Half and Concord Grapes ends today at 5:30 PM EST.

Thanks,

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FRAMED VIEW

Still Life with Cranberries, Clementine, & Silver Creamer

4 x 6 in., oil on linen on panel
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A re-visit of some favorite subjects... this time with the late afternoon light in my own studio. Also, in case you missed my new figs painting time lapse video, click here to watch it.

If you enjoy today's painting, please share it with your friends using the links below or click to tweet. If you'd like to leave a comment for me, click here.

Best,

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FRAMED VIEW

Summer Peach - series of three paintings

The series lined up together:



Summer Peach No. 1
4 x 3.5 in., oil on linen on panel
Private Collection


Summer Peach No. 2
4 x 3.5 in., oil on linen on panel
Private Collection


Summer Peach No. 3
4 x 3.5 in., oil on linen on panel
Private Collection

I always know it's summer because I'm painting peaches. Today I'm posting a series of three peach paintings. The series isn't a triptych per se, but I did plan ahead to paint the series and I created each painting with the others in mind -- the placement and gesture of the peach each painting relates to the others.

I painted these at sunset on three consecutive days (if you recall, last July I painted three peaches in one painting also at sunset). Because of the direction my studio windows face and because my peak painting time is late afternoon/early evening, this time of year I'm often painting the sunset light. I don't mind at all. I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed painting (and eating!) them.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please leave any comments about these Peach paintings here.

I have another 'series' painting coming up soon, but that one consists of 4 paintings on one canvas. I'll do my best to post that before I leave for Cuba.

Ending Soon! The auction for Still Life with Camembert and Grapes ends at 10:30 PM EST. View auction.

Some Words about My Prints
Yesterday I released Three Cherries as a print in a limited edition of 3. As I wrote in my Why Make Art? blog post from earlier, they sold out today, and I won't be releasing any new prints for the time being. If you're thinking about getting a print, I've posted how many prints are left in each edition -- go here to see available prints. Once these sell out, I will be suspending my print sales. View all available prints here.

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Here's what this painting series would look like framed:

Italian Lemon with Leaves (Italy 2012 painting #5)

4 x 5 in., oil on linen on panel
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This is my final still life from my Italy trip last month. In the afternoon on one of our last days there, I walked to the market around the corner and found these beautiful freshly-picked lemons with long, glorious leaves. Back at the hotel, I set up the lemon in a spot by a window and painted the fleeting afternoon light. When I was finishing up the painting, it was dusk and I could barely see anything. :)

I have to say -- I don't mind when that happens because it always reminds me of my time studying with David Leffel and the almost smoky late-afternoon north light in the studios of the Art Students League of NY. (I should post about that sometime....)

If you missed my last email, I posted my photos from Italy (click here to view them). I've really been enjoying all of your comments!

If you want to read more about my travels and experiences abroad, sign up for my email list HERE (or email me and I can add you).

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Here's what this painting would look like framed:

Afternoon View from Perugia, Italy (Italy 2012 painting #2)

6 x 4 in., oil on linen on panel
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This is my second painting from my trip to Italy last month. One morning, we took a bus from Florence to Perugia. Perugia is incredible, and it has an amazing panoramic view of deep space, the likes of which I've only seen in Italy. In this painting, I tried to capture a glimpse of the space and fleeting early afternoon light -- a most humbling experience. :)

The day before this painting, I spent the day at the Accademia and Uffizi, looking at (and drawing from) the David, as well as life-changing paintings by Piero, Durer, Bellini, Holbein, Titian, del Sarto, Vasari, Tintoretto, Velasquez, Goya, Chardin, Rembrandt, Rubens... and a whole bunch of Dutch painters that just blew me away. I'll share more about the Accademia and Uffizi in my next post. SIGN UP HERE to receive it.

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Here's what this painting would look like framed:

Bartlett Pear in Late Afternoon Light

6 x 5 in., oil on linen on panel
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