14May

Painting Planning

I attended a music workshop last night that happened to be in held in the space where Quartet is hanging, and one of the students brought up the artwork as a way to describe a musical concept (which thrilled me no end). The discussion made me realize what’s been missing in the violin portrait I started […]
10Mar

Crocus

The species crocus that were buds two weeks ago are in full bloom.
  • On 2017-03-10
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  • botanical, drawing, graphite, yarden
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10Mar

Capitol City Press Tour

Yesterday I went to the Capitol City Press open house with my day job office. Cap City is an awesome employee-owned more-than-full-service print shop, and they’ve added quite a few new capabilities since I was last there. The tables for the catered lunch were made of falcon board,  which is basically corrugated cardboard’s much beefier […]
  • On 2017-03-10
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  • Capitol City Press, print shop, printing
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24Feb

Sketch of Spring Snowdrops

The snowdrops have been blooming in the back yarden for a week, and today I saw crocus buds. It’s nice to see the yarden waking up. I’ve been playing with my new phone camera, too, collecting inspiration and references for future paintings. The color balance and automatic exposure are better than the old one, and […]
  • On 2017-02-24
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  • botanical, drawing, graphite, yarden
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17Jan

Bright red columbine

This is from last night, and took about 45 minutes, complete with mistakes. No sketch first, which contributed to the ‘mistakes’ part. It’s all mixes of golden acrylics’ cad red (hue – I think the pigment is napthol) and titanium white, on one of the brown panels I prepped this weekend. It’s supposed to be […]
16Jan

Paintings start out ugly

It’s been over eight years since I last used oil paints. Yesterday, after a year in my new studio, I finally got brave enough to get them back out. I like to paint on panel, rather than canvas, and I usually make my own. It’s cheap, but it adds a significant delay to starting any […]
  • On 2017-01-16
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  • acrylics, musicians, oils, painting
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18Dec

New painting sketches

I’ve been in my studio for almost a year, but have yet to break out the oil paints. Now I’m one step closer. The sketch is based on a photo I took a few months ago.
  • On 2016-12-18
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  • graphite, Nancy's Fiddle, oils, painting, planning, preliminary sketches
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26Nov

Revisiting Old Art

Friends of mine in Portland own my second-ever oil painting, a still life I started as a university and revisited and finished a few years later because they wanted it and I was mortified to think of displaying it as-is (or as-was, I suppose). When I finished the painting, I painted the edges of the canvas black… except […]
  • On 2016-11-26
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  • musical instruments, oils, painting, piano, violin
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18Nov

three minutes here, four minutes there

I sketched this in snatches, between playing Quebecois tunes. The Olympia French Canadian session moves around between members’ houses, and Charles’ house is particularly interesting to draw. The two musicians moved right after I outlined their hair, naturally.
  • On 2016-11-18
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  • architectural, musicians, pen and ink
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05Nov

Autumn Leaf, and a post for post’s sake

If I’m going to update a blog, it has to be easy. I used to think that was a personal failing, but I’ve come to appreciate that if every good habit relies on sheer willpower, it’s too easy to have days when you never get off the couch. Instead I use every trick I can […]