Free Live Demo with Q&A

 I am offering a FREE DEMO at Winslow Art Center on Tuesday, March 23. This is part of a series of freebees Winslow is offering next week, in their "Spring Fling".

Slack Tide #6, 11"x14" acrylic on paper

I filmed the process of painting this image, which I will narrate live on Zoom, sharing my thoughts on composition, as well as tools and tips. I will take questions as well. Hope to see you there.

Even though it is free, you do have to sign up for this session. See details and sign up here.

Practicing Composing

 Composition - the arrangement and qualities of elements in your painting - is a topic that seems to mystify people the most about art making. This is my impression from teaching thousands of students over hundreds of workshops over the course of ten years. Here are a few beliefs that some of you might hold. The 'you' is hypothetical.

• You want composition to be a set of rules or guidelines.
• You think composition is something you can learn and then apply.
• You want there to be, or think there is, a set of rules that guarantee 'good' composition.
• You approach abstract painting differently from representational painting from a compositional standpoint.
• You may thing of format as the bulk of composition: the cruciform, the abstract landscape, the grid, for example.
• You think there has to be a focal point
• You believe in a rule of thirds
• You think of 'spontaneous' painting as different from a composition, a composed painting.
• You think a composed painting, a composition, is planned.

Any of this sound familiar? None of it is true. Where do these beliefs and assumptions come from? I've probably contributed to some of these beliefs myself, in earlier workshops. But believing any of the above does serve as a starting point.You can begin to un-learn. You can become aware of assumptions. This is where real composition begins.

In an attempt to address these issues directly I am offering two new workshops this year:

Abstract Composition Bootcamp

Fridays on Zoom, beginning April 9.

 

Paint Solo #9, 22x30" acrylic on paper

In order to become fluent in visual language, you need to become aware of what you do by habit and what you can do by choice. The more fluent you are, the more spontaneity and freedom you can bring to your art practice. See workshop details here.

 100 Paintings

Online with a blog, no zoom. 10 weekly lessons beginning September 8.

Pink Shape, 9x12", acrylic, collage, drawing on paper

 Join me for one or both of the above for a deeper look at what it means to compose.

A New Take on Stripes

 These layered and textured stripes came out of a fallow period, just after an intense six weeks of teaching. I wanted to loosen up, lighten up, and just get some paint on surfaces with no particular ideas. The first couple of days of this practice - just go into the studio and put paint on paper/canvas/panel - felt pretty unproductive, like just spinning my wheels. And it IS just spinning my wheels. But persistence paid off in the form of a new exploration in stripes.

I will be demonstrating these techniques on May 21 on Zoom.

See details of my Technique Takeaway at Winslow Art Center here.

 

Stacked Stripes #1, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #2, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #3, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #4, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #5, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #6, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #7, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #8, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #9, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

Stacked Stripes #1, 11"x14", acrylic on bristol

All of these are available as prints and on products on FineArtAmerica/Pixels. 

The Bristol I am using can be found here.

I use a squeegee to apply paint in many of these. See them here.

Other supplies include Golden paints, Blick Matte Acrylic White, and Utrecht Matte Medium.

Although the pieces do not particularly feature it, some have Golden's new So Flat Matte paint in them. These are just gorgeous, lush paints, with a beautiful consistency and opaque coverage. It just became available at art retailers last month. Here it is at Blick. 

I am excited to experiment more with layers and textures in this new stripe format, and this confirms my hopeful idea that When In Doubt, or when I feel out of steam or out of ideas, just putting paint on surfaces - keeping my hand in it - can lead to a path forward.