Fish Market Fruit Vendor

14 x 11 Watercolor

Still working on learning Castagnet's lessons, particularly dry brush, strong values, and related color. I find it helps if you can find subject matter that is similar to his subject matter, so that when you paint yourself into the proverbial corner, you can look at his work and see how he might have handled things. Here, the subject is RED. Still more JMF than AC, though, as I just couldn't let go of the detail... I might have to try this bigger, see if I can do more swashbuckling and blurring. I think it would translate well into a larger format; not all of them make the jump to being a bigger picture. Sometimes it is just MORE of a not-so-great picture...

Meanwhile, I am allegedly preparing for the Studio Crawl this weekend. Some 35 of us open up our studios to the public for touring, kind of like a parade of homes deal. Some artists view it as a meet & greet, some see it as a sales opportunity or even just a way to grow one's mailing list. Me, I see it mainly as a yearly pivot point around which to gear my efforts to get my act together somewhat, dig through the painting pile, frame a few things, and most of all, to clean my studio. When it's all over is my favorite time; I get to think about painting for no good reason at all, and it's a wide open proposition.

Stop by and visit if you're in the area. #11 on the list.

Should We Ask For Directions?

14 x 11" Watercolor

14 x 11 Watercolor

Tried to do a few quick pieces using some of the things from Alvaro C's workshop, mainly dry brush technique and rigger lines... Castagnet uses dry brush on his figures' legs to show action and movement, says they're too static otherwise. I think maybe it works better when the figures are at some distance and then it operates like architectural shorthand, but I'm not sure I'm a fan of this in every instance. The long slanty shadows are a also a Castagnet convention, and while I like how they activate the foreground, it does feel like I'm just using somebody else's trademark device. Did have fun with the rigger on the Trainspotting picture, though; felt like all those busy marks on the left helped to balance the main figure pushed to the right edge of the picture. I can hear my mother's voice in my head, though "Why did you paint that? Who is that? What's this about, anyway?" and my answer would be "Dunno." Most of the time I really don't know why something catches my interest. For practice, it really doesn't matter anyway. Both of these scenes were from Boston last summer, the one above is in front of the Public Library, and the other is near the art museum, where the T stop is above ground. What exactly is a trainspotter, anyway?

Alvaro Castagnet Workshop

11 x 13"

I painted this, but it is a copy of one of Alvaro Castagnet's paintings. Because it was raining out, we stayed in the studio and walked through his process, using one of his paintings. I did not quite complete it, the front guy/ focal point is lacking necessary final detail, but you get the idea. I think of Castagnet as "the Swashbuckler" because he really doesn't screw around, doesn't mince or fuss or get bogged down in detail, even when the scene may be quite complex. Learned a lot of good stuff last week; wonder if/when it might show up in my painting.