Gondolier

Gondolier  watercolor 21.5.x 25.5

Easy guess on this locale:  too-cool Tomaso with trademark hat, hint of a stripe shirt, sitting on wrought iron bridge railing in front of a salmon-pink wall.  Done from a vacation photo from years ago that was my screen saver for quite a while.  The image has always grabbed me, but not convinced that painting it was necessary except to get it out of my system.

Study for Venetian Mask Maker

10" x 12" Watercolor

So many complex bits to this image, it quite got away from me.  IF i decide to do a "real" painting from this, I'll have to figure out how to simplify and yet still give the impression of the cluttered chaos of this little Venetian shop.

Love In Venice V

5 x 8" watercolor

I've now done 5 of these little studies, and I quite like them.... whether they'll ever survive to "real painting" status is another question.

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.