Winter Nest

This is an appropriate image to start catching up with my sadly neglected blog.

Among other things, I have been "feathering my nest".

That means we have taken on the challenge of completely gutting and remodeling our main floor, including new hardwood floors, lighting, ceilings and remodeling the fireplace in the family room. Some kitchen elements have been changed, too. So it has been time consuming, but rewarding.

Homer Exhibition at AIC

The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting an exhibition of 130 watercolors by Winslow Homer. Attend, by all means, but if you are unable to go, they have a fantastic overview of the exhibit online at http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/homer_exhb/overview

Do you know exactly where his permanent studio at Prout's Neck is located? See the menu on the upper right side of that page and click "Behind the Scene" for photos of his palette and brushes, videos of basic watercolor techniques with related artwork by Homer, his locations and much more!

My two favorite painters are John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. Who are yours?

Melon, Grapes and Plums with Shadows

Original Watercolor on Paper
10"x 18"

All done. I've erased most of the pencil marks in this one to keep the high chroma from looking dingy.

What is a Finished Painting?
My personal take on the amount of "finish" in any particular painting is to bring back the experience of being in the presence of the subject. That means using the human visual experience: where we focus on an area of the subject and leave it for a moment, choosing a few other places to look, then return to our main interest. Everything else is incidental, non-focused and merely remembered in the context of the whole experience.

I understand and appreciate work that is "super real", in other words, beyond realism. It just so happens not to be my way of interpreting what I see.

Melon, etc. Stage 5

Here is how it looks so far.

Now for the bunch of grapes

I begin to develop the large bunch of green grapes now.

Third Plum

After the group of 3 grapes, I painted the third and final plum with its shadow.

3 more grapes

Painting in progress


Three more grapes during the painting process in the composition of "Melon, Grapes and Plums with Shadows."

Still Life set up with Melon and Plums

This is a reference photo, at a slightly different angle from the real life viewpoint from which I painted today. My composition is based on tertiary colors; red-orange, blue-violet and yellow green.

One more session and I'll be done, I think.

The Grape that started it all

From the sketchbook

This was the grape that started the whole adventure with color and light today. I am still working on this painting, hoping for some more beautiful light tomorrow morning, so I won't erase any pencil marks until I'm done.

Juicy Melon

From the sketchbook

Here, I just exaggerated the colors I saw in the Tuscan Melon. They really are more flavorful!