If you missed it last week, here’s a funny video of our puppy Sammie and her amazing eyelashes. Click here and be sure to turn on the sound in the lower right.
One principle of art is “value,” which means the arrangement of lights and darks. “Value does the work and color gets the credit,” is a well-known artistic saying. It is recommended (though seldom practiced by me) to do value studies before starting to paint in color. These two value studies are my jar of brushes.
Last week I was blessed to take a three-day Zoom workshop on “Quick Sketch Portraits” with Pam Wenger. (Pam’s website is here.) Here is one portrait I painted, following her instructions.
Our puppy Sammie (Samantha), now seven months old and 33 pounds, has the most amazing eyelashes, which our daughter Kate showcased in this video. Take a look and be sure to turn on the audio in the lower right.
As a discipline, I’m spending 15 minutes a day repeatedly painting the same subject– the jam jars filled with brushes, pencils and pens on my art desk. The different sketches will explore a range of approaches — in this case, positive (top) vs. negative shapes (bottom), with the reversal of bright colors vs. grays in the foreground vs. the background.
There is no greater pleasure in life than curling up in a cozy armchair with a good book.
