John Morra Still Life Workshop

One of John's "Mertz" paintings

I attended the John Morra Still Life workshop at the Teaching Studios of Art in Brooklyn, NY on Oct 28 and 29th and learned a lot. We only had 4 people attend the workshop so John was able to spend a lot of time with each of us which was great considering the Oyster Bay workshop the previous week was sold out so I assume that had 12 people in attendance.

I was traveling from Boston so I tried to keep everything in a single duffle bag so I didn't bring any still life props with me so when I arrived John suggested looking on the street for props while I was on my to get breakfast and sure enough I found all of my props on the sidewalk.  I found a brick and a strange red metal bracket (ala John's Mertz paintings), a ragged red glove and Rob Zeller's studio had a horseshoe that I also used.  It was so Mertz-like that John did his demo quick-painting demo using my setup.

Day 1 - John handed out notes and had a little lecture on his processes and what we would be covering in the workshop.  We did the drawing portion in the early part of the day and then blocked in most of our paintings until the end.   We all used portable grids to do our sketching from.  John explained how we could make our own grids at home.  John also said that he was willing to stay as late as everyone wanted but unfortunately I only was able to stay until 6:30 but I thought this was very generous considering the scheduled time was until 5 pm.  He did the same the following night as well and once again I couldn't take advantage because I had to go to the train to head home.  I didn't find out until 6:30 that all buses were cancelled because of a freak snow storm in Boston and I had to stay another night.

Day 2 - We finished our paintings using John's flag process which involves painting in the major parts of the painting and the adjoining objects and adjusting and building colors and values based  on the adjoining object's colors and values and then using this method all over to fine tune it.

I would like to take a longer class from John in the future because 2 days was not enough time to pull from his knowledge and experience.  If you want to get John involved in a heated discussion, ask him what he thinks about painting from a photograph!  Right John?!

Rob Zeller was awesome and thanks to him for hosting this event.  I will definitely be back for other workshops.  It was pretty cool seeing his studio and working under and around his paintings.

Rob Zeller's studio space next to where the \workshop was held.

 
I really had a great time in New York for my 3-day stay and if you ever get a chance to go to the Metropolitan Museum I would highly recommend it.  This is a massive museum with some of the worlds most spectacular paintings.  The museum itself is a work of art.

This was my still life setup.  I found the brick, glove and odd piece of red metal on the street.  John thought it was close to his own "Mertz" paintings so he chose to paint this for his class demonstration.

John and I on the last day of the workshop
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John chose my painting to do a demo on how he does his block-in portion and how to judge hues and values and work from one area of the painting to next by building off of the hues and values of adjoining hues and values.

Robert Liberace Workshop Photos

I will post the Robert Liberace Workshop photos soon... I hope.

Robert Liberace Workshop

I attended the Robert Liberace 3-day Alla Prima Potrait and Figure painting workshop hosted by the North River Arts Association this past August 27-29th and it is was a great experience.  Rob is very great at what he does which is paint and teach.  He is very patient and encouraging and has the ability to look at your work and know exactly what needs to be addressed and he is very good at expressing his suggestions for your painting.

We had about 20 people in the workshop but Rob did manage to get around to each of us about every hour.  He started each day with a demonstration every morning for about an hour and then we worked on our own paintings.  The first day was drawing from a live model with a single pose.  The second day was painting a full figure and the third day if was full figure if you were not facing the model directly and if you were facing the model, you could do a portrait.  The size of room really didn't allow for everyone to do a portrait so that is why it was setup this way.

The lunch was graciously provided by North River Arts Association each day and we all sat down to lunch together with Rob and his family on one day.  At the end of the workshop Rob sold off all of his demo drawings and painting via a luck-of-the-draw process. On the last night we had a little celebration with Rob and his family across the street at one of the participants home and that was a very nice end to the workshop.

One word about Rob's assistant Gio (Giovanni).  I had the privilege of working next to him for the entire workshop and this is one of the nicest and most helpful people I have every met.  He was Rob's right-hand man for this workshop and was extremely helpful.  He took photos of the entire workshop.  He took photos of all the models from everyone's easel and posted them for us all online so we could review them when we got home.  He and his wife were very nice.

I would highly recommend any of his workshops to anyone without hesitation and if you want to attend some nice workshops, check out North River Arts Association and join if you're in the area at www.northriverarts.org.  Rob's website is:  www.robertliberace.com.  I have his Alla Prima Portrait video and it was worth every penny.  If you take his workshops, you can buy his DVD's minus the $10 shipping charge.

Won first place for the Trekell Brush Contest

I received notice today that I won First Place for the Trekell Brush Contest.  I'm very happy with that news and congratulations to the other winners!  I will put Trekell's gift certificate to good use.  It's always great to receive new art supplies... especially when you have a gift certificate.

Thanks Trekell!

Here's a link to their web site if you would like to check out their products:
http://www.trekell.com/

Finalist for Trekell Paint Brush Art Contest

I received a email today with a voting ballot for the Trekell Paintbrush Art Contest and my painting was one of the three finalists so I'm pretty excited about that.  It was a good contest to get my feet wet and I'm happy to be one of the finalists. Good luck to the other two finalists.  

Know How To Darken and Lighten your Colors

One the of the important things you can learn from painting colored value scales is what colors can be added to your base colors to lighten or darken them.  I learned a lot about this while painting my color wheel over the last 3 classes.  Here are some of the basic combinations and if you don't have these exact paint hues, you can substitute another as long as it's in the same hue, value and temperature range.

Cad Yellow Light = Darken with Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna and Raw Umber
Cad Orange = Darken with Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber
Cad Red Light = Alizarin Crimson
Permanent Green Light = Viridian
Thalo Blue = Ultramarine Blue
Violet = Ultramarin Blue, Alizarin

Some of the darker colors such as Dioxazine Violet, Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson straight out of the tube are already a 2 value so not much darkening is necessary. 

You can add Complements or Black to darken these further.  Some say to avoid Black at all costs but if you use it then use it sparingly.

Create a Value Finder

I created my own value finder last week and I've been keeping it with
wherever I go. I've been caught a few times by curious people and
they have no idea what I'm doing.

They probably think I'm picking out paint colors for my house.

I'm trying to train my eye by guessing values of objects I come across
throughout the day and then I hold it up to see if I'm correct. This
is definitely nerdy-artist behavior but I don't care as long as my art
improves.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Paint your own Color Wheel

I've been enjoying my classes with Stuart Dunkel and we've been working on creating a color wheel for the past two sessions and discussing color theory and mixing as we go. We're working around the wheel starting with the Yellow and working around in order to the Blues.

In all honesty I'll getting tired of doing the wheel but I have learned a great deal in creating it and it's something I can keep handy in the studio for reference or for when I have my own students.
If you've never painted one then I highly suggest it.

PS - I hope I finish tonight because I want to work on something fun!

Working with a Zorn or Limited Palette

Lately, when I don't have the mindset to work on a full painting and I just want to relax on the couch, I've been plopping down some colors in my cigar box pochade box using the Zorn palette and doing some oil sketches on 5x7" panels.  I just put the cigar box on my lap and do quick sketches using photo references I've printed out or directly from my laptop screen.  It's comfortable and most importantly I'm painting!  Instead of watching mindless television (well, I still have it on) I'm mixing paints and painting.

I'm doing small oil sketches and mini portraits (5x7 panels) and using a limited palette of ivory black, cadmium red medium, yellow ochre and titanium white and I'm truly amazed at the vast amount of colors you can obtain with these four colors.  If you add in ultramarine blue you have a pretty extensive range of hues to work with.

If I'm just pushing colors around and experimenting, I will paint on recycled boxes that I coat with acrylic gesso and when I'm done I'll just toss them out.  Every once in awhile I create something that I love and so I trim the piece and save them although I have to admit that I do get mad at myself when I create something great and now it's on a piece of cardboard.  So learn from my mistakes and don't get caught up in your paintings if you use these temporary recycled cardboard canvases.

As for the cigar box pochade box, I bought a used cigar box from a cigar store at a local mall for $5 and it measures about 9" x 12".  There are larger ones but that was the largest one they had available that day.  The best thing to do is call a cigar store and ask them if they give away the old cigar boxes.  They may not give them away but just sell the old boxes.  If they do give them away or sell them, ask them to hold one for you or ask what days they get new shipments so you can stop in and pick one up.

Must Have Books for Serious Artists

 I know the business end of an art career is on the bottom of the list of enthusiast endeavors for most artists but it is a necessary evil if you want to continue to create art and also have a life.  I'm currently pursuing art in parallel to a full-time computer job so a lot of the pressure to earn a living with my art is not as heavy than if art was my sole source of income, but that being said, I believe also allows me to slack off a little more easier than I would like to.  In order to keep on track with my art I have to create a schedule of tasks for myself and I created a time line to achieve those goals by.  I took this idea and many others from the three books I mention below.

I don't believe in recommending or endorsing any product unless I've used them or in this case, that I've read them.  Therefore, I can say honestly that as an artist who's serious about their art work and the business of art, you have to read the following three books on the business of art.  Even if you purchase the book, use the information and resell it in Amazon.

Here are the 3 must-have books on the business of art:

1. "I'd Rather Be in the Studio!" by Alysson B. Stanfield
2. "How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul" by Carol Michels
3. "The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love" by Jackie Battenfield,

Since I've read these really informative books I've been taking steps to move my art goals forward.

I've created my own web site http://www.rickmercerdesigns.com/ along with this blog, participated in an art festival, and signing up for Rob's workshop is one of the more larger steps I'm taking to improving my artwork.  My goal is to take a least one workshop a year and possibly two per year if finances permit.  I plan on using a lot more of the ideas within the pages of these books and see where the future and my art take me.

Robert Liberace "Alla Prima Portrait" Workshop

In keeping with my art goals for the year, I've signed up for an art workshop with Robert Liberace this August in Marshfield, MA.  It will be a 3-day Alla Prima Portrait Workshop and I'm really excited because I've been a huge fan of Rob for awhile and of the group of students that have come out of the Studio Incamminati and have worked under the great Nelson Shanks.

Taking an Art Class

"Balance of Good and Evil" (16" x 20" oil) ~ Stuart Dunkel

I signed up for art classes with Stuart Dunkel at the Nautilus School of Realist Art in Watertown, MA which is a small, seven person studio setup.  He's a fabulous artist and a great teacher as well.  You can visit his web site at:  http://www.stuart-dunkel.com/.

I discovered Stuart while reading through Jeff Haye's art blog and I'm glad I did.  I've learned a great deal in the four classes I've taken so far.  I've already learned a great deal more about coloring mixing and making better choices for my paint choices.  There's only four and sometimes five students in the class so it's very intimate and questions are quickly answered. 

Requirements at work and the huge amount of snow storms Massachusetts has received has prevented me from attending any classes in January but we're back on track this week.

Sebastian Kruger and me at Newbury Fine Arts

Sebastian Kruger and I at "Face To Face" Opening Reception

Sebastian Kruger and I posing in front of his fabulous and humorous "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" painting (94" x 63").  Sebastian is truly a very nice guy and thoroughly enjoyed the opening reception.  He very gratiously posed for all photos and very forthcoming with questions.  This is what being an artist should be all about.  Gratious and willing to share ideas and thoughts and open to the public and fans of their work.

I hope to attend his next workshop whenever that may be.  His wife said they have a few big projects coming up and things will be busy with the Krugers for some time, but hopefully it will not be long before the next Kruger workshop.

Thanks again to Robin and Claire at Newbury Fine Arts.  Please pay them a visit if you are in Boston.  They are located at 29 Newbury Street in Boston.