Pink Pig

"Pink Pig" 6x6 

oil on panel

I did this demo today for my students. It's a Carol Marine lesson where you block in everything with burnt umber and wipe out the values until you have a three value design. Then you can add color. My 'girl's" worked hard on this tough lesson and the results showed that they got it. I have a thing for these Dollar Store pigs and by now they are expecting them ;)  I have a blue one too.

30 in 30 #12 Miss Piggy

"#12, Miss Piggy"

6x6 oil on panel

Yesterday, my two fabulous ladies came for their first painting lesson this season and we painted the white pig for the value lesson. They said that they'd lost their skills after all this time, but they hadn't. This is my pig demo which is standing in as today's 30 Paintings in 30 Days entry.

30 Paintings in 30 Days #10 Piggy Bank

30/30 #10 Piggy Bank

5x5 Oil on Board

Yesterday was my first Painting a Day class at Von Liebig Center for the Arts and 12 adventurous Ladies showed up to paint with me.  One thought she was in over her head and was about to bolt when we talked her into staying. She ended up surprising herself.

I must say that they were fearless and unaware of their abilities and, we had fun which is the prerequisite in this class.

I did this demo of my dollar store pig which counts as 30 Painting in 30 Days as I'm sure Leslie Saeta would agree.

Gray is the Way

I'm in value boot camp and nothing is as it really seems when it comes to lights, darks, reflected light and local color. The whites can't be too white or there's no room for the highlight. So what color would 'read' white, but not be straight from the tube white? 

Grays. Green gray, violet gray, orange gray ad infinitum. You can mix endless beautiful grays. I'd like to say that I finished this but I wiped it because I veered off the path and created mud. 

It happens.

"Lonely" 6x6 oil on gesso board

Pig Love

"Pig love"
6x6 oil on board

The pig on the right is making "cow eyes" at the other pig because he has a crush on her, but she thinks she's 'all that' and won't pay any attention to him. I think she's going to come around though because he's irresistible. Don't you think?

Check out the rest of this month's challenge paintings at Girls Just Wanna Paint.

I've been painting this little pig again and again to get value and color saturation practice and wouldn't you know that today, the brilliant Carol Marine and her equally brilliant husband David, announced their newest cool DPW idea which is called ArtBytes. 

They are mini lessons on, you guessed it, value and color saturation among other lessons and demos which they've just rolled out. They're making them instantly available through PayPal for very low prices. I snapped up a few today and I'm sure I'll be returning to the 'well' as they add more. I've taken workshops with Carol and she is the best, most thorough teacher I've ever studied with. 

This Little Piggy

 This Little Piggy

I have two fabulous ladies who are studying with me and they were looking forward to painting this little pig prop from the Dollar Tree. I have to say that these girls are really getting it and I am so impressed with their work. This is my value demo which I tweaked a little bit after class. 

Petunia Pig

 She's not the REAL Petunia Pig but she has pretty roses and vines all over her and she's about 43 years old!  In 1967 my father took me to a Red Sox game. We had dinner at the Prudential Center and when I admired this little piggy bank in a gift shop he bought it for me. A great memory of a night out with my dad. The Red Sox won the American League Pennant that year which became known as The Impossible Dream and was the most exciting year (in my lifetime) in Boston Baseball until 2004 when after losing the first 3 games to the Yankees the Sox won 4 in a row to take the AL Championship after which they went on to beat St Louis in 4 games to win the World Series under a stunning full moon!  It was very Hollywood!