Dangerous Snake

Exaggeration is to paint a snake and add legs.

-Chinese Proverb

Just finished this piece for a magazine story where a Man and his boys are out gathering firewood but lose their keys. I am continuing with my pursuit of some semblance of Photoshop painting proficiency. I feel more successful with each finished project, so I think I am almost where I want to be.  I doubt anyone can master all the nuances of Photoshop but at least I am getting comfortable with the tools I need to paint a pretty good picture.

Reaching

The man who never in his mind and thoughts 

travel'd to heaven is no artist.

-William Blake

Stay (Grateful)

Gratitude- 10" x 13" Acrylic

In today's world we are subjected to a constant barrage of negative messages from the media. They will tell you that you can never be rich, cool, pretty or fit enough. That unless you have this new thing or that, you are a loser. That money is easy if you have credit or at least something that you can double up a loan on. Couple that with the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality on all the newscasts and it's easy to lose sight of what's good in life. Today, thank someone for something nice they did for you. Do something nice for someone else. This afternoon,  someone held the bank door open for me after I arrived one minute past closing. The bank folks probably didn't appreciate the fact that I then held the door open for a lady who arrived two minutes after I did. Oh well. It felt good and I took it one step further by buying two twenty-five cent cups of lemonade from some kids on the side of the road. Go ahead and try it. I promise you will feel better and tomorrow will be happier and more productive.  I did this painting for a magazine article extolling the virtues of being grateful.

Frank Schoonover's Studio

The Schoonover Studio - 1616 North Rodney Street, 

Wilmington, Delaware

In the summer of 2009 I had the pleasure of visiting several iconic illustrator's studios including N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle. The last stop on the studio tour was Frank Schoonover's studio on Rodney street in Wilmington Delaware.

Frank Schoonover at the easel

The studio was established by students of Howard Pyle when space at Pyle's Franklin street location grew inadequate. Frank Schoonover and Stanley Arthurs joined forces to secure funding on a new studio building that included four working spaces.

Schoonover and Arthurs moved in on March 8, 1906. Fellow illustrators N.C. Wyeth, Henry Peck, Clifford Ashley and Harvey Dunn would soon follow. Schoonover eventually purchased the building and worked there for the remainder of his long career.

Grandson John Schoonover poses in front of some of Frank's artifacts

Now owned and curated by grandson John Schoonover, The building still functions as a working studio as well as a gallery and museum of Frank Schoonover's work and artifacts. John was gracious enough to give us a tour on almost no notice after we left the Howard Pyle Studio earlier that morning. I got an email earlier today announcing the launch of a new Schoonover studio website. Check it out and if you are ever in the Wilmington Delaware area, call John and make a visit to The Schoonover Studio.

More info at the new Schoonover Studios Website
A great Frank Schoonover book available here
Schoonover bio by Jim Vadeboncoeur here

One More for the Road

After the Heber City Paint Out last Saturday, Ron Spears, Rob Adamson and I decided to take one more shot at a painting before heading home. After a bit of driving we located this vista and set up to paint. I had a small 8" x 8" panel in my box and went with it.

It was hot and the sunscreen was flowing freely along with the oil paint. I started over a couple of times before settling into the piece. I think I will add details like the sprinkler pipe later in studio.

The ellipses on the wheels were a bit intimidating standing at an easel with a bunch of wet paint on the panel. I think my colors got more exciting over the course of the day and I feel like I learn a lot every time I go out painting. 

Heber City Plein Air Paint Out

Wired Up- 8" x 10" Oil

On Saturday, I shook off the cobwebs at 5:30 am to head out painting in Heber City, Utah. The annual Heber City Paint Out sponsored by the Midway Art Association was the destination. I took fellow painters Ron Spears and Rob Adamson along with me. If you have never done one of these competitions (this was my first but certainly not my last) they are a lot of fun. I found it a great way to give purpose and strategy to your outdoor painting experience while improving plein air skills and meeting other artists. We arrived in Midway Utah to pay the $10 per panel fee and get out boards stamped. This check in  process ensures that nobody brings in a painting not painted during the designated hours.

I discovered that I really needed to edit the view

We then had until 1:00 pm to bring the finished paintings back, framed and ready to hang for judging. We took off to look for a subject within the specified perimeter of Heber City. I found an old farm right on the outskirts that attracted me and I dropped Ron and Rob in their chosen spots. I painted on the first piece for about two and a half hours.

Rob stuck with his scene after the first painting and Ron and I both busted out a second piece. I think I was warmed up after the first one and the second one came together better for me, despite the heavy chain link fence I had to look through to capture the scene. I found that making choices quickly really focused my attention and made me pay more attention to every color mixture and stroke. At 12:30 we reunited in a mad dash to get to the check in and drop our pieces in frames.

North of Heber- 6" x 8", Oil

We were the last to arrive before the cut off. Artists arriving after us, were not allowed to hang their pieces for judging. It was a lot of fun and Rob ended up winning 2nd place for his piece (sorry I did not get a shot of it). All the pieces from the paint out are for sale through the end of the day today (July 4th) at the Midway Community Center on main street in Midway, Utah. If you are in the neighborhood, go check it out. Next time I might do a little bigger piece and spend the whole time on it, but regardless, I had a great time painting with good friends. If the pieces don't sell, I will bring them back into the studio and tickle them up a bit before a final varnish.

Remedy

Advertisement for data recovery company, circa 1999

If you have ever had a hard drive crash or accidentally deleted something, you know what a pain it is to try to remedy the situation. I did this piece a while back for Power Quest, a software company that specialized in recovery of lost data. They no longer exist since being absorbed by Symantec.The concept was a frantic PC owner watching as his hard drive gets operated on. The technology probably looks a little dated now, but the concept was fun to paint. It ran in a bunch of computer magazines back in the day.