I’ll be doing the Grand Canyon event again this year in the fall and one of the requirements of the show is to create a studio piece to hang along with the plein air stuff done during the week. Last year I got schooled by the Grand Canyon and the painters who really know how to paint it. So I thought I’d do something that wasn’t so canyon-y and create a piece that had more focus on the wildlife. Someone mentioned at the show that if I were to paint a condor it would fly off the wall. I considered it… but they are so damn ugly. During my time at the GC it was hard not to notice the elk that wandered through the park like it was a petting zoo. There were a lot of nervous rangers trying to keep the hoards of tourists from getting too close to these big creatures as it was rutting season and they aren’t puppies. I did manage to snap a few decent pics of this one big ol’ boy and wanted to figure out how to incorporate him into a painting.

Now, I know you may be thinking… “wildlife? WTF? You don’t do wildlife!?” But as an illustrator, I painted a lot of creatures for various books.. especially for Harcourt School book publishers. Once they discovered it was simpler to put animals in the place of humans on the covers they didn’t have to worry about representing every race on the planet. So….Using my paintings from last year plus the photo ref I started to sketch some ideas out on my iPad whilst flying to and from California. It’s perfect drawing time. Nothing else to do but read or sleep. I pulled these paintings from my own website to use as reference in the development stage…. man, you gotta love the technology thing. I think it may just catch on.

Using my artrage app, which is an amazing sketching/digital painting tool (for $7) and a stylus I started a few rounds of sketches, both horizontal and vertical. I won’t bore you with all of them, only the ones I used. Just little thumbnail sketches like I used to do in the illustration days on with pixels.

I liked the bottom one, except for the elk being too centered and did a bigger version in artrage. The nice thing about working this way is it allows me to see the potential problems before I commit to hours of mistake making. For example, the tree shape follows the angle of the rim too closely.

Once I felt like I had a general idea of where I was heading, it was now sketchy time, the old fashioned way. Paper and pencil. But still the damned elk ended up centered…. I ushered him back a few steps in the final. Once I get a pic of the sketch I’ll pop it in but for now here’s the final… so you don’t have to scroll back up. The good news is the show isn’t for another 4 or 5 months so I have plenty of time to mess it up…. I may give it a nice warm glaze to give it some better harmony and atmosphere. I may also bring the plant on the left up higher like the original painting…. needs something more there. Comments are welcome.

For starts was a rather unusual situation that I found myself in. One of my galleries contacted me a while back and said, remember that diptych you did that sold a few months back? (Why yes I do) A couple came in and want one like it. (Oh? Is this a commission?) No, but if you paint another one, they will want it. (Oh……….Okay). What else am I gonna say? Where’s the dough, yo? Times are a little different these days and if someone even suggests that they might like to think about seeing another version of a painting that was sold, I’m thinking, what the hay. I wish I could play it the other way, you know, like, I’m not laying brush to canvas unless I see a million dollars! Do you have any idea who I am? But that’s not me.

So, I sez to my gallery owner (whom I adore) I’ll do it and it will be done in the the next two weeks. Why I said that, I have no idea. First, never let anyone know that a great painting can be done in less than 3 months, it cheapens the thing. I guess I was just anxious to strike while there was an iron in my parking lot. Anyway, two weeks pass, then another two and the gallery calls and asks how it’s going, the client is getting antsy. I was about to leave for a workshop and having half started this thing I suggested that I would work on it during the workshop and finish and deliver it when I got back. It was a win win for the class, developing a large painting (30×60) in 5 days is a great lesson. I talked about building in layers, wet into wet and wet over dry, edge, controlling the whole of the painting, etc. And by the end of the class, one of the attendees wanted to buy it. And I said… Sure!

This isn’t the best image of the painting but it turned out nice. I was happy, the couple that bought it were also happy but the gallery owner (whom I adore) wasn’t thrilled because, again, there was a delay. I kept thinking that this wasn’t a commission, it was more like a suggestion. And, a bird in the hand, yada yada. I promised to run home and replace the diptych with another diptych and so I did. In one week, I did this lovely little number, a 30×60, painted on site. I work better under pressure anyway.

I liked it. Felt good about it. But, unfortunately the buyers did not. No sale. Por nada. Zilch. без пользы! Perhaps I should have inquired more about just how much like the original they wanted their original. When someone says they like a painting that is no longer available, I think they mean they want another one just like it. So, my lessons are:

ask what the client really wants, never assume.

figure out where you are (and by you I mean me) on the egometer to see how you feel about repeating a thing.

maybe a few sketches up front to feel out what they are open to, this is a lot like an illustration job.

never promise a painting in two weeks, tell them it will be 3 months.

and, if a painting doesn’t sell, even if it’s a non-commission commission, no worries… it was time well spent.

also, never take a horse even if it looks lonely, they are sooo needy.

TUITION: $575
Sedona Arts Center

Payment Options: Students may pay in full or choose the payment-plan option during registration. The payment plan requires a non-refundable $100 deposit with the balance due 30 days before the first day of the workshop.

A 4 day painting workshop in Nagshead, North Carolina March 26-29, focusing on how to develop a painting, defining your weak areas and working on them, and learn how to capitalize on your strengths. We will start with studies and reference and flesh out ideas with more studies as well as work on a larger painting. I bring 30 years of illustration experience and techniques to the table, plus 25 years as a fine artist. This is a studio class. And the studio is on the beach!
$495
Contact Suzanne Morris to enroll @ sgmpaints@aol.com

My 35 years of experience as a plein air painter and commercial illustrator comes to the table, as well as some nice cheese biscuits, to help you develop a better painting. We go from small on site studies to medium studies to block in on a larger final version in 3 days. 1.5 days in the field and 1.5 days in the studio. Emphasis will be on the the 6 aspects of good painting: drawing, value, color, composition, paint handling/methods and edge. This is an all-media class, I’ve got extensive experience with oil, acrylic, pastel, water color and gouache. And airbrush, but don’t bring one, they are too noisy.

Course Meets: March 13, 14, 15
Class times: 9:30-4:30
Tuition: $375.00
Level: All Levels

Contact: info@CarmelArtInstitute.com

the Go Big demo, 36×36

A great class (as always) set along the picturesque Wekiva River and housed in the new teaching facilities there. The building is really cool, all windows, covered back porch that sits right on the tributary made of recycled materials and some pretty green thinking. The room is about a baseball throw from the bar which is about another baseball throw from a permanent food truck that is really surprisingly good for a restaurant with wheels.

The focus for this class was painting big outside and instead of forcing the attendees to do the little studies, as I usually do, but I thought it would be more fun to let them do what they want to do and paint big. I started as usual with small sketches on my iPad in 2 or 3 values. A quick sketch and value/color wash-in set the pace for the morning demo. When you work big, you gotta work fast. It was challenging because, as if it’s not hard enough, I decided to pick a view that I couldn’t actually see from inside the class room. So I relied more on my sketch and less on life for the block in. Every once in a while I’d step outside to look at what I was painting, though I did have an ipad photo to refer to.

The key to these, as far as I’m concerned, is think and paint big simple shapes in 3-4 values rather than getting caught up in all that pesky detail stuff. Plenty of time for that later.

Next morning, I began working out the smaller shapes in the bigger shapes out-of-doors whilst my class completely ignored me. I presume this was because they were so excited to paint and not because I was boring. Also, in this normally peaceful setting was much construction and gnashing of teeth, front end loaders groaning and beeping all day and chainsaws chainsawing all day. Halfway through the painting my big tree on the right was felled. I go to the bathroom for 2 minutes, come back and… no tree.

Everyone did great work. I’m thinking about teaching a class one day a month there… really one of my favorite places to paint. One thing I need to bitch about, if you commit to a workshop class and can’t make it, please have the courtesy to let the instructor know you won’t be showing up. A lot of things depend on how many students there are.

Painting outside is fun, painting big outside is way more funner. I’m talking 20×30, 30×30, to 30×40. It is my favorite thing to do and we get to use the newly finished class room at the Wekiva Island near Wekiva State Park that is literally right on the river. 40 steps away is the bar and loads of people having fun and 80 steps a way is a permanent food truck with breakfast, lunch and dinner and also canoes. This will be a blast. For this 3 day class we will focus on how to think and do big! You will need an easel that can handle a big canvas, like a french or a take-it-easel or a beauport ($90) from jerrys artorama or even a basic stand-up stick easel.
A 3 day class, $350
contact me at Larry@larrymoorestudios.com

It came to my attention recently that I suck at being a business person. It may go without saying but I’ll put it out there anyway; In general, the kind of personality that accompanies the creative mind is not really conducive to good business practices. I am not really speaking for anyone else but I do know a lot of artists that scrape by on their skills with little thought to the profits and loss columns, until the losses start to outweigh the other.

My little wake up call came in the form of a friendly phone call from a gentleman in New York, his business partner (in buying and reselling art) had come across 2 of my paintings at an auction near me in Orlando. He sent me pics of the two and asked if they were mine. They were. And not bad paintings from 10 or 12 years ago. I figured some past buyer had passed and these came to an estate auction honestly. Good for him for getting them. Then another email from the same guy, they got two more and this question, “Where would be a good place to sell them?”. I don’t blame the guy for snapping them up but I started wondering where these 4 paintings came from. As I have never had a tracking system, it took a while for me to realize that they all came from the same gallery where they had been sitting for years. Out of curiosity, I called to see if they had gone bankrupt and dumped their stuff. They hadn’t. But because these 4 pieces had been there so long, they got shoved into a trailer and everything went off to auction. So…. who screwed up?

The gallery had no right to dump paintings they didn’t own, though, as it turned out they had bought one of the 4 from me years back. But I am completely responsible for not knowing where they were and not rotating them in and out of the galleries. If I had been on it, they would have either sold somewhere else or I would have short saled them at our annual open house and gotten the money for myself. D’Ope!!

And then I started thinking about various paintings I have shipped out or delivered or left behind after a paint out and realized I wasn’t 100% sure where they were as they had been moved around 2 or 4 times. It leaves the door wide open for an unscrupulous gallery owner to sell works and never pay. If they know you don’t know, then you know you will be screwed, you know? Now, I trust all my galleries but sometimes they do sell paintings and forget to pay. Whose job is it to follow up with them? Mine. And on a regular basis. Get manifests, keep lists, track what art is where and what sold. I googled art tracking software and found several different programs. Gotta start being smarter. A few hours a week invested in doing what every other business owner on the planet already knows to do is better business.

Apparently it’s a thing now. Some guy became an instant success by filming his exploits with a paint box and a helicopter… wonder who funded that? I could use a sponsor like that. Hell, I’ve been doing it for years only I referred to it as “Not being completely aware of your surroundings” painting. You know how it is with the right brainers, creative first then logic later. It looked like a pier to me at the time, big black metallic floaty thing…. got a great view of the port for a little while. And where’s the Port Authorities when you need them? Lost my paint box on that one. BTW, I would like to give a shout out to the Coast Guard, really nice folks. Who says they don’t come in handy?

Then there was the trip to Pamplona. How could I know? I don’t watch ESPN. Seemed like a perfectly good alley to me, kinda quiet with a bunch of amped up guys in white. I thought they were going to work at the hospital, rush hour in Spain. Sure there were signs, but what the hell does “encerrar” mean? Want me to understand? Write it in english… morons.

This one was more of a dare. Life lesson: Never take a challenge from an angry glacierologist, especially after making negative comments about his wife. I did, however, get two Guinness world records out of this, one for filling of the shorts and the other for shrinkage, both in the extreme units of measure categories. That was some cold water. Note to self: dress for the occasion.

Not sure how to explain this one. I vaguely remember it involved an all night surf rave and some roofies and a jet ski. All I know is I was sore as all get out the next day. I was totally bummed that I snaked the dude on my left (your right) he got some heavy gnarl. My bad, yo. Mea Malum.

This was awkward. Thankfully the camera guy thought it would be good cover to dress up as a gazelle, may he rest in peace.

Sometimes we just want a better vantage point. There was this red truck with a ladder going up the back. Nobody was using it at the time. Got a good start, probably one of my best but lost it in the fire. Just my luck.

A 3 day workshop about painting, not just plein air painting. This will be a studio class, if it’s nice the first day we will paint outside but if not we will tackle the things that go in to a good painting. Starting with studies, developing an idea, methods and materials, and the process of developing a painting. I will be bringing my 30 years as an illustrator into this one.

$375 Nelson Fine Art gallery 1982 Eastwood Road
Wilmington, NC 28403

contact Sandy Nelson at sandynelsonart@yahoo.com
or call 910.256.9956