Category Archives: Elin Pendleton

Mar 12 – Still Near the Bridge, Plein Air Demo in Oils

With the basic structure in place with the brush sketch, I begin the laying in of the large darks and mid-tones using the Cool colors palette. If you’ll look at the bridge from yesterday’s view, you see the cement railings. See how I’ve laid them in while thinking, “large shapes” instead of “Omigosh! Look at all those vertical cement thingies!”?

So those nearby cement thingies are painted as shapes. However, as they recede in space, the shape blends together for one big brush mark. If you look at the right side of the bridge, you can see where I’ve already started to allude to those “thingies” in the large gray shape. Hey, makes it simple (and fast)!

As I paint the arches, with the darks and mid-tones, I’m still finding the correct arch shape. It looks pretty daft right now, but will improve. I’d rather find an edge later, than be restricted by a line demarking an edge early on.

Again, completely out of the Cool Box in the Color System, including that yellow green in the upper right. Cool yellow and some ultramarine make that mix, with perhaps some white.

Tomorrow more!

I’m off to Cypress Art League on Sunday for a demonstration in oils, and I’m working on a couple of commission paintings (one a book cover) so the brushes are flying! If you’re in the Los Angeles area, Cypress is south of the 91 freeway at Orange Street and Valley View–their community center, two p.m. I’ll have my Flash Cards, DVDs and one of my originals to offer as a raffle prize. Perhaps I’ll meet you in person!

Sure wish I could find the polo ponies painting–still looking for it. Darn it all.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2010 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Mar 10 – One from the Plein Air Event, Lesson in Oil!

On location with the Plein Air Artists of Riverside, and on Thursday I found myself in front of one of the many bridges that were the focus of this week-long paint out.

Now I don’t necessarily “do” bridges or other architectural renderings–I leave it for the designers to create beautiful structures, and I’ll just enjoy ‘em, not paint ‘em. But this event had us with a focus on local bridges, and who am I to complain? It’s just “stuff”….

So I start out with a toned canvas (12 x 9) and set up just as you see, with the bridge to my left. This way I’m not twisted as I paint, with my arm on the canvas and my head torqued around over that arm. Learned that in life drawing years ago–don’t let your painting arm block your view. Lot of artists don’t know that!

I’ve loosely blocked in the structure and design, knowing that I’m adding a figure later on in the upper left third (smudgy mark). I had a heck of a time with those receding arches. Talk about tough to “get”, but I leave some room for correction later. The day was overcast, and that’s a bummer, but as an artist, I can do a bit of artistic license and add a spot of sunshine if I wish. (And I do wish.) So for the first several images as this one develops, I’m going to stay completely in the cool box!

My workshops in Georgia and Florida are generating a great deal of interest–the excitement about the new recruits and the re-booters for the Color System is felt all the way over here in California! My flights are booked, Sparky has his space, and I’ll be doing the teaching for three weeks in April and May! If you’ve ever wanted the Color Boot Camp experience, please click below for workshop information for your area! Either Kathie or Judi will be happy to add you to the fun groups forming. I especially love it when “rebooters” come back for more “Yellin’ by Elin”.

On another note, I want to thank all of you who wrote in response to yesterday’s posting on Qso’s passing. So many of you have the hearts of animal lovers. It brought me great comfort. Although there’s a hole in my heart, I know that not too much time will pass before another snuggly fur-face will come to fill it. Sparky might need a playmate!

My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Mar 9 – Sadness and Acceptance

Many of you have noticed the sporadic emails in the last few weeks, and for that I sincerely apologize. I’d hoped to share with you the finished polo ponies, but in utter amazement, I cannot FIND the painting! In the chaos of doing a major studio cleanout, I put it “somewhere safe”. Have you ever done that?

But today I am very sad for having to put down my companion of eighteen years–Qso, the German Pinscher–shown here with Pesto the studio cat.

Pets connect us to our past, living lives of scant more than a decade, and linking us to events and people from earlier times. As they age, we see our own lives (compressed) of youth, prime and then, if we are lucky, and if the animal is as well, we carry them through their old age, giving them the gift of care and a final exit with dignity and sadness.

So today’s message is one of communication to all animal lovers out there, those of us who have lost a beloved pet, and to all who share with me the sharp pain of the memory of their last days.

Animals have a prescience and acceptance of death that we humans can only envy. She told me it was time, and her passing was peaceful. I have always said that if we lose a pet, we have a hole in our heart waiting to be filled by an eager newcomer, whose future may be uncertain if we stay within our pain of loss. I am not sure when that achy place will be filled, but fill it will.

So, beloved Qso, I sent you to the Rainbow Bridge today as my last gift to you, and buried you just outside the studio door where you’ll always be in my thoughts, and nearby. Safe journey, my companion. My heart is heavy tonight.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Mar 3 – More Details on the Polo Ponies OIl, 16 x 20

The “Color Punch” begins to show up now! The difference between this stage and the earlier one may be minor in square inches, but it is major in pulling the color design toward the finished state. These few brush marks on the backs of the horses bring out the message of light and value difference (also color temperature difference) that need to happen to make this painting work. There is still much more to do, however seeing these few brush marks may help to show how the Color System works. There is no lighter value than the sunlight on the gray horse. There is no stronger edge (or will be) than the topline near that horse’s tail.

If there is a strong edge elsewhere, it will be compromised by little value change, no temperature change, or act as a subordinate “supporting” edge in the design, and not be as important.

I’ve put a smaller image of the prior stage to show you how much those marks change the dynamics of the design of the painting. Suddenly there is “punch” whereas before it was just a nicely coming along painting.

When we as artists want to control where the viewer’s eye goes, our tools are straight from the design box. Here I’m using value change, edge hardness and temperature difference to force your eye to go to that horse, even thought the rest of the painting may be visually interesting. While I continue to paint from this important step, I will be ever mindful that the gray’s back as my focal point. No edge or contrast will be as strong as that area. Now on to finish this beastie!

There are still spaces in the Florida five-day workshop in May (first week–GORGEOUS time to be in Florida!). Please contact Kathie Camara if you’d like a spot in the Color Boot Camp, where you’ll paint along with me for five fun and full days of learning in Central Florida!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Feb 14 – Starting to find edges, Oil of Polo Ponies

In looking at the difference between this and my last posting, the changes may not be that large. I am working on the horse trailer and the grasses, bring them subtly up in details which will support the details yet to come on the horses. I know that these small endeavors are necessary so that when I work on the horses, they will end up surpassing the details I put in now.

On other news, the weather is giving me a taste of Spring to come, with a lovely 84-degree day today. Here’s a photo of me taken this morning on a hike with a group of friends. Behind me is the mountain of Box Springs, and my home is directly behind me at the base of it. Beautiful way to spend some free time! I know there may be more rains to come, but a day like this puts me on top of the world. Tomorrow more on the painting… yes, details!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Feb 12 – Still working on the Polo Ponies Oil

It is really coming together now with the start and the addition of the warm box palette in those grassy sunlit areas! The Color System works so well, because it was just an easy switch of the boxes to get to this point, and you can see how the dynamics of adding the warms makes the painting read right.

The colors in the grasses are not pure by any means, but are from the warm box, with the dominant pigments being sap green, cad yellow and cad orange. Can you feel the heat there? It contrasts so beautifully with the blue-green shadows laid in yesterday. Again, no edges worrying me at this point, just the big shapes.

A good weekend ahead, with fun, painting and laughter. I hope yours will be as much fun.

Many of you asked for more info about my aikido training, so I thought I’d send along a photograph taken in front of the shomen (front of the mat area) at the place where I train. Yes, that’s me, ready to take on all attacks. I’ll be continuing with my training for as long as I can, and that will be many more years. It gives me connection in so many ways, including to you.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Feb 11 – Demonstration in OIls for Hemet Valley Art Association Continues

Here’s the 16 x 20 oil demonstration for the Hemet Valley Art Association after about 10 minutes with the brush on the canvas. I’m completely in the Cool Box of the Color System for these lower values, all representing shadows in the composition. I like to start with darks, painting UP to the light as I work.

Most interesting at this stage is the “warm” reflected light on the belly of the third horse–a gray. That’s a “peach” color made by white, alizarin and yellow ocrhe. Great illusion of warm where it is needed. I do admit that the luscious blue-green of the Thalo green and white mix in those shadows gives me shivers of excitement, though! More tomorrow, and I hope you’re enjoying the development of this one as much as I am.

I am not interested in edges or tight control, but more in the masses of value. Like good construction, one ensures that the walls are sturdy before putting in the windows!

Yesterday’s email went out with a video on my martial art in it, and if you were not able to see it, I have it on my blog for yesterday. Worth a look! And I’m looking forward to teaching the Color System workshop this coming weekend, too!

Yes, life is good. Now where did I put my pina colada? Hmmm…. (grin).

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Feb 10 – Demoonstration Painting, the Beginning….HVAA


Today I had the pleasure of going back to Hemet and meeting 80 people who had come out to see my demonstration in oils. It was a wonderful afternoon, and everyone seemed to have a good time watching me paint and chatter along about how I do these images. I didn’t quite finish the painting, but did photograph it in stages as I painted it. So here’s the first step. This is a 16 x 20 canvas panel, and comes from source material I took while at the Kentucky Horse Park several years ago. This is the initial drawing of the polo ponies tied and resting beside their trailer, and shows the essential design. The canvas has been toned with a warm “peachy” middle value, and I draw the essential shadow shapes as well, so that the whole design is cohesive and shows the structure. The drawing is done with a brush filled with burnt umber thinned to an ink-like consistency.

The demonstration went well, and I have the wet canvas behind me, and will finish it tomorrow in the quiet of my studio.

Many of you have asked how it is that I do all that I do (in my 60s) and how I can be so positive and caring as I face recent challenges. I offer to you one of the major reasons I am able to live with joy and physical fitness (Believe me when I say I was pudged out and lost 27 pounds doing this!). The more I learn, the more it trains me to handle whatever life throws at me. I’m ending my third year of training now.

Although a true martial art (deadly and effective), it is based upon a philosophy of blending and taking the energy of what comes at you, without “winning” or resisting the attack. Powerful stuff, both on the mat and in my mind.

And now I’m sending this to you before I leave to spend a few days with a close friend in a gorgeously beautiful place, rejuvenating, relaxing and reassessing. Life is very, very good.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Feb 7 – Another Acrylic Finished…Goats!

Called “Exploring”, this 12 x 16 acrylic was started last year at a demonstration and talk for the Hemet Valley Art Association. I finished it up today, and will be taking the original to the demonstration next Wednesday. I just love working with the thin veils of color, developing interesting passages within larger values and hues. It takes time, but I have time right now. I especiailly love the blues on the shadowed sides of the black and white kids.

Bringing a painting to a finished state is a sort of dance with what’s going on in front of me coupled with the knowledge in my head. Choices are made for color, brush marks and areas to develop based upon that partnership. Oh, and listening to a good audio book doesn’t hurt!

I did make time today to go with a great bunch of folks hiking on Sunday morning, and we all went out for brunch afterward. In the image below, I’m the one midway down the table next to the fellow in the black cap. Keeping excess pounds off is part of the strength I am finding, and I take great pleasure in being able to do many things at this point in my life. Being in good condition is a gift one gives oneself–no one else can do that for you!

Thanks to those of you who wrote yesterday, I know…however it is good to know there are others with this section on the road of experience behind them! Going out with folks helps, you betcha.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Feb 6 – Finished the Acrylic "Dog Walkers"

Compare this image with my last posting, and you’ll se some VERY important changes, but those changes might not even be noticeable at first glance. That’s the beauty of the artist’s eye–the subtleties that we are aware of because of our training, years of comparing and contrasting what we want versus what is already on that flat surface. The changes just HAD to be done. I still think this one should have gotten into the Art Show at the Dog Show, but when they are “show” people, perhaps they ahve a different outlook on dogs in general My paintings of the shelter cast offs didn’t receive merit there, however YOUR response to that series made my day. So art shows are one good venue for exposure, but ought not be the end-all-be-all for measuring one’s artistic competence.

I’m going to share with you the source material for the second painting (the acrylic) that’s in the new DVD coming out “Misty Light and Overcast Days” in the Colorful Painting Series. Since this one has acrylic paint on it, too, I have had to drop the “Oil” out of the title! It is a composite (roughly assembled in Photoshop) of a 100% wolf that belongs to an acquaintance. Three images of the same wolf makes for an interesting composition, and you can bet I’ll be adding to and changing it for good “painterly” execution. It’s going to be on a 16 x 20 linen canvas.

On other fronts, I’ve shared with you news of moving, my horses and dogs, and many aspects of my life. So perhaps you would like to know the most recent. Tonight (Saturday evening) I’m home solo yet again, which will be an ever-increasing condition due to my spouse’s declaration of having been and needing to love more than one female. While I have been adjusting to these “discoveries”, I realize I am living in a “murky, complex, bizarre chaos” of an artistic life. There is nothing ordinary about the full life of an artist, and I am coming to realize that many choices I have made will never be “ordinary”. Fraught with the magnitude of this side-swipe to my daily existence, I have positioned myself as an observer/bystander as these events unfold while I weigh my options.

Yes, that’s why I was erratic in posting for the last couple months. Even the death of my mother (April 7-8, 2006, blog) didn’t interrupt my painting. This did. Please withhold your comments as my strength comes from standing on a three-point solid base of focus, commitment and optimism. If I think I can lean on folks, I become unbalanced and off that base of strength. Not good, at least not right now. Know that I’m doing well, and continue to cope as things progress.

I am looking forward with great optimism to the workshop next weekend, the painting demonstration for Hemet next Wednesday, and the upcoming workshops in Georgia and Florida this April/May. And my heart swells with real affection I have for people (like you) who have been there for me for these almost FIVE YEARS!!! My goodness, time flies.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 29 – Signed but not finished

I signed it, but it isn’t finished yet. However it really has that “feel” I was seeking when I picked up the brushes. Do you see the strong triangular design, with the black lab on the left anchoring that corner? An overlay of this image would show the many diagonals that work to repeat and support the structure of this work.

I really like it at this point, but it truly is not finished. I had pressure on me to use this image for entering the Art Show at the Dog Show, and it was summarily rejected. I entered it more because of what I KNOW it will become, rather than as a finished piece. But judges are arbitrary, subjective and totally in control of the shape of an art show, so I don’t take that rejection personally. Sometimes that’s just where the chips fall.

Below is the image with tension-creating diagonals for you. To me, this angled tension with so many lines sets the stage for excitement in this dog walker composition. Horizontal and verticals are static, lines that lean are tension-filled and exciting. Note the two vertical signposts in the upper left corner, effectively stopping the convergence of the snow lines off the edge of the canvas. “That’s design, baaaybe!”

After I finish up both this one and the backlit Lab (which DID get accepted to the show), I’ll share with you the second painting for the upcoming DVD on misty and overcast lighting–in stages, of course!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE. (Still some slots!!!)
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 25 – The “Dog Walker” Acrylic Continues

Working in acrylics gives the user a lot of latitude in application techniques, and I’ve used a few at this stage. Although still covering the canvas, I’m layering the snow piles behind the walker with heavier applications of pigment, giving some texture to the end result. In the gray pavement, I’m using more transparent layers, allowing the subtle values to work in harmony. I have also begun to put in more and more details on the major “heartbeats” in the painting, but still only roughly.

You see, for me, getting the “gist” of the movement and “feel” of the action taking place is more about the generalized lines of the design at this point. I am not interested AT ALL in the details, although some do manifest at this time, such as the light and shadow, blue and white on the girl’s jacket. Always mindful of the focal point, her coloration on the jacket and the subtle repetition of the blues in the blue-violet of the sidewalk unify the painting, even at this early stage! That’s counterpointed by the yellows in the distant taxis and in the retriever.

Yesterday (Sunday), I went on a hike with a group of fun people, and we ended up at the top of a local mountain in Riverside, Mt. Roubidoux. As you can see, the weather has cleared up from the storm, and most of us ended up in tee shirts, even though there is snow in the distance. Fun!

I hope wherever you are, that you’re dry, warm and enjoying your time with friends and activities.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 22 – “The Dog Walker” Lesson Continues

I’m doing what I always do–cover the canvas with the abstract structure by massing in the largest shapes and values. And of course, completely out of the “Cool Box” from the Color System. Not much concern with anatomy at this phase, nor with faces or calligraphic lines. I’ve found that the big masses draw in the viewer, and then they’ll spend a pleasurable amount of time wandering through the variances and nuances of the lines and subtle value and hue changes, once entranced by the big structure. That’s no mystery–the great illustrators of the last century made a point of doing this, too. Look into the work of Howard Pyle–and his students N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Violet Oakley, and Elisabeth Shippen Green, among others–to see how powerful the establishment of the big masses is to the overall impact of a painting.

Now that I’ve sent you on a joy-urney into American Illusatration, I’ll just add that my demonstration in Hemet is scheduled for February 10 at 1:30 at the Simpson Center. And the workshops in Georgia are almost full–both weeks! There are still spaces in Florida (pdf file download, application info) at the Carriage Museum grounds (first week in May), and Mt. Desert Island in Maine at the end of August (plein air and Color System week!).

And the weather here has finally turned to rain and wet, yet the mountains are green as an Irish morning. The wildflower show at Two Trees will be spectacular in mid April! Here’s a photo of Two Trees taken in June, mostly after the wildflowers, but still showing some of the green of winter rains. It is an idyllic place for an arteest…

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 21 – Starting an Acrylic entered into Art Show at the Dog Show

Even while working on the oil of the backlit Labrador, I also had the easel occupied with this acrylic, destined for jurying for the Art Show at the Dog Show. It is a 12 x 16 board, and the source material was a dog walker spotted outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

You can see my source material printed and set to the left of the canvas. The lighting is overcast, so of course the first layin and the majority of colors will come from the “Cool Box” (Color System).

I was utterly fascinated by the seemingly indifference of the dog walker and the rambunctious Lab pup on the left side just SO wanting to get away and “do something”. The white standard poodles, the Golden Retriever, the Catahoula Leopard Dog–yes, there is one in there–and the Newfoundland. My goodness, which category can it be submitted for jurying?

Ah well, I hope you’ll enjoy how it unfolds. I’ll finish up the oil this week as well and post the finished canvas for you.

Still a few spots in the Color Boot Camp in February–and a demo coming up for the Hemet Valley Art Association, too!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 19 – Working through the “Uglies”

MANY changes from the last posting of this “turkey”, and now I no longer call it that… HA! Taking a long, hard look at what came back home with me from the demonstration, I could see easily that I’d lost both the value relationships and the color punch of backlit evening light. So I put myself to and spent a good amount of time working on those aspects of this oil.

It is now to a stage where I’m comfortable signing it, however, I still need to work on the dog’s head. It doesn’t read “Labrador” to me yet.

What I really do like about this piece is the colorful water int he foreground and the spash. Everything but red is in there and it is so joyful, like the dog, who is painted in muted hues of those same yellows and purples.

So don’t give up on the ones that are giving you problems. They can be pulled through to become good paintings. Asking for some advice can provide an independent source of input as well. AS long as the core structure is in place, and the values are moving forward, most paintings can be brought to a finished state without too much work. I hope you enjoyed this one. I’ll publish on my other web sites it when I finish the head details.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 14 – Oh dear… Problems!!! (All Fixable)

Ten more minutes and I’m making a bad problem worse. If I were in the studio, I would have taken a break, had a cuppa coffy and taken one huge step backward to see what was going on and what was going wrong with this painting.

The “essense” is there, but the values and colors are off in many places. I’m thinkin’ (wrong) the dog’s shadow side needs to be lighter because after all, it’s a yellow lab and yellow is light, right? Not always, and making that shadow side as light as I have loses the “pizazz”. The buzz and zap of color excitement is eluding me and I’m at a loss as to how to pull it back and fix it as I’m painting it. I’m talking and entertaining the group, so my focus isn’t on the deep introspection of a quiet plein air location or standing in front of my easel in the studio, in company only with myself. Hey, it happens….

I had a doubt about sharing this painting at this “uglies” stage with y’all, but realize that perhaps the benefits outweigh the chaos in that someone can learn that artists “of a certain level” still can make major mistakes.

Tomorrow it will get better. (Didn’t Annie say that?) Ha!

The weather here has been in teh 70s and sunny, and I’ve enjoyed the winter pruning of the roses and other garden plants, and also the lemon harvest. My freezer is already full of squeezed lemons, so the bumper crop will be donated. It’s good to give back the excess. And I’ve been working on editing the Misty Light DVD, too. Hours of work, but all good footage.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 12 – Continuing to Cover the Demonstration Canvas

I skipped through a couple of ten minutes sessions to get you to this point because I want you to see the bigger picture of what happened. I’ll add one of the earlier ones below for clarity. The Warm Box is open now, and I’m putting in the cadmiums that are int he sky on the left, and also in the water reflections.

The splash under the dog is WAY too green, and the blue is too strong–got carried away there, and didn’t even see it until much later. That’s the down side of painting for a demonstration, talking, and changing the time of day on source material! I’ll pull it through and modify it later, but wanted you to see it now. That’s because no matter what, everyone makes mistakes as they work through the process of painting. It’s knowing where those mistakes are, and how to correct them, that may separate the less experienced painters from the pros. I can also see that the values aren’t dramatic enough to convey the backlit evening time, so there is another major “fix” that will have to occur before I can call it done.

That’s like life, though. We go forward, thinking we’re doing what’s right and “proper”, only to be caught up short with new knowledge that radically changes our behavior and our outlook on things, as we formerly perceived them. In art, we can stretch our wings into new directions, as long as we are not shackled to the expectations of galleries and collectors. In life, the restrictions are more insidious–sometimes coming from within ourselves, even! So I’m leaning into my ARTIST mindset, and making some fun and exciting choices about how I’m going to spend the rest of my life. Conventional wisdom can go pound sand–I’m having FUN!!! The art is reflecting that outlook–more free, more interesting subjects and truly exciting to create. Life is GOOD.

Oh, yeah, good except for the cortizone shot they poked in my hip today. Seems I have a touch of bursitus from the motorcycle accident and the doc thinks that this shot will fix me up right ‘n’ proper. I’m not to do anything but WALK for three friggin’ days, so she says. That is SO not fair. I want to chase my horses, fall all over the mats in aikido and dance the night away! OK, so I’ll find a bucket of patience somewhere…. Friday cannot come too soon for this lady.

Still have one or two spaces in the February Color Boot Camp coming up Feb 12-15. Best value for your artistic money, in that this will not change your style or method, but will profoundly affect your color choices and color harmony in your work! Email me for the information. It promises to be an intimate and enlightening opportunity for you, right here in my studio.

Here’s the one prior to the covered canvas image, and I can easily see I lost my concentration in that splash area, and the dog doesn’t have much detail…

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Jan 10 – Continuing the Labrador Oil Painting, 20 minutes in

Blinga-bling! Twenty minutes into the demonstration at the Canyon Lake Art Association, and more of the canvas is covered–this time with the grays and sky areas made with the three Big Ones–Alizarin, Yellow Ochre and Ultramarine Blue (with white) to create these harmonious grays.

If you put your hand over the left side, and just show the right side, you can see that even at this early stage, the colors are beautifully harmonious–all coming from the Color System’s Cool Box!

Other news, with our mid-70s weather, I’ve been working with the mustang and bonding with him in the corral. It is a lot of fun to have a young horse again–he’s stout as a tank, still growing at 15.2 and even in winter woolies, he is a beautiful buckskin. I leaned all over his back today, and worked on reining left and right. And today (Sunday) I played water volleyball for almost three hours, so my shoulders are sore. Great exercise!
Here’s a picture of him still in slick clothes. BIG mustang feet, too.

So even though it gets hot in the summer, there are certainly good reasons to enjoy California in the winter (what winter?). I know much of the country is in a deep freeze right now, and I hope all are doing well in coping with the ice and slush.

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

©Copyright 2009 by Elin Pendleton. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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