Value Workshop with Nashville Artist Erin Jones

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:30:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I took an afternoon workshop with Nashville, TN Artist Erin Jones. The focus of the workshop was "Value Study". I was very excited about this because you have to get the values right to have a successful painting! Erin had several setups and I chose this one because of the swirls in the fabric.

I mixed about 10 gradations of the value scale. Here is my palate with my piles of paint. This was a very good exercise and I did a value scale before I started the 2 value exercise.

2 value exercise--light and dark (shadow)

3 value exercise--light, dark and midtone--a little analysis was done before deciding what midtone I would use--should my midtone be a light or a dark???

4 value study--light, dark, 2 midtones. Once again I had to make a decision on the midtones. I chose to put them in the dark or shadow area. Notice with each additional value you add dimension to the painting.

You could keep going but at this point we ran out of time. L ast week I was in Key West, FL for a beautiful wedding at the "Little White House". I'll elaborate on my next post.

Head Study from Monday night and a new friend

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:27:00 +0000

I haven't been doing enough painting lately. Something about January makes me want to hibernate! There is a couple of things that will get me out of the house, filling up the bird feeder and my new friend--the donkey. I don't know if he has a name but I do know he loves apples and carrots. He's still a little skittish but is coming around.

This is my study from Monday night a couple of weeks ago. I tried to pile the paint on. Last week's painting bit the dust--literally--wet paint face down, not a good combination.

He sees the carrot . . .

Thinking about taking the carrot. . .thinking hard!

I know, I really need to get back in the studio (LOL).

Portrait of Peggy

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:59:00 +0000

12 x 9
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2010

Peggy came into my life when I was just a baby. My Mother was a young Military wife with a young child (me) and our family moved next door to Peggy and her family. We only lived next door for a couple of years but a lifetime friendship developed that kept them in touch for many years; sending letters or cards with pictures of the children and packages with gifts. Both Peggy and my Mother are gone now but I still have a wonderful friendship with her Daughter. I painted this for her in honor of Peggy's memory.

A Little Christmas Angel

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:04:00 +0000

It's about 9 degrees this Sunday morning in Kentucky and I am trying to get motivated to move away from the warm fire and venture out into my cold studio. Tomorrow my vacation is over and it's back to work--starting the new year in a frenzy. I have my usual New Year's resolutions that I haven't really started yet (I always start everything on a Monday for some reason). So far for 2010 my art focus is going to be "inspiration and growth". We all have a certain amount of self drive when it comes to self improvement but sometimes external resources are needed and I'm looking--any suggestions on reading materials, DVD's, Workshops etc.?

We do have a two week motorcycle trip planned for this year to venture up to Glacier National Park in Montana, which is supposed to have one of the most beautiful stretches of road in it--Going to the Sun Road. Needless to say I am very excited about this trip--only about 3300 miles from home (lol). I'm going to pack my paint box if I can get my husband to stop long enough for me to paint. And of course we will have to go through Yellowstone National Park--one of my favorite places to visit.

This is my latest painting and what a little Angel he is. In case you can't tell, he had tinsel around his hair and I found this a little intimidating. I just tried to remember less is more. Such a sweet little face. . .

12 x 9

Mother & Daughter

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Hope everyone is ready for a new and exciting 2010! This is my 100th post and I can't believe how fast the time has passed since my first post in June 2008. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and especially to leave a comment. I've been so fortunate to have comments that are both encouraging and uplifting. As an artist, I am looking forward to the next year and what experiences it will bring and hopefully will continue to learn and grow.

Happy New Year from the Smith Family

I haven't posted lately because I've been visiting with family, doing a little entertaining, working and of course painting! This is a portrait that I have been working on of a Mother and her Daughter. They look so happy and I hope that is an emotion that I have captured.

Play Ball

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:51:00 +0000

Yesterday I took an art workshop with Jason Daniel Jackson sponsored by the Hopkinsville Art Guild and we painted a still life. What attracted me to this set up was the rim light on the dog. Can anyone come up with a good name for this cute little pooch?

10 x 8
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009

Deep in Thought–Head Study

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:46:00 +0000

I've been a little lazy lately, well not really lazy just concentrating on cleaning and organizing my house, watching movies, cooking, enjoying this beautiful Fall weather--ok maybe lazy! This is my last Monday night head study and our model looked a little wistful, hope I captured that feeling in the painting.

On one of my previous posts, I said the view behind my house is ever evolving. I took this picture just a few minutes ago, such a beautiful day today--in the 60's with a little brisk wind.

This shot is of the cutest donkey that hangs out with the cows in the field behind our house. Correction, I think he's cute until he starts braying in the middle of the night--have you ever heard a donkey talk???

Latest Head Study plus scenery

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:35:00 +0000

I've learned my lesson, take a bigger canvas to my live model sessions!!! I ran out of room on this one so I just improvised and painted on the tape. This model had the greatest hair with red gold highlights (wish my hair looked that good).

Today was so beautiful with the sun shining and temperature was in the mid 70's--very unusual for this time of the year so we just had to take a motorcycle ride and as we passed these mules we had their undivided attention.

I have several pictures of these corn stalk stacks (???) and I love the way they look. I hope everyone has a great week!

Fall is in the air

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:52:00 +0000

It's finally Fall, one of my favorite times of the year! It was so pretty the other day that my Husband and I went walking around the farm and ran into my Father-in-Law George, his dog Presley and friends!

Sunday morning I was up early and decided to drive through the campus and take a few pictures--I always carry my camera with me just in case you hadn't noticed.

This reminds me of my Father because he would decorate the graves of soldiers every Memorial Day with little US flags to honor them. I thought the light was beautiful.

Driving up College Street to Cherry Hall on Western's Campus. I love the shadows across the road, lots of wires & cables too.

My sweet dog Lucky is feeling frisky and checking out the yard. He likes to keep an eye on everything. I have a few small pumpkins for Fall!

I snapped this picture of a barn that pays tribute to the mighty Kentucky Wildcats--a lot of basketball fans in Kentucky!

I was walking around the farm and saw these big round bales of hay, they looked so interesting that I had to take several pictures at different angles (LOL). I love to paint them with the sun shining on them.

This is the view from our back yard, I love this pond because there is always something to look at. Sometimes there are cows swimming (do cows swim?), ducks or cranes on the pond, wild turkeys--you never know.

Pre-Ballet Class

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:39:00 +0000

20 x 16

I observed and took pictures of a pre-ballet class and even though this is a small portion of the dancers, they were all so adorable. I'm sure there will be more of these paintings since I love to paint dancers! I'm not used to painting in such a high key but it was challenging for me.