Posted By admin on April 14, 2010
Well I've been missing a little while because I have Spring Fever! Our weather has been so unseasonably warm and beautiful that I just have to spend all my spare time outside. I've planted a little garden and I have lettuce and radishes sprouting already. Having lots of fun but not painting much.
Last Monday night we were fortunate enough to get to paint one of our favorite models--Roxie. She always wears the neatest costumes (she makes many of them) and as you can tell green was the color that night. Roxie is so talented that she even made her hat which was beautiful but I didn't quite capture the beauty of it in 3 hours. I'll try to do better at posting but I still have to paint my porch, plant flowers. . .
Category: portrait and still life |
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Posted By admin on March 27, 2010
Last weekend I attended Lori Putnam's Exploring Color Workshop in Franklin Tennessee. Lori is a very talented artist with a wealth of knowledge. I've spent years attempting to "paint what I see" and although I still need to work on that, now I have set personal goals to gain knowledge on color relationships, design and composition. This particular workshop concentrated on color relationships only, not composition or drawing or design.
Lori uses a limited palatte, I also use this most of the time.
Lori lecturing and giving us an assignment on color schemes and mood schemes.
Below is my Exploration 1--a painting based on using two colors on the color wheel, without regard for subject. We just picked a spot in the room and painted it using 2 colors. In case you can't tell from this picture, I chose orange and green. The subject is believeable even though you are using colors that you wouldn't normally use--such as a purple apple still reads as an apple--regardless of color.
Below is my exercise on color relationships. Note the pinkish color in the middle is the same on both exercises but appears to be different because of the colors surrounding them.
The next painting is my exercise on schemes and mood schemes. We got to choose from a basket what colors we were to use and to paint from the gray slide (see Lori's pic above for our reference). My painting was based on a "natural" color scheme. I have several of these exercises to do and eventually I want to work through all of them.
I liked Lori's workshop and teaching style so much, I have signed up for her Weekend Warrier Painting Workshop in April.
Category: art workshop |
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Posted By admin on March 10, 2010
This is my latest painting of Fred and his Grandson walking on the beach in Florida. I would say that this is what being a Grandparent is all about. As usual my photography is a little suspect--please ignore the "glare". Getting back in the studio feels good after my little break.
7 x 5
Category: figurative |
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Posted By admin on February 22, 2010
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.
Category: Miscellaneous |
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Posted By admin on February 1, 2010
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).
Category: portrait and still life |
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Posted By admin on January 17, 2010
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.
Category: portrait and still life |
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Posted By admin on January 3, 2010
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
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2010
Category: portrait and still life |
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Posted By admin on December 28, 2009
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.
Category: portrait and still life |
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Posted By admin on December 6, 2009
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
Category: portrait and still life |
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