New Paintings and More

 As I'm looking at my last post from 2018 - I can't help but got quiet and little sad reflecting on those 2 years of my personal life, dramatic changes of this country and World ....Little that we all knew, we will be living in a completely  different World in 2021 ....We lost almost half million human lives due to Covid . My own Dad is in intensive care with Covid right now and most likely won't survive this ...The very thought of loosing my parents is sending me into a very dark place and depression. But despite that darkness around , I see the light , I'm full of light and Hope ..I Love and Loved ..I'm happy to create without limitation and pressure of loosing my livelihood and I'm deeply deeply grateful for it...My art business and sales are  growing exponentially..I'm so thankful for my health and mental state. And, yes we live  in a different country today , and there is so much Hope we came out stronger, more kind, more resilient and smarter ...Let's see .....

"One of Seventh" 20x20 oil in linen 

"From the Garden of Eden "- SOLD

"Winter Lilac" 14x14 oil on aluminum 

Surprise, Surprise :)

Surprise, surprise !!! Look who came back to the Blog! Yes, I'm back. There is so much to report, to share, to brag about, to gossip and to spill out . I do love to share, almost as much as I love to paint. That's why I teach. 

I abandoned my blog for a very simple and trivial reason: limited time and convenience of a facebook's  immediate feedback. 

Every time I wanted to write something and share art tips, experiences, discoveries on here , I would feel such an intense  pressure of trying to to catch up on all  missed times. That guilt would  torture me and paralyze. Solving this dilemma took me 6 months. But I'm back - Happy, elevated, elated and...engaged. Yes I'm engaged to a wonderful and caring man. 

A few weeks ago I took a workshop with a wonderful artist and beautiful soul -Ilene Gienger-Stanfield. I felt an instant creative connection with her. Thank you for sharing your talent, Ilene. Here is a series of pieces we created on the workshop. Very quick ( 20 -30 ) minutes sketches. I love to take local workshops, where I would not only learn a lot, interact with fellow artists, but also would acquire new students. 

"Blue Raincoat" oil on linen

"Magnolia Tea" oil on linen 

"Purple Skirt" oil on linen

"Ready for Summer" oil on linen 

Every stroke counts...

One of 3 simples steps on the road of improving your paintings are:
1.Using lot's of paint . I meant it. Lots . This not only will make your painting look more mature, but it will make YOU happier.Trust me ! So give me a favor and buy large tubes of paint.
2. Making every brush stroke count - literally. Imagine you are laying  bricks - Brick is your stroke.
Lay a brick after brick , stroke after stroke - leave every stroke alone - leave an integrity of every stroke visible .
3. Making assertive, deliberate and bold strokes with brush full of paint
All three tricks will take time and discipline to develop - but it worth it!

Here is the painting wich illustrates this statement. I liked this piece , and it was sold immediately after hanging it on the gallery wall

5 DEGREES OF A STILL LIFE ...

So finally I decided to take photos of creative stages while painting still life. First I set up a very cute still life  with two pieces of Talavera ceramic and sunflowers .
Then I prepared my canvas according to the recipe of one of the greatest colorists in this country. I wont mention his name in this post as he is an extremely private person - That mix is very smelly and toxic so be careful if you'll decide to use it. It does create a very great base for  thick brush strokes applications. 1part Damar & 2.5 - 3 parts Turpentine with a few drops of linseed oil. Tone the canvas with very light wash of  phtalo  blue and black. After the mix is dried , draw your composition.
Mine is here:

The second stage is very important as it's actually require  a special treatment of whole canvas before starting to paint  and apply a very thick  applications of paint. You start with rubbing in very transparent washes of pure pigment almost like watercolor with paint running off your canvas .Please note, the colors of washes  can be absolutely randome. See my stage 2 photo.Of course I, kinda, created  color of washes close to the basic hue of the whole setting .

Looks pretty wild , isn't it? Don't panic :-) it's an initial wash which will be completely covered . But the tone will still obscure through further layers of paint .

This is number 3 stage , and believe you or not , it's always my favorite stage in any painting process - I just love that raw, unfinished look. Spontaneity of it, and usually the right tonality from the start . But lot's of work on the details ahead , so let go straight to stage 4 to see how we progressing  with building layers of thick paint up.

As you can see both of Talavera pieces are acquired believable shapes and color, but we starting to mix lot's of grays . Yes , hard to believe? Take my word for it. That;s how powerful grays tones are : you can't really see them , surrounding colors starting to sing.

And here is final result . I titled it "Girasol" just to give the hint of Mexican flavor. Because Talavera is a beautiful Mexican pottery. This piece is for sale by the way:-)

Go to http://frankanddunya.com/products/girasol/

HAPPY PAINTING EVERYONE!