A little update on the painting "Streetlight" that I am working on.  Starting to add colors keeping things as transparent as possible in the deciduous trees to get the radiance of light shining through the wet leaves.            

                                                       

A peek at a painting I am working on.  With studio paintings I typically draw everything out pretty carefully as the drawing is the framework for the painting and determines composition.  This is a street near Multnomah Village --in the photo reference I took the wet road dissolves into light.  I'm really looking forward to getting to work on this one some more, but I have to finish a portrait before I can resume work.

Painting Becca

I Painted this a while back at Maude Kerns in Eugene, Oregon; It was a single three-hour session.   This is the first painting in The Observing Life series, focusing on artists and models in the studio setting.  It is available for purchase at my gallery site: Here.

"Painting Shannan"  18" x 24"; oil on linen.  A painting from Hipbone Studio long pose; three three-hour sessions. This painting is available for purchase: Here.

Hi folks,
I wanted to tell you about some technical stuff about my materials!  I paint on linen or archival panel, as these can last for many generations.  I've seen bolts of ancient Egyptian linen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that look like they are brand new.  As far as my palette of oil colors, I use very few now, and have now eliminated earth colors like ochres, umbers and siennas (though I still use burnt sienna to draw in the initial composition).  I mix all colors from eight bright near-primaries; kind of the opposite of the "Zorn Palette".  I've also striven to eliminate toxic colors like cadmiums and cobalts from my palette.  I use:

1.  Daniel Smith: Hansa Yellow Light: a cool, bright yellow.
2.  Utrecht: Hansa Yellow Light:  MUCH warmer that the Daniel Smith HYL, I use it to replace Cadmium Yellow Medium.
3.  Daler Rowney Georgian: Pyrole Orange
4.  Daler Rowney Georgian: Pyrole Red
5.  Winsor & Newton: Quinacridone Magenta (as an Alizarin Crimson substitute). 
6.  Gamblin: Cerulean Blue Hue
7.  Blick: French Ultramarine
8.  Daniel Smith: Phthalo Blue
Oh, my white.  I just use Grumbacher's Titanium White, though I'm not choosy about the brand.

Here are my little Friends!

It certainly was difficult to part with the Cadmium colors!  The substitutes I use aren't nearly as opaque and don't have the same tinting strength.  The beauty of using this palette to mix all of my colors is that the browns and all secondary and tertiary color mixtures are in harmony with each other, and extremely vibrant.

For a painting medium, I've been using Gamblin's wonderful Neo Megilp.  For a final varnish, I use Gamvar.

Just set up my blog!  I'll have some interesting stuff here in a day or two.