Catching up

I am finally starting to catch up on some wholesale orders. These flip flops have gone off to Ponte Vedra Inn and Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.  The new turtle design is cute, cute, cute.

More faces with a couple of pineapples thrown in

 I enjoyed my last experience making small footed plates, so I decided to do it again.  This time I did a series of black and white women's faces and seated nudes.  I tired of doing the black and white before I was ready to abandon the form so then I did some faces with color and some pineapple plates.  Each of these plates has three small feet on the bottom to give them lift and the feet have holes in them so they can be hung on the wall.  The photo at the very bottom is a side view that shows the profile.

Each plate is about 6 x 8" and $34.00 

99 More

 The last day of the Robert Burridge workshop he stopped by my work table, pointed to one of the landscapes and said, "That's great, now do 99 more."   I took it as a challenge and decided to continue the series.  Here are the guidelines I have set for myself.  They will all be 11 x 14" like the original ones.  They will be cloud and water studies.  I will use big brushes, lots of water and paint fast and loose.  The hard parts will be staying loose and of course the 99 thing.  I have a bad case of short attention span so staying focused could be a problem.  I am not giving myself a deadline, but maybe I should, we'll see.  One really good thing is that I am always taking cloud photos and I probably have 200 that I can look at for inspiration if I need to.  The above landscape needs a couple of small tweaks.

 This painting is finished.  When I say it is finished, I don't mean it is perfect, just that it works for me at this current stage.

 This painting is finished.

I am not sure if this one is finished or not. I am happy with the compostion, but it might lack a focal point.  But not every painting, (in my opinion) needs a strong focal point.

I do want to add that my kiln is repaired, I am firing again and the next post will have some new pottery pieces.

Robert Burridge

We love the pelican.

Pelican

landscape

landscape

I spent last Thursday through Sunday in a Robert Burridge workshop. I had a wonderful experience. He gives you a ton of info that at times seems overwhelming. I had a pretty good grip on what I was doing because this was my second workshop with him. See my May 2009 blog posts for details on what his workshops are like. I feel that my second workshop with him was more sucessful for me than the first. I knew what to expect and was ready for it and I didn't try to do everything he threw at us, but stayed focused on just a couple of exercises.

http://www.roberburridge.com

Keeping Busy

Just after my kiln broke I left town to go visit family. I had a great time, but now that I am back I am working double time to catch up. My co-op gallery has been very busy and I am doing my best to keep the shelves stocked. The photo above shows some items that came out of the last good firing. The good news on the kiln is that the part is on the way and should be here Friday.

HOWEVER, there always seems to be "however", starting tomorrow I am going to be in a 4 day Robert Burridge workshop at The Studios of Key West. I took a workshop from him several years ago and I am very excited about this one. There is going to be a plein air emphasis in this workshop that should be amazing. But since the workshop is 9 to 4 each day the kiln repair may have to wait until next Monday.
http://www.robertburridge.com

Even though I haven't been firing I have been making some new items. Last month's portrait workshop got me interested in the human form and I have made some small trays with female figures and faces in black and white only. And I am working on a new small wall turtle similar to the wall fish I make. Next time I post about clay I hope to have some photos of them to show you.

Bummer!

See that dark round speck on the side wall of my kiln? Well something got on the element and burnt through it during my last firing. So the kiln didn't get hot enough at the top and now I have to get a new element and repair the kiln. It's always something.

But here are a few things that came out of the last firing. Some plaques for Margaritaville, and odds and ends for the gallery.

Some experimental sushi type dishes, faces and pineapples.

Some special order flip flops that had to match the fabric swatches. They have holes in them because they are going to be attached to a curtain valance. The drapery lady said she would sent me a photo after she got them installed.

And some mugs for the gallery and some mugs for Margaritaville. I am going to North Carolina to celebrate my Dad's birthday and when I come back I will have to get that kiln fixed because I have orders to do.

Good enough for government work

This week I am busy taking an oil painting portrait workshop with artist Letty Nowak http://www.lettynowak.com at The Studios of Key West. I have painted portraits before, but never with any instruction. And I really wanted to know how a serious portrait painter approaches it. In the photo above I have roughed in a sketch. I thought it was fine while I was doing it, then I saw fatal flaws, the nose was too long and the face wasn't wide enough. In the above photo I have made corrections and started to block in the color. There are still flaws, but I feel I can make some corrections and it will be passable. I'd like you all to know that the brave soul who said he'd be my test subject is my brother Bill Rogers, http://www.jenandtonicband.com , who besides being a wonderful musican, is very good looking so I don't want to screw this up. As you can see this workshop is about painting from a photo and one really interesting thing that Letty said is that portraits painted from photos where the subject is not smiling end up looking more like paintings then ones where the subject is smiling. And I can notice in the class that this is true. For the most part the smiling portraits look more like photos and just a little cheesy.

And here is the pottery I made last week. There a some cute new flip flops designs and lots of bright colors, as always.

Shore Leave

When I first came to Key West you would occasionaly see a sailor in his whites. I can't tell you the last time I saw them. I wonder if they even wear whites anymore? So this is a nostalgia kind of painting. For people familiar with Key West there is a dead giveaway as to which old town Key West street he is traveling.

"Shore Leave'
acrylic on canvas
20" x 16"
$475.00 unframed
giclee prints available

Happy Holidays

I decided to revisit a previous painting. I decided to change the size and the color, somewhat. Behine the easle are two barn style doors that open and give me a lot of light when I paint. But the photo looked better with the doors closed. This is the painting in progress. I think my coffee is getting cold. See my pink cup in the foreground?

Here is the finished painting. ( I wish I had done a better job of cropping the image, that dark line at the bottom is not part of the painting.)

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday.

"Sunny Day on Pearl Street" 20" x 16" acrylic unframed $485.00

in the gallery now

From Abstract Study to expressive realism

This acrylic study is the basis for the oil painting below. The acrylic is loose and abstract. I like it for it's freshness.
"Into the Evening" 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas unframed. $345.00

This oil painting still isn't resolved and I'm not sure how to finish it, so it will have to sit for awhile and rest. In the meantime the acrylic has made it into the gallery.

Odds and ends

Well, it is the time of year when everyone feels like they have a million irons in the fire and I am no exception. I have had a number of orders to get out, and the store to get stocked for the Holiday tourists that fill Key West the week between Christmas and New Year's. Plus I can't stay away from my paint brushes even when I have other things to do. Here are a few items that are going in the gallery and a very special dog bowl that is a Christmas gift for a friend who has a rescued puppy. (That's a secret, so don't tell).

I'll show the paintings in another post. I hope everyone is doing well.

I'm still here

Just a few images to prove that I am still working. And maybe these bright tropical colors will entice some of you to come and spend a few days in Key West and visit my gallery.

7 Artists Key West

604 Duval Street

Key West, FL

No Excuse

I have no excuse for being gone from "blog land" for so long. I have been busy, but it hasn't seemed like I have been doing anything really blog worthy. However, I did buy some really inexpensive paints and have been doing some experimental painting.

They are very fluid acrylic paints, and while they are not great paint, I don't feel bad about using a lot of paint and not being sure about the results. They are Lukas brand acrylic paints and you really get a lot for not much money. But some of the colors seem "off" and chalky and you have to tweak them to get the color you want. For example, I couldn't mix a decent black and I had to use a store bought black on the above cowpainting. I use a large sheet of plexi for a pallette and really pour out a lot of paint.

I also bought a big box of 16 x 20 canvas. The plan is to use these supplies up doing lots of experimental work. Most of which will probably just be for my own education. I was happy with the cow painting and it is hanging in the gallery.

But I have had very little time to paint and most of my time has been spent making pottery for customers who want special things in time for Christmas.

the cow painting is titled, "Those big brown eyes"

acyrlic on canvas, unframed 16 x 20" $395.00

Fianlly finished

This painting sat unresolved in my studio for many months. I just didn't know how to finish it. I finally decided to approach it the same way I did my recent bird paintings. See the April, 24 2011 post to see it "before".
"Little Gem on Pearl Street"
24" x 20" $495.00 acrylic on canvas

Finished oyster plates

Here are some pics of the finished oyster plates. I can't wait to do some more.

I only have one small plate finished, but I like it too.