Painting event in Downtown Daytona Nov 14

Please see this link for an event at downtown Daytona in 2 weeks. DIG will be working on the rose garden on Beach Street by the river, and they invited plein air artists to paint. I plan on being there and painting, along with some other local artists and fellow artists from the Art Consortium. I also created the flyer. If you haven't checked out my graphics website, please do so at www.krautgraphics.com.

In 2 Wochen ist ein Gaertner-nachmittag in Daytona Beach, wo ich mit anderen Kuenstlern malen werde. Ich habe auch den Flyer (siehe oben) dafuer gestaltet. Falls ihr noch nicht meine Website fuer mein Graphik Design gesehen habt, bitte hier klicken www.krautgraphics.com.

Gregg Kreutz Workshop - Day 3

Gregg started the last day at the marina with a demo of some boats sitting at the dock. It was quite breezy and warm, with the sun hiding periodically behind spectacular clouds. He painted on the board of the first demo that he had scraped down - we were all pretty upset, it was so nice ;-(

Gregg's final painting.

Afterwards he let us loose again and we painted till lunch, most of us staying at the marina, painting something similar, and after lunch we painted again, while he went around on his bicycle visiting everyone at their different spots and offering insight and critiques. All around it was an awesome learning experience, and if anybody has the chance, sign up for his workshops.

He said he was planning on doing a mixed workshop (still life, portrait and plein air) around Feb 2011 in Mt. Dora again. He also signed my book (Problem Solving for Oil Painters by Gregg Kreutz), which is an excellent book all around - I can only recommend it. In addition he let us read some excerpts from the new plein air book he is currently working on. Looks like a good one already! Thanks, Gregg!!!!!!

My Workshop Paintings!

Okay, here I am showcasing the paintings I did during the Kreutz workshop. I completed 2 paintings per day, and only one was a dud (I'm not showing it!). I am very pleased with all my efforts, and let me tell you, it was a tour de force! Doing 2 paintings a day for 3 days is really exhausting. But also fun!!!!!

Hier sind die Gemaelde, die ich waehrend des Kreutz Workshop's angefertigt habe. 2 Gemaelde pro Tag, also sechs insgesamt, wovon nur eines nicht vorzeigbar ist. Ich bin total zufrieden mit was ich gelernt habe, und wieviel ich an den 3 Tagen gemalt habe. Es machte soviel Spass!

Morning Alley, 10"x8", oil on panel.

This was my first one, where I put to the test some of his techniques of blending the sky from yellow to blue, and focusing on one area of highlights.

Around The Bend, 10"x8", oil on panel

Painted in the afternoon of the first day, same spot as his demo.

After Gregg's 3rd demo I painted the famous Donelly house, which appears on probably hundreds of artists' canvases. I focused on the morning light hitting the front of the house. I went bigger than my usual canvas size this time. This was done in about one hour. I am again very pleased with it.

Donnelly Light, 11"x14", oil on panel

Day 3, morning effort, same spot as his demo painting.

Mt. Dora Marina, 11"x14", oil on panel

Lakeview Inn, 8"x10", oil on panel

Thanks, Sharon, for being my painting buddy. I had a great time with you, as usual. And thanks for being so brazen and playing city worker by moving a cone to a parking spot. Someone was trying to park in front of my alley scene as soon as I had my very first brush stroke in! It's always fun!

Gregg Kreutz Workshop - Day 2

On Day Two we met early for another demo, this time Gregg painted a sidewalk scene. The sidewalk was going down, then after a dip back up. Also, the sky was cloudy and the sun was coming and going - very difficult. He focused on a swath of light at the far end of the buildings, and really pulled it together. We were all fascinated.

Gregg's final painting. Again - awesome!

After lunch at a Thai place Gregg painted the Donnelly house. He went from this...

to this in less than 2 hours!

Gregg's final painting. They just keep getting better!

We had lots of interested onlookers.

My afternoon painting did not turn out well at all, I was physically and mentally exhausted. Lots to digest, plus the weather was unusually warm... actually hot.

Gregg Kreutz Workshop - Day 1

I am in Mt. Dora this week for a 3-day workshop with artist Gregg Kreutz! It is such an honor, and he is the nicest, most humble, and personable teacher, while being a wonderful and gifted artist. We are about 7 students, and at the same time there is a plein air paintout going on. Please check out his website at www.greggkreutz.com

Diese Woche bin ich in Mt. Dora, um an einem Workshop mit Gregg Kreutz teilzunehmen. www.greggkreutz.com Er ist ein toller Lehrer und sehr talentierter Kuenstler. Er lehrt in der Student Art League in NYC. Ich denke, die Bilder sprechen fuer sich, und die wenigen Deutschen Leser, die echt am technischen Detail interessiert sind, koennen das Englische verstehen.... Tut mir leid, keine Uebersetzungen diesesmal. Ich habe jeden Tag 2 Bilder gemalt, waehrend Gregg 2 Demos am Tag gelehrt hat. Ich werde meine eigenen Gemaelde im 4. Blogpost zeigen, also Geduld...

Day One Gregg started with a demo in the morning, just setting up on the sidewalk and painting a street scene. With his gracious permission I am posting some of his progress shots, and some things we learned.

First Demo with some of us watching intently.

Gregg is a fast painter, and can (and will) make things up on the fly, and they always work! He blocks in on a slightly toned panel ("Innerglow" panels) with a papertowel and burnt sienna, just indicating anything that's not sky.

He then develops the main area and / or main colors, and just goes from there. Note that the sky goes from white+yellow to blue.

Above is the next step, big shapes going into detail. He has a finished painting in the first 30 minutes. He then fiddles around with a palette knife and smaller brushes to develop more details and little flecks of highlights (not shown here, he actually scraped this first demo down and painted over it on Day 3...).

After each demo, which lasted about 1-1.5 hours each, he let us loose and we painted, sometimes the same scene, sometimes any of the other great scenes around this lovely town.

I painted an alley way near the Arts Center in the morning, and then his same scene of the train station of the afternoon. I am very very pleased with both my efforts, which I am going to show in a separate blog post later...

In the afternoon he painted the train station, here are some of the shots.

Scene and Blockin

Sky and more painting...

Almost done..

And here is Gregg's final painting! Awesome...

A little commission

I was asked to finish this tribute to a local skateboarder that the original artist never finished. It is his portrait painted on a skateboard. I had to add the neck, shirt, clouds and writing. The customer was very, very happy with it.

Ich bekam einen kleinen Auftrag, ein Skateboard mit dem Portrait des jungen Mannes fertigzustellen, da der Kunde mit der originalen Kuenstlerin nicht zufrieden war. Ich malte den Hals, Shirt, Wolken und Text dazu. Der Kunde war sehr, sehr begeistert.

Before the Air Show

Before the Air Show 8"x10", oil on masonite

This morning I set up at Sun Splash Park at the beach with Pat and Mark. It was a beautiful start of the day, and we had lots of people there, setting up their chairs and spots for the coming air show. I painted the Main Street Pier in the distance, with the waves coming in beautifully.

Heute morgen malten Pat, Mark, und ich in einem Park am Strand. Es waren viele Leute da, die ihre Stuehle und Decken aufsetzten, um einen guten Platz fuer die spaetere Air-Show zu bekommen. Ich malte die Main Street Pier im Hintergrund, mit hohen Wellen, die an den ruhigen Strand spuelten. Wie ihr seht, haben wir immer noch tolles Wetter, jedoch weniger Schwuele, zum Glueck!

Demo Painting finished

I worked on the demo painting from last Friday, and added some flags, wires (anybody who knows me knows that I love wires in paintings!), and people. I'll let it sit for a while to see if I need to add anything else... I like it now.

Ich malte ein paar neue Sachen in mein Demo-Gemaelde vom letzten Freitag: einige Fahnen/Flaggen, Draehte (jeder, der mich kennt, weiss, dass ich gerne Leitungen und Draehte in Gemaelden habe!), und ein paar Leute. Werde es fuer ein paar Tage sitzenlassen, bis ich sehe, ob es auch nun wirklich sonst nichts mehr braucht... Aber ich mag es bis jetzt.

Fourth of July, 14"x11", oil on masonite. $400.

Painting Demo in DeLand

A few weeks ago I was asked to do a demo at the art league in DeLand for their monthly meeting. Today I went there and painted an oil painting from one of my photos in front of the assembled members. It was a lot of fun, and I believe that everybody got something out of it. I enjoyed it very much, and was able to talk and teach and answer questions while producing a finished painting in a little over an hour.

Vor einigen Wochen wurde ich angefragt, ob ich eine Maldemonstration fuer die Mitglieder des Kunstclubs in DeLand machen wuerde. Heute nachmittag fand die Demo statt, und ich malte ein groesseres Gemaelde von einem meiner Photos vor der versammelten Mitgliedschaft (ca. 13 Personen). Es machte viel Spass, und ich glaube, dass jeder was Gutes davon mitheimtragen konnte. Ich konnte tatsaechlich fast nonstop sprechen und lehren und Fragen beantworten, waehrend ich was ziemlich tolles produzierte.

Here I am with the start of my painting. I used my usual plein-aire setup since no easels were available. It worked out very nicely.

Hier bin ich mit meinem angefangenen Gemaelde. Ich benutzte mein Setup fuer Plein Air, da keine Staffeleien vorhanden waren.

Here is the progression of my steps, from underpainting of shadows, to highlights and addition of colors. I painted with 3 colors plus white on a 14"x11" masonite board.

Hier sind meine Mal-Schritte, von Untermalung der Schatten, zu den Highlights, zur eigentlichen "Bemalung".

My captive audience. Mein aufmerksames Publikum.

My setup, with some of my other paintings I brought along on the right.

Mein Setup, mit einigen meiner Gemaelde, die ich mitgebracht hatte.

4th of July 14"x11"

I believe I will add some people and an American flag to the painting in the following days, since it will enliven the painting. I did not have time to do that at the demo, and it looks a bit empty. Will show it in another post once done...

Ich glaube, in den naechsten paar Tagen werde ich ein paar Leute und die Am. Fahne hinzufuegen, was ich eigentlich machen wollte, jedoch dann keine Zeit mehr dafuer hatte. Ich glaube, das wird das Gemaelde ein bisschen mehr beleben. Werde es euch dann ganz fertig wieder hier zeigen...

Thanks to Larry for setting this up, and for Carol to invite me and make it happen! Thanks to Pat for shooting the photos! And thanks to everybody for coming!

Vielen Dank an Larry, Carol und Pat, und alle, die kamen!