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!

Tranquil Waters

Tranquil Waters, 5"x7", oil on masonite

Here's a little 5x7 from the Daytona Marina this morning. The sun was hiding behind clouds and peeked out once in a while, so I decided to just do a small one to get it down quickly. It was hot and steamy by the water, but I'm glad we got out again to paint.

Hier ist ein kleines Bildchen vom Bootsanlegeplatz in Daytona. Es war sehr heiss und schwuel, und die Sonne versteckte sich oefters, deswegen nahm ich das kleinere Format, um die Szene schneller einzufangen.

At The Lighthouse

One of the nice things with the bad economy is that since my work hours are cut, I get to go out more to paint. I met Mark in Ponce Inlet and together we painted some of the houses and buildings surrounding the lighthouse. After an initial downpour we had great weather and came home with some pretty good efforts.

Here is Mark with his GoBox Easel, while I am using my own setup/self-made pochade box.

Eines der guten Seiten der schlechten Wirtschaftslage ist, dass ich durch meine verkuerzten Arbeitsstunden mehr zum malen komme. Heute malte ich mit Mark in Ponce Inlet, einige der Gebaeude, die den Leuchtturm dort umgeben. Nach einem tollen Regenguss kam die Sonne raus und wir konnten beide mit guten Gemaelden heimkehren.

At the Lighthouse. 8"x10" oil on masonite.

Drastic changes

Thanks to everybody for the comments on my latest painting and the votes. I agreed that the palm tree had to go, so here is the final fixed version, with the tree on the right having better foliage, too. I really like it now and it's definitely framable!

Vielen Dank fuer die vielen Kommentare und Ideen. Ich fand nun auch nach einigem Ueberlegen, dass die Palme nicht gut sass, und habe sie gestern abend uebermalt, und auch den Baum rechts ein bisschen verbessert. Nun ist das Bild echt toll und kann in einen Rahmen kommen.

Usually I don't go home and fiddle or fix a painting, but since I had the brushes out, I also looked at the boat painting I did last weekend and decided to overpaint that a bit too. I still struggled with the canvas texture, but I punched up the values, and unified the colors. The coloring is better now, but the composition is still lacking. The boat sits dead center, the horizon line is boring and pretty much in the middle, 2 big no-no's - so this one is going in the sketch pile.

Normalerweise male ich nie an einem Bild weiter, das ich draussen anfing, doch da ich nach der obigen Reparatur noch in der Stimmung war, uebermalte ich das Bootgemaelde von letzter Woche ein bisschen. Die Tonwerte sind nun kraeftiger, die Farben ein bisschen uebereinstimmend, doch leider ist die Komposition nicht besser: das Boot total in der Mitte des Bildformats, die Horizontlinie ist langweilig und auch in der Mitte, 2 grosse Fehler. Dieses Bild wird keinen Rahmen kriegen...

Just wanted to point out that when you paint plein air, there is just so much to think about in the time frame of 1-2 hours, that not every effort is a winner. We had heat, good conversation, some interested people, limited time frame, sun going in and out. You have to choose your colors, brushes, and make decisions about values, colors, placement etc. It also shows, that even though the colors and values are right, if the composition/placement is boring, then nothing can bring that back...

Wenn man draussen malt, gibt es halt viel zu viele Stoerungen und zu viel zu ueberlegen, um alles richtig hinzukriegen. Und wenn die Komposition nicht gleich stimmt, dann koennen weder die richtigen Farben noch Tonwerte das Bild retten...

Gemini Springs II

I only worked half a day today, so on my way home I stopped at the park of Gemini Springs and painted the red barn next to the caretaker's house that I had painted last year in the summer. It was very hot and I had to stand in the full sun for the best view, but I believe it was worth it. I used my own smooth masonite panels, and ahh, what a difference. One of the groundskeepers stopped to take a peek and commented on how nice it was for me to use the park in such a way. A little over an hour, 5 colors plus white, 2 brushes used. I might do some "landscaping" and remove that very light palm tree in the center, I'll think about it for a couple of days,, not sure yet...

Heute durfte ich nur halbtags arbeiten, und zum Glueck hatte ich meine Malsachen im Kofferraum. Auf dem Heimweg fuhr ich in den Gemini Springs Park, wo ich letztes Jahr schon das alte Haus gemalt hatte. Nun kam die rote Scheune nebendort dran. Ich musste leider in der prallen heissen Sonne stehen, doch ich glaube, dass es das wert war. Ich malte auf meinem eigenen superglatten Malgrund, und ahh, was fuer ein Unterschied. Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit dem Gemaelde, und bekam auch schoene Komplimente von einem der Parkwaechter.

Gemini Springs, 10"x8", oil on masonite

All Tied Up

Ahhh, finally back to plein air, the weather is "cooling down" a bit... I met a new painting buddy, Mark, and we went to my favorite spot at the Dunlawton Bridge. Mark is developing a new pochade box, which can be purchased here www.goboxeasel.com. I have tried it out on several occasions, and again this weekend, and I really like it. Very compact and fine to handle. He also gave me one of his panels with linen glued to it, and this is the second time I have tried them. I was fighting the weave and its property of sucking the oil right out of my paints again, and now I swear I will stick with gessoed masonite - that's it.

My painting therefore is not the best, also because we chatted quite a bit, and I helped with his own painting. That's my story - and I'm sticking to it!

Endlich wieder beim Malen, da nun das Wetter ein bisschen "kuehler" ist. Ich traf mich mit Mark, der eine neue Pochade Box entwickelt hat, und mich als Versuchskaninchen auserkoren hat. Ich mag seinen Kasten sehr, der hier www.goboxeasel.com zu erhalten ist. Leider probierte ich nun zum 2. Mal seine Boards mit Leinwand aus, was nicht meine Sache ist, und dementsprechend sieht auch mein Gemaelde aus... Ich werde von nun an nur noch Masonite verwenden, keine Leinwand! Die Faserung/Textur stoert mich sehr.

All tied up 10"x8", oil on masonite with linen

I wanted to share real quick something beautiful. I had some twigs that my teaparty-commission-client Marie had given me. I had them in a vase in my bedroom, and was disrupted in my sleep by rustling. It was caused by a butterfly emerging from its cocoon - right there in my room! Isn't he beautiful? I took him outside after taking the pictures.

Eine kleine schoene Geschichte: Meine Klientin der Teaparty, Marie, hatte mir einige Zweige mitheimgegeben, die ich in eine Vase setzte. Letzte Woche wurde mein Schlaf gestoert durch Rascheln. Es war ein Schmetterling, der sich in meinem Schlafzimmer entpuppte! Ist er nicht toll? Ich liess ihn dann nach draussen, nachdem ich ihn photographiert hatte.

Tea Party Delivered!

Yesterday I delivered the painting to my client in New Smyrna Beach. Marie was very happy how it looked in her ornate gilded frame. I have to say, her house is the perfect place for this frame and the painting. She has decorated it herself, with mismatched antiques and European/Victorian-looking frills. There was something cute and gorgeous to discover in every corner of her house. It was absolutely adorable, and very nicely done.

Gestern lieferte ich das Gemaelde bei meiner Klientin ab. Ihr Haus war der perfekte Platz fuer das Bild und den Goldrahmen - sie hatte es selber dekoriert mit Europaeischem Flair (sie ist aus Daenemark), Flohmarkt-Fuenden und Antiquitaeten. Da gab es was neues und goldiges zu entdecken in jeder Ecke ihres Hauses.

Her garden was a perfect match with gorgeous plants, planters and statuettes.

Ihr Garten war genauso suess mit tollen Pflanzen, Kuebeln und Statuen.

Progress and Announcement

Me again - Here is the teaparty painting with all the vital steps, in case you are interested ;-) It's nice to see the progress and the changes I made to some of the elements, like eliminating the center glass. You can also see again, how bad that reference was I had to work with...

Ich nochmal - Hier ist mein Gemaelde mit den wichtigsten Schritten, falls ihr interessiert seid ;-) Ich finde es interessant, zu sehen, wie ein Gemaelde sich entwickelt, und was fuer Aenderungen ich vorgenommen habe, z.B. das Glas in der Mitte, das verschwunden ist. Ihr koennt auch sehen, wie schlecht mein Referenzphoto war...

This weekend, Aug 14 and 15, I am participating at the artshow at the Peabody Theater in Daytona Beach, beachside by the Ocean Center. Saturday 10-4, Sunday 12-4. It's inside with airconditioning - so you have no excuse not to see me there! There also will be performing arts and some culinary exhibits. Please come and visit to escape the heat - would love to see you there. Ruth

Dieses Wochenende habe ich eine Kunstshow in Daytona Beach, im Peabody Theater. Zum Glueck ist es im Gebauede mit Airconditioning - wir haben seit Mai jeden Tag 35 Grad, so werden Kunestler und Besucher es dort wenigstens gemuetlich haben. Ruth

Tea Party - Finished!!!!!!

Tada! Here it is! I finished skintones and faces last night and tonight. It was very hard to get the expressions, especially the boy. He is laughing real hard in the reference photo, but it was quite difficult to recreate. I settled on this, and after repainting the mouth about 4 times, I am quite pleased with it now and will leave it alone. The skin tones are great, especially on the girl's arms, they almost glow. Below some detail shots.

Jippie! Endlich bin ich fertig! Habe gestern und heute abend die Hauttoene fertiggemalt. Es war ziemlich schwer, die Gesichtsausdruecke hinzukriegen, vor allem am Jungen. Er lacht ziemlich gross im Photo, doch das war sehr schwer zu malen. Nachdem ich seinen Mund etwa 4x uebermalt hatte, bin ich nun damit zufrieden. Die Haut, vor allem die Arme des Maedchens, sind super, sie haben einen warmen Unterton, der fast glueht. Siehe unten ein paar Detail-Photos.

Thank you for taking this journey with me, following me and sending me your comments. As usual, I really appreciated it! Ruth

Vielen Dank fuer die Reise mit mir, die schoenen Kommentare, und emails. Wie immer habe ich mich ueber jede Notitz gefreut! Ruth

Starting the next commission soon - a landscape!

Bald geht's los mit der naechsten Kommission - eine Landschaft!

More Color!

Progress tonight. All elements are pretty much done, except the skin colors (faces and arms). Yeah! Now I can see the end result clearly in my mind, and it's looking pretty good. The tablecloth is especially nice, I think. The folds are made from different colors ranging from a pastel blue and green to mauve and purple, the highlights are white, offwhite, beige and nice yellow. The underpainting really helped and it's a pleasure to develop the colors on top of it.

Heute abend habe ich alle Farben fertiggemalt ausser den Hautflaechen. Nun kann ich endlich das vollendete Gemaelde klar vor mir sehen, da ich nun fast fertig bin, und bis jetzt bin ich sehr zufrieden. Das Tischtuch hat viele Pastelfarbtoene, sieht echt toll aus. Ich sehe, dass die Untermalung in schwarz und weiss wirklich viel hilft, es ist eine Freude, die Farben darueberzustreichen.

Color!

Hello again!

On top of the finished grisaille I rubbed some burnt sienna in oil paints yesterday to give it a more antique and warm look. Here you can see how I started this layer on the girl's face and the lamp. It clearly gives a warmer look than the stark black and white.

Gestern abend rieb ich Gebrannte Sienna Oelfarbe ueber die komplette Untermalung, um dem Bild einen waermeren Unterton zu geben. Man kann diese Schicht in der Lampe und dem Gesicht des Maedchens sehen.

Tonight I started glazing some colors on top. For this process you need mostly transparent paints so that the shadow and light parts of the grisaille will show through. For example, just by rubbing some thin red paint (Venetian red) over the girl's dress, you get the overall effect of light and dark with all the work done in the underpainting. For some of the highlights I added some more opaque white mixed with the local color. This process is very easy, since all the work has been done in black and white.

Heute fing ich an, Farben drueber zu glasieren oder einzureiben. Dafuer braucht man transparente Oelfarben, so dass die hellen und dunklen Toene der Untermalung durchscheinen. So hat man gleich Schatten und Licht, da alle "Arbeit" waehrend der Grisaille-Schicht in schwarz und weiss beendet wurde. Fuer Highlights male ich mit dickerer Farbe, die mit Weiss vermischt ist, drueber.
In this photo I am done in color with pretty much everything EXCEPT the boy's shirt, all skintones (faces and arms), the girl's hair, and the tablecloth. (Sorry for the glare on the dark background, it is hard to photograph dark oil colors.) The effect of the subtle glazing can be seen in the detail below.

Im obigen Photo kann man sehen, dass so ziemlich alles komplett in Farbe ist, AUSSER den Hauttoenen, den Haaren des Maedchens, dem Hemd des Jungen, und dem Tischtuch. (Leider ist der Hintergrund nicht gut zu erkennen, da es noch nass und so dunkel ist, was immer schwer ist, zu photographieren.) Im Detail unten koennt ihr den zarten Effekt der Glasur sehen.

Teaparty - Grisaille finished!

The grisaille (black and white underpainting) is finished! Well, except for that bundle of grapes on the table. I could not do the hands, try as I might. The reference photo was not very clear, the original glass was in front, and hands are very hard to do anyway... So I just painted a bunch of grapes and an apple in front of the hands. I will define them a bit more during the coloring stage which comes next. I am very happy with this painting right now. Next is the fun part - adding color!

Das Grisaille (schwarz-weisse Untermalung) ist vollendet! Nun, ausser fuer die Trauben auf dem Tisch, die ich hinzufuegen musste, da die Haende einfach nicht geklappt sind. Haende sind sehr schwer zu malen, und in diesem Fall sogar noch schwerer, da das Weinglas sie teilweise verdeckt hatte, und das Referenzphoto sowieso nicht so klar war. Nun habe ich eben ein paar Trauben und einen Apfel davorgemalt, die ich jedoch mehr detailliert machen werde, wenn ich nun endlich an die naechste Phase komme - Farben hinzufuegen! Bis dann... tschuess.

Painting in North Carolina!

Over the 4th of July weekend I went with my boyfriend to visit his family in NC again. While there I painted the creek down the road. Unfortunately the sun had left and it was very dark down in the valley. The kids went fishing and collected rocks, while I did this 8"x10" in about 1 hour. It's really hard to do rushing water, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Wir hatten Unabhaengigkeitstag (Fourth of July) dieses Wochenende, und mein Freund und ich besuchten seine Familie in North Carolina. Waehrend die Kinder angelten und Steine sammelten, malte ich den plaetschernden Bach im Tal. Leider war die Sonne hinter Wolken versteckt, und die Szene war ziemlich dunkel. Ich bin jedoch sehr zufrieden, denn fliessendes Wasser ist ziemlich schwer zu malen!

Down at Cooper's Creek, 8"x10", oil on masonite