New Painting: Dancing in the Plaza de Espana - Ronda Spain

In 2004, I was part of a group of people from my church that went to Algeciras, Spain to assist some missionaries  for 2 weeks. One Saturday, we took a trip to Ronda. Ronda is one of the Southern Spain   White Villages or Pueblos Blancos know for their white washed walls and red or brown tile roofs. It is a town perched on two cliffs with an ancient Roman Bridge connecting them 

We were there when 2 events were occurring , a bull fight and the Ibero-American festival celebrating the Spanish countries of North and South America. Lots of people in traditional costume, good food and much celebrating. 

One such event was traditional dancing demonstrations in the main square, or the Plaza de Espana. I  took a few pictures and enjoyed the scene. I fell in love with one  picture in particular and decided some day to paint it when I had some more confidence in painting people. Meanwhile I stuck to my usual lighthouses, covered bridges, etc. I finally painted people in a another picture  I took in Spain  of a roadside café in Andalucia  (my Spanish Cafe painting) , except they were small and far away. The Dancing painting would require much more up close work. As we left Ronda, going back down the mountain to Algeciras, we had beautiful sunset  

I finally had the urge  to paint it. This is my first real attempt to paint people. I tried putting face on them but they looked horrible, so I decided to leave them out. In my way of painting, I essentially built the painting. I don’t sketch anything, I have a vision for where the paint should go and lay it on. I first block things in black and let that dry  (except for the rear buildings) and then paint the entire scene.Anything in front gets painted in black over the rear scene, dries and then gets painted fully, etc. The people I did not sketch. I just loaded up my brush and carefully blocked them in in black and painted the colors over them. There may be a few flaw in it but I’m happy with it. As an artist you have to grow and expand your boundries.

On the same trip we went to Fez Morocco for a few days with another missionary to visit a Childrens Home in another town, but I have many pics of the Fez Medina with many people in them that I want to paint, one of  a fish seller in the Medina, 

 so watch for them! So enjoy. This is 11 x 14 oil on canvas board with a price of 200 dollars. As usual mugs and bags and available with the Dancing image on it

Artist Spotlight - Tom Everhart.

I love discovering artists and I'm a great fan of the Peanuts comic strip. Tom Everhart satisfies both these.     He's been around awhile, but I just saw great a piece about him on the Today Show. He was a Charles Schultz apprentice and Chuck encouraged him to use the Peanuts character in his own art. I'm a big Peanuts fan, so I naturally fell in love with his art, which is becoming very popular and going for high prices. At the end of the piece, you find an excited Al Roker who purchased one of these paintings several years ago for a few hundred dollars. There’s one of Lucy emulating the Scream painting and anything with Snoppy gets my attention. There's one of Snoopy wearing a coat that is full of the images of his little bird friend Woodstock. Here's an image of his Big Poppa painting of Snoopy

Check him out -  http://www.everhartstudio.com

Recipes for the feeding of a hungry artist - Lobster Benedict

We artists get hungry and since I love to cook, so  I occasionally post recipes. Its National Lobster Day, so I'm posting a lobster recipe - Lobster Eggs Benedict. This is from the Food And Wine site.
This image is From the Food and Wine site by Quentin Bacon

Check out the link

Lobster Benedict

New painting - Lavender on Blue Chair

I've not done a still life, so here's my first try at it. I came across this picture on Pinterest and decided to do it. Lavender is one of my favorite flowers (besides Black-eyed Susans) and I love the pictures of lavender in the French Countyside. Several of my friends call my sea paintings my "Blue Paintings" since that's the predominate color, so this may become part of that category. As usual, this image is copywrited.
This is an orange vase of lavender on old blue chair against a blue background. Has a very French feel to it! As usual, if you like this image, I've used Zazzle to create bags and mugs and this time cards for you to purchase and enjoy!