2010 Birds in Art Entry

This is a 28"L x 10"W oil (on board) of an elf owl in senita cactus....about a half an hour away from being finished.

The painting is untitled - if you have any brilliant suggestions?   The elf owl is strictly nocturnal and roosts in trees or cacti, often in cavities.  I would like a title that suggests poor planning on the part of the owl's part - as the morning sun has found him.

Edited to add:  Thanks to Joe Garcia, the painting has been named, 'Rude Awakening'.   Perfect!

"Contemplate"

I've been struggling with my Birds in Art Entry - so decided to lighten up my mood today by painting one of my favorite subjects.  This is Joe & Anne Garcia's kitty, Mouser (again).  Good thing I don't have to pay the cat royalties.

Join me in Tuscany!

I'm teaching a workshop with Joe Garcia in Tuscany this September.    This will be the second time we've taught there so I know firsthand what a fabulous experience it is. 

The workshop will be held at Villa Fattoria Bacio in the town of Certaldo, 50 minutes by rail from Florence (to the north), 25 minutes from Siena (to the south) and within viewing distance of the towers of San Gimignano.

             
                                                                     View from the Villa                                                             

We stay at Fattoria Bacio where the workshop is held in the villa's studio.  While we're painting, the villa's owner, Patrizia, is cooking fabulous Tuscan meals for us.. .washed down with the villa's own wine.   We will paint in the studio and plein air on the villa's grounds.

The workshop will be held from September 4 - 11, 2010, with room for only five more students.
Non-paintings spouses/partners/friends are welcome too.   For more details on the workshop (including cost) go to http://sedonaartscenter.com/visitingartistworkshops/categories/workshop-list.htm
then scroll down to September and click on Tuscany - Earnshaw/Garcia. 

Getting there is not difficult.  You can fly into any major city in Italy (Florence or Rome are good choices) then take a train to Certaldo, where a representative from the villa will pick you up.
 If you plan to see more of Italy before or after the workshop, there are many festivals in Tuscany in August.  Volterra celebrates with a medieval fair the last whole week of August and on the last Sunday in August, Montepulciano's  Bravio delle Botti  (barrel rolling race) takes place.   Eight neighborhoods compete for a Palio, a painted cloth banner.  The barrels weigh 80 kg each and are rolled uphill about 1800m along the main street of Montepulciano, finishing in the Piazza Grande.  Costume processions precede the competition and a street banquet follows.  The event dates back to 1373.  August is when all of Europe goes on vacation, so if you prefer cooler temps and fewer people, save your sightseeing for after the workshop in mid-September. 

On my last trip to Italy, Joe & Anne Garcia and I spent a week in my favorite part of Italy;  Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, on Italy's west coast,   We spent another week in Montelcino, a hill top town in Tuscany.   We rent an apartment or house (often more reasonably priced than hotels) which gives us the option of cooking our own meals.  Half the fun is buying food in the markets. 

  

If Tuscany is on your bucket list, come and spend a week with us in Certaldo!

If you would like more information, email me.

adele.earnshaw@

gmail.com

(Written this way to hopefully foil spammers)

Artist's House

    View from my front door, taken a few months ago.

I have a very cute house in Oak Creek Canyon, a fifteen minute drive north of Sedona, Arizona. I'm giving serious thought to going back to New Zealand for part of the year but don't particularly want to sell my house yet.   Only 1% of Oak Creek Canyon is privately owned so property here is hard to find.  I'm thinking of renting the house out as a fully furnished vacation rental....but for a minimum of two months at a time as there are renting restrictions in my neighborhood.  As there are lots of artists who follow my blog, I thought I would put it out there to see if there's any interest.

The house is 1200 square feet,  non-smoking, 2 bedroom plus a studio, 1.5 baths, dishwasher, washer dryer, microwave, fireplace, barbeque and creek access.  The house would be fully furnished right down to the linens, dishes, etc.  There is a phone but you will need a Verizon broadband card for high speed internet.  The studio would include easel and taboret.   Bedroom #1 has a queen bed.  Bedroom #2 has twins.

I live in a small neighborhood of summer cabins.  Only three are occupied year-round - the rest are  used on the occasional weekend.  My home will be available April 1 through October 30th next year.   No pets.  I prefer adults, preferably two people.    It's ideal for a couple of artists who would like to spend some time painting in the Sedona area.

If you are interested in more information, please email me at adele.earnshaw@gmail  (please add .com to the address) and I'll provide photos and price.

Step-by-Step

I'd never painted a bear until this past year - and now it seems I can't paint enough.  I just need to paint bears.   I live at the edge of national forest where bears live.  They visit my house on occasion, eating all of my apricots in one night or raiding the apple trees.  I often have unsettling dreams about bears where they are prowling outside my house, sniffing the air.  Perhaps by painting bears I am exorcising them from my dreams. 

The Walt Horton Fine Art Gallery in Beaver Creek, Colorado has requested larger bear paintings....so this painting is for them, along with another of the same size but with a fire-red background of sumac. This is my first attempt at a bear larger than 9 x 12.   This piece is on 24" x 24" Ampersand cradle board, a 2" deep type of 'gallery wrap' that lends itself to a more contemporary painting.   I decided to post the process here, showing how I problem-solve as I paint.

 

I start with a rough drawing done with my paint brush.  At first, the bear was smaller - but I realized the size and shape of the canvas demanded an 'in-your-face' bear, so I scrubbed it off and started again.

Before I started the drawing I knew I would put aspen behind the bear for the strong color.  I worried more about the negative shapes between the aspen than the aspen themselves.  At this point, I put in a line or two - stand back and analyze - put in another few lines then stand back, etc.  The cat knows better than to walk behind me at this point as I'm always backing up without looking to see what is behind me.  

When painting vertical lines, such as the aspen, it's easy to create a 'gutter' down the side of the painting.   A gutter is dead space that kills the composition.  So I got rid of the aspen on the left that exited the painting and painted in the darks on the left side of the bear to make sure that the dark ear cutting into the yellow would get rid of the gutter.  It did.  Now I'm concerned with the aspen sapling that cuts across the bear's body.  See how the lines of the paw parallel the lines of the tree?  I'll have to do something about that.....

 

Now it's starting to come together.  The bear's head in the painting is larger than mine, so it has the in-your-face feeling that I wanted.  I am still bothered by the parallel lines between paw and aspen but will worry about that later.  Now I can see that the composition is a little too stark so I will break up the aspen with some leaves.

A-ha!  The leaves have improved the composition.  The bear and aspen don't have a strong light source, giving it a flat, designy feeling that I like and may keep.  Now, what to do with the paw? 

Paw problem has been solved by getting rid of it.   I'm slightly concerned with the aspen sapling crossing over the bear but plan on adding a few yellow circles and lines (twigs and leaves) to break up the lines.    At this point, the body of the bear is nothing more than an underpainting.  Today I'll paint the body.  I'm thinking of using broad, heavy brush strokes to make the bear look solid.  If I don't like it I can wipe it off as the underpainting is already dry.

Until now I've concerned myself primarily with the design of the painting.  Now I'll work on edges and detail, (not too much detail) and giving the painting a more painterly feel.  

I will post the finished painting later today if all goes well!

(I'm already planning the companion piece and looking forward to painting it.  I love any excuse to use red!)

Edited to add:   As an afterthought, I'm showing you the bear reference I used for this painting.  Photographer Michael Whited generously allowed me to use his photo of a bear.   I made changes as I wanted the bear to be looking at the viewer.  The ears are the same!

Does anyone want a painting of an armadillo?

I'm painting at the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area (Ace Basin), an hour south of Charleston, South Carolina,  with my artist friends Melanie Fain, Joe Garcia and Virginia Vaughan.    I've never seen an armadillo - until seeing this little guy outside the lodge this morning.  The armadillo scurries around poking his nose into the damp leaves looking for grubs - reminding me very much of a hedgehog in an overcoat.

The spots on the armadillo's armor reminds me of a guinea fowl.  Does anyone want a painting of an armadillo?  I'd love to paint one!

Hello from the low country of Colleton County

The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition finished last night.  In spite of three inches of snow in Charleston on Friday night, the show was well attended.  Snow is almost unheard of in this area - so it was a real novelty for the local kids. 

The highlight of my weekend was being invited to show at the Horton Hayes Fine Art Gallery, one of Charleston's finest galleries.   http://www.hortonhayes.com/   So if you missed SEWE, you can see my work at Horton Hayes, 30 State Street, Charleston, S.C. 

Now I'm at Ace Basin, which is where the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Rivers converge.  I'm here with artists Melanie Fain, Joe Garcia and Virginia Vaughan.

http://www.melaniefain.com/
http://www.joegarcia.com/
http://www.v-vaughan.com/

We're here to teach a workshop for South Carolina's Junior Duck Stamp Winners - and to spend a couple of days painting.  This area has been an inspiration for my work for many years.  There is a promise of rain for most of the today but the weather will clear tomorrow, in time for me to spend some time painting and to recharge my batteries.

In two weeks, Joe and I will be teaching a three-day oil/watercolor workshop at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.  If you're interested in this workshop, there's information on the workshop section of my website, http://www.adeleearnshaw.com/