Tuesday, October 13, 2009

My Most Recent fail...I Mean Success

I have had a lot of bad paintings over the last several weeks. Last night I made up my mind that I would not quit until I had something I could build on. This is the result.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Back to Basic Oil Painting

I am trying to learn some more of the important basics I have learned. I am attempting to add something new to my painting style, so starting at the beginning helps me to try and incorporate some of what I am learning without trying to think of everything all at once.
At Carolyn Andersons workshop I tried to do it all at once and fll flat on my face.
Lesson learned!

Friday, July 10, 2009

There is Still Some Life!



I just finished a workshop with Carolyn Anderson followed by a private "workshop" from my little brother Robert Coombs. I learned so much from the two of them! I now overthink and overpaint everything I try to paint because I am trying to apply what I learned to my personal style.

It has been very difficult and a lot of fun with frustration mixed in. I am going to try something that Carolyn taught me. I am trying to let some of the detail go and just suggest things without trying to paint them as if I were reproducing them. I am going to...interprete... Ahhhhhh!

I will let you know how it goes. Here are two of my paintings and a small demo my brother did for me in a very short amount of time.








Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Demonstration Painting

This is the painting that I started as a demo for the gallery stroll at the Pickett-Fairbanks gallery on the 17th. This is as far as I have gone. It needs a couple more hours of work.

Friday, October 24, 2008

The Ann Gale Experiment

Everyday I feel like I am getting a little closer to my goal. I want my paintings to come alive. The strokes in the face are too similar in value and color so it loses a bit of the energy. I am working bigger and I am finding that I overwork areas a little too much. I want to mix value and color and put down swatches and let them standwith as little blending as possible. I want to leave details to the imagination but leave no room for error when it comes to value and color. So while this is not exactly adhering to that I am sure that is what I want to do. I will work on this again in a couple of days when it is dry.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Another Experiment

This was another experiment inspired by my research into painting. One of Jenny Saville's
paintings caught my eye so I did this for a first attempt. Trying to keep simple grahic shapes while maintaining the form. Interesting.....but I need to focus on what I am doing.

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Art Show

This is a picture of my wife's cousin. She modelled for a painting demonstration I did on the Gallery Stroll in Salt Lake. It was fun but I was stressed because my baby girl ate some paint right after I left home. She also did her modern expressionist interpretation on the wall and carpet. I really need to paint a picture of her soon.