PAINTING WITH JERRY YARNELL

Last week I spent two wonderful days in an acrylic painting workshop with Jerry Yarnell. We worked on a more advanced piece called “Time of Rebirth” with lots of green trees and a small river with lots of little waterfalls. He also critiqued a lot of my work. Everything had the same basic problem – not enough value changes from the background to the foreground. 

I had so engrained the lesson that when I attended the opening of a watercolor show at the Gallery at Metro I saw the same problem in almost everybody’s painting. The error glared at me from each one except my own. But that is just because it is a painting with no background of two civil war horses tied to a picket line (rope). I purposely chose not to include any background to focus all attention on the horses and their gear. This also allowed the detailing in the tack to show off to the best advantage. I had to find some pictures of similar tack used by other re-enactors to get the detail as close as possible to reality. There is no impressionism in this painting.

Going back to values in a painting, there should be at least three (minimum) from background, mid to front. For a more dramatic effect there should be at least five to six value changes from the back to the front. Getting more than six into a painting is very difficult but would be well worth the effort as long as you already have a good composition. That is what I will be working on achieving in my landscape paintings. If you are interested in learning to paint I highly recommend starting with Jerry. He has been painting and teaching in acrylic oil and watercolor for over 30 years. He is very accessible and accommodating to every age and painting style.

JUST START

Sometimes just getting started takes an extreme effort.  For my art, it's easier if my supplies are already out and set up.  Preparation can take so long that by the time you actually begin work it is time to stop.  I'm not sure there is anything to learn here except that in order to get to the finish one must first start.  Once you have the momentum going it is easier to take the next step and continue.

That reminds me of one of my favorite characters in a book.  His name is Miles.  In the first few novels he is constantly saying "Forward momentum!"  Of course this gets him into a lot of trouble and in order to get out of trouble he must keep the momentum going or he will die, or someone else will die -- in other words, something very bad will happen.

So keep this as a reminder to just get started and let the momentum carry you through to the end -- or the beginning -- of every endeavor.

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PRINTS AND PRODUCTS NOW AVAILABLE

Finally, I have started uploading the larger files so I can offer small to large prints of my work as well as some on canvas! Also, and this is great: You can order my artwork on products such as coffee mugs, mouse pads, coasters, t-shirts, etc. That is so cool! This year I will be ordering some of my own stuff to wear during paint outs and maybe even some gallery openings! I have started by offering prints of horse artwork that has been sold so the original is no longer available. These images have been on Art Wanted for a couple of months but unavailable as prints – until now! If you have any questions about the artwork please contact me. For questions about ordering prints please first try Art Wanted directly as they are located in Iowa and I am in Florida. Here are some introductions to other prints I can now offer for sale: The painting "Dionisio" was named after a wonderful guy at a Walmart somewhere between Orlando and Leesburg on Highway 441. One rainy, windy morning I was on my way to the Leesburg Center for the Arts Back At The Ranch paintout event when I stopped to get some gas. As I walked back to my car I saw that one of the rear tires was half flat! OMG! It’s only 7am in the morning! What could be open where I could get immediate assistance? Some people told me that just up the road there is a Walmart. I race up there (so to speak) and pull in. I pulled in rather close and not in the line. But I explained that I didn’t know how long my tire would hold up and I wanted to get as close to the service area as possible. A man named Dionisio helped me and did not charge me anything to plug the hole in my tire. I gave him $5 anyway and went on my merry way to the paintout. So this painting is named after him. "Serenity" is named thus because I love the serene look that I captured on this horse’s face as he stood in his stall at the Disney’s Grand Cypress Equestrian Center during a horse show there a couple of years ago. His face says it all. This highly detailed drawing has been very popular as a print. It is titled "2 Horses of Rothenburg" because it is done from a photo I took while in Germany. The original 16x20 is very high-priced due to the amount of time and skill involved in its creation and the framing was done by a frameshop (not just me in my studio). I must confess that pencil in black and white is my favorite medium. This drawing was much fun to do and I enjoy sharing it with other people! You can see my entire blog here. If you need to email me directly, please click here.