3 Day Palette Knife Workshop


Sometimes it's just great to take an art class and learn from new and different artists.
 I'm taking a palette knife workshop with Leslie Saeta this week and so far it's been a blast.
To begin with we painted a value study. Always an important step when looking for the design in your painting.

Next we painted a similar still life, but with color this time. This wraps up our first day and it was a lot of fun.
Day 2; Leslie painting a demo for us. I really like the way she has broken things down into steps.


 Leslie working away.
This is what I worked on today. 2-12"x12" canvases.
Now off to my evening class at SCAD. 
Teaching, instead of being a student, but I'll be back as student tomorrow morning. I think we are painting boats. Yay!!

Happy Painting,

Dawn

Big Sky - Big Color!!48"x48"

48"x48" Big Sky
My first big painting since the 30 day challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. It felt wonderful to be back in the studio and work big and bold again. I would like to work on series of the large landscapes and see where I can take it.

Happy painting!
Dawn

Check out my 30 paintings on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dawnkmart

Painting 30 - I made it!!!

5x7  $145.00 Framed size 8x10


Well, I can't believe it is the last day. It's been a challenge but I made it. As I was working on my painting today, it made me a bit reflective. It seems I've always had a fight in my work between form and expressionism. In college I doubled in sculpture and painting.  But when it came down to it,
I had to work it out in a two dimensional plane.  There is just nothing like it. So, my work comes down to that fight, the beauty and strength of color and form. I look forward to what tomorrow brings.
Until then, Dawn

Painting 29 - Apple Boogie

5x7 Apple Boogie Oil on canvas

 We were lucky today, with all the bad weather in the area, I just had flooding.
The studio is swamped. Good thing I have a slotted floor that allows the water to pass through the floor and drain. Still - what a mess!

Another great addition to the house. We put a roof over the back doors. Now I have a workspace when the weather is bad. Today I had to build frames for my show this weekend. 


Even better, while the other half of the house is without a tenet, I can use that space as well. Overall I think I fared pretty well for such a stormy day!

Until tomorrow,

Dawn

Painting 28






Almost to the finished with the 30 days painting challenge. It was a busy day today with classes and other work. Here is what kept most of my day busy.  This is a collaboration piece with St Anne's Preschool and will be auctioned off next month. The  turning fours'  painted the flowers on the wooden blocks. Now it my turn! I've got their painting on and now I need to finish the words, and then antique it. Hope it turn out as I've imaged.

 Until tomorrow,
Dawn

Painting 27

5x7 oil on canvas "Footloose and Fancy Free"
 Made it to day 27 of 30 paintings in 30 days. Today was a tough one. Just worn out from the drive yesterday - then all finishing the taxes. So, todays painting is just free and easy!

Painting 25 - Still in Defuniak

 
This is the Pansy Cottage. What a great name for a cool house on the lake.
I have had such a great time painting at the Chautauqua Plein Air Event. It such a pretty, laid back area, but the best part has been meeting the other artists. Such a great group of people.

Check out all of the artists painting for the 30 paintings in 30 Days Event.  Just 5 more days to go!
http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

Until tomorrow,

Dawn

Painting 24!!

"Got the Spirit in Me"
 9x12 oil on canvas  Framed - black floater frame  $300




 I decided to keep with the white building theme. This church has such cool shapes.
This composition is pretty simple. I began by blocking in the sun and shadow.
 Loosely building in the shapes, still thinking about value and temperature.  I love the way reflected light warms up areas in a cool shadow!
Yesterday I had a hard time dealing with the foliage in the foreground, so today, I'm really going to try not to let the unimportant  parts of the painting get in the way.

Starting to pull the composition together.

Once I had the bulk of the work completed, I started having fun with texture and the colors in the shadows.

Until tomorrow!

Dawn

Day 21 and a Little Teaching Feed Back!

Alright, getting ready for my SCAD Class tonight. Always a good time.
Here's my painting for the day. Oil on wood. combination palette knife and bristle brush.
11"x14" Oil on wood
I had a great painting workshop this weekend. 10 Students came out to Callanwolde for a landscape class. This was the first time I had taught this one. Everyone did a great job. I enjoyed working with everyone and seeing the progress. Great group!!


Day 19 of 30 paintings in 30 days.

30"x20" Sunshine and Wind
It was a beautiful day in Atlanta today. We went down to the park for a little exercise, worked on the house a bit, then started up the grill to get ready for the Falcons Game.

Well the Falcons didn't work out as we had hoped - Rat's! But the grill was good. So I finally had to hit the studio and create my painting for the day.

Until tomorrow, Dawn

Making it to day 18!

Wow, what an accomplishment, 18 days. I think I'm going to make it.
12x12 "Two Amigos" oil on canvas


After teaching an all day workshop, I was ready to have a little fun in the studio.
This is a palette knife piece, I worked all at once. It was fun to be loose and fun.

Until tomorrow!!

Dawn

PS  Falcons - Rise up!!!

Painting 16 - Mixing work and teaching

Today I needed to work on a commission and I also have to get ready for painting workshop  I'm teaching this Sat. I decided to combine the two and try break down my studio process and see if I could share it with my class. It is so easy to work on automatic pilot and not pay attention to what you are really doing

First composition sketch

 I think this is helpful to set up the space on your canvas. Get control of your composition right off the bat. Make sure you don't have center of focus going in the wrong direction.
Starting to work out a value sketch


 Before you jump right on you canvas, do a little value study. Go ahead and start thinking about your light source. What is your compositional design? What's great about this is that you can make quick decisions, change your mind, and make adjustments.
Making adjustments and feeling better with the values
After looking the my sketch, I decided to pull the tree on the right a little more forward, push the one on the left farther back, and add more shadows in the front. Added a few hills in the back and pushed the mountains back a bit. A little more light in the sky.

This is going to give me a good plan to work on my commission. I need to touch on the elements that are important to them. Now I will have a lot of freedom to create the painting, because I won't be fighting the composition and I can just paint.

Until tomorrow, Dawn

Painting 15 - I've made it to the halfway point!

12x12 Daisies
Today I tried something a little different. If you have followed my work, you know that subtlety is not my strong point. So today, I worked in washes. I wanted to see if I could get a little color and mystery going on in the shadows and not over define everything. It was tough to leave it with out a little contrast, so I splashed a little orange at the end. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Until tomorrow!!

Day 14 painting


Well, I am not sure that I am finished, but it's getting close. I worked on this during class tonight at SCAD. Maybe I was talking more than paying attention. It was fun to catch up with everyone after the long break.
12x16 acrylic on canvas

Check out the other artists taking the 30 day painting challenge @ http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

See you tomorrow, Dawn

Painting 13 - YAY!

Painting for Day 13
This is a nice and bright one for a rainy day. Still  wet - hot off the easel.
5x7 Lime with Black floater Frame $75





I was the artists in residence today at St Anne's Day School. After working with a class room of 4year olds today, maybe I was inspired by the joyful freedom in their paintings.

Well, now off for dinner, until tomorrow.