Today I'm announcing that I will be donating "Roses" to the Breast Cancer Awareness Auction at my local art center, Matthews Arts in Bellevue. Between paintings and prints I believe we are up to about 30 pieces to be donated. We have a local realty company Prudential sponsoring and promoting the event so we are looking for a good turnout. This is the first time that I have donated one of my framed oil paintings to a charity and it feels really good to be involved with such a great cause. Barb, the lady who will be doing the auctioning has never done it before [...]

Today I thought I would go over my thoughts on how I go about mixing colors in my framed oil paintings. These decisions are made mostly from my pigment knowledge that I shared with you 2 weeks ago. For those of you that missed it, please see my blogs "THE PAINT ITSELF" 1,2,3, and 4. I started out like most artists learning the "basic palette" of anywhere from 7 to 12 colors depending on the teacher you had. I still feel that artists need to start out this way or color mixing knowledge will suffer. You need to have a basic color mixing structure [...]

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, the weather here in Pittsburgh has been perfect for the last nine days and we are sucking it up while we can. Today I thought I'd share with you how I go about thinning my oil paint to do long thin lines and detail work. I perfer to keep things simple on most of my framed oil paintings so all I use is quality oderless paint thinner. There are many,many mediums out there for the oil painter, but I found thinner alone doe's what I'm looking for as far as making the paint the right "viscosity" for whatever I'm [...]

It's Friday morning here in Pittsburgh and everyday this week I noticed small patches of trees turning to their fall colors. This tells me that my favorite outdoor hike is just a few weeks away. As you know if you are a regular reader of my blog, I love to hike trails with my camera and take photos to use for my framed oil paintings. I love all my spring and summer "adventures" to death but fall holds more for me. When I was a boy I loved how the trees turned color with the leaves falling off, and how the look of the [...]

Today I thought I would go over situations in my framed oil paintings where I choose to use brushes and/or painting knives. I use artist brushes for most of my work as they produce the finished look that I'm after in my artwork. I can paint thin, thick, very thick or even in between if need be. I can let a passage dry and go back in with a very thin glaze and change the color. I can vary my egdes from razor sharp to "lost and found" and soft. I can use old worn out brushes to produce special effects and I can "dry" brush [...]

Monday morning is here again, and today I thought I would share my thoughts on finding new venues to expose my artwork. Right now because I'm working on my mural commission every other weekend, I'm not looking for a big show of any sort. I'll save that for spring next year and I'll be sure to let you know, but I am always looking for simple little ways to get the word out on my framed oil paintings and I found three that I'm going to share with you today. The one I like the best would be to have a small showing in [...]

Here we are again on a Friday looking forward to the weekend and I'm wrapping up my posts on the importance of pigments in artists paints. Today, the blues and greens to be aware of when choosing tube colors. Blues are pretty much straightforward when it comes to the colors available to the artist. Cerulean Blue (PB 35), Cobalt Blue (PB 28), Ultramarine Blue (PB 29), and Phthalo Blue ( PB 15). Most artists regardless of medium rely on these four, including me for most of my framed oil paintings. Here you have all the cool and warm blue options available in all painting situations [...]

Today I'm going to continue sharing with you information about the pigments used in artists colors. Please check out my last two blogs if you want to be brought up to speed on what I already covered. This morning I'm going to go over the bright red pigments. Just like the yellows I talked about on Monday, the Cadmium pigments rain supreme. Cadmium Red Light (PR 108) is used by most artists for their warm red which took the place of the expensive genuine Vermilion Red (PR 106). Both of these colors are totally lightfast and reliable. There are both Cadmium Red Medium and [...]

Here we are again on Monday morning, I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Today I'm going to continue talking about the importance of the pigments used in paint that I started on Friday. Today lets go over the yellow pigments, good and bad. First we have the Cadmium yellows, light, medium, and deep, the "bread and butter" warm yellows most artists use. The Cadmium pigments, also going into the reds and green, are all permanent and worth your money. The two typical codes for these colors are (PY 35 ) and (PY 37 ). You might even come across (PY 35:1) and (PY 37:1), as [...]

Today I thought I would go over something near and dear to my heart, the pigments I use. Notice I said the "pigments" I use, not the "paints" I use. Why is this important? Regardless of what the paint manufacturer calls the tube of paint, it comes down to what pigment was used to make that color. After all, if I didn't know what pigments have stood the test of time, then I wouldn't have any faith as to if my paintings are going to fade years from now. Not all pigments are created equal, and thats the knowledge I draw from when I select [...]

Today I thought I would go over some of the brushes I use on my framed oil paintings and why. Nine times out of ten I'm using a bristle brush of some sort for most of any given painting. I need the firmness to paint well with color as it comes out of the tube. I really only thin my paint when I'm doing detail work so bristle is ideal for moving oil paint around. I use rounds, flats, and my favorite, the filbert which can be thought of as a flat with a half circle, rounded edge. A lot of my leave indications in my [...]

I thought that I would use this first post of the month to let you know about some of the things that are happening with my art and website. I have a new commissioned artwork booked that I'll be starting soon. It's going to be a sign for a cabin with a painting of a turkey roosting in some trees with a strip of land and some rocks. It's going to be done on a "slice" from one of the fallen trees on the property so It's something different from my framed oil paintings that I'm used to doing. It's going to be about 24" by [...]