Gloucester, MA!

Our week in Gloucester, MA is almost over.  Whaaa!  It is so beautiful here.  There is so much to look at and paint!  I am here teaching a 5 day still life and figure painting workshop.  It's been quite hot and humid but with the sprinkler running, we are able to wet the back of our shirts and stay comfortable. Here is a picture of where we are painting outdoors on location at the Castle Manor Inn.  A number of us are staying at the Inn during the workshop.  It has been wonderful.  Every need is taken care of.  Just get up, go down to breakfast, the model arrives, we set up and get to work.  And then lunch is ready!  We then finish the day at 4 and find some fantastic seafood at the many great dining spots to choose from.  Lobster! 

Gloucester has a long history of supporting the arts!  The Cape Anne Museum has a wonderful collection.  We were able to catch the show at the North Shore Arts Association.  So much nice work.

What a great image on the side of a building.  Locals love the painters.

Views everywhere!

Some really cute shops and galleries.  

Inside Sigrid Olsen's shop in Rocky Neck which is a "hop skip" from Gloucester.  So many cute tops and scarves.  

Ray waiting patiently while I go in so many cute shops and galleries!

Lovely sculpture of a Mermaid Bird Bath.

Cute homes everywhere painted great colors.  I want one!  Oh and a boat too! 

Show me the way to more great views, shops and galleries.  Just taking in as much a possible.

A great exercise.

If I am struggling with surface quality and need to stop myself from "petting the canvas to death" I will limit the amount of strokes that I allow myself.  That means covering the canvas from corner to corner, letting "the chips fall where they may" with a limited number of strokes.  I have to load the brush just so and calculate where the best place is to start in order to cover the chosen area in what I've allowed myself.  It's a lot of fun, a challenge and often it can give the painting an effortless looking feeling.  

"20 Strokes"

"20 Strokes"

"25 Strokes"

NBA Season over! (for one minute!)

My husband, Ray, is an NBA freak!  He should have had a career in some form with the B-ball maniacs.  He likes me to keep him company though, the channel changer isn't enough!  So to meet my needs and his, I set up my watercolors at the kitchen table and have some fun.  I will have two or three watercolors going at once. I use a small box in the center of our kitchen table as a stand to place still life objects on.  I like the way our overhead light falls on the setting.  I have gotten so much mileage done this way and everybody seems happy.  

Today's effort.

I am writing an instructional book on painting.  It will be fashioned after the way I teach my workshops.  That is "Painting Recipes."  All the information will break down into easy to follow instructions with one goal "out in front."  I approach the information on my DVDs this way as many of you know who have them.  I am really excited about this project and have already created many more lessons.  I am thinking of titling it "Peggi Kroll Roberts' Recipes for painting success" or  "Recipes for Success with your Art." And I am actually going to design the layout so it's sort of like your Betty Crocker Cookbook!     

Today's effort was creating content for the chapter on color.  One of the best ways to begin to familiarize yourself with the potential of your palette is to mix color charts.  These are just two for starters.  This top one is about mixing white with each color on my palette to create tints.  I made these charts on 8" x 10" canvas board and used blue painters tape for the grid.

The one below is starting with my Cadmium Yellow Medium and mixing gradations with all the other colors on my palette.  The palette I worked with here is Titanium White, Cad Yellow Medium, Cad Orange, Cad Red Light, Thalo Rose, Viridian, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue and Dioxinine Purple.  Look at the earth tones you get with purple and yellow.  You can eliminate some tube colors from your palette and still have all you need. 

Had a few minutes.

I had a minute so I went out to my garden, drew some simple silhouettes of plant shapes and added a background.  I think I may try to turn these into larger abstract paintings.  I want to really experiment with 2 color harmony.

9" x 12"

Gouache

I have done so many "dancing figures" and now I am moving on to "just figures" of all types and sizes!  I have taken some fun photos of random people in random places and just plan to sit, draw and paint.  This figure is of one of the basketball players that was playing on the courts in Laguna Beach, Ca.  

He's for sale!  

"Basketball Guy"

8" x 6"

Gouache

$25

SOLD