Spruce Up Front

Spruce Up Front
6" x 8"
oil
This is a view from the front of my home toward the east.

December 12, 2010 "Mid-Morning on 115th Street"

Mid-Morning on 115th Street
6" x 8"
oil
I have been enjoying the challenge of doing paintings views from my home. This one faces the southwest.

I am going to stop painting for a while today and work on updating my website, which has not had any of my latest work in it. Check my website to learn more about my work.

Later today, I hope to have some website updates and get back to completing a portrait I started last night.

Ash Tree at Sunset1

Ash Tree at Sunset

This past Sunday I started this painting at sunset. The light changed so quickly that I stopped and finished it last night,Monday, with some touch up this morning.

I like how the light hits the snow and creates lovely colors.

6" x 8"
Oil

Jacobson's Van after the Storm

Jacobson's Van after the Storm

6" x 8"
oil

Forestine Rose Pose !!!

Pose 2 of Forestine Rose

Pose 1 of Forestine Rose
I changed the order.

These two paintings with Forestine ( what a delightful name) offer two views. Both are oils, 11" x 14".

I still hope to complete another portrait this week.

Forestine Rose Pose

Pose 1 of Forestine Rose

Pose 2 of Forestine Rose

These two paintings with Forestine ( what a delightful name) offer two views. Both are oils, 11" x 14".

I still hope to complete another portrait this week.

Nov 30 Work in Progress - Portrait

Work in Progress from Open Studio
This piece I began last Tuesday Sketch Club session and continued doing a little work yesterday. Tonight I hope to finish it.
11" x 14"
oil

Tower Above the Steaming Cup in Waukesha

Tower Above the Steaming Cup

Saturday Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association had their year end paint out in downtown Waukesha. It was about 20 Degrees in the sun. I set up looking east at the tower at the corner of the building that housed the Steaming Cup.

The gem was a 5" x 8" oil. I love the icy light of this winter day on the top on the tower and the tree limbs in the foreground.

You should have come out to paint with us.

Would you like a Portrait of one of your loved ones for Christmas?

Bobber Bear - Someone I love

Xia - a woman from the sketch club

If you would like a portrait of someone you love for someone you love, call me.
If you look through the recent blog postings you can see the portraits I have been doing.

Judith Reidy Portrait of Tim

Tim
11x 14 inches
One evening Portrait
from life

Latest Portraits of Judith Reidy

Latest Portrait "Rachael"
Sketch Club Portrait
10/27/10
11x14 inches
oil



"Tom"
Model from Fred Bell's Portrait Class
10/21/10
10x10 inches
oil

The top portrait "Rachael" intrigued me with the idea of having the major side of the face in shadow. That meant I needed to paint in grayed middle values, creating form using warm and cool colors. I had been working with a similar problem in my landscape paintings when painting a white or light colored building in shadow, when the light elsewhere is mostly in light.

The square painting, "Tom" was interesting to me for two reasons. One Tom's features were so very angular. The second challenge was painting his rich brown skin in the light.

This portrait has a different feel than some of the other portraits, perhaps a little Ernst Ludwig Kirchner feel.

Enjoy!

Latest Portrait Work

Mary
(Painting number two from Portrait Class at Fred Bell's )
Thursday, October 14, 2010
quick study

Gelinda
(Painting number one from Portrait Class with Fred Bell)
October 7, 2010

Old Man
(Revised Painting number one from Sketch Club Open Studio)
September 28, 2010

Old Man Sitting in a Chair
(Painting 2 from Sketch Club Open Studio)
October 5, 2010
quick study

Compare and Contrast

My Front Door ____________

My Front Door ___________

I have two similar paintings. One is morning and the other is afternoon light. Which is morning?

Before I went to the Milwaukee Sketch Club, I dropped off some paintings at the Rosenblatt Gallery where I will be having work through the end of November.

There will be a reception coming up on Friday, October, 15, 6:30 until 1030 and Meet the Artist Reception, Friday, November, 19, 2010, 7-10 pm at 181 North Broadway.

Cool Stuff!

Paintings Today and Yesterday

My Front Door
I painting this today out on my front yard.

October Afternoon

October at Dusk
I painted these two paintings while watching the light change, standing to the west of the scene....in my dining room.

In the Monday painting I made today, I was interested in the light on the steps and walk.

In the Sunday paintings, I was interested in studying the light in the two different light situations. In the day light painting the interest was in the shape of the light with the shape of the dark, whereas the dusk painting focus was clearly on the bench and table, the only form that could be seen in the dying light.

I consider these quick studies.

For Me Portrait Painting with Fred Bell is Great Fun

by Judith Reidy

This man is not Fred Bell! way too much hair

I did this oil portrait this last Tuesday at the Milwaukee Sketch Club open studio session, while Fred and others drew or painted the gentleman.
Not bad, in so far that I have been out on the back patio doing still life's of pots and fruit and outside painting Plein Air landscapes all summer.

I feel privileged to have been painting with Fred Bell at various events and outings this past season. Starting on Thursday October 1, next week, I will be beginning Fred Bell's Official Class on Portraiture. He has prepared to have live models sit for us. He has much to share.

I am real excited about the upcoming 4 week Portraiture Class.

If you are interested in studying portraiture with Fred Bell,

check out
http://bellart.com/bellart.com/classindex.html
and contact him.
He is a great teacher!

Judith Reidy's Plein Air Paintings from Greg LaRock's Workshop at Peninsula School of Art in Door County

This is the first three of six paintings I created during the workshop this month in Door County.

Greg La Rock Plein Air Workshop at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County

Greg LaRock,

National Award Winning Plein Air Artist
from Southern Californina

As many of you may know I spent the earlier part of the month, September 12-16 up in Door County at a Plein Air Workshop with Greg La Rock at the Peninsula School of Art. It was a tremendous opportunity.

I would like to begin by sharing with you a slide show of Photos I took as Greg did a demo for the group of students. Greg was a great instructor, clear yet flexible in teaching. What interested me the most was his ability to talk through his thinking while he was painting, allowing us to "hear" him "weighing his choices" as he buildt his painting. I found being able to hear him "weigh out his choices" extremely insightful. I heard him think through what he wanted to make out as the over arching story in his painting...how he wanted to identify and keep his focal point as he built his painting. I heard as he created his plan and watched how he used the preliminary drawing to begin to flesh out his plan. I saw how he evaluated the foreground, middle ground and background values, temperature and colors to keep within their "space" while maintaining his focal point.

I wish I had an audio to accompany these slides. I certainly don't want to give you the impression that Greg style of teaching insisted on one right solution to building a plein air landscape painting. It would be better to say he gave students some framework and tools to use when they made choices when planning and building a Plein Air landscape painting. He encouraged every student to discover their personal response to the landscape before them and then create a story that would capture and hold their audience. If I painter wanted the viewer to focus on particular aspect of the landscape or days light, as an instructor Greg gave us the evaluation tools to begin to make the design and technical choices to do so. We talked about everything from conception of idea, to design on the canvas to brush handling and mediums that would facilitate what we were after.
I hope you enjoy Greg LaRocks demo.


If the images are too small click and you will be able to see them larger.

Enjoy this link to Sergei Bongart: Notes on Painting Compiled & edited by Norm Nason

As most of you know my personal focus of discussion this summer has been on value and color. I recently found a good article on color by

Sergei Bongart: Notes on Painting

Compiled & edited by Norm Nason

at this link.

I was particularly interested in the comments made about shadows in relation to form and the color of light and the object.

Enjoy!

A PIE CONVERSATION: Developing Creativity or Skills

From Our PIE Conversations.....
I know that some of you have been part of the Pie Conversations of this past Sunday evening. Some of you walked away quite surprised that after four years in school as a painting and drawing major so little painting was actually done. You learn that the emphasis in much of the University training in art is more designed to foster a broad understanding of the creative endeavors, be they theater, music, dance and well as the visual arts. The general trend in the 70's was not to teach skills but to facilitate investigation and inquiry. Schools vacillate in their emphasis depending on the staff and goals of the school. In art education, most assuredly the emphasis is on providing an opportunity to explore and develop creativity in the young, over teaching skills, especially in the younger years.

Curious to me why art is singled out as the mechanism to teach creativity. Why not music? A young child is given some materials and encouraged to explore and create.... a picture. Would a young child be given an flute or drum and told to make music? It is assumed that making music requires some preliminary skills, while it seems that there is the belief that visual art has no such criteria.

I remember teaching first graders how to do blind contour drawing of weeds. They, their parents and the other teachers were amazed how beautiful and life like the young children's drawings were. But teaching blind contour drawing was not in the curriculum for First Graders. The idea was that art was not to involve quiet concentration or attention ( like music ) but play.

Besides what value is there to teaching basic drawing as opposed nurturing creativity that can be applied to many disciplines?

What are your thoughts?

A Still Life - Una Naranja y una Manzana (An Orange and an Apple) # 5

Una Naranja y una Manzana
(An Orange and an Apple) # 5

This little light study of fruit was started on Saturday, the day I pulled the electric cord out of the freezer. As a result the painting is pretty electrifying.

"Electrificar Naranja y Manzana"

Today I will be preparing more panels for painting.

Have a great Holiday!

# 3 Su Bollo y la Taza del Té sin una Manzana y una Naranja (Your Scone and Tea Cup without an Apple and an Orange)

This is the delicious cranberry orange walnut scone, freshly prepared by me that was never eaten.

The title of the artwork is
Su Bollo y la Taza del Té sin una Manzana y una Naranja
(Your Scone and Tea Cup without an Apple and an Orange)

It is sized 5" x 6"
I put the cranberry, orange, walnut scone on a black plate along with a white tea cup onto a blue checkered table cloth.
The black shiny plate caught subtle reflections.

I did eat another scone with a cup of iced coffee today. I have 15 other scones that I won't eat, for dietary reasons. You are welcome to them, as long as you clean up the kitchen while I paint. :-)


The scone that I ate was delicious.

Still Life with a Knife: "Una Naranja y Una Manzana" ( An Orange and an Apple) #3's

This is the set up for today's Plein Air painting. This photo does not accurately

represent the colors in the cast and form shadows.

Which painted version do you like?

Version A

Version B

Version C

Vote here or at the blog link below.