Dia de Los Muertos Show at Screaming Sky Gallery

This is a pretty accurate color representation

Detailed view taken  natural light,

This is the painting I did for the Screaming Sky Gallery  Dia de los Muertos group show that runs thru October 23rd.  In my rush to get it framed, I never really got a great picture of it.   I was struggling to compose a piece that showed dimension and space.  Everything was looking flat and forced.  Then I called my daughter Adrianne and asked her to pose for me.  Her professional modeling background was a huge advantage, and I had what I needed within an hour.  I pretty much started without a sketch, and the painting took off.  Towards the end I was a little apprehensive about adding the ground and the trees on the lower left.  At that point the painting was looking very good, and I had to take a chance that the last two elements would work.  The ground did not work well at first, so I had to pull some paint back out and change the shape of the "hole".  After several layers of color and some texture, the piece was finished.  Screaming Sky Gallery is  showing the painting thru October 23rd. I have a lot of people to thank, including both my daughters, Grace and Adrianne, and my wife Lecia, who put up with my "moods" towards the deadline.  Since this is my first piece in Gallery I was in uncharted waters.  It should be easier next time around.

Dreamscapes

I am trying to access my dreams for the paintings that enter them.  More and more are coming through and some are fantastic.  This didn't capture the actual image in my dream, but it is my first effort. 

Starting new ideas

This is the beginning of a few postings whereby I reveal what I've been going through in preparation for the show.

Evan with cape and flowers

I wanted to post these items first because I have time for only a few....more will come and be explained later. 

Green Apple

Nothing like a simple still life to get me kickstarted

Overdue

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted a painting.  To be honest, I have been immersed in my golf and work, finding no time for painting.  I have got a group show coming up in October, so I will be getting very busy with studies and sketches.  I will try to post as many of those as I can to document the progress.  This was a study I did to get me out of the rut. I always forget that it takes only a few minutes to start a painting.  I continue to struggle with the misconception that each painting must be a finished piece.  That holds me up from progressing toward my goal of at least one painting every few days if not daily.  The frustration of making the same mistakes over and over holds me back sometimes.