Book is Finished

Many years ago I sat down, inspired by the software, “Scrivener,” and wrote a book with photos of many paintings. At that time I was excited about the new downloadable books and kindle so I made it into a kindle book. The people that read it seemed to like it, but because it had information and charts and pictures it wasn’t conducive to looking things up or looking backward, so I said to myself that I would make it into a real book. I thought that would be easy sort of like I could just push a button and it would all reformat and I could publish it.  That was sort of true. The words would reformat but the picture resolution was way too small and as I got into the project I realized a better formatting and organization of chapters.  With the help (completely) of youtube I was able to learn INDESIGN (a powerful adobe software for layout) and have just published it on amazon. I now have such great respect for editors because I had none. So please excuse and or notify me if there are any glaring mistakes.   I have read and re read it so many times I just can’t bear to do it again.  If you want to take a look at it you can find it here HOW TO PAINT TENACIOUSLY by Sally Rosenbaum.  There are 164 pages with pictures of artwork.  A lot of anecdotal stuff about me and how I decided to make art a full time occupation and earn enough money to buy a house in the Napa valley and raise two sons, a german shepherd, a doberman, and little poodle as well as many cats and have a good time doing what I love.

Did I ever mention that I love reading? 

As far as painting goes, I like the up close and personal and the challenge of painting the face, the hands and the skin color and when I compose the scene I am leaning toward props and before I know it I have her seated at a table and handing her a book. I continue to pursue this theme over and over again. This was a painting that lived through a few transformations. I initially had in mind to have it be very graphic with lots of bright color glazing with very simple shapes almost like a turn of the century poster but it sat in my studio as a nag to me that I didn't like it and one day I just tackled it and clearly came back to my usual impressionistic style, losing edges, finding edges. losing the pose, finding the pose and I limited my palette. I noticed that her body was off in the original painting, so already having it down in oil and dried was a great way to harmonize and soften the edges as I reapplied paint to work out the contours.

I just spent the last 10 minutes going through my files to post the original but I must have clicked save as over the older one..what a dope.

I've been reading since my memory begins. I started with the Sunday funnies and pretty much figured it out from there. I had to endure the insult to the intelligence having to plod through the Sally and Dick and Jane books but at this late date in my life, it sure would be fun to own one. The reading

took me places that I never dreamed, with people who shared thoughts and feelings that I had and I got to know those with whom I had nothing in common. I identified with so many of them and aspired and anticipated the adventures and relationships and escapades that were surely ahead of me. 

It is certainly not a surprise that I combined the two into a vocation for my life. I read books and I now listen to them while I paint with the dramatic renditions from audible. Ah life is good. Sometimes I even feel I am running out of books!

I've said it before and I will mention it here that it gives me great pleasure to think that a painting of someone reading and perhaps someone reading to a child will find its way into the visual memory of someone who grows up remembering "the painting on the wall."       

This one is Large measuring 36 x 48 and probably would show larger than it appears in the photo below. To see more about it, the price and how you could own it, I have provided the link to my website.

MY AFTERNOON

Roses from Trader Joe's

When I really want to relax I paint a simple still life of roses. I was inspired long ago by the sweet simplicity of the roses painted by Manet and always go to this arrangement for a way to warm up or try a color scheme or harmony.  They are always very similar and always very different. Sometimes I tone the canvas with color! as I did here with orange, sienna and ultramarine blue. Sometimes I try a triadic color scheme of only three colors and sometimes I just want to use blue and burnt sienna. In other words, I like to play around with it and see what kind of uniqueness I can conjure up.  These, I did last nite and they are similar, but even painting with two different sized canvases can change it up a bit. You approach the canvas with a different brush or a different articulation of the wrist.
This one I drew in the outline with alizarin crimson/gamsol line and when I added the lights and shadows there was a blending that took place.  I have a very gold frame that I had in mind so I wanted to stick to the orange incorporation of colors

The second painting I did was larger and I was a little more controlled but not much.  I just let the colors take me where I felt I wanted to go without doing an exact copy. I wanted it to have it's very own presence.  I think the biggest variation between the two is the size of the brush strokes. This second one is 12 x 16

Both are currently on my website 

Tea in the Garden on Orchard Avenue

This is a painting I recently finished from a photo taken long ago though it really feels like last week.  I love the magenta and viridian harmonies and of course to complete the triangle the addition of the warmer colors of orange and yellow help tremendously .  This painting definitely fell into the 80/20 formula.  80 %  of the painting was done in 20% of the time and the last 20% of the painting took 80% of the time.  It's so easy to think things are brighter than they seem but the last 80% of the time is about getting the values and color harmonies correct. $495 unframed 

You can buy this 12 x 16 painting through paypal.  

I show it below in a frame so you can visualize the look