Love can’t be stored or saved; it’s best when given away!

Vikeholmen Lighthouse II, oil on 16x20 canvas

My dear friend Dorothy baked bread for as long as she was able. “Just like my mother used to make,” she lovingly boasted. Whenever I’d visit, she’d plop a fresh warm loaf in my hands and send me away with a smile and a part of herself.

I loved her recipe. You could make it at night, and let it rise in the refrigerator until the next day. Once, I put too much dough into my Tupperware bowl, and the yeast caused it to bubble up, open the lid, and spill onto my shelves and bottles.

Seeing the mess, made me think of a story about the girl and the porridge. She received a magic soup pot from a woman in the forest who told her what to say to start it cooking and to get it to stop. She would never be hungry again! But when the porridge was cooked, the little girl forgot the magic words to make it stop. The porridge spilled over onto the floor, out the front door, and into the streets of the village.

Love and creativity are like that, too. If you smother the urge, the inspiration, and try to keep it all to yourself it will find other outlets. Like yeast dough spilling from Tupperware or the magic pot bubbling over with soup, creativity (another form of love) spills over with sometimes unexpected consequences.

"Robin Hood" 16x20 acrylic on canvas

My coffee blog a few days ago is a good example. There are people who go to coffee houses and then create art or doodle with their coffee, drawing admiring crowds. These entrepreneurs paint with their fingertips and Stir Styx to create wonderful scenes in the chocolate and whip cream swirls on the top of their coffee. Creativity – you can’t hold it down.

When I lived in Kansas City, our favorite restaurant was Stephenson’s Apple Farm. An old apple cider barn and orchard made room for a wonderful dining spot full of antiques and dried apple dolls. Rather than let those withered apples rot when they fell to the ground, “creative’s” ingeniously made them into dolls. The withered apples became the heads after first carving a simple face into the pulp. As the apple dried, the features twisted unexpectedly into either smiling or snarling faces. 

They were so ugly, they were adorable. Each face had its own personality. Coming from an old Pioneer art form, the dolls attracted many tourists to the restaurant. Of course, their home style brisket, cinnamon apple slices and broccoli cheese casserole didn’t hurt their business either.

(In Progress) bird house; acrylic on 16x20 panel

Some people claim to have no creativity. I don’t believe it! You just haven’t discovered yours yet. What are the things you love? What do you enjoy spending your time doing? In most instances there’s a creative component, whether your joy is cooking, decorating, or having a flare for the dramatic. Capture your love and express it!

The Economy is getting better! Oh, Really?

Two more galleries in downtown Fort Myers are closing. The monthly Art Walk has been a huge success for shops and restaurants, but it has drawn more art admirers than buyers; a definite sign that the economy is still in a slump.

Some galleries are doing better than others. The ones located on the main thoroughfares adjacent to shops and restaurants are holding their own which indicates it’s all about location, location!

I personally have done better online than I’ve ever done in a show. The audience is larger and more widespread. When you’re in a booth on the street or a gallery, viewers and buyers must come to you. If the weather is bad your audience is limited. If you have a local fan base, you may get “sympathy” buyers who purchase a few cards or prints to butter up your ego, but token sales do not pay the rent.

My major sales have come either from commission or by contact from a buyer who has viewed my artwork online. I don’t have to haul my paintings to a site and worry about scratches or damage. I don’t have to set up a display. I don’t have to battle the wind, the heat or the rain. I’ve met some wonderful people who were looking for something specific and found me through their own personal search.

Don’t get me wrong. If the timing and location are right, I’ll battle the elements with the best of them. But if I had my druthers, I’d take selling online any day. Yes, there is something to be said for personal contact. When a buyer sees and talks with the artist before a purchase, it makes a personal connection that may lead to repeat sales and a friend. However, in our technological savvy world, emails and Skype can do the job just as well.

The most important part of any transaction comes in keeping your word and delivering what you promise. Promptness and follow through trumps the handshake of yesteryear and confirms your professionalism. Then as now, quality still holds the key to repeat business and devoted followers.

A Lesson on Portraits, Skin Color, and Mixing Paints

"Vikeholmen Lighthouse" Skudeneshavn, Norway 16x20 Acrylic

I received a call today, from a fellow artist. She was painting from a photo and was concerned because her grandson’s portrait made him “look so old for his age.” I had just read an article from “the Artist’s Magazine,” and felt fully prepared for her questions. A few months ago, I had painted my own grandchildren from photographs and had learned the hard way what works and what doesn’t.

I explained to her that photographs generally appear darker. Laugh lines and creases show up darker making a child or an adult appear older. In sunlight, these same lines would all but disappear.

"Day Dreams" 11x14 oil on canvas

The fix? Use a lighter color to paint lines and shadows. Take the base skin color and lighten it. Try using a light red mixed with medium to lighten it even more. The Artist’s Magazine article suggested painting the areas on either side of the crease or wrinkle instead to decrease the need for detailing.

The fold of skin at the side of the nose and down the cheek is usually highlighted. Against this lighter value, the wrinkle or crease automatically becomes darker without having to paint them in. The skin on the upper lip, next to the smile fold, has a different color and value. When this upper lip color or shadow is painted next to the wrinkle or crease, our minds fill in a line without having to paint in a darker color, or value.

"With These Hands -- Love" 24x18 oil on canvas

These subtleties make the skin look more natural. My favorite skin tones were learned from Richard Kirk at the Bonita Springs Center for the Arts.

Basic Formula (oils):
1 part Cadmium Red
3 parts Raw Sienna (Grumbacher or Gamblin)

The basic formula is only a beginning. It must be mixed with Titanium White to lighten, or mixed with Ultramarine Blue or Burnt Umber for shadow. Different values of the basic formula may be made by adding 3 parts formula to 1 part Titanium White; 1 part formula to 1 part titanium white; 1 part formula to 3 parts titanium white; 1 part formula to 5 parts titanium white.

Darker skin has a somewhat different formula:  3 parts formula to 1 part Burnt Umber; 1 part formula to 1 part Burnt Umber or use straight Burnt Umber.

Another dark skinned formula: 2 parts formula to 1 part Burnt Umber and 1 part Magenta. I discovered richness in the skin tones with this last color. Another reason I like using magenta in shadow is that "overly brown portraits" according to Kirk, may appear dull and lifeless.

Experiment! It is great fun to test how many variations you can achieve with this one basic formula.

Weak tinting strength colors can adjust the formula as needed: Terre Verte, Ultramarine Violet, Permanent Rose, Thalo Red Rose, Indian Yellow or Raw Sienna.

Kirk stressed there are colors to avoid: Naples Yellow, Buff Titanium, Unbleached Titanium or any color that has white in it. What you’re doing is adding more white into the basic formula changing its color. Strong tinting colors should also be avoided.

I have seen many variations on skin tone formulas, but I continue to go back to Kirk’s formula again and again for the glow it gives to skin and by how easy it is to obtain the right value for any given skin color. The mixture that is closest to your model's skin color becomes the "key" color. This formula easily adapts to acrylics.

"Fish Market" 18X24 Acrylic