Paint Stroke, By Paint Stroke

Welcoming in 2012

2012-01-10T02:53:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, finally over the holidays and things are beginning to settle down once more. I have to apologize as I've fallen far behind on this blog but will attempt to catch it up over the next few weeks. I will post some of the new work I've been doing as well as update some of my latest thoughts on this thing I do "making art". We've all been suffering through some tough economic times and Art seems to be low on the priority list of so very many of us. This is regrettable due to the fact that the practice of making art can be a safe haven for so many of our thoughts and feelings and a way to express them in a positive manner. Believe me when I say I have my share of frustrations with the world around me. It ,"The World" doesn't seem to match my vision anymore as a place abundant with opportunities to express ones self, create beauty and find an audience. Most of that I will shoulder as my own perception. I'm not sure the world has really changed much and will probably be as receptive as always. I've made several choices in my life over the past year which may be driving my perception and I'll claim them as mine alone. First, I've cut off access to all television media. This was both an economic as well as a moral choice for me. I couldn't see paying almost one hundred dollars a month to watch maybe 10 programs a month. That's the cost of several first run movie tickets, a show at the theater (yes matinee on Sunday and cheap seats but it's live) or any number of tickets to shows and things to do. So I've opted to do some of these other things with my money, thanks. I would suggest you look over your budget as well and see where you could re-allocate some of your funds. I've once again been going out and listening to live music shows which I'm thrilled about because it ads so much more to the complexity of life and gives me more to draw from as an artist. So think about how you might funnel more of your cash that you'd expend anyway into something that supports other peoples visions at the grass roots instead of supporting a cable provider. It's a small step but if enough people follow my suggestion, I'd expect two things to happen! First, the cable companies would start listening to their customers and providing the types of programming they demanded. Second, small theaters, musicians and artists all need your support to keep doing what they do best. I know that selling some of what I make is such a relief even if it is only a couple of hundred dollars a month. It helps so very much so thank you to those who supported my efforts and bought some of my work in 2011. I'd also like to add a special thanks to those who take classes with me outside the Benson Center. You've made huge differences in my life this past year in both an economic sense but most importantly in a human sense. It's been good to see you each grow as artists and you've helped me grow as a person. So blessing to all of you!!!!

So enough babble! Here is some of the art I've been making recently!

A Good Day of Painting, Happy Sunday!

2011-09-26T02:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you what I feel is the perfect way to spend a day, most especially a wonderful Sunday. My good friend of many years Shane McDonald has began a figure painting group on the weekends at his studio located at the Artists Resource Center in Marietta Georgia. Shane and I have known each other for years and began our friendship through a group he hosted for almost 15 years. Over the years I've found a home with that group of artists and have come to view them as my family. It is for me one of the strongest connections to any group of people I've thus far enjoyed in my life. It is also where I happened to meet the love of my life, the lovely Ms. Goodman, "aka the LMG". Though time keeps marching on and relationships and friendships change I still feel deeply connected to the members of this group. We've all seen each other through the ups and downs of life and have a long and comforting history with each other. With the help and support of each other we have all grown and improved our skills as artists and visual thinkers. I was raised as a military brat and was constantly on the move for most of my early life till I reached adulthood or at least I was able to vote. A gift like this was something I thought I'd never have or expected. Thankfully, I've settled down a little in my life and proven to myself I could indeed have some long term relationships with other humans. I credit this mainly to the fact that they are a very tolerant group who has learned through the years that some music, laughter and good times making art and the addition of a few glasses of wine can see us through almost anything. It is to each of them I wish to say many thanks my friends!

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We seem to always follow the same process each week during our 3 hour session. We begin with a series of gesture drawings lasting approximately 2 minutes each. This is a clay coated panel I was using and attempting to capture the proportions and movement of our lovely model Stephanie. Some models I find I always get a great session from, others not so much. Stephanie was someone I hadn't worked with before today and I will tell you unabashedly that she was magical as a muse to me and others in the group. She was graceful and fluid in her movements.
Just perfect! I prefer to paint generally and I always use a brush and a little paint to do my gesture sketches. I've been fairly successful at selling many of these, as they become rather abstract representations of the human form. I try and take a little care in composing the page out of these short poses.

Once we are warmed up so to speak we move on to a long pose which the model will hold for the rest of the session in 20 to 25 minute intervals. I was very happy with this effort and it came together rather quickly. I mainly concentrated on the figure, mirror and placing the carpet. After the model left I added much of the background elements. I was working on a clay board panel for this piece as well and I have to say that this being my first time trying them, I found both good and bad things about the surface. The clay quickly drinks in the oil mixture, which makes it harder to manipulate or change. The good news is that this cuts down on the glare from the lights which might be useful for painting outdoors. I found that until I had several passages of paint on the surface it was extremely difficult to move or blend the paint. Even with a rather thick passage it was not long before it sat up and became difficult to work with. Over time if I keep using this material I'm sure I'll find a work around.

So thanks for checking out my blog page and pass this on to anyone you think might benefit.
I'm always happy to hear form you and welcome your comments.

Till next we meet, I wish you laughter, love, good food, music and plenty of art!

Chazz

Step by Step, painting demo

2011-09-19T20:03:00.001-07:00

Demonstration: Landscape Sketch in Acrylic

At times you may want to work quickly on an idea and experiment with color or design in your paintings. I find it helpful to sketch in acrylic paint at times because it dries so quickly and is easily covered over if you decide to change something. This is a demo of a painting I produced from reference photos I took when on a trip recently. Normally I would have spent sometime doing a sketch plein air and then taken it to a larger painting in the studio but for what ever reason didn't have the time to complete a work on location, so a photo is all I had to work from and my memory. The photo was somewhat flat and taken in the middle of the day which wasn't very interesting or appealing at first but I kept going back to it thinking I wanted to do something to make it more dramatic. I decided to change the time of day and mood of the piece by altering the color scheme and pushing the side of the house into deeper shadow than was indicated by my reference. This five step demo will give you an idea of how the painting developed and how I went about creating a more interesting painting.

Step One: I blocked in the large masses of the painting on a gray background dividing the panel in to four distinct areas (sky, tree line, house and foreground). Each of these blocks were laid in with a broad brush and not much time was taken to develop any except the house which for me would become to main focal point of the painting. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't intend to stick strictly to the photo reference so I changed the color of the sky to a strong yellow instead of the light blue I saw in the photo. I also pushed the shadows on the side of the house into deeper shadow than was indicated. The base color for the trees was laid in with a very strong cool green tone to contrast the vivid yellow sky. The house was also altered in color slightly with the addition of some yellow in the mixture of white and raw umber to the light side of the house and violet to the darker mixture on the side of the house. I often will play with contrasting direct complements when painting and find it adds some vibrancy and excitement to the painting.

Step Two: I began to develop each area of the painting further with the addition of some stronger dark and light areas in the tree line, house, large tree in the middle ground and foreground areas. In the foreground I placed a broad wash of red orange as a base for the foliage I would later place there. In the tree line I broke the mass up and placed some open areas to indicate that you could see the sky peaking through in areas. The original photo had none of that so it was something I fabricated from my experience of painting outdoors. I also began to break the mass of the tree line up into individual trees by altering the color and value in areas slightly.
The foreground was a base color but I wanted to break it up some how and make it more interesting than just a band of color across the bottom one third of my panel. So, I began to place some darker abstract shapes in it which later would become the addition of a road back to the house which didn't exist in the reference photo. The house got a few deeper shadows and I began to develop the openings for the windows and wood siding on the face of the house.

Step Three: I continued to develop each area of the painting with the addition of lighter values of color and indication of foliage to the foreground area. Finally you could see the road developing and masses of high weeds in the field. I also continued to push some lighter color mixtures into the tree line and large tree in the mid ground. I took a good deal of care to clean up some of the edges of the house and accurately indicate some of the architectural features of the old house which helped to give it some character and a since that it had been there a long time.
The sky also got some thicker passages of color and the shape of the tree line began to develop nicely.

Step 4: With the addition of even lighter values in each area the painting finally begins to come to life. Each area begins to sit in its place nicely and support the illusion of the others. I particularly focused on the house adding some cast shadows and weathering to the wooden planks the house was built from.

Step Five: The illusion is complete after the refinement of some of the grasses in the foreground and additional cool and warm indications on the house. I also popped in some stronger lights coming through the trees. This is a much different image than the original photo reference and one I feel is stronger as a painting than if I simply faithfully copied what I saw. We as artist are not cameras or copiers. We are not tools that simply reproduce what we see. At some point we as people have to begin to make the images we create something more of an expression of what we feel. So for me, taking this painting to a different conclusion than a camera would have come up with is part of the natural process of creating a piece of art.

The painting is in the early stages on the easel and you can see the image on the screen of my Mac laptop from which I was working. You can also see that the studio isn't the most organized and neat environment which is fine by me, it's a place to work, think, read and listen to music.
A place to play, risk and fail miserably sometimes and yet have great moments of insight and joy at others.

Where you work does make a difference in my estimation. I'm fortunate to have good light, equipment and space to create art in. Of course I've built my life around that for years, so not living in a space with adequate light would be a foreign concept to me. I love my 16 foot tall windows that face north. I also like the fact they set inside the hallway of this old factory I live and work in. It affords my neighbors a chance to stroll by and see what is on the easel from time to time. The studio is not always a well kept place and I do have my projects laying around. I also provide places for my four legged roommates to hang out with me while I work. The conversations are rather limited with them but I enjoy their company non the less.

So, happy painting, do some good work and laugh and smile a little each day!
Feel free to stop by and chat if you should find me along a road side doing what I love best.
Till then!!!

Painting, Painting and Painting over the holiday!!!

2011-09-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Plein-Air, Paint faster the Light is changing!!!!

Plein-Air is I think one of the best ways to speed up your painting technique as well as sharpen your eye to value, color and proportions. Call me crazy but standing outside, working on your tan and slapping some paint around is a great stress relief as well. You have to make a decision and stick with it till it's through.

The OverLook at Vinings at Sunset
Painted on location, this spot offers one of the best views of the city. Once the sun begins to set the lights on the buildings begin to kick in and make a spectacular view.

The Highlands Atlanta GA,

This view is looking east from the top of the ridge. It was around 6:45 am and the sky just lite up with all this color. It was like magic to see the sky light up that way!

Botanical Garden Plein-Air event.
These small (6X9) canvases are handy for quick plein air studies. Atlanta Painters Meetup sponsored this event and it was such a good time.

Alla-Prima rocks in the Studio around 5am each morning.

My Natural Collection

This oil study took over 4 days to complete which by my standards is a long time. I did enjoy painting the bugs etc. They behaved themselves and didn't walk off anywhere!

"Coming Unraveled Around You"
This is another one of those little comments I keep making about human relationships, especially between men and women. For me, this is about that sense of excitement one gets when meeting another person whom we find irresistibly attractive. You know the one, somewhere between excitement and nausea. I'm taking an Alka-Seltzer!!!

Playing with Acrylic Paint as well!!!!

"Don't Turn that Page"
This painting was started at a figure drawing session some years ago now but never completed. Since I had the acrylics out, I decided to add those final touches that would make it feel finished to me. I really like how immediate you can be with the paint and keeping a loose brush helps from making the media seem too stiff.

"Cherokee Farm House Sunrise"
I seldom paint from photos any more but in this case I did and also worked in acrylic paint. I was very happy with this little rainy day painting. On days with poor weather or during the winter I have a file of around 200 photos of things I'd like to get around to painting. I don't know that I'll ever get around to them all, maybe I should take a year off and just paint till I complete them all? You'll see this painting on a later post. I have photos of the process in progress and will go through the step by step process, soon I promise!

Avondale Arts Festival Poster:

I painted this image plein-air a few weeks ago at the Piedmont Arts Festival specificly to submit to the Avondale Arts Alliance to use on their Autumn Arts Festival Poster. The good news is that it was selected and we will have the unveiling on September 21st. Hope you can join us!!!

I tried to keep the shapes simple and values and colors with a higher degree of contrast to help in the reproduction of the painting. My background as an ex-Art Director is paying off still. I look forward to seeing what the Designer and Printer do with the piece.

Close up shot showing how simple paint strokes pull together to make images of people walking among the tents. No real detail here! Simplify, simplify, simplify!!!

The final image achieved what I set out to create and it was both a challenge and fun to hold back from adding details that I didn't need and would actually make the painting less accessible to the viewer.

Once again, thanks for your comments, support and well wishes. Keep painting, collecting art, or just passing it along to the next generation.

Chazz

Hmmm, more paint and laughing about it!

2011-07-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

"We might have to break a few eggs"

These are some things I've been recently working on. I still try to do a painting a day but seldom really get around to it. The weekends seem to be a better time for me so this is a little effort I made on Sunday morning.

"Vincent is dancing in my head"
This is very impressionistic and has a bit of paint on the surface. Vincent might have painted this if he were sitting in my studio.

"Late afternoon at the beaver pond"
This was painted plein air with my class of senior students from the Benson Center.
They enjoyed the day as I did and I think in spite of the painting being mainly green, we got a little color in there.

"Roses for my love"
A bit romantic, maybe! Nice paint surfaces though and rich color and contrast.

Thanks for taking a look! Keep making some art in what ever form you choose!

Chazz

Movement and Motion

2011-07-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Hope your enjoying a few of these wonderful summer days which have been rather cool and pleasant considering we are in Georgia. I wanted to talk to you a bit about some of the work I've been working on over the past year. As most of you know I've gotten my hands in the mud for the first time in many years and have been enjoying it. My early pieces were just a bit stiff in my estimation so I've been trying to get a little more motion in my clay works as well as pushing the size and engineering boundaries of the material. Take a look and see what your thoughts might be.
I'd enjoy hearing back from you if you have any comments, so ....... on with the show!

This piece was a difficult one to get to work. It's large and heavy!

Wrapping the Koi around this Vase helped to give it a fluid motion which works from all sides.
I was very happy with this one

This was an earlier success in my view. It has a lot of motion and the texture and patterns help carry this illusion. Unfortunately, she wasn't structurally very strong and was easy to break. So back to the drawing board.

In Case Your Wondering, I've been playing in the mud!

2011-04-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and please excuse the long absence from me posting anything on this page. I really don't have any excuse except that I've been focused on working in a new media other than paint. Like most of we creative types, I get an itch to explore things less familiar or safe and take a chance on getting frustrated or even down right falling on my face. I've done that a few times as you'll see in the following photos with a media I've always been curious about, clay. I like the correlation between sculpting and drawing and how they both make one stretch their ability to think in 3D. I've always liked the unpredictability of clay and the way it kind of does it's own thing and one has to adapt and grow your original intent to fit what the clay wants to do. I've learned much since the beginning of the year and would like to show you what I've come up with, so on with the show!

A pair of "Love Birds" which are more sculptural in form and something I was very happy with at first. The glaze is actually a darker blue and should be more matt than glossy. Unless one looks very closely it appears to be black. I'll be doing more of these as time goes on as I feel they could be a popular theme.

This is a simple ball shaped bowl with the addition of a Mermaid. I'll be doing a few pieces along this line as I'm seeking a gallery in a coastal area. I also just like the mythology behind mermaids and being an ex-sea going sole, they hold a fascination for me.

This is a simple tower design with a mermaid wrapped around it. It came out well and it has a really good feeling to me. If I were being critical of my recent work in clay, it would be that I'm not fluid enough with it and tend to over clean and detail my pieces. This piece though has a certain immediacy to it that I feel is more what I'm hoping to incorporate in my work.

This little effort is about 12 inches tall and is a simple ball shape with a tower rising from it. I've added Koi and Lilly Pads as well as a texture reminiscent of water to the surface. This is a fairly standard classic form but with the decorative elements added it takes it to a level that reminds me of pieces created in the Art Nouveau or Arts and Crafts style of the late 1800 and early 1900's.

This enchanting little bowl ( 14" wide and 10" tall) was an idea I came up with and was pleased with the conceptual aspects of the form and the way I engineered it. Unfortunately, she has her problems and the piece came out less than perfect (Ha)! She does have her charms though and I feel the proportions of the Mermaid to the open bowl area is very pleasing. The shape is a little rough though and I wanted to try her at a larger scale. I'm trying to push my ability to work with this material into larger pieces as you will see.

This is the larger attempt, about 20" long, 16" tall and 14" wide. The engineering aspects of this piece were more successful in ways but the aesthetics are not quite as pleasing to me as the first piece. I will be trying this again as I wish to perfect the concept and form into something unique in my work. The size and scale of this piece really pushed the limits for me at this time but I'm sure I'll try an even larger piece.

Again, along the mermaid theme, I've tried a very vertical form at a large scale. The piece is about 22" tall. I was very happy with the matt glaze I applied to most of the piece over the brown clay. The flesh areas are a bit darker than I would have originally hoped for. Color with this material is a whole other exploration, so I think I'll try and keep it simple for a while till I can experiment with it a bit more.

This little spring goddess is one of the most difficult challenges I've taken on to date. I love the fluid motion she has as well as the sense of joy and abandon. I envision a larger piece incorporating 8 to 10 of these figures. It's just an idea at this stage.

This was a piece I came up with on a whim, incorporating a little nude study into a functional piece which serves as a watercolor palette. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she came together! It will inspire me to work with watercolor more often I'm sure.

Avi and Andy, Commissioned Portrait

2011-01-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

"Avi and Andy"
Oil Painting on Canvas 24 X 36
Painted from life and photo references.

This is the most recent portrait commission I have finished. I delivered it yesterday and the client was very pleased. It's great when that happens and I'm enjoying the moment. I want to be appreciative to this client because as John Singer Sargent said "A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth". This seems to be all too common a reaction to a painting which has been commissioned and finding a client who loves the work as much as you do is a blessing.

I'd like to take you through the basics of the process on this project so you'll get an idea of how I work with clients. It will cover more of the steps on how I work with people than with the actual painting but will be brief and helpful, I hope.

First I met my client and we discussed things like what the painting was going to be of and who would be included in the piece. We also discussed pricing and I gave them a rough estimate after I did some thumb nail sketches and showed them what I was thinking. This was done in their living room and when we concluded meeting everyone seemed to be on the same page. I think this was the most important step in the process because it set the level of expectations and gave them a chance to tell me what they thought was the most important things to them and what they were hoping for. What was requested was a painting of Andy (the grandfather) and Avi (the grandson) in a basic head and shoulder length painting. This seemed to lend itself to an unusual proportioned portrait, one that sat more landscape like than portrait. They also wanted to express the close relationship between the two subjects and having them side by side seemed to graphically display this. We arranged a time to meet the subjects to begin the process and a one third deposit was made on the painting.

First Sitting:
Several days later I met the subjects in my studio. I had them take several poses together to look at the composition and did an initial sketch of each to become more familiar with each of their faces. I find this first sitting critical because it gives me a chance to begin to know my subject as an individual. The discussion might go in any direction but mainly stay about their life, goals and some of their unique experiences and views on life.

Avi and Andy the first meeting and beginning to look at the layout of the painting.

Very quick sketches were made of each of the subjects. This was to start the process of me getting familiar with each of their faces. I gave them the sketches after the session was over as they were not going to be part of the final painting and it gave each of them a sense of how I was seeing them at the time. I think this is good PR and builds some trust with the client early on with little or no risk to the artist.

The Second Sitting:

One critical thing that was discussed was clothing on the subjects. In a head and shoulder painting often only a minimal of clothing is indicated. In this case though I wanted to bring the clothing down a bit further to fill the canvas so it became an important element. I decided to have one wear a solid color and the other a pattern for contrast.

At this point the painting became clearer in my mind and though I had an initial rough in on the canvas I began to change and refine the placement of elements on the canvas. By the end of this session I was much happier with the layout and color scheme which was beginning to develop. I kept working on the piece till I got to the point where all the major blocks of color were in place and the piece began to take on a likeness of the subjects.

Third Sitting:
I had each of the subjects come down to my studio individually and spent time developing the likeness further, correcting information and trying to get a better tonality to the flesh colors.
This also gave me a chance to really personally connect with each of them and get a better sense of who I was painting.

I showed the client the painting before the final stages to see if we were still on track and the response was very positive. It helped build the level of anticipation of the finished piece and when the final piece was viewed there was little chance of any big surprises on anyone's part.

I let the painting dry a few days and painted the edges of the gallery wrapped canvas, added a paper dust sheet and wire so the piece could be temporarily hung until the client had time to frame it. We discussed leaving the painting unframed, but it is a rather traditional looking portrait, so my feeling is that it could use a frame, the right frame of course. That will be the next adventure in the completion of this painting.

I hope this is helpful to anyone who takes on an assignment like this. Portraits are always a challenge and having a process to follow will be a great help to you I hope. Till then, happy painting! Stay in touch and let me know how you do!

Wanted to share this! The way we see things can make a difference!

2011-01-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me this and I thought I'd pass it along. It will make you think a bit about the world and the way we see it around us.

Best Wishes and a Happy New Year
Chazz

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite. This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant. Make sure you read as well as listen forward and backward. This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled "u @ 50" by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Thoughts, a few days before Christmas, 2010

2010-12-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Tis a few days before the Christmas holiday and I have just a few thoughts and observations to share with you, my friends and followers of this blog. Life it seems is always changing and sometimes things that seemed bad turn out to be good in the long run. I guess that's the mystery of life and has reminded me to always keep my eyes open and expect that there will always be a surprise just around the corner. Many of us travel our paths, meet frustration and come to a point of giving up. It's a common theme in my age group. What always seems to happen though is that people when pushed to that point always find a state of grace. They transform themselves and adapt beautifully and come out stronger and better for the experience.

"Well past our prime"
Oil on canvas, 12" X 12"
C. Scogins © 2010

I could go into several stories about that, but I'm sure you can come up with your own. The one I'd like to share though is very close to home. Like many of us, I've struggled with the fact that I'm running out of time. I'm 55 and look at all that I've done in my life which in many ways has been significant. In others though they seem small and not very important to me these days. I suppose I've let them go and don't define myself by them anymore. I've cast off most of the worries I carried for years and seem to be in one of the best places in my life right now. These have been a hard 10 years of my life and there have been tragic disappointments as well as some surprisingly sweet and tender triumphs. Most disappointing is that I've let myself get fat. Considering that I was an ultra-athlete, driven, competitive and very conscious of my body that has been a big blow to my ego. I suppose I found food to be an enjoyable distraction from my worries and let myself enjoy it a little too much.

What I've found though as I've watched my muscles shift ever southward toward my equator is that I've found a different view of my life. I've mellowed a lot and become somewhat more relaxed about who I am. I hate to say it but I have kind of an attitude about it. If you don't like me because of my shape, then so be it, move on! I've been in the dating world for the past two years and I have to admit it does seem to hold me back with the type of women I tend to be attracted to. I'm beginning to see though that it's more their problem than mine and in a way if they are basing my value on that basis, than it wouldn't have lasted anyway. Sure we all want to be found attractive but what have you got after all that beautiful flesh fades and wrinkles. In the end, you only have who you are, happy, sad, miserable, discontented or what ever. People tend to latch on to certain themes in their lives and they play them out to the end. So in my typical fashion I've come up with a visual response to these thoughts. I titled it "Well past our prime". It's a 12" X 12" alla-prima painting of two pieces of fruit. Each mottled and on the verge of spoiling.

I see the Pear as myself or men in general. You don't think of pears as being particularly sweet and in fact when they seem to look their best, have very little flavor. As they age and get a lot of spots and bruises on them though they sweeten and are the most flavorful just before they totally spoil.

Apples on the other hand seem to represent the women I've known in my life. Colorful and beautiful when fresh and younger but they don't get their sweetness till they come of child bearing years. Once past them they tend to loose the sweetness but in many ways become more interesting and complex. Maybe even a bit easier to have in a guys life as well.
Only time will tell!

So, here is to wishing everyone a very happy holiday and the best for this coming year! I'll be trying to keep the eggnog to a minimum this year, don't let that stop you though!

Chazz

Beginning of December, Goodby 2010

2010-12-05T04:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, the year has flown by and with no regard to anyone's feelings it just keeps on jetting by.
There are so many of you I've missed seeing this year and I'm sad for not being able to spend a little precious time with you catching up and sharing tales of painting, life and the making of art in what ever form you choose to pursue. I do know that most of us have had worries, doubts and even a little economic struggle this year, so I don't in anyway want to make light of those facts we all endure. The fact is though that for many of us we have had doors open and opportunities present themselves that were not there in previous years. In many ways I've seen people near and dear to me make some pretty amazing changes in their lives, travel to far off places and take jobs in distant lands. The world, my dears seems to keep moving in-spite of our wishes to keep thing much the same. This seems to be much the same with me and there is a feeling of restlessness stirring within me. I don't claim any psychic abilities but native people seem to have this sense when big changes are on the horizon and I've had that in my bones for the last few weeks. Not sure yet what is coming our way but I'll be happy to share as time moves forward.

Currently though, I've been up to my usual tricks and spending as much time as possible focused on painting and playing in the mud. Yesterday was the opening of the Atlanta Artists Centers 6th Annual Plein-air Exhibition at the Buckhead Library. This is the 4th year I've participated and as always enjoy the event. It will be up till January 4th, so go by and check out some of the work.
I was one of the guest speakers at the event and penned some of my thoughts on this thing we call "plein-air". If you'll be so kind to indulge me I'll share it with you in this blog. I'd like to say thank you to all my friends and students who showed up and enjoyed the food, art and socializing. I do very much appreciate your support. PS. I'm sorry for the false advertising, I thought they were serving wine, my mistake, and I was so looking forward to a glass myself! So without further delay, I'm going to post some of the images of the art in the show and yes even my attempt at verse!

Poster promoting the show and featuring work from the participating artists.

Written for a presentation at the Atlanta Artists Centers 6th annual plein-air exhibit
held at the Buckhead Library, December 4th 2010

Why I Paint Outdoors!

Why I paint outdoors
is really not so hard to see
all one has to do is
look back in history
for many a great artist
stood out in mother natures amenities
and each of them has left
their mark upon our memories.

When I feel that old and ancient stir
to seek out a source of inspiration
whether in the mountains
or by the sea
the sunlight that glimmers
under a canopy
in dappled patterns like the light
I'll lay down painted shapes
to copy natures lessons with envy
for she is the master of harmony.

So if you wish to seek me out
look in less traveled places
I'll be there in hopes of sharing
the beauty, color and rhythms
of dancing trees and waving fields
what my eyes have had the privilege
to experience with fascination
lending my skills not so much in words
but in ways more painterly.

By: C. S. Scogins

"Sculpture in the Waterfall"
Painted at the 2010 Artful Garden Tour,
a benefit for the High Museum of Art, sponsored by ArtPartners
my painting shows a bronze sculpture by Basil Watson in the waterfall in Marty Gillan's garden at the event. I was quite pleased with this effort at 12 X 18 inches which is large for plein-air works.

"All Aglow" painted 2010
I painted this over several months on location in College Park. I had driven by this house the past few years and was always fascinated by it though I couldn't get a good look at it from the road. It's a large craftsman built in 1886 by Margret Mitchel's sister as the story goes.
It's constructed of stone walls with huge porches and a carriage drive that wraps around the house. I always feel good being there and enjoyed meeting Thom the owner and resident. To date, I feel it's one of my best works ever. It's good when you get a few of those in life!

"Falling from Heaven"
This little still life painted Plein-air came to be after finding this little bird whom had flown into the window. I found her laying in the leaves and it struck me that everything in the heavens fall to earth eventually. A somewhat bitter sweet theme that makes one appreciate the fleeting time we have in life!

"Guardian of Allene"
Painted 2010, just down the street from my loft stands this enormous Oak tree which I've looked at so many times passing it by day to day. It sits on the line between the warehouse district I live in and Adair Park, along the Beltline path.

"Painting in the Garden"
Painted at the 2007 Artful Garden Tour,
a benefit for the High Museum of Art, sponsored by ArtPartners
my painting shows Susan Knight Smith painting at the event.

"Cranes in the Koi Pond"
Painted at the 2007 Artful Garden Tour,
a benefit for the High Museum of Art,
sponsored by ArtPartners

Update, As Per Your Request, thanks!

2010-10-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Yes I'm finally going to do an update on this page. I'm sorry for letting it go so long between postings but one does have to live life, so we have something to comment on. If I gave you a minute by minute update, we'd be on twitter! Personally, I like catching up with my friends and hearing about their adventures, trials and triumphs in life occasionally. People can only do that so often though or else it seems like your married and you might as well move in together. I see this as an opportunity to share a cup of coffee, listen to some yarns, experiences and general BS. It's a tradition down here in the South to tell tales and stories and to make them somewhat larger than life or at least have some small pearl of wisdom that your grandfather or grandmother would have shared with you. This blog is really about living life creatively, filling your days with the making and enjoyment of art and passing along those thoughts and stories we all come across while traveling this creative path. I hope you enjoy my tales and I'd hope that I'd get to hear from you, share a cup of coffee and pass some time getting to know each other. I suppose I've not heard much back from many of you and sometimes I get the notion that no one is reading this. I suppose that's not the case as several of you have asked when the next installment was going to be posted. Thanks for that, the encouragement is a big help!

So what's been up with me? Well a lot really! In the last few days I've been at a great little event at the Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw GA. These are a well kept secret that I'd personally like to let out of the bag. The gardens have only been open to the public a couple of years. The gardens them selves have been around much longer and are a fully mature garden with some spectacular sights and sculptural art work. I'd encourage you to check them out and they are fairly close on Pine Mountain Road in Kennesaw GA. The event was a plein-air paint out and many talented artists and good friends attended. There was some fabulous artwork made there and we had a small show and sale afterward. There were seven prizes given and the event came out as a wonderful experience for me. Keep an eye out for upcoming events and if you get a chance be sure to check this place out!

What you see are the 5 paintings I completed in 2 days. Hope you enjoy them!

This was the first of the 5 painting I did during the two day event. It's of the Bonsai garden and nursery. This is also the painting that picked up an award from the judge, Bill Davidson. I especially like the fact that Bill gave his time to tell people why he picked certain paintings and the things that worked with each. It's been a while since I've been on the side of receiving a critique and it felt good to hear.

This is the 2nd of 5 paintings looking at the south side of the house on the property. It's an old house with lot's of brick, high ceilings and a bit of that Victorian charm.

This is the 3rd of 5 paintings and was my last painting of the first day. By this time I was tired and ready to pack it in. The light was fabulous though by this time of day and I couldn't walk away. This sculpture seems to be the image the garden uses most to identify themselves with.
I personally don't think much of the sculpture as it reminds me of a Chinese or Japanese letter form or I suppose it could be a dog exhibiting the play stance! For me it was all about the light, shadows and trees which were electric!

After a nights sleep I picked up with this painting of the greenhouse and a huge oak tree at the edge of the main lawn. I had a time limit though as I had a date with my next painting! This piece was 4 of 5 total.

This is the painting I came to paint after looking around the weekend before to scout locations. I kept my motivation level high by saving this for my last. When I saw this tree the canopy was lit up and bright yellow. The tree shape reminded me of the character Medusa in Jason and the Argonauts. That's what I named it (The Medusa Tree). I really pushed the color on this painting as well. There is a lot of color here and seeing it as a reduced photo is not enough. Click on the image and give it a closer look! Enjoy!!!

So that's the past few days of my life! Hope you get a chance to push a little paint around as well!

Best wishes,
Chazz

PS. Leave a comment so I know you've been following this page. It helps inspire me to write a bit more!

Some new Art, thoughts on creative living and the state of the world around us!

2010-08-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Yes it's been a little too long since my last entry on this page. No, at this rate I'll never make the "Painting a Day website". So maybe I'll have to set some new goals that may be even bigger and more important to me and my creative spirit. I think (for me) it's time to up the risk and push the envelope a bit. My goal was to produce a lot of work over the past year which in some ways I did and feel successful at that. I've talked a bit about pushing myself, making my work more revealing of my inner self and connecting to the juicy stuff that many of us keep buried deep and safely within us. So maybe it's time to let a bit of that out into the light of day and see what comes up for me, as well as you my audience. I'd ask that you make a comment and leave your thoughts on what your seeing and hearing from this page. They will of course be welcomed and if you should find something that resonates with you, please feel free to share it and this blog with your friends.

Very different I know, this is a collage piece I did as a demo for my mixed media class. I very much enjoyed the imagery I found.

This is another Collage piece I did as a demo for a class. This time all the imagery was created rather than found. I also added some unusual elements just to keep everyone on their toes.

Another collage piece which I felt was very successful and incorporated many different technics to create rich textures and surfaces.

So on to the juicier stuff, visual candy etc. My work for Fulton County has given me an opportunity to explore a media I had only briefly dabbled in during my collage years. Clay and mud for me bring me back to my childhood when I could spend a full day playing in the stuff, make my version of the world and destroy it if I felt like it. There was an unbridled freedom in my youth that I and I suspect many of us have lost the connection to. Lately my art has taken some definite turns in direction I had not intentionally meant to explore. I find myself working more in clay, thinking more in clay and seeing things more in the round than ever before. Depth and weight seem to be areas I seem to fixate on more often. With that being said, on with the show!

This Mug is a seed pod and spiral design I came up with. I kept the colors organic in feel to go with the pattern. The piece is somewhat reminiscent of Arts and Crafts period pottery which is one of my favorite art movements.

This is another very organic feeling piece using a circular and spiral design motif. This pitcher was constructed from slabs of clay and glazed with at least 8 different color glazes.

This double flower vase was constructed using the coil method and is shown at the bisque stage currently. The brown coloration is a chocolate brown slip painted over a white clay body, then white slip is painted on over the brown. The shape as well as the surface decoration take on a rather tribal feeling which I like. I will glaze the piece later in a transparent glaze to finish it but wanted to share it with you in progress.

This is a crazy little remnant bowl was fun to construct out of scrap pieces of clay at the end of the day. It has about 5 different colored glazes on the body.

This is the next evolution of my female figurative series. My intention was to try and capture a fluid sense of motion and though she is very thick in reality, try to make her feel light or almost weightless. I feel that I've got it, so more are due to come later.

Thanks for the Encouragement, My thoughts on Sex and the Constitution!

2010-05-31T04:40:00.000-07:00

OK, I've heard back from many of my friends and those that follow this blog and I appreciate the fact that you find what I have to say somewhat humorous and true. I suppose the thing that makes something funny is the fact that it is true and it suddenly dawns on us how stupid it is that we've been putting up with it for most of our lives. That realization can take one down too many paths to even begin to explore here, besides this blog is really about making art and living a creative life. I'd have to start a whole other blog about the silly things I've observed myself and others doing through life.

This was painted on the Artful Garden Tour in May 2010, oil
on panel, sold to Marty Gillian who is the owner of the
home and garden.

For example, let's talk about sex. Sex bar none has gotten me into more trouble than any other act I've personally committed in my life. It suddenly came to me one morning while making bagels standing in the kitchen in my bath robe in front of the toaster why that was. I'm male! No really, that's not an excuse it's just a physiological fact that I'm a male and I have a penis. Logic would follow that if and when I become aroused, the blood flow that normally keeps my brain functional and lucid, now is pooled down in my lower regions therefore cutting off any chance that my brain will be functioning at its normal optimal levels. So as many men do I'm apt to say something totally stupid or inappropriate during the coarse of intercourse. That one gets us every time guys! How many times can you remember lying in bed and saying to your partner how much you enjoyed the fantastic orgasm you just had of which they were the catalyst. Probably none, because all your blood and oxygen were still where? No you rolled over and muttered something akin to this " I wuv you" which is all the speech you could probably muster at the moment. Women on the other hand are a totally different story! They have an orgasm and immediately as sharp as a tack, wanting another and ready to pounce on any opportunity! This is true for the very same reasons as men being in an oxygen deprived stupper, women have a clitoris which is small. Yes it gets erect but they don't have all of their blood trying to hold it up! On top of all of that, if you can't comply to their need for more sex, then they want to talk to you, which you are not capable of at the moment, which is why you let slip those almost indestiquishable words!

That little white flag of surrender has probably undid more empires and laid waste to more civilizations than anything else on the planet except religion. Just for example, Cleopatra and Mark Anthony, Helen of Troy, need I go any further. I don't really have a good idea as to how to solve this because we are just made the way we are. The only thing I could think of is that we need to amend the constitution and reorder it. The first amendment should read something like this:

When in the coarse of physical intercourse no verbal intercourse will have any legal bearing for the next 24 hours due to the impaired judgements that will follow there after. Only after that cooling off period can either party engage in the making of a contract and only written and witnessed contracts will be admissible in a court of law!

If that were the case, our legal system would have a lot more time on it's hands! It was just a thought, now I'm going to draw a naked women! You have yourself a beautiful day!

This little effort is one of my favorites. It was
from life and the mask adds a sense of
mystery to it!

Dating Rules of Atlanta Real-estate! The Good, The Bad and The Butt Ugly!

2010-05-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so its almost the end of May and yes the year is dashing past us ever so quickly! So you may be asking where I've been, have I taken ill or injured my fingers or even if I've given up on the quest to blog myself into the memories of modern society here in the deep south (Atlanta GA). Well, no one is that lucky, I'm still here though my focus on updating this page has given way to more romantic pursuits of seeking my true place in life, somewhere where I can safely nestle myself in the comfort one calls home. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my brief time here at the Couer De Allene but it's time to move on and find a place of my own. Luckily there is ample opportunity for those of us with a bit of daring and the patience that would qualify one for sainthood. I've done my homework on this and I'm happy to tell you young urban pioneering types who want to go ITP (inside the perimeter) that there is an abundance of opportunity waiting for those of you who are curious and motivated. Currently the City of Atlanta has over 15 different grant, down payment assistance and urban renewal and redevelopment programs. Basically if your willing to roll up your sleeves and put in some time, effort and a minimal amount of money you'll be able to find a home ever so humble! So I'll tell you my story of dating in this real-estate market and you can figure out where and what you may want to do from there!

I, like any young eager suitor looked around town at a fevered pitch for several months determined to breach the threshold of as many available properties as possible. I wasn't too sure exactly what I wanted at first since there were so many options in the market these days. So I looked at them all, the abused foreclosures, the comely attractive short sales and yes even those high priced Betty's that had been completely renovated and were as polished and new as the day they were first built. I really couldn't afford those high priced uptown gals strutting their stuff in those neighborhoods where taxes were a quarter of my yearly income! So I settled my gaze upon what I considered valuable which was location, location and location with a bit of room to breath and privacy enough to lounge in my bathrobe or less if I were so inclined. What I was looking for was access to transportation, shopping and entertainment of all sorts. I also wanted some room to grow, spread out and expand if needed. What I found were several interesting candidates which I set about wooing and went on a series of extensive dates with before making any suggestion of a proposal. Where I'm at currently is in an awkward place, torn between the affections of two possible long term lovers. Of course only one will finally take my affections, where we will tie the knot at a real-estate closing, pre-nuptials and all. Drum roll, and the final two contestants are!

A lovely older gal built in 1907, large spacious with tons of potential for fixing up, renovating and expanding. She sits in a viable business district only a block from Marta and is smothered in grants from ADA (Atlanta Development Authority). I fell in love with her before I even went inside, with her Arts and Crafts charm, her looming presence above the street and granite stone work. The only down side to her was that she was holding out and playing hard to get. She was a "short sale", promising everything and yet not giving one hint of mutual affection. She would take some time to convince that I was really the one for her. The problem is I wasn't so sure I had the patience or stamina to endure a relationship like this again. She was in the clutches of another, one who held her mortgage (Satan) Bof A. True I have little or no affection for their corporate structure and communications has been abysmal. 3 months later this was to the point where I was ready to move on, done, quit, finished!!! So I went in search of another feeling rejection and frustration! I still longed to make her mine but knew I needed to let go and move forward in my search. Life is too short to spend on unrequited love!

A true Arts and Crafts transitional home built in 1902. She has the Arts and Crafts details with the grand Victorian floor plan. It really was a marriage of the best of both. She has 3 floors and a full basement. The top floor has a large 1200 sq foot space which is ready to go as a studio the day I would move in. She also has 3 working fireplaces and a great double lot with the largest oak tree I've ever seen on the planet and I've seen some big ones. I'd buy this property just to protect that tree which must be at least 300 years old. She's quite grand but needs some TLC.
She also has great potential for generating income and paying for herself, plus she is already on the national historic registry. Something about a church and the founder of the church getting it's start there. Maybe that explains all the extra parking, something not often found in an urban area! Priced well under 100K, need I say more!

I ran into several other very attractive and yes similar properties. Some on lovely streets but needing far more work or for far more money or none of the advantages of location. So I kept looking.

Finally I came across another who made my heart leap. It was by accident that I found myself in a lovely old neighborhood with wide tree lined streets, charming Arts and Crafts homes and very well situated right in the middle of the city. It seemed to be the best of everything I was looking for. Shopping, coffee shops, and yes even a bit of entertainment and access to transportation. She had many of the qualities of my previous love, with her commanding view over the street, open light spaces and even the possibility to expand a bit. She was also totally redone, dressed to date and even marry after the first kiss! She is all brick, solidly built but graceful, refined and well breed with just a bit of that sexy slut thrown in. She sports a lovely modern kitchen, great bathrooms and even a charming breakfast nook with all the old original built in cabinets and paneling. Simply lovely! She had a heftier price tag as well but sat only one block off the Belt-line access. The neighbors are quite, and keep good care of their homes. She seems like a great long term investment and yes I could be very happy with her. She's still within my financial target range and affordable though I would still like to be a fair bit lower in my obligations each month. She isn't as spacious as my previous love interest and she doesn't hold the financial possibilities the other does but she is in far better shape! She is also less of a prima-donna and requires less maintenance and attention.

This charming brick bungalow was built in 1920 and sits in the charming WestView Neighborhood. Originally asking 125K, things are looking more affordable and true love is setting in. Ain't she sexy!

I love this style house with the carriage porch, sitting high above the street which is quite and less traveled. The only thing this house needs is some low maintenance landscaping and a privacy gate across the drive to keep unwelcome visitors away. The front yard will be planted in shrubs sporting thorns, just to keep the curious away! Step into my garden uninvited and it will get evil on yoo ass!

There is a great porch to sit out on to catch the afternoon breeze. The all brick face makes her a very low maintenance lover which I need at this point in my life. After all I want to put paint on canvases and make some art, not paint a house!

So here I am, trying to make up my mind! Over time both have made significant advances toward me, prices have been lowered, paperwork has been completed, attorneys have approved the final sales and all seems to be ready to move forward with either. Hard choices have to be made, and they are mine to make! Who will it be? Who will win my true love!

Well I guess you'll have to stay tuned! Things are going to start moving a lot faster over the next few weeks. There is much to do but let me assure you that which ever one I choose, I'll be very happy and would have never dreamed that I would have been so lucky to have called either mine! I'm going to let you know right now, I'm going to do everything I can to encourage all of you to look for a great place just like these on the West End of Atlanta. It's a transitional area,
true, and the sooner I get your creative butts over there with mine the quicker we make it one of the coolest areas of the South to live in! The City, bless their little pea picking hearts has other plans of coarse. They will try and steer you into one of their buddies luxury condos or some nonsense. The fact is that they are selling whole lots of these homes to developers who will mow them down and put up crap housing that no one wants to live in. That's why the city is making the effort to bail their butts out with all this grant money. Politics as you may have guessed!
What I would like to find is a core group of people committed to bringing these homes, neighborhoods and creative culture and flavor back to this city. We have the talent, we now have the resources (money) and even better if its not our own and with a bit of determination and vision we can make this a much better place to live! Maybe I'll run for office, that would scare the shit out of them, a white boy from the West End! How crazy is that!

2010 Artful Garen Tour, Calling Artist to participate!

2010-05-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

The basics are as follows: The artful garden tour is sponsored by the High Museum of Art and Art Partners each year. About 500 to 1500 people tour some of the finest gardens in all of the Atlanta area. I've participated in this event for the past 4 years and have always enjoyed the experience. The tour will take place in 6 different gardens this year in the north west side of the city. Most of the properties are large in scale and will afford each artist ample opportunities to show their work.

SCULPTORS / CERAMIC ARTISTS and OTHERS

The work displayed will be in the nature of sculpture, pottery and other 3 dimensional work that would be safe placing outside in the environment. Installation for the work can take place the morning of, or several days before the event and each artist will arrange time to un -install their work with the gardens owner. Once assigned to a specific garden I will be happy to give each artist contact information for the owners so they can arrange a time to view the site, or make arrangements to install their work. Please look over the following information and view the provided photos to get an idea of the types of locations available. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any further questions. I'll be happy to assist you! You will be provided tickets to go on the tour and I'd encourage you to do so.

PLEIN-AIR PAINTERS

Please contact me and I'll be happy to assign you a garden. I'm trying to place at least 3 and up to 6 painters at each location. You should arrive about 9am if your painting in the morning or around 1pm if your painting in the afternoon. The event last from 10am till 5pm rain or shine! So please plan your day accordingly. You could paint all day if you wish or take the tour and just paint half a day. If you have a preference please let me know and I'll schedule you where and when you wish as best I can. This is a great opportunity to meet the art loving public, so bring up to four of your finished and framed works and lots of cards and promotional materials. For those of you who have participated before I feel this will be the best year yet as the gardens are fabulous and you'll be given the opportunity to get around and see the gardens and meet some of the other participating artists.

Locations: There are six wonderful locations on this tour, please see the attached brochure for a map and garden description!

1. The Garden of Dr. Joel and Toni Adler
2677 Ridge Valley Road
Atlanta, GA 30327

There is something blooming year-round in this appealing garden, which features remarkable outdoor sculptures and rare plantings throughout. The charming patio with pergola outside the rear door is the perfect setting for viewing the beautiful fountain and the small reflecting pool. Here visitors are also greeted by Art the scarecrow, who oversees the large fenced vegetable and herb garden. The lush lawn area is circled by abundant woodland plants such as hellebore,
hosta, and fragrant Daphne. A casual pathway leads along perennial beds to the back of the garden and a large, white marble contemporary sculpture. The rear garden also features charming trellises, arbors, and flowering containers. Not to be missed is the whimsical sculpture garden in the front of the home, where a giant wind chime hangs over the large central winter hazel plant.

2. The Garden of Edward and Claudia Leinss
2649 West Wesley Road
Atlanta, GA 30327

This garden is making its debut on this year’s tour. Alec Michaelides of Land Plus and Cla Allgood of Allgood Outdoors collaborated on this spectacular hardscape design that incorporates a terraced back yard employing a variety of stone patios, stairs, and walkways, and three waterfalls fed by more than 150 feet of flowing water. Marcia Weber of Gardens to Love was instrumental in selecting the plantings to enhance the architectural design. Numerous azaleas,
japonica, and rhododendrons and the sound of trickling water greet visitors to this expansive garden throughout which large planters and fabulous sculptures can be found. This peaceful setting can be best enjoyed from a bench placed midway along the gentle pathway to the top. A romantic, screened summer house occupies one of the top terraces, and a playground and basketball court can be found at the very top of the property. The large stone patio outside the back door is perfect for cocktails or brunch, while the large patio near the top of the property is an ideal spot for family cookouts. The latter space is the only garden element remaining from the original home and includes a large outdoor fireplace and grill.

3. The Garden of John and Marty Gillin
4645 Harris Trail
Atlanta, GA 30327

These homeowners and designer Dan Cleveland have created a special “mountain retreat within the city” using native woodland plants, water features, wooden structures, and secluded spaces. A charming ivy garland draped across the brick wall and an elegant driveway created by Randall White of RTW Concrete greet visitors to the front of this French-style home. At the left rear corner of the home, a small parterre garden with a honeycomb boxwood maze creates a serene, private spot for guests. The central feature of the garden is a fabulous stone waterfall cascading from twenty-five feet above the expansive flagstone patio, just outside the sunroom. A large Japanese maple provides a natural canopy for dining. Rustic black-locust handrails, made by Buzz Stone of The Rustic Garden, lead visitors safely up the curving, moss-covered, stone trail to the top of the waterfall. A thoughtfully located bench provides the perfect spot for the homeowners to escape from city life and enjoy the wildlife and serenity of the upper garden. To the right side of the home, intricate wrought iron gates open toward the guest house and into another formal boxwood garden. The impressive arbor flanked by tall birch trees is just the spot to stop and admire the large urns exploding with trailing roses.

4. The Garden of Robin and Marc Pollack
5225 Long Island Drive
Atlanta, GA 30327

This expansive property covers three acres of natural topography and sits on a sixty-foot-deep private lake. Follow the eight different paths through the orchard, woodlands, vineyard, and terraced gardens and discover many delightful garden features. The orchard produces figs, apples, and pears in the summer. Primitive constructions made from trees cleared from the property create inviting outdoor rooms; bridges, paths, and old stone walls form an outdoor amphitheatre along the dry creek bed. Camellias and Japanese maples add to the Zen feeling of the koi pond created by Atlanta Water Gardens that is nestled in the center of the home. The outdoor sculpture garden contains many ceramic pieces created by the homeowner, a local artist and instructor, along with a brightly painted steel bench, a birdbath sculpture, a butterfly house, and a primitive scalemodel birdhouse of the home. A fifty-year-old grapevine swing and masses of white azaleas await the casual stroller in the vineyard. Rustic seating overlooks the lake and a mature ginko tree. Situated on the lake are a charming boathouse and a bird estuary that attracts many local species. A lakefed irrigation system is used throughout the property.

5. Garden of Ryan and Debbie Lieberman
3897 Powers Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30327

Behind their 1948 stucco home, the Liebermans and David McMullen of New Moon Gardens have created the ultimate playful garden, with a spot perfect for any season and any time of day. Never before on tour to the public, this exciting contemporary design incorporates flowering trees, masses of hydrangeas, and fatsia japonica along with interesting garden structures that maximize the flexibility and use of the space. Visitors to the home are greeted with an expanse of white hydrangeas. In the back of the home, a contemporary square firepit on the pea gravel patio provides a perfect vantage point for the entire garden space and provides an inviting setting for gatherings on chilly mornings and evenings. The side deck features a large year-round container garden overflowing with ferns and vines. The steps from the deck and patio lead down to a lush lawn and back up to a terraced garden, which includes a charming pergola, ideal for outdoor dining. On the right side of the property, an architecturally distinctive wooden bridge connects the patio with the back pergola and creates the support for swings constructed under the bridge. A pea gravel surface provides for soft landings in the children’s play area.

6. The Garden of William and Jean Astrop
205 Blackland Road
Atlanta, GA 30342

The 1938 English Regency home of the Astrops was designed by Philip Trammell Shutze, renowned classical architect who also designed the Swan House. These spectacular grounds have evolved over the years without a master plan.

The wandering trails, exceptional gardens, and structures came about as a result of footpaths linking neighboring homes, acts of nature, imaginative landscaping solutions, and inspired homeowners and their guests. Today the grounds include original plantings of large English boxwoods in the front of the home; a formal rear garden with a lovely urn fountain, designed by Charles Jones of Monroe Landscaping; and a small formal garden with a birdbath, designed by Ray Padgett around large lion-head urns as well as a charming garden house.

The vast lawn area in the rear provides room for fun and games or just strolling. One of the most spectacular elements is the abundant use of hydrangeas—185 are used throughout the garden. Masses of rhododendrons and azaleas, hostas, irises, tall magnolias, and colorful annual plantings complete the scene. This garden has a 6,000-gallon rainwater holding tank covered with a stamped concrete patio and arbor. The tank is part of an efficient water system designed and built by Ray Padgett and crew. Rainwater flows from gutters to the underground holding tank; from there it is recycled into the pond over multiple small waterfalls and under a bridge. The refreshed water finally enters drip lines for irrigating the garden area.

Where I've been the past 2 months!

2010-04-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

OK, I know I've been missing in action or something for too long. I do have my reasons though! I've been looking for a new and permanent place to live and this is what I've found. Currently there are many houses, town homes and condos on the market. This is especially true on the west end of Atlanta. True you have to be a bit cautious and adventuresome to look over there but the fact is that now is the best time to invest in that area. Why you might ask! Well because the city is literally giving money to people who want to buy there in the form of 15 year grants. Yes, grants not loans. You can check with HUD and the Atlanta Housing Authority for more details but for a bit of your time on the weekend you could net up to 120K in grants. I'll be happy to share what I find out as the process moves forward. Like any government program there are hoops to jump through and not all properties qualify so it's best to start early and ask a lot of questions.

So here is what I've settled on and currently in the process of buying. Wish me luck! The house was built in 1914 and is a true Arts and Crafts transitional house. It has all of the craftsman details with a bit more formal Victorian floor plan. Yes, it's a big house, more room to work in! The rooms are very large and for the most part will remain just as they are. The first floor is in great shape with little to do.

This is a series of photos of the house including some detail shots of the architectural elements of the home. Double click on the photo for a larger version.

The following 3 drawings are plans of the house layout. The floor plan is accurate as I've measured everything in the place. The Kitchen area is a planned improvement as well as the 3rd floor bath area.

Butlers Pantry between Kitchen area and Formal Dinning Hall.

The second floor will remain unchanged except the removal of carpet and refinishing some floors.

The 3rd floor is the main reason I'm buying the home. It has a large well lit open space for a studio area. It needs a bit of cleaning up but is functional and ready to go!

I fell in love with the light in this space. It is constant much like North light throughout the day. It really doesn't change much and the space remains comfortable throughout the day without air conditioning. They knew how to build them back then!

I'm looking forward to having drawing groups over and sharing the space with all the artsy folks I know. I'm looking forward to a few halcyon days!

February bits of information!

2010-02-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

Today was one of the best days of the year thus far. The weather was perfect to attend a walk on the Beltline Project in Atlanta GA. For those of you who haven't heard yet, Atlanta will be opening up a new pedestrian trail, light transit and art corridor starting this summer. It's been a dream which has been on the drawing board for quite some time now and yes it will finally start becoming a reality starting June 5th of 2010. I for some odd reason I have lived no more than 50 feet away from the project since moving into the city 5 years ago. So as you might imagine I'm excited by the possibility of accessing such an available resource. You should as well, since this corridor goes through almost 50 different neighborhoods and is totally level with no hills up or down. When completed I'll be able to walk to Piedmont part in about an hour at a liesurely pace. The complete loop is 22 miles total and stretches from Lindberg Station on the north end down to just outside my front door (literally) at the corner of Allene Ave. and Avon Avenue in south Atlanta.

South of City Hall East along the soon to open Beltline.

Looking Down North Avenue toward BofA building.

Lofts along Ponce de Leon Ave.

View of Midtown behind Trader Joes on Monroe Ave.

For much more information and ways to get involved please go to www.beltline.org. How will this effect my personal little economy? Well, I am getting involved in the opening of the project by submitting a proposal for an arts project along the walking paths.

I've been working toward creating public art projects for the past 5 years and this will give me a fair chance at having one funded. I'm a painter as most of you know and would love to create a mural to install. Public art has its problems though such as vandalism so I personally would be nervous about creating something as fragile as a painted surface. My solution is to propose a mural made of ceramic tiles. Please see the sample of my concept tile above to get a feel for what I'm proposing. The final size would be somewhere in the area of 6' X 25' and be made of 12" square tiles. It would be more durable in the long run and could be cleaned if tagged. I'm also thinking there are 3 more supports that could use some art on them as well, possibly later as the project develops. I have also asked Jack Meachum to help me on the mural project as he has the sculpting and drawing skills required for this project and it may be too big for me to produce by myself.

This is a sketch of my friend Jack Meachum who sat for me last night after we went to the movie Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges, Robert Duval and other great actors in what has to be a heavy contender for an Oscar. If you get a chance, go see it. It's money well spent.

Beyond that I've been busy with several opportunities and fine art projects. There will be a show of artwork created entirely with graphite to be held at the Rose Lane Gallery in Decatur GA. The show will open in March.

Irenka, one of the many wonderful models now working in the Atlanta area. The model list has gotten much longer from when I came to Atlanta 22 years ago. A sign that the art community is growing and evolving to a much better place.

Peonies, this is a graphite drawing of a vase and flowers around my loft. I've adopted peonies as one of my favorite flowers because of their beauty as well as rarity. They are only available in early spring which gives me another reason to hope for a change in the seasons till I can see them bloom again. It's kind of a promise of a new beginning!

The Bond, Someone asked me to come up with a wedding gift for a couple they know and this is a concept I developed. Taking two different people, represented by the glasses of wine, one red one white and tying them together to create something sweeter and more lasting than themselves alone. A bit sentimental I suppose, but I'm a romantic and I don't apologize for that.

Speaking of romance, "The Muse" is on display in a show at the Atlanta Artists Center and has taken an honorable mention. The model (Irenka) sat at my friends Shane McDonalds studio for this quick little study. I was quite happy with the result.

I've also taken on a portrait commission for the Arts for the Heart project sponsored by the Atlanta Fine Arts League. The project provides portraits of American Servicemen and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'll update you as these projects progress. Thanks again for your interest and pass my blog address along to other art lovers, creators and patrons.

Blessings!
Chazz

Your invited to Dinner on the SouthSide.

2010-01-23T00:07:00.000-08:00

Ah, what a wonderful way to spend a Friday evening. Great group of people, good food and yes just a few adult beverages to help ease us all into the weekend. I had invited about 25 people down for a casual dinner at my loft on the South side of Atlanta. Nine showed up for dinner with a bit of an offering toward dinner and some even brought some Art. Dinner was set for 8pm and most of us were here by 8:30pm. I planned a special menu of Iranian dishes, salad, fruit which seemed to be well appreciated.

For the next 5 hours we ate, drank, laughed and shared stories and news from around the neighborhood and world around us. Of course the discussion turned toward art, our work and a whole host of subjects. I'd like to thank all of those who came out and hope we can do it again soon.

Charles

2010 begins, a new year, a new decade!

2010-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you who follow this page, I hope you all find the next year and decade one of prosperity, hope and grateful blessings.

The end of 2009 whizzed by and I have since completed several work of art I'd like to share with you. I'm in the process of moving toward having a clearer and stronger voice in my art. I'm seldom working on commission these days which gives me the freedom to express my personal views with out fear of offending someone. Having a nearly full time job with Fulton County limits my time to do my creative work, yet affords me the opportunity to explore while not worrying about selling my work. I'm thankful for this and hope to grow in ways I can't even fathom yet.

So here are some of my latest offerings:

Stewart Scogins, age 21

This is a quick sketch of my son, I did from life on my last trip to Chattanoogha to visit him.

Cavalia Sunrise, Atlantic Station, Atlanta GA
Oil on canvas, 9X12

This piece was painted plein-air on a morning which was 28degrees just after the New Year. I completed the details indoors in an environment more concussive to completing a painting.

This is a 9 X 12 figure study completed at Shane McDonald's Studio one recent Wednesday evening. It's always fun for me to paint with that group and this model is becoming one of my favorites to paint. I've considered going back into the piece to achieve a more finished look, but I've come to the conclusion that the painting is already complete and to go further with it would only risk losing some of the feeling it already has.

This is a little sentimental piece I've recently completed as a wedding gift that someone requested. It's yet to be purchased or viewed but I feel the concept is correct and I'm looking forward to showing to the person who requested it.

Mermaids have preoccupied my thoughts these days and I have expressed them in clay. The image to the right was a small vessel I created which inspired me to explore the figure mounted on a wave to the left. Each have the same green finish which is more accurate in the image of the vessel. Funny what light will do on a surface! I've enjoyed the process of creating them which has lead me to try new things this year in ceramics as a media. I want to explore not only the forms but also the surface and colors I can get. I'll post more as my explorations continue.

So, go make some art and have a bit of fun!

Wake up call!

2009-12-27T02:26:00.000-08:00

It's the last few days of the year and I have to say it's quite a change from last year and the dismal holidays I had after the break up with my loved one. The wounds seem to be healing and yes I can smile and laugh at life most of the time these days. A big part of the healing process was just getting busy with a new job this year. It gave me some positive hope in my life and the sense I could work through most of my problems. Being around some good people, finding new friendships and widening my social circle helped a great deal as well.

The point I'd like to make is that I feel blessed to be exactly where I am today! I've had a few wake-up calls these past few days with a fender bender on Hwy 400 and then today I helped get a friends dad to the emergency room with a heart attack. He will be alright once he has his double bypass sometime in the next few days. This event has set my mind in motion and brought up some fears I personally have. The parallels between myself and the heart attach victim are just too similar to miss. I haven't digested the experience properly yet so haven't come up with any concrete ways to express my feeling about it. I can feel things churning inside though and know this will lead me down a path to express myself about the condition I choose to live with.

As a rough passage of paint, I'd say what I'm feeling is some fear around being in the same boat.
I live alone as a middle aged male with a limited number of close friends who I don't stay in touch with on a daily basis. I suppose I would be missed at work or if I didn't check in after 3 or 4 days. I also have some deeper scars around whether I'd blow off my symptoms until it was too late. I have a way of rationalizing my pains and odd sensations as well as a healthy dose of skepticism about the medical profession.

I'll pick this conversation up later as my visual ideas emerge. Till then, I want you to think over your plan B and what you might do in the face of a medical emergency!

Where has the year gone?

2009-11-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

OK, I've had that song by Rod Stewart running in my head all evening, Maggie May! It's way past late September, in fact creeping up to mid November already and I'm already in school almost everyday. The great thing is that I'm the teacher and get to choose how I'm going to spend time teaching people the art of making a mess in mud or paint! I love my job!

This lovely little piece was done at Shane McDonalds Group. I've been painting with that group for the past 15 years. This was a particularly lovely pose and the addition of the mask added a sense of mystery.

So where have I been the past month plus. Well to catch you up I've traveled a few times to paint, bought a new car, went on a couple of dates, saw the Da Vinci show at the High Museum and installed a scar crow my class at the Benson Center made at the Atlanta Botanical Garden to just mention a few things. I've also pushed a little paint around myself and would like to share some of the images with you now. Please take some time to look over what I've made lately and feel free to leave a comment, encouragement or just go ahead and throw money at me. I'll need it for the new car payment "yikes"!

Finally finishing this portrait study I started several months ago.

This is Ellaine who sat for the first week of my painting from life class. This Demo shows that you can move paint around quickly and still get a good likeness.

This lovely little piece was done at Shane McDonalds Group. It still feels incomplete to me but I have little interes in bringing it to a finsh.

This lovely woman stepped in to take a models place after she missed her appointment. What a wonderful surprise.

Driving up to Highland I finally ran out of patience and had to pull over to paint this misty scene. I and everything I was wearing or using got soaked but it was worth the effort.

A month ago I stopped just outside the gate of Fort McPherson on Lee Street in Atlanta to paint this scene at sunset.
the brilliance of the light was fantastic and as the light shifted to the reds and pinks at sunset and the whole scene came alive.

I call this piece "Out of the mist". It is by far my favorite I accomplished on our trip to Highlands. The layers of trees and the subtle changes of muted colors made this a particularly challenging painting. One which I feel is completly successful.

This was the view from the cabin I stayed at in Highland NC. It was a rainy cold foggy day and a few of us decided to stay at the cabin and paint off the covered porch. Happily I got two paintings done and both were pretty strong representations of the atmospheric conditions we encountered on our trip.

This old barn sits on the road to Sky Land GA. from Hwy 106 between Dillard and Highland NC. I couldn't pass up the early morning light on the roof and the autumn colors of the trees.

I've looked at this barn for years just off Wiggly Road on the back side of Sweat Mtn. in Cobb County. I painted this Saturday morning along the roadside.

This is a quick little painting done along Abernathy Road in Sandy Springs GA. I stopped one Friday afternoon after work to capture the light on the trees last week.

Work from some of my students and some new pottery from me!

2009-09-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some of the work being done by my students in the art classes I teach both at the Benson Center in Sandy Springs as well as the Woodstock Community Center. I had 3 students enter work in "Art of the Golden Age". This was a juried show for people over 50 and is being shown at the Cobb/Marietta Art Museum. Go by and check it out!

Juana Giles
Juana has been painting with me for the past 5 years and does pieces along the line of this painting of places and people. Most of her subject matter is about other cultures or the blending of foreign with American culture.

Joy Potter
Joy has always been interested in painting portraits and slice of life scenes like this one. She has become a very solid painter and taken on some commission work.

Cate Dodd

Cate got two pieces accepted to the show, each of which are wonderful on their own. Her work has also gotten some very favorable responses from all of you on Facebook. I'll make sure to pass on your comments to her.

The following portrait sculptures are from my class at the Benson Center in Sandy Springs. I had a small class of 7 to start with and each student produced an almost life size bust of someone close to them. Each bust took quite a bit of time and I feel each of these students were successful in capturing their subject. Not bad work for the first piece of sculpture any of them had made!

Doris Brassfield. Bust of her niece.

Rosemary Dashiell, "Wilson" her nephew.

Mugsy Cole "Penny" her husband!

I've been having fun teaching the classes at the Benson Center but I've also had the opportunity to work in clay for the first time in over 30 years. I've always loved and collected pottery as well as sculpting but haven't kept it up due to space limitations as well as time. Finally I get to play in the mud again! The following are pieces I've made in the past month or so.

This group of pottery are pieces I've produced as samples for my hand-building class. My skills need a bit of work still but it's coming back to me slowly. The pieces to the right were made using the coil method and the ones on the left were made using the slab method. I teach techniques like creating stamps and textures for surface decoration as well as combining glaze methods to create interesting and organic forms and surfaces.

Sculpting has always be of keen interest to me and in particular figurative and portrait sculptures. This is a small demo sample to show students how to model a bust and finish the surface. The look is rather classical so I added a dark bronze finish to the surface of this clay sculpture to reinforce that idea.

On the far less traditional side is this fellow! I teach students in the Adult Day Care Program at the Benson Center. I was asked to head the project of creating a scarecrow to be shown at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this October. The participants suffer from a wide range of cognitive and physical limitations but by working together were able to complete this very involved and extensive project. I created the face out of clay by draping a slab into a bowl till it set up and was rigid enough to be worked on. I added the features of the face by building clay up on the surface and where needed cutting openings in the clay shell. I then drew in the lines to show were the color breaks would be. The participants painted the face and even added glitter. Glitter always makes everything better, right!

Creative Projects at work!

2009-09-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today I'd like to share some of the projects I've been working on at the Dorothy C. Benson Center . It's been a bit busy the past few months and I've had a great time teaching art classes there. For example the collage piece which was done as a sample demonstrating several techniques in my Mixed Media Class or the vase which I made in my Hand-Building Class.

Collage

Hand-built Vase

I've been teaching oil painting, drawing, clay hand-building and mixed media classes which have given me the opportunity to explore and work in areas I haven't for some time now. Teaching gives me the chance to get outside my normal realm of painting and stretch myself into areas not often traveled. I've just completed my second session of classes at the center and people are finally coming around after seeing some of the work being produced in my classes. The students are great to work with and recently the center had sign-ups for the next session, where I filled all of the 6 classes I'm teaching. I'll be teaching 2 painting classes, one in oils from life and the other in acrylics. I'll also continue my mixed media class as well as drawing. Two new classes I'll be teaching are sculpting in clay which will cover both representational as well as contemporary abstract sculpture techniques and an open studio class on Fridays where I can help students on a more personal level with their class projects. I'm looking forward to the start of the new session which begins on October 5th.

The following photos are of a scarecrow in progress being entered into a competition at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I uploaded the drawing yesterday so wanted to add the following shots so you could see the real thing. It was delivered to the Atlanta Botanical Garden on Friday of the week.

At last he came together, time for a well deserved beer at the Botanical Gardens! This is Judy who helped sew the hair pieces together and myself

He stands about 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Not a small undertaking! The project took about two months to complete with the participants working on him about 6 hours a week. In total about 30 people added there hearts and hands into the making of this fellow.

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This photo shows the participants and staff who contributed to the project. I'm the rather large fellow dressed in black with the hat on to the right side of the photo.

This is a composite of several photos showing parts of the project.

The happy fellow above is a concept for a scarecrow I'm helping to create with my students at the Adult Day Care facility. One of the students came up with the concept which the group then took and developed further. We are calling this a psychodelic scarecrow but the theme is really more about the 60's and the peace and love movements which were so much a part of that time. The scarecrow will be part of a display at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens starting next week. I look forward to seeing him there and would encourage you to go and check out the gardens before the weather cools off.

Above is a wall graphic I developed for the Benson Centers 10th Anniversary. It provides a map of the facility and an outline of the responsibilities of the three entities who share the complex. I designed, photographed and produced the piece using Adobe software on my mac laptop. This was pretty run of the mill stuff in my past advertising life but seems well appreciated with the people I'm working with currently.

Day at the Atlanta Zoo

2009-09-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

As part of a benefit to raise money for Zoo Atlanta and the Panda's I and several other artists spent the day drawing and painting plein air. I thought I might share some of the many incredible sights I and others saw that day. If you get a chance go check out the animals!
Special thanks go to the Cobb Marietta Museum for helping organize this event.

Eating ...

Eating ...

Eating ...

Are you beginning to see a pattern develop here!

This guy was incredible and sort of made my day at the zoo. What a beautiful animal. He is an Asian Lepoard and very rare and endangered. Amazing to watch!

Wow, what can you say after that!

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty. . .

OK, the Bengal Tiger rocks! He was very playful and needed to cool his heels after a good 15 minute bought of being active and checking out the crowds of people watching him.

Here are some of the more usual but no less stellar stars of the show! Enjoy!

South American Monkey

Giraffe

Black Rhino, very endangered and really cute in a rugged sort of way!

African Elephant, She is a real sweet heart and very photogenic!

Zebra, common on the African Plains but wonderful to watch.

Hope you enjoy the photos and it inspires you to take a trip to the Zoo!

Labor Day weekend, New Art!

2009-09-07T01:13:00.000-07:00

"Farther down the track"
Happy Labor Day, I'm toiling away at pushing some paint around this 3 day weekend. This first little offering was painted plein air yesterday from 5:30 to 8pm. It's just across the street from my loft and since moving in I've wanted to paint it. Something about those strong vanishing points as well as the many layers of greens. Personally I think it was a success.

" Three Bad Apples"
In spite the fact that this appears to be a still life, it in fact is a narrative piece with personal meaning to me. It is in fact a portrait of my relationship with two friends, each of which are going through a personal crisis. I myself have a few of those beautiful blemishes that life provides us and have the scars to prove it. In this present time I see more of my friends struggling not only financially but with relationship and health issues, lack of work and in general low self esteem. This too will pass though as all things do. I'm an optimist, OK!

"Metropolitan Nude Study"
I've found a hidden treasure in my neighborhood! There has been a group of artists meeting for the past 8 years for figure drawing on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:30 at Metropolitan College.
The group is organized by James Taylor and is small, but talented. We meet in room 343 in building 500 and the cost is $10.00 USD. We meed in the colleges art studio so there are easels and tables available to use. Painting and drawing is OK and the group does one long pose for most of the night after a few gesture poses to warm up. I like it because the long pose gives me an opportunity to paint something nearly to the complete stage. Come join us!

"Terry and Sue Powers House"
I was invited to paint at a friends house with several of my painting buddies. What a wonderful day, sitting out painting the best that summer has to offer before the fall comes and most of the flowers go away. Terry is a big gardener and this year everything really took off. It's almost jungle like getting to his front door but the color and smells are well worth the trip. Terry doesn't drink coffee so bring your own!

"Ellijay Creek"

I started this little acrylic piece two years ago and since have walked by it every day with it talking to me. So since I had the paint out I added just those final touches to finish it. Ahhh,
all better now!

Hope you had a happy and productive Labor Day, now get back to the paint brushes!
Chazz

2009-07-11T18:09:00.001-07:00

This is the second sitting for this portrait. Please make note of the following changes from last week. The sofa and pillows have been blocked in darker value colors and richer passages of paint. The background still remains unresolved but I intend to indicate the light coming from the right to left side. I have also developed the hands and jacket further leaving the painting in a balanced state with all of the areas completed to similar stages.

Keep painting and stay in touch!

Independence Day!

2009-07-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! I'd like to start this post with a thank you and remember my ancestors from both sides of the ocean. Many struggled and gave their lives so that I and yes even we could have the privilege of living our lives in relative freedom. You can think about that if you want!

I'm most thankful for the moment about the opportunities before me. Life, work and even my social life are rather rich and full these days. You could say "I'm content" with life at the moment. I'm a single guy still, but enjoying the process of seeing who is out there! On the artistic front, I have a few projects that I'm excited about. I'd like to share the start of the project I'm currently working on which is a portrait I'm doing for an up-coming competition. I'm sure as the project develops my ideas about it will as well and it will probably go through several changes along the way. I'm hoping that by following the progress of the project you will be able to see my process and hopefully understand some of what I try and pass on to my students.

These are shots of the painting in progress after the first afternoon. I try to work in large simple blocks to build the composition and value structure of the painting.

I do very little drawing and only with the brush because I'll loose it in the process of painting over it, so why bother.

If you get the shapes and proportions correct the painting will look like what your seeing in front of you.

The first sitting was taken up with selecting the appropriate pose and clothing.

My working palette, please notice the layout and division of colors and how I organize the colors into earth, warm and cool colors. I also put large amounts of paint out which will skin over after a few days making the paint like a tube which will stay on my palette for several weeks. I like less set up time so I can go right to work when I'm ready.

Hope this inspires you to push some paint around! So just get out and do it!

Charles

What's new!

2009-06-28T21:50:00.001-07:00

I wanted to quickly update some of the work on my blog page to give you an idea of what I'm creating these days. All of the work posted is from the past 2 weeks. There are a combination of drawings I created at various figure groups and a few still lifes.

Hope you enjoy!

Gesture Drawing from Monday AAC Figure Group

Long pose at AAC Monday Figure Group, about 2 hours time.

Peonies I bought at Whole foods. Simply beautiful flowers

Heirloom tomatoes painted Alla-Prima

June Already!

2009-06-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Figure study from Shane McDonalds Wednesday evening figure session. These are always a great chance to get together with other artists and do what we love best, share some stories, a little coffee or wine and talk shop. I've been a member of this group for the past 16 years. Time flies when you having fun they say!

Ok its June already and just to keep this blog page interesting I'm posting some of my most recent work. All of these were done in the last week. Hope you enjoy. As you see I've been pushing a little paint around and feeling better about it. My life has been a little busy of late and time limited. My new job for Fulton County is going well and I really enjoy my students and the people I work with. As time goes on I hope to fill in my week with working for them as close to full time as possible. I'll keep you posted as this progresses.

One of the classes I've been teaching is Portrait Sculpture. I've been getting a real kick out of this because I enjoy the process so much! It's great to see some to the concepts I teach in drawing applied to 3D work. I'll post some photos as the class progresses for you to enjoy.

Afternoon Repast, Oil on 6X9 inch canvas
This is an Alla-prima study of my luch Friday afternoon. It was good and I enjoyed the glass of wine.

Just Cherry, oil on canvas 6X9 inch
Alla-prima study painted as part of my attempt to do a painting a day. I've been waking up around 4:30 or 5am and trying to paint one small painting a day since the end of last year.
In total, I've failed but have enjoyed setting the goal and trying to keep up with it. The work though is totally a success. It has kept my hand in painting and I've gotten an opportunity to force myself to simplify forms and paint from life. Alway's a good thing!

Plum Deal, oil on canvas 6X9 inches
I really loved painting these and I think it shows in the work. I learned a lot about plums that morning. They really have a great deal of unexpected color in them. Try it sometime, I think you'll be suprised.

More images from 51st floor

2009-05-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

All of the images were taken from the 51st floor of the Mansion on Peachtree Street, near Lenox Square. The afternoon and evening brought more dramatic light effects on the area surrounding the Mansion. Hope you enjoy!

View from 51st Floor

2009-05-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

Looking south toward Atlanta

Sunrise looking east.

Goodmorning America!

I wanted to post these photos because you just don't get a chance everyday to see such a spectacular view. I took the opportunity to contact the Mansion on Peachtree Street and ask permission to take some shots from the 51st floor. I had attended a function there as a committee member for the Artful Garden Tour. I was really taken with the views and wanted to get back up there to find source material for a new series of paintings I have in mind. Hope you enjoy!

Vertigo 1

Top of the building just west of the Mansion.

America at work

Vertigo 2

South West skyline.

Casting long shadows

Good study in atmospheric perspective.

The year is flying by

2009-04-26T16:49:00.000-07:00

Artful Garden Tour House 6 of 6
Jeff Dowd & Michaelene Conner
located in Briarlake
The house and garden has a very Asian feel and a great location for some sculptural pieces.
It's a very pleasant blend of modern architecure and traditional japanesse landscaping.

House 5 of 6
Tim McDaniel's house and garden in Toco Hills has a rustic feeling with a lot of hidden little areas and shade to enjoy a hot summers day. There is always a surprise around the next corner.

Garden 4 of 6 The Mansion, Buckhead
This site offers great views of very contemporary architecture played against a formal european garden setting. Could make for some dramatic paintings in the afternoon and mornings.

Garden 3 of 6
Bart and Erica Fanelli's home and garden is a quite woodlands theme with water features and soft irregular plantings that would offer painters a variety of subjects to focus on.

Garden 2 of 6
The home of Robert Norris in Deering Heights is a lush mixture of plantings with a mediterraenean style and beautiful pool. There is a good mixture of sun and shade most of the day.

Garden 1 of 6
The home and garden of Marcy McCall in Morningside is the smallest garden on the tour but offers one of the most interesting blends of architecural elements and variety of plants. It's a fairly shady lot and should offer artists a comfortable environment to paint.

Ok, it's Sunday evening and I've just spent the day thinking, pondering about my life, art and even connections to friends and loved ones and walking through the Inman Park Festival. Sometimes I wish I had a switch to just turn my head off but unfortunately that hasn't worked for me. So my only solution is to keep busy, focused if possible and make some art. Yes it's what I do. I had a teacher at the Academy of Art (John Morgan) who made the observation that I seem to paint my way through my problems. I hadn't realized how true that was at the time but have become so painfully aware of it these days. Being a creative type and really quite social I've filled my life with places to be and things to do. Sometimes I'm so busy it seems like I don't have time to finish anything. What's all this about?

If you have a clue, feel free to share your theory. In the mean time I'll share a little of my life around my art and teaching. Like, for example, I have a show coming up soon at the Griffin Davis Gallery in Atlanta. I'll have about 8 pieces in the show, all figurative/portraits. The gallery gave me the list after looking at my work on myartspace.com. All of the pieces are portraits and not really what I would consider figurative but they are putting the show together so it's their call. I'll send out an invitation soon.

Another event fast approaching is the High Museum's Artful Garden Tour on May 16th. The tour will cover 6 fabulous gardens through out Atlanta's neighborhoods and will have plein-air painters as well as examples of pottery and sculpture in the gardens. Please come out and show your support for the High Museum, Artists and Gardeners. Here are some preview shot's of the houses and gardens on the tour. Hope to see you there.

Pushing Paint Around, Self Portrait, Alla Prima

2009-04-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

This oil self portrait was painted last night and in the wee hours of the morning. It's on an 12" X 16" wood panel. Just couldn't sleep so thought it would be more productive to paint than watch the infomercials. Besides, I have a figurative show coming up in early May at the Griffin Davis Gallery and mainly what they have selected are portraits and clothed studies. The focus of the show is figures but in day to day slice of life type images. I'm somewhat disappointed that I won't be showing many nudes, since I have a ton of them but I'm not curating the show.

Personally I find self portraits a very helpful and revealing explorations. Like most of us I try not looking in the mirror too long or with my glasses on. So instead, I get the full force of the tole the year has taken on me by painting the occasional self portrait. All joking aside though, a study like this reveals more than just the aging process. It is a great way to freely explore how your brush work and color skills have developed over the years. It also reveals the interior landscape
of ones self, maybe a little too well, and the state of ones life.

Happily, I can say I'm very proud of this painting even if it is of me! The brush work is strong and deliberate while not being fussy and overworked. Yes I wanted to noodle but resisted.
Hmmm, must be making some progress!

Hope this will inspire you to try the same, see what you learn and get out of your tight little circle. So turn on some tunes, get a cup of joe, wine or tea if you must and start swinging that brush. Happy painting!

Chazz

It's Official! I'm now a "New Instructor at the Benson Center"

2009-04-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

Just to let everyone know I'm now working for Fulton County as an Instructor at the Dorothy C. Benson Center in Sandy Springs. It's been a long wait, as the wheels of government never move quickly. It is the thing I've been hoping for though since September of last year.

I'll be teaching two days a week for now and in time probably more. Currently I have four classes I teach, two with the adult day care members which is a challenge for me but one I'm looking forward to. I've done some research on working with students who have Dementia and Early Onset Alzheimer's. Thus far I've found an Art Therapy that has shown encouraging results with people who suffer from these conditions. I'm applying for certification in the MMT program and hopeful of bringing some help to my students.

The other two classes are for members who a fully functional and they seem eager to learn what I have to offer. Currently I'm teaching an Oil Painting Class as well as Water Media. I'll be covering both a traditional approach as well as Alla-Prima method in my oil painting class. The Water Media class will cover all water based media including watercolor, acrylic, gouache and dyes. I'll be covering different experimental techniques to create depth and texture with these media as well as some basic illustration approaches which should give them a well rounded knowledge of all water based media.

So, when I'm not pushing paint around myself - I'll be teaching others to do so or thinking about how I'm going to teach them to push paint around. Doesn't sound bad to me!

I have a few current paintings to post for you to see and as always your comments are welcomed. I have several shows or events coming up soon so will be busy in the studio creating, finishing or cleaning up painting for display. So if you don't hear from me as often for the next several months, no worries, I'm just doing what I was put here to do. Call me, stop bye or just check in, I always have some time for a cup of coffee and some conversation.

Thanks
Chazz

"Pale Nude" Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas 11" X 14"
This is one of my favorite models these days. I find her flesh tones wonderful to paint. She reminds me of the figures of Valasques and the china white flesh tones he could achieve. This particular pose captures some of her quite personality and feels very much like her when I view it. It is a rather pale painting for me though and I'm always tempted to get back in there and push some of the colors. To date I've resisted and if I follow my own advice will leave it alone. It stands on its own and is a true likeness, so nothing really needs to be satisfied in it.

"Black and White 1 " Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 11" X 14"
This is the first of a series of paintings I've started of these two very different appearing models. In fact though they are so much the same energy and complement each other wonderfully. They have been best friends for years and it shows in their comfortable and intimate way with each other. Once you've seen them together it's hard to think of them separately. My focus of this series is about the models of course but also about the whole experience of being an artists model. Therefore the background becomes a part of the story along with the participating artists.

Male figure sketches from the Marietta Cobb Museum Figure Sketch Night. It was a fun experience but limited to dry media. We wouldn't want to get paint on an Art Museums floors of wall, now would we!

In spite of the some what up tight attitude about keeping the spaces pristine, all who came had a good time. The models, a group of teen age boys seemed to enjoy themselves as well. I always liked the space of those rooms and had often thought 'what a great studio space they would make'. See, dreams do come true from time to time.

"Midtown Plein Air Study" Oil on canvas 9" X 12"
I couldn't resist stopping along Howell Mill Road at 14th street and painting this little cityscape. It's not my usual choice of subjects but I've looked at this view for sometime now and it's just one of those places that caught my eye.

"Take 5" Oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 9" X 12"
This is a figure study accomplished in about 2 hours at the AAC Monday Figure Sketch Group. It is loser and freer than most of my oil sketches and more suggestive of the model which is a direction I've been encouraged to go in. I was very pleased with the results and liked the thicker more direct layers of paint I laid down. It hovers somewhere between representational and abstract which I feel works well with the subject matter. What do you think? Comments are always welcomed.

"India Amey" Oil on wood panel, 11" X 14"
Painted at the Atlanta Artists Center. This is a fairly typical figure study in oil. It was painted in approximately 2 hours during the Monday morning figure group. I liked the sketchy felling of this painting and the way the paint laid down on this wooden panel. The piece is currently hung at the Atlanta Artists Center as one of the featured paintings in their Dogwood Show.

" In search of the golden fleece" Oil on Linen Panel 9" X 12"
This small landscape was started as a demo in a class of mine. It's on a linen panel I made and painted in thick oil paint. It was a very fun painting to create and I was happy with the results of the layering of color over color. This is the effect I'd like to get in the rest of my work but requires a longer time and material commitment than I've been willing of able to incorporate in my larger body of work to date.

Across the Finish line!

2009-04-02T11:42:00.001-07:00

Completed the 30" X 68" commissioned painting and getting it ready for delivery. You can scroll down to see photos of the piece in progress which should give you an idea of how I work from start to finish. The overall result of this piece is pleasant enough and gives on a calm feeling when looking at it. I also feel the painting has good depth of field and is effective in drawing the viewer into the composition. The sense of light is warm and should brighten the room considerably. All of these were concerns of the client and desires they had in commissioning a painting.

For me, I'll say this is not what I would normally choose to do as a subject but it gave me a chance to stretch my skills and work on composing a composition that would strongly direct the viewers eye. I would also like to say that working on such a horizontal format presented it's own unique challenges which I feel I was successful at handling.

As always waiting for the clients reaction is a bit nerve racking but I'm confident that they will be pleased with the result once the painting is in place.

As you can see this is not a small piece. This photo was taken in progress just after I started bringing up the light areas. If you compare it to the final image you'll see quite a change in brightness of the colors and increased contrast throughout the whole painting. From this point I'd estimate that about 60 percent of the canvas received additional layers of paint till it was finished.

Thanks again for checking out my blog page. If you have any comments please share them with me on this site. Your observations and comments will help others in their journey to make better art and live life artfully.

Getting Started on a new commission

2009-03-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to make a post to the blog to update everyone on what's happening. Mainly just wanted to talk about the process that many artists go through when doing a commissioned painting and take you through the early stages. I hope this will help many of you if ever faced with the same issues.

I recently had a request from a decorator to produce a painting (yes to match the living room couch) of a Tuscan style landscape. I don't often get commissions like this where someone has something so specific in mind, but welcomed the challenge of seeing what I could do with the assignment.

The first and hardest part of the project was the 2 weeks of phone calls and emails working out the details and getting the basic information together to quote the job and work out the terms. That ended well, meaning the client agreed to the terms of payment, and specs of the painting.
Basicly a 1/3rd deposit, 1/3rd COD and 1/3rd net 30 arrangement was agreed to by all parties
with ownership of the work not transferred until final payment is received. I've found this arrangement to be best in my experience due to the fact that it keeps all parties involved in the process and gives everyone time to give feedback at critical points in the development of the painting.

The 2nd step was to produce a color study (comp) of the art. I chose to use photoshop to produce a color sketch because it was easily produced, emailed and modified if need be.
This is a great help for everyone because they could visually see what the painting was going to be like. This is a common practice for illustrators and commercial artists and I find it helpful
with every assignment I produce. In the long run, the time I take producing the comp and working out any changes at this stage, saves me many hours of frustration and valuable time as the assignment develops. Once approved by the decorator and client I am free to proceed in producing the final painting.

The size of this piece is 68" X 30" which I stretched on heavy duty stretcher bars. I bought a primed fine weave cotton duct canvas material for the paint surface. Shown in the photo below is the initial layout of the painting. I've just concerned myself with the large blocks of values, movement and proportions of the various areas of the painting. This will give me a solid base to begin blocking in the large masses of shapes in the work. For now this is where I'll stop until I begin the block in of the color. At that time I'll make the next post showing the color being laid in.

Till then, Keep well, productive and Happy Painting.

If you should have any questions about the process till this stage please contact me.

New Music and Art and Classes offered posted

2009-03-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Just wanted to post a notice that I've been a little busy on the blog site posting new art, new music and also to let you know I'm offering classes both privately and in Woodstock at Roomscapes Gallery starting Wednesday March 18th 2009 from 4:30 to 6:30pm. The class will cover a traditional method of painting, building an under-painting and adding color in thin glazes to build up the color keeping it luminous and fresh. Cost for this class is $185.00 for 8 weeks.

On the music front check out the new tunes in the play list. I've added about 50 new songs many of which you've heard and many you probably haven't. What was a pretty eclectic mix has gotten ever more so. Just take a listen and enjoy.

On the painting front, you may have noticed that I'm creating a wider variety of paintings and drawings of late. Maybe because the weathers getting warmer and I'm getting out to paint more.
I've been working plein air a great deal of the time over the last month and a half and I've done a few really nice pieces. I've posted some but will put more up later this weekend. It's a bit rainy so I'll be staying in for the most part this weekend with brush in hand.

Happy Painting to all, and to all I wish you the best.

Springing forward!

2009-03-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

OK, it's March already and we are springing forward which means we get a bit more light to play in for the next 7 months or so. It is time to get out and paint, draw, and make art and new friends along the way.

So here is just a little about what I've been up to the past few weeks. First of all I've been keeping busy, happy and for the most part letting the stress go. Things seem to be picking up in the Art Market, people are a least thinking about and talking about buying or commissioning art which brings some real joy to my heart. As things develop and projects are confirmed I'll let you know.

I've been staying busy lately, lots of drawing and painting recently and here are some of the things I've done over the past week or two.

These are a few of the drawings I've done lately. I try to draw from life a couple of times a week now to sharpen my eye and skill. The images above are from Shane McDonalds Figure Drawing Group on Wednesday evenings. I've also been trying to make Suzy Shult's Group as well and the Atlanta Artists Center Monday morning group that I book models for. I have a student that attends that group as well and I'm encouraging her to draw from life more and more. The progress she is making is nothing short of amazing.

View of Kennesaw Mtn. and Little Kennesaw Mtn. painted Plein Air this last Friday. What a perfect day to be out painting. The light changing was the challenge here. It kept shifting back and forth as the clouds rolled over the mountains for most of the day till early evening.

Another view on Saturday earlier in the day.

A tree study from Friday afternoon.

These are studies I did of a shell as a demo for my student Katina. I'm starting her off in paint and showing her how to build an under-painting in oils. The top image I did later for myself,

just because I really enjoyed the process and they would make nice little pieces for a gallery.

After I did a demo I had her do this study in my studio. I know this looks deceptively simple but if you've ever tried something like this you'll discover it is not as easy as it looks. This is a good first attempt but I can tell you for certain that in 3 months she will see much more subtle change in the value than she perceives now.

These are some of my painting buddies out doing the thing we love.

Above is Rick Paller, The photo above him are Shane McDonald and Marge.

Crazy weather right, what follows are a few shots I took while enjoying the show and dramatic skies lately. Not what you think of when you talk about Atlanta.

The third and forth windows from the left is my place. I look out them facing north when I'm working in my studio.

This looking down the railroad tracks just across the street from my place where the Belt Line will be in about 10 to 15 years. Believe it or not this is all suppose to be a sculpture park and walk way along the tracks. For now its a great scene to paint at times like this.

An earlier sunrise shot that morning.

2009-02-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

Stienbecks in Oakhurst, not quite complete but a good start for 2 hours.

U-Joint in Oakhurst, not completed yet but a good start. I've been painting with a friend Allen Rogers in this neighborhood and really enjoy meeting the people and getting to know the community.

Chattahoochee River painting with friends Jami Riley and Shane McDonald on a crisp but wonderful Sunday afternoon. This is a 6 X 12 inch plein air study in oil. I liked the horizontal feel and distinct foreground and background elements in this. The light was just wonderful that day and at 4:30pm it made everything glow.

This is the first of two paintings I did at the Chattahoochee River. The light was a bit flatter and the colors not as rich as later in the afternoon. I still think its a great little two hour painting which is 6 X 8 inches in oil.

I knocked this one out yesterday along the roadside in Milton Ga, (use to be Alpharetta). I've looked at this scene many times at different times of day. I was traveling up there to do a mural for Milton High School about a year ago. I had to go back up to touch it up because someone vandalized it. So as luck would have it I finished at about 4pm and on the way saw the light hitting the barns just right. I travel with paint and my plein-air box in the car these days, so

I went for it. I'm happy I did because this was the result. It was worth freezing out there to do this. I kept it simple, broad strokes of color and carefully sculpted my shapes. It may be one of my best plein-air studies yet.

As you can see, I've been keeping busy painting a little outdoors, though the weather is still a bit cool. I look forward to the spring, warmer weather and more opportunities to get out and make new friends, artist and art appreciators alike.

I'm starting to teach an evening class at my studio on Tuesdays from 7 to 9pm. If you know of anyone who wants to work on their drawing skills please let them know.

Thanks,

Charles

AAC Show, rewarding

2009-02-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

Hi all, just wanted to give you an update and let you know I submitted 3 pieces to the Atlanta Artists Center February Show and did very well. I got all three pieces in and took a 3rd place ribbon for my portrait of Ian and Blue (the cat). Allen Rodi at the Gallery was nice enough to help me take some photos so I'm posting them here.

My work is going well though I feel the rest of my life is in turmoil. Such is the life of a temperamental artist I suppose. I guess the economy doesn't help either but I am optimistic. I'm talking to several galleries about moving my work into and that seems promising as well as Fulton County in hopes of securing a teaching position at some of the Senior Facilities. I'll keep you updated on my progress. I have also met several private students of late which are very talented and easy to work with. If this works out well I may try to expand it and take on more

students in this fashion. I enjoy seeing the changes they make in their level of confidence and

skills.

It's February!!!

2009-02-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

This is a quick, 45 min oil sketch I did of my friend Jame Riley.

OK, It's February and well I haven't been keeping up with my blogging thus far. So I'm commiting myself once again to posting new stuff on the blog page and keeping you updated on what's going on in my head. So here goes my first notes for the New Year of 2009.

Thus far it has been - well -eventful. Some stuff really good, some sad and some seems to be disasterous. Yes it's tough here as well but I'm keeping optomistic and hoping for a year full of new opportunities, new friends, maybe even a new loved one though that is far down my list right now.

Yes, I miss Laura but I wish her well and all the happiness life has to offer. She's the best and the closest to anyone in my life I've ever felt totally connected to. So maybe I'm learning something as life goes on, maybe I'm even growing. Time will only tell.

I have literally been blessed this year! Yes I mean it, a friend of mine passed on a charmed coin
with the instructions to keep it on me throughout the year. I am to hold on to it until the end of the year and decide whether the year has been financially fruitful (in which case I pass the blessing on to a friend) or not (in which case I spend it). Thus far I have done well with it. Some small surprises have come my way so far and I'm hopeful that others will come my way as well.
I've found a couple of people who like collecting my small paintings. In these tough economic times it is very welcomed by me. Also there are some work opportunities coming up for me
that I've been working on developing for a while now. I'll talk more about these a little later.

Art this year is a tough sell and the economy is affecting me and the relationship with the galleries that carry my work. Junor Gallery is unfortunately gone. They are a victim of the economy and not being established enough to have a strong client base. I will miss them as they were great to work with, professional and fair minded. Maryln Wilson Gallery in Birmingham is still open but like so many others not moving much of anything for me. So I'm shopping for a new home there and Atlanta as well as Ashville, Chattanoogha and other coastal locations. I strongly believe there is a market out there, I just have to find them and cultivate the relationships.

As for painting, showing work and creating new art, it's going really well. I have several projects in the works to post here. I and Allen Rogers are meeting and working on a series of plein air paintings around the OakHurst neighborhood. We are having a great time and I'm meeting many of the people around the area. Some of them female and very nice to look at, others not but really fun people. Being outdoors painting feels good right now as the weather has been mild and the light wonderful this year. I've also reconnected with my painting buddies in Marietta and we have gone on several plein air paintouts together. Thus far I'm getting an early and strong start. I'm also doing much more drawing which is really sharpening my chops. I've been sitting in at the Atlanta Artist Center on Monday mornings as well as Shane McDonalds Studio on Wednesday evenings and Thursdays with Suzy Shultz in Avondale. Along with that I'm keeping a sketch book on me and showing up at places where they play Jazz and Blues. I'm sketching the Musicians and have a series of drawing started about who is around town now and playing some of the best licks to be heard. For the cost of a beer and a few hours time I can sit and have a live model pose for me while connecting to the rhytums and music I'm hearing. It truly ads a different dimension to my drawings. Try it yourself and you'll find it facinating.

I'm also getting a little recognition for my art this year. Thus far I have gotten 3 out of 3 painting accepted after I submitted them to the Atlanta Artist Center. One took 3rd place. Is there something going on here numerically? The award winner was a portrait titled "Ian and Blue" which sounds jazzy and in fact it is. I feel in some ways it's my best portrait yet and a very pleasant painting to view. The Oakhurst painting are also recieving good reviews and Allen and I are talking to the local merchants about mounting a show soon.

If you haven't caught on thus far there is a theme coming through for this year and a series of commitments around my art. They are simple but I feel powerful intentions to enter the new year.

1. Do more art, keep doing more art and then do more art!

2. Take some risks in creating my art, make it convincing, thought prevoking and challenging.

3. Meet, greet and convert everyone I meet to the view that art is a necessity in each and everyone of our lives, our culture and yes even the world, because it holds the promise of individual expression as well as insight and commentary on life around us.

4. Pass it forward, the knowledge and passion I have as an artist. Give others my experience and knowledge of process, facility and creative problem solving.

So what do you think, I'd welcome your comments, have a safe, prosperous and loving new year.

Ian and Blue, Oil on Canvas

2008-12-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

Sketch of Jame Riley and Bondo 12/2008

This is a 45 minute sketch of my two good friends. Jame is reading the book and Bondo (the fuzzy one) is , well, a cat that is especially lovable. Bondo is my model for sociability as he will pretty much take a liking to almost anyone. His philosophy is that if your setting still, you must want company or something to play with and keep you occupied. He (Bondo) is a Russian Blue which makes him more dog than what one thinks of as typical cat behavior. He's all about being your best buddy.

In the case I don't get to say it to you directly, Happy Chanukah, which started at sundown today. Also Merry Christmas for those of you celebrating that special day. Keep warm, close to those you love and be merry!

New Stuff to check out!

2008-12-19T00:23:00.000-08:00

On a roll here, with getting stuff out there for people to view, read, talk about and yes. even listen to. I've added a play list of music you may want to stroll through soon, say on a rainy winters day,

when you can just kick it and let the music sink in slowly. This is a very eclectic mix of cuts from all over the universe so there will be just one or two you'll have to track down for yourself. Listen, comment and enjoy.

Along with the tunes I've posted some of my favorite places to stroll through looking at art and keeping up with what other respectable artist have to say! Check out the list and explore some of the sites, you'll be glad you did. You can say what ever you like, but my thought is that there isn't one in the bunch that isn't worth giving a little time to while checking out their art and their head.

Tis the Season!

2008-12-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

Seasons Greetings to all! Yes I sent out an email card to all of you just express my thanks and acknowledge the fact that you make a positive difference in my life. The images for the card were taken here in my studio and I layed the card out in Adobe Illustrator. The story though is a little bit more interesting.

What your seeing is the handy work of one of my Senior Students in Woodstock GA. Ms. Irena is from central Europe and is trained as a dessert chef. She can do magic with chocolate (which she makes herself) and from time to time brings me a little treat to share with Laura, the love of my life. Laura is the chocolate fan, I enjoy watching her though. Well, Irena out did herself this time and I thought it would be good to share her talent with the rest of you. I take no credit in their creation, just enjoying them.

Simply the message is that I'll miss seeing most of you over the holiday, but I'll be thinking of you and wishing each of you well. I'll look forward to catching up with you in 2009.

Send me an email of give me a call, your always welcome.

Charles Scogins

cscoginsartist@yahoo.com

678-360-7133

My alla-prima technique

2008-12-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

"Tea for Two" is the latest in my painting a day series and was completed in about 4 hours total. It would have moved faster but for the fact that I photographed it at key points so I

could demonstrate my approach to alla-prima painting. I've taught this direct approach over the years and found it very successful with beginning and intermediate students. I'll cover each step and convey the primary concerns of the painting at the point viewed. If you should have any question please leave a comment or email me from this blog page. I'll be happy to address anything that seems unclear.

The set up is critical, you have to balance the need for light to paint in verses dramatic lighting on the subject. To light the subject a single light source is best and will give you the deep shadows and extreme lights that are so exciting in classical paintings. I darken the room and only use two lights, a spotlight for the subject and a studio spot lamp I place behind me to act as a fill light to softly light the canvas. In this case it was placed behind me to the left so it wouldn't create any strange extra shadows or reflected lights in the subject.

This is the stage where everything will go wrong quickly if you don't take your time and think about what your doing. You are not trying to draw the objects at this point as much as you are

setting up the size and position relationships between the objects. To do this, take the time to measure and compare the size of each of the objects before you place your first stroke. If you have a cropping window use it to see the composition and figure out the placement of the objects on the canvas. In this case I chose to crop tightly on the objects because of the complexity of the Tea Set. If I had wanted to keep them simpler I could have pulled back and avoided painting much of the pattern on the ceramic pieces. The tight crop gave me a more intimate feeling which is a key part to the painting. The narrative for this piece could be about the quite relationships we have with those who are closest to us or the longing for that type of intimacy. It becomes the viewers story and you can make what you will of it which is important but for now we will stick to the technical aspect of creating it and discuss the esoteric values of painting later.

Now that the composition and placement are set the next step would be to brake the components down into what is in shadow and what is in light. I have made some very basic statements here with an attempt at being sensitive to the value range and colors in the shadow areas of the subject.

Next I began to address the light side with the same broad general approach. Please note that I didn't try to paint around the pattern that will later appear in the painting. I simply looked for those areas of light and shadow and attempted to keep the value ranges separate. I also looked for some opportunities to begin to soften the shadows and place reflected lights in them such as on the lemon. It began to take on some form at this point and felt a little more credible.

Still working in the shadow areas I began to place the pattern on the ceramic piece in the back and the shadow side of the tea pot. I also continued to work on the modeling of the lemon.

I have continued into the light areas now bringing the pattern of the ceramics across into the light and adjusting my colors accordingly. I've also began to adjust the value and temperature of the lit surfaces.

This is fairly complete at this stage and in looking at it I was unhappy with the contrast between the teapot and other ceramic piece. It's always good to walk away from a painting at this stage and come back 15 or 20 minutes later to re-evaluate it. My final decision was to push the contrast and look for opportunities to add a little more color to make the piece sing.

After careful observation I noticed that the reflected lights on the shadow side of the tea pot were a yellow green and the deeper shadows had a violet or reddish cast to them. I also noticed more variation on the blue areas of the lit side of the pot. I pushed the piece to the back slightly darker to get the separation I was looking for. At this point I'm feeling the piece was a success. Give me another day or two and the flaws will appear.

Don't worry, this is normal!

Keeping up with my commitment to paint and blog

2008-12-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, It's December and I've not been following through on my commitment to post regularly on this page. You know all the excuses, too busy, holidays, etc. So I'm going to modify my commitment. I will paint everyday (I've been good about that one) but the posting each day, well, I just don't have the energy behind that one for now. I feel if I can get on the computer once a week and attend to this I'll be doing well with it.

Each week I'll post images of what I've done and give an overview of what the pieces were about, thoughts, feelings, high and low points etc. I'll also post any events or happening in my process to reach out and make my work more visible to the world.

So you've scrolled through the new work for the week, enjoy and leave a comment if you see something you like, have some critical advice of just want to ask a question. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Better day, moving forward.

2008-11-19T19:23:00.000-08:00

I ended yesterday with a few hours painting and produced a good solid little painting of avocados around midnight. Not a bad way to end the day!

I had woken up early and got right to painting after a hard day yesterday. I started with a tangelo which I peeled in a spiral. I took some time looking at it from various angles with extreme lighting and settled on a composition that was landscape in nature. I started quickly checking the proportions and blocking in the shadows and light areas. Then moved into the mid-tones which pretty much completed the painting. I hit the painting again with the final layers of strong light and then found and restated the darkest accents in the piece. In all I was pleased with the result. Even better the piece sold 5 hours after I had completed it.

Tomorrow brings the gallery opening reception and a chance to meet a larger circle of friends. If you read this please feel free to leave comments and any thoughts you might have. Your feedback is always welcomed.

Monday, Good Day, Bad Day, Tough Day!

2008-11-17T16:09:00.000-08:00

Monday, Good day, Bad Day, Tough Day!

That sort of sums it up for me right now. On a good note I got up this morning feeling focused and positive. I had had little sleep last night due to the fact that I was dropping off a sample portrait to the High Museum for an auction. I spent a good deal of the night designing a gift certificate for the auction and had a real struggle getting the colors to print correctly. It worked out though and I did get it in on time, after which I went to the Monday morning drawing group at the Atlanta Artists Center. The model was Angie and she was wonderful to paint. For that time at least any troubles I had seemed so far away. Maybe that's why I keep at it, to experience that peaceful feeling when the rest of my world seems to be in such turmoil.

The High Art Day's Auction was over by 4pm and I went back to pick up my sample portrait. No word yet on weather the gift certificate sold. I'll hear in a few days. I hate waiting to find out about stuff like this. I did sell one small painting today from a show that opened last Friday. I'm hoping for more sales as time goes on. The show will be up until mid December. Junor Gallery is having it's opening this week as well on Thursday so I'm trying to keep a positive attitude.

2008-11-17T01:16:00.000-08:00

First, let me say thank you to everyone who responded to my email notice about this blog. Many of you had suggestions of how to make this engaging to those who would follow it, keep it fresh and keep them wanting to return. I will be following many of your suggestions, by adding content and links to other sites that talk about Art, Painting and living a creative life.

The main focus of this blog for me though is to have a platform to show and discuss the work I'm creating. Revealing my thoughts about the pieces as they develop and getting comments from all of you, I feel is important in my finding a direction for my work to move in. I hope it will also help me find a voice that has been missing in my work for too long. Like most creative people I have my own judgments about my work and sometimes don't really know the motivations that make me want to create it. I've taught for so long that I probably over analyze the process and just need to turn the thinking part of my brain off long enough to let what's inside come out in the paint.

Where all this leads is anyone's guess. I'm betting it's going to be a fun ride though and along the way I hope to make some friends, help others to get painting or expressing themselves. I personally think we just don't have enough creative thinking and rebellion in the world, so stirring the pot as it were could only come to some interesting creative solutions and help us think about freeing ourselves from the boundaries we keep putting in our own way.

Today I have 3 small offerings I created over the weekend. I'm happy with the results and have tried to up the challenge from my previous couple of pieces. What these have in common is my effort to make them less symmetrical, to lead the eye across the canvas to a destination where a story is revealed. I'm hoping to engage the viewer, to begins a conversation in which the viewer can participate by filling in the details and making the story more personal.

"So Good"(Shrimp with lemon wedges) was the first of this group. It was a challenge to get the feeling of things being wet. To accomplish this I had to be careful with my value relationships and place the high lights carefully.

"Tasty - Arkansas Blacks" (Apples) is very much about telling a story and engaging the viewer. It uses a simple device of a progression across the canvas to carry you to a conclusion. Like most stories it starts out innocently enough, is then faced with some sort of challenge (being cut in two) and finally left to wither and dry up like bones in the desert. That's my story, you can read your own into it.

"Showing some Independence" is another narrative piece. I weighed the composition heavily to the right and let that one lone grape add some balance all on its own to the far left. I feel like that grape most of the time.

If you'd like to see these pieces in person you can visit Junor Gallery in Decatur GA. They are having a opening reception this Thursday from 6pm till 9pm. I will have nine pieces in the show and yes they are for sale. So showing up an buying some art would be appreciated. Gallery details are as follows:

Junor Gallery Fine Art

presents

A Royal Season

November 20 - January 15

Opening Reception

Thursday Nov. 20, 6 - 9 pm

JUNOR GALLERY

114 E Ponce De Leon Ave

Decatur, GA 30030

404.377.2255

junorgallery@bellsouth.net

Hours:

Sun. 12-5 pm

Tues., Wed., Fri. 11 am-6 pm

Thurs. 11 am-7 pm

2008-11-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

I'm uploading some new pieces I finished. I've been painting at least one of these a day and thus far happy with the results. Feel free to comment, I'd be happy to know your

thoughts. This is part of my painting a day series that I intend to continue till I build up my eye and skills and

I can turn off my brain and let it flow.

Getting started!

2008-11-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

OK, time to dive in and start getting my art out into the world. So here is my first step in creating this blog to share with friends and others who will become friends. I want to connect with people who have a love and passion for painting and the arts. Weather you are a collector, gallery or artist I'd be happy to hear your ideas and thoughts. I'll be posting work on a regular basis as well as my thoughts, experiences and happenings with my art, teaching and adventures. Please feel free to comment, share your thoughts and just stay in touch.