It's a New Day!

Oh, my, it has been almost eight years to the day since I last posted!  SO much has happened in all that time!  But I am back...back to painting, teaching and writing,  eager to immerse myself once again in creative endeavors.  I just read my last post and it certainly brought back thoughts of the unpredictable world of art.  Be that as it may, my thrust is different now.  I have nothing to prove, no one to impress, no living to make ( though any extra income will help!) I will paint for the pure joy of it.  I will teach because I love to share what I have learned and know that I will learn more in return;  I will write because it gives me that same gnawing in my gut that drawing and painting do.  Looking forward... always looking forward. Please join me on this renewed journey!  Enter your email in the sidebar under my photo to be on the blog mailing list.

Students Learn About Values in Color

Oddball, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, copyright Pat Aube Gray

One morning each week, two lovely ladies come to my studio for semi-private lessons. Beginners in oil painting, the two are eager to paint more exciting things than four colored balls on a table, but I find that the color of all the values found in a colored object is difficult for some students to see. Mention shadow and they reach for greys and browns instinctively, instead of the darker values of any given color. For example, the form shadow on the yellow ball is a dark version of yellow, not just any grey or brown. So for this painting, I set up four different color rubber balls and all three of us painted them, with mine being a demo for them to watch as they painted. It was a good lesson and they each did a very good job!

Note that since the balls are rubber, they do not have really strong highlights, such as pool balls might have, for example. Hard, shiny objects reflect light and have strong highlights. Think of chrome bumpers, automobile finishes, apples, shiny table tops, etc. Soft objects, like rubber balls, peaches, and fabrics absorb light rather than reflect it, so the highlighted areas are softer and not as dramatic.

I decided to include the sku label on the yellow ball in my painting. My students were timid in that regard and left it off. SO both I and the yellow ball are "oddballs," hence the title for the painting.

Click HERE to bid on this painting

2008 Class & Workshop Schedule

Enamel Pot & Eggs, copyright Pat Aube Gray 2007

Finally my Studio Class & Workshop Schedule for the balance of 2008 is completed and available for you to download! Go to the very top of the right hand column of this blog and click on the link that will take you to my new website, where you can download a printable schedule! Though the website is still not complete, I am happy to say that this portion is up and running. I apologize for the lateness of this schedule, but there really were mitigating circumstances.

I continue to paint in absolute comfort, though I am still in the demo and small works stage. I have two portrait commissions I must do, one is in progress and the other is at rough-in. I find that my motivation to paint has only just returned since the tragic death of my daughter nine months ago and it coincides well with the now painless use of my right arm and shoulder.

Several months ago I digitally recorded (audio only) a class lecture I gave spontaneously on aerial perspective. The digital audio file has been uploaded to my computer and I am able to email it. If you would be interested in receiving it, just drop me an email at patzg@aol.com and I will be happy to send it to you.

Hope to see you in the studio!

Learning by Teaching

It is still early in 2007 and already I have taught a six-day workshop in oil portraits in North Carolina, five three-hour sessions of my weekly classes in my teaching studio, and I have attended one four-day workshop! I have six more painting or drawing workshops and those weekly classes scheduled to teach for the remainder of the year.
A schedule like this is very time consuming, not to mention that it seriously cuts into what might otherwise be painting time. So I often question why I keep doing it!
The first answer is, of course, the most obvious. It helps pay the bills. There are times when painting sales and commissions may be slow in coming, and teaching helps fill those gaps. While I keep my class and workshop prices as low as possible, the income is still a necessary addition to the income stream. The other reasons I continue to teach are far less tangible. I have given much thought to this and have found that I have really learned by teaching. I have learned about my own philosophical and analytical thinking every time I have to explain a particular aspect of painting to a student. I must think, question and explore while I am painting and read constantly to stay abreast of other artists, their art, their methods and their styles. I have to understand color and composition well enough that I can explain them to students in ways that will be meaningful to their progress as painters.
I love learning so this is wonderful for me. And I truly love imparting what I know to others hungry to know it! There is nothing as gratifying as seeing a student in an A-Ha! moment only to go on to improve their work with his or her newfound knowledge.
The last, but certainly not least, aspect of teaching is the forging of wonderful friendships with those whose interests are well aligned with mine. There are a good number of students who have taken my classes or workshops for years and my life would not be the same without them. I thank them all.