Judy Morgan OPA - An Artist's Journey

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Mugshot #2

I love painting the African American skin tones! So many more nuances to play with. I was in a bit of a rush when I started it, so I finished the next day. Sometimes it's easier to start with 2 values, midtone and shadow; let it dry then finish, if you are lucky, the next day. You get less mud that way.

98 to go

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Mugshots

I'll be doing a series of exercises called Mugshots: this one is Mugshot #1. The interesting thing I have found while researching real mugshots are the similarities in the faces. Maybe they all share the "I'm having a bad day" look or the lighting is really bad. It makes me not want to go to the local Walmart because I see a lot of this type there. I plan on doing a series of 100 so I can see the improvement, hopefully.

To vary the 'mugshots' I plan on also doing some regular people and perhaps a few dogs and cats as mugshots.

I am flying off to the UK this coming Tues. to visit my daughter and son-in-law! Taking my oldest grandson along to carry my bags and give him a little education as well. I am also taking my Plein aire setup since we are driving out to the country on the weekends. We are staying at a Landmark Trust house in Shropshire the first weekend then going to Bath the next.

Monday, May 16, 2011

PleinAir Trip#2

I actually drove to Tucson first on this plein air trip and painted here in the Catalina State Park. The weather was beautiful as you can see and not too hot yet. I later drove down to Tubac to check it out: lots of old Spanish Adobe buildings but not anywhere to camp with the motorhome. I like my creature comforts so the motorhome is a real plus. It's not so large that I can't handle it myself; a Fleetwood Icon which is like driving a big 24ft. van.

Since it is heating up in the Phoenix/Tucson area the next trip will probably be somewhere north, maybe Canyon de Chelly or Monument Valley.

PleinAir Trip#1

I decided I needed to get out of the studio for a change and drove to Wickenburg which is just west of Phoenix. About 9 miles south of Wickenburg is the Vulture Mine: an old gold mine from around 1865 (don't hold me to that date). I asked how many painters have been in there and they said I was the first. Hard to believe because there are so many old buildings on the property. I will be back. You can camp inside the grounds but there are no hookups and I bet it can get spooky after dark, since it is reported to be haunted as well.

The subject here was the old caretakers house. I also painted a small block house that had half a tin roof. The best is still to be painted...the assay office and buildings up on the hill.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Latest News

It's been awhile since I posted to the site...not like I haven't been painting. Since we live in the mountains where it snows and gets quite cold - this winter we hit 21 below - we lock up the house and go to the desert. This year I rented a house in Palm Springs for a month. The rest of the time is spent at our other home on the Colorado River, literally on the river. That said, I haven't been real good at keeping up.
This last month I was featured at our wonderful yuppie market called New Frontiers where I sold two paintings. Prior to that I was accepted as an Associate Member of Oil Painters of America. Then last week I learned that I was one of 10 artists to be selected to hang a piece of art in the High Country Conference Center/NAU; it will be there for 6 months.
More posts to follow with some travel painting.