New shows, new work

I am happy to announce that I will be among the many featured artists at a Fourth Friday opening in Lee's Summit called Celebrate Summit Art.  The show runs from May 20 - June 21 at Got Art Gallery in downtown Lee's Summit, and the opening reception is May 23rd from 6-9pm.  I'll have two pieces showing, and one of which will be making its art show debut, so I am excited about it!

Speaking of art shows, if you haven't been by to see the juried show at the Images Gallery in Overland Park, it is up for a couple more days, and then it's coming down this Saturday.  But my Gamber Center exhibition just started, and you have plenty of time to check it out (which you had better).
I am also planning to join my fellow Summit Art members for the annual summer exhibition at the University of Central Missouri gallery in Warrensburg, MO coming up from July 12 - August 8.  After that, it's on to the Raytown Artists Association Invitational on the weekend of August 21-23.
So, as you can see, the art show tour has been extended through August.  Please check out the list of current and upcoming shows on the far right side of this page.

This week for the portrait class, I gave a little lesson on painting from the limited palette of black, red, yellow ochre, and white.  Also known as the "Zorn palette."  I know I've said this before, but it really is more challenging than some might think.  It sounds like it would be easy enough since you aren't overwhelmed with a big palette full of colors.  That's true, but it makes up for that challenge with a pretty big challenge of its own - knowing how to achieve effective and convincing color mixes with what you have.  There is no blue or green on the palette, so you are limited in the types of blues, greens, and purples that you can apply to your painting.  With those colors, you are basically at the mercy of what your black can do for you.  And black itself is a challenging color to work with in a painting.  But, once you get beyond those challenges, and are able to mix the colors and handle them properly, the effect is magnificent.  Here is my demo from this week's Zorn color lesson:

Portrait study in oil
2014

I am also pleased to announce that two local periodicals - the Lee's Summit Journal and Lee's Summit Lifestyles magazine will be featuring me in a couple of small articles very soon.  The LS Journal article will actually be featured in this Friday's (May 9) edition.  I will be sure to post the link to the online article as soon as it's published.  More to come later!