In the Studio Today... Stemple Creek Ranch

September 1, 2013

 

I am very excited to be starting a painting for the Poncia family of Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales.  Lisa Poncia found me on Twitter, and the Marin group of Twitter folks I chat with have been enjoying Lisa's wonderful photos and blog posts about West Marin and their sustainable farms and animals.

I saw a baby cow bundle in the grass, which Loren went out to inspect and then the mommy headed off with the little guy.  Amazingly, a little cow can walk on it's own almost immediately.  This one was only 10 hours old old, Loren said, and part of the afterbirth was still visible on the mommy cow's hind quarters.

Another young calf also had a white face.  I love the character they each have; it's remarkable.

 

My son, Blake, loved the lamb with the black spot and the brown legs.  We were calling him "Brownie Chip".

The new guard-dog really loves Loren.

It was super foggy yesterday, but I will go back as many times as I need to to capture the right composition for my painting.  I will probably paint plein air part of the time, and from photos to complete the work.  Stay tuned...

April is always my busiest month.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

First "Art on the Farm" visit of 2012: Cerini Ranch in Tomales.

Wow... I can barely catch my breath to stop and write this post.  We started the month with the kick off visit for "Art on the Farm", a community group of plein air artists and photographers that visit Marin Organic Farms to gather inspiration.  I have been managing a blog for this group for about 6 years now.  I took my son on this visit and he painted his first oil painting.  Read more about this visit to Cerini Ranch in Tomales, here.  Tomorrow, almost the last day of April, I will head out to Toluma Farms for another "Art on the Farm" paint out.  I am looking forward to seeing watercolor artist and friend, Kate Peper!  A great way to end the month.

This week also saw the completion of the California report and a Mission Model for my other son, and a cast party for 80+ kids in Rumpelstiltskin that doubled as my twins 10th Birthday party.

Boys 10th Birthday-- A "Sheep Cake" in honor of their roles in Rumpelstiltskin.

Then, we flew off to Florida for a world tour of Epcot and Disney World for the kids 10th Bday.  This is a blog post for another time... Terrific weather and relaxing in Vero Beach with the grandparents, and then 4 busy days in Disney World.  The boys loved it, but Mom and Dad just wanted some peace and quiet afterwards.

AWD visiting teacher

"Space" t-shirt by Aidan

Returning home on a Sunday night, the next day was an art project for 54 kids to raise funds for the YES Foundation.  I was fortunate to have artist, Stephanie Jucker, a studio artist at AWD, to teach this class and assist with the project.  Thank you, Stephanie!  Check out Stephanie at Marin Open Studios next weekend, May 5 + 6!  She does fantastic collage work, painting, and hand-painted clothing... not to mention, she teaches classes all over Marin.

Next up, I will be designing notecards of all the kids t-shirt creations to sell at the YES online auction.  We are busy!

It is a very good thing that I am not doing Marin Open Studios this year.  However, if you are a collector and interested in a cycling painting or a Marin Landscape with cows...  I am always available for commissions.  Next year, I do plan to find a location for Marin Open Studios.

In the Studio Today... "Art on the Farm" Exhibit; October 24, Pt. Reyes Winery

September 5, 2010

I am working on some new paintings to show at the October 24th, 2010 annual exhibit of "Art on the Farm".  This is a great group of Marin, and mostly Bay Area-Sonoma painters that love Marin Organic farms, and travel to the farms to paint during the year.  I was away most of the summer and unable to attend many of the paint outs, so I am now working from photos I have had from previous years that I never got around to working with in the studio.  Today's image is from a shot taken at Red Hill Farms.

Colleen with the painting in the background... photo by Aidan Costello, Age 8.

In the Studio Today... Digital Compositing Example

Modern day painters can use Photoshop to create their reference imagery, and I do that fairly often when I need to combine imagery. Here is an example of a project I did for a client in CT, who wanted a portrait of their sheep, Jelly, but the photo provided was under copyright protection by a newspaper. I attempted to find the photographer at a local paper in CT for approval to use the above image, but the paper could not find the photographer. Instead of "copying" this image that was protected, I suggested to the client that we composite it into another photograph that he had taken himself. He had an image of their other adult sheep, B.B. in a magical, misty New England forest scene that had fantastic lighting. I loved this photo right away, but Jelly, the sheep for whom their farm is named after(Jelly Hill Farm), was not in this photo. I removed Jelly from the copyrighted photograph in Photoshop, and placed her into the scene with B.B. This involved changing Jelly's shading and coloring to match the lighting in the scene with B.B., and add an additional shadow on in the foreground in front of Jelly. Once the client agreed on the final composite, I began painting the commission from the composited final image.And below is the final painting...

In the Studio Today...Jelly Hill Farm Details

Thursday, May 29, 2008
"Jelly Hill Farm" 24" x 36". Commissioned painting, with final details, including a birdhouse that my friend, Kate, noticed in the photo. Funny how I have been staring at this image for months, and I never saw the birdhouse. Takes a birder's eye to notice these things, I guess.