Again and again I read about getting traffic to your website. There are articles how to do it, advertisements for products or services that will increase your traffic, lures to join this group or that website to get more traffic, and for what? Is increased traffic really what you want? In reality, the truth is no. What!! you may say, "but isn't that what websites are all about? Is that not how we makes sales? Does not more traffic mean more success? Is not every website visitor a potential customer? " In truth no, no, no and no.

Let's compare website traffic to foot traffic at a gallery. I have been to many Art Walk nights that have hundreds and hundreds of people in attendance. Sure, you can say every one is a ...

Just completed, "A Balanced Meal" Oil on canvas 26" x 24" $4,200

This painting is high realism with lots of detail but I still have incorportated plenty of soft, blurred and lost edges. Why? To add some mystery, movement and softness that paradoxically can make it look more real than super sharp photographic realism. I am guessing the reason this happens is because our eyes do not see every square inch of what we are looking at in sharp focus all at once.

Think about how we look at things or a view. Our eyes move from one point to another, focusing in on each point one at a time and letting the rest go slightly out of focus. A good painting composition will do the same thing for you. There is a main point of focus ...

This is part 3 of explaining my thoughts and techniques during the creation of this painting, "Ethereal".

Click here for part one and two or they are listed on the right

STEP 7
Well, I avoided painting in the bird for about a week. I was just not excited about it because I had no idea how to approach it. I finally bit the bullet (that's what it felt like!) and had a go at it today. I have just got the basics down using grays and even some 'mud' (dirty neutrals or grays you can get when too many colors are mixed and which comes in useful sometimes).

As I continuted the bird at different times I saw different colors: yellows, then greens, then blue grays and it was hard to define, just like everything else with ...

Steps 4 - 6

STEP 4
I am not sure how much detail to put into the leaves. I usually plan a painting and know what I am going to do. I am actually going to paint without really knowing where I am going. Usually a plan for disaster -- what makes me think it will work this time??
Anyway, this is how I started; I mixed two greens, a lighter with more yellow and a medium dark with more blue. Colors used; ultramarine blue, Winsor and Newton cadmium yellow hue (an almost orange yellow, for a more muted green) and for the lighter green some Winsor yellow or cadmium yellow light would also work. To mute the greens added a little red.
Brushed in some dark and light areas of the greenery in very loose brush strokes. I was hoping it would become ...

FOLLOW ALONG FOR THE NEXT FEW POSTS AS I WORK ON A CHALLENGING PAINTING

I want to create a painting of a bird with some mangroves in the scene. Same old, same old? Not really. Even though I have painted numerous pieces of these subjects I am going to attempt something different.

Painting "Ethereal"

INTRO
I had to think about how I was going to paint this one for a long time. I even lost some sleep about it; got angry and frustrated at myself for not have a single, clear style of painting and tossed back and forth whether to paint in detailed realism or keep it more painterly and loose. I finally decided to try and capture the 'un-capturable' ethereal nature of this scene in a loose, less detailed style as it seems ...

Here are two paintings of some mangroves, the first, "Peaceful Morning Blues" 11" x 14", is a small piece that was painted quickly on location (en plein air) and the second "Tranquillity Grove" 24" x 36" was painted from photographs in the studio.

When I work 'en plein air' (painting a scene on location) I generally......

Work fast

Use loose brush strokes

Usually do smaller paintings

Plan to complete the painting on one short sitting with maybe a few finishing touches back at the studio

When I paint from a photo I have many more options such as.......

Creating a large painting

Painting in as much detail as I like

Taking the time to plan the piece, make creative changes...

So why not just paint from a photo? - What's the difference to the artist and the artwork? In a word, everything!

"Stars and Stripes" Oil 8" x 10" for sale $500

What the artist sees on front of her/him when on location and what they see in a photograph are very different.

Also what the camera sees is very different.

Contrary to common perception a photo does not just duplicate the view. A camera will INTERPRET what it sees and the results will depend on it's settings and how the camera is designed and manufactured.

Here are 7 things that are different with a photo/camera:

- Colors can come out very different than what your eye will see

- The temperature of the colors can be very different than the ...

So what is plein air?

It is simply painting what you see when outdoors. (click here to go to a Wikipedia explaination)

Mostly artists paint small, quick and painterly pieces when working en plein air. When outdoors the scene can change rapidly due to weather changes, tidal changes for water, people moving and just the general movement of the sun changes the lighting, colors, highlights and shadows of a scene dramatically. 

"Flowers and Flag" Oil 11" x 14" Painted plein air in Naples, FL

Plein air paintings can be studies of a scene to be taken back to the studio and used as a reference for a bigger painting.  More and more though plein air paintings are a style of art on their own. People love the loose ...

Did you know? ---- That the Everglades National Park is one-of-a-kind? There is nothing like it in the whole world.
In the rush to dig, develop and destroy the swampy lands this exquisite combination of eco-systems has been nearly destroyed but people are fighting to restore.

Art is also one-of-a-kind and Carlton Ward, an environmental photojournalist, author and more, has joined the two, Art and the Everglades and created, LINC -Legacy Institute for Nature and Culture

I am honored to be one of the 10 artists chosen to create the Arts Atlas of the Everglades. Here is my interview with LINC

Does anyone want to read blog posts?

In these times of too much information, sound bites and tweets, does anyone have the attention span or time to read anything longer than two sentences?

Today I will say not and keep it brief with a little information about embellished giclee prints.

The original of this painting is sold but a 24" x 20" giclee print on canvas of this painting is only $360

If you have a budget for a little more then you can have an embellished print for $720

What is an embellished print? It is a print that has hand painting on top of a large part of it. It makes it more unique and adds texture and real paint which unlike a flat print will react and change in different lighting. Each ...