"Daddy, I want to be an Artist when I grow up!"

Given that today is Father's Day, I'd like to devote this post to the wonderful man who helped shaped my life and make me the woman I am today. So about my dad... What can I say? Bruce Holsclaw is a father of six, one of the most hard-working people I have ever known, a man of integrity and conviction, humor, and faithfulness. In each of his children he has identified and cultivated our unique gifts and talents. He pushes us to pursue excellence and never settle for mediocrity. He loves us enough to know when to let us make our own mistakes. He leads by example. He practices what he preaches. In spite of some of the terrible things I did as a child who had not yet learned to control her "creative" impulses - like scratching Mickey and Minnie Mouse into the back window of… Read more »

"Daddy, I want to be an Artist when I grow up!"

Evolution of an Oil Painting

People are always asking me to post progress shots of my work. My method of working, though, is to not have a method. I approach each painting differently than the last, because usually EVERYTHING is different: the model, the lighting, the pose, the environment, and my frame of mind. The one thing that IS consistent from painting to painting is: I set a goal to learn something new. Here are a few recent paintings (all unfinished except the last) that I managed to get progress pictures of. The first will be a series of two paintings exploring the figure from the back, one with a high-key background, the other with a black background. This one isn't quite done yet, but I'm happy with the progress so far. High key back study - 16x10" (unfinished) The second is a head study I star… Read more »

Evolution of an Oil Painting

Painting SoCal

Steve and I recently spent a week in southern California, stopping in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Malibu, Laguna Beach, La Jolla and San Diego. I've always heard good things about the light in SoCal, but, armed with some fresh knowledge and a decent amount of time on my hands, this was my first real opportunity to try and paint it! Note: I have to give a big shout-out to my sweet hubby for taking all these photos. He made me look way cooler than I am in real life! :-) The first part of our trip was in the L.A. area. We visited the Getty first for some inspiration (I spent the most time admiring this gorgeous Sargent portrait, above). Below: there wasn't a whole lot to paint in the Santa Monica/Venice area where we were staying, except for some cool street scenes, especially around … Read more »

Painting SoCal

Painting at the Dallas Heritage Village

The Dallas Heritage Village (which I had never heard of until about a week ago) is a collection of Victorian and pioneer homes, located on the south side of Dallas. This fall, the village will be hosting a plein air painting exhibition and competition, so today I decided to join up with some other painters and check this place out. Entry is free for artists (I guess we make them look good!), so I was able to walk right in, find a spot, and get to work. It would have felt like I was stepping into another time and place, were it not for the Dallas skyline peering over the little village. And with the droves of schoolchildren there, and the muggy post-thunderstorm humity, I wouldn't exactly call the setting "peaceful." Still, I enjoyed every minute of it. We don't have many… Read more »

Painting at the Dallas Heritage Village

An Artist's Signature

What's in a signature? I had some interesting discussions over the past couple of months with several different artists, on the topic of signatures. The doctor's signature is stereotypically illegible; the teenage girl might sign all of her 'i's with hearts instead of dots (a running joke from an artist's panel I attended last month), and the size of the signature could have a lot to do with that person's own feelings of importance or self-worth (e.g., "John Hancock"). But what about artists? Why is an artist's signature so important? Over the years, I've carefully observed how artists sign their paintings. Some of them take care to scratch their name deeply into the wet paint, so that it can never be forged or scraped off. Others line up their let… Read more »

An Artist's Signature

Staring at the Paintings on the Walls

Still no A/C. Our air conditioner has been out for almost a week now. And if you've ever been to Texas in late May, you would know just how miserably hot it can get this time of year. We have someone coming on Monday to fix it, but until then, my engineer-husband's temporary solution has been to put a window unit in my studio. He could have put it anywhere else in the house (the heat affects him  way more than it does me!), but since I'm the one who spends most of my time at home, he was kind enough to put it in "my room." Still, my legs stick to my office chair, I wear the lightest clothing I can find, I drink iced coffee instead of hot, and it's a relief to go to the grocery store and hang around the refrigerated foods section. But there's actually been some… Read more »

Staring at the Paintings on the Walls

All About Blonde

"Self Portrait in Profile" (painted from life using two mirrors) 8 x 8" - oil on linen panel It has taken me a long time to figure out the nature of hair, particularly, blonde hair. I paint self portraits regularly in an attempt to experiment and learn more about it. Here are some things I've learned so far: Hair is transparent, so individual strands do not cast shadows, but locks (masses) of hair do. Blonde hair is usually very fine and must be painted delicately. There is usually a lot more green in blonde than yellow (unless the model looks like Lady Gaga here! This is no!). The shadows in blonde hair are much darker than you think they are. Get the values right and you'll still be able to create the illusion of "blonde", even if it's very dark. The fine … Read more »

All About Blonde