NOTE to All Blog Readers

Just in case you might be thinking that my blog posts are incomplete due to too much wine consumption. I want to assure you that is not the case. There is a problem with my blog app and I will add more to the posts when I have access to a computer.

Tuscany Workshop

We have been in Tuscany for the first 3 days of our workshop. Everyone is painting well and having fun.

Italy and Inktober

Do you know about Inktober? Google Inktober to learn the details. I would get the info for you but I have to get on the airplane now. If you want to some tips on drawing with ink I'll post some soon. 

Sketchbook Practice Page

I am thinking more before I dip my paint brush into the paint.  I am thinking about what I want my picture to be about and how I can show what it is about without a lot of extraneous shapes and details. After I think about those things, then I think about values and getting a range of them into my painting. After I've thought about the aforementioned things a while, had a snack, paced the hallway, pet some beagles and munched on some dark chocolate, I return and begin to think about what colors to paint with. 

You would think that with adding all this thinking to my painting process, my painting would turn out A+, right?  I need to share with you so you don't think you are alone out there in the B- portion of the bell curve. Sometimes I give myself a C, only every 7th or 10th painting do I get an A.  Painting is a learning process, figuring out what might work, trying something new, something old, and sometimes something different. So don't get frustrated as long as you are painting and thinking, its good for our brains and if we got all A's all of the time our heads would get too big to fit into our thinking caps.

Practice Painting For Tuscany

In a few weeks I will return to Tuscany to teach a workshop.  I am practice painting from some of mutual old photographs of Cortona.  

I named this restaurant after my dog Olive Oil since I couldn't make out its name in my old photos. 

I named this restaurant after my dog Olive Oil since I couldn't make out its name in my old photos. 

Watercolor Paintings for Nice People

Our brains are amazing pieces of equipment.  They have all kinds of things inside of them percolating and circulating. Who knows what will come out of an artist's subconscious? Strangely, tonight I decided to paint a watercolor from a photo of an eye class optical shop I had taken on the street in Paris. I worked on it tonight and used it as an example in my online class.  Then my husband mentioned he had an appointment to pick up his new eye glasses from our new nice eye doctor.  AND, I had a painting to give to him!

Is this an example of my subconscious brain at work, or an instance of serendipity? Or maybe it's just a random coincidence? What do you vote for?

Painting of a Paris Eye Glass Shop by Barbara Roth, inspired by we don't really know......................

VW Bug Portrait

My friend Max drives a beautifully restored vintage Baja Bug. I was inspired to paint it's portrait when he showed me a photo of it parked in front of Napa vineyards.  I have been working on the portrait off and on for the past few months between other projects and I just finished it yesterday.   

I am going to give it to Max sometime this week.  

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Painting and Cooking Inspiration Found in My Garden

We are fortunate this Summer to have a 2nd harvest from the 8 tomato plants we have in our backyard garden.  

As I was washing the produce I'd just pulled off the plants, I was struck by all the colors in our tomatoes. I saw lipstick reds, scarlet oranges, yellow oranges, magenta and purple violet.  The scene got even more colorful when I put the tomatoes on our red and white dish towel that was serendipitously on our counter already drying a red mug.

In a flash of something I knew I needed to create a "dinner" still life so I added the basil plant to the scene and wrote dinner on a chalkboard clip. A chorus sounded in my head and I knew I had a painting ready to be painted and titled "Bruschetta".

"Bruschetta" 

"Bruschetta" 

A New Idea

With a clean desk, I am getting new ideas. Actually this one has been percolating in my brain for a while. I was inspired to paint my bed by Van Gogh's famous painting of his bed in his room in his yellow house in Arles, France.  He painted 3 versions of this room.  

Our bed in San Diego in the blue green grey house. 

Our bed in San Diego in the blue green grey house. 

Here is the rest of my new idea about painting beds. We have a big homeless problem in our country. I read about the problems in Los Angeles daily as they gentrify downtown L.A. and push the homeless out of their shelters and encampments. Its a big problem and there is no easy solution. I read an article somewhere about providing beds for the homeless and after reading that, my brain began connecting some dots. What if I did commissioned bed portraits? Haven't many people always dreamed of someday having a portrait of their bed? I will charge a fee (to be determined) for each bed portrait and then donate a portion of it to an organization that helps the homeless.  What do you think? If you have any ideas on how I can refine my new idea, please send them along to me. Definately contact me if you would like a bed portrait, and take a photo of your bed to send to me to create your bed portrait. 

Painting Done On Clean Desk

Let me share with you the advantages of working on a clean desk. I found my paint set  in 5 seconds or less and my brushes too. I painted two small paintings this afternoon, one of which I actually like. 

"Three Friends" 

"Three Friends" 

Now I am off to cook some dinner if I can find the roasting pan.