Studio Notes

Moving my Blog!

I'm trying out Apple's iWeb '08 to refresh my website and blog. Right now a part of my website is hosted by my isp, and another part is hosted by TypePad. I've been wanting to consolidate so that I have everything in one place, and be able to work on my website offline, as well. Up till now, the iWeb app, while having nifty templates, didn't have some of the main functions that I needed. iWeb'08, while still not entirely customizable, is a huge improvement over iWeb1 and I think it might be a good time to try it out. So my newly refreshed (and a perpetually work-in-progress) website is up on .Mac server, taking advantage of all the cool features Apple has to offer. Please check it out ~ www.terrymiura.com

AND. I will not be posting on this here blog server anymore. The new home for my blog is over HERE.

The "summary page" thing takes some getting used to, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives in this case (like the fact that all the Mac software are integrated).

Of course, if I run into some really annoying unforeseen problems with iWeb or the .Mac server, I'll be back over here. I have several months of service left on this thing, so if it doesn't work out over there, I'll just come home. See you over there!

The Red Scooter

Red Scooter 12 x 9 inches, oil on linen panel
Please contact Terry Miura Studio for purchase inquiries regarding this painting.

It is what it is.

Bumping Toward the Bay

As I haven't been able to do much painting in the past few weeks, I'm getting a bit antsy. It's always difficult to get the rhythm back after an extended time away from painting. I thought I'd do something different just to get my creative juices flowing again.

This is a photo I took during the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival a few months back. Working from this photo, I had started a painting sometime ago, but I'd forgotten about it till today. I thought it might be interesting to finish it up. or more like, slap some paint on it and see what happens.

I'm making up the colors as I go, because I only had the b/w photo. Even if I did have a color photo I would convert it to b/w anyway so this isn't really an issue. The colors in the color photographs are too "photographic" (well duh) and it doesn't really look like reality, so to avoid being tempted by these colors, I prefer to work from black and white. It's the values that give the structure anyway. Not the colors.

Bumping Toward the Bay 12 x 12 inches, oil on linen panel
Please contact Terry Miura Studio for purchase inquiries regarding this painting.

A bit more saturated in some areas than I normally like. I was conscious of my wanting to play it safe (because I hadn't been painting much lately) and go with predictably literal rendering of the scene. So I focused on abstracting and simplifying, keeping things sketchy, and not worrying about making a good finished "product". I just needed to loosen my chops, as it were. It's a lot easier to go outside of your comfort zone if you know the painting is "just a study". That doesn't mean you don't try hard to do a good painting, but let's face it. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves it's OK to fail. It allows us to take risks, and who knows? we might learn something.

Landscape Lecture / Demo

Old Barn, 12 x 12 inches, oil on linen panel
Please contact Terry Miura Studio for purchase inquiries regarding this painting.

This weekend I gave a little lecture / demo on landscape painting. It was a 3 hour session, and I took a painting (shown above) from start to finish. Along the way, I talked about materials, composition and design, process, colors, values...anything that came to mind as I painted. There were many questions, and responding to these helped to move things along nicely, too.

I tried not to do a "this is how you do it" demo. Instead, I was careful to approach it more like "this is how I do it, and here's why". I remember from art school that without explaining the whys of the process, the hows don't help much.

I was a little bit nervous doing the demo, too. I mean I know from experience that I do crank out some stinkers sometimes. Sure, people watching you paint comes with the territory of plein air painting, but the expectations are different in a formal (in a manner of speaking) demo. Luckily most of the attendees were people I already knew, and nice and friendly folks they were, too. And the painting? Came out pretty good. I'm very happy with it.

I think it was a very successful session. If the students' comments were any indication, everyone got a lot out of it. I certainly did. There were many requests to do more, and to take it outside and do some plein air sessions. Perhaps in the spring when the weather is more predictable. I do think that you can't teach landscape painting entirely in the studio, but without fundamental knowledge of the principles involved in painting the landscape, going out in the field to paint en plein air is... not easy, to put it mildly.

Happy Holidays!

Great With Sandwiches! 12 x 9 inches, oil on linen panel

Here's a rare still life from Yours Truly. Once in a while I do a still life, because I have to... in this case, I needed an image for this year's Holiday cards ... and I always wonder why I don't do more. It's a very pleasant thing to do a still life painting mainly because it doesn't move and the light doesn't change and the wind doesn't blow over your easel and the rain doesn't drench your canvas and spectators don't tell you that their aunts are artists too. (Hey, so is my aunt)

It's getting a bit late to make Holiday cards, so I may not get it done in time. That would earn me a failing point in marketing 101, wouldn't it. Ahh, but you can't rush art~ And I'm in the mood for a sandwich.

Herbert

Herbert 12 x 16 inches, oil on linen panel

One of those sunny-one-minute-cloudy-the-next days at the harbor. I think it came out alright. Kind of an old-school thing, what with heavy emphasis on tonal transitions and drawing-based brushwork. The more I paint, the more I realize that's where my intuitive processes are buried. Not surprising really, since I come from a figure drawing background.

Figure Sessions

Jeff 16 x 12 inches, oil on canvas paper

This is Jeff. Jeff was a model at Art Center in the late eighties when I was a student. Although I don't remember him from back then, I must have drawn and painted him many times. He says I don't remember him because he had hair then.

May be. It's all a blur for me now. But I must say some of his gestural poses seem awfully familiar. If I had kept my drawings from my student days, I'm sure I'd find him in there. I think I must have spent on the average three to six hours a day on figure drawing, five days a week, for three years. That's a lot of crappy drawings ended up in the landfill, folks. But I did learn a lot. Mainly, I learned how difficult figure drawing is.

Bedtime Story 12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas paper
sold

This pose was inspired by a Sorolla painting, Desnudo de Mujer Wish I had some satin sheets to put down on the model stand, but I suppose just painting the figure is challenging enough. For me, anyway. Aside from the obvious foreshortening issues, not getting too tight in the facial area was quite difficult.The entire face is in shadow and foreshortened, and partially hidden by her hair. I had to really think about which strokes were absolutely necessary. I really should be doing that for every part of the painting, and not just the hard parts. But I gotta start somewhere.

One of these days I hope to do something like this on a bigger canvas. I'll have to do that on my own time, though, and not during an open session. I'm usually too distracted and make a lot of sloppy strokes and end up spending half the time fixing them.

Landscape Painting Demo and Lecture - 12/8

Late Summer 6 x 8 inches, oil on linen panel
sold

I am planning on doing a Landscape painting demo and lecture at my studio on Saturday, December 8th, 3 - 6pm.

I believe that the best and the only way to learn about the effects of natural light on color is to go outside and paint en plein air. However, I also believe that you first have to have foundational knowledge of the principles involved in painting the landscape, and this can be addressed in the studio. I think it may even be better to do this in the studio where we're not distracted by overwhelming amount of visual information, and we can take our time to talk about issues without worrying about the changing light. (not to mention rain, wind, parking, and bathrooms...)

Anyway, I plan on taking a painting from start to finish, talking about concept and composition, basic strategies of designing a landscape, relationship between light, color, and form, materials, and any other issues that arises as I work on the painting. We'll have a Q & A session to dig deeper into specific issues that need further exploration - we'll open a bottle of wine and have a good time~ (but only after the demo, as I can't paint under the influence:-)

The cost is $30. Space is limited so if you're interested please let me know ASAP, via email or call me at 916.300.7783.

To my great surprise, the class filled up only a few hours after I announced it! So if you didn't get a chance to sign-up, I'm sorry. If you'd like to be on the waiting list, please email me. If this event goes well, there will certainly be more demos and lectures in the future. If you're not already on the mailing list and would like to be notified the next time we do this, please email me and let me know!

What is Art?

Dusk on the Farm

Dusk on the Farm 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen
Please contact Anne Irwin Gallery for purchase inquiries.

Another small painting for Anne Irwin Gallery's Small Works show. Now that the weather's cooler, the paint doesn't dry as quickly. I use turp for washes in the early stages and those parts dry very quickly but the later thicker paint can take a long time if I don't remember to mix turp or liquin into the colors. Which, of course is a problem when you're up against a deadline. The impasto on the grass was such a note, and I debated whether I should not send this one, along with the three others which were already done and framed.

But I'm an illustrator, you see, and that means I don't miss deadlines. You find solutions, not excuses, or you never make it in the business. Before the days of Photoshop, all my illustrations were done by hand, and I used oils as well as acrylics, watercolor and gouache, sometimes all on a single piece. I used nasty nasty chemicals to speed up drying - the ultimate combination of cobalt dryer + liquin + krystal klear comes to mind... Steve Huston once suggested sticking an oil painting in the oven to dry. But this was 20 years ago, before he is what he is today (he was an illustrator too. Can you say Texas Chainsaw Massacre?) and perhaps he wouldn't advise cooking a painting in he oven if he were asked today.

No, I didn't cook my painting in the oven to speed up drying, but I did place it on top of my radiant space heater. But not very hot. More like a blazing Summer's day hot. I don't think it did much to speed up drying, but fortunately, the surface dried enough to where I can safely handle it and ship it. It'll have an additional week to dry in transit to Atlanta.