pumpkin and stuffIn some of my early art I would use art books to learn how to paint something different and it was okay to copy from the book. So I chose to paint in a thin manner, making the paint kind of transparent (the pumpkin). The book I used was from Claretta White and really did inspire me. I wish I had a better photos to share here, but in my early time of painting I didn’t have the skill to know how to get a good photo and the ones shown here are not digital, but at least you can kind of see what I’m writing about here. claretta white paintingOne of the paintings as you can see with the book (violin) has a way of putting down odd color and then making the color into what it should be but letting the undercolor kind of show through a little bit. So, I set up a still life using a straw hen and candle and other stuff,and painted the canvas as if I didn’t care what color I put down, the goal was to use up the left over paints on my palette from another painting. It looked crazy! I kept the canvas in hiding until it dried, and then another day when no one was home I got it out and painted into it the more accurate colors, letting the under colors peek through here and there. It made an exciting painting and I enjoyed bringing it into focus. Now you know one of my secrets!  Both of these techniques were from this book.1987 underpainting was cookoo