Two more from recent weeks, and now I gotta get back to work. SF

The T-post was done afield yesterday. Shovel is invented. (and small.. about 2").

Barn was done this morning from memory.

Oct.14 SF

IOWA AT 4X6.

With a fresh start here on the farm I've begun a series "Iowa At 4x6", which will be 4x6 inch studies and 4x6 foot oils on canvas. Have been shooting for at least one per day. Attached are a few examples.

Oct.14 SF

Came back from Michigan and moved into this brand-new house built above a barn. Beautiful vistas in all directions.

Oct.14 SF

Another oriole watercolor at 9.5x20".

American Robin. 15x20 watercolor.

I left this shot a little dark so the pencil work wouldn't drop out, but it's on white paper.

Another tall, slim number.

I've been doing some watercolors at 9.5x20 (usual is 15x20) as this tall, narrow format makes for an interesting composition and can find a home on a short wall.

FALL WORKSHOPS. YOU CAN DO THIS.

I'm looking for Sep./Oct. watercolor workshops.

What works best is to set up two 2-day workshops, (Group A attends Mon./Tue./, group B attends Wed./Thu. and then on Friday we have a less formal paint-along day.

This format reduces cost for participants and makes it easier for people to find a schedule that fits.

Cost is $200 per person, and I split with the host/coordinator 80/20.

If you have a group or art league or whatever pick a week, circulate an email and see if you get any bites. Presently my only event is Sep.24, 25.

Contact me at: stanfellows@gmail.com

I'm back on my blog!!

Past two months have been a blur as I packed up and moved to northern Michigan for the summer and have been in the land of no internet. But I figured out a way to get online today.

While I'm still doing watercolors by the truckload I have also been doing some larger oils of late.

This one is 30x40". I'm piling these up to send to a gallery in Naples, FL where they'll be in the $4,000 range. (I can move quite a bit on this price before I ship them, so let me know if you see something you're interested in.)

Will shoot pics and post some recent watercolors soon.

July 20 2011 SF

Minnesota peeps; I will be conducting a watercolor workshop in Bloomington May 23-27, and on Thursday my dear host is having an open house w/ wine, snacks, at which paintings will be available for sale.

ALSO, I believe there are still a few openings for the Friday paint-along, which is a very fun and informal day of painting afield, with myself wandering about (when not painting) to offer ideas or suggestions, or to simply chat.

Contact me if interested: stanfellows@gmail.com

May 21, 2011 SF

Had a nice session with Jenny from CA who came for a lesson.

This was painted for her from a photograph and contained a number of interesting elements; compositional issues, painting glass, how to make background elements interesting but not dominating, etc.

May 7 2011 SF

Had a sale/show (I'm never sure what to call these) at my house today, and during slow times I made a nice turkey melt sandwich and these two casting studies at 6x6. And again.. sorry for the poor phone camera quality of the pics.

April 30 2011 SF

Still piling them up for the show this weekend..

April 29 2011 SF

A couple 6x6" oils. I think the detail of the person playing a Steelhead is interesting; this detail could be covered by a dime.

April 27 2011 SF

Here are some scans of 9x12 oils. If you see "sparkles" in the dark areas that's because of the scan, which was just the easy way to get these posted.

April 25 2011 SF

Oh my how the paintings pile up! Here's a shot of a few small oils as I get organized for a sale at my place this weekend.

April 25 2011 SF

For no particular reason I chosen Robins as a subject this past week, making small (6x6 and 5x7) oil paintings. Might do a few more this weekend.

April 23 2011 SF

Journal drawing of City High, Iowa City. Lotsa mistakes! Lotsa fun!

Here's an example of taking on a subject that has an overwhelming amount of detail and not being rattled by that.

I began by drawing the contour of the roof lines and general shape of the big pieces of the buildings, unconcerned about accuracy and simply enjoying the ride as my eye wandered along.

Some kids were throwing a Frisbee and I indicated them, then started darkening in some deep shadows here and there but without making any attempt to render the whole building.

Basically I was just daydreaming and drawing whatever little bits happened to catch my interest.

It's not a great drawing of the building but I had a very enjoyable session.

April 13 2011 SF

PRINTS!

Over the years I have been asked countless times about the possibility of purchasing prints and have always answered no, as my taking a day to get a single print made and mailed etc. was not going to happen.

Recently however I found the Fine Art America site and this looks like an interesting concept; I supply them with a digital file, and customers can browse options for what size print they want, matting/framing options etc. and FAA makes the print and delivers it. Pretty smart.

Link is to the left.

April 11 2011 SF

Late afternoon 9x12 of Kinnick Stadium.

Yesterday I was hesitating at starting a difficult painting, so to get over that I made this very simple study of a fishing lure.

By choosing an easier subject I got started (often the hardest part of a painting) and once I was painting I settled into enjoying, seeing shapes, making choices about color etc. etc. and from there was able to move on the more difficult painting.. which turned out not to be difficult once I quit worrying about it.

April 10 2011 SF

Scanned some old sketchbook samples tonight - Looking for the kind of stuff we'll be talking about in the upcoming Journal Drawing workshops; images that are quirky and fun, and are clearly done from careful observation.

The point of this workshop is to train your eye to S L O W D O W N , and drawing is simply a device to do that.

March 22 2011 SF

This was done (today) mostly from memory, but I'd looked at the scene (yesterday) with great concentration for 20 minutes, so it was sunk in pretty good.

It's what I saw out my kitchen window; snow holding only in northern shadows, and a Robin looking for bugs.

This is 11x14 on smooth bristol.

Did this painting in 40 minutes. Seems the paintings I'm most happy with happen in a very short time.

March 4 2011 SF

Here's the finished Cigar Break piece I'd been pulled away from a couple weeks ago. Didn't really turn out the way I wanted as it became too fussy. Not a bad idea though and I might try it again on bristol, which allows me to work much faster. (This is done on Canson Montval.)

March 4 2011 SF

Sorry, but can't get back to the finished piece (fly fishing cigar break) of the previous post right now - Have a workshop this weekend in MN and needed to paint a demo idea tonight.

This painting was done from a still life setup that had a deliberate gap between the elements at the top and the bottom. I tied the top and bottom together by adding/inventing a non-existent red-striped dish towel.

Learning tricks for how to salvage a painting that has a fatal flaw (in this case the composition) is very valuable, and interesting to watch.. I hope.

We shall see how this goes in front of the live audience Sunday.

Feb.17 2011 SF

My friend Jerry sent me this photo of his fly rod and cigar, which I thought was a nice concept for a painting.

I made some changes as I drew the pencil thumbnail, pulling the distant rocks lower and extending the dark trees higher. Then decided to cast the foreground in shadow with only a hint of rim light on the reel. I want the painting to first be about shapes and composition, second about the stream, third about the story of the cigar break.

The color study above is a little smaller than a playing card.

Feb.14 2011 SF

Here's a shaky phone camera shot of the finished Coffee Break piece. (I need to get a regular camera). Also a scanned detail of the person.

Feb.11 2011 SF

Looking at the previous study for Coffee Break fishing piece I wondered about changing the background to be more atmospheric and less dense. Did the attached study today. (Which is smaller than a playing card.) In this study I made the distant falling snow blue/tan and only the nearer snow white.

I like both studies and will probably do finished versions of each.

Feb.9 2011 SF

Coffee Break Study

Came across a pic of me painting afield, my thermos on the hood of the Jeep. Gave me an idea for a painting of a guy taking a coffee break on a rock. Thermos, shoulder bag, fly rod on rock next to him. (Click on image once to enlarge, then click on the enlargement and you'll see detail.)

This study was done entirely out of my head and it's the way I began every painting that has a concept. From here I'll look for a couple pictures to help me out. I can set my thermos and rod in the yard to look at.

Feb.8 2011 SF

Here's the finished painting. Parts of it worked out, others not so much. The usual.

Feb.6 2011 SF