YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE.

I grew up in a small town in Idaho. The population was around 700 people in 1955, and it is still around 700 people. Not much changes. When I go back, I see all my friends that I went to school with and I know most that live there.

Business was done with a handshake. You knew who you could trust and who you couldn't. It was a simple surrounding that gave you a calm attitude to everything in your life.

I now live in San Diego, California (around 3.5 million people), what a difference. I go places and don't see anyone that I know. People are just faces and clothes that walk by you. You treat each other as objects that just happen to be there. You could be anywhere in the world and see the same scene.

When I do a painting , my work reflects more to my basic roots than to anything else. I like to paint calm pastorial scenes that are of my past. I try to juice them up with color and make them as exciting as possible but they all reflect on who I am.

Be honest with your work. Don't try to do things you havn't seen or experienced.

I sometimes laugh at artists who live in New York City and try to paint western art. They are too far apart to be real.

You are who you are. Make the best of it.

Talk to you later,

Cloyd

bedke-fineart.com

LESS IS MORE

Should we try to paint every hair on the dog? Some painters do a very good job at this and I admire them for their tenacity. You often hear... it looks just like a photograph.

When this world was put together it was well planned and so complex right down to a small blade of grass. How can we do better than that.

Our job as an artist is not to duplicate this masterpiece, only create the allusion of it's beauty.
That can done in many ways. The expression of a subject matter will change every time someone paints it. That's the freedom of our expression. We each have our own style and ideas, and no two people will do exactly the same thing.

So don't be afraid to express your self in your own way. Your ideas are as good as any others.
Paint bold and simple...

...let the cameras pick up on all the hairs.

LESS IS MORE!

Talk to you later,

Cloyd Bedke
www.bedke-fineart.com

STARTING A PAINTING

Facing a white sheet of paper is often quite intiminating. I don't even look at it until I'm sure what I want to do.

First I go through my reference material and look at photos or whatever until one strikes me as a good interesting subject. I then make several small thumbnails of the picture. I push objects around until I think the composition is exciting. This may take you as long to do as the painting.
I apply the golden ratio for the placement the main subject in the painting.

I draw the details of the painting with a light pencil, saving out my whites. Then I paint as much
of the rest of the painting with a softer color killing most of the white. Now build your colors on top of those colors. Save the real dark values until last. Quite often your painting will not be definitive until the last 5 0r 10 minutes.

Work wet into wet in the beginning stages. Stay loose and don't try to define the detail until your happy with the way colors are working.

With most of my students they want to make the painting look good at the start. Not to worry about this, you are in control and can make changes whenever you want.

Try this!

You'll be surprised at your results.

I have some videos on this concept.

Talk to you tomorrow...


Cloyd Bedke
www.bedke-fineart.com

COMPOSITION IN ART

Today lets talk about composition.

We hear a lot about it but do you really know what composition does in a painting.

Composition is arrangement of objects, values and hues in a painting that will cause it to be more exciting and draw you into the piece. There are lots of ways to approach this problem. The placement of the "hero object" must be well thought out in relations to other objects or ideas in the painting. When working on a flat surface your arrangement of objects is very important.

For centuries some of the old master worked it out mathematically. They came up with a formula called the Golden Ratio (or golden mean). You simply divide the page into thirds horizontally and in thirds vertically. Where these lines intersect on the page you will place your impact objects. (learn more about the golden ratio). Remember pick one of these intersections and place your hero their.

In philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.

Other ideas are strictly symetrical (gets boring). Sometimes move the hero high in your page and let it fall off the top of the page for attention. (Sometimes when you break all the rules it works)
You have to experiment with the placement of subject matter of the painting.

Talk to you later

Cloyd Bedke
www.bedke-fineart.com

I'm Back...

Something happened that my site wouldn't let me blog. Sometimes the simplest things are hard to figure out.

Well I'm still get ready for my show on the 26 of September.

I have been making my own frames. It's not hard to do and lets you personalize each painting.
I also wanted to experiment with colored frames. It seems that most frames are dark wood or gold. My decorator friends want to see a wall hanging that makes a statement. That doesn't mean that the painting doesn't have to be good but the whole package must make the statement.
I have a feeling that people will respond . They might not tell me the truth.

I've been scanning my paintings into the computer and changing the colors of the mats and frames until I 'm happy with the combination. This takes a lot of trial and error of mixing and matching colors to a minimum. The choices are endless.

Example, same picture two different ways to go.


Make things easy.

Talk to you later,

Cloyd
www.bedke-fineart.com

Next month I'm putting a private art show. I do this about every seven years.

When you get about 40 paintings ahead in your inventory, and just havn't had time to show them, do your own show. Invite all those who has expresed an interest in your work. Don't leave anyone out. You should be able to come up with 200 or more names. Send out an invitation and you will be surprised how many show up. I'm going to do a quick draw and a couple of silent auctions to get them involved. I expect to sell a few paintings in the process.

I'm cutting matts and glass for some frames that I made. The hard part of this kind of show is getting it ready. I'm going to do at my home, inside and out. I have some beautiful gardens and patios that I can display the work. It is a great way for you to show your work.

You'al come
Talk to you tomorrow,

Cloyd

My Birthday

Today is my birthday..

I'm just past 70. I feel like I'm in my 30's. There are some things I don't do physically but you work around it.

After being involved in the arts for fifty years I have just started to understand some of the things about it. Oh , if I could just relive some of those unproductive years.

You never get to go back, but I think those years are necessary for our evolvement.

I have a mind that remembers detail. Sometimes it gets in the way but in a painting the detail saves the piece. If you practice and train your mind it will stay as young like you feel.

Go into a room, look around and then leave. Write down all the things you remember about the room. At first you won't do very well. But with practice you will get quite good with your observations.

When I was a kid, my father was quite proud that I could go out in a crowd, and later I could remember what color dress certain people wore.

In the advertising business it was important to know what made a product more visable than others. I did the same idea in a store. I would go into the store, walk to the first thing that got my attention, and try to figure out why.

Keep your mind working regardless of your age.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Cloyd