A little girl’s portrait

I have grandsons, and so we don’t get much girl-energy around here! These four sweet girls I have just painted have been a delight to paint, and even though I have not met them, I get a sense of their energy, honesty, mischievousness, and sweet & fun natures. This was painted from a photo taken indoors, and so the color was particularly challenging. We think of young children as being fresh, warm, and the colors were cool, yet the face still had a warm sense to it. Anyway—a little hard to capture!

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Pontessieve Village from a Winery

This distant view of Pontessieve Village was one I started while on my last trip to Italy. There were a lot of foggy, overcast days, but they sometimes make surprisingly interesting moods. This day had started out with a complete whiteout, but then lightened a bit as the day went on.

You can buy this little painting on Daily Paintworks, it is featured today https://bit.ly/3uhZLEM

Sonorous evening

In the fall the vineyards have many different colors, ranging from green to purple. I chose this yellow-orange plot, and as it turned towards dusk, the sky seemed to echo that color! Not finished, but you get the idea!

Sent from my iPad

Space

The big, calm skies of the Bay Area can be inspiring! A very fast painting with a big brush.

#oils #oil #oilpainting #oilpaintings #oilpainter #micaelamarsden #landscape #bigsky #skypainting #waterreflection #waterreflections

El Cerrito Art Assoc. show this weekend

I am participating in this in-person show Saturday and Sunday, in El Cerrito CA. If you’re in the Bay Area, and the East Bay specifically, stop by, it’ll be fun! OPENING & ARTISTS’ RECEPTION iFriday from 7-9. elcerritoart.org.
El Cerrito Community Center
7007 Moeser Ln, El Cerriito, CA
Friday, October 1st, 7 – 9pm
Saturday, October 2, 11 am – 5 pm
Sunday, October 3, 11 am – 4 pm

installed!

The de Young Open is now — open! This well-designed show is a delight, and will be up until January 3, 2021.

There are so many (over 800) wonderful works of art from talented and creative local artists, you really should go see it if you are in the San Francisco Bay area. See the current exhibition list. The artist opening day was fun, but busy and I plan to return to see more. My artwork is in Gallery 8. Many of the artworks are for sale (mine is not). Support artists in the time of COVID-19!!

by my selfie in Gallery 8 – amidst good company!

Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1933-2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg — a tireless and courageous advocate for women, “minorities”, workers; she was careful in crafting her arguments, she was strong, but civilized in the way she wrote her opinions and dissents, and she brought about justice in many important cases. This is my tribute to her. 

de Young Open

Drop-off of artwork for the upcoming de Young Open show, which will start on October 10. This is so exciting, I am thrilled to be part of this show in our own SF museum! Love to see you there! #deyoungopen #deyoungopenexhibition #exhibition #artinvitation#onceinalifetimeexperience @deyoungmuseum #ThedeYoungOpen

Sonny Rollins’ 90th Birthday—and he’s still around!

It’s Sonny Rollins’ 90th Birthday September 7. He can no longer play his horn, however, he seems to have grown a lot of wisdom about that and many other things over the years. Listen to his music, starting Friday on KCSM https://www.kcsm.org and there’s an interview in the @nytimes called Sonny Rollins knows life is a solo trip. #sonnyrollins #drawingmusicians #honoringbirthdays #procreateart @kcsmjazz91 #jazzmusician #saxaphoneplayer #tenorsax

days 3-6 Sktchy

I think I’ll be playing catchup quite a bit…it seems to always takes me longer than an hour to do these portraits, but I’m learning a lot about the app Procreate. Now, I just hope I remember them. Another great thing about this Sktchy class is that you can go back and watch the recorded video “forever” (forever is a very long time, but whatever). I really kind of like the more wacky models, such as this guy with the beard, below, but again, whatever, it’s all a learning experience!

Model: Sandro Nakashidze. This was a fun exercise in loose drawing with big brushes for a little abstraction. I tilted the whole picture because it was more fun that way!

Model: Lisa Skater Cruz. A more traditional approach almost entirely in black & white.

Model: Alex Mortensen.

Model: Tori Nasiri. This exercise used three different kinds of masks. Unfortunately, I had forgotten how one of the masks worked towards the end, so was unable to complete it.