Teaching and planting creativity seeds in kids minds here is Cozad in the Spirit of Robert Henri

This morning was an early start and I thought I was only scheduled to teach in one class here at Cozad Elementary School, but I was mistaken and I was actually scheduled to teach in 6 classes! But I'm already ready for anything being a road tripper and plein air painter so we came through! classes are just 40 minutes and with a 10 minute "show and tell" of my art supplies before these are each about 20 minute paintings of kids ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade.

Paint With Alex on Good Morning Nebraska!

https://nebraska.tv/features/good-morning-nebraska/la-artist-featured-in-cozad-museum-in-october
Wow I had fun today on the set of Good Morning Nebraska. I have really been enjoying my stay in Nebraska spreading the word about Art and Painting! Thank you to the Robert Henri Museum and the City of Cozad for all the opportunities

Paint With Alex on the road from Utah to Cozad Nebraska

More paintings from the Robert Henri Roadtrip. We have arrived in Cozad, Nebraska safe and sound and will have more photos to post soon, in the mean time here are the latest. The top photo is Moab, Utah, middle left is Colorado, middle right is Arizona, and the bottom is Butch Cassidy's childhood home in Utah

 

Paint with Alex in St. George, Red Rocks, and Glendale Utah

Staying moving on the Road to Cozad! some photos of paintings and an iPad drawing to look at :)

Road trip to Cozad

Two of the first art stops on the road trip to Cozad for the Robert Henri Museum artist in residence: Barstow and Las Vegas

Teaching Painting a Portrait

Art class at the Lux Art Institute. Last day of a deep learning introduction to the art and craft of painting. Today everyone dove headfirst into the pool and painted a portrait from LIFE! That's probably on some people's bucket lists :) LUXArtInstitute.org I worked with a limited palette similar to what's called "the Zorn Palette": White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red medium, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Umber

Cozad Here I Come!

A few months back I learned that an art-in-residence I applied for came back positive! And so the time is near, I'm excited to share I'm leaving Los Angeles for Cozad Nebraska Sept 24th via 1998 Toyota 4-runner for two weeks teaching and proselytizing about painting in the Spirit of Robert Henri for the Robert Henri Museum there in the city of Cozad, founded by his father in 1873. Robert Henri was a renowned teacher of painting and I feel that is something I have a talent for as well. I'm excited!!

I plan to TEACH America to PAINT! Starting from the Middle!

Unlimited Data, a new for me, starts the same day the roadtrip begins so expect to see streaming from the road and all new AV gear to take interacting with you live to the next level. Special Thanks goes out to the Contributors who are donating (and essentially buying art at the same time) for helping us get this cool new equipment! STAY TUNED! 

Contribute TODAY go to
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/robert-henri-museum-artist-in-residence-roadtrip#/

Live Stream Practice and Painting in Laguna

This was at Crescent Bay Point Park in beautiful Laguna Beach. Went for the big bold Lay-In with the intention of taking the piece back after its dries. Good Times! Also did a live stream with my Streaming Rig. Needed field testing to help figure some things out for future de-bugging and fine tuning.

Plein Air Painting at 7th and Grand, downtown Los Angeles

 This painting has a good number of people and the suggestion of cars in it, that makes me feel it's done. I took this one out for a few hours a couple times last month, worked on or started other pieces in the meantime. This last stab at it finished it off good! :) ... oil on canvas 22 by 28

Plein air painting in Laguna Beach

Plein air view from West St Beach. oil on canvas, 16 by 20. I started this with Blue Blocker sunglasses and it made me paint too much yellow. I left it to dry and painted blues over most of the yellows.  Much better! I wish I'd taken a picture of the piece as influenced by the dark orange sunglasses but I forgot. Imagine all the whitecaps being yellowcaps and the sky nearly green!

I have not posted a Burning Bank in a while...

Not that they don't deserve it. Here's a work in progress Wells Fargo consumed with the fire of their own white hot criminal activity. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with complete absence of any sort of justice for the Financial Crimes that crashed the economy. And now, ten years later the statute of limitations is passed. They all got away with it. No Justice No Peace. I will never understand why the American Public gets outraged`about Welfare and Social Programs but tolerates trillion dollar handouts to Criminals on Wall Street...

the Battle of Anghiari

     Here's me whacking away at my depiction of the famously lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the Battle of Anghiari. The painting was doomed from the start, abandoned by the artist and left a dripping mess on the wall for decades; the centerpiece of the composition was least ruined and copied numerous times. I'm working from a few of these copies, particularly the most famous by Rubens, to resolve a painting on my own. It's a different type of "master copy" for me. I'm going El Greco with it, he's one of my favorite "old masters".
     It's fascinating to work on, I feel like I'm learning so much more about how and why he came about the composition himself... the refining of a moment of unbridled passion. Here's a couple earlier work in progress shots of this current work in progress, oil on linen 30 x 40

A Workshop Update and a Painting of People Drawing

It is not going to be easy to get back into the habit of posting to my blog because it's just too easy to do it to facebook and instagram! Gaaa. Well here's a much needed blogpost. First off

THE WORKSHOP IS NOW ONE DAY ONLY: Sunday Aug 19th for $200 and you still get a free ticket to Pageant of the Masters that evening! It was too much to ask for three days; one day only is much easier. Check the REVISED post below...

Here's a recent painting I've been working on. It's a painting I've started of a drawing I posted a little while back. I'm composing the color and light from memory, working with the composition from original drawing, and then some of the parts of the painting are left over from a previous composition but still feel like they work for me. This is "in progress" but it's coming along! oil on canvas 24 by 36

Laguna Beach three day workshop + ticket to Pageant of the Masters!

WORKSHOP DATES HAVE CHANGED! 

ONE DAY ONLY Sunday Aug. 19th cost: $200

Responding to feedback, I am changing this to a ONE DAY painting workshop in Laguna Beach.  Starting early Sunday morning and ending in the late afternoon, I will paint two separate paintings. Bring your own art supplies or just watch. You get art talk and lecture, demonstration, and one on one learning on location with renowned painter, teacher and plein air sherpa Alex Schaefer AND ----->>> YOU STILL GET A TICKET TO the Pageant of the Masters show that evening! Win Win! :) Get some living education in beautiful Laguna Beach. I take payments with Square and PayPal, all credit cards, personal check or cash in person. Click here to learn more about Pageant of the Masters

Contact me at PAINTWITHALEX@GMAIL.COM to sign up and reserve your spot!

Upon receipt of payment you will get an information email filled with everything you need to know for the workshop, so even a beginner can sign up with confidence. The email will also contain additional information about locations and parking, helpful links etc

Watercolors on the water

I was blessed to take a trip with family to visit the beautiful Columbia River. What an amazing place and history. I got to experiment again with watercolor, a medium I almost never try, but when I do, like this, it always makes me want to do more.

Life Drawing Workshops

I like to go to life drawing workshops! When it gets around to the 25 minute poses, I turn and start to draw the whole room instead of just the model. Makes for some fun composition!  Here's a couple recent studies

Rereading Robert Henri: The Art Spirit

I'm going to read the book "The Art Spirit" by Robert Henri. I'm guessing this is episode 1 of 6 (or 8?) I'm not the best reader, but I desire to read this book again in anticipation of an artist in residence I'm partaking in at the Robert Henri Museum later this year and I know that doing it live will help me concentrate www.paintwithalex.com

Takin’ It To The Street

New easel works great! Totally love it and recommend it: Mabef M27. Test drive on the corner of 7th and Grand in downtown Los Angeles

New Easel!

I've used the old Jullian  French Easel for as long as I've been painting, but I am trying a new (to me) smaller more compact style. This is the Mabef M27. Gonna take it out soon! Right now I'm test driving it in the studio. Photos of it in use and folded up. Super simple and handy rests to put your palette or whatever. Much smaller and lighter than the Jullian too and frees an arm up when walking around.

Time to seriously get back to the Blog

I just discovered that I can have my blog show up on my website, paintwithalex.com, and I suddenly feel a rejuvenated spirit to get back to posting here, on my blog! That explains this post, and I'm also going to start "flashback reblogs" reposting an oldie but goodie, which explains the previous post :) Finally, here is a drawing of my old friend in his garden for something to look at. Just posting some random visual content to enjoy, which I will do much more often...

Flashback Re-Blog: Santa Anita, orig.posted 01/27/07

Here's a couple pics of the Santa Anita composition I'm working on. The races have started so the place is exciting again! I went with my sketchbook and did a drawing of the center ring where all the action happens. I also took a bunch of random photos which I cut and pasted and composed in photoshop over the drawing so I could get a nice feeling of the crowds and movement. The first photo is the sketchbook drawing of the overall environs and then with the people composed in. The next photo is the first stage of the painting, a freehanded underdrawing to arrive at the overall placement. The last photo is how the painting looks now. I went over the preliminary drawing in acrylic with a limited palette of white, burnt umber, deep violet, and ultramarine blue. I like how it looks so far, nice and sunny! The blue and the burnt umber neutralize to a greenish black and then the deep violet is just enough red to counteract as well as enhance the slight green. I think if you used a raw umber as well as the burnt, you could suggest even more color, especially in the greens and yellows. I plan to take this to the racetrack soon and go over in oil en plein air for even greater realism and truth in color.