by houstonwine | Aug 24, 2018 | Uncategorized
After my painting workshop, I headed to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). It has one of the largest art collections in North America. It also has a nice collection of Italian Renaissance paintings which is of interest to me since I am learning to paint...
by houstonwine | Aug 23, 2018 | Art Workshops
Luckily, today began with two students in another workshop asking our instructor to give them advice on varnishing their paintings. He decided to call us all over to explain the process in detail. It is something you never learn in school but ...
by houstonwine | Aug 23, 2018 | Art Workshops
Today began with a lecture on the “first painting” process. Fernando says the first painting is the first time you are actually painting the form. We are not to concern ourselves with the detail. Every time you look at your subject,...
by houstonwine | Aug 21, 2018 | Art Workshops
Today we discussed lighting. When setting up a subject, it’s important to understand the direction of the lighting to identify the form, light, and shadow for purposes of painting that subject. We learned about high light, mid light, drop light, cone...
by houstonwine | Aug 20, 2018 | Art Workshops
Day 3 of our workshop began with our instructor, Fernando Freitas, recommending that we see the nine-part television series called “The Power of Art” which includes an episode focusing on Caravaggio. Our goal is to better understand the life and...
by houstonwine | Aug 19, 2018 | Uncategorized
I took a walkabout through an area of Toronto known as the Kensington Market. It’s an odd assortment of rastafarian head shops, vegan bakeries, Jamaican restaurants, and vintage clothing shops. I decided to have lunch at Rasta Pasta. The...
by houstonwine | Aug 19, 2018 | Art Workshops
I look to the past in art to find my way forward. Studying the techniques used by Caravaggio will hopefully help move my art to a new level. Quality is essential. My hope is this workshop will help me to paint beautiful subjects so they can be seen...
by houstonwine | Aug 19, 2018 | Uncategorized
Toronto is the largest city in Canada and one of the largest in North America. It is the most diverse city I have ever been in. Houston, where I lived for years, takes pride in being a diverse and multicultural city. Toronto is even more...
by houstonwine | Aug 19, 2018 | Art Workshops
I’m in Toronto, Canada attending a workshop at the Academy of Realist Art entitled In the Studios of Caravaggio. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter from the 1590s to 1610. He changed art forever by abandoning the heavenly...
by houstonwine | Aug 14, 2018 | Paintings, People
Mary LaGarde has completed her latest painting. This one is an oil portrait of her granddaughter Genevieve and her grandson Lucas. As with most of her paintings, Mary used painting techniques, oils, and varnishes that match as closely as possible...
by houstonwine | May 19, 2018 | Drawings
Mary drew this pencil-on-paper portrait of a dancer she saw in magazine. She calls it “Tiny Dancer”. Share...
by houstonwine | Feb 21, 2018 | Art News
Mary LaGarde was chosen as a Finalist by jurors in the 13th Annual ARC International Salon. Mary was honored for her painting of a massive Aspen tree. The oil-on-canvas painting is five feet tall and was painted using the Venetian method of painting. ...
by houstonwine | Dec 28, 2017 | Art News
Have you saved a life lately? It’s easier than you think. When I heard today that MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston was short of blood donations over the holiday season, I went to the donation center and gave a pint. MD Anderson needs 300 units of blood a...
by houstonwine | Nov 26, 2017 | Art News, Uncategorized
The Daily Beast reports that two researchers have linked a painting of “The Last Supper” in Belgium to Leonardo’s workshop and believe that Jesus and one of the other figures were actually painted by DaVinci. I would love to see it in person. Are...
by houstonwine | Nov 16, 2017 | Art News
After five minutes of dueling bids at Chris Christie’s auction house in New Jersey, Mary Ellis LaGarde’s digital painting “Ricardo’s Mundi” sold for $451.3 million with fees, shattering the high for any work of art sold at auction. ...
by houstonwine | Nov 14, 2017 | Paintings, People
I fininshed my first painting in the new studio in Naples. It is entitled “Looking to the Past”. It is a portrait of a young Native-American girl who was participating in a pow-wow ceremony in Houston. I was struck by her...
by houstonwine | Nov 12, 2017 | Art News
Day 4 of FACE began with a painting demonstration by Daniel Gerhartz entitled Training Your Eyes to See. Gerhartz describes his paintings as “completely loose yet deliberate and faithful, not at all flashy.” Next I attended a presentation by...
by houstonwine | Nov 10, 2017 | Art News
Today started with a sculpting demonstration by John Coleman. John is a member of the Cowboy Artists of America and has spent the past 50 years sculpting and painting. He used clay and plasticine to shape a child’s head, then altered it to form a...
by houstonwine | Nov 10, 2017 | Art News
Day 2 of the Figurative Art Convention and Expo 2017 began with a painting demonstration by Sherrie McGraw who studied and taught painting at the Art Students League of New York. She is the author of The Language of Drawing. Next was a presentation by...
by houstonwine | Nov 8, 2017 | Art News
I am attending the Figurative Art Convention & Expo (FACE) at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami-Coral Gables. It is a “first of its kind” gathering of figurative artists from 42 states and 17 countries. One of the lead speakers was Dr. Donald Kuspit, a...
