The Creative Energy of Susan Cowan

For many years, I have enjoyed Susan's creative
energy and here is a small sampling of her
amazing work.

In addition to her painting, Susan offers travel

adventures for artists, with Lee Baughman.

Speaking from experience, they offer a rewarding,
fun trip with great instruction. I travelled to Kauai
with them and had the best time! Susan also
teaches at Clark College and The Village Gallery.

See her website http://www.art-adventures.com

for great travel photos and more of her art work.

Cherries Jubilee 1

Cherries Jubilee 7

Acrylic on cradled hardboard

12" x 12"

During the past several weeks, my goal has been to move
forward with ideas about how to create a dynamic flow of
energy in still lifes and other subject matter.

My friend Susan Cowan gave me sheets of her marbled
paper. After exploring ways to design and redesign the
shapes I liked in the marbled paper, I applied them to one
of my still life paintings.

Check out Susan's paintings on her website:
http://www.art-adventures.com/gallery.html

Thanks Susan for the inspiration.

Cherries 8

Cherries 8
Acrylic on Cradled Hardboard
12" x 12"

More fun with cherries and shadow designs.

Cherries 7

Cherries 7

Acrylic on Cradled Hardboard

12" x 12"

Returning to one of my favorite subjects and working in a
larger format, gives me more room to play with shadows.

Before and After - Compare These Two Paintings

Ken's Fruit Tart Improved
Working on other paintings and having some time to revisit
"Ken's Fruit Tart", helped me to see that it needed more color.
I like the richer reds in the raspberries and darker blues in the
black berries. The "Before" painting, with less intense color is the
same as my last post in October. The other is the "After" version.
Sometimes it just takes time to see the painting in a "new light".

Ken's Fruit Tart

Ken's Fruit Tart

Acrylic on Cradled Ampersand Board

10" x 10"

Now that autumn is here, this is one of my fond memories
from this summer.

Fruit tarts, with fresh Oregon peaches, blackberries,
raspberries and strawberries, are a symbol of summer to me.
Who (of the award winning bakers in Portland) would earn my
vote for the best and inspire me to paint a fruit tart?
Ken's Artisan Bakery created a delicious tender crust,
light, creamy, vanilla filling and topped it off with an amazingly
artistic arrangement of fruit.
It looked like a good subject to paint. After taking
reference photos and enjoying the flavor, it earned my vote
for the Best Fruit Tart of Summer 2009. (It amazed
me, that this yummy treat made it all the way home and
through a photo session without being eaten!)

Thanks to Ken Forkish, owner of Ken's Artisan Bakery for
giving me the inspiration for this painting.

If you are in the Portland area, you might stop by Ken's

or check out his website:

Ken's Artisan Bakery

338 NW 21st AvePortland, OR 97209-1102
(503) 248-2202

http://www.kensartisan.com/

Alisha - Step 6 (Final Step)

Alisha Step 6

On the top menu bar, I right clicked "Image". Then

Image>Rotate> Flip Horizontal was used to flip the image.

Back to the right side of the screen under Effects, I used
Brush Strokes> Sumi-e to create the darks. If you click on

Sumi-e, it will give you options to darken and change length of

strokes.

At this point I will study this composition, before making
any more changes. It is a good place to stop for now.

Have fun experimenting with these different Adobe Photoshop
Elements Effects and editing tools.

Alisha - Step 5 Soften Light on Door

Alisha Step 5

The Clone Tool (on the left side of the screen) was used to
select a medium value in the door (and with no perfection

in mind), softened the bright light on the door.

You can see on the right side of the screen under Effects,

the Distort>Glass used on the background.

Alisha Step 4 Blur Part of Background

Alisha Step 4 (Click on image above to enlarge)

Using the Polygon Tool, I selected the background area
around Alisha. Selecting the Filters (on the top menu bar)
or the Effects (on the right side of the
screen) I clicked on Blur> Motion Blur.
You will see in the next post how I used Distort> Glass to
demonstrate one more way to use Effects for the background.