Eileen's notes

    Bolder colors and composition

    I’m getting bolder with my colors and my compositions.
    This is one of a series of paintings that are more abstract and have a clearer voice than many of my other oil paintings.
    I’m very pleased with this work. It’s powerful and has energy and flow. I like it.
    This is the first of three paintings [...]

Featured articles

Moving into this website

This is a new website format, based on a content management system.  That will make it easy to add new ...

Analyzing what works

I'm working on several canvases today, and also taking time to analyze what's worked best in the past. At ...

Landscape paintings

Color study, Texas wetlands

This is a color study that I began as a plein air painting in Bush Park, just outside Houston, Texas. I spent another 45 minutes in the studio, finishing it from memory with some reference photos.
Basically, I wanted to convey the beautiful colors in the grass at this time of year. Some fresh [...]

Paintings in progress

Rye Beach, in progress

I’m working from memory and photos as I paint this landscape. Unlike my previous painting, which is semi-abstract, this one is turning out more tonalist.
The canvas is 18″ x 36″ and this is an oil painting.
I’m adjusting two areas right now: The color of the sand and the way that the water gets darker [...]

Advice for artists

Design and Composition

[At left: Untitled work by Robert Rauschenberg, 1963]
About a week ago, I bought a copy of A Painter’s Guide to Design and Composition: 27 Masters Reveal Their Secrets, after skimming it at the art supply store. It’s already making a huge difference in how simple it is to compose my paintings.
The tip that made [...]