Sometimes the life of an artist has one living in a different world - one of getting up each day and facing the easel and the next thing you know, the day is done and another forthcoming. I know that I am blessed to be my one boss and choose how to spend my time - and I spend it painting.  I have never learned to type, only know how to use the computer to read email, print photos and a few other things. I rely on Jeanne to answer my correspondence, upload photos and videos, update my website, and most everything else technical. I don’t have a smartphone, just one that makes calls - no texts, no emails, just talk.

But what we have found with the video class project is that LOTS of people from all over the world are interested enough to send me comments, questions and appreciation.  So what we would like to do now is to redesign this blog and make it more a forum for interaction.  So stay tuned, folks, a new era is emerging for me.

The time has come to seriously enter the world of blogs and social media with the commitment to try to keep it up.

How the time flies!  Has it really been since June that we last posted to the blog?  A lot has happened over the Summer and Fall.  Duffy has kept very busy with his painting and the newest ones are now in the New Works Gallery.

He has also made another series of video clips in his online portrait class, continuing with the color drawing section.  Watch for them soon on YouTube or click on the videos button on his website. They should be up by next week.

With all the changes in the economy, it is natural to see changes in art galleries as a result.  Leslie Levy Fine Art, which has been a fixture on Main Street in Scottsdale for many years, closed their doors in August.  Leslie is still consulting and has a web presence for the artists she represents.  Wyland Gallery Kauai also closed this summer.

A number of galleries contacted Duffy regarding representation and he went with Jones & Terwilliger Galleries, who have two locations in Carmel, CA and one in Palm Desert, CA.  Please feel free to contact Barbara Jones or Patricia Terwilliger if you are interested in Duffy’s original paintings.  http://www.jones-terwilliger-galleries.com/Artist_Entry/opensheridan.html Toll free: 888-728-0040.

We had a wonderful trip in September.  In preparation for some commission work, we spent five days in Haifa, Israel followed by a couple of days in Paris, which was our first (and altogether-too-short!) visit.  We filled every minute of our time there with visits to the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay, food(!), boat rides on the Seine both in the day and night - the Eiffel Tour with the twinkling lights was memorable, more food(!), wandering the left bank and the Luxembourg Gardens, more food(!), shopping, wandering the Marais and Les Halles and did I mention Chocolate Mousse?  Twice?  Paris is definitely at the top of our list of places to go back and spend more time. And no, I did not gain back the weight I lost this year -all the croissants and chocolate must have been burned up by all the walking!

Visiting Haifa is always a special Pilgrimage for Baha’is as it is the World Centre of our Faith.  On the side of Mount Carmel are the beautiful Baha’i Gardens and Terraces at the Center of which is the Shrine of the Bab - focal landmark of the city.  A few miles away at Bahji near Akko is the resting place of Baha’u'llah, the Founder of the Baha’i Faith and a sacred spot for us to visit.  Photos of the Baha’i Gardens can be seen at http://www.ganbahai.org.il/en/

Another milestone - we marked our 40th Anniversary this month, which we celebrated early in Paris.

All the best,

Jeanne

We finished the next segments of the YouTube videos of Duffy’s Portrait class.  Click on the Videos button.

Section 03 Self-Portrait Set up goes over how to set up your work area so that you can always return to the same position each time you go to work on your self-portrait.

Section 04 Parts 1 and 2 show the beginning stages with the charcoal drawing.

Coming soon - adding color to the drawing

Hope you enjoy the demonstrations.  We look forward to your feedback.

Jeanne and Duffy

Self-Portrait 2008-09

Enigma in Red and Black

Duffy has finished two new paintings that are now on the website under New Works.  He has been working on the Self-Portrait off and on for the past couple of years.  A special thanks to our friend Cecil for the beautiful walking stick that he carved for Duffy.

Enigma in Red and Black is a decorative piece.  He enjoyed the challenge of painting the gold leaf background so it really looks like gold leaf and not oil paint.

Both of these paintings are available at Wyland Gallery Kauai.    http://www.wylandgallerykauai.com

Sorry it’s been so long since we updated the website.  Duffy has been very busy the past few months.  He finished his Self-Portrait and a new painting “Enigma in Red and Black.”  These were sent to Wyland Galleries Kauai for a special event in support of the United Way sponsored by Personal Financial Consultants.  He had a wonderful time over there as well as helping raise money for this worthy cause.  The gallery is having the paintings photographed this week and we will post the images as soon as we receive them.

Duffy was again honored by the Art Renewal Center with three awards in their annual ARC Salon.  He received the Chairman’s Choice award for “Head Study - Marieke with Rose” and Honorable Mention and purchase award for “Marieke with Venetian Mask.”

And the latest project we have started is the online video “class.”  He has had so many inquiries from all over the world about his painting process and just how he does it, that he has decided to show you all via You Tube video segments.  The first three short parts are online now and cover the materials and supplies he uses.  There is also a link to a list of these specific items and mail-order sources.  We hope this will be helpful.  Click on the Videos link and you can see and listen to him chat away.

All the best,

Jeanne

Duffy has added questions 4, 5 and 6 to the Q & A section.

He is working hard on finishing off the self-portrait for an event next month in Kauai.  As soon as he finishes this project and he gets back from Hawaii, he will start an online “class”.  Watch for details.

Hope you are all doing well.  Jeanne

I was asked a question the other day about overworking a painting and how is it possible not to do that.  One of the things that can happen is that a paintings may not be particularly well-conceived in the beginning.  One may have most of an idea for a composition, but not a complete idea, but you go ahead and proceed anyway before you are ready.  And so at some point during the process, your eye begins to observe problems; usually with composition or balance or color, which distorts the whole image to your eye and you lose a sense of perspective of your work.  The next thing you know, you are scraping here and repainting there until you  have ruined it.

One of the ways I have learned that helps me resolve this problem with a minimum of damage to the surface, is once I begin to have doubts about a particular aspect of the painting, I will stop and reconfigure the elements on tracing paper with oil paint.  Tracing paper accepts oil paint perfectly with no discoloration, complete workability, and it dries amazingly fast.  So I work out problems, cut the tracing paper sections out, tape them to the canvas and see how it looks.  Once I am happy with the tracing paper image, I can proceed on the canvas with confidence.  So around my studio I have dozens and dozens of little tracing paper pictures stuck on the walls!

Over the years, Duffy has received so many emails asking about his process, materials, and technical questions that he decided to add a section to the website specifically for these.  We have quite a few on file, but please feel free to email us with your questions to comments@duffysheridan.com and he will do his best to answer them.  The first one is up now about materials and supplies.

Have a great weekend!

Jeanne

Marieke With Rose

This painting recently sold at the Wyland Kauai Gallery.  This was designed as a companion piece to Marieke With Venetian Mask.  This means that the paintings are the same size and generally the same design components but facing in opposite directions but with similar appeal.

Afternoon Reflection Photo Mosaic

Here’s some more eye candy for you.  This image is made up from approximately 125 of my paintings.  The linked image is very large, so please be patient when downloading.