Joseph Melancon

Suncoast Art Tour

2012-02-24T11:37:00.002-08:00

I am preparing to be on this studio tour and would love for you to attend.

Classes I teach

2012-01-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

My teaching schedule has been speeding up lately. I have new classes going on at Art Center Sarasota, Art Center Manatee and Longboat Key Center for the Arts.

Longboat Key Center for the Arts

MASTER CLASS SERIES

Not everyone can commit to a month long course session. Our Master Class series addresses this with one day to one week Master Classes that will excite, challenge, engage and delight your creative sensibilities. We’ve booked the "masters" in and outside of our area to bring you experienced and exciting instructors to enjoy as well as to improve your creative and expressive abilities.

JOSEPH MELANCON

An Expressive Approach to Painting Nature

Bldg 300 Studio 1
10 am – 4 pm
$165 for each two day session

P12PT202 Monday, January 16, 2012 - Tuesday, January 17, 2012
P12PT203 Monday, February 20, 2012 - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
P12PT204 Monday, March 19, 2012 - Tuesday, March 20, 2012

presents
Joseph will teach you how to choose a subject for your painting, compose, design, identify light sources, paint shadows and create volume and texture in a free and expressive style. Group and individual critiques along with demonstrations will help you clarify the visual language being taught. You will have the opportunity to interpret natural landscapes, water, architecture and/or street scenes for your painting. Some painting experience is required.

Keeton's Office & Art Supply
presents
Joseph Melançon

Landscapes - Loose & Expressive

(Choice of Medium - Acrylics or Oils)

Workshop

Jan 27, 2012

$65.00 per student

Lunch included

9:am - 3.00pm

Join Joseph and become inspired to infuse feeling, substance, resonance and great color in your paintings. Break out and go where you haven't gone before with your painting.

Workshop Location
817 Manatee Avenue West
Downtown Bradenton
941-747-2995
www.keetonsonline.com

2011-02-13T12:42:00.001-08:00

"ROTHENBACH REFLECTIONS" Painting demonstration

2010-12-08T21:21:00.000-08:00

Painting Demonstration of Florida Landscape

While gathering together my supplies for a public painting demonstration at Art Center Sarasota where I teach year round I decided to take this photo I shot recently for my subject. It is a gully that drains into a lake at Rothenbach Park just outside Sarasota. The late afternoon light reflecting on the water with contrasting darker areas of grass and trees framing the scene made an arresting composition. I also was attracted to the distant woodland across the lake with pastel grayed colors.

Step 1

I prefer working on an easel rather than flat on a table. My canvas is 12x16 toned with an orange acrylic. I use most any warm acrylic color like Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone / Nickel Azo Gold, orange or Red Oxide. I determined the center of the photo and the canvas to start and put a dot there with a #7 round bristle brush. I use a mixture of dark blue and red to make a neutral dark color and draw the lighted opening in the scene very quickly. Next I blocked in the dark trees framing the scene. I toned the grassy gully banks with a lighter wash. I established the far side of the lake (horizon) and the tree line with the same lighter wash. Now I have the entire scene blocked in with all the same color but in different values.

Step 2

Next came the light areas of water reflections, lake and sky with pale yellow, blue and green. On the right I suggested palmettos in a gray green using a rigger and in the foreground put in a patch of light hitting the grass. Squinting at the photo and canvas I check my values. I use the same procedure whether using oil or acrylic. At this stage I work fast and loose with a larger brush. My colors and values will change as the painting progresses. Every part of the scene will be adjusted in placement, value several times before the picture is finished. I explained that I didn’t have an exact preconceived image in my head when I started. I alter shapes, colors etc. according to what I think the painting needs. My reference photo or my viewing the actual scene is only a guide that allows me much leeway in the studio or in plein air.

With talking and answering questions from the viewers concerning materials and techniques and such, this is as far as the demo went. I promised I’d finish in my studio and put it on this blog. The next steps were in my studio.

Step 3

I adjusted shapes and colors of the far trees, darkened the far edge of the lake and lightened the lake surface. By defining the shapes of the puddle water and building up contrast I worked toward getting a reflective effect. Sometimes water takes a lot of trial and error. Good reference photos are a must. If you rely on memory it can come out very unconvencing.

Step 4

I added branches and moss to define the negative shapes in the sky holes. These take a lot of painting back and forth to get pleasing relationships. I adjusted the light hitting the grasses at the near edge of the lake and added more ground and grass texture and moss.

Step 5

Final “ROTHENBACH REFLECTIONS”

I worked more darks into the foreground to increase contrast and lightened the sunlit grasses near the lake and in the foreground. I eliminated some of the puddle water but maybe should not have. There are times when I’ll leave the bright preliminary colors and push the intensity till the end for more drama or excitement like the third step. Other times I end up going for subtlety. Most students are somewhat perplexed with the idea of working with no drawing. It does take some drawing experience and will. I think of it like drawing on a chalkboard because you can erase easily when it’s wet or you can paint corrections. For many years I worked in watercolor which I almost always did a careful drawing because of the unforgiving nature of the medium. Acrylic and oil make it a lot easier.

Smile Joseph, you're on your blog

I hope you enjoyed this demo. I will be doing more.

Happy Painting!

My class starting in January at Art Center Sarasota is already full but they are taking a waiting list for a possible second class. Call them 941-365-2032

My latest Work

2010-11-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

                                                               A LITTLE FURTHER

       The above painting is acrylic on canvas 30"x40" and is a paint over. It originally was a piece that I did back in 2008 and I never liked it.   It was too generic and stiff.   Recently I decided to do something with some of my older paintings like painting over them to bring them up to the level of work I'm doing now. I dug out my old reference photos and selected the better parts of several of them to re-energize the painting.
        I selected trees, colors, design elements and altered the mood of the scene. I put more distance in the background and jazzed up the color. The only thing left of the original is the signature. I'm sorry I didn't photograph it before I started because I forgot that I had lost the original in a computer crash. I may tweak it a bit more...we'll see.

This is also a paint over. I mainly softened the trees and put in a more interesting sky. It still seems a little unfinished. Being acrylic I find the paint texture is not as interesting as it would be in oil. Generally I add drama in my interpretations of a scene. This one is definitely restrained. Yet to be titled it is 10x18 on wc board.

These next 5 paintings were done at the 4TH ANNUAL PLEIN-AIR BARTOW in Bartow, FL.

Bridge 1, 9x12 oil

This bridge was in Mary Holland Park and as usual with my first painting it took me forever to decide what I was going to paint. Some people don't like this type of composition with all that space in the bottom 3 fifths of the rectangle. But I do and so thats the way I painted it. All that space emphasizes the subject. Notice I graded the value of the grass from the distance to the foreground.

Banana Red, 9x12

Bridge 2, 9x12

UPSTAIRS 8x10

This little piece, UPSTAIRS, was done sitting down which is unusual for me. I had been standing, like I usually do both in studio and out doors the last two days but needed a rest. Or maybe it's age catching up with me. I did this for the quick draw but it ended up winning a prize in the main show. UPSTAIRS and BANANA RED are currently in the show at the Bartow Courthouse and the 3 bridge paintings are in Carolyn's Gallery in Bartow about 3 blocks away.

This next group of paintings I did as demos for the
FLORIDA WATERCOLOR SOCIETY 2010 Annual show, Convention and Trade show.

The first two were for the trade show on Friday and the general demos on Saturday.

TWILIGHT REFLECTIONS 3, 15x29

TWILIGHT REFLECTIONS 4, 29x15

TARPON SPRINGS DOCK 11x1

This next group of acrylic paintings I did as demos for the:

FLORIDA WATERCOLOR SOCIETY 2010 Annual show, Convention and Trade show.

The first two were for the trade show on Friday and the general demos on Saturday.
These next two I did as demos in my workshop down on the docks in Tarpon Springs. Fortunately one of my students in Sarasota liked this one enough to buy it.

AT REST 9x12

This old wreck was on the left side of the above painting. I invented the sky color simply because I liked it.

CAPTN. SCOTT B 11x14

Now this one I painted for myself after my students left. When the light failed I finished it in my studio a few days later. Good reference photos are indispensable.

I will be teaching 3 sessions of my ongoing classes at ART CENTER SARASOTA. I call my class The Acrylic Cafe. They are offered several times a year.

JOSEPH MELANÇON - Acrylic Café
3 sessions Dec 2, 9 & 16   Thu
10am - 1pm     $85 / $95

My classes start again on January 6 for six weeks

Thur 10 am to 1 pm
call 941-365-2032 for more info and to register
My Studio 941-924-9889

My next demo at the ART CENTER SARASOTA

Dec 5, 2010 2-4 pm

I'll be posting more stuff soon.

September Newsletter

2010-09-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the FWS Convention this past weekend. Highlights were.....

Joseph Melancon

2010-09-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog and stop back anytime for news and updates on tutoring and workshops as well as images of some of my recent work.