My Painting On RV Magazine Cover

Here is my painting on a national magazine cover that I promised in my last Blog. The scene is one I happened on in one of the Escapees RV Parks in Tennessee a few years ago. I had my camera near the door but the scene was developing so rapidly I didn't have time to open the door; I had to shoot it through the screen. Even Photoshop can't remove the screen (at least I couldn't) so I decided to paint it. A few months ago I offered Escapees, a large International RV Club, first rights for a cover and they jumped on it. At first they planned to use it on their Sept/Oct issue but to my surprise they chose to use it on their 31st anniversary July/Aug issue. They also gave me credit at the bottom of the cover as well as on the Contents page which was very nice. The crazy part is that one of the ladies had a white parrot on her shoulder which first caught my attention but by the time I finished the painting I had forgotten all about that. There was so much going on in the painting anyway I decided to leave the parrot out.
They want to see some more of my work so I'm now working on a campfire scene in the Arizona Desert. Also I am now looking for other markets to sell one time publishing rights of this painting. I will have this 18"x 24" Oil painting on display in my booth at the Mammoth Lakes Art Fair the last weekend of this month. Later I will make full size Giclee` prints on canvas available by special order and smaller ones on paper as well. Ever onward!

If you would like to be included on my mailing list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website where you may view other works of mine. © Ernie Kleven, All Rights Reserved

Double Primary Palette

As I promised in my last Blog here is Jack White's "Double Primary Palette" which I have used for several years, the use of which has kept the colors in my paintings bright and vibrant. There is nothing more discouraging to an artist than to be mixing several colors for just the right hue only to have the color suddenly become muddy. Sometimes this happens on the painting itself if you are painting wet on wet. You'll sometimes see this on paintings that seem dull and lifeless.

I contacted Jack for permission to share this with you and he being the generous and outstanding person that he is, granted it without hesitation. The critical part of this palette which Jack discovered after much research is that those base colors he selected include other primary colors within them. For example Phalo blue has Yellow in it and Lemon Yellow has Blue in it so when you mix the two you get a pure Green. In fact you can create any number of Green hues with this palette.

In case the type is not clear in the photos here are the base colors: Ultramarine Blue (warm), Phalo Blue (cool), Alizarin Crimson (cool), Cadmium Red Light (warm), Cadmium Yellow (warm), Lemon Yellow (cool), & white. Just double click on the picture for a larger view. If you have any questions email me.

Some of you may remember in a previous post that I told you I had a national magazine interested in a painting of mine for their cover. They planned on publishing it in their Sept/Oct issue but surprised me by using it in their special 31st Birthday July/Aug issue. I will include a picture of it in my next post.

If you would like to be included on my mailing list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website where you may view other works of mine.

North Star Art Fair Completed

WOW! What a beautiful location for an art show. I had a corner site on the skating rink surrounded by trendy stores and condos. I had my panels set up in a square so I could come out from either side. This didn't work as well as I had hoped because I couldn't see the people as they looked at my paintings in front and not all of them were willing to walk through the inside. That means I have a new plan for the next show in Mammoth Lakes at the end of August.

I did discover that people are interested in my painting pallette which holds the 3 primary colors plus white from which I create every other color in my paintings. The former State Artist of Texas, Jack White, researched and created the "Double Primary Pallette" - a warm & cool selection of each primary color - red, blue, & yellow. With these special oils you can mix any together without the colors becoming muddy as is true of some other pallettes. This is why my paintings are always bright and pure of color. I may do my next Blog with a picture diagram of how this works.

While at the North Star Art Fair we camped on the Truckee River and grandaughters, Kayla, Sharona, and their families joined us over the 4th of July. We have now moved on to the Mammoth Lakes area and are staying in a Forest Service Campground called Glass Creek where we have spent many wonderful times with the family over the past 40 years. I have set up the Directv dish and the Hughesnet dish for the Internet so I'm just going to kick back while getting ready for the next show. Hope you are all enjoying your summer as well.

If you would like to be included on my mailing list please email me at ernie@erniekleven.com. Also you may click on http://www.erniekleven.com/ to go directly to my website where you may view other works of mine.