Westerberg Fine Art

Really honored to be included in the power-packed exhibition ! Opening April 7th – 23rd co curated by Ken Harman and Rod Luff at Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco Here is my contribution

“Lucy in the Study” 8×10 oil on moleskin sketchpad

Here is the flier for the show!

The Paris Seminar
I am really excited to announce  with a handful of other Artists I have been selected to walk in the footsteps of my heroes. We would travel to Paris  where we will copy in museums, learn from curators and educators in the field, and paint together and study pictorial composition and humanities, with the goal of reaching the next level of mastery in their work. We would be staying and studying at the Grand Chamiere Atelier. The Seminar would run from August 27th – September 3rd.

To fund the trip Sean Foster and Vanessa Rothe have coordinated two shows one in Laguna Beach California at the Laguna Beach College of Art and Design  April 8th and the other in New York at the historical Salmagundi Club. April 28th. The cost is of the  7 day trip is approximately $4250.00.

To raise the money I will be showing “Black Kimono” 30×17 $4800.00 at the Laguna Beach Exhibition and “Me and Lucy” $5500.00 24×18 at the Salmagundi Club Exhibition

Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing either painting or if you would just like to contribute I’ve set up a pal Pal button below.  Thank you !

Here is the catalog to the whole show….

“Black Kimono”
30×17 oil on panel $4800.
(Awarded “Best of Show” in the Bold Brush Painting Competition for January 2016)

“Detail”

“Me and Lu” 24×18 oil on panel

For more detailed information about the trip click here
PARIS SEMINAR
Here is a break down of the costs.
Flight $1,500 from LAX to Charles de Gaulle Paris-    
Hotel $1,700-  Sun Aug 28 thru Sept 3rd , 7 nights  approx $200-250
Model fee and Studio fee total $250- for 5 days at the Atelier Grand Chaumiere   
Transportation and Museum pass total $200
Food Budget $800-

~ Thank You ~

Super excited to announce my painting “Black Kimono” 30×17 oil on panel was awarded Best of Show in the Bold Brush Painting Competition! Thank you to the judge Derek Harrison  and everyone @ Bold Brush

Working on the basics today in class, stressing a solid under painting and thin versus thick with almost no color. The darks are Raw Umber and Ultramarine Blue and the lights are the same with the addition of white. Notice how the effect of light is there and the images reads pretty well although there isn’t any real rendering of the individual features? It is all about the big shape. Once the light and dark pattern is in place and the values grouped you can add as much  or as little detail as you want it will read, it’s all about the big picture.

In my classes I stress keeping it simple, this start from a while ago is a good example of that. With these few lines I have everything I need to build on. Proportion, Rhythm, and composition. The more lines I put down the more confusing it gets so I like to keep it as simple as possible at the start of a painting.

The easier it is to absorb information in a book the better.  For me a book is valuable because of what it contains, if it remains closed it isn’t helping me learn. For this reason I have my instructional books spiral bound. I get STAPLES or KINKOS to cut the spine off and spiral bind it for around $2.50.
This makes the book MUCH easier to manage.  I can put it on my easel and I don’t have to fight to have the book stay open to see the illustrations I want to learn from.

I also do this with smaller sized books like George Bridgeman’s book on Life Drawing  and  John Vanderpoel’s The Human Figure, two of my all time favorites.  I like to have these two books with me when go to drawing workshops. Often in these type of situations I like to sketch from the books when the model is at break or if I get to the workshop early.  Spiral binding the books allows me to easily hold it in my hand while drawing with the other.

The Bridgman book is more for construction/Anatomy and the drawings in it are mainly linear.  The Vanderpoel book is more about the refinement of anatomy, most of the drawings are tonal and the Charles Bargue book is all about simplifying complex forms.  It is both linear and tonal.  All three of these books I HIGHLY recommend.  I however cannot end this post without recommending probably the best instructional author of them all: Andrew Loomis.   Head and Hands and Figure Drawing for all its Worth probably his best works cover just about everything but the strength of his books lies in his finishes.  He has the best looking finished drawings.  These books have been out of print for a while but recently they have been reprinted and you can now order them from Amazon or wherever.I have included associate links for each of the books below. Enjoy!

There is a new  Vermeer book out and it is glorious. The book is Titled “VERMEER” the complete works by Karl Schutz. 258 pages $110 and many detailed reproductions and of his paintings.  When opened the book stretches almost 2 feet across. There are even a few fold out detail pages. I am very impressed with the quality of the reproductions of this book and have been staring at it ever since I received it. Below are some images so you can preview a little of the book and see the scale. If you ever wanted a book on Vermeer this is the one. You can click the Amazon link to order. (amazon affiliate link)

(the pencil is for scale)

Some shots of the show…

Some close ups of some of my favorites…

December 12th – January 16th Santa Clarita Studio ~an exhibit chronicling my journey into that mysterious and elusive thing we call Color. My studio will be open by appointment leading up to the opening on Dec 12th more soon…