Steve Latimer Contemporary Artist

Good afternoon. Just got home from my studio work and I did complete the painting I had started last week. This has been a interesting painting from start to finish. Here are the steps to complete. 

I am pretty happy with my staying with the pastel study as my basis for the painting. The sky was changed  but overall the study served its purpose and helped with the painting, I started on the hardboard with a good sanding to prepare it for the Gesso, Gesso gives the painting a surface that will  help to hold the water color paint. I put on 3 coats of gesso and sanded each one, After the gesso the next step was 2 coats of Golden Ground. The Golden ground is the best medium I have found to hold watercolors  to a non paper surface. After sanding the Golden Ground surface I was ready to put the rolled cheese cloth covered with a clear gesso to the surface, This help create the waves in the painting. Once this was dried I then was able to cover the surface with LIquitex Modeling Paste. After this dried I completed a frame and attached to the opposite side of the painting so it would be more sturdy, Painting was probably two to 3 coats of watercolors which were varnished and then sanded. I have found with sanding the surface absorbs the colors better. Last step was some ink pencil detail and one last coat of varnish to finish the painting, Overall this painitng took alot of steps but I am very satisfied with the final results. "Seagrove" is a 24x36 painintg on hardboard with Liquidtex Paste, Watercolors, Ink Pencil. Hope you enjoyed the infomation to complete,

 Sarah is heading South this weekend to look for our house in Florida. Will update you on her trip next week. Have a blessed week/ See ya!

It is Thursday and wanted to start my blog this week. It is a bit different from my normal but I wanted to share with you steps I take on most paintings. First step is the photo I take or that is provided to me. The photo was taken last Thanksgiving when we were at Seagrove Beach in North Florida. The photo was my basis for this painting I am doing.  On this painting I also am doing a  pastel drawing because of  the color and water effects I wanted to achieve. The water is different then the photo but again I wanted to create a calm and serene drawing more then the photo. I also wanted to use pastels to capture colors I am wanting to use in the  painting study. One part of the pastel I changed in the painting study was the sky, Next is the painting study. Again I am working with colors and shapes and utilizing colors I used in the pastel to work with the study. Steps like this are important when I paint. By working with drawings, pastel studies, and watercolor studies you are able to better understand the end product you want to create and where you want you're painting to be. 

I hope to have the painting done next week but if it isn't I will show the progress and steps I am taking to complete. 

Big shout out to our military families and veterans of the armed forces. Thanks for your effort and commitment. Have a blessed and safe Memorial weekend. HOOOAH!

Hope your week is going well. Cool here this Friday. High will be 78. Got to love the spring weather while it lasts.

Ok lets get down to this painting. Title is "Road to Happiness'. Thinking on this was maybe Northern California South Carolina combo. Just a easy relaxed feeling to my state of mind. This is a 24x36 hard board panel with modeling paste, watercolor paint and ink pencils. I enjoyed the fight the sky deemed to deal out but I think I finally was able to get it right, I have enjoyed the land-scapes of farms land and rolling hills but thinking it is time to go back to the beach and paint and maybe do a pastel or two. Let's see what happens next. Enjoy your weekend and make the most if. See ya. 

Good morning to all of you in Lakeland. I hope the Mayfaire (bake by the lake)

is on your agenda for this Mothers Day weekend. I am back in Raleigh and wishing I was able to see the Maufaire and all the great art but sadly not this year. Again I wanted to give a huge thanks to everyone who came by Mitchells Coffee House last weekend, The art is up all of May so if you see something you like or see something on my web site email me at latimer1@msn.com or call 863-602-8207.

The piece you see this week was inspired by the long drive back from Lakeland to Raleigh. Driving through South Carolina and North Carolona I continued to see farm land getting ready for the spring. Fields turned over and getting ready to plant. That was the inspiration for "Spring-Farmland. Painting is 18x24 on hard board panel. Modeling paste, watercolors,graphite pencil, and watercolor pencils were used. This will complete my farm land series. Next up the beaches of Florida and North Carolina. 

Enjoy your Mothers day weekend. And again have a blessed week. See ya!

Will be in Lakeland at Mitchells Coffee House on Friday May 1, 2015 for First Friday, 5-8 PM,  with some of my paintings. I am hoping you can stop by and have a cup of joe and enjoy my art. Look forward to seeing you there.  Painting is ' Cup of Joe" watercolor on 300# cold pressed paper. Have a blessed weekend. See ya!

Sunday here and it actually has been a very nice weekend . I am finally done with all my paintings for the show in Florida at the end of the month and this is my last piece. Titled " Oasis" it is a mixed media on 300# Arches cold pressed paper. I am still wprking with the modeling paste on paper and I am enjoying the textures I am able to achieve when I paint. This piece also has colored pencil, water color pencil and gouache. 

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend and  I will have one more blog before I come to Florida, Have a blessed day. See ya!

Good morning the weekend is nearly upon us and spring has arrived. Sarah has her Tulips growing in the yard and the dogwoods are in full bloom. Great time of year in Raleigh.

Farmed Land1 was this weeks painting, I wanted to continue my Farm Land series and I am very comfortable painting in a abstract means rather then realism. As a artist the abstract painting is a extension of an artist's ability to view subjects as a window to their eye and thoughts. I want the viewer to study and see what their thought project is, and with this painting the viewer is able to do this. The painting is 16x20, on 300# Fabriano Cold Pressed Paper wiht modeling paste, frisket, and watercolor paint.

Again remember my art will be on display at Mitchells Coffee House on May 1, 2015 between 5-8 PM for First Friday and I will be there  and then they will hanging  during the month of May. Hope to see you there. 

 Have a blessed weekend and hope to see you soon. See ya!

Good afternoon everyone. Blog is early this week but I finished this peice today so wanted to share the painting and the steps to create it. 

 First of all I miss the Southwest a bunch so when ever I have a idea of the West it always goes back to the pueblo's in New Mexico and Arizona. I am fascinated by the shapes and smoothness of the buildings and have been always amazed how they were built in some of the most difficult places to get to. Unfortunately this is not a actual copy of any pueblo I know of other then what I wanted to create and show, 

 "Cliff Dwellers" had a few steps to create it so here they are. FIrst I started with a masonite panel 24x24. I needed a base of white and watercolors normally do adhere to most surfaces so I used two coats of  Golden absorbant ground white to prepare the surface, Once that dried I put on a coat of Liquitex modeling paste and used a credit card (expired) to smooth and create the surfaces on the panel. Water colors will adhere to the surace but unless it is real thick it becomes to transparent. to create the surfaces and colors on the cliff I would put color on it and then use a rag to scrub it  off leaving color on the surface. This was repeated many times to give the surface the look of rocks and cliffs with multiple colors. Shadows were created using darker palette colors. Three days of work which is  beyond my normal painting time for one piece but I am very satisfied with the finshed painting. This piece will be at MIchtell's Coffe House in May so come by and see it.

 OK thats it. Have a great week and will see you soon,