Wildlife Art Classes by Jason Tako

Wildlife Art Classes by Jason Tako I will be teaching Wildlife Art Classes at the York Art Association, in York, PA, starting January, 2013. Classes will be every Wednesday morning starting January 9th and will run for 7 weeks. The York Art Association still has not posted it on their website yet, but I wanted you, my loyal blog followers, to be in the loop. If you are interested, please contact me for details or call the York Art Association at 717-755-0028. Hope to see you there!

Landscape Painting Workshop

Landscape Painting Workshop at the Prestigious Easton Studio and School. Are you looking to sharpen your painting skills be it in the studio or en plein air? After reading a lot of books and hearing numerous theories, are you still confused as to how to apply these concepts to create beautiful paintings? Then join me this coming April 26-28, 2013 for an intense three day landscape painting workshop at the Easton Studio and School in beautiful Easton, Maryland. I'll help you cut through all the clutter and confusion and show you the fundamentals of solid landscape painting and how these concepts can help you develop your own style. There will be lectures, demonstrations of the concepts, critiques, tips on how to continue to grow as an artist, and you will create your own painting using the concepts you have learned. The cost is $400.00 per student. We will meet each day from 9am-4pm with a lunch break. Space is limited so hurry and sign up. Go to http://www.eastonstudioandschool.com/Workshops.html or contact me at luke_tako@yahoo.com for more information.

Waterfowl Festival this November 9-11

I will be exhibiting some of my latest work at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland this November 9-11. If you are a lover of wildlife and landscape art, or an outdoor enthusiast, then the Waterfowl Festival is the place for you. Some of the top wildlife and landscape artists will be exhibiting their work there. Please mark your calendars for this great event. http://www.waterfowlfestival.org/

Evening Sheep, oil on linen panel, 11"x14"

During a plein air event in Vermont, I saw this barn and had to paint it. It was not yet sunset but the mountain behind me had long since blocked the sun from this scene. Given this limitation, I decided to leave out any livestock and focus in getting the barn and the hills in. I was fairly happy with the painting and decided to exhibit it during the competition. While it received good reviews I felt it still needed something else to make it an even better painting.

I brought the painting home and showed it to my wife Becky and expressed my thoughts. She looked at it, and after some contemplation said it needed some sheep. I then remembered how I had thought of putting sheep in but let go of the idea due to the rapidly diminishing light. Within a few minutes I had carefully blocked in the sheep and was very pleased with the results. My beautiful wife has saved more than a few paintings over the years.

Like most of my paintings, this one was painted with a limited palette of Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White, applied to Belgium Linen mounted on a laminated birch wood panel, materials of the highest museum-grade archival quality. The bulk of the painting was completed en plein air in about an hour and a half. Minor adjustments, as well as the sheep were added later in the studio. The hills of Vermont are filled with beauty and a feeling of simpler times long past, as this painting forever captures.

Evening Sheep
Oil on linen panel, 11"x14"
$890.00. Contact Bucks County Gallery of Fine Art to inquire 215-862-5272.

The Addition, oil on linen panel, 11"x14"

This is a plein air painting I did up in Vermont. I was driving toward a wetland area that I had spotted the previous day when I saw this barn in the distance. At first I snapped some photos with my telephoto lens with the intention of quickly moving on, but then decided to try to get closer. This can be a challenge since many times a barn like this may be deep inside the private property of owners who may not be home. But I lucked out on this one, the barn was right off a side road, so I set up to paint.

It was a mostly cloudy day which worked nice for this type of scene. You see, the barn faced north, and on a sunny day the face of the barn would have been silhouetted from the southern sun, and the painting would not have worked. I took about two hours to paint this, with some slight modifications made later. I used my typical palette of just four pigments, Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White to complete this painting.

I called this painting "The Addition" because of the interesting white siding on the lower right. I'm not sure if this was just a siding job or if they added on a another section to an already existing structure. Either way, I love old barns like this. They are a testament to a way of life that is rapidly disappearing, the family farm, the small, independent family business. I'm glad that some people still hold on to this spirit, as this beautiful plein air painting shows.

The Addition
Oil on linen panel, 11"x14"
$890

Hillside Hay Bales, oil on panel, 6"x8"

This was the first painting I did during Plein Air Vermont. The state of Vermont has so many areas of beauty that it can be challenging to finally settle on something. I painted this small because the clouds were moving in and out and I felt I had better paint fast. These sky condition created that very challenging change of light where you have thick clouds that completely block the sun, then perfectly clear skies that almost blind you because your pupils are wide open from the dark overcast. I did move a couple trees and hay bales around to make the composition work better. But just sitting on this hillside with a brush in hand was an incredible feeling that I wanted to share.

This painting will be displayed at the legendary Bennington Center for the Arts in Bennington, Vermont until mid-December. If you are interested in having this beautiful little painting in your collection, let me know and I'll put you in touch with "The Bennington."

Hillside Hay Bales,
oil on panel, 6"x8"
$390, framed. Contact Jason at luke_tako@yahoo.com or at 717-814-1391 to inquire

I'll be at Plein Air Vermont

This next week I will be participating in the 2nd Annual Plein Air Vermont Competition, from September 4th through September 9th. The event takes place in North Bennington, Vermont, and will include some fantastic artists and artwork. I hope to be able to see you there. http://pleinair-vermont.com/

Late Summer
9"x12" oil on linen panel
$790, contact Jason at luke_tako@yahoo.com to inquire.