Friday, May 31, 2013

Cumberland 3



Same farm, different view. The rabbits were having fun and the fog was stunning.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Cumberland 2


I see this land in my sleep. I have been back to this farm for three years now. For some reason it has always been like deja vu. It reminds me of a place nearby my home, but a little different. I know it from another time. It's so nice when there's no need to go through the "first date" and just get straight through to the relationship. That's how I feel about the farm.
I'll post another one tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Thursday, May 23, 2013

at the river


I continue to adjust my new palette. Trips to the river help me look more closely. I take notes of missing sticks and return to the studio and find possible colors that suit. I do like the new arrangement. It helps me think better.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

reorganization of pastel box


I realized (finally) that dividing warm and cool / light and dark has been the way I approach a painting. So I finally decided to reorganize my palette. The columns of the far right and left are the grays, which I used to group together. As I use it I may reorganize the sticks, add or subtract. I ramped up the lights and darks when I noticed that my palette was heavy in the middle and too light on the ends.
What spurred this on? I noticed so many sticks in my box were used little and it didn't really suit the way I think- warm /cool.
My big question is pinks and magentas. Sometimes they seems just fine in cools sometimes in warms. As I say the sorting will continue.... maybe I just have too many pinks.
Have you had the urge to reorganize your palette or box? Why?
This is the trial run painting from the reorganization.

Monday, May 20, 2013

poetry

moonlight

newbury haystacks in moonlight
Dwight William Tryon shows the spirit of night. And of morning.
mid-summer moonrise

a misty morning



My favorite quote by him that I keep in my studio is, "The less imitation, the more suggestion and hence more poetry." 

Poetry steps forward.

Friday, May 17, 2013

brewing ideas

As I think about the Mountain Maryland Plein Air event in a week and a half I Like to begin to wrap my head around the location. For a distant location I arrive a few days early and "study." For a place like Cumberland, I take visits (2 1/2 hours away) and paint, browse old photos and just think. This particular view has always resonated to my senses ad while I can't use this small painting, it gives me ideas.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

plein air clouds, three different days




Fun with clouds. All three were done in the field and brought back to the studio. There I simplified each just a tiny bit while seeing each as an abstraction rather than clouds.
Here is a link to one of my past posts with tips on painting clouds.

Monday, May 13, 2013

underpainting methods, once again

watercolor underpainting with pastel on top
 I have been playing with my underpainting methods as part of my quest for luminescence. I find that certain methods suit different ideas or moods. Not surprisingly the color underneath is the biggest factor with a close second comes the tactile nature of the surface that allows for a different stroke and blending. The sanded paper (Uart 400) has a bouncy layer for the last stroke to rise on top and vibrate with the others. The pastel toned paper is nice to the touch- soft and velvety, but the risk of mud is greater. I may like it better in the studio where my thought and planning is greater. Plein air is more about feeling and responding quickly.

That reminds me of a wonderful quote by one of my young students. We were out on the field plein air painting. He asked me, "Is it OK if I just sit and feel and smell the air, look and paint?" Now there is a young painter who gets it!
pastel underpainting on hand toned pastel paper

Saturday, May 11, 2013

student work

Aviva, age 9

Hope, age 13

Jennie, age 12
I am fortunate work with 3 talented young artists (ages 9, 12, 13. ) Just look at their recent still life work!
I wish I could remember the exact quote from Aviva today. After looking at many different artist's still life paintings (with flowers) we were talking about the differences. It went something like, "Why do people want to paint it realistic with so many details? They could just take a photograph. It has no soul."

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

beach and clouds




oil, 12 x12
A little trip to the beach in the spring inspired this painting. What you take out is just as important as what you leave in the painting.

PS I have a whole new selection of my skies on display at the Waverly Street Gallery this month. The reception for the show is Friday evening. Come if you can!

Monday, May 6, 2013

sunrise from the parking garage

6x6 pastel study
Skies are fascinating, aren't they? I was parked on the top of a mall parking garage waiting for the sunrise. It came with these glorious little clouds. Within about ten minutes the sky was covered with the fast moving clouds. The weather man called it "a maritime cloud."  Another good reason for all my constant memory works..I was able to draw on the image saturating my brain..
I leave you now with a new quote. Just before the master painter Claude-Baptiste-Camille Corot died he said,  
"I go on hoping that there will be painting in heaven." 

Now there is a man I understand!


Thursday, May 2, 2013

color choices

pastel study, 9x14
On Saturday I was working with a group of students and we were talking about color choices. They wanted to know...'why did I choose that? what color is underneath?" I could answer the questions and I did, but more importantly one must always realize that color is a very personal thing. We don't all "see" it the same way. Also, the color you choose is about making a painting- a vision. Duplicating what you see is not the goal. Creating a special reality that has mystery, that's my goal.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

beach clouds

oil on wood, 6x12
More cloud studies and a quote.

"That landscape painter who does not make his skies a very material part of his composition, neglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids." 
The sky is the source of light in Nature. It governs everything."
  John Constable


And inspiration from Constable about  J.M.W. Turner...
...Turner has outdone himself; he seems to paint with tinted steam, so evanescent and so airy.

oh to do that!