Monday, September 29, 2014

be willing to sacrifice


I was taught that the most difficult decisions are between two good things. Thus when you are painting you have to always be willing to sacrifice.  Nothing is precious. So what if one passage in the paintings is beautiful. Does the whole painting work? Are you tip-toeing around to keep one piece?
The answer was yes....tiptoeing and going nowhere!
Now the painting has changed incredibly so in search of that feel I want. I was tormented by this painting. It has been 4.5 months of frustration. Finally, I sanded it down and then ..... I threw paint at it. I mixed up a color that I would usually not choose from my more neutral earth colors.
"So there, you nasty painting!" I thought when I stuck it to the painting.
Next, in a frenzy, I scrubbed a ton more paint on it.  After a few hours of scrubbing I felt better and so did the painting!
Sacrifice the good for hope of great.

I have learned that when I paint a specific place with intention of making that specific place I get tied up in knots.

Anyone else have similar stories?

Monday, September 22, 2014

Potomac Gorge and making use of old paintings

pastel over oil, 32"x37"
 A huge sheet of gatorboard (pure plastic, not like gatorfoam) was sitting in my studio. It had a base of marble dust with gesso and some pastel on it, but the pastel was not worth keeping. I rubbed it down, then used gamsol to reduce it. Now it had a resemblance to the Potomac gorge, Great Falls, MD. So I started with thinned oil paint and because of the rubbed pastel underneath, beautiful neutrals developed. Next, I layered those with fresh pastel. The Potomac Gorge is a place I visit often..a majestic place. I looked back in my files at paintings I had done of the gorge and other photos I had taken. I wanted to see the shape of the major land forms.
The most important thing was- I felt that nothing was precious. I was totally free. I have to remember that for next time.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

James McNeill Whistler and the Case for Beauty


nocturne, James McNeill Whistler
 Whistler was drawn to the hazy views of the Thames that he would walk through daily and could see from his balcony.
"They are lovely, those fogs, and I am their painter."

A fellow blogger, Sam (of SamArtDog blog) alerted me to the fabulous Whistler documentary on PBS. You, of course, may watch it online. Please do, before it comes down off their site. Here's the link.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Mary Cassatt's original pastel boxes on display


The National Gallery of Art has just begun to display some of  Mary Cassatt's original pastel boxes in conjunction with the exhibition Degas/Cassatt.

"Presumably in 1920, Cassatt gave these boxes of pastels to ten-year-old Electra Webb Bostwick, the granddaughter of Louisine Havemeyer, an art collector and dear friend of the artist. Years later, Bostwick recalled, "Not realizing the value of the pastels I wasted lots of them on playing and swapping them with my friends."
Donated to the Shelburne Craft School in Vermont in the early 1940s, these boxes were brought to the attention of the Gallery by conservators at the Shelburne Museum. As a result, the pastel boxes have recently been acquired by the Gallery's Art Materials Collection and Study Center, a permanent home for artists' materials, technical information, and trade literature. Having Mary Cassatt's actual art supplies will enable Gallery conservators and art historians to further their analysis and understanding of the artist's process, and of the materials themselves."
NGA

They will be on display till October 5th.

Monday, September 15, 2014

chincoteague and James McNeill Whistler

21 x21 pastel

"To say to the painter that Nature should be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano. " James McNeill Whistler

Don't you love that quote?
I was happy that this painting sold at the show. I think I will take this concept to the studio next.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Four small morning studies and a Thomas Cole quote


7:00am

7:45am

8:20am

9:10am
Here are four of yesterday's small morning studies. It's interesting how the more studies I do the freer I become. The painting develops into its own. It's truer to the feel and less need for description.
I will take these back home and percolate.
I end with a quote from a letter written by Thomas Cole to Asher B Durand.
He explained that her rarely succeeded in painting scenes "immediately on returning from them" because he had to "wait for time to draw a veil over the common details."

Thursday, September 11, 2014

chincotegue plein air-underpainting

This is the underpainting of the marshes I see off my deck here in Chinocteague. I am here painting at my favorite place in the world for the Chincoteague Plein Air Festival. I love this event as it is so relaxed, with no competition. I booked myself into my favorite hotel with my favorite view. I intend to just paint from my balcony the whole time and yes that is allowed!!!! How fun!
I decided to post this watercolor underpainting. It's large for my plein air size-21"x21". I like the underpainting and it makes me reticent to dive in and add more. I did it late yesterday so I am letting it rest and allowing me to think before moving forward. "Incrementally" will be the key.
Tomorrow I will post a series of my 6"x6" sky studies.

Monday, September 8, 2014

tip on how to do a watercolor underpainting

I continue to show fields from Washington. Both of these were done on location. The larger of the two has a watercolor underpainting.
The most important thing to remember when doing an underpainting is that value matters. That way you are not just covering up the beauty of the watercolor. You can experiment with colors but always make the values in you underpainting correct.


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

learning what to sacrifice


The value of memory sketches lies in the fact that so much is forgotten! In time we must learn to leave out in our finished pictures these things which we now leave out through ignorance or forgetfulness. We must learn what to sacrifice.”
Dwight William Tryon