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!

make light: not white

pastel 8x9 (studio study)

underpainting for large oil 40x48

When I was teaching I noticed that sometimes my young students mistake light in a color to mean -more pale or a tint. But light must be made by color rather than just altering the color with more white. It may not be "exactly" what you see but instead it is a choice you make to create the feel of the light and the concept. Making value changes can get the painting to read space and distance, but making the light, takes color.

To me, the best way to learn to see and feel color is to paint the same landscape every day. It is then you notice the ways light works, her nuances.

And now for one of this week's plein air studies.

How many do I have of this view? Let me guess. The number must be at least around 200. I love the fact that learning is boundless and will happen each day I am there. 

experimenting with underpainting

12x24 oil on wood

6x6 oil on wood

I have this idea, yet I haven't a clue how to do it. Somehow I think the secret lies in the underpainting. That leads me to my experimenting. I am planning, rubbing, scraping, scratching. Both these underpaintings are in step two of setting up the colors. Both are on wood...if I don't like it I can sand it off. I want my work to return to the looser nature of my pastels.  To feel light and freedom
On another note, it has been so long since I have been in the field, but the good news is here......starting tomorrow I am able to drive again!!!!! YAY! I can't lift my plein air stuff on my back...yet. but I know plenty of places that I can paint right near the car! I am so excited I can cry! This has been a LONG trip and to tell you the truth it has changed my life for the better. You wonder how can having most of your right lung removed change for the better???? Well, I slowed down and have learned to appreciate differently. I learned to ask for help (something that was taboo.) I learned to trust my painting head in a new way when I had to work only from memory (while painting bedside.) Those are the few things I can write here.... I feel the world opening up again.

obsessions with color

Recently I ordered a new (for me) color from Gamblin- radiant turquoise. It's an opaque color that I fell in love with immediately. I want to plan a painting just to use it. So I am beginning my studies of what I can do with it. Here I have mixed it with hansa yellow light ,  Quinacridone violet, Quinacridone magenta, viridian, Ultramarine blue (all transparent colors) ...yummy neutrals. Next I will work with what happens when I do....... (fill in the blank.) I love to experiment!
Meanwhile work continued with Harmony.
Oh and by the way, if you view my blog in Firefox please let me know if it is showing in the correct size, k? Thanks!

10x10 oil on board, in progress

composition, Birge Harrison and the diva theory

10x10 oil on board in progress

I have been once again rereading Birge Harrison's Landscape Painting.  Sometimes as a painter/writer in the early 1900's he can be rather verbose so I will shorten it. In his chapter labeled Composition he starts out by saying, "There are so many millions of good compositions in the world  that it seems strange any one should ever waste time on a bad one. The good ones lie at every turn in the road." He later says he will focus on the don'ts. Now here is the important part, " The first and far most important of these is, "don't  try to say two things on one canvas." Any motive that is worth painting must have a central point of interest. Concentrate on that and sacrifice everything to it." 
It struck me to be just like my diva theory, there can only be one diva in a painting. If the spotlight goes on another actress/actor, the diva will always throw a fit and the play/painting will fail.
I thought about this yesterday when working on my Chinocoteague paintings. The sky and the trees must be second if the reflection and the harmony with the deer is to be first.
As per a few requests, here is a detail of the deer.
PS His second don't is never to divide the space in half, make a low horizon or high horizon, never ever what I intentionally did- put the horizon in the center. Some rules are meant to be broken. I hope I get away with it.

continued work on "living in harmony"

10x10 oil on board, unfinished

I read that Sanford Gifford thought the horizon was the most important part of a painting, therefore that was the place he began each painting. I agree fully, so I decide to begin my painting there as well. All the time I not only think about the color and value, but also the stroke(which you can't see here).
Unlike other paintings of mine this one has two of the special sika deer in it.

Assateague Island and possibilities for new work

8x22 pastel on marble dust board

This is a plein air painting that I did on my trip to Assateague Island, a year ago. Even though it has already sold it may help me as continue to work on the colors for the long painting I posted yesterday. The colors I have chosen to use are a little more neutralized. than what is on this painting.

Just as a side note, Assateague Island is possibly one of the most magical places in the USA.The island contains over 37 miles of pristine beach, no building are allowed. More than 300 wild ponies wander the beaches, inland pine forest, and salt marshes and is  best known for the Chincoteague Ponies.  Legend has it that the feral ponies on Assateague are descendants of survivors a Spanish galleon that sank on its way to Spain during a storm in 1750 off the east coast. 
Assateague has been saved from the masses of tourists that could plague this kind of beautiful place. You wonder what has saved it? Giant mosquitoes and black flies!  Still I go every year and paint and swim there.... when the wind is off the ocean of course!