plein air paint for yourself

I was looking through my sketchbooks and saw the reminder.
"Plein air-paint for yourself. Stop the agendas. It is all part of the journey."
The reason we go outside to paint is to be sensitive to real light falling on form. Enjoy the responding.

moment we wait for

The clouds have exited. Today is the reception. If you are nearby Chincoteague VA or feel like coming down the reception is from 6-10pm. Now off to the beach for a sunrise painting.

fog on whidbey

When I arrived in Washington this year I went straight out to my favorite place to paint. It was raining too much to take my pastels outside so I sat in the rental car with the radio on and painted. (not bad) While I love living in  sunshine, the skies here are pure inspiration.  I spent the following days (Monday-Friday) working with Richard- my  yearly check-up with the doctor. I will blog all kinds of good stuff about that time later. Right now I only have 12 more painting hours so I must go. Toodles for now.

wax medium and the Hudson

So much is happening! I am traveling and right now I am in Woodstock NY working with Christie Scheele. This is the Hudson River. Majestic. Winding. Beautiful. Will write more later. Internet is hard to find and I am busy working!
PS I think I am falling in love with wax medium!

challenge, inspiration, why paint? and Wolf Kahn

9x9 pastel

This morning was raining and dreary. I left the house at 6:00 am wondering what will I paint today?  It made me think...does it really matter? The answer is no. My morning plein air sessions are a warm up, a getting the juices flowing before I go to the studio kind of thing. Do I expect beautiful paintings? No. I simply arrive and start with a self imposed assignment designed to stretch me.The challenge is what I love. The amazement when it works.
One thing I always try to keep in mind is that painting isn’t just about selling. It's about the joy of creation. It's a challenge you rise to each day with the love of wondering what is possible today. If you always obsess about the result you will stymie your own growth.


I thought you might like this quote from Wolf Kahn. It was from an article titled “A studio visit with Wolf Kahn” -American Artist  (May 1997-by Jonathan Phillips.)

On the subject of landscape painting, Kahn says, “Avoid cliches when looking for places to study and paint the landscape. Often, when I’m observing a scene I want to paint, I look for chaos. Chaos in nature is immediately challenging and forces a good artist to impose some type of order on his or her perception of a site. When I find a scene that provides that type of challenge, I return to it over and over again, both physically and mentally in the studio, continually searching for new insights.” …
“Edgar Degas observed, `Painting is easy, till you know how,’ and that’s what I try to get younger artists to accept,” Kahn says. “Sometimes it’s very good to make a bad painting. In fact, sometimes I try to get into some real trouble while painting and look to the work itself to show me a way out. … Painting is a visceral experience, one loaded with subtle information.”Only Cezanne could get away with a system,” he says, referring to the artist’s disciplined brush work. Kahn distrusts dogma and didacticism. “There are many prejudices about art,” he notes, “and first among them is that it is a skill and that there are definite rules. I want the people looking at my work to feel a sense of all the possibilities of painting, and, through that, in life as a whole. When that happens, I feel I’ve accomplished something useful.”

the passion of plein air

Sunrise, November 3, pastel on Uart, 5x10

 Plein air painting is still the most important part of my work. What's funny is that at least 95% of these paintings will never be shown and are simply for "process." The other day, when I explained this to a friend, she asked, why is it I continue to rise each morning before the sun (especially now that the weather is so cold) and paint? It made me wonder why any plein air painter does this. For me, it's not about producing a finished "product." Each painting now sits in my head and informs everything I do.  I love the challenge, the struggle and  "being there." Looking at one scene and its changing light and shapes with the purpose of creating one painting is daunting and thrilling. It makes me try to nail that vision despite all the confusing factors. It's an adrenaline rush.  Especially sunrise. Sunrise lasts only minutes. It's my favorite time to paint...so off I go.
Before I leave...why do YOU paint outdoors?

November 2 sky, 7x14 pastel

sunrise, November 4, 5x10 pastel

processing a workshop

12x6 pastel on Uart

4x4 pastel field sketch(on art spectrum suede, taped into sketchbook)

It's been a while since my last blog entry. So much has been going on in my head that I wasn't ready to post. 9 days with Richard McKinley and then 5 more on my own in the San Juan islands to digest my thoughts brings me to a point where I can finally share.

When I was in the workshop I produced absolute crud. Enough said.
I will go on to the whys. In a workshop one takes in so much information. It turns and swirls with the ideas already in your head. The object is to own the ideas, your ideas, no one else's.
Short way of saying that the two pastels above represent the door to my path. My idea.

Another thing that has been nibbling at me is time. Maybe it's really taking huge bites. Time is limited and painting needs time. In short, I will be blogging a lot less. I need to get invested in my bigger ideas and not open the computer. I will miss all my blogger friends, but I realize it is time.

So that's it for now. I will be back when I have something worth while to show and say.

scoping the scene

 Next week I will be part of the Mountain Maryland Plein Air Event. I was fortunate to be included two years in a row. Whenever I take part in a "painting competition" like this one, I always either arrive early or go a week or two before to scope out the territory. This time, since I was here last year I decided that I would just make a small "thinking " visit, stay overnight and leave that next day. I was counting on a twilight watch.
Ahhhh, the best laid plans are always in for a surprise. I managed to get one drawing (bottom) then the torrential rains came. Thunder and lightening, sideways rain. I was fortunate that my hotel room faces the town, so I sketched through my rain drenched window (top.) With the torrential rain continuing, I decided to go out to dinner. There's always tomorrow!

skies

16x 5.5 pastel and watercolor on Uart

Still working with the long vertical, but this time I tried a different ratio. It's almost a one to three, almost. I am playing with the colors that make a deep ceiling of space, which is more challenging when the color is hazy and not as pronounced. I constantly keep in mind the concept of harmonious colors at expense to the "real" colors.

total craziness and mindful

18x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart

An early morning at lake and I was practicing watch, wait and paint. Practicing is the key word. I am still not satisfied..this may be sacrificed before the day's end.
This weekend was nutz and I think it will be crazy for a while and I will survive. (Although you may see more erratic posting...sorry.)
I did manage to paint, but was unsatisfied with those as well.

So I leave you with a piece of a poem by Mary Oliver.

Every day
  I see or hear
     something
        that more or less

kills me
with delight,
    that leaves me
       like a needle

in the haystack
   of light.
It is what I was born for-
      to, look, to listen


This excerpt was taken from the poem called Mindful, from Mary Oliver's book Why I Wake Early. Check it out and enjoy! For months it has been by my bedside, savoring it day by day.

the baseball field early evening

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart

 The tree on the right has been obsessing me, the way it turns a goldish silver in the light is extraordinary. I watch it every night at sunset, just to see that color! I worked on many studies before getting a composition. I wanted it to be different than my usual field compositions so I included the hill going down to the houses. It caught the light just right.  In addition the buttercups have been left there unmowed. Yay!
That decided I packed up my stuff. Since carrying my stuff is still an issue,  I simply did the watercolor underpainting the first time, returning the next night for the pastel. Violet and yellow predominated in the underpainting- simple.
This evening I brought the pastels. I was out there painting during "pick up" adult softball so fly balls  kept coming precariously close to the easel. It added to the drama of the scene.
Planning and patience are becoming a bigger part of my repertoire.  I can see this one growing huge.
PS This is my first painting done (since surgery on January 13th) while standing at the easel.  Yay! It felt so GOOD!

color temperature and fractured color

9x10 pastel and watercolor on Uart

I am trying to get back into my early morning routine. So today (at 6:20am) as I was driving to school I stopped and painted. It was a small soccer field, nothing really amazing , but the light was cool and light.
I once again began my underpainting with just a focus on temperature.  Temperature sets the tone. Next, since I wanted a glow in the sky I fractured the color to make it vibrate. Fracturing color is something so easy to do with pastel. Keep within the same value range and choose different analogous colors, in small part, side by side. Voila! Vibration!
Now back to the studio.

study of sunrise

8x5 pastel on twinrocker

 I have been working on a large oil painting of sunrise and feeling like I have it all wrong. So I will be spending more time sitting in my favorite mall parking lot studying the light. Here is today's 6:00am study. The clouds were coming in so quickly (from the left) that it required more memory than direct observation.
I will return to my list next week.

angles of the sun and how they relate to painting

Did you ever wonder why the winter light is so much more exciting? Well  just look at this chart and you will know...it's the amount of time we enjoy long shadows and interesting angles.
I found this chart in a gardening book and it demonstrates fully what I mean. It's the same reason why we painters love sunrise and sunset.  When the sun is low on its arc,  as in the time from 3pm to 8am in winter or much less so from 7pm-7am in summer, the foreground is a darker and the upright trees have this incredible glow of light.  The pleasures of side lighting and back lighting abound! Long shadows, beautiful color and details! Long live winter and the transitional times!
 The least favorite time of most painters his high noon. This is when all the colors wash out and the landscape becomes FLAT!  This "top lighting" makes tiny shadows and uninteresting landscape. The ground plane is flooded with light and even the upright trees and structures are not the darks we typically count on to help make interesting pictures.

That's it ...now for a health update. I have received numerous emails inquiring about my health. Thank you everyone for your support and concern through this challenging time. I am working up to full health, but that takes a lot of work. Between constant physical therapy appointments (2hour including travel), doctors appointments and all the walking I am supposed to do to increase my lung capacity I am exhausted. Still I am teaching part time and trying to paint full time (harder to do). Good news, I am finally able to paint at the easel for short periods of time (YAY!) and when tired  I place the painting on the floor. The best part is I am forgetting about any limitations and pushing forward. I feel fortunate to have my health back and will make it through the long recovery.
The health related appointments have often taken away my morning plein air time (whaa), yet I continue to work on bigger works in the studio. Posting on my blog has been a little less I realize...soon I will be back completely!
A big thank you to you, my blogger friends!!!!

what mood do you want to create?

22x36 pastel on marble dust

detail

I once read somewhere to allow motion to equal emotion. It seems to be true. A calm surface produces a more tranquil feeling and a surface full of "happy dance marks" makes one feel warm, good. The mood of the painting is in direct correlation to the mood of the painter. For example the painting (above) is named Hope and Longing. It was to be called just Longing for it was begun on what should have been my Mom's birthday. She had died 8 years prior so I was thinking about her a lot, as I do each July 29th. After returning from my annual trip to Washington State I was filled with ideas about my favorite field, a place filled with daisies and love. I returned home to the studio and played my Mom's favorite arias and painted. It was one of those times when the painting spoke to me and the course of it was altered. A bright spot of diffuse sunlight appeared in the distance- alas, hope was here. My Mom left too early and I still miss her now, but that painting was a turning point for me. The surface is made up of a combination of scratched and smooth marks.

 This one, a painting from another favorite field on Orcas Island was all about happiness. The mark is like a dance.
Another component to creating mood is carefully choosing your color scheme. Does it reflect the mood you want to create?  To me, Rothko was a the create creator of mood with his exquisite choice of color. Oftentimes I feel warm deep down to my stomach when I view a Rothko.
When painting a mood you have to really feel that emotion and use every tool necessary including:  music, writings, smells,whatever you have in your toolbag, The viewer wont's see it if you don't feel it.
There is more to creating mood in paintings. Please share your ideas in the comment section. Ciao for now!

why use a dominant color?

8x8 pastel on Uart, plein air last summer

4x8 pastel on Uart, today's plein air

 Since saying that I would write about dominant color I have been doing  quite a lot of thinking and organizing of my thoughts. Above you see two paintings each with a clear dominant color.  When you choose the colors for your painting you do so with thought as to which color scheme you want: complementary, split complementary, triad, analogous, and monochromatic. After deciding on your scheme you next choose which color or color family will dominate. It's important to remember that all colors need to be present (some in a very limited form, or completely grayed) in order to have balance in a landscape. The one (dominant) color can appear pure (above ) or neutralized (below.) If another color begins to creep take over, you have to restrict it, even if it is in the scene....it's the two divas rule.

The bottom line: having a dominant color makes for more harmonious paintings.

Oil and watercolor painters will often choose a "mother color" and add that in large or very limited amounts to each color. This too creates harmony. Both pastelist and other painters can use the underpainting to unify the whole. I often "lean" my colors to the dominant side. For instance if I see blue, but my dominant color is violet (and dominant temperature is warm) I will lean towards violet.

Please add your thoughts for dominant color n the comments section. I am certainly not the authority...just sharing what I know.

That's it for now...I have to go off to teach my wonderful 5s. We are once again outdoors painting. I leave you with Luchianna in climbing mode.

the joy of plein air

6x8 pastel on somerset

I couldn't sleep so my visit to the river was super early and I was delighted! Late April and early May are the times for the fog. The water is cold and the air is warm...beauty results when this happens. The allure of the Spring colors was strong. I had to make clear decisions and to what was the dominant hue and the supporting cast. Moving other colors towards those hues is important. The hardest thing about plein air is so much information.
On a separate note, I have  story that I just have to share with you. As you know I teach part time. Yesterday I was with a group of five year olds. I must admit I LOVE this age! We are studying landscape painting and went out to do some plein air sketching. The children know to find their focus, talk about it then begin their sketching. One little boy chose a place on the hill, far from the others. When I visited him he began sharing, "Oh , I love plein air! I can feel the air on my cheeks and hear the birds and then here I am drawing. I am so lucky!" Now think how wise that little boy is already. Embrace the moment..feel each morsel. He went on to create a very detailed drawing of the stream and bridge!   Two other 5 year old girls later went and sat next to the boy. They were giggling and talking. He turned around and let them know they could stay there if they could be quiet. He needed his concentration. 
WOW! Doesn't that have a familiar ring plein air painters? So now plein air painters, go out and celebrate. It's Spring!!!!

How much information do you need?

9x9 pastel  and watercolor on Uart

How much information do you need to read landscape? I was able to complete this much on site last night before I had to leave to go to a meeting. When I left I thought it was incomplete.  Now I think, how much do you need to "put in" and what is superfluous? Rather than just add more I will let it sit and think then add if necessary.

the color of light and the importance of painting plein air

5x10 pastel on watercolor on Uart

After completing my re-creation of the Needwood Pond image from memory (yesterday's post), I knew that I had to go to the site and paint plein air. Painting outdoors is a whole different can of worms compared to studio painting. Outdoors it is so easy to get wrapped up in what is there, instead of what is the essence of what you are painting. You can easily become distracted by details. (I suppose that is why memory painting is so essential.)  I can not stress enough that outdoor painting is very important. It helps build an understanding of landscape and light that you will NEVER get from a photograph. So here are some tips.
When working outdoors remember:
1. Study the landscape you have chosen to paint. Do not even pick up a pencil. Study.
2. Talk to yourself. Articulate why you are painting this particular landscape. Concept is key.
3. Next think if you were just going to memorize what would you need to know? Know deep inside what it is
4. Identify the color of the light. Notice how it changes the color of everything. This light was very yellow...a bright yellow, veering towards white. Did I want white? No? So I leaned more yellow.
5. After you have studied and made sketches or 3 value notans, only then begin. Stick to your value map.
6. Look more at the painting than the scene. Trust that you know the scene. Look to confirm.
7. Always remember it is about the concept/feeling and good planning pays off in the end.

Thank you friends for all the studio building information I have received- keep it coming!
We are looking at the financial aspects. The main two choices are:
Do we combine both  north facing- master bedroom (my present studio is the old master bedroom) and guest bedroom to make a larger studio...which I will outgrow in about 5 years? Yes, don't worry, we do have a bedroom on the south side of the house. (cheaper)
Or do we build a studio (hamster house) in the back? More expensive.
If you have built your own let me know. Thanks Sam for all your in depth info.

The Importance of Plein Air Painting

About a week ago I was rereading an interview with Joseph McGurl that really made an impression on me. It was in American Artist, March 2009. Here is the piece I hear over and over again in my brain.

AA: What is your plein air process? How important is it to you to create on-site studies and sketches, as opposed to using photographs as references for your studio work?

Joseph McGurl: I am trying to portray my response to the real world—not a flat visual representation of it. I am trying to paint the whole tree, even the side you can’t see. I am also trying to paint a living tree that will die in the winter and bloom again in the spring. Science has taught us that space and time are not static and that on the subatomic level there is a frenzy of activity. Knowing this, I cannot paint from a photo that is devoid of all these realities. I am also trying to understand nature in the most complete way possible, and studying it intently while interpreting it in paint is the most effective way I know to accomplish this. The challenge of going into the field with just my paints and coming away with a useful picture is also appealing. Sometimes I don’t have enough time to capture a certain effect, but that’s just the way it goes. It’s difficult relying on just my own observations, and it may seem easier to paint from photos, but my goal isn’t to do it the easiest way but the best way. Like everyone, I sometimes have tendencies to be lazy, and if I know I have a photo to back me up, I may not look as hard or work as long at the sketch as I should.

With this on my mind I left the house to paint this early morning.While "the product" is not a good painting. It did provide me with  tremendous insights about the light.    If I had just looked at a photo I would not have know the numerous small nuances of temperature shifts or the way the left tree seemed plum colored bu really the light had affected it to also have a ochre green glow on top. So my advice agrees with Joseph McGurl...nothing replaces being there. The more saturated you become with noticing (whether by practicing memory paintings or plein air) the better a painter you will become.                            

Good news for all my blogger friends who reply through the email feedburner sends to you.... my good friend Domi fixed the email reply!!!! Yay! So if you have replied to my daily email and haven't heard from me, don't worry I haven't ignored you. It never got to me.