the slough and the secret of life

18x18 pastel on art spectrum

Neutrals are the secret of life. It's as easy as that.

Each summer I spend as much time as I can in the Northwest, in particular La Conner and Orcas Island. Those two places just fill me with awe and inspiration. This painting had its start in the studio last summer. Memories of my favorite slough ignited the work. It's the same slough where I lost my key, met the baby bear (while looking for the key) and painted with Casey.
Since summer the painting has sat in the corner (staring at me) for 8 months. Yesterday I looked at it and I knew what to do. It was simple. The secret was in neutrals.

goals, vibration, and Hans Hoffman

6x6 oil on board

One of my goals for painting is for it to be impossible to tell if the painting is oil or pastel. That means the  most important vibration  must be present in both. A couple of years ago I determined that in order to do this, it was important to learn glazing techniques, rather than painting in the way I was taught long ago- alla prima. I thank  Deborah Paris and Sadie Valeri, both master painters and teachers, for all of their guidance and patience helping me as is I struggled through that learning curve. I am not saying that I have finished learning...but now I understand the basics and can see through the layers.
Yesterday  NJ  sent me this great quote from Hans Hoffman.  He had once said, "My aim in painting is to create pulsating, luminous and open surfaces that emanate a mystic light, in accordance with deepest insight into the experience of life and nature." Now doesn't that just say it all?
Did I mention my next goal--- that of mark?  Within the vibration there can still be mark. Next I will focus on mark. toodles for now!

Memory, John Carlson and skies

14 x14 pastel on paper (not sure which)

Ah...my memory quest continues.  I used no cameras, photos, or plein air...just my memory of this place out by Needwood Lake. This time I think I created the glow between land and sun..that air the makes me say 'ahhhhhhhh" The reasons I paint..           
The upper sky maybe needs work.

Now for a little more Carlson.
A great deal of knowledge must be acquired through direct observation before the memory can function unhampered.  There would be no sense in advising a beginner to work from memory, when he is still struggling to master his means.
"It is the difficulty with which sublime things are achieved, that accounts for the rarity of them," says Spinoza. A thing that anyone could do without trying is a horrible nightmare to those creatively gifted. Fun lies in the trying. In the trying we are learning all about the means. Without knowing it, we are even developing our own particular style- one that will forever stamp us as individuals, aside from any expressive idiosyncrasies or choices we may develop. 
As we progress, our work becomes more intensely absorbing. We almost live in a world apart. In memory work we relive our experiences and the effect they produced on us.  We enthusiastically endeavor to put on canvas what we saw and felt, and in this way also unconsciously employ an original handling. The mind is dealing more with expression of thought than with the clever application of paint and we now enter into the realm of true art.

Don't you LOVE reading Carlson??????

dusk and the nature of light

16x20 oil on canvas
Dusk is a time for close values. The sky is the highest value, although, depending when you paint, its hot color is quickly beginning to be neutralized. In this painting the sun is just below the horizon and the land is cooling. Right at that place where the sun has set  the sun has left its hot footprint. My husband looked at it and said, "It's blurry." Maybe it needs a sharper edge? I am not sure.  I guess I need some space from it.
From what I remember of dusk and light is that light makes the shapes and as light fades shapes do too. They are no longer sharply delineated. The next question is what makes a painting that you want to look at? Draws you in to its secret mysteries? That, I may always search to understand.

While I struggle with these deeper issues, enjoy some kitty pics. They are growing fast. Luchi is a total rascal and Baby is a lap cat.

two kittens in the curtains

baby

luchianna

september harvest moon

 9x12 oil on gatorboard
Each night I walk to  the soccer field next to my house to watch the show...the sunset. Usually the colors tend to be orange, red, hot. This was later and by now it had a beautiful, wispy, neutral violet cloud at the horizon. Civil twilight it's called, about 1/2 hour after sunset. For many evenings last week the full moon was present heavy in the distant sky. On this night the sun  easily stretched its arms high from underneath the ground plane, coloring the sky with its rich glow. The grass was the hardest to do for it always seems too cool. To counter act that I painted a warmer red underneath.
This is a studio piece. You can see the underpainting here.

mysteries that are mine alone

6x6 oil on board
This one has haunted me. I couldn't quite get it. I let it dry completely sanded a little of it off (in the left side reflections), then I glazed more color over it. Now it seems to say what I wanted.
Did you ever think about how we as artists create something from nothing, inspired by something seen or felt? Making beauty and feeling. hmmm.
I have been thinking about the way a work of art is the manifestation of the person who created it. It it holds the spirit of that artist in the shapes and colors. I look at others' works in museums, galleries and online. I think about the person behind the work. That is probably why I enjoy reading artist's biographies. When someone looks at my work I wonder what they see. Have you ever thought about this?

"mysteries that are mine alone".... I think I remember that line from a poem I read long ago. Loved it, still do... wish I could remember where it was.

sunrise before the next storm

8x12 pastel on BFK
Memory and essence go hand in hand. If it is in your head, not in the camera, you have it. This is the sunrise this morning. I went walking and memorized the way the light breaks as it separates land and sky. I waited till afternoon to paint it. Shoveled more while I created the image in my head. It takes discipline. I need to keep expanding this part of my brain. Beautiful neutrals are the key.

think, thomas cole (variation 9)

5x12 finished beforenotes

I keep thousands of little papers of color notes. Notes that remind me of  the landscapes and skies I see. I try to record them (later) in my sketchbook. This particular note I looked for and found on my studio floor. I had remembered it well. The painting started out well. I should have known when to stop. When finishing my last strokes I couldn't help think of Thomas Cole.
There are many Cole's downtown in the NGA. Dramatic is a word I would use to describe his work. He was the founder of the Hudson River School of painters. Frederic Church (one of my faves) was one of his students.

variation 6 /How do you take charge of your growth as an artist?

Early Morning's Slow Awakening 12 x 5 pastel on BFK
My sunrise frozen walk in the neighborhood inspired this. Oh, do I wish I lived right next to a body of water!  I don't so; I create one:-)
The more I do these, the more I am thinking about the edges. Lost and found, hard and soft it's a rhythm. So few hard edges are ever needed, but if it gets too soft it is fuzzy and out of focus.

Just a little note, prompted by Doug's comment; yes, I will still do plein air. And I will not just post variations. I made a promise to myself this year to come completely out of my comfort zone and take more risks. What that means is I will be alternating plein air and memory work. Plein air is my comfort zone. Memory work is what is really making me grow. 
What do you think about your own growth as an artist? How do you take charge?

variations, continued

 5x12

orange variation
I am playing with color trying to create volume and luminosity. No references exist now; I am in no man's land (or make that no woman's land.) Relying only on my color intuition, I place a color down and watch. Change one color and they are all different. That simultaneous contrast is at work again.

memory extended

8x8 pastel on watercolor
The field now lives in my head, just like the reservoir once did (and will again.) So this morning after working en plein air, I decide to try to loosen up more with color and just play. Let's call this one memory extended. I think I will do more of these and see where it will take me:-)