the muse and the love and sympathy of a friend

The lake continues to be my muse. It's amazing how quickly her moods have changed during our autumn storms.
I have been reading  An Ideal Country, the wonderful book about Dwight William Tryon's work, I love his subdued tonalist beauties that are well represented in DC's Freer  Gallery of Art. You can check out the treasure trove of images on their website. They own both large oils and smaller, even more beautiful pastels. When you have time go to their site. I leave you with a quote.

Dwight William Tryon described Art as "love and sympathy with some near and homely thing."4

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.

imitation and poetry

Sunrise:April, Dwight William Tryon, oil on wood 50.9 x 76.3 at the Freer/Sackler

"The less imitation, the more suggestion and hence the more poetry."

Dwight William Tryon

Doesn't that just say it all?
 I am still in the printmaking studio, distilling my images even more.

value study of waves and seascapes of Tryon's

7x10 pastel on paper

A couple of years ago there was a memorable exhibit of Dwight William Tryon's seascapes at the Freer Gallery of Art. Freer was Tryon's biggest collector so lucky for me the museum owns many of his gorgeous works. This show featured his seascapes. Beautiful thick pastels created by building the pastels in many many layers, just like his  very thick oil paintings of fields. I remember distinctly  that he had painted them from memory.  While in Ogunquit Maine  (yes Maine, Sam) Tyron had fished and would later return to his studio to create these beauties. (below)
I really love the few trips a year I spend at the sea. It is most soothing to hear the repetition of the crashing waves. During the last 2 months I often looked at  the many seascapes in his book, An Ideal County. So I decided to go out on a limb and do a value study of waves in the ocean. I used an old photo as a beginning reference as I had no idea of how waves really work. To complicate it further I made a composition with three slightly unequal bands. The goal was to play with these bands and their edges to see if I could pull it off. What do you think...did I pull it off?

Tryon, moonlit sea, pastel on cardboard

Tryon, a misty morning, pastel on cardboard

adjusting what you see and Dwight William Tryon

6x12 pastel on BFK

Pouring rain and strong winds kept me in the car this morning. I only had a few sheets of 6x12s, which made it a challenge when I chose to paint a straight row of trees. Decisions about placement and how to break up the strong horizontal straight line feel were important. Colors and shapes were manipulated. Very subtle changes of warm and cool were used to make it calm yet still visually exciting (hopefully.) I couldn't help but think of Dwight William Tryon.

While writing this post I searched online and found this image of his. Doesn't it just make you drool? It really makes me feel small, like I should just stop now. Still, I never give up. I will use it as inspiration for my next piece. I think I need to go downtown to the Freer Gallery to take in a little more Tyron.While many artists say Spring is the hardest time to paint...just too pretty,  I think Tryon relished it. I found this blog when searching for  images to share. The Blue Lantern, arts journalism for the love of it  was an enjoyable read, check it out when you have time.

Dwight William Tryon, mystery and memory

10x10 pastel on gray BFK

I was down at the Freer Gallery of Art the other day, there to get my hit of Whistler, and I was led astray. It was  Dwight William Tryon who captured my heart and made me go NUTS! These small images can't possibly do justice to what was there. Tryon is often considered a Tonalist, although his palette is much lighter in value.. He painted with close values, thick paint and very soft edges. He believed in "less is more" and mystery.
Later I read that he marked these words to remind himself as he worked in his studio:
“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.”
Ah ha! That says it all doesn't it?
Perfect!

I have posted a recent value study. To keep the values closer I chose gray paper. My goal was to play with edge and shape. It was inspired by sketches done last summer at one of my favorite fields on Whidbey Island.