The only technique to learn

"It's taken me years to come to the conclusion, or to the belief, that probably the only thing one can really learn, the only technique to learn, is the capacity to be able to change. And it's a very difficult thing. But as modern artists that's our fate, constant change. I don't mean novelty or anything like that. What I mean is serious play, which we call art, can't be stamped. I mean you have to keep learning to play in different ways all of the time. It's always good for the first time. There's a popular Italian song, "Per la Prima" - "For the First Time"  It's about a love affair, but it's the same thing. It's always good for the first time, then somehow that has to be recaptured constantly."
Philip Guston in a talk to Yale Summer students

Words to live by. Constant change and play.

I finished this painting after a weekend trip to Chincoteague. It was stormy and we had a splendid show. The idea came from a small moment of time..one or two seconds...just to watch and describe to myself. Like an amazing blessing.

Sapphire Twilight in Chincoteague

Thanks to my many friends for your input. It did need the pizazz of the smaller one. Consider it done!

scaling up a painting

oil, 40x20

Scaling up a painting from a very small (6"x6") to a large (40"x20") is a challenge. Simply transferring the image and making it larger rarely results in an interesting piece. Therefore, since my interest was really in the sky I decided to change the format to the dynamic vertical. Still the land mass needed some interest, yet simplicity. That's where the real battle was. I am still not sure, but it is almost time to frame. As they say, a painting has many stopping points. Any suggestions folks?

pastel 6x6

making the most of mistakes

"It may have been accidental but you knew enough to let this alone. The intelligent painter is always making use of accidents." Charles Hawthorne
I am not saying I am an intelligent painter, but I am one who often makes mistakes in my (plein air) haste. I am learning to no longer correct them, rather use them as a new road to something different. This is a mistake of dropped and smudged pastel, on a sunny day, that turned into something else.
 It turned out better than the sunny day painting.
(from Chincoteague Plein Air)

onerous task and release

James McNeil Whistler realized that working from memory inevitably led to simplification and released him from the onerous task of being true to life.
Here is another Chincoteague beach, as I continue to enjoy the release.

supermoon

This weekend I was at the beach in Chincoteague. It was the weekend of the supermoon. On Saturday night we watched the moon rise over the Atlantic Ocean and I memorized. Values were very close and the moon was the very brightest thing. How bright can you make it and still keep it grounded in the image?

beach and clouds

oil, 12 x12

A little trip to the beach in the spring inspired this painting. What you take out is just as important as what you leave in the painting.

PS I have a whole new selection of my skies on display at the Waverly Street Gallery this month. The reception for the show is Friday evening. Come if you can!

painting concepts is limitless

oil 36x36 work in progress

"Painting concepts is limitless..... painting subjects is finite. Know our intention. The lasting quality that is reflected to the viewer is intention." David A. Leffel Therefore painting is not just copying.
I continue to work on this painting (top). It was inspired by my Chincoteague plein air piece (bottom.)

Chinocoteague calls

Urges that make me want summer and beach lead me to create this marshland landscape. It's funny it began as a cloud scape from Wednesday's cold and beautiful sky. Somehow I decided what it needed was marsh. I think a trip to Chincoteague is in order.
PS This is a small pastel -6"x6" but I think I will dive into a bigger oil based on it.

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.

Chincoteague storms/ painting in mist (and fog)

It poured most of yesterday here in Chincoteague. Lucky for me I have a sheltered balcony. This is the one I worked on for most of the day. It still needs a little more.
Till then I give you-

Tips for painting mist and fog:
*value changes need to be subtle
*that considered, over blending your transitions makes them uninteresting
*select a color palette (limited) and stick with it
*even the foreground color is softer in mist
*the sky sets the tone

chincoteague sky

pastel, chincoteague sky

Skies, in particular their clouds, are a mixture of warm and cool. Edges are amorphous since they are simply air and water. The tricky part is that you are still in charge of making a composition.

newbury meadows by Martin Johnson Heade

Here is a most beautiful painting  by Martin Johnson Heade (Newbury Meadows). I show you this beauty to demonstrate how Heade used the light and dark in his composition to guide your eye through the painting. This is when you remember that what you see is just that. You get to make decisions. The design notans I discussed during the summer is a perfect way to guide your creation of a composition. See post.


Yesterday, after my arrival in Chincoteague,  I painted this small pastel (6x7) from my balcony. Since we continue to have storms today I am once again painting from my balcony. This time it will be 20x24. Tumultuous skies are incredible inspiration!

playing with memory and vibration

14x14 pastel

I was away in Chincoteague...memorizing. Finally, upon my return, I have exploded with images. This one was the most tantalizing. I was riding down the street and egad! I almost fell off my bicycle!!!!
I am obsessed with what this one can be large. So I begin now 48x48.
I kept a limited palette...only about 12 pastels were used.

a painting is a beautiful mix of fact and feeling

12x24 oil on board

As I continue to work on this painting I keep coming back to quotes I have written in my sketch books, quotes by the master, George Inness.
 George Inness insisted that the beginning artist fully understand the underlying structures and systems of nature, he called these the "strict and sober facts." It's so true. Since only after  achieving this mechanical skill is the artist  ready to edit and interpret what she/he sees and experiences. It is  the  marriage of realism and individual interpretation  As Inness wrote, "a painting must possess both the subjective sentiment-the poetry of nature- and the objective fact."

A painting is a beautiful mix of feeling and fact. - the new words on my studio door.

While this painting is still unfinished it perfectly demonstrates those words. This is a painting that has taken over. It started from a plein air piece, but now is completely its own animal. Memory, knowledge of how the landscape works and feeling are the food for its creation ...the plein air piece has no use for me now..

simultaneous contrast, unlocking the key to color

12x24 oil on wood

As I have talked about before, simultaneous contrast is the key. It is the key to unlocking color, its beauty and its relationships.
So as I see it, that to me brings about 2 choices about glow.  In the Tonalist tradition the darks make the lights glow and it works beautifully. Without the darks the lights are dull since they have no contrast.

Now, is there another way?  The use of neutrals also makes colors take on new attributes. In this painting that is my strategy. Will it work? After about a month of layers I am at this point. Still I will increase the "grayness" of the clouds.
Sunsets are very hard to paint...they so easily become hokey, postcard like images. I am hoping to by-pass that.

And now for the studio update recently labeled "project hope"by Mae(my second Mom):
Another contractor will come this evening to talk about possible costs for the building of a new studio.
My Dad has added all kinds of important facts to consider.
Many artist friends continue to email me and comment with suggestions.
I really do appreciate everyone's help.

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!

new grisaille, alone and happy

detail- about 5x10

Another underpainting. This scene at first seemed like an easy one for which to do an underpainting, but no. First of all I decided to do it differently, this time using a burnt sienna  wipe before painting. That changed things and meant I needed to use of a lot of white in the underpainting, especially in the sky and water reflections.  I don't want those getting too dark. I am hoping that the warmth of the burnt sienna will affect the whole painting, even when covered.

Now I must work on my color experiments for this painting.

12x24 oil on board