A New Stage

 The Blue Vase 16x12
This painting is in the "Splendors from the Garden" show at La Galeria Gitana. I am really proud that it made the cut to be included!

 Apple Basket 16x20
I have seen others paint a large basket with apples, but this one is my version. I was really happy with the way the basket has both the rough texture of the woven slats and the smooth texture of the polished wooden handles. I put it in a gorgeous ornate gold frame. It is so satisfying to sign, frame, and hang these pictures. Yay!

 Back Bay, Los Osos 18x24
This painting is still not where I want it to be. I have adjusted it since I took this photo. I got rid of the huge signature, for one thing! I also pushed back those distant trees to show them more as a unified mass in silhouette. I enhanced the sense of a beam of light coming from the left. I am tempted to try doing the dramatic, Renaissance thing with a huge obvious shaft of light. The setting sun was shining on the painting, creating the effect naturally. I might destroy the painting, but it would be a great learning experience. Do you think I should go for it??

Yellow Lilies 16x12
This is a beautiful painting with deep rich colors. I am still touching up small areas to bring up the details a bit and to make everything pop just a little more. I don't want to lose the fresh feel of the initial painting though. I'm happy with the way I organized the composition. It is a companion piece to the Blue Vase, but I like this one a bit better. I did a better job of showing the point of interest while downplaying the rest without being too "messy". This one also looks great in its frame - very professional! Which one do you prefer?

So why do I call this a "new stage"? These paintings look "ready" to me. There are about a dozen signed, framed, and ready to be sold. They look as good or better than many of the pieces being shown in galleries and art shows, in my humble opinion. So now the focus has to include developing a business plan - some way to connect with people who are interested in collecting art of this style. More on that in another post perhaps.

The Arroyo Seco Bridge

I began painting with oil a little over a year ago, starting with a class at Art Center At Night. Anne Seitzyk was a wonderful first teacher. We moved through all the stages of starting with oils, from materials to set-up, equipment to color mixing. We painted still-lifes, portraits, figures, and plein air.

Our first plein air class was at the Arroyo. Although I did not paint the bridge during class, I was motivated to go back and try it on my own. Here is the result:

I was pretty pleased with the result. It looks like a bridge, for one thing. And I will always remember the process of painting it because my daughter went into labor about halfway through the painting. As the phone calls went back and forth between us (...headed to the hospital... measuring contractions... going to be admitted...) I painted faster and faster just to get this little 9x12 covered.

I made it to the hospital in time to see my granddaughter's birth :)!

That granddaughter just celebrated her first birthday. Our Thursday En Plein Air group was scheduled to go to the Arroyo last week. So, once again, I set up and painted the bridge. Here is the result from this year:

I felt much more confident. I believe I chose a more interesting composition. I have better equipment so that I can go farther from my car. And I felt confident that I knew how to approach the whole process of creating a plein air painting. To the jaded artists and viewers who make a reference to how many paintings there are of this bridge, I say that it is a necessary rite of passage.

How many times did Monet paint his bridge?

Critique

I showed my plein aire paintings to Margot. She used to work outside, but now paints in the studio only. She really didn't like them. She was critical of the choice of the bridge - it looks like a sewer - and the strong hook shape of the composition. She told me to push the color when working outside. Hmmm. I really enjoyed working outside. I guess I wasn't so concerned about the final product as I was about the process of getting set up and painting. I liked working with the other painters. I got good feedback at the onsite critique for the Deukmejian trail.

I should demand more of myself. Even though each plein aire experience is an exercise, I guess I need to try harder to construct a complete painting.

Matt Smith said a good painting is a good painting, whether it was done en plein aire or in the studio. We should not set a separate standard for ourselves depending on when/how we painted. Matt also said we need to find the balance between working outside and working in the studio. Each experience should strengthen the other.

En Plein Aire

Here are some recent paintings I did with the Thursday painters. The first one is the bridge at York Street over the Arroyo Seco beside the stables. I was almost done when I heard that we could go into the stables to look around. The barn there was built in 1906!  There were a number of really interesting horses - unique breeds: a polo pony, a huge draft horse,  a smaller horse with a what looked like a huge head head of hair,  an ancient mule. I grabbed another panel and quickly sketched part of the barn in the time we had left. I took a number of pictures so maybe I will go back or work more on images from this site.

 

Another site where we painted was Deukmejian Park way up in La Crescenta. It was an interesting day, cool but warming up quickly as the morning went on. I was glad I could shift my gear into a backpack and head away from the parking lot without dragging my cart. This is another place where I would love to paint again. I chose a view looking up the trail towards an old oak. It would be fun to hike farther up, and paint the same area looking down towards the valley. We still have winter shrubbery on the hills. I don't know if Spring will bring many wildflowers since we haven't had any rain.

I didn't have a camera or my phone so no pictures to work from. I love the support of being with the paint-out group. With no phone, I wasn't worried at all about being out of touch or on my own. There were other painters all over the park nearby.

 

Busy schedule

I have been going out with the Thursday painters each week for about a month or more. It has really put pressure on my schedule. I paint with Margot on Wednesdays, en plein air on Thursdays, and with Sonny on Sundays. I can tell that I am gaining confidence as a painter. The more I learn the more I realize I have to learn.

I am fortunate that Margot and Sonny are like minded. I don't feel a conflict between their styles or their instruction. That said, they give different feedback on the same painting. It helps me realize something is wrong, and there are choices about how to fix it. I rarely ask for critique from both of them on the same painting. Margot does landscapes, and Sonny does still life and portraits.

I will photograph my plein air pieces to have a record of them. It is too late and dark outside to do that now. None of them is a finished painting. As Laura Wamsgans told me, it's like going to the gym. The goal is exercise not a performance. Chuck Kovacik manages to cover his canvas with conviction. It looks like he is aiming for a finished piece in the two/three hour painting time. He's a great resource and role model.

I'm also reading, reading, reading. Margaret Kessler, Chris Saper, Gregg Kreutz, Richard Scott, and of course, John Carlson. Some of it sticks in my head and some of it looks brand new the next time I look at the book! Richard Scott is doing a demo nearby in a couple of weeks. I look forward to meeting him. It turns out he is neighbors with one of Margot's other students.

It's daunting to realize that artists can't really be known until they publish and/or start teaching. Back to teaching! Maybe I need to publish my drawing book for the elementary classroom. Just like when I was writing that material, I'm too busy to put it all together!

Still life painting

I am going back to doing some still life subjects. It's a bit discouraging. It takes me ages to set up a still life that I think I will like. Then I start painting and realize I don't like the set up at all.

I did manage to put some oranges in a bowl and paint them for the "garden" show at a local gallery. I would have given up on that one without the help of Margot and my fellow painters in her workshop. With their feedback I realized I had come much closer to creating a good painting with just my initial work. I needed to fix the background and then it all came together.

Now I am painting some backyard flowers. Ugh. Again, I think the problem is the background. I hung a yellowish cloth behind the flowers, but the yellow and the green of the leaves combines to look sickly. I'll probably scrape it and start over.

I know that I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to create quality, completed paintings with every canvas I start. Sometimes I am at a loss for what to paint next. Right now I am confused by which started painting I should try to finish!

Sigh.

Sante Fe Dam

I did most of this painting plein air at the Sante Fe Dam. I am really enjoying the practice and discipline of getting outside each week. At home I struggled trying to get it to look the way I wanted. I finally realized that the red roof on the building was the problem. I changed it to this color scheme and I like it much better.

Here it is with the red roof. Which do you prefer?

 I think Edgar Payne would call this a steelyard composition. There are the two strong verticals created by the two pines in back and the yellow bush in front. These are connected and balanced by the horizontal of the little pier. If you are an artist, maybe you can give me more guidance on this. I think the composition of plein air paintings makes all the difference between a successful piece and a "nice try."

What you can't see is the amazing sound of the laughing ducks and geese that were wandering all over the lawns.

Winter in Lacy Park

Winter in Lacy Park

Hello everyone. Happy New Year!

I had a wonderful holiday season, with lots of celebrations visiting with family and friends. Thanks to all of you who were at my house and gave positive feedback on the work that I have up. It's exciting to have them on display!

Now I am glad to get back to a routine schedule. I have decided on a pretty rigorous schedule of painting.This 9x12 panel is the result of my first outing with the "Thursdays en Plein Air" group. It was a gorgeous day in the park, with warm sun and hardly any breeze. The trees are almost bare for the winter. I am happy that I was able to decide on a scene and more or less complete it in the two hours we painted. I'm not sure I'll keep this one, though. There is something about it that isn't right. I'm still not sure exactly what! Regardless, I am looking forward to painting with this group each week.

I also plan to attend Margot's workshop as I have been doing. And I will go to Sunny's weekend workshop when it starts up again in a few weeks. Sunny does more with still life and live models, which is what I need to study. My goal for this year is to put together a sizable body of completed works that I can present and sell. Between all of these opportunities, I should be able to do that.

Thanks for visiting this blog! I hope to post more frequently now (and to exercise more and lose weight and remember everyone's birthdays and ...).