Cabin Magic, 8x10

A high powered rifle shot woke me.  It was 4:20 am and I had been asleep, parked in my van a hundred yards off an old mountain road and under a tree where I felt fairly hidden.  Slowly I raised my head just above the bottom of the window and peered through the morning fog and gloom.  Nothing moved.  This definitely didn't seem right.

I watched the road through the trees for several minutes when a man finally came into view carrying a rifle.  He slowly sauntered down the road not seeing me, I hoped.  Quietly I threw on some pants, collected my things, lowered the camper top, started the engine and drove off.  Getting to the main road without seeing the poacher, I felt much better.

It was the beginning of a magical day several years ago when I had decided to paint my way across northern Washington and end up at our cabin in Montana.  Coming down out of the mountains the Pend O'reille river wove its way south.  The rising sun lit it's surface and backlit the eastern mountains so I stopped and painted it, finishing about 6:30 am. and drove on.

I did three paintings that day and this little study is the only one that I decided not to sell....the others sold quickly.  Every painting fell off the brush without effort.  This rock is just outside our cabin and was lit by the setting sun at the other end of the day.  It is loosely painted with little attention to fine detail yet there is something about it that contains many of the things I find satisfying.  Varied brush strokes, interesting color, thin and thick paint, transparency of color and a feeling of movement and energy.  The paint, in and of itself, is compelling.

I puzzle how some days, in many areas of our lives, can just be effortless with everything falling into place....and others the exact opposite.  How does that happen?  What do I need to do to make it happen more often?

Maybe there should be an awakening gunshot every morning....

Studio Spring, 10x12

Spring is too short.  Summer is slightly better but still doesn't last long enough.  In fact, the whole thing is just too short.  How are we expected to get even a decent amount packed into a brief lifetime? 

There was a time when I wanted to be a symphony orchestra.  Often I would get corrected by folks saying, 'You mean you want to be the conductor'.  No.  I wanted to be the whole symphony.  Who can listen to Pictures at an Exhibition and not want to be the whole orchestra?  (You pick your own piece...that's just one of mine.....and I actually still want to be the whole orchestra.)

Anyway.  So many flowers, so much vibrant sun, so many carefree days.  Too short.

I wish this were my studio but it belongs to Debbie and Gary and they were kind enough to let me paint their flowers on a perfect Spring day. 

On Quitting Painting, Again...

Gillian gave me a call about a week ago and we went out to a familiar painting spot.  Lured by these rocks I just sat down and painted.....seemed like a good way to explore cool colors on a gray day.  It took G a while to find her subject ... me, and her efforts can be found HERE.

The other day a couple people in class said they felt so discouraged about trying do to a portrait that they wanted to hang it all up, just stop painting.  I responded in an email with this:

On quitting painting.  Like I said in class, I've done it a thousand times….I did it just yesterday when I was painting in Roslyn in a wind storm so strong that I had to take off my belt and tie my easel to a street sign.  After chasing it for twenty feet I tied my hat to my head.  There was dirt flying in my paint.  The board I was painting on was vibrating in the wind…..and the painting became a flop.  My pants fell down.

I quit.  Gave it up.  Mentally I gave away all my painting gear and books and burned every painting.  Decided to just sit the rest of my life.  Safer that way. 

Today I was out fixing the painting and trying to figure out how I had gone wrong…..posted some stuff in my blog and ordered some gessoed linen.  You see,  I've started painting all over again feeling like an absolute beginner a thousand and one times…..

Rest of the Clowns, 6x6

Do Clowns creep you out?   The comments that have come through have been that, although people like the paintings, they find the clowns unsettling and a bit scary.  Come to think of it all the comments like that are from women.

James Gurney, author of Dinotopia, had an interesting post yesterday with an image that I find unsettling....maybe this is what people are responding to.  Like the horror movies with clowns, are these the images we have unconsciously grown up with?

Interesting.  I always thought clowns were just fun....oh, well, there was that old Alfred Hitchcock movie....

Anyway.  Here are the other two clowns and we can be done with them.  They were fun to paint. Sweet dreams.....

Crepe Shack, 8x10

This place has the best crepes.  It also would be interesting to paint.  A couple weeks ago the markers pulled me to this spot to play around with some compositional ideas.   With twenty minutes on my hands I had time to put this together.  The zig-zags, from the curb to the tree were interesting but as a whole the drawing didn't do it for me.   The drawing did give me the idea for what I would like to do when I bring back my paints.

Cropped, the same drawing becomes much more compelling.  Those zig-zags are more visible and would be fun to work with.  They all converge on the doorway and the little wooden happy french chef.   How convenient.  Almost like it was planned.

 By the way,  I have a marker workshop coming up this next weekend.  Feedback from previous workshops has been very positive and it launches many folks into doing art or revitalizing their previous art practice.  Find out about it HERE.  (Winslow Art Center)

Cool Red Nose 2, 6x6

These clowns spend their free time....when they aren't clowning around....visiting the kid's wards at hospitals, boosting immune systems with laughter, a la Patch Adams.   I think I could be good at this.  Wonder where I can get an application.....like I need one more project.

This guy had 'glow in the sun' pink hair but he looks better with it toned down a bit.  All of these small paintings were done with a 3/8  inch and 5/8 inch soft bright brush, sometimes held on its side for small places.

Have you ever wanted to be a clown?

Cool Red Nose 1, 6x6

All clowns want to do when they pose is crack jokes.

I've got this portrait class going on and there were these small paint panels hanging around, so what better thing to do but paint some clowns as ideas for class?  These little things are cool to paint.  Instead of walking back across the room thirty times, which happens with a large painting to get a full view, I just had to lean back a little.  Nifty.

There are currently four of these little guys that will be posted over the next few days and maybe more to come (I still have some panels).....but they'll be interspersed with some other pieces.

Doing them made me laugh....wonder where I can get a clown costume?......

Boat Launch, 8x10

There are some things that give permission.....to succeed or fail, to not take things too seriously, to explore, to just have fun.  Markers are one of the art tools that do that for me.  I just sit down, put pen to paper and see where it takes me.  Some drawings are so-so, some almost make it, and a few get me excited.

I've been trying to figure out what I like about this one.... I mean, it's so ordinary!  So why do I keep looking at it?

Seems to me the repetition of shapes is interesting.  I also like how the background is alluded to without being emphasized.  Mostly I'm enthused by how the light flows through this everyday scene that we would normally pass by, and that movement of light brings it to life.

Valley Farm, Gouache, 11x14

I've been waiting for a new scanner to come in so I could post some marker drawings....but I've gotten fidgety and gone ahead and posted this one to keep us all entertained until it arrives.  Typically 'Spring in the Northwest',  this one captures the character of low lying clouds just after one of our three day rains.

There was no way to do this plein air.  I tried something like this once perched out the back of my van.  Halfway through, because I hadn't noticed that a light rain was falling, the top half of the painting slid down into the bottom half.  Ah well.  It was still a nice day.

A Days Catch, 10x10

Remember Noelle?  While she had a vet appointment to remove some of her feminine assets I stopped by a friends studio and then Fisherman's Terminal where, between rain squalls, I was able to paint this little study.  The task was to find color notes out of the substantially gray sky, water, background yet keep the feeling of a cold rainy overcast day.  The rain and wind finally chased me out but I think this makes an OK statement.

Noelle came through fine but I suspect she's holding a grudge....

Desert Rains, 10x12

Just outside of Tucson, somewhere to the east, a large spring comes out of the ground.  It was turned into a reservoir for a ranch and now is a park.  Fish swim lazily from pool to pool in the shallow water.  Waterfowl swim in and out of the trees and the air has a fresh scent from the flowers.  You can stand in all the lushness and stare out at tall cactus, rock and sand, dry as a bone, and watch as the rains evaporate before hitting the ground.  A refreshing place.

This was painted there several years ago but didn't make the cut.  I stumbled on it going through one of my boxes and realized that it just needed a few strokes to pull it together....so I added them the other night and think it's good enough to be called a study for something larger.  Who knows when that might happen....

Runoff, 11x14

Water is great fun to paint.  It gives me such a satisfying feeling to lay on thick and chunky paint with all sort of color nuances.  I think this is the fourth or fifth painting at this little curve in the stream....and the only one that I kept.  It was the rocks, not the water, that refused to look right, either being too modeled, too gray, too colorful, or uninteresting in shape variety.  Most people looking at paintings don't realize how many 'don't make the cut' but hopefully will eventually lead to a successful one.

Signs of Spring, 11x14, gouache

I uncovered this one about two weeks ago and showed it at my gouache workshop.  It was painted about this time of the year, but several years ago on a heavy watercolor paper.  With Spring popping out all over I thought it was worth sharing.....there's a similar one around here someplace that I'll probably throw in in a day or so.

The gouache workshop was fun to do.  There were a lot of people there with watercolor experience and to see their approach was enlightening.  In the past, most people I've taught have come from oils and don't do washes.  These people were having a ball learning how both watercolor and oil techniques can be combined, leaving the constraints of each of those mediums behind.  I saw some wonderful work....and it was only their first attempts at gouache.

Try it sometime.  You'll like it. 

Spring's Blossoms, 11x14

Easter Sunday.  While riding the ferry back from an early Easter breakfast I was thinking that all our holidays are about appreciation, recognition and hope (OK. Halloween doesn't exactly fit too well). 

Hope is what keeps me going in life, and there is nothing so much that way than the flowers of Spring.  So many blossoms coming out in a flurry of color and shape, each one designed for the future....yet so fragile and temporary.  I like the internal patterns of the branches in this painting as they frame quirky little vignettes of the sky, flowers and leaves.

There are a some other blossoms I have in mind to paint if the weather and my energy level and my commitments all line up that I can actually get to them.  Can't wait.  I'm hopeful.

Nick, 16x20

 

Popcorn, wine, some salmon and cheese, and a portrait demo was all it took to kick off the weekend of painting the human head.  Here are two photos of the beginning block-in and the midpoint just before the detail doodads were added.  Demos are intense, especially those that require a faithful likeness....fortunately this one turned out.

Initial Massing of Large Shapes.

 

 

Just before adding detail.

 

 

 

 

The Portrait Gang

And here they all are, looking tired, relieved and anxious to go home.....(hmmm, actually they look rather happy.  I must not have worked them hard enough.  I'm the only one that looks exhausted.)  Judging by a comparison between their first portrait on Saturday and the last one on Sunday afternoon, they learned a lot.  An amazingly dedicated group. 

Coming Rain, 16x20

When beginning a painting I like to set new goals for myself to expand both my skills and conceptualizations.  Here it was to put paint on richer and thicker, taking advantage of the sculptural qualities of oil paint.  When finished I decided I need a scoop shovel next time to really lay it on.  The color seems more jewel-like with thicker paint.

I had a couple requests for another picture of Noelle....here you go, but she needs a brushing. 

All American 1, 2, 16x20

 

There are things in our lives that have so much meaning we wouldn't want to part with them.  The 'Minnie' that my mother made for our daughter when she was young is one of those things.  It usually just sits around the house.  (I've noticed she never sleeps.)

All American 1 & 2 were demonstration paintings for my classes.  They were a kick to do.  Getting a variety of color in Minnie's face was interesting but I think I had the most fun with the stripes in the flag, finding differing 'reds and whites' and subduing the other actors.  These paintings make me smile.  One is horizontal and the other vertical and obviously composed differently....can't tell which I like better.  You?

Spring Poppies, 12x12

 

A hole crept into our home.  It must have started out as a small sneaky one because we don't even remember when it arrived or, for that matter, knew that it even existed.  It grew but we never noticed that it was a fixture in the house, just hanging there and sapping away the color of life.

But it didn't take away the color of my paintings....fortunately....and I like the way this one turned out.  Painting masses of poppies is a delicate thing.  I like it so much I may do a larger one of it.  But I digress.....

We noticed the absence of the hole the day that Noelle arrived, a puppy that was left and needed a home.  How lucky we are.  How busy we are....but it's a nice busy.

What is she?  We tell people she's something crossed with 'cute'.  She's the one on your right.  Mateo is our daughter's poodle.

Noelle is wonderful....but she's slowing down my painting.....

February Artwalk Demo, 11x16

Pulled from the brink of value/color disaster this little painting looks deceptively simple....but, once again sitting in the middle of a party, it held my attention for almost two hours .   I've never bungie jumped off a high bridge but doing this one seemed like how that space between jumping off and hoping something stops you before hitting the rocks must feel.

This is gouache.  My Gouache Workshop for this year is on February 24th and 25th.  If you haven't heard me say it before, gouache is a terrific medium for learning to paint as well as producing quality art pieces.  It's like watercolor.  It's like oil.  Mix and Match.  Join us if you can.

Apropos of nothing, did you know that in the 18th and 19th century that when one wanted to paint 'outdoors' that a portable greenhouse was set up with a heater to keep ones digits warm.  Must have been for the 1%.   Brings a whole new concept to the idea of packing light. 

McDonald Creek, 12x16

As I was posting, this story came to mind:
We used to have a beautiful Sheltie named Blue.  He often needed a walk so we would make a circuit of the neighborhood.... but I'd get bored.  As a result, I would pick up rocks to throw at telephone poles.  Keeping loose track of my hits and misses something very interesting happened.  At night, when I could barely see a thing, I would hit the poles about 80% of the time.  In broad daylight, when the pole was in plain sight, I'd hit it 45-50% of the time.

How can this be?  Did lack of visual detail allow more accuracy because it simplified the world, eliminating unnecessary information?  Did the lack of light take away the pressure of having to make a hit?

Glacier Park, August.  It had been a long day of painting but, spotting an easy turnout, I thought maybe there was at least one more painting in me.  The only place to set up was on top of a large boulder in the center of the stream....but I had to keep one hand on the easel so it wouldn't slip off.

By the time I finished there was very little light and it was seat of the pants painting.  The colors on the palette were almost invisible.  I couldn't see a thing...and yet here are the results.

Whacko!  Another telephone pole.