Wm F. Reese and Sonny Apinchipong, Back to Back!!

Two Outstanding Artists Coming To Bainbridge!!
     This is a banner month as the art of William F. Reese will be featured at the Roby-King Gallery here in Winslow.  While Bill died almost a decade ago, his influence on artists is still greatly felt and appreciated.  A powerhouse of an artist, William Reese was fully fluent in sculpture, painting in all media, drawing and printmaking.  For artists to be able to stand in front of one of his paintings is like getting an advanced study lesson in technique, composition and creative inspiration.

In August most of the gallery will be taken over by his work as well as the work of Mary Balcomb, author of definitive books on several artists including William F. Reese and Nicholai Fechin.  Standing in for Bill on opening night, next Friday, August 2nd, 2019 will be Fran Reese, devoted partner/wife of all his years, and for Mary, her daughter Amis Balcomb.

Don't miss seeing Bill's work or meeting Fran and Amis!  This opportunity won't happen again soon...

AND THEN!!, if that is not enough, Sonny Apinchipong will be here at the end of August to teach a three day workshop, do a demo and participate in the Winslow Paint Out.

Sonny was a teaching assistant for Sergei Bongart (as was Bill Reese) and went on to work for Disney and Don Bluth studios doing the backgrounds for some of some of the major hits of the last thirty years.  I remember seeing the original paintings he did for Lion King and feeling so proud that I had learned to paint from him.

While I have studied with many talented people, it was Sonny who taught me how to have the right attitude about what I do.  He has a light-hearted amusement about painting that I try to emulate (and still trying).  He can throw a painting that didn't quite succeed into the forest with such glee.  If you can make his workshop do it.  You will learn a great deal about moving paint around.  Sign up at the Winslow Art Center.

Thanks for looking.  Come to these events!



 

Coastal Ledge, 10x12

Now That I Have....
......my ticket I can begin to get excited about my almost annual trip to the Maine coast....interrupted last year by going to Italy.  It's a tough life but I'm doing my best to keep up.

I love painting in Maine.  It has all kinds of quirky twists and turns and the fiberglass luxury yachts take a back seat to real working boats, net sheds, farms and towns with as much anglo history and dignity as can be found anywhere in this country.  Interesting shapes and color are everywhere.

With that in mind I thought I'd post this painting of rocks at a beach I don't remember exactly how to get to anymore.  I think I did it two years ago.  Check out those big and little shapes of color that bounce around everywhere.  Mostly variations of blues and reds except for that green ribbon weaving itself from side to side.  Immensely satisfying to me.  I wish more of my paintings had the qualities of this one.

So think of me during the last half of September working away on as many paintings and drawings as I energy for....but with a smile on my face.

Thanks for looking....

Rocks and Water

Lost in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica, 8x10

Rocks and Water....
.....I find continually mesmerizing.  Rocks, because they have just been around so long....these were likely sitting pretty much like this when Columbus breezed through the Caribbean....and water because it is constantly moving and changing.  What counter play.  The unmoving slowly being moved by the perpetual soft force of liquid.

Cascade Stream, 9x12

Over time and impulse my style has changed a bit and I am currently feeling a pull back to more of how I used to paint.  I like spots of color next to quieter areas, often in more vivid color relationships.  Broken color excites my eye, keeping it moving through a painting....a bit like watching an old gaudy  carousel with kids going up and down on baroque horses.  Round and round goes my eye.

Up the Kootenai, Montana, 11x14

Likely I've painted as many R&W's as I have anything else all together although some have been a bit of a struggle.  This scene I've painted at least a dozen times but this one is the only version I think I've posted.  Rob Weiss and Bob Phinney (the rats) both got it on the first try.  For me this one has been elusive.  No, I don't know why...if I did you'd have seen more paintings of it.....but it's always worth the hike up to try again.

Thanks for checking this out.  From the number of unposted paintings I have it looks like I'll be back soon.

She Wore Her Party Dress, 11x14

She Almost Broke Her Face.

Sitting on the edge of a couch, her hands on the edge of the cushions to prop herself up, head canted and turned to one side and Smiling for several hours.....I was waiting for her face to develop fissures.  In all the time I have done portraits there has never been a model who could broadly smile and keep the same exact pose for hours without even a whimper.  Her name is Kathy.  Super Model.

So it seems I'm on another of my 'kicks' that I periodically go through.  This one is about painting using just three primary colors.  I think I'm trying to get a sense of color compatibility and possibility.  Cad Lemon, Cad Red Medium and Ultramarine Blue in this one.

Most three pigment painters I have seen end up with paintings that are somewhat gray, lacking in vibrancy, in my opinion.  I was looking through my library the other day and pulled out one of Kevin McPherson's books in which he talks about the three or four pigment palette.  His paintings weren't gray.  Zorn's paintings, using an even more limited palette, aren't gray.

So I'm giving the whole thing another look and working on my color vocabulary.         

Montisi Nocturne, 11x14

 

The meals at the villa in Montisi were.......

.....incredibly good.  Thinking I needed a walk before tackling the endless courses of food, I decided to take a short walk.  About a block away I ran into this glowing tower and got a little feverish with a painting attack.

I waited a polite amount of time before bolting from the dinner table and heading back with my paint kit.  The streets are narrow so the only place to stand was on a darkened corner at the top of a stairway....well, my easel was at the top.  I was on the first two steps down looking over the edge of my palette and reaching up to apply paint.  

There was very little light.  I had to remember where the colors were on the palette and mix them as best I could.  What could I actually see on my panel?  Here is an idea.

Really.  Occasionally I could run down the stairs so there was more light on the panel but this was what it looked like most of the time.  The car and background were complete mysteries.

When I got back I was pleasantly surprised by the result.  With very little doctoring up this was what I got.  Reminds me of a couple pieces I did in Mexico in similar circumstances that turned out well also.  Wonder if I should always paint in the dark.....?

Arroyo Morning, 12 x 12

 

During the rainy season, later in summer, this often has water coursing through it.  On an April morning it was completely dry and deserted, except for myself and a fairly irate possum.

The bougainvillea are hard to believe.  Despite pulling out every red I had, their color when hit by light is impossible to capture....but I could at least get my impression of it.  It was a delightful early morning experience, although the possum and I were glad to part company.

This Saturday's Marker Workshop is almost filled.  If you can make it, please contact the Winslow Art Center and spend a Saturday having fun while you learn.  I'm going to be covering some things I haven't included in other classes and I have a few extra markers for you.  If you can't come at least keep an eye open for an article about my approach to markers in The Scream Online's upcoming issue.

Provence Time VI, 8x8

What is this urge we humans have to beautify our world?  From the ancient caves at Lascaux to the petroglyph decorated boulder at the north end of this island.....and to a doorway somewhere in the south of France, we seem to have a need to decorate.  Ourselves, our surroundings, our walls.  It's a nice urge.

Maybe that's a reason why we paint.  We're decorating. 

That....but I think more than that.  Color is certainly exciting.  I like using it to halt time to entice your eye so we both can see and share something for just an instant.  Our worlds connect.  When it works, our minds make a fleeting communication....and we know each other better.

But it's more than color alone.  Shapes and forms, values, mystery, belief, history, dignity, angst, edges and edginess all play a part in the depth of our communication....even in something as simple and direct as a pot of flowers on the steps of a very old home in Provence....placed there to decorate the world.

Beach Apple, 8x10

 

iFLOPS.  With this blog post I am suggesting we 'locals' start a new organization.  There's PAWA, the organization of Washington Plein Air Painters.  There's OPA, the Oil Painters of America....but no iFLOPS.......the Flat Light painters of Puget Sound.  I think I got an idea here.

These thoughts occurred to me late yesterday afternoon as I was standing in the rain painting this lovely little wild apple tree on the shore of Pleasant Beach.  Flat light has its challenges.  Flat light with drops rolling down into my eyes presents another.  BUT, after several years of driving past this little wonder I finally painted it.  It would have been so much better with a little sun.

I wonder how it got there.  Did an apple drift to shore....or did someone toss a core out the window as they drove by?  Did you know that you can't plant an apple seed and actually get the type of apple you planted?  They all revert to their wild state.....which was somewhere in Kazakstan.  All those Red Delicious, Braeburns, Cameos, and all the others came from grafted trees.

My goal is to educate.

By the way, the 'i' stands for 'idjut'.

(Update a few days later.  I've been informed that this is a plum....the apple is just down the beach....does this mean someone threw out their pit?     ....nah, flowering plum)

Forest Spring, 20 x 36

 

Rob Weiss and I had planned a day of painting yesterday but he got called away to help a friend....so rather than re-figure my Monday I headed once again across the driveway.  Despite many interruptions here is the result, which I like but, of course, if I painted it again I would.....(absolutely never satisfied).

This is one of the larger plein air pieces I've attempted and I don't think it would have been successful without the study 'Caught' from a few posts back.  That was done two weeks ago and much in the forest has changed as well as the light being very different.  All those branches and twigs were fun to paint even though there always seemed to be one more that was forgotten.  So many decisions about what to include and what to leave out.   Just under four hours with a bit of studio tweaking.

Two from PAWA

PAWA, the Plein Air Painters of Washington, had their annual meeting yesterday and we had a great time.  We painted.  We ate.  We saw old friends.

Here are two paintings from the event.  The portrait is the way it came off the easel.  The still life, because I was slapping paint pretty fast to get it finished. needed another twenty minutes work this morning.

Gail says that I should never paint fake flowers because that's what they always come out looking like.  This is a great example of me not taking her advice.  By the time you read this it very well may be reborn as something else.  It has some nice parts and I certainly enjoyed the experience of painting it....but it is a great linen board that could be ???

Rob Weiss did the same setup from a different angle which you can see HERE

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Sylvia, 14x18

It's wet here.  We live in a rainforest....well, pretty near one.  During the winter rains a group of us go indoors and paint people.   A few weeks ago, this dedicated plein air painter gave up on the outdoors long enough to come and sit for us. 

This painting was, for two reasons, an interesting learning experience.....well, they all are, aren't they?

The first reason was that I drew only three or four placement lines before beginning to paint.  A line to describe the top of the legs, one for the arm she is leaning on and two lines forming a teepee where her head and torso went.  And then it was off into paint, beginning with the hair and dark of the cloth and moving into the face.  There is another painting under this one that was a reddish kind of portrait.  You can see parts showing through and helping with the 'glow'.

The second thing that was interesting and a challenge was carving a likeness out of a head that is about an inch and a quarter big....or small.  Trying to only use bits of unblended paint when working I found that the slightest error in stroke placement meant losing the image of Sylvia. 

There are always things I would change in a painting but, overall, I like this piece for the color relationships and brushwork.

Provence Time 4, 8x8

Here are two more from the miniature show at Roby-King.  In the first one I thought the roses would be the attention grabber....but now I think the light dancing on the wall wins the show.  What do you think?

The windows in France, especially in the south, often have flowers in them, on them, around them.  They are all carefully tended.  There is something so attractive about new young exuberant blossoms being set off by the old and weathered. 

Provence Time, 8x10

The Annual Roby King Miniature Show opens this Friday.  I submitted five of Provence and am posting two here.  If you can come they have hung nearly a hundred paintings from scads of artists.  There has to be something there for everyone to see and enjoy.  From what I've seen, the prices are very reasonable....and looking is free.

Traditional Dress, 16x20

Traditional Dress

This is Elena.  I should also call her the woman with the plastic face because she is one of those people whose emotion is mirrored quickly in her expression.....and the emotion that day was mostly one of laughter and fun.  People like this are most intriguing to paint as they present a moving target.  I remember deciding to pick one mood and grab it as I could.  Elena was a great model.

I like the movement in this piece.  The brushstrokes and color build into the painting without being distracting yet stay interesting.

Ran's Beach Chairs, 8x10

Post # 3 in the painting give-away.

We had a great two plein air workshop days with lots of enthusiasm and very solid paintings being produced by everyone.  We used gouache, oil and acrylic....and they all were nice.  The second day I also did a couple in between wandering around and sharing what changes I could suggest.  If there was a common lesson it was 'simplify'....which I often have to remind myself.....because there is so much we see that it is tempting to do it all.

The second day we were out near the end of the sandspit at Randy's little home they call the 'Playhouse'....on one side is the lagoon and just a few feet away on the other is Puget Sound where these chairs sit.  An idyllic place.

I had the most interesting experience.  The sun was so bright (well, to someone in the Northwest) that the white paint looked like dirty purple.  Even fresh from the tube it seemed to have a purplish color mixed into it.  One more plein air challenge.

Make a comment to enter the painting give-away.  Love to hear what you have to say.

Setting Light, 14x18

In the waning light of evening I tried this scene, which changed its light every 43 seconds....about the amount of time it took me to look, paint and look again, only to find it different.  Talk about chasing the light.

All in all, it was still a lovely evening to be standing on the beach.

One Ship Pollutes as Much as 50 Million Cars.
While I don't usually depart much from writing about art, I'm fairly agitated about this topic.  Below is a link to an article about it.  The short of it is that one container ship, because of the low grade of fuel it uses, pollutes as much as all the cars and trucks on the U.S. highways.  Unbelievable.

There are many regular size container ships but now they are building these super container ships.  They are made cheaply with thin sides and the fuel in them is so thick at room temperature that you can walk on it.  The sulfur content, as well as other pollutants, is extremely high.  There are currently 300 on the drawing boards waiting to be built.  There are no international laws controlling them. 

We have such a beautiful world being destroyed by the search for the quick dollar.  I haven't heard of these ships in the news.  One ship, every day, the equivalent of 50 million cars and trucks.  Somehow driving our Prius to lower emissions seems pretty insignificant...

Thanks for reading.  Write someone if you can.  Here is the link to the article.

Spring Snowballs, 14x18

Flowers can be so fleeting that several Springs can go by before I get around to painting certain ones.  It has taken a few years to get around to painting snowballs again.  My friend Debbie showed up and took some progress shots....thanks, D.  I'm sharing them below so you can see the steps.

In this painting I drew a little first.  Another demo, but one in which I didn't draw, I posted  HERE.

A few things to note:  When the flowers are drawn in they have square edges that reflect the planes of their shapes.  I then put a single dot where the center of the flower is which immediately establishes which direction they are pointing.

Another is, that since this was a fairly close valued painting, the first note of paint was the value and color of the sky.  From this I could judge what the rest of the values should be to describe the flowers but still keep them in light spring colors.

The photo of the source doesn't accurately reflect values or color....and there is no sky.  The day was cloudy and very cool. 

By the way, I have a plein air workshop coming up in July at the Winslow Art Center. 

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…..