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.

Drawings from Montana

Looking out at the Swan Mountains....
...while sitting on the ground drawing with Noelle the 'wonder dog' is a decent way to get an oil change.  We were in Montana for about two weeks to open the cabin, go for walks and listen to the thunderstorms on the roof.  Pretty relaxing.

I took a day to drive down south of Missoula to the Bitterroot Valley and visit my good friend Bob Phinney, one of the more talented artists I know.  After a little catch up we went out sketching.  Here are a few of mine.  I'm going to feature some of Bob's drawings in the next week or so.

Rocque's Place

Just a black pen (Sharpie extra fine), three Copic Markers, some white pens I got at Michaels and then a bit of white gouache because the white pens were running out of juice.   Beginning with a black pen on a blank sheet of paper always involves a willingness to trust that something interesting will happen.  When I'm finished, even though a drawing may have glaring things I'd change, it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction and wonder.

Did you hear that they found prehistoric art recently that is 300,000 to 500,000 years old and far surpassing in age the art from the French caves?  The urge to create imagery must be hard wired into us.  So I was wondering the other day which animals have that same urge?  Orangutans, chimps, gorillas all do, as do elephants.  They will get mesmerized just making marks.  They like music too but so does our cat.....however, she has no interest in crayons and paper except to chew.

I did one more but used it to do a color sketch and then a larger painting.  I'll post all three tomorrow or Monday.

'Blowing it Up', my workshop on turning sketches into larger paintings is next weekend.  Find out more at the Winslow Art Center HERE.

Keep Drawing!!

Thanks for looking.

'B'day on the Swan'. 12x14

'Earthday on the Swan' 12x14, oil

I spent my birthday afternoon.....

.....painting on the Swan River in Bigfork, Montana.  It was a nice way to spend the day.    This one needed some tweaking when I got it home as I hadn't gotten the darks quite the value but I think it reads OK now.

I sat in this same spot back in 2001 and painted the willows you see in the upper left hand corner....although it is now 'willow' as its partner is the deadhead angling out into the water.  Here is that painting for comparison.  Judging by the color it looks as if the older one was painted early in September and later in the day.... but I really don't remember.   A larger piece, 16x18 I think, that flowed with more ease onto the canvas.  Some of those logs look like they are still there...

'Willow Run', 16x18, oil

I still ponder what happens when we get in creative slumps.  I know two things: 1) keep painting (or whatever it is you do) and work through it, and 2) something better will happen eventually.   Don't stop.

Lightning Strike, 12x16

Lightning struck....

....this tree about six feet from our Montana cabin.  It was a nice tree; now it is half a nice tree....but it landed in the woods rather than on the roof so 'OK'.

If course I couldn't stare at it for two weeks without beginning to be intrigued by the painting possibilities so, putting up with the yellow jackets (who seem to like oil paint), I had a good time with this one morning before the temperature rose and the light changed.  I also did a larger one but it needs some touching up before calling it finished.

Change of topic:  I heard a man being interviewed the other day who was talking about how our western educational system can ignore or squash a student's natural talents.  As an example, he mentioned how Paul McCartney and George Harrison had the same music teacher in school when they were teens.  According to that instructor, and the grades they received, they had little or no recognized musical ability.  Imagine.  My Sweet Lord!

Since I seem to be in an artistic slump and thinking I've 'lost it...if I ever had it',  I'm going to take some comfort in his example.  No, it doesn't exactly apply but who cares.  It still makes me feel better.

I never did figure out which color the yellow jackets liked best...but it surprisingly didn't seem to be yellow.  Go figure.

Last Ride to Dixon, 11x14

Dixon, Montana.....

....is as close to one of those 'blink and you will miss it' towns as you can get.  My friend Bob found this place by the highway with lots of machinery and broken down stuff.  While he went off to do some of his terrific drawings I hung in one spot and painted.

Why would you paint that?....is what the family said and perhaps you also.  All I can tell you is that I liked the shapes and colors more than anything else I saw.  There is also some humor here but it may be my private joke.

I find myself searching for something artistically and don't know what it is, yet it seems that I'm getting closer.  In this piece I don't find it in the subject matter but do see it in the way the paint moves from one plane to the other.  There is a pattern of strokes and color that  is attractive to me.  One day soon I'll figure it out.

Thanks for looking.  It's a process.....

Sentinel, 12x16

Somewhere on a Montana 20 acres.....

I wanted to paint but didn't want to drive to find a spot...so I just wandered out into the forest and found this remnant of the ice age.  It has been sitting where it is for about 15,000 years, ever since our hill was what split a huge glacier that proceeded down the Flathead Valley, covering the tops of the mountains.  They melted eventually and left several of these 15' boulders scattered around.  Fox live under it and I've seen their kits playing just outside in the Spring.

The colors in the painting were all there in life but needed a little push to make this thing come together.  I rather like the rhythm of it...but wish I had taken the time to paint it about eight times this size.

Plein Air Workshop June 29th and 30th.  Come on down....as they say.

Warning Buoys, 15x18

Evening in Montana...

....and I had just over two hours to make a painting.  Since we were driving back early the next morning this was my last chance so I grabbed my gear, drove to the river, hiked in a mile to the dam, did this painting and made it back in time for bed.  It was a scramble but sometimes that's the best way to make them happen....sometimes that's the only way to make them happen. 

I painted this once before in a smaller size.  You can find it HERE.  It's only 10x12 yet I think I spent more time on it.  Bigger canvas.  Bigger brush.   

Plein Air Workshop.  It has been filling fast so if you are wanting to come better enroll now.  There are just a spot or two left.  Think about it.  Bloedel Reserve, weather report says 'SUN', two days with old friends and new and, of course, that great fearless instructor.  How good can it get?  June 29th and 30th. 

Contact the Winslow Art Center for details HERE.

And if you are around on Sunday afternoon I'll be doing a demo at the new Bainbridge Art Museum. 

Swan River Evening, 12 x 16

Curious how things happen.

Today I wrote to another artist to let them know how I admired their courage to follow their own artistic nose.  This evening I was digging around in the studio and ran across this painting from a dozen years ago.  I remember putting it in the scrap pile as a piece that didn't hold together and, though I enjoyed the process of painting it, thought it was a bit outlandish.

Now I see it as having elements of exactly where I want to go with color and brushwork. 

Perhaps some force was playing a joke with me and now, as I write this, is having the best time chuckling over the lesson I'm being taught.  While I can't  be exactly clear, at least in words, about what the lesson is, I think I better spend more time following my own artistic instincts just to see where they go.

I heard an interview with Carolyn Anderson recently in which she said several insightful things of which I'll share one.  Essentially self-taught, she spends time just exploring ideas and wading through the painting process until what she is working toward happens.  It's about what pleases her and she trusts that, if it honestly pleases her, it will likely please someone else.  Good advice.

On to exploration....

Last Water, 10x12

Last October, while the day was tilting rapidly toward night, I was searching for that last painting of the day and the simplicity of the light in this irrigation ditch seemed soothing.  It remained soothing until I began painting it.

It wouldn't cooperate.  It twisted and turned, trying to avoid my artistic grasp.  I parried with my brush.  It dodged with the light and color.  I think it ended as a draw.  (Would that make it a draw in the draw?)  Oh well.

Five questions to deciding 'What color is that?'
  1.  Is it red, blue, yellow, green or purple?  (Munsell color wheel)
  2.  Within the color you picked does it tend to the  warm or cool side?
  3.  How saturated or how pure a color is it?  Does it tend toward gray or is it vibrant?
  4.  What is the value...how light or dark is it?
  5.  Great.  We did it only four questions.

Look at this painting.  Pick a color and if you can answer those questions you can mix the color.  Congratulations.

Winner's Update

Hello From Montana....where it alternates between clear and beautiful...and smokey from the forest fires and hot. Yesterday we watched a pileated woodpecker, about the size of a small crow, take a long bath in our little 'pond'. The pond is only about 12 feet from the porch so animals are up close and personal when they come to take a drink. This became obvious a few minutes later when a black bear showed up and hung around for a while. The photos are bad because I could only find my cell phone camera.

Marilyn picked 'Heirloom Roses' so that leaves 'Harbor Walk', 'Cape Naden', 'Along the Dock', 'Ran's Beach Chairs', 'Log Raft', and 'Canning Time'. I need Blanche and Carol to contact me with their choices. Because it was a tie for second place I flipped a coin and Blanche gets first choice. Would you contact me by email because I don't think I have your address.

Time to get back to relaxing.

Posted with Blogsy

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....

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.

Spring Creek Crossing, 11x12

Another rescued!  A couple of people have asked what I do with the culled paintings that have no chance of becoming more than an interesting exercise....(see the last post).  They used to end up in the dump until I saw someone pulling them out one day.  Now they get a splash with a bit of old latex house paint I usually have around....and then they get dumped.  Heartless, aren't I?

Throwing out paintings is one of those sweet/sour experiences of life.  The images always bring me back to the smells and feelings of that painting day.  At the same time I don't want images around that bring to mind my mistakes.

I'm reminded of something I heard about Greg Louganis, the diver.  In the last Olympics he participated in he hit his head on the concrete high dive stand doing one of his reverse flips.  He recovered and went on to gold medal by getting close to a 10 in his next attempt just a few minutes later.  I expected him to be severely injured....which it turns out he was.  When asked if he wanted to see the video of the mistake he said that he never looked at his mistakes, just his successes because those were the only images he wanted in his head.

I'm no Greg Louganis but his words have always made sense to me.

The changes I made to this to save it from the dump were few, all about values.  The more distant tree I lightened.  The purplish light striking the branches of the closer fir were also brought up in value.  The water reflection was simplified. 

This will be in the home of 'Bob', one of the stars of the movie 'Old Goats' because it is from an area in Montana he used to fish.

Two Roads, 8x10

'Take me home country roads'.....'the high road and the low road'.....Robert Frost's 'road less traveled'.....all thoughts I had but the most frequent one while painting this was 'I wonder where they go?' and 'If I just started driving on one of them and didn't look back....'.  It must be all the possibilities that roads possess that makes them appear so often in our music and literature.  Hope and possibility.  Isn't it what keeps us all going....

Of course not everyone has the wanderlust gene.  Some folks have the 'baked potato in front of a warm fire let's stay at home' gene.   All good.

OK.  For reasons that will be revealed if you click on the link,  that reminds me of a TED talk my good friend Gillian sent me.  This a fascinating piece that kept me captivated as much by the subject as the unique person that was presenting it.  When I have my next life I would like to live it by following the road of my instincts as much as she has.  You can see this inspiring video HERE.

Go paint draw sculpt mold create something.

Spring Runoff

This was the day before the international kayak competition on the Wild Mile of the Swan River, Bigfork, MT.  I puzzled how to move the focus away from the white operations building down to the turbulent water and finally settled on subduing everything in the background....about what I'd do in a painting.  If I had darkened the trees next to the house it would have made it more of a bulls eye than it already is.

'V' just wrote me that she thinks there is a comedic component to my marker drawings.  Perhaps she meant 'cartoon' and I'd agree with her.  Marker drawing pulls you to simplify and express the essential caricature of a place, finding more (less and less?) of what is necessary to show the feeling and design.  It's what I'm always working on.  Robin Weiss is constantly aware of this also and it shows in his paintings and drawings.  Check out the drawing and painting of his called 'Flatbed Truck' for a great example.

This drawing will end up in the new edition of my book which I expect to be out in early July in time for my next workshop.   (Yes, I know.  It was due out the end of April...what can I say?)

Grasslands, 8 x 14

 

Another field sketch from the Bison Reserve in Montana.  Sit by a stream and move paint around....sounds like heaven.  I simplified the detail in the distant hills to get the eye forward in the piece.  I've recently added Quinacrodone Red and Indigo to my palette for obscure reasons.  Like Turkey Umber, Indigo is just weird enough to make me interested.  

I like the water in this one.

The Coming Rain, 11 x 14

I'm posting this because it has a good story.  Leaving the cabin about 6 in the evening, I headed out across the forest making lots of noise to alert the bear and other critters (I did run across a griz one time doing this.)

Anyway, the drops were already beginning to fall and, although I'm not usually a big vista kind of painter, this is what was easily available with the rain coming.  Mountains first and then I hit the sky because that was changing quickly.  As the rain increased I moved to the bottom and just got in the river as the storm hit.  Everything got soaked.  Rivulets were running off the canvas.   I've been asked why I don't use water soluble oils more often and this is the reason:  The painting would have ended in a color pool at my feet.

This image looks dark on my laptop.  Check back in a few days....I may correct it.

Speaking of critters, two red fox showed up early in the week.  This boulder is less than twenty feet from the cabin.  Later I found that their den was about 150 feet away and I've spent the time watching the kits play as they wait for their parents to bring in the next meal. 

Early Blooms

Just inside the National Bison Range southwest of Ronan, MT we began looking for what to paint.  I roamed about for 45 minutes sketching and absorbing, and thought I had finally found a spot.  Going back to the car to get paints I noticed this ten feet from my bumper and stayed right there.  Like they say, 'When you know, you gotta go.' 

Blocked-in with a purple color it was fairly easy.....until I got to the mass of flowers and reeds in the sunlit area.  The trick was to state it simply with just enough 'stuff' to make the illusion.  Painterly but with some detail.  Perhaps it worked... 

Deanna's Sunflowers, 12x12

Here is another from the Bitterroot Valley....that I painted in my pajamas. I woke up and there it was in the morning light. I have another 'before breakfast' painting that I'll post tomorrow.

I'm finding it difficult to get the color/value balance in these paintings. After I finish here I will reload the last post to make it more accurate, I hope. Even in this one the colors are just a bit too intense...but you get the idea.