One Sketchbook, Fifty Paintings

 

A Few From my 'Gouache on the Fly'....

....sketchbook.  The Class begins on March 28th, 2022 through the Winslow Art Center (WAC click here) A simple, quick, easily transportable, and inexpensive way to sketch your artistic ideas.  Come join us!

Here are a few more sketches, all plein air....

Hydrangea

Japanese Garden

Glacial Erratics

"Gouache on the Fly" Course at Winslow Art Center

 

I have painted in gouache for.....

.....many years, decades actually, but on and off.  It is a marvelous medium, very forgiving and convenient.  Compared to oil paint, some control is lost.  It doesn't exactly dry in a value that's similar to the way you mixed it.  It also goes matte, losing some of the color intensity from what it looks like in the liquid state.  That sounds frustrating and it is....but it is compensated by its fast drying, allowing the ability to quickly make it lighter or darker and go right over the top.  Sometimes it's important to accept something uncontrolled and new.

A few years ago I began a notebook of heavy weight card stock paper in several color tones as a foundation for sketching with gouache (gouache is basically watercolor with calcium carbonate added for opacity and body).  With a small kit I could carry it around with me almost anywhere and do sketches quickly, close the notebook and walk away with dry paintings to use as a library, of sorts, of material for other paintings or personal exploration.

Missing for me was the transparency mixed with opacity effects so I began mixing in some watercolor.  Soon the watercolor was the main medium but it was used with white gouache for the opacity part.  Eventually I stopped carrying the colored gouache in favor of less expensive tubed watercolor.  By using watercolor thinly in washes, but also thick like butter using straight paint or mixed with white gouache, I could realize the best of both worlds and that made it more fun and descriptive.  

Beginning March 28th, 2022 I will be teaching a course in this technique through the Winslow Art Center online courses.  The notebook I will supply for free once you sign up and the other supplies you will need are inexpensive. It makes for a great travel medium and its speed allows for many more studies than other mediums.  Once dry, they can be covered with a variety of media that makes them very impervious to being harmed and can be framed without glass.

Here is a page from one of my sketchbooks showing a painting right on the notebook paper and another pasted in using a different paper:

Both of these paintings use a combination of transparent and opaque effects as well as warm and cool, dark and light, soft and hard edges and various textural paint effects.   I like nothing more than sitting down in any old spot and painting these satisfying pieces.

The course is 4 weeks long for three hours each meeting day.  When you are finished you will have a notebook full of your artistic excursions.  We will do weekly optional critiques, I'll do frequent demos and we will explore lots of compositional experiments.

 Please join us.  The class size is limited so come join us at the:  Winslow Art Center .

Black and white gouache with a couple spots that show through to the paper for color.

Once Again...

'Passages' 16x16 Oil Plein Air

I Haven't Posted On......

....this blog, my website, FB or Instagram in well over a year.  Nothing.  It has felt good but it may be time to return.  

I needed some time off and some creative privacy, I guess.  I kept painting, studying and even taught a few courses but I was tired of media.  Still am, but decided it was time to share again and see if I could change the terms of engagement.  No, I don't yet know what that means other than not taking it seriously, despite what the online marketers recommend.

In the interim a few changes I hadn't expected crept in.  Being trained mostly by Sergei Bongart's teaching assistants I once used a color palette of up to 18 hues.  Over the years that number shrank slowly until around 2005 it was down to 9 colors, a split primary palette with a couple 'kickers'.   It is interesting and significant that the number kept going down.  I'm now at 3 tubes of color plus white.  I keep a standard primary palette of a red, a yellow and a blue in differing temperatures and saturations.   I will switch out one or more of those hues when I think it's appropriate or when I want a challenge or just to see what happens.  The number still stays at three colors.

Both of these plein air pieces use the same palette except for the blues, one done with Ultramarine Blue and the other Prussian Blue ('Passages', 16x16 PB and 'Morning in the Gardens', 10x20 UB at Battle Point Park).  I'm really rather amazed at the variety of colors that can be achieved and the subsequent color harmony.

A couple of things that sort of happened at the same time in terms of materials also helped re-enthuse me to paint and explore.  I'll talk about those next time.

 'Morning in the Gardens', 10x20, Oil, Plein Air

Thanks for looking.  Come back again.

 

Lilies of the Evening, 12x12

This is my....
.....second attempt to paint this group.  I had tried it a few evenings before and bombed (see below) so came back a few nights later for another shot at it.  I think that if I counted there would be about half the number of lily pads represented here that were actually there.  As it was I was going cross-eyed trying to sort out an interesting view.

Here is the painting from before...sorry about the glare on it....and the resulting panel which was repurposed for this one.  I've found that some panels/canvases have to painfully learn what it is they are supposed to do.  Sometimes it takes multiple attempts for one to begin cooperating.

Of course that's a bad joke, but it feels like truth sometimes.  I have panels with five wiped off paintings leftovers underneath.

Thanks for looking!

Foxglove, 6x12

A very quick....
....sketch out in the back of Nancy's house done on shellacked birch plywood.  Maybe 40 minutes of painting or a little less.  Put it down and leave it alone....fun.

The complexity of the forest is simplified to graphic shapes to help give some drama to the flowers.

Someone snapped a picture.....

Thanks for looking....back soon....

 

Evening Waterlilies, 12x24

As I was leaving the pond....

.....after painting the last one, I noticed a glow start to form across the water as the sun was moving toward night.  With that in mind I began this one a few days later around five o'clock and hoped that if I worked quickly there would be enough light to finish.  

At 6:30 it was difficult to see the darker passages and judge the color balance so I packed up.  Fortunately I found it pretty much finished when I got home and could see it in good light.  There were only a few spots that had to go darker, but they were easy adjustments.  

Three blues (Ultramarine, Pthalo, Cerulean Hue), two yellows (Cad Yel Pale, Alizarin Yellow) Cad Orange, three reds (Cad Red, Indian Red, and Rose Madder deep) and, although I don't usually use it but did selectively and very limited in this one, raw umber.  Three brushes: a nondescript 3/4" flat, a rigger and a very cheap Simply Simmons 1/2" flat watercolor brush I swiped from my gouache kit.  Most of it was with the last one.  Done on a gessoed hardboard, 12x24.

I'll try to get out again this week to do another.  These flowers don't last long and "If not now, when?".

Thanks for looking.

Reflection, 10x15

Last Wednesday....
....I spent a lovely few hours around this small pond with a couple of painter friends.  They were painting over on the other side and the sound of their voices talking softly came across the water mingling with the quacking of ducks and the splash of Canada Geese.  It was mesmerizing to hear that and be able to look at the push and pull of the lily pads on top of the moving reflection of the trees.

This is an oil painting done on birch panel and needed very little in the way of retouching when I got home.  Just some picking out the fluff of the poplar cotton and seeds as they floated down on me and the paint.  I didn't need to do much redesigning of the scene either.  It's nice when things go easily.

Thanks for looking.

I'll be back.

Spring, 10x12 and 11x14

These were painted about a week apart in response to having the Spring colors begin to show, the winter colors quickly fading.

There is such vibrance in the landscape as the greens start to poke through, and even the winter colors seem more intense and vital before that green appears.  My intention is always to spend every day exploring and painting the landscape but the reality of Spring is also that there is a lot that needs doing.  There never is enough time or energy for all of it.

'At the Head of the Harbor' (top) is 10x12 and 'Port Blakely Spring' is 11x14.   This second one was interesting for the challenge in all the doo-dads of the ground litter.  The only way I found to make it work was to eliminate about seventy-five percent of the stuff, just hinting at what was on the forest floor.  Hopefully the viewer fills in the 'stuff' from their own experience in a forest.

Maybe I'll go back again and explore the changes and colors...tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy.  That would be interesting.

I'll be back.

Thanks for looking!

What I Don't Understand Is This.....

After the Party, 20x24 plein air

 So There are a Lot of Things....
......I don't understand, but today's 'stumper' is one I've heard other artists mention.  It's this:  How are there days when absolutely nothing works (and it may go on for a week or more) and other days when the whole painting process is easy and satisfying with half the work?

Last Thursday was one of those days.  In the morning I painted the portrait below.  In the afternoon, after a great 'Nancy lunch' (picture the French countryside with a table set outdoors, wine, fresh home made soup, music and more, plus great art friends laughing and clowning around).  We all began clearing the table but I shouted 'Stop!', ran to the car for a larger panel and painted.  Others drew.

After about 90 minutes I had to leave but had gotten most of this finished.  It was easy.  There was no painting angst.  Like the portrait of the morning, my hand just took over and did it.  It felt like I was just an involved spectator.

So how does that happen?  And why can't I do that every day?  Is it some sort of mind set or did the leaves in my tea suddenly align?  I'm thinking that, when it happens, I've been able to get out of my own way, not tripping over my own artistic feet.  I just want to know the mental trickery to have it happen more often.

If you are an artist or musician, do you also have those kinds of days?

This is my friend Alec the Model Maker.  He works with architects, creating scale models of their buildings so clients can get a better feel for the structures.  He is an artist in his own right.  We are going to do a larger painting inside his shop while he works on his models.

Thanks for Looking.

I'll be back.... and don't forget!  Marker Drawing workshop on May 18th!  Go to the Winslow Art Center to sign up.

June's Battle at the Point, 12x24

One day last Spring.....
.....two artist friends called to say they were out painting and to show up if I was interested.  I went.  I found them under a tree 'for shade' and next to the restroom 'for the obvious' but with challenging subject matter to paint.  Like, nothing within half a block but fields.  Since I enjoy their company I stayed and did my best to find something, anything, for inspiration.

Well, you are looking at it.  We live in/near a temperate rainforest.  There is a lot of green.  Sixty to one hundred foot walls of the stuff.  So this became my 'Walls of Green' challenge.

No unusual premixed tube colors, just your normal red, yellow and blue in warm and cool versions of each, so the mixing had to be inventively done.  I don't remember doing any pre-drawing on this one.  Seat of the pants all the way.

Here is the first version of this that was headed for the scrape pile but I let it sit for a couple months in the corner of my studio staring at me like our cat in that irritating way when she wants to be fed:

Eventually I thought that it was too much in my face, demanding of attention.  I changed it to make a softer painting with a greater feeling of distance in it.  It still may not have arrived.  I'm actually posting it because when things get posted prematurely I tend to get upset and will arrive at a solution much faster than if I just sit around with it staring at me in the studio.  Besides, now at least you can see the crows.  

I tell my students that some paintings demand a chicken.  Perhaps, like Billy Collins says in one of his poems, it needs

"anything with cows, especially if they are standing

in a stream, their large, vacuous faces

staring into the warm, nineteenth century afternoon."

It's an idea.

Thanks for looking.  Back later... 

Hangin' at Mrs. Fils, 12x16

Noelle needed exercise.....
....so we went to see her best play-friend, Ms. B.  The paints were in the car, it was a nice day and I grabbed the brushes and a panel and began looking around.  There it was, hanging on the shed door.  I forget what they call the flowers.

The difficult part was that the sun was moving fast and those shadows were on a stampede to be somewhere other than where I had first seen them.  Great fun.  Nice summer day.  The dogs had a great time.

Thanks for looking.  I'll be back.  

Drydock, 10x20

Boatyards are....
...an admitted fascination.  I'm not sure what the attraction is but I know there is no limit to the shapes, detail, color, movement, sense of adventure and unique people there.  This one is the Port Townsend yard where boats from up and down the west coast can be found.  This time there were more than usual from Alaska getting all cleaned up.

 I was there with my good friend Mick Davidson and we spent the first half hour just wandering around looking for ideas.  The possibilities were all over but when I saw this scene I felt intrigued and, though I felt it too complicated to pull off very well, I walked back there with my shellacked birch panel and dove in.

Composition:
It took a bit but I finally figured out what my attraction was.  It was the sense of space and depth, from the temporary stairs and scaffolding back into the distant hill and sky.  I felt expansive looking at it.  Here is how it went in my head.  If I look to the sweet spots (divide the canvas in thirds and look to where the lines cross) for possible focal points, this is what it looks like:

The colorful buoys and the detail of equipment was the obvious spot, but there was another one in that upright structure in the background boat.  The buoys won.  Not much else attractive in the other two circles.

Then I wondered about eye travel through the piece until I noticed that the stair structure was similar in size and construction with that thing on the back boat.  My eyes kept going around the scene and pausing briefly at each of those areas....but still anchored on the buoys.

Toward the finish I thought again about the sense of space and found the distant hill and shoreline on the left side and the masts from the sailboats toward the right added an additional feeling of depth.  And, of course, the sky.

This took about two hours, so after a bowl of soup with Mick I went looking for another.  I liked the intense backlight in this one, although I almost went blind doing it.  One of the workers stopped by and told me that this boat was derelict and going to be cut up.  Too bad I don't remember the name, so I titled it "Her Last Stand" 10x15.  You figure out the composition.  Because of the sun this was seat of the pants painting.

Thanks for looking.  Back again soon.

'Hanging at the Shipyard' in 3 Acts.

'Shipyard'  12x24

Ever Since Reading 'Wind in the Willows'....
.....I've loved messing about with boats....except now I don't sail them.  I just paint them whenever possible.  So, when the weather cooperates I drive up to the largest working shipyard in the area for smallish boats and have fun.  The challenge is consuming.  The twists and turns of a hull can be as challenging as the human form.  

Two weeks in a row the weather and my schedule were in alignment.   'The Shipyard' is only a small portion of the whole yard, yet I like hanging around these slices of working boats, shipwrights, fishermen, sailors, live-aboards, and the curious.  I painted it between about 11 and 2.  I figured I was done for the day but so many people stopped to ask if I was painting the 'Lady Washington' I decided better do it.

'Lady Washington' 14x14

This was the only other sized panel I had.  The rigging above what you see became considerably more complicated so it was easy to justify not doing it.  What a beautiful boat.  The rigging drove me crazy.  There was more there but it would have made the painting look more like a spaghetti plate than a glorious ship if I had included it all....even with the rest of it chopped off.

The previous week I did the 'Annihilator' and talked to a lot of people.  Everyone has a story they want heard.  So I listened and didn't paint so much.  Still, the painting turned out fine but I'll save you the story of the lost dog, the other painter who did the Annihilator, the electrician who suddenly lost his memory and the woman with no place to live.  It was a full day.

'Annihilator' 12x12

Thanks for looking!  Back soon.

'J' Got a New 'T', 16x16

A Couple of Friends.....
....periodically fix lunch and invite other painters over for the day.  They are all excellent cooks and for some reason they ask me over to these European style luncheons, sitting outside, drinking wine, eating good food and exchanging painting tips.  How lucky am I?

When I arrived this bike was parked in the lawn and, since I have never painted one, it was an obvious choice.  It was both challenging and fun to work out to a semi-successful finish.  Much I like but, like usual, 'if I had it to do over again' I think I might have used some softer edges in places.

Probably influencing this writing is that I'm listening to a podcast from a very successful gallery owner on the topic of creating a consistent body of work.  It gets to the question of what an artist is trying to say.   It may not be a verbal 'say'; it can also be a visual one.

Some paintings, like this one, are for pure fun and experimentation....but at the same time I'm always asking the question of how it could be better and speak more clearly.  How could it appeal to a broad audience without being a cliche or too gimmicky?

 I think it would speak louder if some edges were subdued, letting the eye go more toward the bike.  The changes would be small and the color wouldn't have to be altered much.  That bush on the left has choppy strokes, for example, that draw the eye  If I give it a try I'll post this again and let you see what happened.

Until then, Thanks for Looking.....and if you have a minute post a comment and tell me your opinion.

Reflecting on Hangzhou, 12x16

More Than Twenty Years Ago....
....and about this time of year, a group of artists journeyed to China to study in Hangzhou at a leading Chinese art school.  I was lucky enough to be part of the trip.

At that time China was just opening up to the world and many of the revolutionary effects of the Red Guard were still visible.....or weren't visible, having been destroyed.  Wandering around town I almost walked into the local military headquarters complete with tanks, lots of uniformed gun toting guards and full armament.  In the morning some very patriotic message driven music was played over the loud speakers for our wake up call.  This happened around 4:30 AM.  No shower because of no even slightly warmish water.

Breakfast was at 6:30 so we had a couple of hours to go paint or draw across the street in the park by a large lake in the center of town.  We had company as tai chi groups were doing their exercises.  The street sweepers were also out.  Picture small groups of women of modest means sweeping the streets using brooms they had just made from tied together twigs.

Below is a very quick study I did in those early hours and there was something about it I liked and hoped to revisit as a more completed work one day.  That day came about four months ago when I ran across it.....so working from the sketch and my memory the painting above is what I got.
 

 
I wouldn't have posted this at all but a member of that trip, Marilyn Webberley, commented on my last FB post and hearing from her brought back good memories of the trip.  I don't remember everyone who was along but Millard Davidson, Robert Moore, Bye Bitney, Linda Tippets, Diane McClary, and Scott Switzer are painters on that trip that I know are still swinging a brush.  Make a comment if you are one of the others so I can add you....

Loved meeting the Chinese students and seeing their work, much of which we have hanging in the house today.  We also laughed a whole lot....about the most ridiculous things.

Thanks for looking.





 

Fall at the Gardens, 12x12

Bainbridge Gardens....
....has long been a destination for tour buses that visit the island, so when I got a suggestion to paint there I was in.  (They also have a nice outdoor restaurant.)

You'll have noticed that the last five have been 12x12 size.  They also have all been shellacked birch plywood, no gesso or other preparation.  I've been using egberts, which are long bristled filberts that, especially on shellac, give very little control.  I'm having a blast using them.

Looking for something to paint from a comfortable spot, I didn't originally believe I could make anything out of this and that I would use it as just an exercise, scraping it later.  Turns out I find it a pleasant little piece.  Lots of fire.

Thanks for looking.  Back soon.

Holding Pond Times Two, 12x12

'Blakey Afternoon'.....
.....and 'Blakely Morning' are from the former site of the largest sawmill in the world, way back in the day.   It is now a park and I posted another painting from there on July 10th.  I've been going there frequently this year, usually to do small studies but also an occasional larger piece, 18x24.  Lately I seem to be getting into the 12x12 size.  Actually, it's intentional because I have always found a square format to be more compositionally challenging...so I'm working on it.

I'm also painting with egbert style brushes which have long difficult to control bristles.  The brush dances all over the surface, depositing little dabs of paint at random.   A bit like painting with the tail of a live peacock.

'Blakey Afternoon' happened in the waning afternoon light.  You see the water level as relatively low but it quickly changed in the hour I was there and ended up only  a few feet below the shore line by the time I packed up.  I have another one in the works from studies as the sun was going down.  The warm sunset light streams through the trees changing the color of everything.

'Blakey Morning' is looking back from that opposite shore the next morning.  The building is all that is left of a very large sawing complex that extended out over the water on both sides of this narrow peninsula.  It has become an ever changing art project for local spray can artists.

Here are a couple of pages from my sketchbook which show small paintings of that building done with gouache.  Gouache is a great way to study, especially when working small, fast and loose.  In an upcoming post I will likely share more of this sketchbook and how it has helped me move toward a better expression of what I want to do. 

And for you who like history, here is a picture of that mill from former times.  What is left is that small lighter section in the center of the photo, the generator building (see inset):

Thanks for looking.  I'll be back.....Dirty Harry said that....

Blues and Reds, 12x12

Port Townsend, WA....
.....was originally hoping to be the New York of the West coast back before the railroad had made it here.  Astoria, Tacoma, Seattle, Portland plus some others were also hoping that they would be chosen for the Great Northern terminus.  Located at the top of Puget Sound, P.T. is a beautiful little town of old buildings, hills and ocean views.  It even has a downtown and an uptown (about four blocks up the hill).

The boatyard there is a friendly place of quirky people, small out of the way restaurants and good shapes and ideas for painters.  This last Wednesday I was wandering around trying to find my friend Mick Davidson and stumbled on this scene.  I really didn't care what the objects were because what grabbed me were all those blues.  I got kicked out of my first vantage point, which was good because I think this turned out better.

After a very brief break I walked around some buildings and painted this one which is certainly about the shapes but also very much about all those reds.  The advancing shadows of the afternoon kept me speeding along. I think they make a nice flat shape foil for the other objects.

A couple of years ago I drew from the same location....obviously a different boat.  I used the same drawing technique for the painting that I did in the drawing.  The very first stroke I put down was the telephone pole on the right side.  Once in place it becomes a measuring stick that the rest of the drawing can build off from.  Using that pole for comparison I can see where the parts of the boats line up in comparison to the pole.

I also did that in this warm up drawing for the trip this last week.  This time it was the front vertical piece of the fork lift.  Everything around that was placed in comparison....and then the rest of the drawing from those initial objects.  Makes things much simpler....I need 'simpler'.    (Look carefully in the other drawing and the same forklift shows up.)

Thanks for looking!!

SaveSave

A Day at Bloedel

PAWA.....
....Plein Air Washington had a paint out last Saturday which I almost missed but had a good friend bring it to my attention the day before.  The Bloedel Reserve has been referred to before in this blog and called the Downton Abbey of Bainbridge.  Acres and acres of wonderful plantings, lakes, streams, a forest area and a large manor house.  Great place to write, walk, contemplate and paint.

Heading out the door I grabbed my box with 11x14 panels but, on second thought also grabbed the box with 16x20's and ended up using those.  I love having a surface large enough that I can swing my brush loaded arm and use big brushes.  It's a freeing feeling.....and I go through a lot of paint.

Someone once said to 'use paint like you own the paint factory'.  I think it was Wm. F. "Bill" Reese.

This top one was from the early afternoon.  It happened to be on one of the main trails and about every minute a new bunch of walkers would come by, stand around a while and move on.   It seemed like I could always feel people standing behind me.  Very fun.

The morning was different, quieter and more removed from the crowds.

A stream flowed by my feet and into this pond where large cedars grew right out of the water.   Dappled light from the trees hitting my panel made it difficult to see what I was painting and this one took a few minutes followup at home to organize and unify the representation of the mats of plant growth floating on the surface.  That blue of the sky reflecting off those plants is what held my attention.

Three people have lately mentioned to me how swayed their personal style can be by studying with or greatly admiring other artists.  We all go through the 'I wish I could paint like......', filling in the blank with our latest infatuation.  It becomes problematic when we judge our own work by the images we have of other's paintings.  Even more so when it is both Diebenkorn and Schmid there at the same time.  Instant confusion.

On my iPad I have images of work from 115 different artists, each with their own resounding style and, there have been many times that I wish I could paint like any one of them.  Lately, despite often studying those 5000 images, I've once again realized the futility and disaster letting them be too influential.   Mesmerized as I am by other artists and their views of the world, when I wake in the morning it's still me and I may as well celebrate that.  So, I paint what and how I like and only care if what I do is satisfying to me.  Far less angst.... (but still steal good ideas when I find them)

By the way, 'Steal Like an Artist' is a good book.

Thanks for looking.

Blakely Back Harbor, 16x20

Yes, I know.....
.....it's been a long time since the last post.  Months.  Our daughter had twins.  Need I say more?

But I have been painting.  This is number 45 since June 10th, although most of them are very small studies which I'll likely share later....right after I finally get a post out about Tim Deibler.   But that comes later too.

'Blakely Back Harbor' has a story inasmuch as it is the the park that contains the remains of what was once the largest sawmill in the world.  According to photos the harbor usually was filled with sailing ships waiting to take on the sawn planks and distribute them to the world.  There was a large town here with several villages within walking distance around it that housed the Japanese, Swedish and the Philippine workers, (plus others).  There was a boardwalk, hotel, stores...the whole shebang.  The back harbor was used to store water and logs.  Once the tide had come in and the water risen behind the dam they built, they blocked the exit and were able to move the logs around more easily.

That is all now gone.  All that is left are ruins, the slag heaps, the pier supports for the boardwalk and the back harbor.  Although usually deserted now, you can sense the bustle of hope, activity and industry that once was here.

Anyway, there I was last week with a friend and figured that I hadn't painted anything of a respectable size in a while.  Having forgotten my roll of paper towels or rags--I had two small used paper towels sheets--I still gave it a shot and adjusted a couple things once I got home.

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer.

Thanks for looking.