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....

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.

Rainy Day Bridge, 10x12

Alone up a dead end road and down into a makeshift parking area I found this scene.  Rain kept interfering with my painting progress but the quiet was worth the annoyance.  For much of the time I had to hold an umbrella over the painting and palette to keep them dry enough to progress.  

I've had some questions so, if a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some answers to the question of  'How do you do this?'  While it has been different every time, this is the general idea:

The Scene:

Initial separation of light and dark with an Isabey badger fitch:

Over the next few steps the image gets created by 'carving' with value and hue:

Finally, after the larger shapes begin to take some generalized form, I can begin to add the details that turn it into a recognizable image:

And that's pretty much it.  Painting is just big shapes and doo-dads... (think I've said that before.....)  Remember when comparing the photo of the scene to the painting that  1) this is a painting, not a reproduction of a photo,  2) cameras lie, and 3) see number one.

Ouzel Rock, 8x10

I had never seen an American Dipper or Water Ouzel in action until the day this was painted.  Perhaps I hadn't taken the time to notice, but this bird flits from rock to rock, stopping where there is lots of current.   In a blink it dives from the rock into the torrent of water.   Long seconds go by and you expect to see it re-emerge forty feet downstream pulling its battered body onto a rock.  Instead, out it pops about 2 inches from where it went in, happy as an Ouzel.


It seems there are so many ways in this world to live a happy life, do your thing and not bother anyone.

This scene is just downstream from the view in the last post.  I once saw a photo of a painting held up in front of a scene.   It was difficult to distinguish the painting from the reality and for that the artist was proud.  I admire that kind of skill but for me it's not the point.  Reinterpreting and simplifying in a way that ignites an unspoken conversation with the eventual viewer is a goal I'd like to arrive at more frequently.

Those branches and the fallen tree in the background was a mass of complexity.  If I did it right, that's what you feel and yet it is just a mass of color broken here and there by interesting paint strokes.  It's an Ouzel thing.

Holding Firm, 8x10

Treehouse Point, Fall City.  When I was growing up and being exposed to job options for later in life, world renowned tree house builder was never mentioned....and yet, here I was painting on a property with I don't know how many tree houses on it that can be rented out and people come from all over the world to stay here and learn to build these things.  This place has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and all kinds of programs and publications.  Somehow this was not one of my choices.   I might add here that no one mentioned being a painter either, but that's another story.

Perhaps there is something in this painting about holding firm in the face of turmoil which is what I've been feeling watching events unfold in this country.....alas, that too is another story.....for a different blog.

Suffice to say that this is the river running through the property.....and it was completely enjoyable to paint it on the first sunny day of the year.

Cottenwood Down, 10x12

Fallen trees look so different than when standing, their limbs pushing in unexpected directions forming unexpected shapes and movement between them. 

This is the second painting of the day in the Swauk Valley out of Cle Elum.  It has many things in it that appeal to me: a scene that is a small slice of the world as opposed to a panorama, interesting but related color choices, repeating shapes, varied edge work, warm against cool colors, thick and thin paint application, distinct unique brush marks and small sparkles of smaller strokes.

It is a painting that makes me feel good when I look at it, the cold of the day forgotten.

New Glascow River

Prince Edward Island was a surprise to me. I had expected an extension of the Maine coast and woodlands. Instead we found rolling hills, small well-to-do farms, and tree lined ravines.

This was my first painting and I think you can get a sense of the land from it. Even though it is a relatively small island there are several rivers of which this is one. The nuances of color don't come across in this photo. In the painting the colors are more intense with subtle differences such as a red hue across the water and in the clouds which barely show up here. I think the color comes somehow from the red sandstone that makes up the island.