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.

Skullcandy, 11x14 and Soltek mod

Skullcandy, conte pencil on Strathmore toned paper

There was this skull sitting around.....

.....and I was too tired with a summer cold to do much painting.  So I drew.  Always a good idea.....but that's not what this blog entry is all about, other than to say that the only 'line' I used is the faint one establishing the center of the skull down to the ear hole.  You can faintly see it.  After that it was just tone after tone, shape after shape.

The reason to write today is to show you how I remodeled my Soltek easel.  I really like the Soltek and bought one when they first came out when I was visiting the studio of Jim Wilcox, the maker and designer.

My only complaint is that I'm an 'arm-swinging' painter.  The palette in the Soltek goes front to back while my arm goes side to side.  Plus, I never seemed to have enough room on the palette.  I tried several solutions but they were all just patches that didn't work that well.

I considered the Palm Palette which is a terrific solution but after thinking through how I paint I wasn't sure it would work for me either.  I wanted access to the storage areas, a backing edge to push the paint against, the ability to have the palette on a similar plane to the painting.... but needed it to be compact.  Here is my solution.  It is similar to what Colin Page straps across his Artwork Essentials easel.  I had already had this idea before I saw what Colin did so was encouraged to try it.

 It is a simple piece of birch plywood with oak edges on three sides that has been given several coats of linseed oil mixed with Gamsol to seal it.  I used Gorilla Glue to put it together....it will never come apart.  The palette is the same size as the folded up Soltek....see below for how they strap together.

No, no paint on it yet.  The prototype worked so I just finished this better built version.   (....or I'm just this neat and clean...)

 The top edge is wider than the others so it can catch on the upper edge of the easel, keeping it from sliding down when I tilt the storage box.  I hold the palette in place with a bungee cord.

 By not making the palette deeper I can have access to the storage areas and trays to store brushes and palette knife.  The palette that comes with the Soltek can be used as an extra mixing area by just slipping it under my palette and securing it with a small spring loaded clip.  The solvent hangs off the front edge from an 'S' shaped hook, swinging on its handle.

 The Soltek palette can also be positioned leaning against the center pole, although I'll probably not use it this way.

The cover needed to be light weight so I used the corrugated plastic that's used for signs....about $5 at Home Depot.  I bent the edges by rolling a pizza cutter along the line to be bent plus encouraging it to soften and bend by heating it with a hair dryer.  Duct tape, what else, finished it off and holds it together.

On the inside I glued a strip of wood along the front for support as well as added piled up left over plastic that I glued together.  Both of those things keep the lid from compressing on the paint during transport.  The three oak edges support the other sides.  You certainly don't have to use oak but I do recommend a closed grain wood like birch for the palette.

  Because the palette is the same size as the folded up easel I can just strap the two together and be off.  The Soltek holds the paint and brushes.  Lightweight, cheap and easy to build, compact....but lots of mixing room.

By the way, earlier this summer I sent in the Soltek to have the longer legs put on.  They refurbished the beast and added the new and improved legs....well worth it.
There you go.  I have to go paint.

Boathouses, 10 x 12

 

After Tim Deibler arrived in town....

....there were a couple of days before his workshop so I dragged him out painting.  'Drag' may not be the best word because after I mentioned it he was anxious to leave at 7 in the morning.  I picked him up at nine.....I'm a far more dedicated painter with more sleep.

I called Rob Weiss and off we went to the harbor where we all whacked out two or three paintings before Tim left on the ferry to tour the Seattle sights.

The week before I had ordered a few RGH paint samples to try out, which is what I used in this piece.  For the most part I was satisfied but their Cad Yellow Light is more like a Cad Lemon, which you can see in the clouds.  I'm intrigued enough to give them a call this next week to see what they offer that would be closer in hue.  RGH is used by many painters but two I know of are Stapleton Kearns and Ovanes Berberian.

Well, that's painter talk so for the rest of you:  I'm/We are off to Montana next week for some vacation, back for a couple of weeks and then I leave for two weeks of painting in Maine.  Can't wait to go both places.  I'll post again as I get an opportunity.

 

The Express, 15 x 18

Racing the sunset.....

....I sped past artist Rob Weiss's home (sorry Rob, no time to stop) hoping to have enough time to paint the Kingston Express in the setting sun.  I knew it would be just a quick study but had to give it a try.  The variety of reds in the boat and reflecting on the water were so enticing.

This is the same limited palette from the last few posts....plus ultramarine blue.

Here is an early view.  You can notice that what was, in color terms, blown out by the sun slowly turned hue becoming more orange and yellow over the course of 90 minutes.

I think there is enough here to return with a larger canvas, change the composition a bit and see where it will go.   

Bloedel Barn, 16 x 18

Downton Abbey on Bainbridge.......

.....is how I describe the Bloedel Reserve.  Streams, ponds, reflecting ponds, Japanese garden, formal gardens all spread around on a huge estate with a period main house.

This was the site of the first day of our plein air workshop during the last weekend of June.  We had a great time even though I circled the place four times trying to find people.  I got my exercise.

I also did this as the morning demonstration painting.  As in the last several posts, this is just the three pigments mentioned before.  I'm getting more and more enthralled with that limited palette, although I will occasionally add one more pigment when the painting calls for it.

If you are able, Tim Deibler will be teaching a workshop next weekend, 19th, 20th, and 21st.  Tim is a nationally known painter with a book and several dvds in publication.  From watching those vids I know he explains the painting process very well and, from all I've heard, is a very nice man.  If you can make the workshop you won't be dissatisfied.  Contact the Winslow Art Center. 

Here is a photo of the demo in progress taken by my friend Nancy.  If I look indecisive, I remember that's how I was feeling just at that moment, wondering how to interpret the fore ground in paint.

Artist in indecisive moment.

Astilbe Garden, 9 x 12

Snoozing on the couch after the festivities of July 4th....

.....visions of unpainted paintings woke me up.  Really happened.  Grabbing my paint kit I headed to the front garden and found a group of astilbe beginning to catch a bit of afternoon light.  An hour later this painting emerged and I was glad I hadn't spent the time on the couch. 

I have to admit that I was still a bit in that dream stage when I painted it, proving again that I'm just as competent when half asleep.

Hope you all in the U.S. had a great holiday.....and that those in other countries were pleased not to have fireworks until one in the morning.  More gun powder was used just in our neighborhood than in all of the Revolutionary War.....  OK.  Maybe not the whole war.

This was the same limited palette of three colors as in the last post.

Boathouse, 8x10

Sitting in the shade at the beach.....

.....I did this demo on Sunday for the plein air workshop.  The building was actually a bit more squat and didn't have this saltbox roof....I just made it a little more interesting.   

It was a great weekend.  Saturday at the Bloedel Reserve and Sunday staying cool by Eagle Harbor.  I had a group of serious painters who stretched me....I think challenging me kept them in good spirits because they looked like they were having fun.  One looked like she was even settling in for a long stay.

I asked them to use a limited palette to simplify choices and learn color mixing.  This is Quinacridone Red, Cadmium Yellow Light and Thalo Blue.  The next post or two will have paintings done with that palette.  There is freedom, believe it or not, in such a limited selection of primaries.

Here is a pic of the painting at a sketch stage:

And here is the quick marker drawing to help plot where I wanted to go:

Gouache Portraits, 6x8 (about)

 

The Bainbridge Art Museum....

.....hosted a free modeling session yesterday so I grabbed my gouache and went, creating these two relatively quick studies.  Thirty and sixty minutes respectively.  I love gouache.....especially on a toned paper.  I can play with color all I want and it generally forgives me.

  

James Gurney has a video he did at the Monterrey Plein Air event from about a month ago in which he paints the painters.  He does a beautiful job catching the feeling of the moment.  Nice to see real skill.   It's worth your time to watch and see how simply he conceived this:

 

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.....

Iris at the Reserve, 8 x 10

The National Bison Reserve....

....is tucked away between St. Ignatius and Dixon, MT and is a great place to see most everything but buffalo.  Lots of them are there but I've never taken the time to actually tour the Reserve and see them as 'other stuff' attracts me first.  On this rainy/sunny day it was these iris at the edge of some pond.

The board I had with me already had an old painting on it so I put on a layer of a dark dull green....you can see it in some places....and everything was added on top of that layer of wet paint.  It was just a matter of carving out the image.  It has looseness and spontaneity that I like....and lots of thick paint on top of other thick paint.  It's hard to get too detailed on a slippery surface.  Just lay it on and leave it.

You can find this kind of thing to paint at the Bloedel Reserve where I will be teaching a plein air workshop next weekend.  Winslow Art Center has all the details.

Maynard Dixon (1875 to 1946), the well known southwest oil painter, spent lots of time in and around St. Ignatius when it was known as 'the mission', making several trips there during his lifetime.  I wonder if the town of Dixon was named for him.  Now it is as close to a ghost town as you can get and still be called a town.  More in an upcoming post.

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. 

Evening Anchor, 10x12

I find this piece inviting me in.....probably to sit on one of those boats with my feet up, rocking with the waves, enjoying a beer and swapping fish tales.....of which I only have three.

Even though it hasn't been formally announced, there will be a plein air workshop at the end of the month AND it will be held at the Bloedel Reserve.  What a place to be able to paint!  In the past it was rare for it to be open even for sketching but times are changing and plein air painters are no longer the suspect individuals they seem to be.

Now that reminds me that Scott Burdick did a short movie on the police of Barcelona who kick painters off the street.  Evidently other nefarious activities are sanctioned but moving a brush on a canvas just steps over the line for the city fathers.  You can find it on his website.

Anyway, if you are interested in joining me for some plein air fun, give Martha at the Winslow Art Center a call and get signed up before it fills.

For the next few posts I'm going to be digging into paintings that I never got around showing here.  They are all plein air....just to get you in the mood.

Friendship Traps, 10x12

Friendship, Maine

How about two books on art that are well worth your time and cash....one is even free.

For years Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis was out of print.  I had all his others and almost sprang $300 for a used copy....but didn't.  Then I heard it was being reprinted....and it's only $27 at Amazon.  Terrific book.

Another I didn't know about but found on Stapleton Kearns website (that's worth visiting also) is by Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing.  A gem of a book that spends as much time talking about painting as it does drawing.  I'm finding it reinforcing and thought inducing....which is always a good thing in my world.  You can find pdf versions on the web if you search for them and can get a Microsoft digitized version at the Univ of California Library HERE.  Did I mention FREE?

The marker drawing was done in the morning, then the truck showed up changing the view and I did a slightly different painting.  I think the drawing as a painting might have turned out better but either way the confusing detail of all those lobster traps was what I was enjoying painting.....between my flurries of swearing.

REMEMBER.  Plein Air Workshop is the last weekend in June.  Come on along.  Have some fun.

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....

Vagabonds, 10 x 12

The other evening Noelle said we had to go for a walk.... so I got her leash and out we went.  She then said she'd rather go to a beach....fickle dog.

We ended up at a small harbor with just enough time and light left to do a quick study.  Like the last post, I used a limited palette but changed to more vibrant colors.....Thalo Blue, Quinacridone Red and Cad Yellow Light...plus white.  The rigging was a challenge because I didn't have a small brush and the boats kept swinging around, the light reflecting off different stays.  Stays.  I don't remember if that's the word I want for the standing rigging but Gary will know when he reads this.

Noelle spent her time growling at that reddish buoy.  Go figure.

Eagle Harbor Quiet, 18 x 24

This piece I did as a donation for an auction to benefit the arts, specifically the Arts and Humanities Council.  I like to give things away sometimes and it gives me the impetus to try new things, expanding the game.

I used a pretty limited palette, reducing the tube colors to four and seeing how many different ways I could bend them to get the effect I wanted.  My hope is that you are captivated by the texture of the shore and rocks, letting the other things act as stage props.  This is a studio piece done from a 12x16 plein air panel completed about a year ago.

Speaking of palettes, Thomas Jefferson Kitts has a well researched blog entry about plein air palettes of quite a few current painters that is worth a look.  How different artists lay out their palettes is also interesting.  Check it out here: http://www.thomaskitts.com/2013/04/the-contemporary-outdoor-painters.html

Thanks for looking.  Keep painting......or whatever it is that brings you joy.

Spring Flowers, both 6 x 8

Gary was out boating.  Deb was traveling.....so I borrowed their backyard and Noelle and I spent a quiet hour painting this.  So many flowers happen in the Spring and I want to paint them all....probably won't happen, but I'd love to stop time for a bit to do it.

Nancy's Rhodie began in fog which burned off before I was finished so I had to readjust everything for sun.  I didn't draw for either of these pieces, preferring to just use burnt sienna to block in some shadow shapes and then carve out the color and light as I went along.  For me it makes for a more intuitive approach to painting.

Both were fun and quick.

Morning at Treehouse Point, 22 x 28

Treehouse Point.  I don't remember how many treehouses are on this acreage next to the Raging River, but they are all different and all are 15 to 20 off the ground, gently swaying in the breezes.  You can rent them out or host an event in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.  A totally unique place.

So when Cathe says, 'let's go to the Raging to paint' I'm all in and have never been disappointed.  She has weather juju so, even though rain is forecast, it never seems to come through and we have a totally pleasant day.  Find a painting buddy that can do that and stick with them.

I remember spending the day in consternation because I didn't think my 'grays' were  good and there was too much color.....and yet I still like what happened on the canvas.  Like Popeye says, 'I yam what I yam.'  Color is my friend.  This is a larger piece from the original 11x14.

And here is a free plug for Treehouse Point.  Go HERE to see what they have built.  Very unique and playful.

Out My Backdoor, 10 x 12

The abstraction and intricacy of things is becoming more appealing.

This a small section of a hundred foot tall Big Leaf Maple that I have been enthralled with for several years.  It has leaves larger than dinner plates that, in the summer, just form a dark canopy.  However, in the Spring and Fall the leaves are more translucent and the colors get interesting.

The urge to 'just do it' finally overcame the 'reticence to try' and, after an initial 'scrape and start over', I like the results.  So many colors.  So many seductive opportunities to make a boring order out of interesting randomness.  And several times thinking that 'this will never turn out......no way'.

Just Do It.