The Crossing

Twenty minutes to wait before picking someone up I stopped the car in the Vietnamese Market area and drew what was in front of me.  The guy kept walking back and forth to his truck so he just fell into the drawing.  Even though there is all the detail and the figure is only 1/2 inch high the eye is drawn there right away. 

Marker drawing is so quick and easy to create a sense of depth and form.

I'll post some more of Montana later this week.

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... 

Steven Smallsalmon, 12x14

The Montana Painter's Alliance is a group of twenty five talented artists from across Montana who have regular group paint-outs and were kind enough to include me as their guest.  The morning of the second day they had Steve come in from the Flathead reservation in native dress.  Since I have never painted a Native American before this was a special treat.  After taking several five minute poses to get us warmed up, the group and Steve settled on this one and he posed for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Here is also one of the warm-up sketches.  Of the four or five sketches I liked this one the best but, alas, he decided on the one that became the painting....which I also like but the shapes in the sketch were more interesting and I wished I could have brought it to a painting.  All the sketches, including this one, were wiped away.  This should give you an idea about how these begin.  Actually, there are more lines here than usual.  Enjoy.

Eagle Harbor Demo, 11x14

This is the demonstration painting I did last Sunday for the plein air group.  We had a great time painting all day in the park with people strolling by adding comments.  Someday I'm going to make a T-shirt filled with passerby comments.  The one that always kills me is from the folks that stand and watch for ten minutes and then, with a quizzical expression ask, "Whaddaya painting".  I don't really mind this at the beginning, but toward the end when there is obviously a boat or a tree or a house in the painting, always gets me.  I never know whether to laugh or cry....but usually choose laughter when they are respectfully out of range.  Art education has been woefully neglected...

Here is a photo of how this began.  It's just past the shape block-in stage and on to beginning color.....and, remember, no line drawing just massing in of major shapes in a burnt sienna like color (it can be any color.  bs just lives nicely with green) which you can see under the green as I started over- painting.  Hard even for me to believe it's the same piece.

Waiting for Thai

Waiting for our 'to go' food, I drew....what else?  The food came as I was at this stage so I went home a little disappointed that I hadn't been able to carry it further with darker values.

When looking at it an hour later I thought it made a good point and decided to post it.  While the next step of adding deeper values would have made my drawing more believable, an initial separation of light from shadow is all that is needed to create form and a sense of dimension.

For a painter, this simple 30 percent value indicating shadow struck areas (a value map)  would be all that you'd need, plus a few color notations, to create a painting.  It could lead you all the way to a finished piece.  Click on the drawing to see a larger version.

I feel an urge to talk about shape painting vs. light/shadow painting......but I'll stop and save it for another post.

Rainy Harbor, 11x14

This should be titled 'Perils of Plein Air'.  I'll save you the details but suffice to say it involved a strong wind, heavy rain and high tide....and several moves.   I ended up under a cedar tree and painted what  I could see through the branches.  The cloud cover, rain and tree shadow meant it was so dark I had to frequently stick my brush out into the light so I could tell what color had been mixed.  What you see here looks decidedly more pleasant than the experience....except that I was painting.

Once I was admiring a harbor watercolor by John Singer Sargent that looked so effortless despite all the natural elements he must have had to deal with.  Later I read that he painted it over the course of two days and had several of his friends come down to the docks and tie ropes on the boats, holding them in position so they wouldn't drift about.  The umpire should have called a foul.

Virginia

A former student of painter Sergei Bongart, beauty queen, singer with Dennis Day and acquaintance of Mel Brooks and Placido Domingo, Virginia has a rich history that is deeper than the few things I've mentioned here....she'll probably kill me for saying this much.

I think it is always difficult to capture people that are friends or relatives.  Perhaps our knowledge of them makes us feel that our attempt at portraiture falls short of who they are as people.  Nonetheless, I'm satisfied with how this turned out... but if I did it again...  

Mud Flats

I like markers because they make me think like a painter and force me to put out the extra effort to get it right the first time and not count on erasing.  On this one, however, a little judicious erasing would have made it so much stronger, although I still like it.  Again, the overlapping marks are more prominent in the scan than the original.  I hope I can eventually get them to be more representative.  Think I'll go draw...

Low Tide

A good friend recently sent me a link to a talk on the website TED by  Elizabeth Gilbert, author of 'Eat, Pray, Love'.  It's about a twenty minute talk on creativity and where creative inspiration comes from.  I found her talk humorous, inspirational and reassuring and would recommend it to any artist, writer....or most anyone, really.  I've watched it twice and will probably watch it once more.

Lately I've been experimenting with some extra wide markers put out by Copic to quickly fill in large areas of tone.  The broad mass in back of this harbor shack got filled in by it, but I need to spend some time deciding if it is an improvement or just one more piece of art junk to carry around.  It definitely is faster in massing the major dark light split.  The areas where the marker strokes overlap  show up more in the scan than in the original.

Spartacus Bunny

On Fridays a number of us get together to draw or paint a single three hour pose at the local art store.  Sometimes it's necessary to liven things up a bit, hence this pose put together from what must have been part of a Tin Man costume and leftover Easter props.  Above drawing about 30 minutes.

Here is the beginning of another drawing showing the tools and the 'no-lines' approach.  And the result...about 90 minutes.

  

 

Bigfork Bob, 4x5

I've gotten so many supportive and insightful comments from 'On Quitting Painting' that I had to post something, even this etching from three years ago, to reassure you all that this is a plateau...not a quit.  Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Everyone in a creative pursuit periodically hits a wall and wants to shuck the whole thing.  Usually it just means a new stretch.  I think there is an incorporation lag between the thoughtful process of learning a new skill and being able to intuitively and naturally use those skills. 

Maybe that's why being a beginner at something can be frustrating  There are so many new things to learn and there is no base of skills to carry a person along through the rough times.  Ever try roller skating?  Talk about a painful learning curve without many good times..

Anyway, I'm not quitting painting.  I just finished a 24x30 figure and am working on a similar sized landscape......but I'm trying new things and getting frustrated.  Rest easy.  I'll be back...

On Quitting Painting

In the last ten days I have decided to quit painting at least four times.  The paint isn't flowing, the drawings aren't working, color relationships are off, values are in the middle range....it all just seems clunky.

Most painters I talk to have periods like this one.  After years of these attacks of 'quitting for good' I've come to realize, however rotten I feel, that it's just part of the process.  Maybe tomorrow it will all be different and the brush will be a friend....maybe it won't.

Stay tuned.  I feel a breakthrough coming on....

(This demo painting is from some months ago....just to put something on the blog.)

Island Morning, 24x24

While in the studio the other day I ran across a small study done about a year ago and, together with a marker sketch, redid the painting in a larger size.  Keeping with 'no predrawing' I quickly blocked it in with a grayish purple and just kept going.  That undertone wasn't bad for establishing a cool morning mood but I may paint it again with a warmer undertone just to see where it goes.  Simple shapes hopefully kept together. 

Demo Value Sketch and Color Comp

 

Before doing the class demo from the previous  blog I did a quick marker value study.  By exploring and simplifying the value arrangements in a quick sketch I was better able to tie some of the pieces together.  I think its like beginning a conversation with someone you don't know yet.  We found an understanding that let us continue. 

I then did this 4 1/4 by 4 3/4 color comp on some watercolor paper(the scan came out a bit dark).  I used a palette knife so the colors would stay fresh and unblended.  I remember being most interested in how to treat the background tones, keeping them related to the other parts.  Sometimes these comps are as appealing as the finished painting.

Marker Book

 I've gotten several inquiries about my book on sketching with markers.  Here's the skinny:

I'm in a rewrite of it to include some new chapters and new material (plus I'm out of stock so a good time to improve it...it's like writing software.  Always an upgrade).  It is currently 52 pages long but it looks like the new one will be in the sixty page area.  The graphic below is from last year so ignore the date....however I expect the new one will be out in early April.  Only a month away.

If you are following this blog, you'll know about it as soon as I have it in my hands.

Thanks for the interest.

 

Winter demo 20x24

So long since I've blogged...it has been a very busy six weeks.

This is the demo I did for my intermediate painting class.  After I was finished we critiqued it.  I made the changes we felt would improve the piece in about five minutes and they worked.  I moved the peak of the cloth from behind the green decanter so they didn't line up, better anchored the foremost plum to the table cloth and placed some highlights on the coffee pot.  Small additions, really, but they all helped the piece flow.   Thanks for the suggestions.

Notice how everything has a light and shadow side, from the still life as a whole to the combination of pot and bouquet and down to each flower....and each has to fit into the value of the area it's in.  The shadowed flowers, for example, have lighter and darker areas but they stay within the context of where they are placed in the overall arrangement.  It's the gestalt of the thing.

Tomorrow I'll post the value drawing and color comp I did prior to painting the demo.

The Painting Crew

Two 'beginning' painters with their last pieces.  Beginning is in quotes because the work in this class was past what I would expect from new painters.

 

  

And a few painters from the intermediate class.  I had a great time teaching these two groups and their attentiveness was humbling.  While skills and experience varied, their desire to know more about the process was consistently high.....and we all know that desire and talent are the same thing.  (Thanks, Ron.)

More tomorrow.  I'm back after a busy six weeks.

Yellow Daisies, 24 x 24

A relatively quick still life painting done about a week ago, I tried to find any excuse to push concepts of warm and cool while keeping an overall sense of the original color.  Still life painting can be such a good exercise and I can eat the fruit afterward.

I don't think there is a painting I wouldn't change if I had it to do over again....but I usually screw it up if I try and 'fix' it after the fact.  About 3 1/2 hours.

The Docent

I think his name is Paul and he leads tours at the Museum of Flight in south Seattle.  He has a droll sense of humor.  "How long did you work at Boeing?"  "About forty years.  I quit because it didn't seem like we were going to get along."

  And if you are new here or haven't gotten the idea, no predrawing with lines...just blocking in of major shapes and going for a likeness.