The Art of Understanding

Opps, Pushed the wrong button. I have not had time to photo my lastest but wanted to share another quote of R. Henri.  " Freedon can only be obtained through an understanding of basic order"  Continuing to define and refine my goals, I realized this applies to all areas of life.  I am feeling freer and freer as I continue to define my goals.  They allow me to focus on whats important to me and simplify or deemphasize the extraneous.  Tomorrow, I am off to a drawing workshop.  Part of my goal to improve my drawing.  Have a great day.

Wet Lands

Quote for the day, "The artist will open a book someone is trying to close to show there are still more pages possible." R. Henri 
  
    Wet Lands are part of the beauty of Florida. They have been painted many, many times.  I thought I would concentrate for a while on capturing my impression of their beauty.  They are such a fragile part of our environment and constantly threatened by builders.  For some reason ($$$) they seem to get around all the local and state restrictions.  Dare I hope this New Year, will see a greater effort to preserve our heritage.
     This was my first time using linen and it made a big difference.  I like the smoother texture as I tend to paint more like a watercolorist than a heavy impasto, although I am trying to put on more paint.  This was a small 5x7, 620 gram weight linen Centurion LX with wrapped edges. Don't remember where it came from but  I am serverly tempted to dip deeper into the $$ and use linen.
     I have started to use Office 2007 outlook to keep me on task with my goals.  Am visiting web sites, blogs, Etsy to get ideas.  Any one with ideas on Web site is welcomed to comment.  I am leaning toward just the blog and Etsy but if I do larger pictures then what  So much to learn and it takes away from the painting.  Where have I heard that before!!! 

Coming together!!!

Inspired by the bloggers, especially K Tyrell, Linda Blondhein and Marion Fortunati, sharing their goals.I have been furiously/driven to set goals for the coming year.   Feeling lost and overwhelmed (much like I have been for the past 12 months) as I went through all my the files.  I recognized I was trying to learn everything at once, examining different palettes, compositions, artist, blog, websites then it hit.... The memory of sitting at a card table in my apartment and doing a jigsaw.  As I dumped the pieces out and started turning them over, I had an AHA moment... At work( I was starting a new job as Quality Manager Director) I was gathering all sorts of information not knowing if it was helpful or not and after the period of gathering, I started to sort (turn over the pieces), then frame the puzzle ( all straight edges) and finally fit the pieces together.  As I sat here the past week going through all my files, weeding, sorting, I experienced the same feelings.  As I sorted my mind became able to focus, the pieces started to fall in place and I was able to create and prioritize my lists.  Naturally, it will be ongoing as I still have a lot to learn but I see a direction.
My Goals for my Art are relatively simple but incredibly hard.
- Paint every day
- focus on edges
- apply more paint
- loosen up
- increase my perception of value and color
- sketch/draw at least 5 x week.
I have made many more goals and have done a plan for each one.
- Improve my blog
- Increase my revenue from painting through a Web Site (need to do) Etsy ( need to tweak) and other marketing methods.

I am at ease as I know the direction I want to take.
The painting I posted was done on a 5by7 canvas board before I went to Denver.  I have wanted to paint marshes for quite a while and hopefully will do a series so I can improve.

Happy Holidays! Art Goals

Merry Christmas to all and may your New Year be filled with joy and peace. I am deep in the throes of making my New Years Resolutions especially for my art journey. I have seen goals on the blogs and am inspired by their courage to be vulnerable. This will be part of my goal.
This week I am going through files, sorting, gleaning ideas for next year. I am determined to do better blogging and deciding on a theme. Hopefully it will encourage me to be even more diligent in my quest to explore my creative self. Will keep you posted.

Painting is not work!!!

Here are some of the paintings I did from the instructional DVD set by Gayle Levee. I learned an enormous amount from her DVDs as they filled in the blanks for me. I guess I need to learn the how and why before I gain confidence. I am now excited to paint an original as I did in Mary Garrish's workshop and which Gayle also walked me through.

Sunrise

This is a painting (8x10) I did at the workshop. I am very happy with how it turned out. However, when I attempted to photo it, I can see I need to apply more paint. The canvas comes through too much. Just when I think I have it fairly well, another aspect shows up. Guess that is why I love painting, always a new challenge.

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My husband Dick cooked a gourmet Thanksgiving for the family (11). I have a lot to be thankful for!!!

Mary Garrish Workshop

I can't believe how long it took me to set this up... There has to be an easier way but my brain won't take any more learning. As it is I went back to picasso as my editor.

As the expression goes, "the teacher will appear when the student is ready". AND was I ready. Mary showed us how to work from two photo references and I finally learned how to distinguish from referencing and duplicating.


Mary' Palette and initial laying in of darks after sketch. She uses Vasari paint. The three primary color Cad Yellow light/pale, Cad Red, and Ultramarine Blue plus the 8 grays created for Scott Christenson by Vasari. I fell in love with the pallet.










Initial sketch, starting on darks

















Mary was using two difference photos she completed the landscape first.













Softening the edges

Laying in darks of sky










Finishing touches






Done

Finally

Back from vacation and Denver, and two roadtrex rallies. In between, I had been hard at work trying to improve my painting. I have to thank Creative Spotlight Artist Blog which pointed me to a DVD series by Gayle Levee entitled "Learn and Master Painting" by Legacy Learning Systems. It was just what I needed to fill in the blanks. I started with the first DVD - there are 25, about 30-35 hours of instructions. Gayle takes you from the absolute beginning filled in the blanks. She is a great teacher, reiterating her instructions until they really sink in. I have learned a lot. I am much more confident that I know what I am doing rather than going by the seat of my pants. I am up to lesson #18 and intend to continue through. I finished one of the paintings and will photograph it tomorrow and blog it, if I get the chance. I am also starting a workshop for three days at our local Art Museum. Mary Garrish is a well know artist and I am hoping to learn a lot. I will take pictures if I can and post them also. So until tomorrow, thanks everyone for sharing your blogs. The blogs have kept me inspired.

Back From Vacation

Have been back a week and still not completely resettled. Have been painting but mostly studies to see if I can improve my values and perspective in landscapes. I am happy with today's painting and if I still like it tomorrow I will post it.

This photo was taken in Cape May. We had a great time visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art and their marvelous collection of Impressionist's. Mary Cassatt's family was from there and she influenced the area people to buy Monets etc. I fell in love with Thomas Eakin's works. Brandywine Museum was near by, so we went back the next day spend a wonderful day immersed in Wyeth's many works. The illustrations by his father are fascinating. We traveled to Winterthur the home of one of the Dupont's in Delaware. Lucky for us the N.Y. Met had transported all their American portraits there as they renovate there American display. Stuart, Peale and many more were displayed.

The absolute beauty of the vista's in Pennsylvania especially around Gettysburg were breathtaking. I took many, many pictures and am inspired to focus on landscapes. I experience such peace when I am surrounded by nature.

Mount Manaio, New Zealand

My second attempt to do a master class exercise by Richard Robinson. I completely redid this painting as my values and perspective were way off!!!. I am much happier with it now. I also limited my palette to the three colors, C. Yell. Pale, Aliz, crimson, Ultramarine blue plus white, per Kevin MacPherson's recommendation. I feel like all the reading, viewing and painting is starting to pay off as I seem to be more conscious of value, temperature and perspective. My husband and I will be leaving for New Jersey for a month.... so I am hoping not to lose my skills I have gained so far. I have set a goal of continuing my sketch books work on the human figure. I am now on the muscles!!! As a nurse it should be easy and I can visualize them but to actually draw them is other story. I will be keeping up with everyone's blogs but doubt I will get to post. We shall see. Have a wonderful end of summer

Ruakaka Beach Australia

Thanks everyone for your comments. My back is back in full working order. I tried a new technique, at least, for me it is new. I downloaded and watched Richard Robinson's http://www.newzealandartist.com Master Class on Ruakaka Beach in Australia. He recommends establishing the values and premixing them before painting. For example, the dark, mid, and light values of the sky, then repeat with the clouds, the mountains etc. I know I have seen it done by other artists on their blogs so I gave it a try. Lo and Behold it did make it easier!! I tend to get lost in all the color mixing when I try to do it one at a time. This simplified the values and also allowed me to adjust as I went along if I needed a warmer or cooler. I was pleased with the painting. This was done on a 5x7 canvas panel. Will try more of his master classes and force myself to premix.

Sunrise St Augustine

This is my second sunrise of St. Augustine. I plan to so a few more as I think it may help me. I have not been painting as much as I my back is being contrary right now so I am taking it easy. Hope everyone has a great day.

Reworked

After my critiquing session at the art salon, I decided to rework parts of the "Wooden Model" I posted a while back. Here is the final, the additional color helps a lot. I am constantly amazed at the amount of information on the net. Sooo much and sooo little time. I am knee deep into color and found some great ideas on doing my own color charts. I had done them when I first started three years ago but now I think I am finally starting to internalize them. Mike Rooney and Kerin McBride gave me great ideas on the free lessons that you find at http://www.jerrysartarama.com.

Summer is winding down and my favorite season is approaching. Why I favor fall over the others is a mystery to me, but Fall evokes smells, colors, crispy air that invigorate me. I love the smell of the wet earth. Hope everyone has a beautiful day and has an extra moment to "smell the roses"

St Augustine Sunrise

Before I start on finishing my painting I started yesterday, I wanted to post this little 5x7 that I did from a photo I shot on St Augustine Beach. I used my sunset setting while shooting and it almost looks more like a sunset, but I liked the vivid colors and decided it was still interesting. I am practicing self-control on my new painting. I like to finish in one sitting and yesterday after doing the initial lay in , the sky and middle ground, I decided to let it be, as the foreground will be the focus and I wanted to take my time. I read a lot about painters spending day even weeks on one painting and decided, maybe, just maybe, it might be good for the painting to take more time and think things through before I slap on my paint.

SunFlowers in Copper Pitcher

I decided to break loose from the small paintings that I have been doing, which I will eventually post, and do a 16 by 20 using large brushes. I wanted to be loose and just paint! I thought these sunflowers were so cheerful and colorful that they did not need to be tightly rendered. Hope you enjoy. This day has flown by as I was attempting to take photos of my recent art and that in itself takes me a long time to get right, then I got bogged down in updating my art files. I think one of the best guidance a newbie can get, is a system for keeping track of paintings. I have created an excel file only to find I have to expand it to keep track of my blog, my etsy etc. Oh well, guess I have to be thankful for all the new synapses that my brain is making and hopefully it is creating new brain cells warding off future senility.

Art Salon

Just returned from the local art museum. They have an "art salon" for local artists. We bring some type of snack and a painting to critique. I learned a great deal by observing and hearing others critique of the various paintings, collages, photos, ceramics. They provided me with great critiques of my "Wooden Model" and ideas for my next paintings. Definitely will attend the next one. It is just what I have been searching for to help me improve.

Putting in my 10,000 hours

Hi, Haven't posted lately as I have been doing a lot of painting. Finally convinced myself that reading about art and colors just doesn't cut the mustard...unless it is followed by actually painting. So I am focusing on brush miles in order to achieve the next level in my paintings. Here are two small paintings I did this week. Am still not quite happy with how in the "Wooden Model" the sketch book does not quite sit down so if any of you have suggestions they are most welcomed.

St Augustine

Back from St Augustine and actually captured some great shots of the sunrise on the beach! Now I need to translate into a painting! I actually did one this afternoon and will “turn it to the Wall” as they say to see if I still like it tomorrow. St Augustine was wonderful. We actually climbed all 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse. I did experience a rubbery feeling in legs the next day which I attribute it to the lack of stairs and hills in Florida (yeh mom!) There is so much great art in St Augustine…. saw some pieces by Matthew Cutter that I especially liked. He can capture light beautifully. The food is wonderbar and I will have to put more miles on the treadmill.

Off to St. Augustine!

We are off to St. Augustine in our Roadtrex. We will be staying in a beach side motor home resort so should be able to get great shots of beach side sunrises. That is, if I wake early enough! I have been in a slump with my painting lately, nothing excites me. I am hoping to just enjoy myself and nature and let the creative juices flow on their own. This painting was done a while back and has been sold. But hopefully this trip will inspire me. Have a great day!

It never ends!!!

I am rapidly becoming overloaded with computer information. I joined the Central Florida Artists in order to showcase my art in another venue and have spend about 5 solid days learning about various photo editors. I have explored Windows Photo editor, Picaso, Olympus, Canon, and Photo Elements all of which reside on my computer. Picaso I liked very much but was having a time resizing my photos... so I finally decided to go with Olympus. Needless to say my family will chuckle as I removed Picaso from my computer and deleted some pictures. They know I don't like clutter....BIG MISTAKE!!! I discovered it wiped out all my photo links to my blog so I had to reorganize and repost every picture to my former blogs. I was able to recover all but San Francisco Lady. I now have a separate folder for my blogs. I just hope my uploads to Etsy aren't similarly linked. I have also been learning to take a more professional photograph of my paintings, courtesy of my husband and the manual... So as I mentioned I am into overload. Am posting a painting I did a while back. Hope you enjoy it. My sister loved it and it is now hanging in her house. Now to focus on painting again.

Still Life with Pink Rose

 

This was quite a challenge for me. I think I am afraid of flowers so decided to give it a try. I wiped it out 2 times but I am finally satisfied with the end result. Mind you the next one will be even better! I am working on putting in my brush time; as it says in the "Outliers", I need to put in my 10,000 hours. I have been guilty of spending more hours on studying and than on painting, I think I kept hoping there was a magic secret. There is JUST KEEP PAINTING!!!
That said I am off to see the grandsons in Denver for a week on Tuesday. It is always a treat to see them. I am so fortunate to have two great daughters and two great son-in-laws. So will be taking a break of a week. But I know my grandson will have me sketching. The younger one makes a mark and I have to create something from it. It actually is a lot of fun. Peace and Joy to all.

My hardest challenge

I decided to bite the bullet and try a sea shell that I am fond of ... little did I know how challenging it would be. I almost decided it was a lost cause about three times but for some reason I persevered. My AHA came when I realized I was getting too tight and trying to make a photo replica... so when I relaxed and painted the painting and not the photo, I was much happier and I love the results. Hope you enjoy.

As Promised!

I finished my painting yesterday (16x20 on Panel) and I am happy with it, yet will continue to strive to improve. I am still getting some glare but will study more on taking pictures. I am also feeling better about my work and about life as I am reconnecting with nature by taking walks. I think one of the reasons I loved golf so much was walking and enjoying the beauty of nature. I have spent more time inside since I started painting and I am going to rebalance my time better.

Terry Norris Workshop

Terry T Norris Workshop

Day One:
I found Terry a great teacher. She is a senior faculty member of Crealde
School of Art in Winter Park, FL. www.crealde.org. She received an award
of Excellence in the 2008 Eastern Regional Exhibition and is a signature
member in the Oil Painters of America. Her web site is www.terrytnorris.com
.

She started out talking about composition in relationship to:
Balance - between negative and positive space, lights and darks, varying
edge distances - she advised giving leaving enough space for the subject to
be in. She stated the more compelling the object - the more negative space
it can handle.
Unity - variety within unity i.e. contrast between colors, sizes, texture
Movement - into, around and out of the painting
Emphasis - focal point or center of interest
These need to be thought out during the set up and as you start to mass in
the forms.

STAGE ONE:
Terry uses a transparent color in this case a raw umber mixed with turpenoid
to mass in. and I learned how valuable a rag and not paper towels is in
wiping out mistakes.

STAGE TWO: start with the darkest value using solvent progressing to next
darkest. In all about four values from darkest to lightest. For the
lighter values can add a bit of lead white along with turpenoid. Once done
let it dry overnight.

Day 2
Initial stage of glazing of color using transparent color and liquin.
Shadows and background need to remain thin to keep them in the background.
Thicker paint brings the object forward whereas thin paint tends to recede
it.

Terry showed us example of other artist, Chardin etc. to warn us not to over
blend. She said if you can't tell where the color changes, you have
overblended. However it is important to keep edges soft especially when you
want an object to turn.

Day 3: Finishing touches
Terry will continue to work on this but time constraints plus her advice to
set it aside for a day or two and relook at it critically. At some point a
painting needs to be critiqued without reference to the setup. The painting
is not a photograph and need to be evaluated as a painting. What can be
done to enhance the painting!

I learned invaluable tips and enjoyed the camaraderie of the group. I will
take Terry's advice and put my painting aside for a few days and then
evaluate it before I post it. I learned to be patient with the process. It
was something I really needed to learn.

Finally!!

Have been meaning to do this DSFDF challenge but things kept interfering. I had a big break through two days ago when I realized I was creating all sorts of barriers to actually painting; such as it's too complicated; I don't have the time to do it justice. A long time ago I intensely disliked emptying the dishwasher. I had convinced my brain that it took so long etc.. So I timed it and it took 2 minutes!!! My attitude sure changed fast. I did the same thing with this painting. I decided to time myself and lo and behold I had overestimated the time and effort. I had used faulty logic to procrastinate and not get started... I feel I have removed some major barriers to my painting more frequently. Now I can squeeze it in with a free conscience.