out to sea

I recently enjoyed catching up with an artist friend who lamented that it was "time to get back to work!" ~ and I found myself pondering that phrase all afternoon. In my quest to "see things from a new perspective" I thought, why not get back to play instead? I had been mulling over new ways to see color, value and design, so I decided to explore these concepts in a form other than paint. I began by tearing up strips of colored tissue paper and then arranged (and rearranged) them on a background of sturdy watercolor paper until I found a design that I liked best. Then I glued them down with tiny dots of glue to create this scene (just enough glue to keep the fragile tissue paper from falling off the page).
I like how the spaces between the colors work with, and become an important part of, the design. And, allowing the tissue paper to be loosely applied seems to give the scene an overall feeling of energy and movement, I think.
This would be a fun and inexpensive project to enjoy with children (or the young at heart)...and so I wonder...would different textures and thicknesses of paper like that of magazines and newspapers work equally well?...and what about strips of discarded old watercolor sketches...or construction paper...or...
Gray days and cabin fever are so "last year" folks -- there are just too many new perspectives and golden horizons waiting to be discovered just beyond the sea.

"Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me, my lover stands on golden sands and watches the ships that go sailing..."
(Beyond the Sea...by Robbie Williams)

dance by the light of the moon...

This time of year fascinates me because I love clean slates, new beginnings, new ideas, and I find the only resolutions that make sense are the ones that focus on the intention behind the wish. Did you know that the most common resolutions are "get a better job, quit smoking, lose weight" and most psychologists are quick to point out that those are just actions, and to be truly successful, we need to ask ourselves how our lives would be different if we achieved those goals? Pondering that question helps us understand what we really yearn for, and in so doing, propels us to summon the courage to BE THAT NOW, and then support it with new actions. It is quite the opposite of how most of us have learned to resolve to change, and undoubtedly it is what Ghandi meant when he said "BE the change you wish to see in the world". This power of intention is described in many of Dr. Dyer's writings, and there are websites like this one that discuss choosing just one word as your mantra for the year that will help you focus on what you want to BE; as opposed to what you hope to do.

Choosing just one word feels a bit limiting to me, so I have focused on jotting down a new list of ideas and themes that evolve about every four to six weeks. My intention is to stay open to and aware of little sparks of inspiration that come from everyday life. I often jot down a word here or there or take a photo to keep in a file; and try to be aware of the possibility of accepting and inviting in the new, rather than focusing on what is not working (for instance how different is it to focus on being healthy rather than dieting?). Sort of the same idea as "what you resist persists". This post suggests we avoid pushing, and instead allow ourselves to be pulled toward the future. I like that concept a lot. So... this month my focus has been on viewing "the old" from a new perspective and daring to see the ordinary with fresh eyes (click on photo above to see what I mean). I think words can be such powerful tools, so I wanted to share these ideas here in case you, too are contemplating ways to begin anew, or planning resolutions and creative goals.

And in the spirit of taking a new perspective, if you are looking for a new tradition this new year, why not celebrate like my friends from Wales? When the clock begins to strike twelve midnight, they open the back door of their home, then shut it to banish the negative energy and bad luck from the old year-and on the twelfth strike, they swing open the front door to welcome new energy and prosperity for the new year. I like that idea a lot because this year we will have the added enchantment of a new blue moon, so I am picturing a world where we all are gazing at the same beautiful moon as the earth spins new midnights, new hopes, new horizons, and new ways of looking at all of life's moments!

“We need a renaissance of wonder.
We need to renew, in our hearts and in our souls,
the deathless dream, the eternal poetry,
the perennial sense that life is miracle and magic.”...E. Merrill Root

A Kentucky Christmas

Okay, for those of you who don't know this already, George grew up in Kentucky and still has family here. In fact, I had this very conversation with an Italian gentleman in Como where George owns a villa. His exact words were "Mr. Clooney is a BIG DEAL in Italy." Bless his heart. I had to break the news to him that Mr. Clooney is a pretty big deal most everywhere...but I digress... so let's say that for some inexplicable reason, you are one of the four people on the planet who have not been emailed the above photo dozens of times already, (and even if you have)... in the spirit of giving, I thought I would share it yet again. After all, George would want it that way.
"I'm just white trash"...George Clooney
(really? is that where "dreaming of a white Christmas" came from??? By the way, George's new movie "Up In the Air" is typical George--a dash of charm, humor and charisma with a ton of heart and soul-- a"must see"... Cheers!)

Merry Christmas

“What is Christmas?
It is tenderness for the past,
courage for the present,
hope for the future.
It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal,
and that every path may lead to peace.”
— Agnes M. Pharo

the festive David

Every time I think about what Michelangelo accomplished in his lifetime, I am filled with a sense of awe and wonder. When asked about his David sculpture, he explained "I saw an angel in the block of marble and I just chiseled 'til I set him free." I remember the first time I read those words- I was ten years old, and I just sat down in the floor and cried. I was, and will forever be moved by the certainty he must have felt in choosing THIS particular block of marble from the quarry, as well as the infinite possibility included in such a statement. I discovered awe and wonder right there in the art reference aisle of my public library. Wherever YOU are this week, may you discover the world through the eyes of a child, a place where all things are possible~a place where magic and wonder abide, and a place where angels are waiting to be discovered and freed~
"Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion"...Ralph Sockman

pink poetry

(8 x 8, oil on canvas)
"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you,
it will be enough"
...13th century German philosopher and theologian, Meister Eckhart

Gratitude

(8 x 8, oil on canvas)
"Thanksgiving...
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends"... Ralph Waldo Emerson

Winter White

(8x10) oil on canvas
I love poinsettias, especially the ivory ones. My southern neighbors have the advantage of growing them in their own flower gardens. Unfortunately, some folks feel the need to "dress them up" at Christmas by adding glitter or dying them different colors (yikes!); but aren't they most lovely just as nature made them?
"In seed time learn
in harvest teach,
in winter enjoy"...William Blake

At Large

"You will understand that I limited myself to simple colors, ocher, cobalt and Prussian blue, Naples yellow, sienna, black and white...I refrained from choosing 'nice' colors"...Vincent Van Gogh

I had never read this quote before, but I love learning what colors other artists "can't do without" and I immediately wanted to try his palette in order to see what he saw. Used to mixing with my lively orange-red, cad red light, my first thought is "where is his red?" but then I see sienna (a sad substitute for red in my world), and I realize that "red" is actually in several of his muted opaque colors as well...I know that pigments have changed over the years so I did a little research and discovered that the ochers and siennas were even more opaque when Van Gogh used them in the 1800s. Cobalt blue came into existence in 1804 and, along with Prussian blue (a warmer blue that was accidentally discovered), both are semi-transparent colors. Naples yellow is and was a warm yellow (meaning that it also has red in it), but was formally heavily (and dangerously) leaded. And because they can be warm, cool, transparent, semi-transparent or opaque, I'm left to ponder "which black" did he use?...and don't even get me started on the different whites. Oh! and the Cadmiums were not even introduced until the 20th century, giving way to transparencies 19th century painters could only have dreamt about as they attempted to thin down their opaques. Personally I think Vincent would have loved my cad red light...or would he have dismissed it as too 'nice'? Sigh...yes, folks, THIS is just the sort of thing that keeps me awake at night as I attempt to solve this splendid puzzle and mix his colors in my head. Hopeless, I know.

Brisk November

(346) More irresistible fall colors on every corner...so many paintings-to-be, and so little time before the leaves are gone...
“Change is as inevitable as rain in the spring. Some of us just put on our raincoats and splash forward.”... Amy Bloom

quick studies

I just returned from a figure painting workshop with Kim English. Unfortunately, he does not have a website, but you can see his paintings here. I have studied with Kim before; absolutely LOVE his work. His method of teaching is quite different from most instructors: no formal lectures, no lengthy demos. Instead, he asks students to paint quick studies where the model changes poses every 5-10 minutes. At first it seems impossible, but with premixed colors, you get into a rhythm of painting that allows you to move into a comfort zone where details and noodling are not allowed. Heck, THINKING isn't even allowed. No time! Just lay it down, wipe it off, do another one.. .or another ten as the case may be... Kim believes that the best poses are the natural ones that models fall into when they are comfortable, so he avoids formally posing them, explaining that it is more interesting for them to "tell their story" not his. And when there are two models, he encourages them to interact with each other instead of remaining perfectly still. It is quite different from the static poses most life drawing classes require--and tons more fun. While I wiped dozens of studies off, there were a few (included here) that he felt captured the essence of the assignment, and so he instructed me to save them for reference. In other words, about 99% of the studies were not worthy of saving in my case, but that's not the point. It is the process of seeing and capturing fleeting moments that you are after--if you have never tried it, challenge yourself! Set a timer. Better yet, set up your easel at a park, a university, an outdoor restaurant-anywhere that you can observe people being themselves coming and going, and practice painting quick gestures. Sure your models may get up and walk away right in the middle of your "perfect" painting, but that's okay. Another will soon take her place...it is great practice if you need to get out of your comfort zone, get out of your head, and loosen up your brushstrokes. The only "rule" is to avoid details; instead look for shapes, values and gesture. Oh and, make the painting be about what the people are doing instead of striving for an exact likeness. It is guaranteed to energize your work! And you!
"Painting the moment is like stopping the clock at the split second of truth. It's out of time, fleeting, yet eternal. That's why I paint quickly, to capture the essence of a moment before it disappears"...Kim English

through the trees

8 x 10 oil on canvas
“The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist"...Eric Gill

autumn colors

8 x 10, oil on canvas
My aim is to avoid overworking the canvas, capture what I see and leave it alone.
WHY is that so tough? (eek)
"Wherever the great dilemma exists is where the great growth is, too. It would be very nice for nervous types like me if things were black and white, and you could tell where one thing ended and the next thing began, but as Einstein taught us, everything in the future and the past is right here now. There's always something ending and something beginning"...Anne Lamont

falling for you

8 x 10... back to painting in plein air--what could be more inspiring than the colors of fall?

"That moment--the first time you fall in love with art--it has a huge impact on you.
In a sense, you're always looking for those moments"...John Cusack (describing the first time he read "To Kill a Mockingbird")

a bold commitment

In the last of the workshop posts, I am including this photo of Peggi sketching. She urges students to always have a sketchbook handy, ideally fill at least one sketchbook a month, and only sketch with a bold marker. Sketching with a pencil, she explained, does not force you to make the necessary commitment to the page in the same way as the marker does. The idea is to keep the marker on the page once sketching has begun, and like blind contour drawing, focus more on your subject while you draw than your drawing. Peggi Kroll Roberts is a wonderful teacher; I highly recommend her; hope you have enjoyed this series.
“The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it's not without doubt but in spite of doubt"...Dr. Rollo May

minimal brushstrokes

(340)The challenge involved in these studies is the use of minimal brushstrokes. Colors are mixed beforehand; each brushstroke and color change is planned. Every time the brush is lifted from the canvas counts as one brushstroke, so loading the brush with as much paint as possible, is key. It is possible to do an entire painting in 30 strokes or less. (Oh yes it is). The brushstrokes are counted with spots of color on the bottom of the painting. I painted the model at the workshop but did the other two exercises after I got home because it is THE MOST FUN exercise ever. If you have never tried it, you must! It can be a great "warm-up" exercise, but most of all, it teaches you to really see your subject and count/plan how many different color/value changes (large and small) you will need.
"Many of the most powerful paintings have the simplest value structures. That is to say, they only use two, three, or four major values"...Barry John Raybould

high key

This assignment was to keep contrasts to a minimum by choosing the value of the darkest dark, (no darker than a mid-tone), and then keying all other values lighter accordingly (no matter how dark they appear in life).
"Value choices are intuitive... It's fun to see how much you can get without leaning on contrast"...Sara Genn

black in sunlight

So what happens to the color black in sunlight? It can appear very bleached out, so our model wore white shorts to contrast with the black t-shirt, and sat in half sun/half shade. This pose allowed us to study the rule stating that "The lightest dark cannot be darker than the darkest light". In other words, the sunlit side of the black t-shirt (the lightest dark) cannot be painted to appear darker than the shadow side of the white shorts (which are the darkest light). It sort of sounds like a tongue twister the first time you hear it, but seeing, comparing, painting this subtle difference can make or break a painting.
"Establishing the two most extreme values as soon as possible helps me take note of all other values that will fall somewhere between them"...Kenn Backhaus

the light family

This focus of this quick-study was to examine just how difficult it can be to see the correct values in areas bleached out by sunlight. The white pillow on the right side of the bench should be the lightest light, but as you can see in the top photo (blurred to reduce shapes and see values easier) the model's dress on the left, and both hats appear very bleached out too, almost as light as the white of the pillow. So the artist must continually compare everything to the lightest light (white pillow) and keep the other lights toned down. To test if the values work, I desaturated the color to B&W on the computer for the bottom image, making it is easier to see.

"Color is an inborn gift, but appreciation of value is merely training of the eye, which everyone ought to be able to acquire"...John Singer Sargeant

matching values

Like the previous post, I painted a value study before moving on to the color study. To test how values will match, spots of the color can be placed directly on top of the monochromatic study, as shown above. (Or, if you prefer, a plastic coating like saran wrap can be wrapped over the value study to protect it while the colors are matched).
"You get your color with your eyes open, your value by squinting"...Martha Saudek