Wednesday, May 30, 2012

challenge, inspiration, why paint? and Wolf Kahn

9x9 pastel
This morning was raining and dreary. I left the house at 6:00 am wondering what will I paint today?  It made me think...does it really matter? The answer is no. My morning plein air sessions are a warm up, a getting the juices flowing before I go to the studio kind of thing. Do I expect beautiful paintings? No. I simply arrive and start with a self imposed assignment designed to stretch me.The challenge is what I love. The amazement when it works.
One thing I always try to keep in mind is that painting isn’t just about selling. It's about the joy of creation. It's a challenge you rise to each day with the love of wondering what is possible today. If you always obsess about the result you will stymie your own growth.


I thought you might like this quote from Wolf Kahn. It was from an article titled “A studio visit with Wolf Kahn” -American Artist  (May 1997-by Jonathan Phillips.)
On the subject of landscape painting, Kahn says, “Avoid cliches when looking for places to study and paint the landscape. Often, when I’m observing a scene I want to paint, I look for chaos. Chaos in nature is immediately challenging and forces a good artist to impose some type of order on his or her perception of a site. When I find a scene that provides that type of challenge, I return to it over and over again, both physically and mentally in the studio, continually searching for new insights.” …
“Edgar Degas observed, `Painting is easy, till you know how,’ and that’s what I try to get younger artists to accept,” Kahn says. “Sometimes it’s very good to make a bad painting. In fact, sometimes I try to get into some real trouble while painting and look to the work itself to show me a way out. … Painting is a visceral experience, one loaded with subtle information.”Only Cezanne could get away with a system,” he says, referring to the artist’s disciplined brush work. Kahn distrusts dogma and didacticism. “There are many prejudices about art,” he notes, “and first among them is that it is a skill and that there are definite rules. I want the people looking at my work to feel a sense of all the possibilities of painting, and, through that, in life as a whole. When that happens, I feel I’ve accomplished something useful.”

Monday, May 28, 2012

back to wolf kahn and intention


These two plein air paintings were painted at the same site with different intentions, one today the other was done on Saturday.
 In each one I set an intention- not exact, but an articulated idea. I did a notan for each and a few written notes on the page.
The painting at the top was about the softness of the grasses near the pond. The sky needed to lean into (through use of color) the pond so that the pond was more special.
The painting below was designed to be in 4 bands of color. Working on harmonious vibrations between bands. I know that next time I will reduce it to 3 bands...4 was too much.

 I had Wolf Kahn in my mind, in particular an old story I once heard him tell. I have been reading my old sketchbooks. I found the page with my notes that recorded Wolf Kahn's wisdom. He's a wonderful man who seems to get his points understood through story.

This is my favorite Wolf-ism.

"Aiming is wrong. If you know ahead of time what you are doing it won't be good. You need to surprise yourself. "
He went on to share a story about a pitcher from the Astros baseball team who had bought a painting of his. "We got to talking and he had questions about my painting process. He said it was just like his process. He said that he trains, but can't plan his game ahead of time. He can't aim too much or the batter will know what he is going to do. He just has to have a general idea about where he wants the ball to go. Then he uses his full strength and lets go."

All the pitcher/artist's training and practice pays off, but he/she lets go. Trust.

Hear that painters- train and go.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

more from Hameau Farm

12x16 pastel
From all the paintings on my trip, this is the one I feel has the most possibility. Why you wonder? I think it is because I resonate with fields. Finding rhythms in the grasses and flowers send shivers through my spine. They have openings to the kind of play that is so exciting to me. Isn't that why we paint? Right now I am preparing a large board for its transformation into oil.
Here are two other pastels- not my favorites so they will stay nestled in tracing paper.
overlook 8x16 pastel
up the driveway, 8x8 pastel

Monday, May 21, 2012

hameau farm

9x9 pastel
Last week I was fortunate to spend my time working at Hameau Farm.  My friend, Susan Nicholas Gephart runs and excellent painting retreat at the farm. Being there is like being in another country. It's a quiet and serene valley between two mountains. The farm is owned and run by the lovely (and amazing cook) Gay Rodgers. It's a beautiful piece of land with views of the mountains, a stream and lots of un-mowed land. I enjoyed traveling around and finding new painting spots and later returning to the farm at night for a delicious meal and fun talks with other artists.
As soon as I get to photograph more paintings I will post them. There is one that just feels so good that I know it will become a study for a bigger piece.

Monday, May 14, 2012

maslow's triangle of need as it relates to plein air

 

It just hit me. I wanted to write about how to prepare to go plein air painting. And then the whack over the head... it's like Maslov's triangle of the hierarchy of need. Very similar. So let me take a few liberties on the layers, but here is Maslow's layout.
1.Physiological needs- breathing, food, water, sleep
2.safety needs- security of body
3.love and belonging- friendship, family
4.esteem-confidence, respect
5.self actualization- creativity, lack of prejudice, problem solving

And now here is my layout.

The Plein Air Hierachy of Needs.
In order to create beautiful work on location, here is the plein air hierarchy of need.
1. Physiological-Prepare. Dress in layers (more is better than less-you can always unlayer,) be hydrated, wear long pants and bug repellent (tick repellent) and bring a little toilet paper for necessary moments. There is rarely a bathroom. Carry only the smallest amout pf supplies with which you can get by. With the physical taken care of, don't forget to prepare yourself with an intention. Why are you out there?
2. Safety. You need to be certain it is safe......no bears, no cars to bowl you over, etc. I have painted on the edge of a cliff and I must admit it was hard to fully immerse into the concept of the painting when you are never quite sure if you will plummet to your death.
3. Love your medium, your chosen way to communicate- explore it fully know its nuances and be prepared to take risks
4. Esteem. Have the confidence to go where you haven't gone and simply listen to the painting.
5. Self actualization- hardest one to achieve. This is when you have your very unique vision that looks like not other...not because you tried to do just that, but because it's authentic. All the time you have spent in love and turmoil becomes discovery.

Friday, May 11, 2012

more temperature mapping and amazing sight

9x9 pastel
 Having an intention when you paint is the most important thing. In plein air it's often the most ignored thing. You have to take time to think rather than paint.
Today I went back to one of my favorite places with the intention of getting glow from temperature mapping and layering. I began with a watercolor underpainting in which I determined a loose warm and cool large sections.
watercolor underpainting
Looser is better when you are doing an underpainting. This way you can carve out shapes in a subtractive way. Never drawing or painting things, instead  look carefully for value/temperature shapes. I know I can draw it and because of that I can carve with ease. Before my brush hit the board I had a full visualization of my painting.

One interesting story, completely off subject. I have been out in the woods and at the river since I was a young child, but I have never seen what I saw today. Floating downstream was a shape...well sort of a shape. It kept changing shape- an appendage here and then it was in a new place. I couldn't figure out what it was. Because of that I could not dismiss it, I needed to know. As the shape got closer I could finally see. Wow! It was two snapping turtles holding tight to each other, making babies! Finally they arrived at the white water. I thought that was the end....but no! They just held tighter and weathered the rapids. They continued the deed and kept floating.
Hmmmmm. Happy Mother's Day! 
Nature is amazing!

Monday, May 7, 2012

temperature mapping

10x10 pastel on watercolor

Ah! It's the warm and wonderful time of plein air! That joy and wonder sometimes leads to leisurely thinking and sometimes a little to picky-picky, detail-ism. To prevent this one thing I try to do when outdoors is to make not only a dark/light map (notan), but also a temperature map. When I say a temperature map I mean in terms of warmth. Excitement is made when warm and cool do a dance, but, the question is.... is it sunlight or shade? Don't let those little spots of warmth in a cool area or cool in a predominately warm area confuse you. Remember you are in charge. You want it to read all the warmth of sunlight.
When I talk with students about the warm/cool mapping they say it's hard. What I have found helps is to always do a value map (notan) first. The skeleton that provides is incredibly valuable. That means all your effort can go into the temperature analysis.
That's it for now!