Driving down the road today on my way to work I was struck by the subtle color changes that have occurred in the Wisconsin landscape over the last month. Summer now in full swing, the landscape has filled in with vibrant greens. However, a rather dry few weeks is making many of the grassy areas in Mitchell Park turn yellow. The color relationships fascinate me. When I observe a panorama I am quickly struck by the horizontal color bands of earth and sky. Tree lines are often a dramatic transition on the horizon. These relationships are really what drive my work. I often paint the same scene more than once- manipulating, enhancing, and tweaking the colors each time. I have taken hundred of pictures, often from my car. These pictures inform most of my paintings.
Reception at Woodwalk
I was at the Woodwalk Gallery, in Egg Harbor Memorial Day weekend for the opening reception of the season. This is my first time being represented by this gallery. After teaching several classes at the Peninsula School of Art, I realized that Door County has a remarkable arts culture. So, in my search for galleries I came across the Woodwalk website. It was the other artists I saw represented that really made me choose to apply. It is important for any artist preparing to approach a gallery to know what they already show. There is usually a “feel” you get for the kind of work a gallery prefers by browsing the other artists they represent. You also want to make sure they don’t already represent someone too much like you.
I met with Margaret Lockwood at her gallery and was excited to be invited to show at the gallery. The reception was packed and I got to see a lot of wonderful people. The space is unique in that it is essentially a barn that has been converted in to a gallery. The gallery itself is very professional and the space lends itself well to the beautiful setting it is in.
Woodwalk Gallery and Events Center
is located at:
6746 County Road G, Egg Harbor 54209.
This is 7 miles north of Sturgeon Bay and
5 miles south of Egg Harbor ½ mile off Highway 42 on
County Road G (turn toward the Bay at Shartner’s Market).
Open daily 10-5 from May 1 through October.
Call: 920-868-2912
Frames
This is what the frame on most of my pieces looks like. In some cases I stain it, but many are left raw. There is a slight space around the image, which helps the viewer see the edge of the painting where the ground color is visible. These frames are made using basic miters. The wood is pine.
Another Plein Air Day
I am trying to get some plein air practice in before taking on the Cedarburg Plein Air Event and the Domes Plein Air Competition this summer. I am very aware of how differently I paint when painting plein air. Photographs conveniently help me to filter information and focus on color and composition in a way that realty does not. The overwhelming information I receive on-sight changes my focus and intention. I enjoy the stories created while doing it, and the challenges it presents. I also enjoy an excuse to be outside on a beautiful day to experience the environment and not see it as just a collection of shapes, colors, and lines. I didn’t get rained on today- so that was good, and I feel good about the painting.
This was at Greenfield Park.
Plein Air Painting
So, truth be told- I haven’t done a lot of plein air painting. This summer it is my goal to do much more of it. I have found that painting outside from life is challenging for me because there is too much information. In an attempt to include everything I see the paintings often become sloppy and confused. A photograph filters out some of the noise. A photograph allows me to step away from reality a bit and focus on image, rather than life. However, I see this as an opportunity to grow. A few days ago I took my new portable easel out to the lagoon at Sheridan Park. The sun was shining, it was like 65 degrees. It was also my birthday so I needed a little adventure.
Cézanne’s Subjectivity
I am currently reading the book Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer. The book is about great artists of all forms and how their art was ahead of our understanding neuroscience. For example, Lehrer describes how Walt Whitman’s writing connects “soul” to the physical body. Lehrer describes the culinary art of Auguste Escoffier and the discovery of umami (the 5th taste after bitter, salty, sweet, and sour). Also covered in this book is Paul Cézanne. I just had to write about this chapter. As Lehrer writes, “Cézanne’s art exposes the process of seeing” (98). Cézanne, as a post impressionist, took us away from the idea that seeing was all about light. Rather, Cézanne showed us that seeing was about imagination, Everything we see with our eyes is processed by our brains. As our brains are skilled at drawing connections and making inferences, this process greatly affects what we think we see. Seeing is creating. Cézanne’s paintings attempted to expose this higher reality. “Cézanne abstracted on nature because he realized that everything we see is an abstraction” (109).
Lehrers’ book is an interesting read and I recommend it for those interested in how art and science work together in understanding the world.
Image: Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1882-1885
My Studio
Here is an inside shot of my studio, cleaned up for last Friday’s Gallery Night. A lot of recent work is on the wall, half of which is going up to Woodwalk in Door County this weekend. That will leave me some room to make more paintings!
Adventures in Framing
I have been working on different framing techniques for my Chromascape series. Some variations include adding a space and not varnishing. These are two samples. Both leave a space, but one is raw and one is varnished. It’s hard to decide which way to go, as I feel they need to all be the same but the different colors compliment different paintings. Another option I am considering is not framing at all but cleaning up and painting the sides of the panels. In doing this I use the color of the under painting, which accentuates the under painting. I am not sure where I will go from here, but I have to make decision soon as I have a few shows coming up!
Steven Pinker on art and beauty
I just finished reading Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate, which is broadly about the fact that we are not blanks slates, that genetics plays a large role in who we are as humans. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Pinker was concluding his book with a discussion about the arts. He quotes the late Denis Dutton (a favorite philosopher of mine) many times. Pinker describes how an appreciation of beauty is natural to our species for evolutionary and biological reasons. He points out that modernism and post modernism removed us from this natural approach to art and left us essentially with no where to go. Popular culture similarly makes beauty less precious and more accessible to the common man, which forces artists to reject beauty. “It is hard to distinguish oneself as a good artist or a discerning connoisseur if people are up to their ears in the stuff…..Now any schmo could have beautiful things.” All of this makes artists reject the most natural inclinations we have to art in an effort to stand out as something rare. Pinker draws this back to some of our most natural behaviors- status seeking. Despite what you think about evolutionary psychology, this chapter is a great read.
Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate (Chapter 20), Penguin Books, 2002
Hamish Fulton interview
“Bad at Sports” is a contemporary art blog/podcast that presents interviews with artists, curators, collectors, and other important art biz folks. One recent interview stood out for me. It was with artist Hamish Fulton. Fulton is unique in that his art is walking. The pure experience of his walks is the art, which he often documents for presentation. In listening to Fulton talk about his work, I was struck by his profound connection to environment. I found that I had more in common with him then I may have expected. He gave a new perspective on the role of landscape in art. In understanding landscape for the purpose of art it is important to experience it fully, not to just paint it, draw it, or photograph it. Fulton reminded me of this and the lesson is a valuable one.
The interview can be downloaded here: http://badatsports.com/2011/episode-282-hamish-fulton/
Bad At Sports, Episode 282, January 26, 2011
Technique
One thing I don’t think I have ever talked much about is my technique. So here are some thoughts of process…. Most of my paintings are on panel, though occasionally I use canvas. Panel, with it’s rigidity, works a little better with the weight of the paint and pressure used while applying it. I start with a panel primed with acrylic, usually I use a warm orange or red. With a white pencil I gently sketch out the composition. In my mind I map out the color relationships based on what I see. Whether painting en plein air or in the studio, I look for interesting color patterns and plan if there are any I will exaggerate for dramatic effect.
To begin painting, I start with the sky. I mix the color using a palette knife. This color is most critical as it sets the tone of the rest of the painting. I often spend a long time mixing this color until I am satisfied. Because my work is small, I often pick it up off the easel. I spread the paint on with a knife, using the knife’s edge to define the horizon. It is like spreading peanut butter on bread.
I move on to middle ground and foreground, in that order, mixing each color as I go. I save complicated shrubbery or trees for last. All is done with a knife. For detailed pattern I mix the paint directly on the panel. The paint is often thick and applied with an impasto style. While holding the painting in my hand I can rotate it freely to get different directions of stroke. I have to accomplish most of the painting in one go, as it will start to dry within a day. The textured surface makes it difficult to work on once the drying process starts. It takes several weeks for the painting to be completely dry.
Image: Chromascape 67, detail
The Journey
“Those who carry on their work as a demonstration of preconceived thesis may have the joys of egotistic success but not the fulfillment of an experience for its own sake.”
John Dewey, Art as Experience, p.144
I found this quote tucked in the binding of an old journal last week. I returned to it again today after a frustrating morning in battle with a painting. In an attempt to grow – and not just produce hundreds of little paintings that I know will work- I tried a larger piece again today. I used a bigger knife, larger shapes; all of the things I thought would fix the problem. I had progress, but not complete success. But today I remind myself that this is necessary for the journey.
The Experience of Landscape – Jay Appleton
I am currently reading Jay Appleton’s The Experience of Landscape. This 1975 text delves into the Prospect-Refuge Theory of Appleton’s. This theory suggests that there are biological, instinctual reasons for our appreciation of landscape. Appleton writes that we create symbols of prospect and refuge and these symbols filter our aesthetic interest in landscape.
“The strategic value of a landscape, therefore, whether natural or man-made, is related to the arrangement of objects which combine to provide collectively these two kinds of opportunity, [prospect and refuge] and when this strategic value ceases to be essential to survival it continues to be apprehended aesthetically.” (Appleton, 74)
Appleton goes on to analyze landscape in a very formulaic way. While I find the idea very compelling, it is still a little to simplistic for me. I always imagined our emotional and aesthetic reactions to be more complex. I am, of course, not done with the book yet and look forward to the rest of Appleton’s discussion.
Prepared to Paint
The are the panels I use to create the smaller Chromascape paintings. I start out painting the panel with acrylic. I originally used just red and orange to get the warm under painting. Now I have begun using greens and blues as well. I often select the compliment of the landscape palette as the under painting hue. This intensifies the color I put on top of it. For example, if my Chromascape is based on purples, the panel I start with will likely be yellow.
Appreciation of Landscape
A great deal has been written about why humans are so moved by the site of landscape. In my recent immersion into landscape painting I have looked more seriously at the potential reasons for this. I have begun reading such authors as Jay Appleton, who wrote The Experience of Landscape. Appleton is known for the “prospect- refuge theory” which describes an evolutionary response to landscape. Prospect defines our desire to perceive large expanses. Refuge refers to our need for security and comfort. I am just beginning to read the text more completely, but I have to say that my initial response to this theory is that it is too simplistic.
This is a recent sketchbook drawing, in preparation for a painting. I am combining an appreciation of landscape with a decisive approach to color and form. There is a relationship to art that I think can inform our appreciation of landscape beyond pure evolutionary concerns, but without descending into mysticism.
Wasted Paint is Bad
I remember well a MIAD instructor I once had telling me and the rest of the painting class never to waste paint. “Keep a stack of panels handy” she would say, because left over paint on the palette could always be something. Well here is my something. So, using generic interpretations of my landscape theme I have composed these mini studies on a gessoed piece of watercolor paper that I taped off. I am doing them in between panel paintings. Great things are happening actually. It is always an invigorating feeling when you let go and play, and it is good.
Pastel Drawing (sitting down)
I did this drawing today in the studio. I was taking a little break from painting I guess, while reflecting on a recent conversation about my work. The way I do pastel is different. I snuggle into my cozy chair and wrap myself around my drawing board. This is very different then standing at arms length from an easel. While different, I value both experiences and the results they produce.
A Painting Continues
I blogged about this piece a few weeks ago. To see days 1 and 2 click here.
These are days 3 and 4. The progress has been good, with today focusing on detail and subtle changes. The problem I think I face now is one of overworking. I feel it is starting to be be killed and I have to consider stopping. Something nags me about it and perhaps it is the simple truth that the little ones work better. I have mixed feeling about this piece and do not know yet if I will keep going or not.
New Painting
I began this piece a few days ago. These are two “in progress” shots. This image is based on photograph, as well as a few drawings I have done. I also have a smaller painting of the same image, which will provide an idea for where this is going. Chromascape 45 was completed a few months ago. It will be interesting to see how a similar composition will translate to a larger scale (the piece I am doing now is 20″ x 30″). I am aware in distinct differences in paint handling at this size. Also, of course, I am using a larger painting knife. The size however gives me the freedom to have a wider range of mark making. I could make more use of this freedom perhaps.
Waiting for varnish to dry…
I do not love framing, and now I know I do not love varnishing either. I have spent the last few days waiting for varnish to dry and have started planning my next painting. This is a drawing I did in my studio today during the down time. It is not to the scale yet of the next canvas, but none the less it is the beginning of a thought process. I will probably draw this composition out one or two more times before beginning to paint. The canvas I am preparing for this painting is 20″ x 30″.
More Progress
Remember that painting I blogged about a week or so ago? If not, view it here.
The piece continues to evolve, and I continue to document the changes I am making. The palette has now shifted a bit. I think it is almost done now, I don’t expect to do any radical changes at this point. It is interesting to look back at where it has been. These two versions were done in the last three days, the bottom image is the most recent state of the work. I think things are falling into place.