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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.

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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

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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!

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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!

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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

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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



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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