Thoughts On Art

My own personal insight from a Painter and a Mother.

I've thought the past few days about what it is to be an artist, and all the elements that come to play in the creation and outcome of a painting, or any piece of art work.  There are the obvious of study, discipline, fundamentals of our craft, and 'expression' or 'vision' through the eyes of the artist.  But, there is something greater that makes our work authentic and unique.  This would be our life's experiences.  We have all had, and have, our own unique set of blessings, and blessings that come in the form of challenges in our lives. It's not the number of challenges or experiences we've had, it's what we do with them that counts!  I see these life experiences as richness to the soul, and for an artist, it cannot be denied that this richness will come through in our work which in return will bring a higher quality of expression through our paint that is not possible for anyone else but that artist to achieve.  This is art, the artist's efforts and experiences and exact intersection of time through paint with emotion!  If the same painting that was painted today was painted tomorrow, it would be a completely different piece of work.  This is one of the many beauties and mysteries of Art that keeps us eternally fascinated and drawn to create and /or be surrounded in other's creations.  

By simply being who we are, our work will be honest and authentic, and move others beyond belief. When an artist is honestly painting and not searching for a better method or 'style', their work will touch others just because it's their own!  Along with the constant study of improving and hopefully someday Mastering our craft, bringing what we are to the canvas is ingredients for art on the highest level.  Thinking about the part of me that is a mother definitely affects the outcome of my work.  If I weren't a mother, I wonder what my paintings would look like??  Can't imagine . . . .  might be more of them, but I can bet they wouldn't have as much heart!  So no matter what your experiences are, mother, father, sister, brother, son daughter, friend. . . . .Know that it is an important part of who you are, and it's beautiful!  So let it come through in your work!  

We leave Monday for our trip through Italy.  Please watch my blog as I'll be posting daily!

Ciao for Now!

"Fresh Cut Lilacs"

14x14 oil on linen

Last Of April's Plein Air

 Early Greens

10x8 oil on linen

"April Evening At The Boom Site"

6x8 oil on linen

April has come and gone and now it's May!  It's been a busy month with finishing up my semester of teaching four different weekly classes.  In between teaching I tried to get out on location and paint as much as possible.  These are two pieces I did the last week of April 'en plein air'.  The top piece was done at my family farm.  I was attracted to the wispy-ness of the early spring greens and focused on my edges in this piece to achieve the sense of early spring.  I love how the edges of these trees meld into the sky!

The second piece was painted along the banks of the St Croix one evening.  The light effect was quite fleeting so I kept the piece small to get it covered and capture the light at hand.  I loved the luminous quality of the light on the water.  It's the subtle temperature shifts in the water that help to capture this effect.  Warm really has a hard time existing without a cool next to it.  

I'll be leaving for Italy in a week where I'll be spending 2 weeks traveling through Rome and Florence with my daughter Paige. I'll end up in Tuscany for 8 days where I'll be teaching a plein air workshop.  My plan is to blog during the trip, so stay tuned!  Until then, happy creating!

A Walk In The Garden

"A Walk In The Garden"

16x20 oil on linen panel

Where does inspiration come from?  Good question, not always so easy to answer.  As I get miles and years of canvas behind me, I find I'm asking myself more questions like this.  I teach and apply the fundamentals of building a painting in my classes, and in my own paintings these 'fundamentals' are for the most part now in the subconscious and I'm thinking more about the underlying abstract foundation and harmony of a painting.  Naturally, I'm always working to improve this but I find my attention to what I put in a painting and what I DON'T put in a painting more important to creating harmony.  I love texture, edges, and color!  I also love the Natural elements that Nature provides, particularly water, prairie, and flowers.  Well, and trees. . . :)  So when I bring two of my 'loves' together I find myself inspired.  Whatever light these elements might be bathed in can move me to want to paint. 

"A Walk In The Garden" was inspired by my last visit to Door County during the 2012 Plein Air Festival I participated in.  I painted this spot for the last 2 years during the quick draw and both times my paintings sold at the live auction which is why I don't have any record of these paintings, but I did take a photo of the location with my iphone.  I was craving some rich color and this was it!  I have so much fun painting edges and building up texture in this kind of scene, it ends up being all about that for me.

Initially in a painting, I think about the large sweep that carries the eye through the painting and the large shapes of color.  In order to hang on to this, I start out by washing in my large color shapes with the local color of whatever it is I'm painting. 

Once I have my composition and colors in I start begin to build up the paint.  At this stage I'm really thinking of form.  I tend to find myself working up my entire painting, not finishing any one area.  Because everything is relative, it would be difficult to know if it's 'right' unless the color next to what you're working on is there.  This helps me to keep harmony in my work.

I'm beginning to work on variety in texture and notes of color here trying to keep the integrity of the whole. 

Starting to decide what little detail flowers need to be there and what ones don't.  At this point I'm pushing and pulling the paint, putting one edge in against another creating interesting positive and negative shapes and edges, that's the goal anyway! 

April Light On Flowers

"April Light On Flowers"

6x6 

(175.00)

The colors are changing quickly out there!  I was out yesterday for the day painting attempting to capture spring's fresh greens, changing by the minute and extremely subtle but so delicate and beautiful.  After lunch I sat on the deck gazing at the potted flowers and how the light was hitting the colors and what was happening to the edges as the form came and went.  After all the new green in the landscape this was refreshing!  

Sun Lit Top Planes

"Sunlit Top Planes"

11x14 oil on linen panel

This is a piece I did for my Monday night class in the studio.  last week I was in AZ painting and still have not yet gotten around to posting anything from our trip but promise to 'eventually'.  But for now, a little something from the studio!  :)  Happy Painting!

Spring Is Calling

"Spring Is Calling"

8x10 oil on linen

What a beautiful day we had today!  My kids are on spring break this week so we're just hanging around enjoying the incredible weather we're having.  Monday I leave for AZ to paint for a week with painter and friend Kim Casebeer, I'm really looking forward to that!  So I thought I'd better get outside and get the paint moving 'en plein air' before heading West.  

My 11 year old (Nick) and I went out to my Dad's place later today to enjoy spring and do some painting.  This is my piece from today.  It just sounds like spring, hence the title "Spring Is Calling".  

"High In The Valley"

 "High In The Valley"

18x24 oil on linen panel

"High In The Valley" is my latest piece from the studio.  Since the start of this was a demo for my Thursday advanced painting class, I thought I'd do a post and share some of the process here on my blog.  The initial idea came from being out painting last fall along a pumpkin patch just north of where I live.  When I set up to paint this mid morning, the sky was pretty flat and there was really not any clouds, by the time I was finished with my morning piece, I turned to the left and this is what I saw, stunning lit clouds and landscape with a vista view.  I didn't have time to paint it so I photographed this scene thinking I'd eventually need to paint this, it was truly stunning light!

My goal in this painting was to keep the intensity of the light I remembered by keep rich, clean paint in the clouds and keep my lights and darks very clarified throughout the painting. 

-6x8 color study-

But first I need to start by getting my color scheme and abstract composition developed through a small color study.  This is a simple piece of linen taped up on a board.  I find myself almost always doing a small study before hitting a large canvas, it helps me to work out the shapes and colors so I have a good solid plan.  You may notice the notes of color on the side of the painting.  Once I am happy with my overall color scheme, I scrape up the 4 major colors and lay down the notes on the side of my panting to possibly help me on my large painting.  

Getting started on my large piece. 

 First I start out with a light wash of Transparent Oxide Red to get the drawing laid in, then I wipe it out to tone the canvas.  I then go back in wish a more solid drawing, using my brush. This isn't too difficult since I did most of my 'thinking' on my small study.

Right away, I begin mixing large piles of paint in the large 'averages' that I need in my painting.  Typically I start with my darks to develop some structure.  Then comes the major 'averages' of the sky.  I used all palette knife in my sky in attempt to use enough paint to work with later.  I've now got a solid foundation and this is the point in the demo where I told my class I was finished and would complete the painting on my own.  

Beginning to work the edges, temperature and depth in the sky.

I had a lot of paint in my sky and it's important to work the sky while it's still wet in order to achieve the edges I was after.  I use all palette knife in the clouds to work in warmer and cooler temperatures and soften and roll the edges.  This took hours of painting. . . honestly I don't even know how long. . . I really had fun working with all this paint!

Note: as the shadows of your clouds move away from you typically they will get lighter and cooler.

Developing form in the trees:

Since I like the edges of the sky and tree line to somewhat meld together the trees seemed like the next logical thing to work on.  By this time my first lay in of my tree line was dry so I repainted it so I could have good paint quality and work wet into wet.  This is not a difficult thing to do if you have a solid foundation, just match the lights and darks.  Then I find a good mid tone color to lay between my lights and darks in order to roll the form.  

Note:  to develop recession, the tree line gets lighter and cooler as it moves away from you. 

The final Painting, finished!

There is a time in my painting where I completely zone out and go so deep into the painting that I don't know how I got from the last stage to here.  It's a lot of making notes and stepping away from the easel to get a fresh look and hopefully not over work any area.  This is the point where I do more thinking again than painting in order to do only what helps the painting.  I also do quite a bit of scraping areas out if they don't 'help' the painting.  It's important not to be afraid to do this, remember its all about harmony in your work.  I try to remember to never fall so in love with one little area that it disrupts the harmony and unity.  

It's easy to over work a painting once you get to a certain stage in the piece.  I find slowing down and taking a lot of breaks a good way to not completely destroy what you've started a good idea. 

 Like I tell my students, painting is more brain work than a physical act, but good art comes from the soul of the artist.  

So, here you have my finished piece, of in my mind, some of the most beautiful land in the Mid West! 

to see the painting in detail double click on the image and it will enlarge