Studio Steps

Wet Paint @ Newport Art Museum

2009-08-15T20:30:00.006-04:00

oil on linen 10" x 20"

This was my entry today in the Newport Art Museum's Wet Paint fundraiser.

I really wanted to make sure that it was wet when I brought it in. It seems much more fun than just picking a painting from my studio and bringing it to the show. Playing with the big kids requires doing it that day. But the challenge of the whole thing makes me nervous on a lot of counts:

1. I have to drive there and remember everything I need for the day.
2. I don't want to do a wiper and then feel that I have to hang it because I signed up.
3. Last year the painting didn't sell for much, and I want to do better this year.
4. What if too many people want to talk to me while I am working?
5. I usually work on panels, but then how would they hang it?
6. I didn't get around to getting a frame. Will that look all right in the exhibit?

But I knew that I wanted to do it, so I tried to stay calm and just worked through it.
Everything went well.

I packed everything and anything that I could think of, and didn't forget anything.
I planned what I would paint, and studied my reference photos ahead of time. I even made a drawing on the canvas and sealed it last night.
It doesn't really matter what it sells for, because it is all part of the process of establishing myself. And everything does sell. I think.
To solve the hanging issue, I bought a stretched canvas. I didn't have to worry about having enough space in my studio for another stretched canvas, because it would sell, and not come home.
Tomorrow I will see if it looks as punchy on the wall as I hope it will.

I kept the range of colors simple, and the design pretty graphic. And my blog name is taped to the back, so maybe the person who buys the painting will read this. And if you do, some time there are two or three lines that I would like to add to the painting. And I will seal the whole surface so that the finish stays even. Just let me know.

I also was a very minor celebrity with 20 seconds of fame in the video of last year's event. So if you want to see me, this is the link. I am about 3 minutes into the piece.

Sleep will come easy tonight I think!

June Fog

2009-07-13T21:08:00.002-04:00

oil on linen 8" x 16"

I have not posted since I left for Japan, and on my return, have been reveling in my photos and doing smaller studies.
Next year at the Providence Art Club I have a shared show, and have thought that I would use material from the trip for the show. Some of these studies have been exciting to me. But I am not sure what the best thing to do with them in the blog. So now I am looking at other blogs to see how they handle upcoming shows. Certainly I don't want to dispel any anticipation by publishing images prematurely. At the same time I have little enough painting time that it is a little hard to do both. Maybe, by writing, I will find a way out.
At any rate, all the fog has made me look more closely (there has been little else besides fog and rain) at the light and effects it creates. This is from a misty day at the beach, watching the white edge of surf, and the far rocks barely visible. I also liked the bright reflection of the sky in the wet sand at the edge of the waves.

2009-05-06T21:33:00.003-04:00

9" x 12", oil on canvas

I loved the pattern the light made on the rhythmic facades marching up the hill, and I was fascinated by the reflected light on the cobblestone. The whole scene is mysterious to me - what is going on behind those still planes, underneath the trees leaning over the garden walls?

Kyoto streetscape

2009-05-04T21:23:00.002-04:00

Oil on linen panel, 12"x 12"

This streetscape caught my attention. Initially, it was the glowing umbrella, but then it became the blaring sunlight, the figures in the street, and the beautiful light on the paving. It was fun to pick out the red elements in the various parts of the landscape.

Evening Opening

2009-05-04T21:19:00.002-04:00

Oil on linen panel, 12" x 12"

I put up a detail from this painting on the blog earlier when I was comparing camera shots, but I never got the final one "published". I was struck by all the contrasts in value and color temperature and how they contributed to the mood of quiet preparation. I liked how the row of lanterns drew you into the courtyard, and into the picture. In retrospect, I wish we had dinner at the restaurant. It seemed so mysterious behind this open courtyard. The last bit of sunlight is fading in the sky.

Old Park

2009-05-03T21:58:00.003-04:00

Oil on Canvas 12"x 12"

In honor of voyages, I am going to post some paintings of places I have been. This view caught my eye, but had to be refined in terms of value patterns to start to work for me. It is in a park near the fish market in Japan. The shade was really welcome on a hot day. The changes in direction on the bridge really helped establish that lazy wandering sense. I love playing with the warm and cool tones in water and reflections. The age of the vine opened my imagination.

Lilies

2009-04-05T18:29:00.002-04:00

9" x 12" oil on panel

This is the first in a series that I have been working on for a few weeks. I keep working on them some more, and liking parts of them. I have been learning a lot. But they don't really seem to finish, as much as I would like them to. It is a function of needing to paint more, and needing to spend more time painting.
However, I will post them this week, and see what they look like online. Hope you like them!

Ice Fan

2009-03-22T18:27:00.002-04:00

11"x 14" oil on linen panel

A playful moment captured in a spontaneous painting. I think that the limited complementary palette really helps juxtapose the playful character with the cold season. Soon this will all be a memory!

2009-03-15T21:26:00.002-04:00

11x14 Oil on linen panel

A winter beach and cliff walk at Beavertail Light, on the southern end of Jamestown, RI. The pattern of dark and light as the waves moved towards shore and the green/ orange range of colors caught me eye. Snow in the shadows reminds me that it is still winter. This was a studio painting. I tried to go out yesterday to paint, and it looks like spring, but is still cold enough to soak into my bones. Soon....

Shooting paintings

2009-03-08T11:36:00.007-04:00

untouched photos from Canon G7 on left and Canon EOS D60 on right

Yesterday entailed some experimentation with recording paintings. I am not a professional photographer, and my documentation has only slowly been getting more developed. I am getting together a portfolio to apply for a show for my Japanese paintings at the Providence Art Club, and it occurred to me that perhaps I had gotten better since last year when I first photographed these pieces. I always shoot my paintings with my G7, and lately I have been using GIMP to edit them. But I had access to the EOS, and I decided to use it as well when I was photographing.

The results surprised me. I had been expecting some differences, but not to the degree that I saw above. These are two details from the same painting with the cameras set up to the same pixels and exposures. The pciture on the right is more saturated, with less smoothing. The brush strokes appear more painterly. The tones set next to each other are much clearer. It is obvious to me that the EOS is going to give me a far superior result when I have finished editing them.

NowI will have to shoot as much as possible with the larger camera, because I use the detail in my reference photos a lot for painting as well. Even if that reference is only to finish something in the studio that I started in the field.

Winter sunrise

2009-02-27T21:01:00.006-05:00

oil on linen 9" x 12"

A painting of a special time of day. I have photographed this painting several times for the blog, and the blue on the building keeps getting very saturated. The original is a little more purple, and sits back on the linen. I loved the colors in the snow and sky, and the richness of the snow shadow. I like how the colors shift in the penumbra around the sun. I think the painting done larger would need a more careful perspective drawing of the house. As usual, I will put it up on my long shelf to look at for a while, and thus learn to see what it needs. (Updated picture reposted 3/8/09)

Winter View

2009-02-26T21:30:00.005-05:00

oil on linen panel - 8" x 16"

This painting was done from a cropped snapshot. I loved the shapes of the hills, the contrast-y colors, and the long vista. I used a limited palette of cad red light, ultramarine, and yellow. Usually I would have used ochers and siennas from the the tube, but this palette pushed me to explore colors more than usual, and rewarded me for the effort!

Watch Hill Winter Morning II

2009-02-13T17:28:00.005-05:00

I have been thinking about this painting since I last posted, and have not gotten it out of my head yet. I have changed my usual order of layout, so that you can compare it to the previous entry.
Paintings are always kept out in the studio for studying. In this one, I have kept darkening the forground and adding more layers to the sky.
I have tweaked the colors of the photo in GIMP, but still have more cobalt hue in the foreground that in the actual picture. The rest of the picture is pretty accurate. (It is always a temptation to get the photo as good as it can be as its own image, but I am sticking to the closest I can get to the actual image.
I am doing well, despite the lack of posting. We are the host parents for an international student, and that has thrown my usual routines all awry.

Oil on linen 9" x 12"

Watch Hill Winter Morning

2009-01-24T12:34:00.007-05:00

oil on linen panel 9" x 12"

This painting is a value study and a painting focused on the sky. The darker ground tones helps the sky sing in comparison. Everything is frozen tight, and yet the light dances through the cold space. There is a quality of expectation and an exhilaration at the same time.
In class, we all put our work up for a crit period at the end, and one of the many valuable parts of that process is standing back from the painting and looking at it with a detached eye. Posting items on this blog is another way to acheive that viewpoint. There is a possibility that I will repaint the snow even darker. Usually I look at a painting for a while so that I can see it before I make a decision like that.

Ueno Park August

2009-01-21T21:16:00.002-05:00

oil on linen panel 24" x 9.5"

This is the painting that I have been working on for the past few weeks, the blog silencing painting for the member show at the Providence Art Club. I wanted to capture the fabulous feeling of being in the cool shade on a very hot day in Tokyo. I have simplified the background buildings, and used the horizontal composition to emphasize the feeling of being under the canopy of beautiful trees. The people in the painting move back through the space.
I am also glad that it is done.
Right now, a little of that heat would be welcome in RI.

Vinyard Winter

2009-01-11T21:51:00.005-05:00

oil on canvas panel 8" x 16"

I have been away over the weekend, and painting has taken the backseat to family. That is as it should be, and yet when I came back, I have been working all night on my Member Show entry at the Providence Art Club, and on finishing this painting so that I could put something up on this blog. This is from a photo that is a couple of years old, and the scene had caught my eye from the beginning. I have been working on it over time, looking at the best use values and color to enhance the scene. Right now this is as far as I have been able to take it.
I wanted to show how resolutely the house faces the weather from the open ocean. The low sunlight on the face of the house picks up the strength of the manmade structure. It is nestled in the hills, but clearly taller than the windswept horizontal landscape around it. We can all be brave this way, even as we are worn by time and other storms.
The entry is a longer painting for me, as I am used to smaller formats. This may be a bad week for posting, as deadlines loom...

Angel Window - Grand Canyon

2009-01-08T19:33:00.002-05:00

8" x 10" oil paint on canvas panel

This is a painting from 2 years ago done from a sketch during a visit to the Grand Canyon. I pulled it out from the "archives" a few days ago thinking that it was not a total wash. I wish that I had taken a picture of it before I "looked" at it with a brush last night. I did so little, adding a few of the things that I had learned to pay attention to.
The first thing I did was to rub it down with a 50/50 mixture of Liquin and Mineral spirits. That removed dust, and improved the finish texture on the paint surface itself. I recently learned what an important quality that becomes for a painting. I brightened the sky, and added a bit of color where I previously had white rocks facing the sky. There had been two trees on top of the arch in the photo, but I eliminated one to strengthen the composition. A few touches to soften the horizon, a few more blue shadows, a sharper edge to the right of the Angel Window, and now I am very happy with the painting.
It is funny to have such a small painting of such a large area, almost unimaginable.
It is also amusing to realize how close I had been before, and did not have the experience to finish it.
I have been working on a larger painting from Japan for the Member's Exhibit at the Providence Art Club in a few weeks, and have less to show right now on the blog.

Twilight

2009-01-04T21:06:00.003-05:00

9" x 12" oil on linen

This is the last of the three evening paintings that I have worked on. The other two were posted on December 10th and 11th, but this one resisted being finished. I had to keep adjusting the values to see how to get the effect of the low fall evening light. It has been a process of gradually darkening and warming, adding layers of paint. Paintings seem to have their own personalities, even done in batches. My favorite isn't always the one done first or the easiest. And sometimes, there is one done that just is a throwaway. Or really, a paint over.

Learning to look at the values is a constant learning experience for me. Stan Moeller quotes watercolorist Charles Reid , "Color gets all the credit, but values do all the work. ..."

Summer Shadows

2008-12-31T19:48:00.003-05:00

Oil on linen panel 9" x 12"

This is a seascape from Little Compton RI. I loved the effect of the long shadows illuminating the land in stripes, and the house hiding from the wind in the evergreens. I have painted at this location often, but feel that this is one of the most successful images.
I am looking forward to painting more and posting more in the New Year. I have made strides forward this year in making my art more public. I did my first outdoor show in Malden Bridge NY this summer, and started this blog to document what I have been up to. My next effort will be to make a card for myself as an artist, and to add more drawing to my daily routine. Finally, I will keep hoping that someone will start commenting on the blog!
Focus on the positive things that we have around us: family, friends, and health! Keep enjoyment up front in the New Year. My best to you, Mary

Sunflowers again

2008-12-27T09:21:00.003-05:00

oil on linen panel 14" x 18"

I looked at this painting again...looking as in looking with a paint brush. The effect I am trying to get is new for me, so I may be "looking" again at it later.

Sunflowers and Fog

2008-12-24T08:23:00.005-05:00

oil on linen panel 14" x 18"

My latest offering is completely off season, but I decided that I would try it the other day. I took a small painting of Monhegan that I had done previously and tried it on a larger canvas. I think it is still 75% done, but I am offering a blog of it as a Christmas present for people who would like to remember warmer times. I am also curious to look at it online myself.
Most of the other paintings I have done lately have not been successful enough to post. I blame it on this silly cold, but as long as I keep painting, I am fine. I have long said that if I am not willing to do paintings that I don't end up liking, that I will not grow as an artist. Of course, that needs to be coupled with a willingness to try keeping an open mind and doing things in different ways as well. What is the definition of insanity? Trying to get different results from doing things the same way.
Do have a wonderful Christmas, and if you are a painter, keep painting!

Temple Flags

2008-12-17T21:47:00.002-05:00

oil on linen panel 12" x12"

A new painting done by an image sent to me from a fall expedition to Kyoto. I love looking at the flags, as I can feel the brisk breeze and the temple routine, playing against each other.

Mystery

2008-12-11T19:51:00.004-05:00

9" x 12" oil on panel

Have you ever taken a walk through the woods and come upon a house like this?

This painting has been particularly difficult to photograph in a way that the image on the screen has the power of the painting, but this version looks close to the original on my screen. I hope that you can get the sense of the dying fall day, painted as I walked on Monhegan.

I was talking to someone in my painting class today about painting over previously painted canvases. They said that there was a possibility that the new painting would "sink" into the older painting over the course of a few years, and that the best way to prevent that was to paint the old canvas with latex exterior house paint. Has anyone anything to offer on the topic?

Manana Glow

2008-12-10T22:38:00.002-05:00

oil on canvas panel 9" x 12"

This painting is the first finished of a group of three, painted from photos taken this September on Monhegan Island during Stan Moeller's workshop. The photos caught my attention because of the effects of light at low angles as the sky begins to darken. Getting the colors right on the island is always a bit of challenge - the warm purples and greens want to come forward, and need to be cooled down a lot. This island manages to sit back where it is. I had fun painting it.

Fall Farm

2008-12-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

oil on panel 9" x 12"

This is a painting from a farm in New York state that I have been visiting for a long time. I was struck by the view walking back from the fields towards the house and barn, where the light caught the house and barn on the side, and how they were compressed by the grass and trees into a small band of intense color and focus. It was painted outside over Thanksgiving weekend, and I had to stop when clouds came in, destroying the light and robbing me of enough warmth to continue.

The last of the trio

2008-12-07T19:19:00.002-05:00

Oil on panel 9" x 12"

This is the last of the three rocks and trees that I am showing, and for a good reason. Though the first one of the group that I started, I kept trying to adjust it to get the light bouncing around the trees and the rocks. The reference photo that I was working from was blasted out, and pursuing the values lost the initial energy of the picture.
But I am putting it up to remind myself that I do have to be willing to push further with the paintings, sometimes to success and other times to mud. I am willing to push, and I will look at this for a while before I put it in the paint over pile. It had the promise of a better painting once, and so far I have not found it again. Oh well.

Ell Pond II

2008-12-02T19:44:00.003-05:00

oil on panel 14" x 11"

This painting painted itself, except it ran out of steam at the roots, and I had to finish. Several times. The light on the rocks was skimming along the surface, picking up a few highlights, and puddling on the ground. What a great hike!

Rocks and Trees

2008-11-30T20:22:00.005-05:00

Oil on panel 11" x 14"

We went for a walk around Ell Pond in western RI a few weeks ago, at the height of color in RI. This walk covers a terrain of large glacial rocks, interspersed trees, and lots of elegant landscape. I took the equivalent of a couple of rolls of film, because it kept reminding me of walking in an enlarged bonsai garden. I have been working on making the photos into landscapes, loving the forms of the rocks and the flickering sideways fall light.
This painting was worked over a few times, because there was a lot going on in the photo, and it needed to be simplified to make any sense. Everyone would interpret it differently, but this one is mine.
Hope that anyone reading had a good Thanksgiving, luxuriating in the people in our lives. I am hoping to have a posted comment in this blog, so please feel free to leave one!

Watch Hill

2008-11-21T20:21:00.002-05:00

oil on panel 9" x 12"

I saved this image for last because it has been on the blog before. However, it finishes the 6 pictures that have gone to the show, all themed around the idea of buildings in the landscape. The building here is back-lit, with the glowing ocean mist behind it. It is early in the morning in the summer time, and you can smell the waves in the ocean beyond....

Revisting Beavertail

2008-11-20T21:00:00.003-05:00

oil on panel 9" x 12"

This painting has already appeared in the blog, when I discussed the process of painting it and looking at it in class, and retouching some passages. Some paintings have actually undergone a lot more in the way of change during the process. The only reason it is back is that it will be in the show opening this weekend. Have you spotted the thematic trend of the paintings?

Villa Marina

2008-11-19T21:21:00.005-05:00

oil on panel 9" x 12"

This latest entry to the Little Pictures show is a sketch of a Victorian bed and breakfast in Newport.

This year I was in town for the Newport Museum wet paint event, and I was scared but determined to take part. The actual painting that I did for it was sold at auction of course, but I went down the weekend before and did this sketch as a dry run. I could have changed my mind and painted something else on the actual day, but I enjoyed all the shades of blue, the distant bridge, and the great steep roof and architectural shapes of this house, and painted it twice.

I hoped that the Owner of the house might buy it at the auction, but I felt to shy to introduce myself when I was done painting. Later, we went down to see all the paintings hung on the wall before the auction.

Monhegan Chapel

2008-11-18T19:45:00.002-05:00

9" x 12" oil on panel

This painting was painted from a photograph taken steps away from the Monhegan House just about sunset. I wanted to show the colors of light in the tree shadow, and how the building caught the low sun and deep shadows. Painting on Monhegan in the early fall is fun because of the clear low light, and the change in the palette of colors. The painting was from this year, but the photo from last year. This year the chapel had a new finial on the steeple.
I love the atmosphere in the chapel for its intimacy. I have met great people and heard wonderful music inside its walls.

The next Little Picture

2008-11-17T21:33:00.005-05:00

Red Barn 8" x 10" oil on panel

Tonight's picture is taken from a scene near Manchester, Vermont. The lowering sky and the bright snow with the red barn in the distance was a challenge in detemining values and catching the color in the snow.

Little Pictures Show

2008-11-16T20:07:00.006-05:00

This week I am going to post the paintings that I am entering in the Little Pictures Show at the Providence Art Club. There are 6, and by the opening on the 22nd, you can have your favorite chosen and rush in to buy it! There is a theme for the pictures I have chosen to put in the show, and by the middle of the week I am sure that you will figure it out.
Before I started exhibiting my paintings I really had no idea of how much is involved in getting everything ready. Do I have frames? Are they wired the right way? Are the pictures documented? Are they signed? What about labels? Last minutes touchups? And a finish coating to even out the quality of the surface finish? I get a little assembly line going and process the pictures in batches of 6-8 paintings at a time.

Here is the first painting:
Harmony Home Farm 9" x 12" oil on canvas

This is a painting from this summer from an actual farm with this name. It was lovely to paint, and it is great to remember.

Intermission

2008-11-03T21:12:00.005-05:00

I spent the weekend in a combination of busy and sick that has brought me to a halt, but I decided that I would post anyways. It seems best to give myself a few days of permission to lighten up, to get used to the clock change, to let the paint dry. But there are a lot of paintings that I could be posting, even if they are not fresh off the easel.
So maybe this will be a cartoon or a newsreel between full features.
Let's spin the wheel and see what I find.....

Temple Gate 8" x 10" oil on linen panel

This is a painting that I did from a series on Japanese landscapes last fall. I love the mystery beyond the gate, like an Eden of wonderful specimens. The clouds hover above the gates, free, and the tree has grown beyond them. The gate is detailed, heavy, and reflects light into the shadows. It makes me happy to look at again, and that is a good feeling tonight.
I hope that anyone finding this has their own temple gate to look through.

Progress of a painting

2008-10-30T19:20:00.004-04:00

This was painted on Wednesday morning at my painting class from a photo I took at Beavertail Park in Jamestown on October 20th. We all painted and then the teacher had us comment on our own paintings. That was an interesting twist! I had to leave early so that I did not hear all of the critiques, but the ones I heard were pretty negative and process oriented. When it came to be my turn, in my head I tried to buck the trend, and had a difficult time. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the sense of light.

9" x 12" oil on panel

Tony did suggest that I look again at the light in the upper left corner, and I noticed that I wanted the light rocks to darken slightly as they moved back in space. Sometimes I will take a picture and try those kinds of things roughly to see what effect it might have. The manipulated photo below is the end result of some exploration tonight. After this, I will try making the changes that I did like in paint.

9" x 12" oil on panel, after Photoshop

Over time, I have gotten a little better about seeing what changes a painting might need. It used to take me months. One thing that I love during class is putting the paintings together at the end. I always see new things and a better overall idea of the painting when I look at it objectively (in a group, 12 feet away). It never fails.

Vermont Garage

2008-10-25T18:22:00.001-04:00

8" x10" oil on canvas

This scene struck me when we were in Vermont over Columbus Day weekend. The colors were so strong that they filled the shadows. This garage was camoflaged by the tree shadows. The whole scene was glowing. The bits of sky popped out the orange. I have seen this building over and over, but this time it was an inspiration to try to set down.

Edgewood, RI

2008-10-22T21:23:00.002-04:00

oil on linen panel 11" x 14"

Last weekend, we were doing some photography at a finished residence. When I turned around and looked at the water, I was caught by the clouds, the back lit yacht club building, and the compelling sheen on the water. I have tried to capture this in the studio, and I think that the painting catches the light even better than it appears on the photo above. I tried to capture the moodiness and the silver quality of the light, with the dark flatness of the building contrasting with the extremely bright reflections of the water. I remember Stan's repetition of the adage that "value does all the work, and color gets all the credit". I should look that up, and find out who said it first.
Painting today at the Providence Art Club was as much fun as ever. Anthony talked again about finding one's passion about the painting you are doing, and enjoying the process of putting the paint on the canvas. This is such an energizing group of people.

2008-10-21T19:19:00.000-04:00

oil on linen panel 9" x 12"

This is a painting that I have been looking at and working on all summer. The study for it was painted in Watch Hill RI. The site is next door to a construction site on the ocean. I was attracted to the backlit quality of the house and the shape of the pine. The whole scene had to be simplified to emphasize the quality of the light, and the pine visually extracted from the wild summer foliage. Looking at it on the computer makes me think that I might darken some of the reeds around the pond. They seem to detract from the glow of the light on the shadow side of the house.

Fog

2008-10-20T21:31:00.001-04:00

oil on linen/panel 11" x14"

This painting was done after my return from Monhegan, based on a small field sketch. I was attracted by the layers of trees and other objects, and by the cool silvery glow of the light over the water. The light gets warmer and clearer as it gets closer to the viewer. This is an example of a painting I am still looking at, and may refine more before I consider it done.

Studio Organization

2008-10-19T10:18:00.001-04:00

Today I worked through the piles of paintings in the studio, and in the house. I took the old paintings that I was tired of out of their frames. They got labeled as to their year of production and put away. Paintings from the recently worked on pile were sorted through. Some were put in the "available to paint over bin". Some were left on the table for continued refinement. Then I looked at the frames that I had, and picked out paintings that I liked or wanted to look at more. Paintings were paired with available frames, and then a pile was photographed. After cleaning up the images in my newly acquired Photoshop Elements, I now have a pile of paintings to post. I think that clearing the decks like this has also improved my energy level. Robert Genn suggests keeping your best work out to look at as a positive boost.
To keep things simple, I will only show a painting per post this week. This painting was a field study of the bell at the Monhegan Island Light from the Stan Moeller workshop in September. That makes it extra special!

Farewell Dock

2008-10-07T20:49:00.001-04:00

8" x 16" oil on panel

This was painted the morning that I was leaving Monhegan Island this September. The light in the sky plays against the dark water and general moodiness. It echoed how I was feeling about connecting to the wider world.

Manana Morning

2008-10-05T22:06:00.001-04:00

11" x 14" oil on panel

Today I have been working on painting and on editing photos of paintings I have done before. This is an painting from Monhegan, looking at a glowing Manana.