"John and Kate" a Painting in Progress

Sometimes it's helpful to see how a painting has developed. I wanted to capture the sibling relationship between John and Kate as well as the sense of discovery children have when playing in shallow water. John is intent on moving boldly ahead while his sister shows her concern for him by her slightly turned head and upraised hand reaching towards him. Both poses imply the personality of these siblings.

"John and Kate" was a commissioned painting completed this past year. It was a fun painting for me to do as it brought back many wonderful childhood memories of my own and that of my children and grandchildren. Those memories helped me to relate to the children as I painted them.

To start the painting I used a warm orange based color to suggest the placement of forms. Some of this color was allowed to peak through subsequent layers of paint which helped to harmonize the flesh tones with the cool tones of vegetation and water. The overall effect was one of sparkle and freshness.

Switching to Right Brain Activity

"Where did my right brain go?"

This week I heard several of my students bemoan the fact that it's hard to gear up for a creative session when they've been totally immersed with life's problems all day or they have suffered from a creative block. I have a solution to these problems and it is to develop a quick and easy personal trigger that can be called upon as needed to switch your mind from left to right whenever you want to become creative.

As a professional artist I don't have the luxury of painting only when I am in the mood. I have to fit my painting time into the nooks and crannies surrounding my work schedule. Because art is important to me I want to maximize the time I do have to study and perform at my peak. It's essential that I come to the easel fresh and ready to paint and cannot afford to worry about my "mood" or what's happening outside the studio. How do I do that?

First and most important, I go to my studio, sit down, making myself comfortable, and then.....

1) with pen in hand I fill a sheet of paper from left to right, line by line, with words as they pop into my mind. I allow no sentence structure or punctuation. I write as fast as I can to fill the page (time about 5 minutes), or

2) work on several reverse imaging exercises to achieve mind, eye, and hand coordination (time about 10 minutes), or

3) (my favorite) view a slide show on my laptop computer of favorite paintings that I've collected. This not only activates right side thinking but also relaxes and inspires me (time about 8 min.).

My images are of photos I've taken of favorite paintings from the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Art (always check with a museum to make sure you can photograph their permanent collection). Take a little time to crop and coordinate the images into a pleasing sequence then hit the slide show button. I have enough images that my slide show runs for about 8 minutes. By the time it has run its course I am usually hooked and good to go. If I happen to be a hard core case on any given day then I may have to view it more than once.

Notice in all three of my triggers I am not problem solving. I shy away from activities such as sorting photographs to work from as that requires my logical brain to be running, I'm not flipping through an art book where I can get caught up in reading and analyzing (logical) the artists written information, etc. I am doing visual cuing, in a relaxed mental state, that forces the brain to switch modes.

Since I began using #3 above I have had enormous success in switching gears. No matter how dicey life gets outside the studio I can feel serene and creative in just a matter of minutes.

Dealing with a creative blocks are a bit more difficult. In short, one must go back to the basics and paint simple things. More on that later....

Perils of Plein Air Painting: a Stalking Bull

"Leelanau Vineyard", 8x10" plein air study, oil on canvas

I've been an outdoor enthusiast all of my life and in that time, as an artist, I've had the privilege of introducing many hundreds of students to painting en plein air, a French term meaning from life in the out-of-doors. Personal safety is always a consideration for artists when painting on location. Unfortunately, no matter how careful we are situations can and do happen to keep life interesting. I've certainly had my fair share of encounters with domestic and wild animals over the years. Some more interesting than others.

Two summers ago I met and received permission from the owner of a large vineyard in northern Michigan to paint anywhere I wanted on her picturesque and very hilly property as long as I had 4-wheel drive to get around. Towards the end of our conversation the woman casually mentioned, "don't go into the north pasture because there are cows there".

After driving around for sometime to familiarize myself with possible painting sites I ended up on a long up-hill farm lane next to the north field where a large herd of cows were fenced in by a single wire. The lane finally petered out so I killed the motor, stepped out of my car and continued the steep climb on foot to the top of the hill to see the view.

I was nearly to the top when I heard a grunting sound coming from the herd. Having grown up around farm animals, the hair on the back of my neck raised. I looked to my right across the thin wire that separated me from the herd and saw the cows dividing like the waters of the Red Sea as a huge bull stalked towards me not 30 feet away. Every few feet he'd hesitate and paw the earth. It was obvious he meant business and didn't want me near his cows. I desperately looked around for a place of safety only to discover that the nearest tree and my car were at least 100 yards below me. Clearly, I was in a dicey situation. I did the only thing I could do in such a situation and broke out into a cold sweat of fear as my mind raced searching for a possible out. The best I could figure was the obvious... I needed to get somewhere other than where I was fast.

If you know anything about the size of a bull in its prime, you'll know that a wire, even an electrified wire, wont stop a bull if he decides to go through it. In the short moments that my brain was calculating the distance between us and the distance to my car the behemoth arrived at the wire still snorting and pawing earth. I began to move slowly sideways in the direction of the car being cautious not to move fast and/or directly away from the bull. Believe me that trip down the hill to my car was the longest walk I've ever made. The bull, not 10 feet from me, followed my every step snorting and pawing earth all the way. With relief unequal to any word known in the English language, I finally reached the car and literally threw myself into it.

Later, when I returned to the vineyard office, I told the owner about the experience. She looked at me as though I was crazy and said, "that bull wouldn't hurt a flea!" Well, believe me when I say to you that I wont be going back any time soon to prove her wrong.

1, Feb. 2010: Morning Plein Air

The trees in our backyard were tipped with frost this morning and the sun was rising through thin clouds giving a pinkish glow to the sky. I hurried into my outdoor clothing, loaded the car with fresh canvas, paints, etc. and was off.

My usual haunts were still in shadow when I arrived at the farm so I decided to drive around the property a bit looking for other subject matter. The field study above is the result. I was especially taken by the contrasts between the russet orange in the subject tree (left center) and grasses vs. the dark purply-blue background trees. I have always had trouble trying to establish just the right color note for those background trees at this time of the morning. They seem to hover around several color notes without ever becoming identifiable with any single color.

I was pleased with the resulting sketch and finished the morning off with a short hike, hot chocolate from my thermos, and a feeling of well being. It's good to be alive on a 20 degree plus morning in Michigan.

New Paintings from the Easel

"Window Study", 11x14, oil on canvas panel


September Light", 24x36", oil on canvas

Finding Time to Paint

I think in my 30+ years of teaching I have heard just about every excuse there is as to why a student can't find time to paint. It is so easy to find reasons not to do what you want to do. This seems especially true of women...the care givers. Being one myself I fully understand the need to be needed and the need to be of service to the family, community, etc. Men on the other hand may have trouble divorcing themselves from their "working" career long enough to pursue their creative side. However, if a person wants to paint, wants to succeed at art, then some obvious decisions have to be made.

First, find a place to paint where materials can be left out and ready to be used. Such a simple thing makes a world of difference on mentally finding time to work at your art. If you have to move your art materials every time a meal is to be served you will quickly quit painting.

Second, let your family know how important this is to you and that you want to set up business hours for working. If they care about you your needs will be important to them. Communication is a priority here. Speak up! Don't buy into the guilt of doing for yourself before others. After all, it's only for a couple hours out of the whole week. The earth wont stop rotating because you want a couple hours a week for yourself.

Third, treat your hours in your studio as business time. No personal calls, no cooking, no running errands, etc. Even if it's only 2 hours a week. They are your hours...keep them and use them.

Four, have more than one project going at different stages in the creative process. This way when you enter the studio there will be something to do that fits your immediate emotional makeup and time frame for working, albeit it may only be 15 minutes. If you don't "feel" like painting then gather items and set up a still life, do some thumbnails, check through references, plan a painting trip, read that art article you set aside a month ago. It all counts towards your business hours.

Finding time to paint is really not that difficult. What is difficult is giving yourself permission to do it and then sticking with it.

Happy painting!

Shall We Paint From Photographs?

Since I'm known as an outdoor painter, I am often asked if I ever paint from photographs. I would love to be able to say, "no, I only paint from life", but that would simply not be true. I am a busy person with a busy schedule and don't have the privilege of devoting all my daytime hours to painting. I paint around teaching, family needs and housekeeping. HOWEVER, other than teaching, the rest of my activities remain as flexible as my painting schedule so that I can devote as much prime time to painting as possible. I have to say here that I have an understanding and encouraging spouse that is supportive of my work. He encourages me rather than discourages. I appreciate him very much.

So, back to photography. What part does it play in the scope of my painting?

When I am on location, I always carry a digital camera with me. I photograph what I am painting plus other interesting things in the area. However, I NEVER take snapshots. They are a total waste of time. My photos are carefully taken with the idea of a painting. In other words, I look for line and shapes that converge or are in juxtaposition of one another creating interesting compositions. I take time to frame the subject as though I were setting up a painting. Back in the studio I download the photos, review what I have and delete anything that is not usable. I hold very high standards for what I keep and what is pitched. Since I photograph often it is easy for me to be heartless in sorting and deleting. If you take only a few photos each one becomes precious to you and you don't feel so casual about dumping them. As a result, my repertoire of photos to work from are excellent.

This said I must add that I do not in any way consider myself a photographer. Excellent well composed reference shots are my goal, not award winning photographs.

I use my photos in two ways. They are references for subject matter or I may review groups of photos of a possible painting site to help establish a loose plan of what I may want to do once I get on location. For instance,a place where I paint often offers a lot of subject matter. There are hills with views that can be painted as vistas, cropped into smaller areas, or moved into for intimate looks. By reviewing my photos ahead of time I'm able to focus more time on painting rather than "looking".

Currently, it's winter and I am looking at my warm weather photos from last year and visualizing some of the paintings I would like to do in the coming season. This visualizing stirs my creative juices and keeps me excited about the season to come. I'm already planning on a 30x40" that I want to do come spring from on top of a hill overlooking a marshy pond with a woodsy background. I've found that some of my best work comes from those pieces I've mentally visualized for months prior to ever picking up a brush. I go there now in winter to see the abstracted view of the scene, ie: the evident contrasts between light snow and dark vegetation areas. This simplifies and makes more obvious the shapes to be added into my painting when later in the year everything is all "green".

When working from photos, I never "copy". I use the photos as references while establishing the painting but normally put the photos away once I'm into the painting process. When in the studio, I want to create a painting, in other words, express my feeling about a place not copy it. I already have a copy....the photograph.