Painting in Hope Valley

"Summertime, and the living is easy..Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high ... "

Well, almost summertime. I went out painting with fellow Tahoe artists Bonita Paulis and Penny Shrawder yesterday, to a beautiful area just south of where I live called Hope Valley. It was the first day of good weather in quite a while, and I was desperate to get out of the studio. The recent rains have made all the greens greener in the landscape, and that warm lushness is perfectly complemented by the blue snow capped mountains in the distance.

There were people fishing on the river, and the occasional whoops and cheers indicated that the fish were indeed jumping (albeit on the end of a line, sadly) There was some curiosity about these three smudged women standing at easels on the riverbank, but thankfully the fish were of more interest and we were left alone for the most part.

I was interested in capturing some of the energy of the landscape, rather than try to make a finished piece.

I gave a demonstration at Lake Tahoe Community College on Tuesday evening, to the ceramics students. I had been asked to paint some of my Kokanee on clay, in the loose style of my mixed media pieces, and then if it went well to show the students how I did it. It did go well actually, I was pleasantly surprised at the watercolour effect the glazes made. Explaining something you do instinctively is a little challenging, and it's been many years since I taught. Being able to paint at the same time as talking took the pressure off though, as it's easier to show someone how a flick of the wrist can mimick the movement of a fish tail in water than try and shape your words around the motion. I'll post the demo pieces once they are fired.

With this in mind, I approached this landscape with the same idea of looseness and confidence in your instinct. It was so refreshing and liberating. I was also aware of the value studies we did with Carol in Santa Fe, and found myself boldly laying in light and shade in an abstract way. I'll be returning to the valley with my oils in the next few days if the weather stays good, I'm excited about this composition now, and want to take it to towards a finished piece.

Apple Values
Oil on Canvas Panel
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Conversations

Conversations
Oil on Canvas (Diptych)
80x30"

I just finished this today...Irises next!

Limey

Limey
Oil on Canvas Panel
4x7"

'Limey' is an old American and Canadian slang nickname for the British, originally referring to British sailors. The term is believed to derive from lime-juicer, referring to the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy practice of supplying lime juice to British sailors to prevent scurvy. The benefits of citrus juice were well known at the time thanks to the acute observations of surgeon James Lind who noticed that the cabbage eating Dutch had fewer problems with scurvy. Limes were used over lemons due to limes being more readily available from Britain's own Caribbean colonies. The term is thought to have originated in the Caribbean in the 1880s. A false etymology is that it is a derivative of "Corr-blimey" ("God blind me!").

Hot Stuff

Hot Stuff
Oil on Panel
6x6"

I've been busy wrapping two big pictures to send to the Marji Gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe today - quite the task as one of them is over 4 feet long, although I'm working on an even bigger one for them right now. After applying about an acre of bubble wrap, cardboard and duck tape I think they're finally done. I think I've been in America too long..inches, acre? what happened to the metric system I grew up with?

Anyway, yesterday was an interesting day - I had a visit from a chap who wants a painting of Pyramid Lake, and he is collecting works of the same subject for a potential touring exhibition in Nevada. He brought me copies several works inspired by Pyramid Lake which have been completed in the last 100 years. These, along with my painting will be in the exhibition celebrating beautiful area north of Reno. I'm really excited to get started on this - I've never worked on something in this context before, and I think it'll be a real challenge. It's also a fab excuse to go back there, it's soooo beautiful.

The closest I've come is when I did a project with the Royal Oak Hotel in Betws y Coed, North Wales. Our aim was to resurrect the historic link between the hotel and the Betws y Coed Artists Colony, active in Victorian times. The founder was artist David Cox, and the artists used to gather at the Royal Oak Hotel after a day's painting, no doubt to drink beer and argue about aesthetics (no change in artist behaviour there). Interestingly, the old stables where my gallery was (across the road from the hotel) apparently housed the less wealthy artists, who didn't mind bedding down in the hay with the horses. I liked that idea (not just for the history) more than working in a swanky studio actually - we had cobblestone floors, vaulted ceilings and wonky stone and slate walls we would climb on quiet days. The Royal Oak purchased a great deal of my work, both for the restaurant, and for their sister hotel, The Waterloo. My prints hang in every bedroom of that 4 star hotel, and fill the restaurant walls at the Oak.

I still puff up a little with pride when I remember that.

Ray of Sunshine

Ray of Sunshine
Oil on Canvas Panel
6x6"

When I got back form Santa Fe, Taylor had bought me these lovely sunflowers! So I had to paint one...this was the most difficult subject yet, I had a really hard time with it. I'll try again soon when I've recovered!

Three Amigos

"Three Amigos"
Oil on Canvas Panel
6x6"

I loved painting this. So much so that I went out and bought 4 different chilli plants so I can watch them grow and then paint them! The turquoise plate sets off the colours so well, I'll be using that combination again. I'm also growing tomatoes, basil, cornflowers and salvia to paint (I'll be cooking with the basil too!) so the house looks like a greenhouse at the moment - and it smells good too!

Momentum

Momentum
Oil on Canvas Panel
5x7"

This is another painting from the Carol Marine workshop. The challenge was to paint entirely in rectangles - and using a flat brush, that's kind of the default mark. It's difficult to force yourself not to 'fiddle' with the marks too much (Carol called that 'noodling' - I asked her if that had anything to do with catfish noodling, apparently not!) The idea is you carefully mix the right colour, decide where it will go, put one mark down and leave it. It's a really precise, economical way of working, and it taught me a lot about accuracy and observation. Carol is amazing to watch while she's painting - I realised I've never actually watched anyone paint something from start to finish before, and it's fascinating.

The trick now is to take all this information about painting and apply it to my own style. I think it would be too easy to slip into simply aping someone else's style just because you admire it, and you've seen how it's done. Looking back at my own art education, I can see the merits and severe limits imposed by the art college stance on teaching. The emphasis at all levels of my education was on expression and ideas, not technique. This meant that there was no 'house style' as such, and we were forced to experiment a lot - but the downside, I'm realising now, is that there are big gaps in my knowledge of materials, and the specifics of using them. What Carol has taught me amongst many other things, is that mastery over your materials is crucial to achieve the effect you want.

All this learning is brilliant, but it's making my head hurt...or maybe that's just the thinners.

Convergence

Convergence (ii)
Oil on Gesso Board
6x6"

Wow, what a week it's been...I got back on Saturday night from Santa Fe, after a five day painting class with Carole Marine at the Andreeva Portrait Academy. I have learnt so much, I can't even begin to tell you how much my brain is bursting with excitement! I feel like my work did a quantum leap in New Mexico, and I'll never paint in the same way again. I'll post some of the studies later on, which will give some background to the new paintings I'll be doing this week.

More exciting news is that whilst I was in Santa Fe - the third largest art market in America - a gallery on Canyon Road took an interest in my work, and insisted I leave two wet paintings there with them! They also asked me to send them more big canvases (and I love working big) of the Cyclamen I did a few weeks ago - so the studio is being geared up for micro/macro works as I write.

Arts in Bloom

I've been mad busy this week with preparations for the outdoor art show in Sparks tomorrow - 'Arts in Bloom', so painting has been difficult this week. I'll be in booth 44, and I'll have lots of my little 4/5" painting a day oils for sale, as well as prints on canvas, small giclees on paper and larger originals. Prices start at $25...great mother's day gifts, as well as a fun day out!

What has compounded the workload is the fact that I'm flying out to New Mexico a couple of hours after the show finishes, for my 'Painting a Day' course with Carole Marine at the Andreeva Portrait Academy! I'm so excited!

Even though the course is about painting still life painting, I'm hoping to apply the lessons in colour theory, observation and value development to figure painting (as well as still life) when I return. I'm modelling for a portrait class at Lake Tahoe Community College at the moment, taught by artist Phyllis Shafer. This means for the first time in years, I'm surrounded by young artists learning about drawing, and I'm totally inspired by it all. I'm sitting there staring into space just itching to pick up some charcoal and draw. It's great, I really needed the reminder of the importance of drawing. I've been so preoccupied with painting lately, I've really neglected it.

Phyllis's technical approach to teaching this class has been a fascinating experience to witness, far removed from the emphasis on expressive markmaking and intuitive drawing I was taught at art school. I love both styles, and I think a firm grounding in technique is crucial before you can embark on more expressive renderings of human form. Phyllis a pretty amazing artist, and now I've seen her teaching I'm a bit in awe of her! I'm already in awe of Carole Marine, so I feel honoured that I am able to make contact with the people whose work I respect.

This is definately an accelerated period of learning for me - all of life is about learning, although sometimes it's more subtle. I'll be back next weekend, hopefully with about 20 new paintings to post!

The Magic Number

The Magic Number
Oil on Canvas
6x6"

Today's painting is dedicated to my friend Ali Drew. Ali was my neighbor at the Stables Courtyard in Betws y Coed, so we would emerge from our studios several times a day to drink tea and talk about everything in the world. She's a brilliant ceramic artist, living in North Wales, and creates the most beautiful cups out of porcelain. I've never met anyone so committed to the perfection of form. These aren't her cups in the painting, but you can see them on her website at www.alidrew.co.uk. She's also had a little boy since I saw her last, with her lovely man, Ben - hence the magic number.

I'm pleased with the restraint I managed to exercise over myself with the colours today. It started with some quite vibrant yellows and oranges, (which you can still see the remnants of) but they just overtook the forms. I wanted to try and achieve something more delicate - which is difficult for me as my style can tend to be a little heavy-handed (anyone who has played pool with me will attest to my lack of subtlety...as the ball goes crashing off the table into someone's lap) so this is a bit of a challenge for me.

I used to watch Ali carefully developing her forms through repetition and experiment, meticulously mapping every curve and direction of her cups with her hands and eyes - ruthlessly crushing down forms if they weren't just right. The resulting collections were incredibly tranquil, the lack of chaos hypnotising and awe inspiring. I even got to drink out of these incredible things - something bizarre for a 2D artist used to a strictly hands off approach to finished work.

The Line Up (ii)

The Line Up (ii)
Oil on Canvas Panel
8x4"

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You know, so far I haven't felt inclined to anthropomorphosise any of these still life studies - until now. It occurred to me in the night, that the reason I am so compelled by the little espresso cup especially, is for the same reason I was compelled by the little Amish boy standing slightly away from the others in 'Amish Schoolhouse' (below)

Amish Schoolhouse
Oil on Canvas
30x15"
SOLD

There's something quietly confident about this little guy with his hands in his pockets, levelling his gaze straight at you. Even though you can't see his features, you know he's looking at you - analysing you, summing you up.

Back to the cups though, I was experimenting with backlighting, and although I'm not too pleased with the way this one came out, it's a new way of looking at the same subject, and I think it's healthy to challenge yourself in this way. I'll have another shot at it later. Maybe the reason I'm not getting bored with the same subject (like I normally do) is the sense of an underlying drama, or dialogue in these inanimate objects. I think it's a very human thing to interpret meaning into the things we see, to attach some romantic (in the classical sense) idea to things to help us make sense of things.

I'm reading Edward Abbey's novel, 'Desert Solitaire' at the moment, and his resistance to this very tendancy (with respect to the desert) connected with this musing in the night, and compelled me to write about it today.

I'm also 2 chapters into Paul Dorell's brilliant book, 'Living the Artist's Life', which I already highly recommend to anyone working in the arts, or who has to put up with a crazy artist in their life.

The line up

The Line Up (i)
Oil on Canvas Panel
4x8"

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I found these cups at the thrift store yesterday - the best place for random objects I get it into my head to paint! I'm going to experiment with lighting the same subject over the next few days - I went into the studio this morning and the sunshine was casting a beautiful backlight on them, as I 'd left the cups set up from yesterday. I find the simple white forms really peaceful. I'm also stretching canvases today, for my multi-tasking experiment of 3 canvases at once....I might be in the loony bin by next week.

Blue Glasses

Blue Glasses
Oil on Canvas Panel
6x6"

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I've been finding it difficult to motivate myself for my daily paintings for the past couple of weeks. I've still been painting - bigger pieces, but I feel like I'm getting off track with what I should be painting...and who knows what that is? I'm at the point now where it's really bothering me that I can't settle on one subject to focus on - everything around me draws me in, I want to paint everything - as with most people, if I've got too many things going on, I can end up doing nothing....just procrastinating.

I've bought canvas and stretchers do a series of 30x40" paintings. I'm going to try working on 2 or 3 at a time, and see if I can't reign myself in from 'moving on' after each painting. It's like I draw a line under every canvas I paint, and then I can't go back. It's not that I feel I've accomplished everything I can with each painting - far from it - I'm just restless to start on the next one after having seen something amazing, or woken up in the night with a 'brilliant' idea. Maybe the discipline of this series will help!

Good news though - the Welsh Sale in the UK went really well! All 8 pieces I submitted sold, and they want more for their October Sale. I'm also in negotiations with a gallery in North Wales - so watch this space.

Tonight: My Exhibition, 'Kokanee: Recent Work' at the Foyer Gallery at Lake Tahoe Community College opening reception is on tonight, from 5 - 7 pm. Admission is free.