STARTING OVER

Well, I was never happy with the water in this one although everything else was working. I cropped it down as much as I could and it still doesn't work for me. Maybe it's just me but I know one other blogger/friend commented that it wasn't reading right (I think it was Joan).

What do you think?

I have started over, lots of drawing and miskiting before getting out the paints. I may change the color of the chairs on this one, too. I'm going to do the background as more water and sand, not as foamy, less striving for attention.

Thursday I'm going to drive out to the country to paint with Deb and Sharon - if it's not storming like crazy. I'm going to take a few paintings for critiques and we're going to help each other choose which ones should be entered in the Cincinnati Art Club Viewpoint Show (deadline in August). Although I got in last year, there is no guarantee I'll get in this year - but the judge this year is a watercolorist (Nita Leland) so I think all watercolors have a good chance!

MY IMPRESSIONS

The only thing I thought I wanted to see at the Art Institute of Chicago were the Impressionists. Of course, I'm very glad I stumbled on the American Art Gallery, too :)

There were things I missed - we were tired, my feet hurt, and although I was amazed an in awe of the works I was seeing, I was also dreading the walk back - another 40 minutes on sore, blistered feet :( so I didn't visit the gift shop and I totally missed the Winslow Homer paintings. So...another time!

Here are some of my favorites of this trip in the Impressionist galleries, beginning with the Renoir's.

And then the Monet's. Ah, that green, that blue, that sea!!! And, of course, the water lilies...

Another master of painting light is Joaquin Sorolla y Baptista - this painting of the Two Sisters pulled me across the room to view it more closely. I'd get close and then stand back and then move across the room to see it from a distance. Beautiful! If I could do this, I'd die happy. So sad you have to go to Madrid to see his work - such a long way. My friend, Teresa, got to see his exhibit at the Madrid Museum of Art recently - so many paintings and each one a stunning piece of light and shadow and warmth.

I really enjoyed seeing the people interact with the paintings. There would be crowds around certain paintings or certain areas. One young woman stood in front of Monet's lillies for a very long time. And, of course, there were larger numbers around the Van Goghs. I had never seen this painting of fruit by Van Gogh. It was a treat to see the painting of his bedroom - something I've seen reproduced in many books.

But this was the stunner:

The movement of the leaves and tree trunks in this and the variety of greens and, of course, his brushstrokes, just took my breath away. This one was titled The Poet's Garden. I wanted to step into that painting and be taken to a cool, spring day and touch those weeping willow strands of leaves. The brushstrokes rolled and moved and swirled and twirled and were so beautiful in themselves. It was as if you could see his hand moving on the canvas in this one and the movement was slow, serene, calming.

And then there was the small painting on the wall as you exited the room. So very small and yet so demanding that you stop and look. Walk up slowly, quietly. Look closely at the brushstrokes, the use of the complements to make it all vibrate with color (the green in that red beard!). See the sadness in the blue eyes.

I wasn't the only one who shed a tear while standing so closely to this one and looking...looking. We must have been thinking of his life, his unhappiness, his illness, and thinking about his immense talent and the wonderous beauty inside that had to come out of this gaunt, ugly, strange man who never felt he had accomplished anything or succeeded in art or life.

So long ago and yet his story and his art still move us. What would he think if he could know how couples would stand in front of this one, their hands slowly entwining, not speaking, hardly breathing. Almost a reverential feeling would come over you as you viewed this one. And your eyes would cloud with tears...perhaps art is meant to touch us in just this way.

And so we leave you, Vincent, and return to the real world knowing you are right where you belong, among the greatest artists of the time...

I hope you've enjoyed the visit and the paintings shared. If you get a chance to visit the Art Institute of Chicago, please do so. You will not regret it, no matter how far you have to walk!

Now let's all return to our lives and our art/work...and try to create something of beauty that may move someone sometime in the future. Wouldn't that be something?

ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO TRIP

The Shedd Aquarium was wonderful. But the Art Institute was a dream! Here, in Cincinnati, we can count on seeing one Van Gogh, one Monet, one Cezanne, one....you get the idea. But in Chicago you see 7 or 8 of the same artist all in the same room and you just stand and stare and realize what history you are looking at, remember things about their lives, etc.

Here are some of my favorites in the Galleries of American Art (Impressionists to come later):

We entered a side room and saw a crowd of people sitting and standing around this painting, Grant Wood's American Gothic. It is not a large painting - maybe 11 x 15 or so, not counting the frame. (I had to stand to the side to get a photo without glare). But it's definitely impressive and humorous and caught the public's eyes.

We found the same thing - a small crowd standing and looking - around Edward Hopper's Nighthawks (a large painting - didn't get a photo but you know the won of the people at the bar counter late at night).

Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath was stunning. Such clean, beautiful, touchable skin on that child!

John Singer Sargent's paintings drew me to them for his glorious use of the light! I took photos of The Fountain, Villa Torlonia and Portrait of (?) Deering.

The light shines, glows, gistens and glimmers in his paintings. There was one painting I stood in front of for a long time - I didn't take a photo, though. It was so dark...dark hints of people in the far background, all women working in glass and the glass was white - pure stripes of the brush created panes of white glass laid aside while in their hands were smaller stripes of white. It pulled you around and through and the white standing out against all those darks really was something to see.

And then there were the Georgia O'Keeffes!!!

Through her friendship with then Director of the Art Institute, Daniel Catton Rich, Ms. O'Keeffe gave a major portion of Alfred Stieglitz' collection to the Institute when Stieglitz died. She also added to the collection with her own holdings. They can be found in Galleries 271 and 265 and on the wall, a huge painting of sky and clouds (which took her weeks of full days to paint) can be found. Overwhelming to think of the size!

But most of the paintings were small - about 11 x 15 or smaller, not counting the frame. There was an intimate feeling to them as you stood looking at many of them.

Enough for now - later, the Impressionists!

WE'VE BEEN VISITING

We took a 6-hour drive up to the Chicago suburbs to visit relatives and stay for a while. While there, we drove into Chicago to visit the Shedd Aquarium and see the beluga whales. I don't know why but I really love those things and can stand and watch them for a long time without wanting to do much else. The photos aren't great - too dark. The mother and calf swam around and up and through an opening that looked like a window and then down and around and up again and again and again. The calf, Nunavik, is not a year old, and stayed right beside or touching Mom all the time.

If you get a chance to visit, do it! There are plenty of critters to see, from the smallest frogs and seahorses to the bigger otter, belugas (they have 4) and dolphins.

Some photos, although they aren't very good...

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the Rockhopper Penguins...especially when I saw the Rockhopper artwork on the wall, created by them using their...um...natural materials.

Doesn't that look like a "drawing" of a Rockhopper? ha ha

On the way to Chicago, just north of Lafayette, Indiana, there is a windmill farm. It was surreal to see all these windmills in the farmland, hundreds of them for miles and they are farming right underneath them.

I'm not going to try to fill you in on everything yet - you'll have to wait for me to sort more photos. I'll give you a teaser though - we went to the Art Institute of Chicago, the 2nd largest art museum in the country, behind New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. (And let me give you a tip: If they tell you "Sure, you can walk from the Aquarium to the Art Institute," they are telling the truth, but it's about a 40 minute walk to get there and if you don't have on walking shoes, take a bus, a trolley or a cab instead. My feet are going to take a few days to get back to normal. (But I am so glad we did it because the paintings are outstanding, awe-inspiring, and just plain too great to miss if you're in Chicago.)

THE CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL AND SATISFYING

I'm slowly building up darks. Need more on the inner part of the railing facing the chairs. Need more on the last two chairs. I know what my modus operandi is = leave nice whites with masking fluid and then make them all vanish once you get the brush in your hand. Have to fight with myself to NOT do that this time. I've already gotten too yellow in the railing than I wanted. I'm unsure what makes me get into this mode of "more paint, that will make it right," instead of the real essence of painting - which is "less is always more" and "leave some areas for the viewer to fill in so they can participate."



I was reading Robert Genn's weekly newsletter about Wabi-Sabi and leaving things undone, untouched...more for the viewer to participate. I don't seem able to do that - I want to explain every little detail to you although I'm not a detailed painter. I think part of it comes from my feeling like I should be doing something - working on something every day, not letting it sit and letting it tell me what it needs to finish, if anything.

I love to see more impressionistic work from artists in every medium...and yet I seem unable to create work like that because when I leave something undone my mental critic says, "You didn't finish that!"

I am promising myself that I will not touch that deck - leaving the pale yellow wash and the shadow shapes as is. But that railing now bothers me and I'll have to do something to tone down that yellow - but that means putting more color on because I can't seem to remove what's there. What to do, what to do? Why do people think painting is so much fun?

Read the Robert Genn newsletters from this week and last - very interesting stuff and perhaps the problem is it's not an American/European style built into us so we fight to simplify, omit, leave the hand of the artist in?

I think I'm going to veg out for a few days - our weather is going to be scorching again until Saturday - too hot and humid and sticky and blah to do anything but sit and read and drink cool drinks on the verandah :)

DEFINITELY TWISTED

I haven't a clue where I'm going to take this - or where it will take me. It's fluid acrylics - full sheet watercolor hot press paper. Other than that, who knows? In my sketchbook it was just a twisted piece of paper napkin...now it's become something else entirely, perhaps more like a shell?

TRANSPARENT WATERCOLOR SOCIETY SHOW

The TWS show is up online. Take a look at the winners here. You can browse all the entrants, too.

http://www.watercolors.org/exhibitions/2010/

Some familiar names. I think there are painters who enter every show, state-wide and national. That's how you become a well-known name. I like this painting by John Salminen much better than the one in the AWS show. There is some beautiful light in it.

Again, Ted Nuttall and Susan Montague both got in with portraits and this time they both won awards. I see a difference in styles in these two this time because TN is going for more daubs of color now in his portraits...ever changing and revising his style. There is a good YouTube vid of him painting a portrait, if you're interested. I wondered how he did those daubs of color - so easy once you know how!

Hope you have some time to create today. We're supposed to get bad storms coming through.

Deb Ward reminded me that I WAS in a major show just recently - the Cincinnati Art Club Viewpoint show is having their 42nd show this year with paintings from all over the US entered and juried in (nice monetary prizes, too). Oils outweigh the watercolors but we're going to come into our own soon. Last year's show was outstanding - the watercolors were strong and very well done and my painting got juried in. I'm already thinking about what I'll enter in this year's show - entry deadline is August 31st for the 2010 Cincinnati Art Club 42nd Viewpoint show (juror = Nita Leland). If you think you might be interested, check it out online or contact Deb Ward (coordinator for the show).

And here is the deck chairs with the masking fluid off. Now time to darken some areas of the chairs, paint the railing and call it done - slowly but surely. I haven't been painting as much as I normally do - seem to be low in energy. I'm blaming the heat and humidity. Or maybe I'm just not eating enough chocolate!

BACK TO MY PAINTING

I went back in with some more shadow colors and values and worked on flattening the spray a bit more as it's closest to the deck. It still has the masking fluid on but I think I'll remove it before I do more. It's slowly coming along. I've had other things keep me away from it for a while.


I need to get back to the Twisted painting, too, and see where I can take it.

Deb and Sharon were both telling me about upcoming shows I should enter. After seeing the work at the AWS show, I sometimes doubt I'll ever get where I want to go - but I'm still working at it! That's all I can do - and I hope I'm getting better and more accomplished as I keep working. And someday, who knows, a painting of mine may be in a major show and you'll see it and say, "What was the judge thinking by letting that one in?" ha ha

GETTING YOUR NAME OUT THERE

I have been searching the net for the artists in the AWS travelling show whose work was so interesting and appealing to me. To me, they were new names. Imagine my surprise when I find that many of them have been painting and showing in major shows for years!! Where have I been and why don't I remember their names and work?

A painting that was one of my favorite's (I had no decent photo due to the reflected lights) can be found at the artist's site here:

http://www.kathleenconover.com/originalartwork.html

Scroll down to Sentry II (she changed the name of the piece and it was a bit darker than it's showing here but you still get the sense of the painting. Now I don't love it just because it has a big black crow in it...but because of the composition and the rich colors - not all greys and blacks.

And Mr. Preecha Promprabtuk has been showing his work and winning awards in the Transparent Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society (he is shown at the NWS on Donna Zagotta's blog), and the American Watercolor Society as well as the Oregon Watercolor Society. And I'd probably seen his work - perhaps online or in a magazine - but his name didn't stick until I saw the piece he had in the travelling show. So...another reason to get out there and see art for yourself: you may discover someone who knocks your socks off that you've never really let into your world before.

If you want to see more of another favorite, Pat Holscher, just go here:(http://www.holscherstudio.com/galleryindex2.htm
and view her wonderful whimsical animals painted with drizzles and splashes and color color color!! I think she may become a new favorite :) She gets that drizzly look by painting watercolor on gessoed paper and using a lot of the good old spray bottle (one of my favorite tools).

So, these names may have been fairly new to me, but they've been paying their dues and have been out there for years. So I owe them all an apology for treating them as "newcomers" to the scene just because I didn't know them. I know them now!!

And here is something for you to ponder. This painting, titled Far and Away, received the Bronze Medal/$2500 prize in the AWS show.

I won't tell the artist's name...you'll have to search it out yourself at the AWS site. However, the response of the three of us visiting the show was the same: "That's a painting by T-- N------." (We were all wrong.)

Who do you think painted this painting...and what made you think that?

(T-- N------ had a painting in the show and didn't win an award for the painting - which was a very beautiful and light-filled painting of a nude woman.)

I think we've all been in workshops where an instructor tells the class, "I can teach you my technique but you won't be able to paint exactly like me." I think this one proved that saying wrong.

What do you think? Do you get your name out there by consistently developing your style and then teaching it to others through workshops and DVDs and magazine articles? Or do you get your name out there by winning a top award in a major show?

I have no clue how the paintings are chosen, but apparently a committee of 6 jurors chooses who gets in the show - and every one of those on that committee got in the show. (Is that wrong or okay?) A separate committee of 3 jurors chooses who gets the awards. Each one of them also got in the show - two in the travelling show - but they didn't give themselves awards. I think that is correct, according to the information I could glean.

So, which shows have you entered? Have you tried to get into your state show - or a national show? Have you succeeded? Are you entering online shows more so you don't have the expense of shipping your work if you get in? I think I make most of my art contacts and learn about artists and what they are doing through the online community. Following an artist's work online is easy for me to do and then when I see their name somewhere else (an art magazine article or a show), I recognize them and know their work.

THE AWS AT MAC

As you know, Deb, Sharon and I took a short road trip sans Georgia (Sharon's snooty GPS), and spent some time viewing the American Watercolor Society travelling show held at the Middletown (OH) Art Center. A beautiful show and we all agreed it was a strong showing of work.

There were the "usual suspects": those artists who are top of their class and always in the top shows like John Salminen (Gold Medal/$4000), Dean Mitchell (Silver Medal/$3000), Carla O'Connor ($2000 award), etc. And then there were the delightfully new and fresh names - which turned out to be some of my favorites.


Sharon and I both chose this one as our overall favorite and I'll have to search this artist out to find out more about him. The work read well close up and far away and pulled you back - that blue, that orange, that light!! The energy in the piece! Beautiful work.

(This was a full sheet watercolor by Preecha Promprabtuk, called Speaker #3. He received a $500 award - I would have given him more!)


We all really liked the full sheet piece by Judy Morris titled Curtain Call, and it was Deb's favorite. There was such interesting texture and design work in the piece and her use of reds - very muted except for the sky which looked like a pure, warm red - was beautifully handled. (I would have given her more than the $500 award she received.)


Another piece that I liked was this fanciful full sheet by Pat Holscher called Party Animals. Such fun colors and you know I love those drizzles!














And a piece I returned to again and again...by Guan Wiexing called From the Hometown of Runtu, was a beautifully evocative portrait. If I could paint a portrait with this much emotion and delicacy, I would be very happy, indeed! And I would have given this a pretty substantial award. But then, I wasn't a judge and we don't all agree...but still...you tell me...

The photos don't really do the paintings justice, as there were reflections here and there. And you just can't "see" a painting unless you are standing in front of it and see the mastery of the strokes, the wash, the blending and modeling the shapes. This was an intimate portrait, also, in the size, which was less than a full sheet painting like most of the others.

This truly was a beautiful showing of watercolors. My only nit-pick was that Kathleen Maling (one of my favorite artists - her gators rock!!!) wasn't in the travelling show. I would have loved to see her Watergator up close and personal and I'm glad it got a $1750 award. I'm glad I purchased a catalog to see some of the ones who were not in the travelling show but still won awards.

















Some more favorites of mine:
Carla O'Connor's Of Kimonos and Kabuki...

Kathleen Conover's Changing of the Guard... (wish I had gotten a better photo of this but the darks really reflected the lights in the room and changed the painting too much, adding too much stuff to it. But you might be able to see it online at the AWS site.

If you get a chance to visit the travelling show, do it!! You won't be disappointed. Although many watercolorists are loving the color grey and painting dark and muted things (which could really be a bit of a downer if that was all there was), there is a good balance of those artist who fill their paintings with glowing color and light to raise your spirits and make you remember why you love this medium.

ROAD TRIP!

Deb Ward, Sharon Roeder and I are going up to Middletown, OH to see the American Watercolor Society travelling show today :) What fun!!! Don't know if I will be allowed to photograph anything, but if I am allowed, I'll return with some photos to share (and maybe some inspiration for us all).

BLOGGER IN A STRANGE MOOD

I accepted 2 comments and they came through...except Blogger is refusing to count them. So I commented on the two comments...and it went through...but Blogger is refusing to count that, too. What's with Blogger? Is it just in a bad mood today??

Tomorrow is the meeting of the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society and Marlene Steele (a local artist and teacher) is giving the talk and demo on figure painting in watercolors. She is awesome so I'm looking forward to her demo!

THE WAY I FELT + MORE ON THE DECK CHAIRS

I was in a bad mood yesterday morning: irritable, antsy, out of sorts, whatever. So painted it, using a sketch I'd done a while back. (I've been going through my small sketch book and pulling things out to paint big.)





I threw that paint and sprayed and just went nuts (after drawing it with a Derwent Sketch-n-Wash pencil that bleeds the color out). The bottom of the sheet (full sheet 22 x 30) bowed as it dried but that can be flattened out.

I also took more time on the deck chairs painting. Need to flatten the water behind the main wave so it looks right and I'm wondering if the water spray looks right or if it reads as vertical when it should be more horizontal.

HEY, IT'S ME!!! FEATURED ARTIST AT TAD

Kim Barker just sent me a comment saying I'm the featured artist for the week over at her blog that showcases artists. It's called TopArtistsDirectory (TAD). Jump on over and visit to see one of my flamingo paintings. It may get some more viewers for me in the future. One never knows.

Each week, Kim chooses an artist to be the featured "star" and I'm honored to be this week's lucky one. Thanks, Kim!!

You can view Kim's work at http://www.kimmbarker.com/

FOUR AND TWENTY - FINISHED

After walking by and looking at this, off and on, for a few days, I think I have it where I want it to be. Used a bit of white fluid acrylic mixed with some raw sienna, a bit of watercolor (which I put on the blocks first to see how I'd like it because my stupid Photoshop Elements program is not working right), and finally...a splatter here and there of white gesso to push some things back and make it look a bit aged.

I hope you like it.

I'm already dying to put another sheet on the wall and start throwing paint!

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US - and hope all Canadians had a great July 1st holiday.

DRAWING DONE, MISKIT ON, PAINT APPLIED

I don't usually spend so much time drawing but I wanted this to be right so had to spend the time. Then I had to miskit areas to save white so I could go looser around them. Time consuming. I hope I can take a breath, slow down, see the areas I need to do and how to do them...and make this a success.

I put a very pale wash of yellow (cooler to the left of the deck and up, and warmer yellow to the right and down). Then I began working on carving out the water shapes.

I'll put some darker blues in the water to show the roll of the waves and tone down how pretty the color is now - it needs to be pushed back a bit, I think.

Then I'll add masking fluid over the yellow highlights on the deck floor before starting on the chairs. I'm still debating about what colors to paint the chairs but want the deck and railings to be pale (unlike the photo which shows them a medium dark wood grain).

I feel like I've made a good start, so now I'll go check to see whose winning the Nadal-Murray Wimbledon match.

LIMPING INTO JULY

Well, I have been working here and there, an hour or two at a time, on the drawing aspect of the newest full sheet painting to come. Couldn't draw with my eyes dilated (from a quick visit to the optomotrist when I began having flashing lights across my right eye = not a detached retina, thank goodness), and couldn't draw with a migraine or the aftereffects of the migraine...so whiny!!! Could someone please give me some cheese to go with this whine??

I've also been watching Wimbledon. Now that Federer's out, I find it hard to get as interested about any of the remaining men's or women's players. (I suppose it will be a real coup if Murray wins and the stadium will erupt in slightly reserved pandemonium. Perhaps the Queen should visit more often? And I do enjoy seeing Murray's mates in their tartan kilts ;)

(All photos taken from Wikipedia.)

FOUR AND TWENTY - SIMMER TIME

Here's where it's at so far. I'm going to let this one simmer...I feel like it needs more of something and I'm tempted to do something right now to it...but I won't. I'll wait and let it tell me what it needs next time I look at it.







Full sheet
Arches 140# watercolor paper
(22" x 30")
using Da Vinci and Golden
fluid acrylics.


What do you think? Are the white (pure white paper) boxes too pure, too bossy?






I'm also going to use the critique form the lovely Myrna Wacknov forwarded to me to see if it meets the criteria for a good composition. (Thanks, Myrna!)

I've already begun another but it's going to take a lot of drawing/tracing before it's ready to paint and I have to be patient or I'll ruin the foundation of the thing. A projector is looking really good right now!

I hope you believe that patience is a virtue (I'm not too sure about that one!), and will wait a few days for the new one to come up.

DOES THE TITLE MAKE SENSE NOW?

Four and Twenty =
Four Blackbirds (I wasn't going to paint 20 of the things!!) +
Twenty Blocks of Color

Why the figure? I guess maybe she's me - looking out from the other side of the painting!

I think it will make more sense when you see the next stage when I tweak some beaks and blocks (there aren't 20 showing yet but there will be), now that the miskit is off.

BACK TO FOUR AND TWENTY

I went back to the painting. Everything was bone dry. I realized that I'd divided the painting in half with cool colors on one side and warm colors on the other so had to integrate that with the boxes more. Anyway, here's where I'm at right now...waiting for the paper to dry again so I can remove the miskit (but a few more boxes to do before that happens).

One good thing about painting with this taped to the wall in the basement/garage is that I'm always walking around there and can look over and see things I might not see if I was painting on it - because I forget to step back and look as much as I stand close and paint!

I have another painting I'll start this coming week - the deck chairs have been tweaked and revised and I took the photo on a cd to have it printed out poster size so I can just trace it onto my tracing paper and then get it onto my watercolor paper and then paint it - it's going to take a while and I want to be careful with the lines so I'll do that while waiting for Four and Twenty to dry in between paintings.

A tip Nick Simmons shared in his workshop: When working with fluid acrylics and wanting to get that fresh paint look back, just spray the whole sheet of paper (when the acrylics are dry) and look at it again - it rejuvenates the look of it and you get that look of just putting down the paint.