"Arroyo Hondo Morning"

"Arroyo Hondo Morning" - Oil - 30" x 36" - $3800

"Near Taos, Arroyo Hondo has all the best of the area when you visit on a spring day... those layers of colored rock poured from God's bucket, shimmering cerulean skies, and the swollen river that attracts sportsmen, drawn, perhaps unconsciously, to the beauty surrounding them." --- SFG

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Work in progress...

You'll see in this series of photos of the drawing stage that I am being more careful than usual with the drawing. Since this is a commission of a specific location, I am going for more accuracy in order to present the site as it is. I started with placement of the bridge, paying attention to these horizontals and how they divide the canvas.

I'm doing a lot of measuring, checking horizonals and verticals to see what's above or below what, to see whether a point is halfway up, a third of the way up, and so on. As I worked, I realized that one of the trees was landing smack dab in the middle of the canvas. You can see faintly, where I placed it originally, and then moved it to the left.

As I drew in the complicated shapes, I worked more as I would in a charcoal drawing and shaded each smaller area to make myself more aware of its value (degree of light or dark) in the composition. When I start painting, I must preserve the big mass of the bluff in shade behind the trees and the bridge, and also describe the intricate pattern of the shapes within that shadowed area. Careful control of value and temperature will accomplish that.

Because this is a larger canvas, I must be more deliberate, not as impulsive and wild as usual, because it's easier to lose the overall placement that I've worked so hard to verify. Since the shapes are large, I can still vent my energy within them.

I started with the darkest area in the shadowed bluff and related all the other colors and values to it. I want the shadow to read as a whole, but with color variation within it that delights.

Also, I connected the other shadow areas like the shadow side of the large tree on the lefthand edge and the cast shadow that leads down to the water.

Similarly, I must make the lighted areas of the scene connect and relate in value to each other.

TO BE CONTINUED...

"Arroyo Hondo Morning" (cont'd)

Lastly, for this stage of the painting, I put in the lightest areas, such as the newly leafed springtime trees, the horizonal slope at the top of the bluff with its distant trees, the light-reflecting water, and the sky. Once these are correctly related -- I've spent the most time on this aspect of the painting -- all I have to do is correct anything that's not quite right.

As you can see, my palette is a mess. The only color I premixed was the first shadow color of the bluff. (It's still on the palette knife.) From that all-important starting point, I mixed each of the shadow colors, usually with some of the original color in it. You can also see the dark greens and blues of the shadow areas of the lefthand tree. When I was ready to do the lighted areas, by mixing next to a previous color, I could better judge the temperature and value of the new color. A good example are the yellow-greens on the upper right edge of the mixing pile.

For some of the lightest tones, I plopped some white in the middle of a pile of the darks in order to mix near the light tones just to the left. Then I adjusted the white with the yellows I added in the middle of the pile. Most importantly, I had enough paint there that I could mix and load the brush with plenty of color. Remember, load that brush!

By now, I'm elaborating on the shoreline, trees, and the pattern of cracks and highlights on the bluff.

And I'm correcting and adding detail to the bridge and detail to both the light and shadow areas of the bluff.

I kept the painting around the studio and made some changes. I added a dark area to the water, lightened the shadow side of the foreground rocks and gave more depth to the yellow trees. I'm pleased with the end result, but the photo was in warmer light. Will correct ASAP.

"Returning with the Long Shadows"

"Returning with the Long Shadows" - Oil - 11" x 14" - SOLD

"This dramatic sky was my first objective, but I wanted to add the drama of the long shadow in the foreground. I added figures to make it more dominant and am pleased with the result." --- SFG

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"Florida Palm Parade"

"Florida Palm Parade" - Oil - 11" x 14" - $400

"There is so much rich color in palm fronds that it is a delight to paint them when I visit my daughter in Gainesville, Florida. These are located at her business in Archer." --- SFG

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"Sky's Color Dance"

"Sky's Color Dance" - Oil - 6" x 8" - $150

"In this series of cloud paintings, this is my favorite. It catches the drama, structure, and color of the subject and has an effective composition. I also enjoyed the texture of the paint itself." --- SFG

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"Fields Near Taos"

"Fields Near Taos" - Oil - 9" x 12" - $175

"One of the things I enjoy about painting on location is 'pushing color.' If an area has a hint of a color, I can call the attention of the viewer to it by making the area more clearly that color. Since artists like me see more color than the unpracticed eye, onlookers often say 'That color really is there." I think, 'That's my job.'" --- SFG

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"Forest Spirits"

"Forest Spirits" - Oil - 6" x 8" - SOLD

"Inspired by my new book about Nicholi Fechin, I selected a photo I took near Taos and used a spirited approach for this small work. The subject is quite abstract and I used color accents to move the eye through the work." --- SFG

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"Stoney Brook Inn" - Oil - 11" x 14" - Available through The Book Gallery.

"McCloud, California, near Mt. Shasta, is a charming lumber town that has seen rebirth recently. The Stoney Brook Inn sits at the north end of main street and is sheltered by surrounding conifers and broadleaf trees. It made a delightful subject." --- SFG

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Work in progress...

This painting is due for a show in 3 days. I must paint directly and surely to keep the sparkle. Then I'll shove it into the warmth of the attic space in my studio so it will be dry enough to deliver. (Remember, it's often 100 degrees here in the summer, so I cannot paint on location for this one. I have a strong sense of self-preservation!)

My drawing lays out the general shapes of the building and I've paid attention to the design of the trees in the background, which are too monotonous as they are. I've added the snowy slope of Mt. Shasta, which actually lies more to the left, just out of the picture frame, since it is a major part of the environment.

I've laid in the darkest darks. Only the accents will be darker. I pay attention to the design of each tree, making sure there are a variety of shapes and the distribution plays like musical notes...irregular beats and spaces. Also part of the dark are the shadowed porches, though they won't be as dark as the trees in the end.

Since the front of the inn is in shadow, these tones are still part of the darks of the painting. Also, I've established the value of the cast shadow at the lower right as one of the darks.

When I teach, I always emphasize separation of light and shadow. If you establish a roadmap of the darks from the start, it is much easier to see where they fall. Remember, nothing in light can be as dark as the lightest area in shadow AND nothing in shadow can be as light as the darkest area in light.

For this step, I've painted all the areas in light. Can you see that all of them are lighter than the lightest dark? If not, squint!

Oops. As I've begun to add detail to the front of the building, I realize that my drawing is off on the peak of the higher roof. Also, I don't like the tree branch just right of it, too. Correcting both take just a moment and I mustn't fuss over them. I also feel the need for a softer value change in the lower left corner.

In the final version, those problems have been solved and I've added sufficient detail to the fence, brick entry posts, steps, balustrades, and other trim. The raking light that falls on the building front and the sunlit, dappled light on the roof are included.

"McCloud Essentials"

"McCloud Essentials" - Oil - 8" x 10" - $225

"Preparing for my featured artist show in a gallery in McCloud, California, has been a delight. There are innumerable subjects for plein air painting in the area. Here I found what seem to be the most common elements is the town's landscape, woodpiles and pickups!" --- SFG

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"Teammates"

"Teammates" - Oil - 11" x 14" - SOLD

"I like this sketchy approach, especially when I want to capture movement. The flickering light and loose interplay of surfaces records changing moments in time, rather than a frozen image." --- SFG

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"Cash"

"Cash" - Oil - 14" x 11" - $195

"Using his stage name, this terrific Western art model was available in Jackson Hole, WY. He acts in one of the local theatre groups and, from the wit and personality he showed as he modeled, must have stolen the show. For this more serious look, he assumed another role." --- SFG

If you've been watching this blog, the lapse in postings for the last two weeks were the result of a continuing education sesson. I enjoyed Carolyn Anderson's workshop very much. She always challenges me. Then, we became refugees from the wildfires and smoke near our home in northern California. Just another little adventure, thank goodness.

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"Bridge at Arroyo Hondo"

"Bridge at Arroyo Hondo" - Oil - 12" x 16" - SOLD

"Popular with outdoorsmen and artists, Arroyo Hondo is wonderfully picturesque. As the light changes during the day, there are countless subjects for the outdoor artist."." --- SFG

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Work in progress...

This painting of will be of Arroyo Hondo showing the water in the foreground and the bridge I crossed to get there. The background slope will be to to right and the orange bluff in shadow falls to the left.

My drawing is simple, defining the upright and horizontal planes and the angles of the primary edges.

As my second painting of the day, I'm taking a broader, faster approach to it. I won't be so deliberate, letting my subconscious work more than I did in the morning painting, "Morning Magic." Awareness is important as you learn to work. For me, there is a distinction between paintings that work best because I've been more deliberate and careful, as you saw in the painting described in the previous post, and the ones that I let my subconscious take over. They are usually the second or third alla prima painting of the day and often it is the best one. The subconsious is most capable of juggling all the elements necessary in painting. Call it muscle memory, if you could call the brain a muscle.

When you premix colors, as I did earlier today, it sometimes feels like using pastels, because you simply dip right into the correct color with a fresh or freshly wiped brush. All of the colors are better related to each other...especially if you use a bit of the previously mixed pile to start the next one.

By the time I get to this point, I'm to the stage of adjusting the painting, often by simplifying. I changed the direction of the brushstrokes following the contours of the background hill.

"Morning Magic"

"Morning Magic" - Oil - 8" x 10" - SOLD

"Color in shadow can be surprising and delightful. Here, at Arroyo Hondo near Taos, New Mexico, I enjoyed the shadow color as much as the light." --- SFG

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Work in progress...

This morning's painting will be a small 8" x 10" of cliffs at Arroyo Hondo, near Toas, New Mexico. My reference photo offers a lot of possibilities.

I have pre-mixed my colors to get some of those wonderfully vibrant warm and cool colors in the shadows of the rock. I will start with the #12 brush shown (even on an 8" x 10" ).

I've drawn in my composition and at this point I've become pretty excited about this subject. It will be a lot of fun distributing those colors I've mixed across the work, putting them in the right place. I fairly well defined the shapes in the bluff, even though I'll be painting beyond the shapes, generalizing and redrawing throughout the work.

I started with the darks in the shadows of the bluff and the foreground shapes. Every shape you put down is a process of drawing. I consider the drawing stage, since I'm going to cover up all those lines, to be training the artist's memory. Because I will be painting beyond the edges of the shapes, I will be concentrating on where those shapes join, how soft the edges are and how detail will fit in at the end.

I've cooled the slope on the left a good deal to make it recede, but kept it darker than the foreground surface. The warmth of the foreground color sets the areas further apart, as well. I'm still using that #12 brush.

Now, I've added the curlean sky typical of the area and started the mid-tones in light of the bluff that catch the grazing light of morning. I've still left enough value range to add those spectacular areas that glow. The blue notes in the foreground are to remind me that some of the sky's color is naturally present in the ground color. From the thickness of the paint, you can tell that I'm applying it directly and paying attention to paint quality.

Finally, I've switched to a #8 brush. I've returned to each area, especially the shadow area to work the warms and cools of its surface. I've adjusted the intensity of the slope on the left and added some green of the vegitation there. Softening the top edge, helps it roll back rather than looking cut and pasted to the sky. I added the cloud, carefully assessing its value in relation to the other lights in the painting.

When working on the lit areas of the bluff, I painted more temperature changes in the midtones. After I had these value relationships established, I used the darker darks in the shadows to define the contours of the fractured stone. Note that they are still warm in color because the light bounces around within those areas and the redder wave lengths survive. If I had used a cooler color, the temperature key would be off and the whole area deadened. For some of the finer lines, I picked up a #4 brush. By making choices of which darker areas and lines to draw, I'm creating rhythm, design and interest.

I'm nearly there. I've better described the foreground rocks and added interest to the ground plane.

Be the Tiger Woods of Painting!

Be the Tiger Woods of Painting !

Hearing the news accounts of last weekend’s action at the US Open golf tournament, I began to speculate on the remarkable abilities of golfer Tiger Woods. I related these thoughts to an article on memory that I read recently in Smithsonian magazine. In it, the authorities stated that your “how to” memory is stored in a different location in the brain from short- or long-term memory. All of my conclusions were purely my own and may not hold up to informed scrutiny, but I’m not one to immediately disqualify an opinion just because it’s made by a non-expert.

Woods’ familiar story relates how he began swinging a golf club as a very young child, just when I’m told that neural pathways are connecting. If something interferes with the properly timed connect-up of those pathways, like psychological trauma or illness, the opportunity is lost forever. The unfortunate individual may have to search out another way of accomplishing the skill or task for which he was meant to use that synapse or, perhaps, will never master it. Probably, he will be unaware of “something missing” other than a vague consciousness that X is more difficult for him than Y.

Conversely, it stands to reason, in my mind at least, that if the child, by luck or destiny, is motivated to practice a skill at precisely the time when his body is developing the miraculous, shining cobweb that links his body and his mind, extraordinary things can happen.

Applying these thoughts to the subject of art and making art, what would happen if a child were drawing – from direct observation, of course – when this miracle took place? Would he become a draftsman equal to Nicholi Fechin? If he were playing with color, would he equal Sergei Bongart? Are destinies such as these set that early in one’s life? If the moment is missed, is the opportunity lost forever?

Hopefully not. Accounts of stunning recoveries of brain-injured patients abound and credit is given to retraining the brain to use a detour. Though not always as easy or graceful as the original method, the magnificent human brain is able to accommodate in incredible ways. From motor skills to cognitive operations, patients who are determined enough and receive informed assistance will improve and some will reach performance levels with imperceptible signs of impairment.

How does this apply to being an artist? Unless your parents were extraordinarily perceptive and caught the first faint sign of Picasso-like qualities in their little darling, they did not strap a vine charcoal to your chubby little hand and let you loose on the nursery walls. Instead, you may have dreamed of that 64-color crayon box, but just couldn’t get it across to your parents that it was essential for developing the sensitivities necessary for your desired vocation. I suspect, and all I read confirms it, that Tiger Woods and his family were the exceptions, and that’s what has made him so exceptional.

But if we were like most, we were occupied with pulling girls pigtails or telling on our siblings rather than spending precious hours with pencil and paper, connecting those all-important synapses as required at the precise and singular moment. Most of us fall into the mildly brain-deficient category, and there is blessed comfort in the thought that we, like the patients I described, can make up for lost time by our own dedication and effort and with the direction from those more skilled.

Keep the faith!

"Simple Eloquence"

"Simple Eloquence" - Oil - 11" x 14" - SOLD

"Snow scenes are a joy to paint. The clean, crisp air and brilliant light always make a dramatic
statement...simple eloquence. " --- SFG

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Work in progress:

I drew in my subject in a darker color this time just to provide more contrast in the painting. Also, it might photograph better.

At this stage, I'm playing with shapes... the shapes of the trees, the lay of the land, and the
snowdrifts, and the color of the shadows. I know I will not have the usual
relationship of values in a landscape. With snow, it usually takes over. It will
reflect so much light that the sky will not be the lightest element, as it
usually is. Also, I'm feeling my way, trying to make that background recede and
keeping the foreground in its proper place.

Here I've covered the canvas and established the big relationships of color as big shapes.
I like the big field of snow as the middle ground since it's painted well and I
will build on that and use it to serve as the center of interest and lead to the
mountains in the back.


Well there it is. Keeping it simple really worked for this painting. The
variations in the color of the snow, a little calligraphy, and careful
changes in the values kept it all together. It fell in place nicely.

Simple eloquence.