"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.

"High Sierra Meadow"

"High Sierra Meadow" - Oil - 11" x 14" - SOLD

"In the clear, cool air in the Sierras, the rhythm of the trees and well-traveled path made this scene an inviting subject." --- SFG

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Work in progress -- Feel free to send your questions and comments.

Here's a simple landscape using the rules of perspective and value. I'll make it interesting by creating shapes that please the eye. I'm painting in my studio from a photo I took several years ago.

To begin the drawing, I started with the horizon line high on the canvas to divide the picture plane into unequal spaces. Quickly, I shaped the main trees, the mountain contours, and the curves of the path.



Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting described the four main planes in landscapes, each a different value. Normally, they are, from lightest to darkest, the sky, the ground, the mountains or hills, and the trees. For this work, I'll generally stick to these rules, but I often vary them to create drama or emphasis. At least, if you know the rule, you have a yardstick by which to check your work. See my reading list for the book.

Since the trees are usually the darkest plane because the light hitting them from above is the most indirect, I made sure they were darkest and varied in shape and size. The distant tree masses against the peaks are cooled and lightened, because the light from them passes through more air and the color is effected by that aireal perspective.



Here, I've described the mountains, sky, snow, and path. The snow and the pathway are exceptions to the values rules, as they often are. Buildings can be, too. Once the canvas is covered, the middle stage of the painting is a matter of correcting color and value. This should get the most attention.



In the finished painting, I lightened the mountains a bit but didn't jump from the proper value relationship. Where the air is more moisture and particle laden, the mountains would be lighter, but the clear air at the altitude of this scene tends to reduce, but not eliminate, the effect. Last, I added the calligraphy that describes the brush and the path-side banks.

"Sacramento River Shine"

"Sacramento River Shine" - Oil - 24" x 30" - $1800


"The Sacramento River, running through Redding, CA, defines this 'river city.' Looking west, the afternoon light has a special drama. I'm glad that I chose a large foremat for this spectacular scene." --- SFG

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Work in progress --- Please send your questions and comments!

As I started drawing with my usual directional lines, I set the horizon high on the canvas to describe the spread of the river plane before me. At the bottom right, the shapes of the shrubs lead the eye to back up to the bridge and the light beyond it. The zigzag- lines on the left are to signify the reflected light off the water that is the most eye-catching element of the painting. This shape must be in perspective, too, and will lead the eye from the top again, completing a cycle through the work.




The first darks show how effective the directional planning is. Note the gap on the left side of the middle line of dark. Without it, the viewer's eye would find it hard to pass into the background.

I wish I had taken this photograph just before I put in the highest plane of the trees in the distance. At first, all the planes were the same value and it was very flat. There was no feeling of aerial perspective at all. As soon as I cooled the tops of the trees and laid in the far bank of the river, it began to fall into place. Keep those edges in the background soft!




There's no harm in putting in some of the lights at this stage to help you decide what your value range will be. Here I put in the sky to help me judge the other lights in the painting. It will guide me when I determine the value of the water, the value of the light on the water, and the value of the gravel bars in the both foreground and middle ground.




As I continue to lay in areas and adjust the values, I keep checking to see that each dark is on the proper plane in respect to the others. Nothing should jump too far forward from its location in perspective, nor should it lay back too much.




I had anticipated having a problem and was watching for it. The gravel bar in the foreground was too light. I darkened the middle ground gravel bar, so it reads correctly and won't be mistaken for water.

After I took this photo, I finally switched to a smaller brush right after the entire canvas was covered. I had used a 12, and now I'm going to use an 8.




The artist must find a balance between too frequent repetition that's boring and repetition to create a rhythm through the scene. I must make choices as I return to each area. One choice might be to simplify the area. Or one could be to put more interest in another area, thereby subordinating the first. Said differently, you can change the area that doesn't fit or you can change another area so the original one fits.

As I work through an area of color, I try to make each area interesting while maintaining the overall value of the area. When creating interest, you follow the same principle you follow as you design your painting. Consider direction, value, shapes, variety, and so on.




Here I finally laid in the lightest values that were the reflections on the water. As you can tell by this commentary, I concentrated on controlling the values throughout the painting so that this lightest value can still have some color in it. It paid off.



Second painting session:




When I leave an unfinished painting, I have several choices. I can return soon (I make sure the studio stays very cool) and scrape any undesirable areas and then rework wet into almost-as-wet. Alternately, I can let the painting dry completely. When I return, I sand off any hard ridges or artful globs of paint that would interfere with applications of the next layer of paint.

You'll see here that I've scraped some of the light areas that I was not happy with. By the time I returned to the work, the paint was a little "chewy" and would not have worked as wet-into-wet. Since I was satisfied with most other areas, I scraped and knocked off the tops of these strokes so they would not interfere with new applications.


Remember, the quickest way to learn is from someone else's mistakes! You don't have enough time in your lifetime to make them all yourself.




As I finished this painting, I concentrated on keeping the edges soft, even the edges of the reflected light. I added interest in the brush of the foreground so that the foreground and background would be balanced. Also, I darkened the right side of the bank of the shoal in the middle ground. Just the last few tweaks....

"Saturday In the Studio"

"Saturday In the Studio" - Oil - 30" x 30" - $2250

EXHIBITION PAINTING

"On a gloomy Saturday, my great friend Geri Acosta and I painted this bouquet. She had contributed the stunning red and yellow roses and the pink roses and Shasta daisies are from my garden. I thought both paintings were successful." -- SFG

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"Quiet Day"

"Quiet Day" - Oil - 18" x 24" - NFS (yet)

"I found this streamside setting
peaceful with the quiet gurgling of the
water, twittering birds, and warm sun.
The goal of the painting was to allow
the viewer to experience this, too." ---
SFG

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Work in progress --- Your questions and comments are welcome.

This is my photo-sketch upon which I
based the upcoming painting. I like its
color and interest, but want to use a
horizontal format instead of vertical.
That will take some recomposing so I’ll
have to be on my toes, especially during
the drawing stage.

Working on an 18” x 24” canvas, I have
placed the foreground trees, paying
attention to variety, shapes, and
spacing. I make sure neither grouping
lands in the middle of the canvas by
creating a 1/3 to 2/3 division of space,
basically using the principle of the
golden mean or divine proportion. I
don’t want to make this too obvious,
though.

(Unfortunately, I didn't take another
photo at the end of the drawing phase,
but if you study the next shot, you'll
find what I've referred to.)

Next, I place the point at which the
water flows into distance and nestles
under the darkest area of the background
forest. Again, I’ve placed it 2/3 of the
way from the bottom of the canvas. This
creates what will be a square within a
rectangle, an interesting compositional
situation.

You’ll notice there are a lot of
rub-outs and changes during the drawing
stage. I was constructing the painting,
considering not only the placement and
direction of the lines, but shapes like
the overall shape of the water. I opted
to open the space between the trees by
leaving out the dark boulder so the
viewer’s eye can enter at the bottom and
be led back up to the more interesting
parts of the subject, not trapped in the
right corner. Rather than extending the
middle-ground bank all the way to the
left-hand edge of the canvas like the
photo, I chose to bring it back toward
the middle of the painting. It will draw
the eye back in to discover another
element or two. I added a shape, which
is going to be brush to the left of the
left-hand tree, which is more
interesting than a line that takes you
out of the picture so quickly. (Did I
just say “picture”?)

If I’ve solved all of my
compositional problems at this stage, I
can concentrate on color, shape, and
edges for the rest of the process.



I begin to add more darks. That darkest
dark is in the background and I have to
be careful that it is not so dark and
heavy that it becomes an advancing dark
instead of a receding dark. Also, I’ve
laid in the darks of the water. The
water as a whole will be darker than the
sunlit foliage and foreground. I will be
using the shadows of the trees in the
foreground to set a line of movement,
dividing the foreground and keeping it
interesting.



Notice that I am painting beyond the
edges into the adjacent color areas, so
that they will overlap and lie together.
With each meeting, I evaluate the edges,
softening or reinforcing them. I don’t
want obvious gaps of unpainted canvas,
though I often leave exposed small
red-toned areas to become unifying
accents. (Sometime I’ll tell you the
story of why I do that.)

The water in this scene in interesting
because part of it is in shadow, part of
it reflects the sky, and in other parts
you can see the colors beneath the
surface. In addition to that, it
reflects the bright foliage in the
middle ground. That will be a challenge.

I’ve put in the darks of the trees, as
well as the cast shadows of the ground
and you can see how that serves as a
lead-in from the bottom to the water.

Things are going pretty well here. I have my big
basic shapes in, my values in, and have recorded the comparison of
greens. And so from now on, I will be dealing mostly with fine-tuning
the colors, perhaps using less green and more orange or pink, and
getting more color variation going in each area.

After the previous photo, I scraped my palette.
Since I will be revising colors, I want to be required to remix them.
I’m more likely to make the jump to a little different color, rather
than just painting over an area in the same color. By this means,
desirable color vibrations are created, but I must hold the values
together while I’m at it.

The shot of the palette are to show how many greens
I used. Most are mixed using blues, yellows, magentas, cadmium red,
yellow ochre, and so on. None are straight from the tube. I find those
too raw.

Here are further color corrections in the
background trees. You'll notice that I’ve changed the shape of the two
trees on the left, especially the right-hand one. I will add more to
this blog entry when I return to work on the painting.

Second Painting Session:

When I return to a painting after a break or even
several days, it takes a while to retune your palette to the colors in a
painting, so I’ll go a bit slowly and conscientiously for a bit. You can
really wreck things fast if you do not pay a lot of attention to the color
palette you used originally.

Here, I’ve added a lot of purple and red to the trunks of
the trees. It adds a lot of color vibrancy because there’s so much green in the
painting. If I see a change like that, I’ll run with it for a while and see
whether it works. If not, I can always change it back. I pull some branches of
the trees down over the water so the elements in the painting won’t be so
isolated.

Pay attention to the rhythm of your painting. By that I
mean the way color moves through the painting, the patterns, the direction of
the brush strokes, and so on. These let you paint more efficiently, more
confidently. An example is the way the oranges are spotted around at this stage.
You’ll see more examples later.

I’m finding that the sharp contrasts of the leaves, the
addition of bright yellows to the background and the foreground leaves, are
contributing a lot of life to the painting, so I’m going to leave them and work
with that. The painting may go off in a more lively different direction, but I
like it and I’m going for it. Again, I’m responding to what I see is working,
rather than trying to be in total control. Doing so may be a factor of
personality or a reaction to the weather that day or whatever, but it is a
wonderful way of expressing mood in a work.

As always, I keep the edges of the lights near the sides of
the painting softer than those close to the focal point. By simplifying the form
and color of the near brush, the color of the sandy flat foreground changes and
is working better. Again, it’s another illustration of changing something by
changing what’s next to it.

Rather than adding small brush strokes to the middle
ground, I decided to use the dark leaves of the trees on the left to balance the
accents on the right. I can do that because I painted the middle ground very
simply to begin with.

You’ll see I’m using calligraphy-like strokes. These are
some great accents and should be artfully done. I’ve drawn them best in the
lower right. Sergei Bongart was a master at this and often his whole painting
was a series of strokes that held the shapes and went throughout the painting
and gave it so much energy and design.

Sometimes you hear a little voice in your head that says,
“Stop,” and it’s very good to listen to it because it is usually right.

As I looked at the painting later, I realized that I had
used not just values to create the distance in the painting, but unconsciously used temperature. I put warms in the front and cooled them slightly as I went back
two or three layers. The lighted foliage in the middle ground is much cooler
than anything in the foreground. Doing that also helped move the eye through the
painting successfully.