Painting St Johns Church

On Saturday, a group of 9 artists went to paint plein air at St. Johns Church. St. Johns dates back from the mid-1800's and is a lovely little church, nicely preserved on 3 quarter acres of land. There is a walking grass labyrinth on the grounds as well as a wooded outdoor area set aside for church services when weather allows.

The weather was sunny and warm, with plenty of shade trees to stand under while painting. Everyone found their spot and set up easels.

My mistake was taking too large of a canvas along, so I didn't get very far in my work, but plan to finish it and will post when it's more complete. The church with all it's angles and windows proved very challenging. Most of us chose to stand on the shaded side of the church so showing the shaded side with the sun hitting just a few spots was an interesting exercise. The critique after (we leaned our work around a broad tree) was valuable, and we all came away pretty happy from the experience.

I struggled with my colors getting too muddy on the palette - not sure why that was an issue this time, I had a Whistler like painting in mind - a tonal painting, so maybe that's why I got mud instead! The day was probably too sunny for tonal anyway so I will have to rethink my approach. Thus far, my plein air experiences have been more focused on nature, so a building was much tougher. Very glad I tried this though and learned from watching other artist's approach.

Thoughts on Subject Matter

I am always thinking about painting. Currently my mind bounces from portrait work to landscapes.

Here is the beginning portrait of my younger son, but am also working on a large landscape of a Burr Oak which is in a much more completed state. I am itching to get back to it but can only work it on weekends as it is stored off site due to it's size.

Driving home from work every day or looking out the window, I study trees for their colors and shapes. I strain to see every color I can find and identify them as some would search for birds! The mental debate; do I want the tree to hold equal emphasis on the canvas with the landscape around it (ala Vulliard, whose large canvases recently inspired me at the Art Institute) or make the Burr Oak the absolute center of attention.

I am painting plein air on Saturday morning at St. John's Church and am looking forward to trying a tonalistic style.

Portraits Challenge 2009

Portraits are one of my chief 2009 artistic challenges. They are difficult, challenging, frustrating and inspiring. A great mental exercise! My preparation has included buying Rembrandt The Painter at Work by Ernst Van De Wetering and attending the Jan Lievens (a contemporary of Rembrandt) exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. (What a little gem of a museum! The architecture is awesome - like a beautiful pristine white ship on the gray/blue lake (see photo above) ~ and the cafe down below is a romantic treat.)

Rembrandt The Painter At Work has many beautiful close ups of details such as eyes, noses, lips and hands which I find useful to study. The Jan Lievens exhibition was inspiring. His skin tones, hands and various fabrics were so exciting to view up close. One technique I learned in the exhibit is that he would paint the flesh color and then paint facial hair on top and using the back of his paint brush, he would scrape away the top color paint to expose the flesh color underneath - a wonderful, useful technique. I forgot to use it on my first portrait though! Hopefully, I'll remember next time.

Above is my first portrait - it's a painting of my oldest son. Still tweaking it here and there, but it's essentially done. I am pleased with this first effort. Additional tips I learned;

• When painting lips use a "W" shape at the bottom of the bottom lip, and don't make a solid line for the lip, allow flesh color to show on the lip line in places.
• Use your brush strokes to shape each area (i.e. curve your lower lip with a "c" shape brush stroke).
• Nostrils should be painted in warm tones.
• Change brush sizes so your whole painting isn't done in one brush width.
• Put cool color in hair where it meets warm skin tones.
• View your painting in the mirror to check for errors.
• Measure, measure, measure!(How many times does the chin fit in the rest of the face, how many times does the eye fit across, etc)
• Put a dark background behind the light side of the face, and the reverse behind the dark side of the face (still not sure why this works!)
• Avoid white as much as possible as it makes your work chalky.
• Naples Yellow, Violet and Moss Green have proven to be invaluable in flesh tones.
  

I have already begun a portrait of my younger son and hoping all the lessons from the first will benefit the second.

Paintings Around The Pond

Today was a very proud one for me when a question that was posed one snowy winter day in 2007, was finally answered. That day, Forest Ranger Sue asked me if the Hoffman Estates Art League would like to paint some panels representing the Crab Tree Nature Center for the Turtle Habitat in the Interpretive Center. Bob and I were painting indoors that day and the idea immediately appealed to us.

Three other wonderful artists signed on and one warm summer day we all went out for a walk at Crab Tree, cameras in hand, searching for our favorite spot to portray.

We completed our oils (and one acrylic) in October and then they had to "cure" for 6 months before they could be varnished. Then the wonderful people at Crab Tree set to work on the installation.

Today was the unveiling and the result was beyond my wildest dreams! This is our groups second public art work installation, and we are hooked on the whole idea. I am even cooking up our next project! Stay tuned.

Entering The Blog World

Decided to start a blog because my internal dialogue is very strong during the creative process and seeing it typed out on the screen would be like watching a painting being born through thought. My work has been called poetic and painterly by others and I have been told that I paint what I feel rather then what I see. Hoping this blog, when I read it back, will provide insight into my artistic motives and help me grow as an artist.