Creating "Venetian Reverie"

 Over the years as I've studied with artists I admire, each has said in different ways that it's important to decide what it is all about before beginning to paint.   Some have called it the motif, others the main idea, or design element that you, as the artist, consider most important.  Is it a shape? - a design element? - a pattern?  a color sequence?  

When I began a new painting this time I chose a scene from my husband's home city, Venice, Italy.   It's not something I paint much even though I have so many fond memories of Venice.  It is, after all where I met and married my husband of 55 years, Gastone.  Sadly most of the paintings I've created of Venice are not masterworks.  They really haven't YET conveyed how inspiring the city is.

This time I decided to really focus on exactly what I wanted the most important part of the painting to be about.  Not just the overall scene.  Not the ancient time-worn buildings, not the romantic gondolieri, not even the way the shadows and light play on the buildings.   I wanted to focus on the element of water.

Venice is the city built on water. 
The earliest Venetians built their city in the middle of a lagoon.   It was built there for protection from outsiders.  They built up the land and then over several hundred years and the labor very clever architects and engineers built the iconic city we all know.

Painting Crashing Waves Is Different - Here are some of my idols:
I often paint ocean scenes so have lots of favorite painting idols whose seascapes and ocean scenes inspire me. Here are a few:

                                                                                                        .    Ray Roberts

                                                                                                     Frederick Judd Waugh

                                                                                                                 David C. Gallup

There many wonderful artists who paint water near the coast - beautiful seascapes and coastal scenes I admire.

Frits Thaulow
While studying other painters I came across the work of Frits Thaulow who painted rivers and other bodies of water like lakes and lagoons.  Frits Thaulow (20 October 1847 – 5 November 1906) was a Norwegian Impressionist painter renowned for his naturalistic depictions of landscape.   He painted many different landscapes but in my view, his waterscapes were what set him above his peers. 
Here are a few examples:

                                                                                                     Frits Thaulow - Water Mill 1892

                                                                                                  Frits Thaulow - A River 1883
 Isn't that water amazing?  Every time I see one of his water scenes I am mesmerized.  I can only hope that I could paint something with water that is that convincing.

It Was About The Water - But Other Elements Count Too
When I decided to paint the Venetian scene, I decided to make it about the water.   I put the other elements of the scene - the gondelier and the building to the side and high in the picture frame.   Even though I was very happy with my water, I did struggle and have to repaint the other elements of the painting several times.   

When I first showed the painting to my husband he pointed out that the water looked like it was going uphill.   @&%$# - My perspective was off.!   Okay... so it may have been about the water, but I still needed to make the rest of the painting believable.    I painted and moved the boats, the gondola, the buildings and the sky over and over and over again until I was satisfied.   I mostly kept the water as I had initially painted it.

I titled the painting "Venetian Reverie".  It captures a quiet moment on a Venetian canal, where a gondolier guides his gondola through green-blue water. The buildings rise close beside the canal, their muted earth tones steady against the water’s shifting reflections. 

Venice holds deep personal meaning for me—it’s where I met my husband over 55 years ago. This piece honors that connection and the city’s enduring character.

Then I Got Other Comments:

 One of the final critiquers who helped me wrote this:  "One of the greatest strengths of this painting lies in its handling of light and reflection. The rippling greenish-blue water, so skillfully painted, not only suggests motion but also serves as a mirror, softening the harder lines of the canal’s edge and the surrounding architecture. This contrast between the dynamic, almost impressionistic treatment of water and the solid, calming presence of the buildings creates visual interest and a harmonious balance. The gondolier’s bright red and white stripes draw the eye and provide a focal point of warmth and personality, subtly emphasizing the human story within the cityscape.

The color palette is thoughtful and evocative—warm, earthy tones for the buildings create a comforting sense of age and history, while the cooler, reflective water introduces movement and vitality."

Finally, (and one of the most important critiques). I've decided I really like it!!   Hope you do too.

Rejected
Over the last year, I've had quite a few opportunities to revisit paintings -- rethink and repaint -- hopefully to make them better. 

Revisited and Reworked
A painting I created last year for a coveted show was not accepted.  That is always disappointing.  More often than not, the painting goes into the back room and never sees the light of day.  Sometimes, if I really, really like the painting despite being rejected by the juror, I'll enter it into another show and get more success.    For that particular painting, I decided to revisit it.   I kept the parts I really liked and reworked the parts that might have seemed weak.  The Heron's Soliloquy painting was much better afterwards and went on to be juried in to another show, then later was purchased by a new collector.  (The best of all outcomes!)

Another chance to rethink, review and replaint

I am trying again to paint something worthy to be accepted into that coveted show for the current year.  This time I started pretty early and have worked steadily.   I started with a small painting called "View From The Top".    I painted it a long time ago but it had never sold, however, it was offered on my Fine Art America page and it has sold twice on that venue.  Then last Novemeber the original sold at the La Casita show.   I decided that since several different people seemed to like that one, I'd paint a larger version in hopes of getting it accepted into the upcoming show.

"View From The Top - The Torrey Pines of Santa Rosa Island" was inspired by a marvelous painting adventure in 2012.  I was lucky to join a group led by David C. Gallup aboard the dive boat, Conception out of Santa Barbara Harbor.  This was our second painting adventure aboard the Conception of four I went on.  On this trip we explored Santa Barbara Island and Santa Rosa Island - the smaller of the two.  Both are part of the chain of seven islands which make up the Channel Islands off the coast of California.  Santa Rosa Island is part of the Channel Islands National Park.
On Santa Rosa we were able to hike up to the top which was rimmed by the endangered Torrey Pines.  These pines are similar to the famous cyprus trees of Monterey, but are only found on Santa Rosa Island and part of an area around La Jolla, California.

We all painted from the boat and from different areas on the edge of the island.  It was an experience of a lifetime.

If you are a hiker or a camper or just love getting out to wonderful places, I highly recommend a trip to the Channel Islands.

Blog Posts About Painting Trips To the Channel Islands National Park
I wrote about the many adventures of four years of trips in the blogs I used to write almost daily.  If you're interested, you can click on the link below and join me in the adventure.

Various blog posts about the Channel Islands
(the oldest, from 2011 is last)

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Fear Of Failure
I started out with the tree and the distant mountains of the California coast.   First I decided that there was too much chroma in the blue so I tried to grey it a bit.  Then I decided that the sky was boring, so I pulled a long sheet of plastic wrap (Saran wrap) over the painting and tried out some cloud shapes.   I probably should have used Adobe, but it's just not like painting with a brush.   I was afraid to paint on the original.  Why???   Who knows?

Is It Done Yet?
Finally I thought I was finished with the painting.  I absolutely LOVE the depiction of the endangered Torrey Pine on the far right of the painting.   I thought the other pines were fine and I thought I was finished.

Luckily the deadline isn't right away.   I uploaded to my website the painting thinking it was done.  ......

But wait..... Is it?

I put it against the wall at the end of the bed and looked at it for a week.  I decided it needed more.  It needed changes.  

But, again, I was afraid.  I cannot explain WHY it is scary to paint over something you think is done.  Maybe because you don't really know whether it is going to be better or worse after you've made the changes.   
Then I remembered hearing Karl Dempwolf saying that he often continues painting on work even after a gallery has asked him to deliver what they've seen.  Certainly he is a master I look up to!!

I thought about it.
I looked at it.
I thought about it some more.
Then I read over my blog posts from 2012 when I actually hiked to the top of Santa Rosa Island and saw that view and those pines in person.
Those posts brought back memories and I was inspired!!  It was a sign.

I bit the bullet and pulled out my paint brushes to work on it again.

I added a path and repainted the Torrey Pines.  I think it reads better now.

But this whole process reminded me of my fellow blogger and wonderful artist Bonnie Luria who now lives in Ashville, North Carolina.  At the time she was living in St. Croix and I loved her blogs which were hilarious and always had inspiring art.  Her blog post that this process reminded me of featured a real skeleton which she had placed in front of an easel with the caption, "Is It Done Yet?"

I had my son, Jon-Paul, create an AI image something like what she had done so many years ago.  Hers, of course, was a photo of a real skeleton on a chair, but you get the point.   Are our paintings ever REALLY done?

I have several artist friends who live somewhat nearby.  Tina Chong is a go-getter who often nudges me outside to paint.  She is awesome and recently gathered three other friends to decide on a date and place.  Honestly, she's great because we are often like a herd of cats and trying to get us to decide on a date is not for the faint of heart.   We all love painting outside, but each of us has other priorities which sometimes conflict.

This time, however, it was a total success!!!   We all drove out to Peter Strauss Ranch in the Malibu Hills.   The last time I painted there with Laura and Tina it wasn't as beautiful.   That day I had decided to paint a mostly-dead but interesting tree which I titled "Tenacious":

This time I arrived before everyone else and the first words out of my mouth were, "It's a glorious day!"   As usual, we all (Tina Chong, Laura Wambsgans, Sharon Weaver and Sandy Fisher) spread out after we had found our spot.  I took lots of photos and may paint a scene looking the other direction which was also fabulous.  

It WAS a glorious day!

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After we all did what we did in the morning, we decided to drive to a local salad shop and enjoy a lunch together.  During that time we talked about all sorts of things, including, of course painting.   Laura told us all about a new app she had found and was enjoying called ChromaMagic.

Although I was not unhappy with my plein air "capture" I rarely can just let it be.  I can only think of one recent plein air piece that satisfied me enough as it was to resist my clean up efforts.  This was also a day that Tina, Sharon, Laura and I painted together although the day was definately not as glorious.  Here is my totally plein air effort called, "Plein Air On A Grey Day":

At home I downloaded the ChromaMagic App and played with it a lot.  I can see many possibilities for exploring color, value and helping the artist see a bit differently.   On the whole I like the changes I made using the tools suggested by the app, but I also realize that I do pretty well with mixing colors all on my own.  However, I definitely will use the app again.

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If you click on a color swatch, it will suggest a variety of ways to mix that specific color ... very interesting  ...  and fun!

I love to play with paint.

By the way... many mornings I listen to a commentator named Michael Smerconish.  Although he most often talks about politics and events, he has long been advocating what he calls "mingling".  He said in today's world we are too often busy with our phones and are siloed into repeated ways of thinking without the benefit of mingling -- mixing with a variety of people just to listen and be listened to. 

He believes, and I agree, that it is important to our emotional well-being to gather and be with others frequently.   I called in to his show one time to express my opinion that painting together with other people is a form of mingling.  We walk around and talk about the scene, we often compare what we are painting together and we discuss a variety of things before after and during our painting time.  And of course we talk about what's going on in our lives.

Definitely good for the soul.

I recently read a blog post by the creator, owner and technical guru who created and manages all that goes on with my artist website, Clint Watson.  I have been a fan of FASO (Fine Art Studio Online) since I switched over from my "home made" website.  I had been very proud of being able to create my own website back when I first learned enough of HTML to develop it.  However FASO caught my eye back in early 2007.  They have always been very good at promotion and I was caught up in the "free trial" initiation.  I tried it and for a while I used both.  Eventually, after using both and listening to the opinions of others, I realized that the FASO website was more professional and offered many more features than I was able to cobble together with my original website.  

Blogging was one of those added features
One of the missing features was blogging.  I don't blog as much now, but early on in my painting journey I was quite regular...... Here is my discussion from a March 2016 post:

"I started blogging seriously in 2006 or 2007.  This  2016 post is probably post #728 since I started writing blog posts.  If memory serves, I was blogging for almost a year only on Google "Blogger" because I hadn't yet signed up with Fine Art Studio Online (FASO).  At the time I was mucking around with my own self-developed website.  I had a bit of fun learning and practicing HTML and was pretty proud of myself. 

  "PEACEFUL".  10x10. plein air from Canyon de Chelly.      Still available and still a favorite from on my own walls.

Over the years the blog posts have served as a diary or journal of sorts -- talking about growth, processes, experiences -- even major family events. It was a way for me to process my thoughts about what I was doing and learning. I really blogged for myself but found that I enjoyed the interactions with others and the new people I'd "meet" through the blog."

REFLECTION
Clint Watson is not only a tech guru, but a multi talented coding artist -- enjoys creating music -- is a wine connoisseur-- and has developed a great love of writing.  He recently wrote a post called "Reflection" about which I am also now writing. 

Watson says that reflection is an important part of an artist's repertoire.  He was writing about the "Artistic Muse" and the "Shadow" needing time to work their magic.  Over the years since I began my painting journey I have found that that time for reflection  (perhaps, I think, CONTEMPLATION is more accurate) is one of the most important aspects of creation and one I rarely took advantage of. Too often I'm rushing to finish an artwork to meet a deadline for a show or a competition and I don't allow my work the time to sit on the shelf -- to be in the background and allow my unfocused mind to find the beauty to be enhanced or the flaws which can be corrected. Without time for reflection, if the piece isn't selected for a show, I too often cast it away rather than letting it sit on a shelf for a while to be reflected on and appreciated or improved. 

Watson also talks about "seeding your mind" during the reflection period when you have stepped away from your work.  He suggests that visual artists visit museums or in some way experience the work of others.  This reminds me of one of my other favorite artists, writer Austin Kleon, who wrote "Steal Like An Artist".  Neither is advocating copying the work of other artists or plagiarizing from other artists/writers but rather...  letting your mind flesh out possibilities, improvements or favorite passages .... giving your work the time for reflection.

Setting a piece aside for a time to "marinate" is one important way to develop better work.  It is also a way for me to learn to appreciate the work I have completed, perhaps revisit it or enhance it a bit and find a better venue or avenue to share it. 

For example I created several pieces for a California Art Club show a few months back.  Both were rejected.  Rejection is never a happy thing.  But sometimes it is a signal that a piece needs a bit more contemplation.

Recently, I brought them both out to take another look.  One I thought was really nice -- in fact I thought it was actually quite good, so I entered it in a different show.  "Late Afternoon, Long Shadows - Malibu Hills"  has been accepted into a different CAC show and will be hanging at the Old Mill in San Marino in September.  (I'm thrilled. ) 
The other I also really liked, but  after some reflection, I decided to work on it a bit more and will submit it to a different show as well. Wish me luck.

Fresh eyes help us see differently.  Sometimes they also help us reflect more favorably on our own efforts.   (Like when I pulled "Peaceful" off the shelf and put it on my wall.)

"Paint what pleases you.  It will probably end up on your own walls".   -David C. Gallup

PAINTING FOR AN AUDIENCE
Painting for an audience has never been something I look forward to.  It's strange because as a teacher for so many years I stood up in front of a class and directed lessons, daily.  Of course I did a lot of planning and over the years learned strategies that worked better than others, but it was not intimidating to me.  Even when I was a Principal and had to talk in front of "classes" of teachers, or direct meetings or MC for auditorium events for students, teachers and families, speaking wasn't something I tried to avoid.

Not My Thing
Doing demos for other artists or even painting in front of an audience -- sort of "performance painting" is not really "my thing".  I've done it and felt pretty good about those times I've accepted invites to do so, but I never seek them out and rarely accept when they are suggested.

Easing In
During our last PAC6 show three years ago, I painted in the museum with fellow PAC6er, Debra Holladay.  She painted a figurative piece (one of her many strong suits) and I painted a landscape.  I didn't know what to expect and I was nervous.

However, I successfully painted what I had planned to paint, while chatting with visitors who asked questions about what I was doing and I was surprised that I enjoyed the day.   I even really LIKED the painting that I completed in the museum!!!

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Marian painting Cayucos at the Santa Paula Art Museum

Trying Again
This year as part of our PAC6 show, "From Field To Frame - The PAC6 Shows How It's Done", again at the Santa Paula Art Museum, I will be painting (or attempting to paint) something else.  My fellow PAC6ers, Debra Holladay and Linda Brown will also be painting in the museum.  

Initially Linda had suggested painting "our version" of a scene from another PAC6er's painting that was hanging in the show.  My friend, Nita Harper, has a painting which is totally the same scene as one I painted several years ago and I considered doing a smaller version of that.  Here are Nita's and mine so you can see how alike and different they are:

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                               Early Morning Encore - Fortunati                       Solid Gold - Harper

You can tell it's the same scene, but, of course, we each painted our version with our own emotions, viewpoint and style.  

Chickening Out......  Maybe.....
In the end, though, I decided NOT to try to paint a scene that another PAC6er had painted.   (At least I don't remember that one of them painted this scene for the show.)   Instead I chose a scene from one of our many trips to Carmel which I think might be simple enough to pull off without looking silly.   (We will see about that.)

     (After the Santa Paula Art Museum sent out an email to its members saying we would be taking inspiration from another painting in the museum, I decided to return to my original plan and then TRIED, TRIED, and TRIED again to put a comment in to follow up on my blog post.  Since it was unsuccessful all three times and, there is no comment listed below, I have notified my website gurus about the problem and have edited the original blog post here.). Hopefully FASO will fix the issue and other people can leave comments if they wish about what THEIR opinion is on the matter.  Either way, I DO hope we can have a chat at the museum on Saturday!!

Even though I lack the self confidence about painting that I wish I had, I DO enjoy meeting and chatting with people who come to the museum either to see the artists who are painting (or trying to) and or to see the wonderful show that is hanging on the walls, so if you're interested at all, I hope you will plan a trip out to the museum.

Half PAC6 Painters Painting In The Museum
Marian, Linda and Debra

Santa Paula Art Museum
117 North 10th Street
Santa Paula, CA.  93060
(805) 525-5554

Saturday, May 4, 2024 
2:00-4:00 pm

SEE YOU THERE!!

Karl Dempwolf is a friend, a mentor and an inspiration.  I'm lucky to have known him for twenty or so years and whenever I get a chance to spend time with him I'm uplifted by his "joie de vie" attitude.  He's fun to be with.

I'm lucky because I live relatively near him.  I'm also lucky because when I first started venturing outside to paint, I took a class with him.  This was years and years and years ago.  It was my first experience with plein air and I knew nothing about it, but he filled my head with anecdotes of his experiences, with new and interesting destinations, with different points of view and with lots and lots of good advice about painting in general.  He inspired me to continue the journey.   I have copies of his books and his DVDs to refresh the memories, too.

Karl helping Dori Marler with a painting during a demo years ago

Actually it was his stories of venturing into Canyon de Chelly with a bunch of fellow painters (all men) that inspired me to encourage my friends to do the same.  That trip ten years ago was the beginning of a series of painting adventures for me and a bonding of the artists that went on to call ourselves the PAC6.  (6 artists Painting Across The Country).

Since then I have enjoyed talking with Karl at meetings and gallery openings and I've asked for and received great advice from him.  He is always supportive and encouraging -- something I value highly.

I enjoy Karl's style of painting and am always intrigued by his bold color and design.  I also like the way he often outlines the shapes he paints.  Karl is a California impressionist whose work is always distinctive.  You can look at any of his paintings and they stand out among all the others because of his loose brushwork and characteristic style.  There is a lot of information about Karl and his work on the internet, so take a moment to enjoy it when you want some inspiration.

I said before that Karl has encouraged me and supported me through the years.   Many years ago, (I believe it was 2009), I was thrilled to finally have one of my paintings juried in to a California Art Club exhibit.  I had tried unsuccessfully for years, but this time my work was juried in!  Karl was one of the jurors and he came to the show which made the opening even more exciting for me.  My Daddy who has always been my best supporter was there too.  (Daddy (James Boyd Beach) passed away on February 29, 2012.).  The photo above always reminds me of that important moment early in my art journey.

A while back, we were in the same show at the CAC's gallery at the Old Mill in San Marino and it was time to pick up my painting.  I had a conflict and asked Karl if he would pick up my work.  He graciously agreed.  Recently he asked me to return the favor by picking up his painting from the Santa Paula Art Museum where my work along with my PAC6 friends is being shown in our "From Field To Frame - the PAC6 Shows How It's Done".  (March 9, 2024 to July 7, 2024).

I picked up Karl's painting and was able to enjoy it for a while in my home before he came to pick it up.  Here are some photos of the painting:

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I've enjoyed looking closely at Karl's work while I was "babysitting".  I often look closely at work while in a museum or gallery, but it's never as good as being able to enjoy it all by yourself.   I asked Karl if I could write about him and his work and he gave me permission, so here we are.  There is always something new to learn, right??

Here is an AI generated description of the piece:  "The painting employs a loose, impressionistic brushwork that evokes a sense of movement and vitality throughout the scene. There is a harmonious balance between the natural elements and the impression of human industry and its integration into the landscape.
The artwork is housed in an ornate, gilded frame with intricate detailing that complements the traditional style of the painting. The frame's elaborate design features patterns suggestive of foliage and scrollwork, which resonates with the themes of nature within the painting."

I will also note, that the multitalented Karl, finishes and gilds his own frames.  Lovely, aren't they??

Thanks, Karl, for being you....   always inspiring and encouraging.

Every year for several years now I have enjoyed visiting the Autry Museum in nearby Burbank/Glendale, CA to see the Masters of the American West Show.  It is different each year but every year creates opportunities to see amazing work and sometimes to meet the artists who created the work.

This year the curators of the show added quite a few artworks from artists with whom I'm not familiar and it was fun to compare the new work with that of my "old favorites".  There were a couple of artists which I have enjoyed in the past whose work was not represented in this show, but I guess that is how the artworld works.  I am a fan of the more traditional type of artwork but my husband, Gastone, and I enjoyed discussing the differences between the newer less traditional artists' work and some of the work with which I'm more familiar.  He is more of a fan of photorealism and there were plenty examples of that artwork especially among the artists who have previously been in the show.  Although I appreciate the talent it takes to paint photorealistically, I just don't find the work as compelling as that of artists who venture into explorations of texture, abstractions, design and color.  Both Gastone and I also enjoyed many of the sculptures in the show (although I am sorry to say I forgot to photograph any of them.... sigh).

The museum people also made changes in the way the show ran.  It actually opened last week, but all of the big name, sale and collector events were this weekend.  I had never attended any of the events before but this year found that I could get tickets to an event called "Art of Collecting: A Moderated Panel Discussion".   It was moderated by Beau Alexander who is the owner/director of the Maxwell Alexander Gallery -- an extremely successful gallery in the Los Angeles area.  Both Gastone and I enjoyed the discussion which included a bit of art history (examples of many of the artworks collected by the two represented collectors) and a few more contemporary pieces they have collected.  We both enjoyed the banter and learned a bit more about art and the art world.   Here are two examples of artwork which these two collectors have in their homes:

                                                                          Maynard Dixon                                              Victor Higgins

I had a great time after the panel discussion when I had a chance to chat with friends I don't see often like Dorene White, Stephen Mirich and Peter Adams.  I met a few other attendees too and it was fun discussing about their thoughts about the exhibit.

Of course there were many examples of the newest work from some of my favorite artists some of which I will include below.   Most of my favorite work falls within the category of traditional fine art but I do enjoy how some of these artists dip into their imaginations through color, design, and texture.

     Dan Pinkham                                          Dan Pinkham                                              Len Chmiel

          George Carlson                                Matt Smith                                                    Peter Adams

There were many, many more paintings that I drooled over, but I didn't photograph them all.  Our son, Jon-Paul, called and was driving by and wanted to take us out to lunch, so didn't get to linger over the art.  We left to join him.   

The auction is tonight so if there are any of your favorites here, be sure to get there in time to place your offer.  I will probably try to get by the museum again during a week day just so I can linger longer and also to see how many of my favorites were sold.

SUNDAY AM ADDENDUM::::   I just checked the results of the auction this morning (Sunday) and I see that many, many, many of the artworks which I enjoyed yesterday have sold!!  YAY, Autry, the artists and the collectors!   Many of my favorite artists had multiple sales which is great.  I MUST go back to see the newer artists' work to get a better feel for what seems to be popular today.

I also noticed that I missed seeing many pieces that were in the show.  That just insures that I will have to go back to better soak in the inspiration that is the "Masters of the American West".

Don't miss your chance to see the show.  It's always inspirational!

The Backstory

My PAC6 friends (Linda Brown, Nita Harper, Debra Holladay, Laura Wambsgans, Sharon Weaver and me, Marian Fortunati) are so excited.  We have had two shows at the Santa Paula Art Museum in the past six or so years.  This year beginning in March our third exhibition will open.  All of us have been painting during 2023 to produce exciting and interesting artwork which reflects our memories and joy from the various painting adventures we've had since 2014.

We travel all over the western United States as a group in order to paint in locations we’ve identified as our “bucket list” places.  We started in 2014 with a terrific inaugural trip to Canyon de Chelly where we painted for a week from the canyon rims to the valley floor (courtesy of our Navajo guide, Irene).  We followed up with several gallery shows and decided that we had too much fun together to let it be a one-time event. 

Our next trip was a pack-trip on horses and mules to Ediza Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas.  We hiked, we painted, we “fought off” a very stinky bear and we laughed a lot!!!  That trip was followed by a museum show at the Santa Paula Art Museum entitled, “Between Heaven and Earth: PAC6 Paints the Sierras”. 

Since then, we have traveled together to Tahoe, Virginia City, Carson City, Gold Country around Angel’s Camp, the Mammoth Lakes, Bishop, and Owens Valley.  We have also visited the Monterey/Carmel area to paint the glorious California coast every two years for three visits.  These trips were culminated with another group show at the Santa Paula Art Museum called, “Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds” which featured historical locations, critters, and characters of the California gold and silver rush.

2024 Santa Paula Art Museum Exhibit
Our upcoming show at the Santa Paula Art Museum will open on March 9, 2024, and hang until July 7, 2024. 

For this show, we traveled to a few more “bucket list” spots:  Hope Valley for the Fall Color, The Vermillion Cliffs, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon.  The show will feature paintings inspired by many of our adventures of the past nine years. 

Since the exhibition will feature a sort of behind the scenes theme, each of us has chosen two field studies to include in the show and will display them next to a studio piece inspired by the field study.  I've already written two blog posts (SEE BLOG POSTS HERE) about one pair of my paintings.  I'm trying to figure out how to include the blog posts along with the paintings.  Each of us PAC6 artists is very different and each of us will display the work differently.  One will have sort of a display box with items from the field along with the painting or sketch.  

I chose a field painting from our trip to Monument Valley to use for my second "inspired" studio painting.  The painting from the field I selected was "Standing Strong - Monument Valley".

.    .   

What Do I Like About It?  (What do I want to preserve?)

1.  I love the colors... I like the rust orange color of the sand.  It contrasted beautifully with the blue sky and the ochre and burnt umber of the cliffs.  

2.  The cool blue-green of the sagebrush made nice patterns which pointed toward the rock formations called the Three Sisters.

Those are the things I liked and wanted to preserve.

What Changes Can I Make to Make it More Interesting and Compelling?

1.  I decided that I hadn't emphasized the rock formations called the Three Sisters enough, so I looked at several other artists' work to see how they depicted these structures.  There were so many great artists who painted compelling work of the Monument Valley including Calvin Liang and Josh Ellliot.   

2.  I used patterns in the sage as it receded to direct the eye and create some distance as well as creating more atmosphere by bluing out and lightening the sisters  to differentiate them from the scrub pines and sage in the foreground.

3.  I was also more careful about the shape of the Three Sisters formations.  In the study they were more suggested than differentiated.

Although I liked the original field study, I felt that I made the studio painting stronger and set apart from its inspiration. 

I hope you like it too.

I studied with master artist David C. Gallup for many years and always love reminiscing on some of those lessons and experiences.  

I first heard the "Lesson of the Abalone" way back in 2012.  Over the years while on trips to various far-off places, I've had my eye out for beautiful shells -- especially the abalones. In this painting, you will see an abalone my husband bought for me in Mikonos, Greece, a nautilus shell from a trip through Florida, and another abalone I picked up in a local swap meet. I love the colors of the shells and the feelings they evoke...

"Don't let the waves of others drown out your own ocean song. 

 Hold your heart as though it was a seashell.

And listen to it. Listen to its music. To the whispers of your ocean within. And then swim."

-S. C. Lourie

Since the new year began I've been struggling with some larger pieces.... I've been painting on them each day and although each day they get a bit better, they still seem to resist my efforts to be completely happy with them...  

I have finally decided to take a breather... I'm not giving up, but instead, I thought it might be fun and refreshing to do a smaller painting which is completely different. 

It WAS fun!.. 

Abalones are always a challenge, but certainly being able to bring a painting to a level of satisfaction is good for my soul. I hope you enjoy the painting, too.

I thought it might be interesting for you if I revisited the original "Lesson of the Abalone" blog post from 2012.   You can read it by clicking on this link:

 THE LESSON OF THE ABALONE  

and another related post....

ABALONE AND RADISHES -- INSPIRATION AND CHALLENGE

 

Once I finally decided how to set up the various shells... (which one in front?, where to set the light source?, how do they overlap?, should I add other elements like other shells or onions or?????)   I set out to determine the notan -- the value pattern.   Here is the notan then a 3 value variation.

Early last year I decided to force myself to paint over old "not so great" paintings rather than purchase new panels all of the time.  It hasn't been my finest resolution.  Most often I don't need the extra distraction when I'm painting out in the field, so I forgo my resolution and start with a clean panel.  However, this time at home and also with a fall painting I titled "Jack!" ,   I did paint over an older painting. 

In this case, the older painting helped me with parts of the block in and painting.  Surprise!

I took photos of the painting on the easel at various stages of paint application.   

The "not so great" plein air I painted over

First steps..... lightest lights then darks

Almost there... photo at night ...studio light changes the look doesn't it?

Now I realize I need to make the dark areas of the shells darker...   ..... Now the old last question......              Is it finished???    Who knows... I've uploaded it and will stare at it a while before I finally decide...   But I think so.    I posted it at the top....    Tell me.... What do YOU think about the lesson of the abalone???  I would love to hear from you.

The Rock

                                                                                                               

Morning shadows on the hills at Garrapata

On one of the mornings we ventured out to Garrapata.  I was entranced by the deep shadow patterns on the hills beyond the main focus of the crashing waves and rock formations of Garrapata.

Reconnecting because of FASO Newsletters
Several years back a college friend who was receiving my newsletter forwarded it to another friend who had also attended college with me.  She was good enough to drop by one of my art receptions and say "hi".  We hadn't seen each other in well over 30 years!!   It was terrific.  In 2012 she made it possible for me to show my art in a Solo Show at the Crain Art Gallery -- Part of the Crowell Public Library in San Marino, CA.  It was a great experience!

This year I was invited to return to the gallery.   My SOLO SHOW will hang in the Crain Art Gallery until January.  The tags on each painting have the Title and a QR code which can be scanned using a smartphone to find out stories and provenance about paintings of interest AND there is a Pay Pal button if anyone wishes to purchase paintings.  

RECEPTION
I'm very excited to be able to chat with friends and meet new people next Saturday, November 20, 2021.   

Collectors 

A previous collector contacted me to let me know that she would be at the reception.  She had visited my website and had chosen two -- possibly three paintings she would like me to bring.  She wanted them as presents for her daughter.   YAY!

FASO Features

I decided to explore some of the features available such as the artwork and inventory reports.

There were several.   I decided I liked the look of the report called a "wall label".    I had already created labels using the QR codes because it would be the only way visitors to the gallery could find more details or even purchase artwork.     HOWEVER, since I already had some potential sales, I decided to create sales receipts using the information on the wall tag plus price, sales tax and a "thank you".   It gave the sales receipt a professional look that I liked.   

Thank you, FASO

There are many great features that my FASO website provides.  I don't use all of them but I did enjoy learning about some new features and trying to make them work even better for my needs.

What do you think??  What are the FASO features you like best???

I'm being hopeful -- probably overly optimistic so I created a "sales receipt" for each of the paintings in the show.  Do you think I'll be able to use them????

Come on by the Crain Art Gallery this Saturday from 2-4 pm.   I'd love to chat and to show you the artwork in the gallery.

Crain Art Gallery
Crowell Public Library
1890 Huntington Drive
San Marino, California 91108

I recently attended a "Learn and Mingle" Session hosted by the California Art Club and featuring the work of Jennifer Moses.   

Jennifer Moses "Fire and Ice"

   I first met Jennifer in 2010 aboard the dive boat Conception during a week-long painting adventure to the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California.  The trip was led by my friend, teacher and art-mentor, David C. Gallup.  It was the first of several wonderful painting trips to the islands.  David had asked Jennifer along to assist him as he and she offered help to the group of artists on board.  She had been his student for several years and he knew her skills to be top-notch.   I got to know many wonderful artists on that trip and on the subsequent trips.

Jennifer Moses  "Matilija Poppies - Spring Bloom"

Over the years I have admired Jennifer's work and have attended shows and presentations she's done in the past.  Her work represents many of the things I would like to emulate.   I don't want to paint just like Jennifer.  I don't want to paint just like David.  But I would like to learn how they make their magic so I can use bits of it in my own work.   In his book, "Steal Like An Artist", Austin Kleon advocates learning (or stealing ideas) from many different sources.   Even Picasso was credited as saying, "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

Jennifer learned her magic from many other artists including Dan Pinkham.  She studied with David Gallup for several years.  I expected to learn from Jennifer during this presentation.  We all build our own "look" or style from things we take from other artists we admire.  You can see the color mixing influences of Pinkham and Gallup in her work, yet she has added her own specialness.  She has gotten many awards for her tonal work, but I confess I like the pieces with subtle color better.  

Jennifer Moses "The Clearing"

Although her plein air work is wonderful, it was the studio work I was most interested in hearing about as the brushwork and "feel" are intriguing to me.  I enjoyed hearing a bit about her technique and work habits.  She is a hard worker!  I didn't know that she used the palette knife for a good part of her work.  She also uses a hand sander to deal with certain passages - something I've heard David talk about, but have yet to try.

It was a fun afternoon.  Of course I always enjoy schmoozing with fellow artists and seeing those I don't see on a regular basis, but I definitely did come away inspired!   Thank you, Jennifer.

We went to paint out at  El Rancho de los Golondrinas on the next afternoon.  Sadly it was cold and VERY WINDY!!  The dust was up and while this may have been a lovely place to paint in other seasons and weather conditions, on this day it was pretty miserable.  Be that as it may, it was great to walk all over the area.  There were burros and historical buildings and long stretches of landscape.  I tried to huddle in a somewhat less windy spot to paint a cattail infused creek.  Another of my less than wonderful efforts, but still a fun challenge.  I packed up and hiked back to the car to wait for Laura who was definitely a more hardy soul than I.   By the time Laura finally hiked back to the car, long after most have left, I was afraid she was suffering from hypothermia!  She was like a block of ice!  But.. and this was the most important thing, you know... she was happy with her painting!

Since the beginning
Pretty much since I began learning about painting, painters and the people who paint well, I've known about the California Art Club.  The California Art Club (or CAC) is THE premiere group in California and is a well-respected organization throughout the USA in the realm of traditional fine art.

Join an art group
When I first started out, I didn't know much about any of the groups or how one might be involved with them.  I was encouraged to join local groups so that I could learn, gain friends and enjoy an art community.  I did join a few groups.  It was a great experience.  Because of these groups, I've been able to become friends with people who have widened my views and opportunities and made my life better.   I learned from demos and from painting alongside my new friends.  Along the way I worked on the boards of several of these organizations and learned a lot through serving in various leadership positions as well.  

The California Art Club
At first I didn't realize that the California Art Club was much different than my local groups.  In many ways it isn't.  It too, offers members a variety of opportunities to learn, to make friends, to expand their knowledge of art and the art world.   I even served on one of the CAC volunteer boards for many years.  However, I soon learned that through the diligent work of leaders such as Peter and Elaine Adams, the CAC has attracted a very high calibre of artists and has gained a well-respected reputation in the art community at large.   Its purpose is to promote and support contemporary-traditional fine art.  The bar for participating in some of the activities and exhibits was extremely high and I wasn't producing work that provided me entre' into those levels.  However, after many years of learning and growing and striving, I realized that even as an associate member, I could participate in most of the CAC events and activities and many exhibits, so despite being unable to move up from associate status, I was still content to make friends and have fun with so many wonderful people in the organization.

However, it has always been a major goal of mine to achieve Artist Member status.  I'm not quite sure why... it just was something I yearned for. 

Goal Setting and Studying With A Master
About seven years ago, when I first started studying regularly with master artist David C. Gallup (who served as the Vice President of the CAC until a few years ago), he asked his students to write down our artistic goals.  We were to also list those artists (living and dead) who served as our role models and explain why we had chosen them.   I have grown over the years since I started studying with David and I have reached some of those initial goals and added new ones, but the goal of achieving CAC Artist Level remained elusive.  One of the many, many attributes that has made David an exceptional teacher is that he not only demos his own work but illustrates ideas with the work of others (living and dead) as examples of what one might achieve or how we might stretch as we grow as artists.  This insures that we all learn about many artists we might not have known about before including those whose work was not traditional realism.   I came to realize that many of my role models were CAC artists and signature level artists and this reinforced my objective.  I studied regularly with David until early in 2017 when I decided to take a break and explore on my own.  If you ever get the opportunity, I highly recommend studying regularly with David.  Guidance such as that which he provides is a rare gift.

Trying Again
After taking a break from applying for a couple of years, I was encouraged to apply again to try to achieve Artist Level Status by my wonderful friend and mentor, Karl Dempwolf.  I worked hard on some new pieces and submitted once again in November.  I was hopeful, but didn't want to get my hopes up too high.  In the past I had received my notification in January and that's when I've gotten the "almost made it" letter a few times or the "so sorry" letter a few more times.  This time, just before my birthday I got a wonderful phone call from Peter Adams, CAC's president.  He congratulated me.  I was accepted!!   Peter also knew when my birthday was because I usually go to the CAC holiday luncheon which falls around the same time as my birthday so he wished me a happy birthday as well.   What a great birthday gift!  Then he said he probably wasn't supposed to let me know yet, so I took that to mean I shouldn't tell anyone until I got my official notification letter.

Was I dreaming?? 

I kept waiting to get the mail -- running to the mailbox each day.  It didn't come ... I began to think I was dreaming the call.  But a friend emailed and told me that she had checked the Online Juried Shows website and found out her results.  So I looked and, yes, Marian, there is a Santa Claus.  It too, said I was accepted.  That was good, because I have been out of town on a Caribbean Cruise for two weeks and can't get mail, so now I don't have to worry about running to the mailbox each day when I get back.

It's true!!
Believe in yourself.  When I told my daughter how excited I was, she laughed at me.   We had just finished watching The Lego Movie with her kids.  She said, "Mom, you're silly.  You have always been an artist.  You didn't need the CAC to tell you that you are an artist.  You just need to believe in yourself, just like the master builder in The Lego Movie"  She's right, of course.  It's most important to believe in yourself, but it sure is nice to think that other people believe in you too!

Thank you, California Art Club!  

New goals....

Now I need to continue developing my skills and trying new things so that I can continue to improve and complete work which is on par with my artist heroes and heroines.  A new goal is to have my work accepted to hang alongside the work in CAC shows like the Gold Medal Show or On Location in Malibu.   I will never stop trying to get better and I will do my best to believe in myself!

Addendum:  I arrived home from my holiday family trip to find the letter waiting.  Feeling once again thrilled, honored and very fortunate.

My "FIRSTS" - 2017
I recently participated in a weekend invitational art festival.  It seems that this is the year for first times.  In March I did my first demonstration and now I have completed my first invitational art festival weekend.  Happily, I survived each one and think I did a good job.  Time will tell if I decide to do either again, however, since I was pretty VERY nervous about each type of event.

San Dimas Festival Of Arts
I found this past weekend's art festival experience much less painful than I expected it to be.   It was an "invitational" - They found me... I didn't seek out the opportunity.  That kind of made it easier to step into it, I think.  I will say that when I came into the festival space and began to hang my work, I looked around and was totally intimidated.  There were some AWESOME artists involved!!  The work all around was very good.  Intimidating, but comforting at the same time.

In fact, I had a pretty good time.  I was placed near a really good friend, (Linda Brown) which was a super bonus as she provided me with lots of information and fun insights into her past experiences with the show.  Another friend, (also part of our PAC6 painting group), Sharon Weaver, had a booth on another aisle, so we could chat during breaks.   Surprisingly, it wasn't either of them who had given the Festival folks information about me... they found me on their own.   

The Festival is run by a volunteer group that is extremely efficient and well-organized.  They did a variety of types of advertising both locally and in art-related national publications.  They provided us artists with a catered reception and a catered dinner.  All the booth and hanging materials were provided. -- It was a serious operation that has gone on for 41 years.  Although they were very happy with the sales, I think they will continue to try to figure out more and different ways to bring more people in to the festival.  There are so many things which divide up potential audiences and I think they thought that while the sales were good, the crowd size could have been improved.  If you have a great idea, we'd all love to hear it.

Fun - Not Frightening
The other artists were a mix of people I knew from other experiences and now-new artist friends.  All those with whom I had a chance to talk and interact were friendly, supportive and helpful.

I really enjoyed talking with those people who came to the show and who wanted to talk with me.  Many had interesting stories to share.  Others shied away if I approached them, but those that offered comments provided me with really interesting windows to how others see my work.  (I realize that most people who absolutely hated the work, would not be the ones who made comments, --- which actually is a good thing as I'm not-so-thick-skinned.)   But different people liked different paintings for different reasons.                          

What I learned

One of my big "Ahas" was that the paintings I thought would make the biggest "hit" weren't the ones which sold.  I DID have lots of discussion about most of the ones I thought would be "grabbers", so I'm not sorry they were included, but they didn't go home with someone else.  They will have to wait a bit longer for a new home.  

One of the pieces (a little 10x10 piece called "Windblown Splendor") which I included and which garnered lots of comments was a plein air piece I did about a week and a half before the show and it was a bit "out there".  My work is fairly full of lively color -- especially compared to most of the work I saw around me.  This one, done in the Antelope Valley Poppy fields, was almost "over the top" with saturated color.  I included it on a whim, but the Festival Art person said that she had overheard the jurors saying great things about it.  -So you never know.

I also learned that not only are there different strokes for different folks, but that there are many ways to have a good time with art.

I did decide that vibrant color and a thick application of paint are some of those elements that make most of my work recognizable.  I am, after all....  "One Lucky Artist".

Everyone has their idols

An art legend in my life -- one whose work inspires me and who I would love to learn from is George Carlson.  He has three great pieces in the Masters of the American West Exhibit which is currently showing at the Autry Museum.  Because he was coming out for the show, the California Art Club invited him to host a "Mentor Day".   This is when a notable artist critiques the work of 5 artists who sign up for the opportunity.

As soon as I heard that he was going to do this I signed up.  It was an opportunity not to be missed.   My friend, Chris L. Cook, also took part.  It was great to share this day with him.

Uh Oh

I have only participated in a few of these Mentor Days.  Not because I don't think they are great ideas, but mainly because the first time I went, I took work in which I realized afterwards that I didn't want to make changes to.  I learned from listening to what he said about the other artists' work as well.   I got great advice from the mentor (Jeff Horn), but I believe there is a certain time in the life of a painting when a critique is most valuable and that wasn't the point.  The second time I went in, I asked the mentor (Marcia Burtt) to critique the overall body of work.... Not to give me specific things to fix on the paintings but suggestions to improve my work overall. That was most valuable.

Now that I had signed up for this Mentor day with George Carlson, I wasn't sure what to do.  I didn't want to embarrass myself by taking in work which wasn't my "best", but I didn't want to take in my best work either, because I didn't want to feel bad about it or feel that I needed to make changes.  So I did a compromise. I took in a piece that I have always liked, but which has never really gotten any attention from anyone else, one piece I really liked and which had gotten some nice feedback and I also took in two pieces that I was currently working on -- they were wet and unfinished.  It turned out to be a good solution.

Carlson's talk

It was a two-hour session and George Carlson spent the first hour or so talking about his own history and his practices.  It was perfectly fascinating.

A few quotes:

• Understand drawing to the point where you feel the other side of the head
• You don't acquire the knowledge you need unless you stay to absorb it  -Make a statement
• When you are really following your bliss, doors open
• There are 4 criteria in making great art:   Intelligence, Sympathy, Taste, Skill
• Understand your intentions - Why are you doing this?

Carlson isn't a plein air painter.  When he goes outside, he does it to gather information for his paintings.  He finds landscapes and places that speak to him... They are his "nirvana"

He takes notes when he's out in the landscape.  He draws and makes notes about composition

He shared some of his drawings from an exhibition book which he donated to the CAC

Sometimes he thinks of the forms of the landscape in the areas around him as might be seen in the form of a woman's body

He loves making color charts -- on his horizontal and vertical matrices are color and value

He takes his color charts of color and value out with him and uses those to annotate his drawing.

He calls this informed drawing..... Not a pretty drawing but one which includes notes about color, value and intensity

He meditates and lets the environment set in

He loves triads and also split complements

When in the studio he uses his drawings as well as photos and spends time doing a lot of planning before he puts down a brush stroke

He designs things -- he borrows and either subtracts or adds things to make a good design

He plans what is over and what is under each layer

He said that if you get your values right -- even if the colors are wrong, it will still read correctly

The intensity of the color needs to be in the right value zone

Do exercises to nail the colors into the right values

Creativity is partly curiosity

You need to do your own thing - You need to find out what makes you "you"

If you get all of the things right then the feeling will come through

Every expression of an artist should be an expression of the adventure of his soul

He likes to drag paint across the top of other dried paint

Sometimes he sands a painting down to get rid of the "white caps" (the ridges left by a brush)

A painting should work when you stand back but you hope for engagement in surfaces upon close inspection

Sometimes he turns his paintings upside down to evaluate them

The Critique

When George Carlson looked at my paintings he focused mostly on the cactus painting you see above which was one of my WIPs.   He liked it.  He said there were some accents that were too repetitive.  He thought there should be one or two strokes with lighter yellow and more texture.  One area of dark should be a lighter dark.  I tried to use his critique to finish this painting.  Now it will sit for a while (maybe upside down) while I reevaluate it over time.

He also looked at my painting called Blue and Gold.  He thought I should not have so many regular fence posts.  He suggested bringing some of the mountain color into the trees.  He said everything you put in a painting is a relationship

The last painting he critiqued which was another WIP was "too spotty"  He reminded me of the importance of massing and remembering where the light source is.  I will work on that.

It was a great day and I felt very fortunate to have had the benefit of his thoughts and lessons.

We left Ediza Lake and hiked to Iceberg Lake.    
It was only a few miles, but it sure had us working hard as the vertical rise was very, very steep.  We were puffing!!
But wow, was it worth it! 

********

There is a group that I used paint with on occasion that always gathered during lunch to listen to two different respected artists critique the work which was  produced that morning if the artist was willing.  One artist would discuss the oils and the other would focus on the watercolors.  Since the same artists led the critique sessions each time, we all pretty much know what to expect.  I always enjoyed these critiques because not only did I learn from listening to the comments about the other work, I wasn't so invested in my own piece so I didn't feel defensive about it.

Additionally I study with Master Artist, David Gallup, and he critiques whatever work we bring in.  He asks us about what we see first and then he'll help us see ways to improve our work... (or in some cases, advise us to abandon it... LOL)  He is honest but kind.  Over the years I have really come to appreciate these informative sessions.

However, in other circumstances I have tended to avoid participating in critique groups.  Usually we are asked to bring in work on which we have invested time and emotional energy.  Sometimes critiques edge into criticisms and unless you know and respect those doing the critiquing, the value of the advice can be more hurtful than useful.

I paint with a fabulous group of women.   We have traveled to beautiful places and explored and painted together.  We can all paint basically the same scene, and the artwork will be very different because we each have a different style and we see in different ways.  We have had some GREAT and successful group shows.  We call ourselves the PAC6 and we like each other!  We are preparing for a major group show in 2017 at the Santa Paula Art Museum.  

So when my friends suggested that we bring all of our work to date for a group critique session, I wasn't thrilled.  I didn't want be in a situation with hurt feelings.  Because we each paint so differently I wasn't sure a critique was a good thing.  But everyone thought it would be valuable so I went along.

The day came and it all worked out great!  My misgivings were unfounded.  I learned a lot from all of the comments about my work and about that of my pals.  The painting above was one of those I brought in for critique.  Some of the suggestions made were to make the line of trees less uniform, to change the values of some of the rocks on the right, and to work on the transparency and ripples of the water in the foreground.   I made other changes that came to me as I was rethinking the changes they had suggested.  Although I always reserve the right to make more changes, at this point, I think it's as "done" as I'm ready for right now.  "Iceberg Lake" was a beautiful lake that we hiked to while we were on our Pack Trip to Ediza Lake in the Eastern Sierra near Mammoth, CA.  The trail seemed like it was straight up the mountain and went on forever, but I think the effort of hiking made arriving at the lake and spreading out our picnic even more spectacular and memorable.

We had a great time during our critique session...  We shared a meal and we laughed a lot.   And best of all, we learned.  We also learned to appreciate one another's gifts even more. 

So...  with the right attitude and the right people in your group, are critiques in YOUR future?  

****  Actually... I have now done some additional work on this painting and I'll post those changes in a future blog.  (I changed a bit of the design...Left the rest...  ..  I guess it's one of those "will it ever be finished?" things...) 

BEFORE THE LATEST CHANGES Iceberg Lake  20x24  O/L Can you see the difference??

Last weekend I drove to Laguna Beach to attend the opening reception for my mentor, David Gallup and his collaborator, my friend,  Nansi Beilanski.  The traffic was miserable, but I'm glad I went.  The gallery is the Forest and Ocean Gallery in Laguna and it is a lovely gallery on the corner of Forest and Ocean in the heart of Laguna Beach.  It's within walking distance of just about everything.

It was a balmy night and the art lovers attending the Pageant of the Masters blended with Laguna lovers and all others who love the vibe in this beautiful little gem of an art colony.

David and Nansi had an array of stunning pieces adorning the gallery walls.  I also had a piece in the front as part of the LPAPA "Last Days of Summer" show.  I was really pleased that my piece, called "Hendry's"  was juried in to this show and I enjoyed posing for a photo in front of the painting.

David and Nansi were given an opportunity to talk about their work.  The appreciative crowd asked questions and seemed to enjoy the evening.  David spoke about how the two of them collaborate on a single painting.  What stuck with me because I have often thought this about my own work, is when David talked about how much of the painting process is spent without the brush in hand.  Painting is truly an intellectual process -- filled with problem solving, innovation and planning.  Yes, there are times things aren't working and you have to figure out how to paint yourself OUT of the corner you've painted yourself into, but all this is done without the brush.

David and Nansi with some of their collaborative work

Lately I find myself at the easel first thing in the morning after "sleeping on a painting" all night.  I am full of ideas I've generated over night and seeing with fresh eyes.  I'm ready to dive in to make changes or begin in a new area or scrape off or paint over.

"Spring"
The painting at the top of this blog is one I had originally worked on a couple of years back.  It is the largest painting I had ever painted.  I used a wonderful plein air piece called "Delight" (now sold) as the model.  30x40 is not so huge for some people but pretty major for me.  I've always liked it, but as we develop our skills and try new things, hopefully our "eye" changes.   We see more clearly and are more capable of making passages better There were some issues I decided I wanted to resolve on this painting before showing it again.

Spring ---  Before making the changes...                Can you see what has changed?

So I DID make some changes.  The water felt "not right" to me so I worked on that, adding color changes to indicate thermoclines, sparkles and glare.  I loved the abstract quality of the colorful foreground field of poppies so I left them, but the flying egret had some issues which I changed.  I worked on the bushes adding shadow and color to make them more bush-like but keeping the playful color. I'm not sure most people would notice all of the changes I made, but after working on it all day, I felt a sense of satisfaction with my work that I haven't felt in a while.  

I've been trying to work on some paintings for an upcoming show and it has been slow going, so I'm glad yesterday left me with such a positive feeling.  I'm ready to turn the corner and tackle some more BIG paintings.  Attitude is everything isn't it?

Painting really isn't even mostly done with the brush in hand.  Paintings are mostly painted with the mind and the heart.  Emotion and skill are crucial but spending the time using your head is too.

I was deeply honored and THRILLED that this new piece was juried in to
California Statewide Land & Sea Exhibit," at the Santa Cruz Art League. 

EXHIBITION DATES:
June 3 - July 3, 2016
Lecture: “Art of the Deep” by Juror: David C. Gallup.   June 10, Friday, 7pm.
Reception: Saturday, June 11, 3:00 - 5:00pm

LOCATION:
Santa Cruz Art League
526 Broadway
Santa Cruz, CA 95060 

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It was a beautiful day on the cliffs of Dinosaur Caves Park in Shell Beach when I painted a small 8x8 plein air piece here.
The plein air piece was called "Dinosaur Caves at Shell Beach" after the park.

I think the area is beautiful and was inspired to paint this larger studio piece.  I hope you will enjoy it.
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Since I saw no dinosaurs wandering through the park (except cement ones for children to enjoy) I wondered why it was called Dinosaur Caves Park.  Here is what I found:

Dinosaur Caves Park is a family-friendly park in the Shell Beach area of Pismo Beach, CA. The park has open grass areas, picnic tables, walking paths, ocean overlooks, and an abundance of kids play toys with animal and dinosaur themes. The park also has an interesting history. In the 1940’s a large concrete dinosaur was constructed at this location. Visitors could enter the dinosaur and descend a tunnel in the tail that lead into an underground sea cavern. The cavern has since collapsed and all evidence of the dinosaur have been removed. Unfortunately, all other access routes to the shoreline have eroded away so there is no beach access from the park anymore.   

I also found a great drone video of the park and the shoreline done by "RoadTripFPV"
Here it is for you to enjoy:

Is a painting ever REALLY "done"?
Recently I answered a call for entries to a show about the American West.  I submitted paintings and several were selected for inclusion.  They are all quite different but each represents a wonderful place and a wonderful adventure.

There is one from my recent backpacking/mule riding/camping/painting trip to the Eastern Sierras.   Two are from my painting trip to Canyon de Chelly and the one featured in this blog post is a studio version of a painting I did while rafting through the Grand Canyon.

(I have to say that painting has really improved my ability to see the world in ways previously unimaginable to me.  -- Perhaps for that alone, I LOVE having learned to paint!)

I've always loved the painting, Blacktail, even when my good painting buddy told me that no one would ever buy it because it was too weird.  I have enjoyed it on my own walls -- each time smiling at the memory of a fabulously beautiful and unique place created through time, wind, water and surely a higher power.

It's Only Paint
When I painted it I struggled with the foreground rocks.  I could have left them out completely but decided not to.  However, all the time I've looked at this painting, the stark white rocks had bothered me.  When the painting was juried in to the upcoming show at La Galeria Gitana in San Fernando, CA, I decided to revisit those rocks.  -After all, it's only paint.  In my Master Class with my mentor, David Gallup, David has been discussing the importance of losing focus in the foreground of our paintings.  To quote David, "Okay, Master Class. The idea for our Month of Foreground is that rather than trap the eye at the bottom of the canvas by increasing detail and focus as objects draw nearer, we can look past an out-of-focus foreground to the subject, nearer the desired target from a 2-D design perspective. Using in and out of focus areas to create depth and move the eye in addition to all of our other tools. Dig? "

David has a "David Gallup Master Class" Facebook group page and we've all be searching the web for examples of out-of-focus foregrounds.  Check it out if you're interested in participating with the discussions.  (We also post all sorts of interesting artwork and bits of nature - especially those that relate to David's interest in underwater things.)

Anyhow, the point is that my foreground rocks were too imposing and prominent.   They trapped the eye more than was necessary.  (See the original on the left.) They were whiter and had fairly hard edges which contrasted with the dark waters of the pool.  Rather than to eliminate them, I darkened them and tried to soften the edges a bit.  It wasn't a huge change, but I think that now the painting works better.

Thanks for stopping by.  Perhaps I will see you at the show opening at La Galeria Gitana on May 14th from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  It's always an interesting show.

HOW DO THEY FIND YOU?

I recently sold a painting to a new collector in the United Kingdom.  It was a small plein air piece that I had painted several years back while I was on the last of my painting adventures aboard an 80 foot dive boat that helped a great group of artists explore our local treasure, The Channel Islands National Park.

Happily at that time I was blogging more frequently so when this collector asked for details about where the painting was created, I was able to refer back to my blog post and give him lots of details.  HIS Channel Islands, of course, are quite different than ours, but I was proud to be able to share several links with information about this uniquely beautiful National Park.

His question:  "Do you remember which of the islands this painting is of?  It's always nice to have as much information as one can about a landscape painting.  I collect -- I am passionate about early English watercolours and it is very frustrating (and truth be told, detracts from the value) when one has a landscape of a place which can't be identified.  If you are buying a 200 year old watercolour one can't easily ask the artist, of course."

Hmmm...   How, I asked, did you find me?  (Especially since I don't paint in watercolors nor am I living in the 18th or 19th century.)

His answer wasn't quite what I had hoped:
"I'm not quite sure.  I have been browsing the internet for a couple of weeks looking for contemporary oils and one website leads to another.  Actually, it's quite addictive.  There is a website called "1stDibs" which may have lead me to you.  I think that was a US website.  But I may have been looking at a US art dealer's website who sells your work.  Not sure."

Still, I was very happy that he DID find me and that he took the time to go through so many paintings on my website!

GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE

Well, thank goodness for my wonderful FASO website!!  Also thank goodness for PayPal which protects both the buyer and the seller and which can deal with exchange rates, etc.  The real trial was getting the painting to him.  I checked out the rates for our US Postal Service and with FedEx and they were almost the same.  I decided to go with the USPS which may have been a mistake.  I had it insured and registered and because it went to another country had to fill out customs forms.  All went well until it got to London.  It took 4 days to get to London from my post office near Los Angeles, CA.  However, tracking from there was odd.  I heard nothing for almost a week and began to think it had gotten lost when suddenly it said it had left London.  Well, it finally arrived, but then the UK post office charged the collector additional postal fees and there was a VAT (value added tax) that was almost as much as the original postage.  Shocking!

At least it arrived and the collector thinks the painting is "lovely".   All's well that ends well.

Do you have any stories about how strangers have found your work?
How about shipping internationally?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Near where my daughter lives is the most beautiful place to paint -- the Goleta Slough.
Just south of the UCSB campus this lovely beach is constantly changing with the tides.

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Before Christmas I signed up for a Mentor Monday session through the California Art Club.  The artist who was to critique our work was Marcia Burtt - a wonderful acrylic artist with a very loose style, excellent creative designs and amazing color sense.  I have long admired her work, but never met her.  She was delightful and I thoroughly enjoyed my morning.  She spent time with all of us in the session discussing what might make our work stronger.  Before the session was over she mentioned that she would be hosting a workshop with Ray Roberts in early February at her studio/gallery in Santa Barbara.  As you may remember, I love Ray Roberts' work and have studied with him previously.  Since my daughter lives in Santa Barbara, I wouldn't have to pay hotel bills so I decided to sign up.

From Marcia Burtt's Studio/Gallery

I really enjoyed the excuse to spend more time with my daughter and grandkids while I was up there.  That was the bonus.  The workshop was the excuse.

I had a great time in the workshop and learned a lot from both Marcia and from Ray.  Marcia had a large canvas which she quickly covered with her beautiful acrylic colors.  She is more interested in on-the-spot gestural work.  Ray emphasized the importance of creating many small studies in the field and using them in addition to photographs and videos of the scene to create larger studio work.  We spent two days in the field during absolutely gorgeous weather, as we watched demonstrations and created our own small studies.  I did little 7 studies -- none worth sharing except to tell you of the enjoyment of being outside and painting in a beautiful spot. 

From Marcia Burtt's Studio/Gallery

While in the studio part of the session, Ray discussed how he uses captures from videos (he had flown a drone around the slough and had some amazing video) as well as photos which he manipulates in Photoshop to use as a basis for his studio pieces.  He showed us how he can enhance the "sparkles" of the sun shining on the water or manipulate the colors.  It was all very interesting and we each practiced with our own computers to see if we could do it as well.  (I'm going to have to practice the "sparkle" bit...  Didn't quite "get" it yet.)

During that last day in Marcia's studio/gallery I started the painting above.   Everyone in the class spread out.   Some were behind Ray to better see how he was handling his computer manipulation and his own painting and others, like me were off to the side.  Ray wasn't happy with his start -- almost wiping it down.  He realized the next morning that he had made the value of the water too light so he set about fixing it.  (Nice to know even the greats can get off to a bad start.)   It was interesting to see what all of the other artists created also.  Each of us had a unique take on the workshop and place where we were painting.   Basically, while there, I worked on the scene using Photoshop Elements and blocked in the painting.

At home over the last few weeks I've completed the block in and spent a lot of time refining it.  Sometimes I wonder if the time it takes to finish a painting is spent more with a brush in hand or through hours of thought, dreams and feelings of the heart.  I'm beginning to feel it's the latter.

I think it's very true that as artists, we are the sum of all those from whom we have learned.  We will always be our own selves but we take a bit of knowledge or a whisper of beauty from every painting and artist we admire.

I thought I was finished several times, but as the painting sat on my TV ledge in "time out", I would see something that I didn't like or that could be done better.   My mentor, David Gallup, is always asking us WHY we are painting something.  He tells us not to paint THINGS....  we should express feelings or what the scene says to us rather than just a place. 

That may be the most difficult task of all.

Many thanks to Marcia, Ray and David.... and to all of the other artists who have served as models and teachers along my painting journey. 

I started blogging seriously in 2006 or 2007.  This is probably post #728 since I started.  If memory serves, I was blogging for almost a year only on Google "Blogger" because I hadn't yet signed up with Fine Art Studio Online (FASO).  At the time I was mucking around with my own self-developed website.  I had a bit of fun learning and practicing HTML and was pretty proud of myself. 

At the time I was very early in my painting journey and so was trying to paint and finish a painting every day.  Each day I would post a painting (such as it was -- didn't matter if it was "good"... just that I did it) and I'd blog about it.  It was fun and it worked for me.  Hey... We all know that the more miles we put on the canvas, the better painters we become.  (Of course, I heard Brian Blood once say that some of us have to put a lot more miles on canvas than others.... I know he's right...  I'm one of those turtles on this journey.)

The summer that I retired from LAUSD I changed my website from my own homemade site to a more professional looking and very easy to use one through FASO.  Even though it was not as developed as it is now, FASO hosts a GREAT website which even enabled me to post blogs right from the site.  My posts from FASO started in June of 2007.  FASO has continually evolved over the years offering many templates, lots of flexibility of color, etc, a newsletter, blog, and many, many other features.  -- AND they have out-of-this world tech support!

The blog posts have served as a diary or journal of sorts -- talking about growth, processes, experiences -- even major family events.  It was a way for me to process my thoughts about what I was doing and learning.  I really blogged for myself but found that I enjoyed the interactions with others and the new people I'd "meet" through the blog. 

I blog much less now.  I haven't posted anything in over a month.  It's not that I'm NOT painting -- I am -- I just seem to take forever to finish anything.  I've got one or two up on my "time out" shelf.  One of them is really mostly done.  However, the longer I look at it, the more I'm convinced that just a few more touches will really be what it needs... (LOL).    When I'm ready I'll write a post about it.  I started it during and finished it a week or so after my last workshop with one of my painting idols, wonderful Ray Roberts.  If only staring at his work endlessly and taking workshops from him would make my work as good as his. (not)

Right now as several paintings sit in time out, I'm working on a very large 24 by 36 Sierra piece which I hope to include in a 2017 museum show with my PAC6 painting buddies.  I don't usually paint large pieces, so it was daunting just getting started.  But I'm working away on it.  Over the years I've learned that it's just paint.  If I don't like what I did yesterday, I can scrape it off or paint over it.  - Heck painting over sometimes makes it even better.  I've got one painting in a show now that was painted right over the top of a totally different painting.  The texture of the original painting made the leaves really fabulous.   The painting is called "Peaceful" and it's at the top of this blog post.  It's one of my favorites from my Canyon de Chelly adventure and it's still available.

Another reason why I don't blog as often is Facebook.  Somehow Facebook has stolen the time and taken over many of the reasons why I blogged in the first place.  Additionally it seems more immediate as is the feedback.  My posts rarely generate comments, but the ease of responding on FB is alluring.  But I do like to blog, so I WILL keep it up.  I hope some of you will read it and, of course, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

By the way -- another inspiration for me is studying with my mentor David Gallup.  I started studying with him in late 2010 before the first of several idyllic painting trips to California's Channel Islands.  I've learned many things from David and one of them is that painters should constantly evolve.  I own 4 of his paintings which hang on the wall near where I am right now.  They serve as reminders of lessons, inspirations, beautiful locations and fun adventures.  One is from his Channel Islands Show at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.  One is of Sequit Point where I paint frequently, and another is a beautiful reminder of a Channel Islands trip.  The painting on the far left is the most recent addition.  I finished paying for it quite a while back (I always buy "on time").  I bought it while he was using it to demonstrate brushwork in one of our classes.  It went through several iterations while I watched, but David never signed it nor gave it to me until almost a year later.   When he finally decided it was "finished", he told me that he had to learn a lot and was still processing it so he couldn't finish it enough to be satisfied with letting me have it until just now.

Painting at Sequit Point on Leo Carrillo State Beach is one of my favorite things to do.

My PAC6 painters group was asked to created "doubles" for an upcoming show. (CALLED DOUBLE TAKE) -- Two paintings of the same place at different times of the day or different weather conditions or different seasons.  I painted a set of doubles - which I wrote about in my last two blog posts- ( "Sequit" and "Sunset At Sequit Point" ) for the show and really enjoyed doing it.

I decided that I would do series of doubles.  This painting above is one of two I've done recently looking what seems like south but which apparently is really east from Sequit Point.  Since I'm standing on the west coast and looking toward Mexico, I think of that direction as south... but since the sun is rising over there it is obviously east....  California can be confusing....  "North" on the 101 Freeway is actually west... but nobody calls it west on the 101.  Ya gotta live here to understand. 

I will share the second one I did (also looking "south" ) in my next post.  They are very different as you will see.

As I saw the work which will be in the show from my painting buddies, I realized that MY doubles are a bit different than those of my painting pals.  Rather than do more like what Monet did in his haystack or cathedral series, I had moved a bit from the viewpoint of the first to do the second or I used different ways of applying paint, so my differences between the doubles are much vaster.  We'll see how that plays out.

Please come by to see the show while it is hanging.  If you can make it to the reception, I would love to talk with you.  Please come!
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I was pretty far along on each of this new set of "doubles" when I took them in for my mentor, David Gallup, to critique.  It was pretty discouraging.   David always gives a fair critique designed to move me and other artists in the class along from where we are, but on that day I was dejected.  I left the day feeling like perhaps I should trash them both. 

However, after "licking my wounds" and letting the paintings sit for several days while I worked on other paintings, I decided that I liked both of them enough to finish them up.  Actually this one kept calling to me... letting me know that it was really quite worthy.   So I continued working on them trying to improve the issues I saw after a few days... (shapes which were too regular or the same, not enough movement in the water, "flat", cut-out looking rocks, too many hard edges, etc.)

 I pulled out my Plein Air Magazine with Ray Roberts' seascape painting on the cover and flipped through his website for even more inspiration.  I love his work and would love to create work which has the appeal of his work... (not to mention his ability to use composition, color and brushwork to inspire the angels.)

Neither of these doubles are perfect, but I like them both and am happy to be moving in what I think is the "right" direction.... west, east....who knows....   but "right".

A Favorite Place
Sequit Point at Leo Carrillo is the place that speaks to my soul.  No matter when I visit it is always beautiful and always different.  This visit was in October.

It's the same place but it's not.  On other days or at other times of the year or times of day, the sands change, the rocks move, the water is high, the atmosphere and light is different. 
It's always a delightful surprise.

How At Least One Series Is Conceived

I've learned about many artists who do series (Monet's haystacks and cathedrals come to mind) and often I've often wondered what made them do it.  Were they just trying to get it "right"?  Were they studying?  Was it a place of wonder for them?  Why did they paint the same thing over and over?

I know this place as Sequit Point in Leo Carrillo State Beach.  Although I paint all over this area, I mostly paint around Lifeguard Tower 3.  There is a metal marker drilled or hammered into the craggy cliff near Tower 3 which identifies it as Sequit Point.  When I tried looking up the word "sequit" in the dictionary, the closest I came to finding it was a third person singular Latin word meaning "it follows".  The closest English word is sequitur which has synonyms like consequence, deduction, determination, inference, and conclusion.  -- Hmmmmmm  -- Perhaps the place presents itself in such a pleasing array of shapes, colors, sounds and smells so it follows that my paintings will be a satisfying assortment -- the same - but different. 

Anyway after painting "Sunset At Sequit Point" and this one, "Sequit", I decided I liked the idea -- not just to do my plein air sketches there, but to do a series of studio paintings of Sequit Point.  The same view -- just a different season, time of day or weather condition.  It will fill my painting soul and perhaps a few viewers will enjoy it too. -- I'm working on two scenes looking south from Sequit point right now.  (The views you see in this and the last post are looking north.)  It does make me think about how important light is and how it changes the color of the water and the rocks...  So very interesting and compelling.

I chose this location for two of my paintings for the PAC6 show called "Double Take" at Hillside Fine Art Gallery in Claremont, CA. 
The PAC6 - me and 5 of my painting buddies, will all present "doubles" of our chosen scenes.

The show will run from January 17 through the end of February, 2016.
The reception will be Saturday, February 6, from 5-7 pm.

Hillside Fine Art
445 W. Foothill Blvd. Ste. 101
Claremont, CA  91711

I sure hope you can make it.

Finding Something Different
A weekend art sale of work by California Art Club artist members at La Casita Del Arroyo in Pasadena led me to experiment again with a different type support.  Seeing all of the great work, chatting with friends and meeting artists I hadn't met before was fun.  Being with friends and fellow painters is inspirational, and supports my creative needs.  While I was there what caught my eye was the intriguing look of some of the work.

While browsing the work in the show, I noticed that quite a few of the artists I knew were painting on gessoed board -- no canvas or linen.  I liked it.  It created a different look than the more textured surfaces I had been trying to achieve using linen panels or stretched canvases.  I decided to try using hardboard panels.  Jack Richeson Co. has a nice "Toned Premium Gessoed Hardboard" which comes in a mid-tone grey and an umber wash.  I took one to our PAC6 pack trip to Ediza Lake and the Eastern Sierra and found it incredibly easy to paint on.  The pre-toned surface accepts paint well and the toning makes it easy to lay out a nice 3-value design.

Since it worked well on my trip, I've used the hardboard panels a few more times including this painting and it's "double" for an upcoming show with my PAC6 buddies at Hillside Fine Art in Claremont, CA.  The show will hang from January 17 through February 28 and will feature two sets of doubles from each of the six of us.

Double Take
My first two "doubles" are done on canvas and linen and have a totally different feel than these two.  One of them is covered with quite thickly textured paint -- the other was done en plein air from the same place only during an entirely different time of day, year and season.  It's almost hard to tell it's the same scene since in that "double" there is a slough which changes drastically over the years because of changes in the tides and water table of the slough and surrounding land.  It will be interesting to see how they look with all of the other doubles in the upcoming show.

The premise of "Double Take" is to paint the same place differently -- two different times of day -- two different seasons -- two different types of weather.  It's a fabulous idea and there are so very many ways to address it.  After much thought I finally decided to focus on the place I most love to paint: Sequit Point at Leo Carrillo State Beach.  I have painted there many, many times over the years.   Each time I go there, it's different.   The sands change, some of the rocks move, the wave size changes and of course the weather changes.   I know that when I paint what I love I can convey the magical feelings and moods of the place.  I hope you agree.

This painting was of a late summer day just before sunset.  I was with my friend.  It was glorious.

The trailhead which leads up to Echo Mountain begins at what is left of the Cobb Estate in Altadena, CA.
One evening I was with a group at the Cobb Estate waiting to paint nocturnes.

As the sun began falling Echo Mountain lit up and brilliant paths of sunshine
kindled the dry grasses pointing the way up the mountains.
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Taking Advantage Of An Upcoming Opportunity

The California Art Club has always been one of the art groups that I most identify with.  The club is a huge organization attracting artists from across the country -- not just California -- but for me, it retains the "just small enough" status.  Too big and I feel lost and too small and I feel constricted.

So although I haven't attempted to enter any shows in a while, I decided it was time to try again.

There is a show coming up in Altadena and all levels of the CAC are eligible to submit work for the juror to select from.  Normally the theme, which is fairly location specific - "Scenic Vistas Of The San Gabriels" would be off-putting for me.  I don't live in the San Gabriel Valley and while I often go to CAC events in that area, I rarely go there to paint because the traffic in that direction during the week is ugly.  However, a year or so ago, I took a nocturne class from CAC Artist Member, Eric Merrell, which was near his home in the San Gabriel Valley.  Before night set, we drove around and then we set up in a grassy area near the Cobb Estate in Altadena.  As Eric talked to us, the sun was setting and I quickly dashed off the "bones" of an 8"x8" sunset study which I finished later that week.  Although I enjoyed the workshop and learned some great things, my nocturne sketches really  sucked stunk, but I have always liked that little sunset sketch.

"Sunset In The San Gabriels"

I decided to use the sunset sketch as the basis for a slightly larger painting which you see above.  I tried to play with color and make it interesting -- thinking that if the juror got hundreds of paintings of mountains, it would be a pretty boring show.  At least the colors and shapes and design of this painting will be interesting and hopefully pleasing to the viewers.

I also painted a more traditional view of the San Gabriel Mountains, but I tried to put the emphasis on the light hitting the tall palms as it was fading toward twilight. 

"Eternal Light -- Mountain View"

The title is a bit of a play on words.  The street in this painting is right in front of the Mountain View Cemetery.   (I decided to leave that part out of the title, though.  LOL) 

It would be lovely if one or both were accepted into the show which is in Altadena...   Very location specific and hopefully pleasing to those who might view it in that venue.

Are Buyers Always "Location Specific"?

A friend who will be in an upcoming group show with me early next year told me recently that, "Nobody buys seascapes from that gallery"  [where we will be showing our work]  Actually I've heard many similar things from a wide variety of artists.  Most recently I heard it from a gallery owner/ artist in the Santa Barbara area who said that people from the area didn't seem to want to buy paintings of the Oregon coast.   I found that rather sad after having looked at the particular Oregon artist's work and finding it absolutely amazing and beautiful.  However, I suspect that it's probably true.  People who live in the desert don't buy ocean scenes, people who live on the coast don't buy desert scenes, etc. 

It sure would be nice if people bought paintings because of the paint and the design and the brushwork and color...  but it is understandable that there needs to be a bigger connection....  -- a favorite vacation spot, a home, a familiar landmark or event.

So.. what should I do if I actually want to sell my artwork?

Hmmmm...   I'd love to know what any of you think.  Please take a minute to leave a comment about your own thoughts and experiences.  For me, I will probably continue to paint those places I love (like the coast) and hope that perhaps someone else loves them too -- enough to want to live with them on their walls.

There's a dog beach up in Santa Barbara called Hendry's.  It's also called Arroyo Burro Beach.
Somehow watching the joy of the many dogs as they play on the beach and splash through the waves puts a smile on everyone's face.

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Let's Play!
was one of two of my paintings selected to be part of the 6" Squared Show
Randy Higbee Gallery
December, 2015

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How Do I Get Them To Stay?
Better yet, how do I get them to return and contact me or purchase a piece of artwork?
It's a question I imagine most of us who are artists have asked ourselves if we have a web presence.  Statistically I know that people are visiting my website.  My website design company, Fine Art Studio Online or FASO, comes with many perks including stats about who any visits and how any pages they visit.  Each time I post a new painting, it also sends it out to all FASO subscribers in what is called the Daily Mail.  Each time that happens my statistics jump.

I usually have 20-30 visits each day when I don't do anything special.  On days when I upload a new image it jumps to well over 30 -- sometimes WAY over 30.  The trouble is more often than not, the visitors don't stay.  Most visit one page and move on to someone else's image.

I need to figure out a way to get them to stay.  In the early years before the advent of "secure searches" I could see more of what people were looking for who actually landed on my website using a search engine.  Now because of secure searches the visits are less easy to track from key words or search topics so I can't tell why they visited my website in the first place.

Examining My Own Visits

I decided to think about why I visit several pages of other artists websites.  Here are some that I came up with:

1. I have seen their work (and liked it) in a magazine and I want to see more or look to see if I can afford a piece.
2. I heard about them from friends and want to find out more.
3. I've seen their work through social media and want to learn more about them.
4. I have met the artist either on a trip or at an opening or in a workshop and I wanted to know more about their work and them.
   
5. Their work is in a show with my work and I want to compare -- prices, subject matter, style, etc.
6. I subscribe to their blog or newsletter and there is a piece mentioned that I like and I want to know more.
7. I want to find out about where the artist lives or whether they do workshops.

I'm sure you could add several other reasons to visit more than one page of an artist's website.  I sure would appreciate it if you would take the time to comment below and add your own reasons.

But wait...  There's More!

1. I also wonder how often those of you who have your own artist website sell your work from the website. 
2. Do most of your collectors contact you through email or by phone? 
3. Do you list your prices?  I've seen both....and although I always hesitate to contact those where there are no prices listed, I know some artists feel it's better not to list prices. 
4. Do you have a PayPal button on your image pages?

Basically I'm wondering what I've always wondered.....  "How do I get them to stay?"

Every visit to Leo Carrillo is a delightful surprise.
It's a never-ending change of scene.

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Why Paint?
I think one of the main reasons I keep painting is because it gives me an "excuse"... an opportunity.. whatever you want to call it to get outside and be one with places that fill me with a sense of well-being.   Even on days when the weather isn't cooperating or when the insects seem to have been called to a convention on MY palette, I love being outdoors.  This painting journey of mine happened rather late in the scheme of things.  Until I started painting, I had never done much hiking... I hadn't spent days and nights on a dive boat or climbed the cliff on our nearby Channel Islands.  I'd never camped or rafted down the Colorado River.  I'd never ridden a horse up into the Sierra Nevadas.  I hadn't spent a day sitting on a rock by the sea staring out to sea.  These things came because of painting.  These experiences have changed me -- they've made me more appreciative and joyful.  For that I am grateful.

Another reason I keep painting... those times I spend in my studio... are when I can study the design, or the color or the brushwork of my favorite artists.... -- trying to see those passages that make my heart sing and trying to see if I can make some of that music happen in my own work.

Fun With Friends
Recently I went to my favorite painting spot, Leo Carrillo State Beach, with my friend, Diane Nelson-Gold.  We usually end up at Tower 3 -- Sequit Point.  I've been going for years now and each time I go I see a new spot which inspires me.  On this day I arrived before Diane and after scouting around found a spot on the edge of the cliff.  The tide was very high and the waves were huge.  I was careful -- I've been totally drenched even from the top of the cliff before, but I set up on a spot where I could see the crashing waves and the vapor left behind.

Diane arrived and sat next to me.  We love to chat and the morning passed quickly.  Diane totally nailed a wave study and I had only blocked in the majority of the rock cliff and some of the water by the time we were asked to move by the Film Makers who had leased the beach for a TV shoot. 

Idols and Inspirations
I finished it at home as I looked at examples of Ray Roberts' work for inspiration.   I had been going through my magazines and came across the Plein Air Magazine that featured the painting for which he won the CAC Gold Medal.  --- Really a beautiful piece!!  That man knows how to create elegant shapes, beautiful color transitions and a wonderful sense of light.  Although I imagine all of you are familiar with his work, here are a few of his paintings as examples:

Ray Roberts Crashing Waves At Pt. Lobos

Ray Roberts Laguna Glow

Ray Roberts Twin Harbors

Although I know my painting isn't anything like Ray's, I'd like to think that just looking at his work inspired my own work to be a bit better.  I've taken classes from him twice now and am hoping I can find a 2016 workshop that will fit into my schedule.  He is not just a fabulous artist, but he's a very good teacher.  Every time you take a class you are in a different place on your journey so there are new things to hear and learn.

I was very happy with my painting,

"Sea Foam and Shadow"

What or who inspires YOU?

Deciding what to paint
I was with my daughter in Santa Barbara.  Her son used to go to a preschool just north of the UCSB campus near the Devereux Slough.   As we drove toward campus to pick him up, we saw a beautiful orange sunset reflecting in the waters of the slough.   It was a wonderful scene! 

My PAC6 pals and I have a show coming up early next year (in February) called either "Take Two" or "Double Take" (still unsure).   We will paint the same place at either two different times of day or during two different seasons.  It sounds like it will be a fun show and I am hoping to create some worthy "takes".  I had already painted a plein air piece that I liked at the Slough so a scene at the end of the day seemed like a perfect match.

When I actually got down to painting it, I decided that I liked a sunset sky from a cruise photo I had taken better than the sky in actually over the slough so I used the slough scene and added the cruise sky. 

Inspirations
Each time I try to create a painting I have a goal in mind.  This time, I was working on using layers of paint and practicing the color theory and color transitions that my mentor, David Gallup, has tried to teach us.  I have been having such a hard time trying to "make it my own" -- to demonstrate my understanding by applying it to my work.

Often when I paint, I put out lots of images of one or more artists whose work I admire.  I know that Dan Pinkham's work totally exemplifies this color theory.  David is often using Dan's work to illustrate what he's teaching us.  So as I flipped from one of Dan's beautiful paintings to another, I began to create my own. 

It takes time
At first I didn't like it much, but after many, many painting sessions, and many layers, corrections, subtle transitions, changes in value, etc. the painting began to grow on me.  It took a great deal of work time and "sit and stare time" and some critiques by good friends before I was satisified with the results. 

I finally think that now it's telling the story I set out to tell.  -- The story of beautiful paint, interesting shapes, and engaging color as much as it is of a beautiful scene.   So my "take two" is not just a different time of day, but a whole different way of putting paint down.

I like both pieces (or takes).  I hope you do too! 

Oh... and here are a few "close-ups" showing the brushwork:

I really enjoy "hearing" what you're thinking.

Comment

Fear
Can you imagine being afraid of paint?

Apparently I am.  Well, I'm not actually afraid of the paint itself.... It's just that I find myself in the sad position that far too many painters -- especially those less confident ones -- are in. 

I usually participate in a weekly class with David Gallup.  Generally there are from 4-8 students in the class and there is always a lively dialogue -- critiques, demos, challenges, encouragement and painting time.  I've been a student of David's for over 5 years now.  I always enjoy class -- I always learn something.  However, since my husband was due to have knee replacement surgery in early July, I decided to take some time off from class to help Gastone with his recovery.

Frustration
Quite surprisingly for the last class I went to before I took these last 4 weeks off, I was the only student.  Wow... a unique opportunity, right??  Well, it was actually... but I ended up really being frustrated with myself.  David is a consummate teacher.  He is always trying to instruct, lead, cajole and push us (sometimes kicking and screaming) into areas where we need to go to grow.  He looks at our individual strengths but he also is well aware of where we need to improve.  David decided to watch me mix my colors.  He has demonstrated and taught us this both during Master Class and in his color theory class, but now he wanted to make sure I understood it.   Wow...  being the only one in the class, I was really on the spot!

I started mixing up paint and as silly as it sounds, even after he told me to use more paint, I found that I had to FORCE myself to mix large piles.  I mean really... what was the big deal??  I'm not poor.  I can afford paint...  It's just that although I so absolutely LOVE those thick swathes of tangled paint in David's work, I couldn't bring myself to build the piles and apply them.   I was frustrated almost to the point of crying.   WHY?

Resolve
It has been about 4 weeks since that class.  Of course during much of that time I was with my husband  helping him gain his strength and balance back, but I have also spent a lot of time thinking about painting and actually painting.... yes, trying --sometimes successfully- to mix up and use LARGE piles of colors... transitions in the same value to pick up with a loaded brush and apply to my paintings.

Control Freak

I think the issue for me is not about "wasting paint".  It's about not being able to control it as I apply it to a painting.  I'm finally getting the hang of using transitions and bridges and secondary colors in the darks.  But when I have big, loaded brushes the paint doesn't always lay down where I want it to or in the way I had intended.    Then again... So what?   All I'd have to do would be to scrape it and start over.  Bottom line... I need to "Just do it".   And then do it again and again and again.   So I will.

I recently saw a photo on Facebook which I "lifted" and which you can see here.  I think it originally came from the webmaster of this website, FASO.  His name is Clint Watson.  He shares his great philosophy about art, creativity and marketing.  I hope you enjoy the photo and the message just as I did.

During these weeks, I've been painting.  I tried to use lots and lots of paint without being messy when I painted "Matilija Shadows".  I tried to make the "whites" not white - especially where the petals were translucent or where they shaded other petals.   I love Matilija Poppies and the way they seem to float along on the breeze.  I liked the way this painting came out too.  I still have a long way to go with being able to use large piles of beautiful paint... But I am "just doing it" anyway.

On another note....  I recently asked some friends to look through my website and pick 4 paintings that they thought were "my best work".  It was interesting and perhaps a lesson to me... although I'm not sure what to make of it yet.  There was virtually no consensus. 

I wonder what would happen if any of you took me up on my request.  Which four paintings from any or all of my "Collections" do YOU think represent "my best work"?

My website: http://marianfortunati.com/works

PAC6 PAINTING ADVENTURES
In four weeks my painting buddies and I are going to team up once again for another painting adventure.  Last year we traveled to

Canyon de Chelly, AZ and had an absolutely heavenly painting and exploring trip through the lands surrounding this beautiful Navajo National Monument.

In August the six of us will climb aboard horses or mules to pack in to Lake Ediza and environs in the Eastern Sierra Nevada range of California.  We called ourselves the "PAC6" -- (for painting across the country) because we knew this would be one of many painting adventures we would take together. 

This year we will be camping and although there will be a crew there to cook our meals and keep the bears from eating us (or our food), we need to pack our own tents, bedding, paint gear and clothes and there is a weight limit.  When we went to Canyon de Chelly, our only limit was how much we could stuff in our car.  This year is a bit different -- We will have a 75 lb weight limit and all gear must fit in to 24" bags.

NEW PAINT BOX
To treat myself I decided to buy a new pochade box and tripod and backpack.  I've basically had the same EasyL since I started plein air painting.  Well that's not exactly true.  My first EasyL was a larger size.  After several trips to the Channel Islands I decided to buy a tiny EasyL so that I could paint on the kayak.  It was too tiny.  I didn't like it at all.  Happily I was able to trade it for one my friend, Diane Gold, had.  She wanted a smaller box.  She loves it.  And I've been very happy with her EasyL which was smaller than my original box but bigger than the little one.

But it's been almost 10 years since I bought my first paintbox and while the tripod still works and the original and traded boxes are still fine, I wanted a new one.  I looked at several varieties when I was at the Plein Air Convention  #PACE.  Basically, while I can afford whatever I want, I don't like to spend a lot of money.   Most of the boxes I looked at were too expensive or too heavy or too big -- none were "just right".  The new updated EasyL was around the right price... but it just didn't ring my chime.

When I found out that painting friend, Debra Holladay, was buying a new box that I'd never heard of,  I looked it up and decided it was just right.  It's actually quite beautiful.  It's a Sienna Pochade box, tripod and backpack.  It's really like nice furniture!  Best of all I found it on SALE!  It was delivered right away, but I hadn't taken it out to try it out until today.

THE DRY RUN
My husband had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago and even though he's healing really well, I didn't want to leave him.  But when he said, "GO... have fun",  I went for it.  My plan was to go to the beach -- my favorite spot -- but it was supposed to be overcast at the beach and this morning Gastone, my husband, seemed to be having a small setback (the knee began to swell again) so I didn't want to go too far in case he needed me to take him to the Dr.

I got all of the gear ready -- Everything I wanted fit in the backpack!  So off I went.  YAY!!

I hiked around in the canyon for a while then I found a spot and set it up.  The box seems to work fine.  The tripod is steady and the umbrella works okay too.  It was a funny day in the canyon.  The canyon near my home - Caballero Canyon -- is a place I have painted often.   There are always lots of hikers and mountain bikers.  Today there was quite a stir because a coyote was spotted following some small dogs down the trail.  I saw him, but he was pretty elusive -- I couldn't get a photo.   Some young girls apparently had never seen a coyote and were scared - they went screaming down the trail.  Everyone else enjoyed the critter sighting.   I've seen coyotes around the neighborhood, but not when I've been down in the canyon.  But it IS their home, afterall. 

Today I didn't paint a beauty.  The painting you see above is a large studio piece I painted a few years back from several studies I have done there in the canyon.  Those rocks are pretty unusual -- rather unique to our canyon.  Today's painting was pretty much a "frisbee" or a "wiper", but at least I got to paint and try out the new equipment.  The box worked well.  The backpack holds it all.  There is a problem with the way the tripod is supposed to attach to the backpack, but now that I know I can figure out a work-around before the trip.

So I had a nice day... got to practice a bit and now I have some time before my trip to get the "kinks" out of the backpack.   The "dry run" worked.  It was a good day.

Tomorrow we go to Gastone's Dr. to get his stitches out.  Hopefully the doc can also fix the new swelling ... sort of like getting the "kinks" out of his new knee.

My husband had knee replacement surgery last Friday.  He's fine and I know that with time he will be even better.   However, because I wanted to prepare and because I knew that after surgery, my husband would need to have me around more, I decided not to go to my Master Class with David Gallup until Gastone is more independent.

I love my class.  I always learn something new from David and I enjoy watching the demos, listening to the critiques and talking with and learning from my classmates.  David's always challenging us to do new things.  Recently after long discussions about the work of Bob Kuhn, he challenged us to add animals to our work... while paying attention to the abstract design (and values and edges and brushwork and color, etc).  I thought this was an interesting direction to take.  But sometimes it's good to just "chill".

So since I was not going to be attending class, I decided to spend my time thinking.  To be honest, I haven't done much painting.  I had expected to do more painting, but I guess my head or my heart just isn't in it.  I need to use this time to reflect on my direction and my goals.  I'm pretty clear about what I don't want -- I don't want to do festivals, I don't want to do plein air events.  I don't particularly want to teach -- maybe someday but not now.  It's harder to narrow down what I really want -- other than just to paint well.

A while back I decided to try to add figures to my landscapes.  My husband suggested that my paintings would be "more lively" with figures in them.  Some of my plein air pieces of the kids surfing or playing at the beach have been fun to do and seem to be appreciated by collectors, so I decided to work on painting some figures using some of the sketches from last summer painting and photos taken at the beach.

I tried to look at the values more than the colors.  I tried to pay attention to the abstract design.  What do you think? 

Should I keep working on figures? 

"Suiting Up -- Boys On The Beach"

Hardy Painters
The weather during our week at #PaintCamp  (Eric Rhoads' Publisher's Invitational Paint Out) was not the best to be hoped for.  Happily, however, we all enjoyed painting and being outdoors, so we made the best of it.

The Gun Club Painters

On Friday we were able to all go to the Gun Club to paint.  Sadly, it was quite overcast and cold.  I have to say, though, that many of the painters managed to create wonderful paintings despite the less-than-desireable weather.  I wasn't one of them.  

I decided just to do a couple of figures.  I had some success in the past painting people at the beach, so this was another opportunity to practice figures in the landscape.  I painted the three painters directly in front of me while they painted.  They didn't move much, which was fine by me.  I'm not sure who the third painter was... possibly Susanna White, but the center painter was Nedra Smith and the first painter on the left was Greg Summers.   Greg's red shirt made him the subject of many of our paintings.  The bright red seemed to work well with so much green. 

Painting At Cascade Lake 10"x10" O/L

Greg is also in my second painting of the day.  One of the groups drove (and the caravan got lost) to Cascade Lake and we all painted trees and streams and the lake.   I really enjoyed painting with my friend, Laura Wambsgans.  She is quite accomplished and it is always instructive to watch how she lays in her paintings -- the colors she mixes-- what she chooses to put in or leave out, etc.   Since I was painting almost the same scenes as she was all day, it became even easier to peak over to see the progress of her work.

Awesome Ausable Chasm
Our last painting day was Saturday.  Laura and I had wanted to see Ausable Chasm (pronounced "Awww Sable") on the way to paint camp, but decided it was too much out of the way so we didn't go.  I had heard about Ausable Chasm from my friend, Mary Burkhardt, who told me that school kids have field trips to see it and hike around it.  As it turned out, Eric had planned for us to paint there so we didn't have to miss it.  Laura and I decided to paint there until mid-afternoon and then head back to Paul Smiths' College so we could clean up before the party.  The weather was perfect!  It was sunshiny and warm -- a good thing because the wind developed by the falls was strong and rather cool.   The painters lined up across the bridge and painted our hearts out.  In the afternoon some hiked down and painted from the bottom of the chasm and others went to paint elsewhere.

Looking straight down into the chasm from the bridge.

This was my painting done from the bridge:

The Falls At Ausable Chasm

Party time
Eric and Laurie Rhoads (and the triplets) graciously invited all of us to their family camp for a final goodbye party.  The camp's name is Camp Limberlost and like so many of the "camps" along the lakes in the area, it's quite awesome.  Last year we were hosted above the boat house, but the boat house was undergoing repairs due to damages caused by a roof leak during the winter season.  This year we spent time mostly outdoors but also in the main rooms of the main house.  Much of the camp is sheathed in beautiful birch bark and inside there are many unique birch touches which add to the charm of the camp. 

The weather was perfect and the ambiance couldn't have been better.  The Rhoads' were perfect hosts -- everyone felt welcome and I believe we all had a great time.  We chatted, ate, drank and made delicious s'mores on the outdoor campfire. 

A "River Rat" reunion (We all went through the Grand Canyon along the Colorado River together)

  -- Many thanks to the Rhoads family for a perfect end to a wonderful week!

Laura and I left after all of the goodbyes and announcements the next morning.  We drove to a different ferry and crossed in to Vermont.  Our plane was delayed and we almost missed our connecting flight from NYC to LAX.  We thought we were "home free" until we landed in Los Angeles and discovered that our luggage hadn't made it home with us.  Thank goodness that happened on the way home and not on the way TO Paintcamp!!

It was a great trip.  I enjoyed the friendly people, the scenery and the painting time.  I would love to hear from you -- please feel free to comment.

ALSO....   I send out an almost monthly newsletter... It has paintings, rambling thoughts, the latest adventures and my bookshelf list.  If you are interested in receiving it in your mailbox, please sign up by clicking the link below:

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Marian Fortunati Fine Art Email Newsletter

Off on another adventure

Last year at Eric Rhoads'  "Publisher's Invitational Paint Out" in the Adirondacks all of us were offered the opportunity to sign up ahead of time for this year's "PAINT CAMP".  I had a great time last year and thought it would be fun to do again so I signed up.  I was thrilled when my friend, Laura Wambsgans, said she'd like to go too!

Just a week before we left, the Adirondacks were suddenly front page news because two dangerous escaped prisoners from Dannemora Maximum Security Prison still hadn't been found and were thought to be hiding somewhere in the Adirondacks. 

Emile Gruppe'
We went anyway.   VERY early in the morning we hopped aboard a plane in LAX ending in Burlington, Vermont after a brief stop at JFK.  The next morning we were at our leisure to make our way to paint camp.  We did a bit of exploring.  In a wonderful accidental "find" Laura found the Emile Gruppe' Museum in nearby Jericho, VT.  It was so close by, we decided not to miss it.  As it happened the museum is part of the home of Emil's daughter, Emilie Alexander, and her husband.  We saw some wonderful examples of Gruppe's work on the walls, had a terrific conversation with the Alexanders, who showed us a short film clip of Emile painting and Emilie when she was around 3 years old.  Both Laura and I knew about and own Gruppe's books on Brushwork and on Painting.  Neither of us knew he had a third book on color.    I found it on Amazon, but it's quite expensive and only available used.

Beautiful sights on our way to Paint Camp

We took the ferry from Charlotte, VT across Lake Champlain to Essex, NY.  We had grand weather and saw beautiful sights on our way to Paul Smiths' College where we all stayed for Paint Camp.  On one stop, while we were enjoying a beautiful waterfall, sirens began wailing.  We really had no idea what was going on as we never saw fire engines or police cars.  But this was one of several times during our week-long adventure when the sirens went off during our trip.  They are kind of like our air raid signals used to sound here in LA. many years back.  I imagine they are used to call out volunteer fire fighters or other emergencies. 

Welcome to Paint Camp

As we arrived at the college for check in, we were greeted by Eric and his triplets and some college staffers.  After settling in to our dorm rooms, we headed down to the main dining hall and began to socialize with the other campers.   There were about 120 painters/spouses at the camp and all were ready to have a great time.   Eric set the upbeat tone in his first orientation, and reminded us all that "plein air painting is the 'new golf'".  (I don't like golf, so I'm not sure I agree.)   Later we gathered in the bar for fun.

The next morning all of us headed to the nearby Visitor's Interpretive Center (aka The VIC).  This is a lovely spot of hiking trails and marshes originally run by the state, but now run by Paul Smiths' College.  Although quite a damp day, this year the mosquitoes and black flies were not as abundant so it was a fun day.  I decided not to paint the same things I had last year.  I tried a running stream and then chose a warmer spot up near the VIC museum which looked out over Heron Marsh.  My first day's efforts are below on the left and right:

Rust Colored Waters: The VIC

Heron Marsh Overlook: The VIC

Rain, Wet, Water and Green

On the second paint day, it was pouring rain.  The first day was overcast and drippy, but the second day was simply a downpour!  Laura and I bravely followed one of the leaders out to a paint spot, but neither of us wanted to stand in the rain and paint.  We admired those who did, however.

Instead we explored.  Despite the rain, there were some beautiful spots to see.  I have to say that those escaped prisoners must have been pretty miserable with all of the rain and cold and bugs!

High Falls
By afternoon it had cleared up with blue skies and warm sun, so Laura and I headed to High Falls which I had heard so much about the year before.  I hadn't gone because my friend, Mary Burkhardt, wanted to spare her knees and go elsewhere.  There are over 200 steps on a switchback staircase leading down to the base of the falls.  They were wet but we were careful and it was totally worth it!

High Falls High   12x9  O/L

We happily painted away the afternoon.  I was so entranced I didn't even realize that I was standing behind Eric Rhoads as he was painting on a huge canvas.  I met another wonderful painter, who was standing next to me named R. Greg Summers.  Check out his work.  It's great.  All of us were totally engrossed and the roar of the waterfall drowned all conversation.  Suddenly however, Eric said... "Hey!  I think it's raining!"  Sure enough, we were caught in a downpour.  All of us made a mad dash to clean up our palettes and charge up the switchback stairs.  What was originally 200+ steps seemed more like 400+ going up in that rain!

We were absolutely soaked before we got up to the top of the cliff! 

But what fun we had laughing and screeching all the way up!

It was a perfect end to a perfect day at paint camp!

When I first started blogging I tried to do a painting every day.  I was just starting to paint, so I needed to practice and was really trying to get better.  AND, of course, I loved almost everything I painted.  I didn't know all of the things I didn't know.

Today --  well, today I'm a different person.   I'm a different artist.  My mentor and teacher, David Gallup, often reminds us of a quote by Heraclitus.  “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”   He usually refers to this quote when encouraging us to visit art shows and museums and to really look long and hard at all kinds of classic and contemporary art.  He feels that the more often we immerse ourselves in great art, the more likely it is to become part of us...   to show up in some way in our own art.  In some cases I really do hope that happens.

Today I often take weeks to work on a studio painting.  Of course, my plein air studies are done in a few hours, but in the studio I will work and then put a painting up on the shelf and just look at it.  I'll often have a few I'm working on.  Sometimes I think I'm finished with one for a while.  But then I find things that bother me or that could be just a bit better, so I'll put it back on the easel.  Sometimes I spend more time thinking about the painting or "letting it cook" than I do actually working on it with a brush.   I love trying to add interesting color transitions and depth.    I also enjoy layering paint to achieve a variety of brushwork and improve the surface quality. 

But how long shall I think about it?   How long shall I look at it?  When will it be done?  Will I ever be able to see all of the possibilities I missed? 

San Simeon Spring was inspired by a beautiful spring day I spent on my drive up the coast of California this spring.

I wonder.....   is it finished?

How long does it take?   Does it even matter?  It takes as long as it takes.

It was a perfect day at my favorite painting spot.
Sharon Weaver and I finally got a chance to get out and paint together. 
We were both pleased to be back at Leo Carrillo on such a gorgeous day.
I found my "place" and began to settle in when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shape glide past.
What a thrill!  A couple of adults and a mother and youngster pair  -- They were so close to shore.
I sat and watched as several of these beautiful creatures made their way north.

Design

A few weeks ago I decided to sign up for some time in David Gallup's Thursday design class.  I have been studying with David in his weekly class for most of 5+ years now.  Since I started with almost no knowledge about artists and art history, I consider that part of my journey's growth almost as valuable as the continued supportive practice and patient demonstration he provides.  Occasionally he'll offer special workshops which have enhanced and solidified weekly lessons for the students.  Design class is almost like that, but it's not really a workshop.  It is definitely a skill set I can improve upon and I've found my head exploding now for a few weeks.

Since I started the class after most of the others had started, for the first week or so I was doing only 2 value designs -- that's it.   I would try to develop a design and then I would watch and listen as David went over the effort and explained how to strengthen it.  Currently I'm doing 3 value designs.  These are just designs out of our heads -- not looking at "things" and it isn't as easy as it might seem!   I think it will be a real mind-exploder trying to fit the design to a landscape or floral or some other "thing" based something -- maybe even a good abstract!   I've seen David and other students do it, but I haven't tried it yet.

But there at Leo, I sat in joyful silence (well... I did let out little squeals of excitement now and then) watching the whales. 

Then, when they had all passed,  I settled in to paint there at Leo while still trying to keep some of those lessons about design in my head.

• Think about a center of interest
• Think about having different value masses of different sizes and shapes filling the canvas so that no quadrant is like any other
• Think about varying lines -- fast lines and slow lines -- lines of varying thicknesses
• Think about calligraphy of line and shape
• Remember not to repeat shapes -- either the light or the middle or the dark shapes
• The specifics of the shape define the narrative of the painting -- the specifics of the edges tell the story
• What are the weights of the shapes and what is their "direction"?
• Think about what makes a good abstract shape -- varying edges, etc
• Think about subtly leading the eye -- not obviously   -- possibly more than one path to lead the eye
• Where are the points of highest tension
• Asymmetry is a good thing

It's pretty hard to train myself not to think about the "thing" that is in front of me.  A good artist will arrange a scene to make an appealing design -- not just try to paint the scene in front of her.   So here is what I ended up with.   I was pretty happy with my efforts:

"And There Were Whales"

Happy painting!

The Last Days

It seems that the longer I am on this journey as an artist, the slower I go.  I've come to learn that we are all filled with moments of self doubt and frustration.  Lately, however, everyone is telling me that frustration is my friend.....    REALLY?

Well, in a way they are right.  Frustration is far better than stagnation.  And as slow as I seem to be going, at least I'm still going.  -- After all -- the turtle won the race, didn't he?

Today as I look over the various paintings of the last month -- those painted during the convention and since then, I say...  hey not bad!  Maybe not as good as I'd like to be but still good and growing.  What more could I ask?

Boot Camp -- Thank you, Eric Rhoads!
During the last two days of the conference, we continued to learn and enjoy friends and other artists.  Dorene White, my friend and roommate, and I got up early again to go to Eric Rhoads' Boot Camp.   Again we were treated to good advice and reminders about improving our art careers.   Some quotes were:

• Take 10 minutes before going to bed each night to focus on what needs to be solved
• When you awake focus on the solutions and write it all down.... don't judge, -just write
• Make goals and break them down weekly or daily -- don't let yourself off the hook
• Gather a "mastermind" group to share ideas with -- be around people who will lift you up -- not tear you down
• It takes time
• Define your life -- brush time and marketing time
• Build "brand" awareness
• You are "gardening" -- get the weeds out
• Repetition not only sells products it sells yourself
• A goal without a plan is a wish
• Brush time is critical
• Your brain and your subconscious is the most important part of all of this -- DAYDREAM!
• Intention, Focus, Relentlessness

And probably the most lasting reminder for us was to do as Willie Nelson suggested, "Once you replace your negative thoughts with positive thoughts, your life will improve."   The Bob Newhart video called "Stop It" totally cemented that for us all.    If you watch it you will probably never forget it.... but will it change the way you think about yourself?

                                                                 

LEN CHMIEL
I love Len Chmiel's work and am often amazed at how he manages to use such wonderful abstract designs while creating beautiful "traditional realistic" landscapes.  His demonstration was unique, humorous, intelligent, totally "out of the box" and instructional.
He brought some of his work in to share and talked briefly about some of the pieces.   There were several I loved and but couldn't find images of them online.  Some I found in his book, (which is a total "must have") but.. there is nothing like seeing paintings in person to gather in their essence.   Here are a few among my favorite Chmiel images I grabbed from the web:

A few of Chmiel's influences were Gustav Klimpt and Richard Deibenkorn so you can see that just painting the things he sees in front of him is not his goal.

He loves to do "on-the-spotters" (don't you love that term?) but uses many things including these to do his studio work.  Chmiel talked about "thinking inside the box."  Meaning that the artist needs to learn about how things are -- geology, plants, etc.   He also said we need to use our imaginations -- ALWAYS ask "what if".  "Don't mindlessly whack away at the canvas when you don't know what you are doing."  Paint and paint and paint more.  He said that he keys all of his paintings to "mud".  He uses light as a design element.  Try not to copy.  He breaks the canvas into large masses.  You get to alter a landscape and make it what you want it to be.   "When you look out there and you can't identify the color -- it's grey."  He tries to make shadows into interesting shapes using negative and positive shapes.  He says he "wastes" a lot of paint.

There were so many great thoughts that he shared -- too many to list.  I thought his demo was hilarious.  I have NEVER seen anyone do a landscape demo quite that way.  Instead of using one of his "on-the-spotters" or a photo, he created a landscape with a "still life set-up."  He brought rocks and stacked them onto a lipped cookie sheet to make a cliff.  He brought a turquoise blue side of a cereal box for the sky and put it up in back of the rocks [the cliff] and then had some pieces of sage which he stood up in front of the "cliff" like a tree.  Then he poured water into the cookie sheet tray for the river.  TOTALLY unique!

I loved it! 

QUANG HO

I didn't know as much about Quang Ho's work as I had about Chmiel's and Carlson's but I was very impressed by his presence, his presentation and the examples of his work which he shared.  Here are a few points he made:

• There comes a point in your life as an artist where you stop seeing things as things and you begin to think about light and pattern.
• There is no such thing as "mud"
• You can't do a great work of art in just a couple of hours
• You must see the connectedness
• You can't make any intelligent decision without an understanding of the world around us
• There is no "negative space" -- the figure is just a starting point -- at some point it becomes part of something else
• "Every time I scrape a painting off it looks better
• Learn how few edges are needed
• Allow your painting to go away
• Everything in a painting is either in the light or in the shadow
• Pretend you are driving past the landscape [you are painting] at 130 miles per hour
• The whole point of doing a larger painting from a smaller painting is so you can have fun with it
• Don't mind getting "lost"
• Don't worry about color - only about relative warm and cool
• Painting is like driving -- sometimes you speed up, other times you slow down
• One shape is not finished until you finish the other shapes around it
• The sun that rakes across a field is going to dance as it touches the landscape and that becomes another beautiful piece of rhythm
• He used all sorts of tools as he worked on the demo... from soft brushes to stiff brushes to palette knives to credit cards
• The whole point is to try to learn something about paint ..... What you can get away with and how you can get into trouble
• Think of the painting as a mindful exercise
• Beautiful passages take time

In the afternoon we all drove to different places in Carmel to paint.  There just were no bad places to paint.  Beauty was everywhere!

Friday

On Friday there were no demos, presentations or things to buy in the convention center.   We all walked down to the wharf and painted.  I enjoyed chatting with new friends and seeing what other people were doing.  My friend Christopher Cook and I settled in to an area to the side of the harbor to paint and enjoyed the warm sun.

Soon it was time for me to leave, but I am happy to feel that I took a whole lot home with me.

Once again we were up and down in the convention hall by 6:15.  I was pretty surprised that it wasn't at all difficult for me.... I tend to like to sleep a bit longer, but since my pal, Dorene White, and I were staying there at the Portola Hotel where the convention was, it was easy to roll out, get dressed and start the day.

Boot Camp

Somehow I thought that boot camp would be sort of a "sell job".  Eric Rhoads is a masterful marketer and that's pretty much what I expected we would be hearing.  But really, I think we heard good practical information as well as some well targeted therapeutic advice about the relationship between our art and our attitude. 

Some thoughts to keep in mind:

Brian Blood did a "sand dune" demo

• You have to help people to find you
• Marketing is about repetition
• You have to have your act together before advertising
• Marketing is a life long learning effort
• Freedom is the key to a life well-lived
• You cannot get to where you're going if you don't know where you're going
• Your thoughts are the ultimate roadblock to your ultimate success
• The only thing holding me back is what I believe about myself
• Manage your mind-set   ("Stop-It... Bob Newhardt video)
• Narrow your goals and chase them relentlessly
• Excellence is a habit
• Imagine success and shed the negatives
• Start picturing yourself in the role -- be specific
• Get your garden ready

  Bill Davidson large painting demo from a smaller study

During the morning I saw some great demonstrations.  I loved watching and listening to Brian Blood as he created a lovely demo of a sand dune.    Later I watched Susan Blackwood and Howard Friedland who are married and who demoed paintings simultaneously.  Later Bill Davidson painted a large painting from a study.

Panel Discussion
My favorite part of the morning was the panel discussion led by Jean Stern.  He interviewed Len Chmiel, T. Allen Lawson and George Carlson about art, philosophy and life.   They talked about the artistic influences in their lives.  

• Chmiel: "What we do is a reflection of who we are."
• Lawson:  "Every mark that goes into a painting conveys a feeling."
• Carlson:  "Turn work upside down to see how it works as an abstract.... Think monumentally on little thumbnail forms."
• Carlson:  "Allow yourself time at the end of the painting"
• MINDFULNESS...  intuition, smell, vision, hearing, feeling (touch)
• Chmiel:  "It's exhausting -- everything around you turns into a composition."
• Lawson:  "The closer you get to the finish line, the longer you spend just thinking about the painting."
• Lawson:  "The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know."
• Chmiel:  "A painting is finished when the chaos is organized as much as we can, it's over."
• Lawson:  "Just because they're hanging on a wall or they're off to an exhibition doesn't mean they are finished."
• Carlson:  "Listen to your own drummer.  Go back to yourself.  Believe in what you are doing.  Stay with your own personal vision."
• Lawson:  "The Wright Brothers said, "no bird soars in the calm."  Find your own voice and be courageous.  Everything happens out on the edges."
• Chmiel:  "If you give up when you hit a wall, nothing happens.  Persevere."

In the afternoon we went to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove to Paint.    It was a really lovely day.  No wind and just the right temperature.

Lovers Point

It was fun painting and exchanging ideas with Dorene.  Plus we had the chance to talk to so many other artists we knew personally, from online "friendships" as well as those who we have long admired.  Everyone was friendly and welcoming and willing to share.  It was a nice time.

After grabbing a bowl of clam chowder from the hotel bar, we went to see part of the critique session.   I found it interesting both nights to hear what artists such as Quang Ho, CW Mundy, Lori Putnam and Carolyn Anderson had to say about those artworks which had been randomly selected to receive critiques.  We all learned, I think.

Marketing Boot Camp
Tuesday morning started early.  We were bright-eyed and bushy tailed-- dressed and ready to go at 6:15.   Eric Rhoads and Lori McNee began their "Boot Camp" with a special session on using social media for marketing.
They talked about blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Search tools, Pinterest, Linked In and things like Vine and Meercat which I had never heard of before.
Here are a few highlights:

• A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there
• Your persona as an artist needs to be carefully crafted
• "I am always doing things I can't do.  That's how I get to do them."  - Pablo Picasso
• Tie your blog to something topical
• In a blog -- compelling titles, 400-800 words, images, foster a discussion, link to other resources, use a call to action
• Blogs and social media posts should be about WE -- not about ME
• No polarizing content
• Reach outside your niche
• Use pictures with text over them
• Take selfies with famous people .... "halo marketing"
• Clean up your profiles on Twitter and other social media
• Linked In is a great place to find collectors
• Don't be self promotional
• Interact and make comments on other blogs
• Video is the most important medium today
• Tweet others the way you would like to be tweeted
• It takes 3-5 years to build a business

After that I went to several different demonstrations and "talks" by people such as Roger Dale Brown, Jason Sacron, Lori Putnam and JoAnna Arnett -- You couldn't possibly go to everything that was interesting.  Additionally there were vendors of all sorts in the main hall and it was fun to walk around and see all the possibilities.   There was so much good information shared, but it would be too much for this blog post, so I'll just skip to the presentation after lunch.

T. Allen Lawson
(Three examples of his work are on the right)

Lawson wasn't someone whose work I was as familiar with as Carlson's or Chmiel's, but I was totally impressed by his presentation and I am now a fan.    He said that plein air painting is a "good place to start".  Here are a few tidbits from his presentation:

• Carry a sketchbook at all times
• When you're a painter the world becomes your office
• His studio paintings are done from notes and videos and sketches (drawings) done in the field.  Many times he just sits and absorbs
• Paintings "come to me" --- and usually at the most inopportune times
• The longer you look at an object the more abstract it becomes and yet the more real
• If you draw well it gives you the courage and freedom to paint well
• There is a big difference between a painting and art ---- What's the difference between the dress rehearsal and opening night?  (the audience)
• Refinement of thought -- what am I painting...  eliminate - rearrange -- refine -- design with value, interesting shapes
• Make artistic decisions --- you are not painting things -- you must orchestrate a painting -- hierarchy of thought required -- varied shapes, placements, temperatures, angles, lines, patterns and textures
• With each of these thoughts, Lawson shared examples of historical artwork to illustrate and explain the thought

The audience was totally drawn in....  Such inspiration...   What a great day!

We all drove to Asilomar for our outside painting time....  We were met with gale-force winter winds.  It made the painting time pretty difficult while the seas were wild and gorgeous. 

I lasted long enough to paint a small 8x8 but there were hardy souls that produced wonderful larger pieces.  


I was just pleased with myself for being out there with everyone and for painting despite it all.  

"Rough Seas"

The hot bowl of clam chowder and happy laughter was a great way to end the day.