Drawing and Painting

Favorite Paintings Back at The Metropolitan Museum

2012-01-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

“Heart of the Andes,” by Frederic E. Church (1826-1900), 1859, oil on canvas, 66 1/8 x 119 1/4. Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. On the right, three or Church's plein air sketches.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently reopened the American Wing of 26 renovated and enlarged galleries. On display are some of my favorite paintings by Frederic E. Church, Worthington Whittredge, John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Cole. For the first time, those masterpieces are hung next to related plein air studies, sculptures, and period furniture.

For almost a decade, iconic paintings like “Madame X” by John Singer Sargent, “The Heart of the Andes” by Frederic E. Church, and “The Oxbow” by Thomas Cole have been in storage or tucked away in corridors while The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York prepared a new 30,000 square foot group of 26 connected galleries in which to display the masterworks. Now the paintings are presented in galleries devoted to subjects, themes, and periods such as the Hudson River School, the West, American Impressionism, and the Cosmopolitan Sprit. In addition, the museum decided to hang plein air sketches, compositional studies, and sculptural portraits of the artists in close proximity to the studio paintings.

The centerpiece of the new installation is one of the best-known works in all of American art, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s 1851 painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware”. The renovated galleries afford a dramatic vista toward this monumental canvas. This double-sized gallery showcases Leutze’s iconic work alongside two other masterpieces—Church’s “Heart of the Andes” and Albert Bierstadt’s “Rocky Mountains”— just as they were displayed at the famous 1864 Metropolitan Sanitary Fair. These three paintings have been beautifully restored as part of the renovation project.

A special area of the Museum’s website dedicated to the new galleries—including

descriptions of each of the rooms, a floor plan, details about the related programming

and publications, highlighted works of art, and more—can be found at

www.metmuseum.org/americanwing.

"Madame X" (1884), "The Wyndham Sisters" (1899), and "Mr & Mrs. Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes" (1897)

by John Singer Sargent back on display at the The Met Museum.

A sculpture of Thomas Eakins painting that is on display in a gallery devoted to paintings & sculptures of artists' studios.

“A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove), Kaugerskill Clove,” by Sanford Gifford (1823-1880), 1862, oil on canvas. 48 x 39 7/8. On display next to the plein air painting used as a study for the large studio painting.

Landscape Panting: Capturing Mood

2011-09-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

I focused on an intimate scene and emphasizes the balance of warm and cool, dark and light shapes in an effort to capture the mood of a late summer landscape in this 9" x 12" oil painting.

Plein Air Landscape Painting: Risking Failure to Make Progress

2011-08-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

After feeling good about the waterfall paintings I did in the early spring, I needed to take chances with a different range of subjects, painting techniques, and levels of finish. Yesterday I picked up on some of the ideas expressed by artists I've interviewed recently, including Joseph McGurl and Jason Taco, and I was pleased with the results.

Joe talked about building up fairly thick applications of oil color modified with fast-drying alkyd medium. His point was that the physical texture of the paint can impact the levels of transparency and opacity, thereby adding a greater sense of space in a landscape and, at the same time, making it easier to suggest detail. During a recent trip to Italy, for example, Joe used Winsor & Newton underpainting white during the early stages of the painting process and then added Liquin impasto alkyd medium when he was ready to paint foreground shapes with thick oil color. He applied the thick paint with a palette knife and manipulated the texture to suggest grasses, stones, plastered walls, etc. (Joe's paintings from Tuscany are on view at Tree's Place Gallery in Orleans, Massachusetts)

Jason Taco talked about using a limited palette of colors to achieve harmony and subtlety in his landscapes. He restricted his palette to 4-6 colors + titanium white instead of trying to managing a wide range of tube colors that might not intermix particularly well. His point was that if all the color mixtures are created from the same base, they are more likely to work well together. (Jason will be profiled in the winter, 2012 issue of PleinAir Magazine)

Whether one follows these recommendations exactly, the key points are worth considering. Joe's recommendation goes to the issue of using thin and thick paint to suggest space, texture, and form in nature; and Jason's point is that harmony and subtlety can be achieved by wisely controlling the mixtures of colors.

Painting at the entrance to Rockwood Hall State Park near Tarrytown, New York.

The scene I began painting at 8:00am on Saturday, August 13, 2011

The initial block-in of the large shapes on a panel toned with yellow ochre.

The completed 9" x 12" oil painting. BTW, I'm going to bring the trunks of a couple of trees down lower on the right-hand side to break up that monotonous line along the ridge.

Plein Air Events

2011-08-12T04:14:00.000-07:00

I don't often get a chance to be a participant in a plein air event because I am too busy taking photographs of artists and collectors, but I was able to join a local event in Ossining, New York that took place at the Shattemuc Yacht Club along the Hudson River. The weather was perfect and the 30+ artists were great to meet, and I sold my painting of the boats and river. Not a bad way to enjoy a summer day!

Both paintings were done on 11" x 14" canvas-covered panels I toned with yellow ochre, and I added Liquin alkyd medium to my oil colors so the initial layers of paint would set up quickly enough for me to add details. I set up at 7am and waited to find out whether the overcast sky would clear up, but by 8am I made up my mind to take advantage of the subtle cloud shapes and occasional bursts of sunlight.

Painting Intimate Woodland Scenes

2011-07-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

I got interested in the idea of painting streams of water running through wooded scenes because there seemed to be an intimacy and privacy about those beautiful locations. I also wanted to explore some new ways of painting on location, so in some of the paintings so I deepened the mixtures of oil color so they would be dark, moody, and subtle; and I allowed the warm tone of the red iron oxide underpainting to accentuate the sunlit areas.

As I painted, I imagined the trees becoming figures bending over to see their reflections in the water like Narcissus, and the rocks as bathers dipping their toes in the water. That helped me emphasize the feelings associated with being in a quiet, remote place where the forces of nature are at work.

Painting Landscapes: Village Scene

2011-05-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Steve Griffin took me to some of his favorite painting spots in Easton, Oxford, and St. Michael, Maryland last week. Several of the sites were along the Maryland shore with views of sail boats in the water, but I was more comfortable painting a street leading down to the water in Oxford. Of course I had to include an "Oxford Fence" in front of the white house on the left-hand side of the 11" x 14" panel. The fence is made of rails that have a clover-shaped top with a small hole in the middle of the clover. Non-profit groups ask local artists to paint rails that can be sold to raise funds.

I may exhibit this painting in Plein Air Easton because as the awards judge I am entitled to display two paintings. Obviously my paintings won't be eligible for awards. That will make it easier for me to accept rejection in the face of all the extraordinary paintings on display.

Landscape Painting: Waterfalls #3

2011-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

I decided to focus on a more intimate waterfall scene along Perkins Drive in Bear Mountain State Park, one that offered an opportunity to explore compositional scheme of a central axis juxtaposed with strong diagonal shapes. Because I worked on a 10" x 8" panel, I could apply more layers of oil color, muting the tones and adding textural effects that enriched the surface of the painting. I used a stiff alkyd white paint towards the end of the process to add clean, light value shapes where the water was flowing around and over the rocks.

Landscape Painting: Waterfalls #2

2011-04-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

I painted this 12" x 12" plein air oil on two successive days because rain forced me to stop after the first 90 minute effort. I like the square format because it sets up a completely different compositional challenge than the standard rectangle. You'll note that I used a dry brush to blur the edges of the cascading water and to create mist in certain sections.

Landscape Painting: Waterfalls

2011-04-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

I recently made a road trip to Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia to photograph plein air events and was able to paint some of the waterfalls in the hills of Georgia north of Atlanta and in Virginia just south of Charlottesville. I put together a short audio slide show about the paintings.

Immortalized in Times Square

2011-04-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

Persephone being banished to Haites (the New York Transit subway system) in Jack Beal's glass tile mosaic near the 1,2,3 subway platforms in Times Square

Steve Doherty standing next to his image in the Times Square mural

My friend, Jack Beal (www.jackbeal.net), included images of me, my wife, Sara, and our children, Clare and Michael, in the second of two mosaic murals he created for the Times Square subway station in New York City. Both murals (unveiled in 2001 and 2005) offer Jack's interpretation of the myth of Persephone being banished to Haites (signaling the start of winter) and then emerging from the underworld (or the subway system, in this case) to initiate Spring. The Doherty family is part of the banishment scene, and I'm filming the event from a camera crane.

I revisited the murals recently and took a photograph of me standing next to my image. No one took notice of me or my camera tripod because lots of subway riders stop to have their picture taken next to murals, and performance groups often use the sparking glass tile images as backdrops to their joyous music and break dancing.

A Studio That Respects Nature

2011-03-02T04:16:00.000-08:00

I was looking for an energy-efficient studio to feature in PleinAir™ magazine and came across Gail Siegel's solar powered, prefab studio in Lafayette, Colorado. Gail is a jeweler, not a painter, but I think her studio could easily be adapted for use by other visual artists.

Colorado jeweler Gail Siegel is one of a growing number of artists building prefab, solar powered studios that are relatively inexpensive to build and heat, make efficient use of space, and increase property values.

“When I made the decision to take early retirement from my full-time university job, I spent 18 months doing extensive research about the best way to secure a work space,” says Colorado artist Gail Siegel. “I considered every option from selling my small timber frame miner’s cottage and buying a larger home with space for a studio, to renting a unoccupied downtown space, to constructing a garage with room for a workspace. None of those were really desirable options. I needed more space than was available in my cottage, and because I work with acetylene torches and metal I didn’t like the idea of having a studio in my home; the downtown spaces, while reasonable compared to other areas of the country, would still cost me $6,000 - $8,500 a year to rent; and the cheapest garages I could find would cost $50,000 - $60,000 to build, not including the cost of finishing the interior.”

Siegel happened to talk to a Jeff Scott, a neighbor who is president of SolSource, a company founded in 2004 that designs solar electric and thermal hot water heating systems for commercial, government, school, and residential structures. Scott encouraged Siegel to consider a prefab building with a roof that would accommodate solar energy panels. “He pointed out that I would qualify for an energy rebate, the solar panels might generate enough power to heat the studio and my home, the cost would be more reasonable than what I had been considering, and I would be reducing my impact on the environment,” she explains. “He told me about StudioShed, Inc., a company in Boulder, Colorado started in 2009 by Michael Koenig and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski that is doing innovative things with buildings that can be used as spare bedrooms, storage spaces, offices, or studios.”

Siegel extended her research to include prefab buildings and solar heating, and she began discussions with StudioShed about building an art studio in her backyard. “Michael Koenig, one of the partners in the company, has two Studio Shed buildings in his back yard so I was able to see what I might be getting,” Siegel explains. “He walked me through the entire construction process and helped me decide how my studio could be built. Eventually, I bought a 14’ x 10’ structure with a 9’ pitched roof and had eight, 235-watt modules and microinverters installed on the 11’ x 16’ roof to create a 1.9 kilowatt energy system. After all the preliminary paperwork was completed, it took StudioShed about four weeks to fabricate, deliver, and set up the structure.”

After making all the major decisions, Siegel had to secure permits from the city of Lafayette, Colorado to lay down an insulated concrete slab with a central drain, build the StudioShed structure, install the solar heating system, run electricity to the StudioShed, and upgrade the sewer system. “I didn’t anticipate having to dig up the back yard to replace the sewer line, but since I plan to install running water it was necessary,” Siegel explains. “I regretted having to cut down two trees to make sure there would be enough sunlight to heat the studio and house, but I was able to use some of the lumber to build an outdoor bench as well as using a large stump for forming metals.

“ I had the building designed with a 3’ x 3’ window facing south to heat the form-insulated cement floor, and north-facing horizontal and vertical windows for indirect lighting,” Siegel goes on to explain. “Eventually I will build in cabinets, but I already had a 2’ x 5’ jewelry bench and a 2’ x 4’ soldering station so I was able to start working in the studio as soon as it was finished. Eventually I might start painting in the studio and offering workshops because the Studio Shed opens into my garden and a flagstone walkway where people could set up to paint or make jewelry.”

The current retail prices of an 10’ x 14’ Studio Shed ranges from $6,600 to $9,100 depending on whether the trim is Collins TruWood (as in the case of Siegel’s studio) or a combination of wood and metal. Smaller and larger sizes are available, from 6’ x 8’ up to 12’ x 20’. Options such as aluminum windows, French and sliding glass doors, garage doors, and clerestory windows are extra; and the cost does not include the cement slab on which the structure would be built. However, the prices does include installation by certified workers, and a discounted flat-packed kit is available for customers who want to build a SudioShed by themselves. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.studio-shed.com.

“I haven’t had my property reappraised since I finished the studio, but I suspect I’ve added about $55,000 to the value because of the energy savings and the fact that the StudioShed could be used by the next owner as a spare bedroom, an office, or a studio,” Siegel explains. “That’s a value I never would have been able to realize if I rented a space downtown, build a standard garage, or convert a bedroom into a studio. Here in Colorado where energy costs are so high in the winter and people are becoming more environmentally conscious, this kind of structure is a real asset ... and a great workspace. If nothing else, my animals have loved it from the day the insulated concrete floor was finished.”

Gail Siegel took early retirement from the University of Colorado where she worked in the university art gallery and as director of community relations while maintaining her life-long interest in art. She now works part time for the Naja Tool and Supply Company in Denver which is Colorado’s largest supplier of tools and supplies for jewelry and metal artists. All of the studio furniture and 90% of her tools come from the Naja.

For more information on StudioShed, LLC., visit www.studio-shed.com; for information on SolSource, visit the company’s website at www.solsourceinc.com and for information on the Naja Tool and Supply visit www.najatools.com. To see some of Siegel’s work visit www.silverfoxstudio.biz.

Awards Given in Blossom II. The Art of Flowers

2011-02-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Jury of Awards met in Naples, Florida on February 9th to select the following winners in Blossom II. Art of Flowers sponsored sponsored by the Susan K. Black Foundation (www.bossomartcompetition.com). I was honored to be one of the jurors and to announce the prizes at the Patty & Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art.

The exhibition will begin it's tour to Tucson, Arizona; Shreveport, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; Bradenton, Florida; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Port Arthur, Texas after it closes in Naples on April 10, 2011.

BEST OF SHOW AWARD and $25,000 CASH to:
Ms. Berry Fritz of McAllen, Texas for
Delft Blue with Oleanders, oil, 12 x 12.

FOUNDER'S PURCHASE AWARD and $5,000 to:
Sue Clanton of Discovery Bay, California for
Huli Wigman of Papua New Guinea, transparent watercolor, 22 x 15.

BEST BOTANICAL AWARD and $5,000 to:
Milly Acharya of Ithaca, New York for
Convallaria Majalis (Lily-of-the-valley), watercolor, 15-1/2 x 11.

BEST SMALL WORK AWARD and $5,000 to:
Susan Elwart Hall of Atherton, California for
Firecracker Mums, oil, 10 x 8.

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE and $5,000 to:
Jane Jones, Arvada, Colorado for
Parrot Party, oil, 20 x 20.

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE and $5,000 to:
Anna Killian of Pensacola, Florida for
The Fragility of Home, oil, 11-1/2 x 7-1/4.

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE and $5,000 to:
Nilton Mendonca of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for
Spring, oil, 20 x 24-1/2.

To review the other AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE and JURORS' AWARDS, visit the website:
www.blossomartcompetition.com or the foundation's website: www.susankblackfoundation.org.

Balancing Skill & Passion

2011-01-19T15:27:00.000-08:00

The movie Black Swan is ostensibly about the physical and mental strains imposed on a young ballerina (brilliantly acted by Natalie Portman who just won a Golden Globe award) chosen for the lead in a production of Swan Lake. The story is also about the struggle of an artist trying to raise her skillfully executed performance to the level of great art. Throughout the movie, the ballet company’s artistic director (played by Vincent Cassel) pushes the ballerina to reach beyond her disciplined, rigid, shallow performance and take the emotional risks necessary for expressing the complete character of the black swan.

As I watched the amazingly powerful movie, I kept thinking that every artist -- painter, musician, writer, singer, dancer -- spends years trying to first learn the craft of his or her art form and then, ultimately, to go beyond skill into the realm of artistic expression.

To some extent, anyone who works hard and long as an artist will eventually reach the point at which he or she devotes less attention to skill and more to expression, if only because practice make them better at exercising their skills. But the question Black Swan asks is whether the pursuit of greatness ultimately requires complete vulnerability and passion.

Some artists can reach that exalted level early in their careers and, seemingly, without much effort; but the message that comes through in Black Swan is that an artist may have to risk everything to achieve perfection.

HAVE YOU SUBSCRIBED TO THE NEW PLEINAIR™MAGAZINE? DO IT NOW AT WWW.PLEINAIRMAGAZINE.COM.

PleinAir ™ Events Coming Soon

2011-01-06T03:46:00.000-08:00

The new PleinAir ™ magazine (www.pleinairmagazine.com) reports on festivals, paint-outs, exhibitions, and events around the US and abroad. Here's a list of some taking place in the first six months of the new year. If you know of others, please send information and photos to steve@pleinairmagazine.com.

Make sure you know about opportunities for artists, collectors, dealers, and suppliers who love artwork based on direct observations of nature by subscribing TODAY! Visit our website and sign up for the print and/or digital edition.

Steve Doherty

Editor

www.pleinairmagazine.com

P.S. Want to mail in your subscriptions? You can by sending a check to:

Tom Elmo

Streamline Publishing Inc.

2090 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd, 3rd Floor

West Palm Beach, FL 33409

2011 Scheduled Outings & Events

Date: February, 2011

Location: Butts County Council for the Fine Arts, Jackson, Georgia

Event: Exhibition of work by the Fall Line Painters of Central Georgia.

Contact: www.gaarts.org or Preston King (dustydigits@yahoo.com).

Photos

Date: February 5, 2011 - March 20, 2011

Location: The Autry National Center, Los Angeles, California

Event: Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and Sale

Contact: www.theautry.org

Date: February 13, 2011 - April 24, 2011

Location: Museum of the Southwest, Midland, Texas

Event: American Legacy: Our National Parks, traveling exhibition of paintings by members of the Plein Air Painters of America organized by The Haggin Museum, Stockton, California. Catalog available. Exhibition travels to the Michele & Donald D’Amur Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Missouri from May 22 - November 6, 2011.

Contact: Plein Air Painters of America, www.p-a-p-a.com.

Date: February 18-19, 2011

Location: Red Wing, Minnesota

Event: 2nd Annual Winter Plein Air Event

Contact: www.redwingartassociation.org/plein_air.htm

Date: February 19-26, 2011

Location: Kapalua Bay, Maui, Hawaii

Event: Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational

Contact: www.mauipleinairpainting.com

Date: February 19-27, 2011

Location: Riverside Art Museum and Riverside Arts Project Gallery, Riverside, California.

Event: Sixth Annual Paint-Out Week sponsored by Plein Air Painters of Riverside

Contact: www.pleinairartistsofriverside.blogspot.com

Date: March, 2011

Location: San Diego, California

Event: Workshop sponsored by the International Plein Air Painters (celebrating its 10th anniversary); J.R. Baldini and Linda Richichi teaching.

Contact: International Plein Air Painters website: www.i-p-a-p.com

Date: Now until October, 2011

Location: Locations throughout the state of Indiana

Event: Painting Indiana III Project sponsored by the Indiana Plein Air Painters in partnership with Indiana Landmarks. This will be the 10th anniversary of the Painting Indiana project and 80 - 100 historic landmark paintings will be included in a book published by Indiana University Press.

Contact: Bill Wissel, Coordinator, IPAPA Painting III, cc976@aol.com, or visit www.inpainters.org or www.PaintingIndiana.com.

Date: April 9-10, 2011

Location: Blue Ridge, Georgia

Event: Spring Plein Air Festival sponsored by the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association

Contact: http://blueridgearts.net/spring-plein-air-festival.cfm

Date: April 11-15, 2011

Location: New Harmony, Indiana

Event: Workshops with C.W. Mundy, Bye Britney, and Todd Williams sponsored by the Indiana Plein Air Painters

Contact: www.inpainter.org

Date: April 25-30, 2011

Location: Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, Alabama

Event: The Southeastern Plein Air Invitational exhibition

Contact: www.gadsdenmuseum.com

Date: May 13-22, 2011

Location: Various locations between Mexico Beach and Alligator Point, Florida

Event: 6th Annual Plein Air Invitational sponsored by Florida’s Forgotten Coast Cultural Coalition.

Contact: Joe Taylor (palme2blue@yahoo.com), Lori Putnam (lori@loriputnam.com), or www.pleinairfl.com.

Date: May 12-15, 2011

Location: Carmel, California

Event: 18th Annual Carmel Art Festival

Contact: www.carmelartfestival.org

Date: May 16-22, 2011

Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania

Event: Wayne Art Center Plein Air Festival

Contact: www.waynepleinair.com

Date: May 23-27, 2011

Location: Sonoma, California

Event: Sonoma Plein Air 2011

Contact: www.sonomapleinair.com

Date: June, 2011

Location: Wasilla, Alaska

Event: Workshop sponsored by Painted Ladies

Contact: Painted Ladies page on Face Book, or Karen Whitworth at www.WhitworthGallery.org.

Date: June 10-12, 2011

Location: Bitterroot River Inn, Hamilton, Montana

Event: 7th Annual Montana Professional Artists Association Hamilton Show

Contact: www.montanaprofessionalartistsassoc.com

Date: June 11, 2011

Location: Irwin Garden, Columbus, Indiana

Event: Columbus Paint Out, Indiana Plein Air Painters

Contact: www.inpainters.org

Date: June 24, 2011-July 9, 2011

Location: Saks Galleries, Denver, Colorado

Event: Plein Air Artists Colorado 15th National Juried Fine Art Exhibition and Sale

Contact: www.pleinairartistscolorado.com

Artist Mentors Online

2010-12-15T15:54:00.000-08:00

My good friend Kevin Macpherson has a great website of advice and personal critiques. Check it out at www.artistmentorsonline.com

Jerry Pinkney Opening at Rockwell Museum

2010-11-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Artist Jerry Pinkney Lecturing at The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts during the opening weekend of a major exhibition of his watercolor paintings.

Right: Artist Jerry Pinkney and Author Gloria Pinkney autographing books at The Norman Rockwell Museum on November 14, 2010.

Our good friend and neighbor Jerry Pinkney is celebrating 50 years of being an artist and award-winning illustrator. About 150 of his original watercolor paintings are on display at The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts until next May, 2011 when the show will travel to other museums. Jerry won the Caldecott Medal in 2010 for his illustrated book The Lion and the Mouse.

The Artist's Road

2010-10-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

My good friends John Hulsey and Ann Trusty have just launched an informative website for artist called The Artist's Road. It offers informative painting demonstrations, interviews, and advice based on the two artist's years of experience. The first installment includes a three-part interview with me. Here's the address of the website:

www.theartistsroad.net

Painting Landscapes: Composing Shapes and Values

2010-10-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

I'm learning to use iMovie to turn my digital photos and videos into movies I can share with other artists. Here's one about organizing shapes and values in a plein air landscape created with oil colors. I'll be interested in your comments and suggestions. Thanks, Steve

Florida Watercolor Society Convention

2010-09-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

Jack Nolan (jacknolan-watercolorist.com) participating in the

paint around.

Sue Allen (sueallenart.com) demonstrating her painting techniques.

Taylor Ikin (taylorikin.com) demonstrating painting on Yupo paper.

Vilas Tonape a professor at Polk State College, demonstrating

portrait painting

The Florida Watercolor Society (www.floridawatercolorsociety.org) staged another exciting, informative, and fun convention this past weekend at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Innisbrook, Florida. The program included painting demonstrations, slide lectures, an exhibition opening, and an awards banquet. The annual exhibition was judged by Carrie Burns Brown, and she gave the Susan Lattner Lloyd Gold Award to Susan Hanssen.

Plein Air at the Grand Canyon: Sales

2010-09-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Evaluating Sales During the Recent Grand Canyon

Celebration of Art

First Prize Winner Cody DeLong

After looking carefully at the paintings on display in the Kolb Studio along the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, I came to some conclusions about sales of plein air paintings created during a week long event that was part of the Celebration of Art (September 11 - September 18, 2010). I reached these conclusions after considering why some paintings sold immediately, some were acquired during the run of the exhibition, and a few will probably not sell at all.

I should explain these are my own conclusions and may not reflect the opinions of other participating artists, collectors, sponsors, or judges. I welcome comments from any of those folks, as well as from artists who have participated in similar events.

The obvious point to be made is that when a plein air event is held at a location that is a landmark, historic site, national treasure, natural phenomenon, or source of local pride, patrons are most likely to buy paintings they feel accurately represent the place. Those can be works that range from tightly detailed presentations of the most emblematic scenes to paintings that capture the emotional, atmospheric, or personal aspects of the place.

At the GCCA event, several artists challenged themselves to find scenes that were unexpected, personal, or interpretive. In general, those failed to sell. The most popular images were those that depicted the well known peeks in ways that captured the dramatic lighting, vast space, and geological phenomena of the canyon.

The next big factor influencing sales was pricing. The work that sold fastest was prices in the range of $5 - $8 per square inch, whereas the pieces that sold most slowly or not at all were priced in the $10 - $13 per square inch range (including frames).

Let me quickly mention that I am not factoring in the artistic merits of the drawings and paintings exhibited in the Kolbe Studio because in every case the works created by the 28 participating artists was of a very high technical and aesthetic quality. If that hadn’t been the case, as so often happens in outdoor painting events, I would be the first to point out that poorly executed paintings are not likely to sell at any price, especially if they present the favored landmarks in an amateurish manner.

In general, people who are actively looking to buy paintings are confident in their own judgements, but they can be influenced by the decisions of the judges. The four award winners in the GCCA event sold almost all of their paintings, in part because the judges’ decisions confirmed the positive opinions people had about the artwork.

Most of the artists who participated in the GCCA event live in the Southwest and are known for painting regional landscapes in general and the Grand Canyon in particular. Moreover, those artists are familiar to regional collectors because they participate in other plein air events, museum exhibitions, and gallery shows. The artists who traveled from California, New York, and Utah were less likely to be known. However, their paintings did lend variety and interest to the exhibition, and collectors responded to the fact those artists brought a different style and interpretation to the subject matter.

A number of buyers at the GCCA event came specifically to add a painting to their collection by one of the better known artists such as Curt Walters, Merrill Mahaffey, and Bruce Aiken. That’s probably the reason the quick draw paintings by Gregory Hull and P.A. Nisbet sold for prices well above the average. Astute collectors knew they were getting a bargain even when they paid the highest prices in the live auction.

Although most of the participating artists worked in oil, as is so often the case in plein air events, those who did drawings or painted in watercolor or acrylic sold works for comparable prices.

It should be noted that the Grand Canyon event was extremely well organized and promoted, the artists were treated as the stars of the event, and the staff and board members were totally supportive of the celebration. In fact, a number of GCA board members helped sponsor the event and bought paintings. All of that contributed to the overall success of the event.

It is also worth mentioning that last year many paintings sold after the opening weekend events, and the show will be hanging through Thanksgiving this year. The park expects as many as 10,000 visitors to view the exhibition in Kolbe Studio, especially during the Thanksgiving holiday when the number of park visitors is quite high.

Award Winners National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society

2010-09-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

NOAPS Presiden Ken Gerardy and me with Elizabeth Robbins' Best of Show winner.

The awards I selected in the Best of America 2010 Extraordinary Painting in Oil and Acrylic show sponsored by The National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (www.noaps.com) were announced this weekend at the Ella Carouthers Dunnegan Gallery of Art in Bolivar, Missouri (on view through October 10). The show will travel to the Katy Depot Historic Site in Sedalia, Missouri (October 11-30), the Etta and Joseph Miller Performing Arts Center in Jefferson City, Missouri (November 2-13), and the Stone Creek Mall in Osage Beach, Missouri (November 15-30).

NOAPS Founders' Endowment Fund "Best of Show" Award: Elizabeth Robbins for "Hydrangeas, Copper and Cantaloupe."

Platinum Palette Award to Rulei Bu for "Annapolis Spring."

The Gustafson Art and Education Fund "Best of Light and Color" Award to Charles Harrington for "Path to Pavillion #6."

The Janet Ross Commemorative Fund "Most Realistic Landscape" Award to Cecy Turner for "Late Afternoon Solace."

Lake Arts Council "Trendsetter" Award to Ron Ferkol for "After Work."

"Best Portrait" Award to Jian Wu for "Asami in a Blue Kimono."

"Best Still Life" Award to Ann Hardy for "Samovar and Cup."

Bank Star One Galaxy Club "Rising Star of the Galaxy" Award to Esperanza Chavez for "Out to Pasture."

Monteverde Memorial Fund "Best Impressionist Painting" Award to Paula Holtzclaw for "Evening Shadows."

The Ragar Award for Creativity to Sharon Warren for "Earth and Water."

The Narrative Excellence Award to Del-Bouree Bach for "Working the Tides."

The Best Landscape Award to Barbara Nuss for "Shawnee Valley."

Congratulations to all the exhibiting artists and winners!

Sherrie McGraw in her New Mexico Studio

2010-08-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

In developing articles for American Artist Studios magazine, I interviewed Sherrie McGraw in her spacious studio outside Taos, New Mexico. The magazine is now available in bookstores. Many of the great still photographs of the studio were taken by David Huff, a wonderful professional photographer from the Phoenix area.

Interview with Joan Potter in her Santa Fe Studio

2010-08-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Joan Potter is a fascinating artist who built a studio as an extension of an historic building in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She talks about Gerald Cassidy (who build the compound of adobe structures in the 1920's), her extensive art collection, and her paintings in this interview. The studio is featured in American Artist Studios magazine that is on sale now in bookstores.

Interview with Michael Van Zeyl in his Chicago Studio

2010-08-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

An interview with Michael Van Zeyl in his Chicago studio that he built as a second floor addition to his suburban home. The studio is featured in American Artist Studios magazine that is available at local bookstores. It turns out this will be the very last magazine I edited for American Artist because my position was abruptly terminated last Friday.

Michael is a gifted painter who is also an astute business person and loving family man. Check out his website after you watch the video: www.michaelvanzeyl.com.

Sam Knecht's Studio and Painting Commission

2010-08-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sam Knecht's Hillsdale, Michigan studio will be featured in the new issue of American Artist Studios magazine. The publication won't be available in bookstores or inteweavestore.com for a few more weeks, but I want to post this interview now because Sam Knecht's large painting of the signing of the U.S. Constitution will be unveiled in Washington D.C. on September 17, 2010.

American Artist Studios will also feature the workspaces of David A. Leffel and Sherrie McGraw, Nelson Shanks, Carl Samson, Joan Potter, P.A. Nisbet, Arthur Egeli, Heidi Presse, and many other professional artists.

Interview With David A. Leffel About His Art Studios

2010-08-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

I interviewed David A. Leffel for American Artist Studios magazine in his Des Montes,New Mexico studio. He talked about the various studios he rented or owned over the years, from the early workspace with no heat in the winter and too much heat in the summer, to the later studios with plenty of room for painting and teaching.

For a copy of American Artist Studios (available in September, 2010), visit www.interweavestore.com.

Plein Air Painting Video Demonstration: Rockwood Hall

2010-08-04T04:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I made while working on the painting described in the last blog. I'm still learning to smooth things out in iMovie, but I like the ease with which I can edit and add content to videos.

Plein Air Painting at Favorite Locations

2010-07-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Rockwood Hall Demonstration, 2010, oil, 11 x 14. Collection the artist.

I start off in search of new painting locations, but more often than not I wind up back in one of my favorite spots where the site is familiar, no one bothers me while I'm painting, and the vista challenges me to create a good painting. That's why I often return to Rockwood Hall, a state park near Pocantico Hills, New York. on grounds given to New York State by the Rockefeller family. The park offers one of the most expansive views of the Hudson River from an elevated site.

I followed my normal painting routine in developing this picture, except that I exaggerated the dark shapes that framed the view and accentuated the strong light pattern cutting through the tall trees and hitting the middle ground of the landscape. I liked the way those changes added drama and impact to an otherwise common summer scene.

Increasingly, plein air painting becomes an emotional rather than a technical process. My mind seems to stray from the color mixtures and brush work and ends up focused on the feeling of being alone in a vast and stunningly beautiful location. No matter what is on my mind when I begin painting, those thoughts quickly slip away and are replaced by the a joyous recognition of being in nature on a beautiful day.

Creating Studio Paintings from Plein Air Sketches

2010-07-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

Bash Bish Falls in Western Massachusetts

14" x 11" plein air sketche of Bash Bish Falls

The first stag of my 24" x 20" studio painting

The finished studio painting

Painting Changing Light on the Landscape

2010-06-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

Croton Reservoir, June, 2010, oil, 9 x 12. Collection the artist.

After painting on location for about 16 years, I can finally get past the challenges of controlling the oil colors well enough to record what I see and, instead, I can focus on the momentary conditions of light, atmosphere, and mood. That makes the experience more satisfying and the paintings more appealing to observers.

Recently I went back to a foot bridge over the Croton Reservoir to paint a familiar scene, and I spent about 2 hours capturing the layers of greens influenced by the light and the distance. I knew from the moment I started the painting that the most important aspects of the scene were the way the sunlight cut between the first and second arc of trees and the clouds bleached by the hot, mid-day sunlight. Painting the land formations depended on balancing warm and cool greens (warm: ultramarine blue + cadmium medium; cool: Winsor blue + cadmium lemon), as well as the dark, middle, and light values; and recording the cloud pattern called for softening the edges of shapes painted with warm whites (titanium white with a touch of transparent oxide red) and blues (ultramarine and Winsor blue).

Lots of people stopped as they were biking and jogging over the bridge, and they made both stupid and profound comments. One woman asked if I had painted the picture, making me wonder if she thought I bought it a Wal Mart and brought it to the location; and a serious biker stopped to ask if I might sell the painting. The man didn't actually purchase the painting, but I was flattered that he thought my painting captured all the reasons he enjoyed nature.

P.S. Everyone who stopped to admire my painting was pleased that I eliminated the telephone wires crossing over the dam.

Suggesting Motion in Landscape Paintings

2010-06-23T03:41:00.001-07:00

Schneider's Willows, 2010, oil, 9 x 12.

While photographing Bill Schneider's workshop on composition in his Illinois studio (www.schneiderart.com), I took a couple of hours to paint a large willow tree next to a pond in the back yard. I designed the arrangement of shapes to suggest the movement of a gentle breeze that was coursing its way across the lawn through the trees and causing the branches to brush along the surface of the water. I'm writing about Bill's five-day class for the fall issue of Workshop magazine (www.artistdaily.com).

Bill studied with Daniel Gerhartz (www.danielgerhartz.com) and has a large collection of his work on display in his home. It was fascinating to see so many of Dan's figure paintings in one place, and I was in awe of the way he uses a few strokes of thick paint to define the elaborate figures, costumes, and backgrounds of his paintings.

Thomas S. Buechner 1927-2010

2010-06-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

Still Life by Thomas S. Buecher, 1998, alkyd, 14 x 11.

Portrait of Clare Doherty Deyo, by Thomas S. Buecher, 1998, alkyd, 14 x 11.

Portrait of Michael Lindsay Doherty, by Thomas S. Buechner, 1998, alkyd, 14 x 11.

I lost a great friend and mentor on Sunday with the death of Thomas S. Buechner. During his long and distinguished career, he had been director of the Brooklyn Museum, President of Steuben Glass, Director of the Corning Museum, and a board member of many foundations and art organizations. But I'm sure what Tom would prefer to be remembered as is an artist because he always managed to stay active as a painter of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits.

I first met Tom in 1979 when he took me to lunch in the King Cole Room of the St Regis Hotel so we could begin an interview that resulted in one of several articles I wrote on his work for American Artist magazine. We continued the interview aboard the Corning Glass corporate jet when Tom took my to his studio in Corning, and I never stopped learning from him over the course of the next 30 years. He introduced me to plein air painting, did portraits of my two children, sold me still life paintings, and gave me valuable advice about editing the magazine.

I often quoted Tom in my editorials, blog, and lectures because he said relevant and quotable things. For example, he remarked that "the older I get, the more attractive the subject matter becomes that is closest to the bathroom." And when telling me how to make small plein air paintings look important, he said "if you want it sold, frame it in gold." But aside from offering those amusing quips, he had a friendly way of challenging me to do my very best work. I'm sure he did the same with others.

I had lunch with Tom last fall and he said he didn't remember every saying the things I attributed to him, but he appreciated the mention and wanted me to continue giving him credit for such sage and humorous advice. I certainly will do that.

I received a letter just a few weeks ago from Tom and he made no mention of the lymphoma that was bringing his rich life to a close, but then he wouldn't. I'm assuming he wrote to a number of people over the past few months as a way of saying good bye without really saying he was leaving. Instead, he thanked me for recognizing him as an artist and publishing articles on his use of alkyd paints and mediums, how he used photographs as source material and avoided the mechanical look of the photograph, traveling efficiently while painting supplies, and a number of other topics. He also urged me not to become a bitter old man now that I am semi-retired but, rather, to focus on the new opportunities before me. I will try to do that, always remembering that many of those opportunities were provided to me by the friend whose voice I will continue to hear and whose paintings I will continue to enjoy.

Painting Rushing Water

2010-06-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

Continuing my efforts to paint bodies of water, I set up my easel along the creek by the home of my friends Jack Beal and Sondra Freckelton. I drew outllines of the major shapes with thin oil color mixed with Wingel alkyd medium on a 9" x 12" panel, designing the composition to suggest deep space and layers of atmosphere. I then blocked in the major shapes with more thin oil color mixed with Wingel, and then refined those shapes with paint mixed with a small amount of linseed oil.

Landscape Painting in Oil: Plein Air on the Croton River

2010-06-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

I used my HD Flip camera to record the progress of a painting I did along the Croton River over a two hour period.

8 Tips on Painting Landscapes in Oil

2010-05-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

The view from above the Hamilton/Appel home in upstate New York

Tip 1: Draw the composition with a blue/purple oil color mixed with fast-drying alkyd medium.
Tip 2: Paint from the top to the bottom of the canvas, and from the background to the foreground of the space so the layers overlap coming forward.

Tip 3: Warm the horizon line by painting a mix of titanium white, yellow ochre, and quinacridone red to create the sense of distant light and to separate the layers.

Tip 4: Paint distant forms so they have less contrast and more blue/purple; and lighten those colors at the bottom of each horizontal band to separate the layers of space.

Tip 5: Toward the end of the painting process, add linseed oil or painting medium to the color mixtures to slow the drying time.

Tip 6: After painting an area, soften the edges of the shapes by gently rubbing them with a clean, dry brush.

Tip 7: To paint highlights, mix the colors with alkyd white (often called "fast-drying white") or a stiff medium (stand oil or sun-thickened linseed oil) so they sit on top of the blended colors.

Tip 8: Make sure to have a diagonal shape that leads viewers into the paint, and zig-zag the flow of shapes to take viewers through the entire picture.

"Hamilton/Appel Home," 2010, oil, 11 x 14. Collection the artist.

Talking about the painting process in terms of "tips" may be overly simplistic and obvious, but it's a handy way of sharing some of the advice I've received from artists I've interviewed over the years. In my experience, that advice helps record a lot of information in a short period of time (2 + 1/2 hours, in this case), it helps convey the sense of atmosphere and space in a landscape, and it helps capture the beauty of the location.

Painting Waterfalls No. 1

2010-05-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

The subject in a state park on the border of Massachusetts and New York.

Step 1: The major shapes blocked in in shades of purple and gray

Step 2: Adding a poster-like display of the local colors.

The completed painting: Bash Bish Falls in May, oil, 14 x 11.

I've started painting a series of waterfalls because there is something so appealing about the subject, and because I want a more romantic, atmospheric look to the finished paintings I'm softening edges before the paint dries. I'll add hard edges as I get close to finishing the paintings while leaving some areas soft and gestured. I'm adding linseed oil to the paint mixtures to slow the drying time and therefore allow me to blend the edges after I've blocked in the major shapes.

I did a plein air sketch at one of the most popular waterfalls in the region, Bash Bish Falls, a natural phenomenon on the border of Massachusetts and New York that was drawn and painted dozens of times by the likes of John F. Kensett. I mixed M. Graham's walnut alkyd medium into the oil colors because it is a high-gloss medium that dries more slowly than other alkyd mediums. I wanted to be able to blend the oil colors throughout the painting process and mediums like Galkyd would have caused the paint to dry too quickly. I finished the sketch in about 90 minutes and took photographs I can use to develop a larger studio painting of the scene.

I'm also working on waterfall paintings in my studio that are based on photographs I took in Hawaii and at the New York Botanical Gardens. I'll post those when they are finished.

Creative Options With New Art Supplies

2010-05-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

The scene of the workshop: Maui, Hawaii, a real paradise of great weather, flowers,

landscape, and artists.

Carmen Gardner

Jim Lynch, co-sponsor and organizer of the workshop

Michael Clements

The view from our suite at the Hotel Wailea where the workshop was held.

I recently taught a three-day workshop in Maui, Hawaii during which I introduced the participants to new and improved painting materials that weren't familiar to them. One the first day I offered samples of products artists can use with oil colors: R&F's Pigment Bars, Gamblin's new FastMatte alkyd paints, M. Graham's oil colors, and SourceTek panels.

On the second day, workshop participants were given samples of a range of acrylic paints and mediums including those manufactured by Winsor & Newton, Daler-Rowney (Cryla paints), Chroma (Atelier paints), Dick Blick (paints & retarder), and Utrecht (canvases).

On the third day, I provided samples of Jack Richeson's Shiva brand casein paints and mediums that are water soluble but dry to a hard, porous finish. Some students later applied Unison and Jack Richeson pastels over the dry casein paints.

The point of the workshop was for students to have a chance to understand the chemistry and creative options available with paints they have never tried. All of them were glad to be able to learn about materials that would open up new possibilities.

Great Landscape Paintings by F.E. Church

2010-04-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Icebergs (originally The Union), by Frederic E. Church, on display

at the Dallas Museum of Art

The Icebergs, by Frederic Edwin Church, 1861. Collection the

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas.

Oil Sketchs for The Icebergs

Sunset from Olana, by Frederic Edwin Church, July 2, 1870, oil, 11 1/6 x 15 1/8. Reproduced in the book Glories of the Hudson. Frederic Edwin Church's Views From Olana

(Cornell University Press, 2009).

I've always considered the 19th Century artist Frederic Edwin Church to be one of the greatest landscape painters, in part because I live along the Hudson River that he painted so often, and in part because his technique was so efficient and effective. His oil sketches show how much information can be recorded quickly if one is skilled at handling a bristle brush and various combinations of oil colors. In addition, his skills as a painter were matched by his cleverness in creating dramatic pictures and marketing them expertly. He made a point of painting exotic, unknown locations and exhibiting them in tents set up to make the massive canvases available to the general public.

Take for example, his painting of The Icebergs, one of the jewels in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art. I had a chance to see the painting during a recent press trip sponsored by the Dallas Sheraton Hotel, and I bought a book on the painting that details its fascinating history. Church first titled the painting was The Union because he wanted to appeal to northern collectors during the Civil War, but he later changed the title when it seemed likely a British collector sympathetic to the Confederacy would purchase the painting.

Church's home in Hudson, New York has become a mecca for landscape painters who admire the 19th century artist as I do, and there is a new book reproducing a number of the oil sketches Church painted from his mountain-top home. Most were done quickly to capture the fleeting colors and light of dawn and dusk, and very few were ever developed into larger studio paintings. The founders of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York acquired a large collection of Church's sketches because they believed they would be instructive to art students. I totally agree with the women who bought the sketches from the artist's estate.

Pigment Sticks and Encaustics

2010-04-17T03:41:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Winika applies melted encaustic paint to an Encausticbord panel.

Cynthia using a heat gun to fuse RandF encaustics to the panel

Cynthia demonstrating a range of techniques possible with encaustics, including scraping into the wax and pigment, adding collage elements, and building up thick textures.

I recently participated in a one-day workshop in encaustic painting at the offices of RandF Handmade Paints (http://www.rdpaints.com/) in Kingston, New York. Artist Cynthia Winika gave me a tour of the plant where RandF Pigment Sticks and RandF Encaustic Paints are made, and then she demonstrated a range of techniques using the sticks made from wax, pigment, and damar crystals. Cynthia also introduced a new board made specifically for encaustic by Ampersand that is called Encausticbord.

Encaustic is one of the oldest painting materials and is usually associated with Egyptian mummy portraits painted on wood and wrapped with the bodies of noble persons; but there are a number of contemporary artists like Jasper Johns, Nancy Graves, Linda Benglis, and Richard Serra who use the medium to create paintings that can have either a matte finish, textured surface or a jewel -like polished finish. RandF makes their sticks by combining bees wax with pigment and a small amount of damar so they can be melted, applied to a rigid support, fused with heat, and then polished. The company provides literature to explain the process and also offers workshops in their offices and at other locations.

RandF Handmade Paints also manufactures Pigment Sticks, a solid form of oil color that can be used with tube colors to create paintings. I plan to use the sticks during the initial drawing stage of my painting process because they allow me to translate the direct action of my hand and arm to the initial lines on a canvas or panel, and I can then dissolve the paint to establish the big shapes within a landscape or figure painting.

I'll be introducing RandF Pigment Sticks to the students who participate in my upcoming workshop in Hawaii, and I'll be posting the results on this blog.

Drawing & Painting With Other Artists

2010-04-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

Wendy Walworth painting the landscape en plein air.

Patricia Watwood painting on a chilly Friday afternoon.

John Dowd painting the spring landscape

My charcoal portrait drawing of Roland Szegi

Over the weekend of April 9-11, 2010, Christopher ("Kip") Forbes hosted a group of 11 artists at his estate, Timberfield, in New Jersey. Roland Szegi and Chase Keller posed in the living room of one of the cottage and in a walled garden, and a number of artists painted landscape on the grounds. There will be a short article about the gather in the summer issue of Workshop magazine (http://www.artistdaily.com/), and an exhibition of the artists' work will be held in the fall at the Forbes Galleries at 60 Fifth Avenue in New York.

This was the sixth collaboration between Forbes,Inc and American Artist. Three were held at the Forbes Trinchera Ranch in Colorado (1996, 1999, and 2006), one at the Forbes Chateau de Balleroy in Normandy, France (1997), and one at Old Battersea House in London (2004). Following in the tradition of previous gatherings, the artists and hosts had an enjoyable time together, and the artists created great artwork.

Marketing Art for Greater Appreciation

2010-03-28T02:49:00.000-07:00

Dallas Museum of Art

Frederic E. Church's painting The Icebergs, 1861, oil, 64 x 112,

Collection the Dallas Museum of Art.

Young museum visitors creating art with recycled materials.

One of the contemporary art galleries at the DMA

The outdoor sculpture display at the Nasher Sculpture Center

There are a number of books, videos, online courses, blogs, e-newsletters, and websites aimed at helping artists do a better job of marketing their artwork. For example, Clinton Watson has a growing online service called www.FineArtViews.com and a companion site; and Eric Rhoads, a dedicated plein air painter and the publisher, provides advice to artists through his online subscription service, www.artistadvocatemagazine.com. Many of the recommendations offered through these free and paid services is similar to the kinds of professional marketing advice given to museum directors, publishers, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and marketing executives. That’s because the best practices that have proven to be effective in one field can often be applied to another.

I had a chance to consider the universality of that kind of marketing advice during a recent trip to Dallas, Texas. I was invited by the Sheraton Dallas Hotel (www.sheratondallashotel.com) and Geiger & Associates to meet with officials from a number of cultural organizations located in the city’s arts district that is within easy walking distance of the hotel. I was especially interested in visiting the Dallas Museum of Art (www.dm-art.org) where director Bonnie Pitman has transformed the once staid institution into an active, accessible, and dynamic museum of both historic and contemporary art. Over the past 15 years, Pitman and her staff conducted extensive market research to determine who visited the museum, what was their level of engagement, how did they gain information about the works of art, and how that audience might be expanded and better served. The information gained helped the DMA change its physical layout, the range of exhibitions and services provided, and the means by which visitors enjoy and learn from the changing presentations. Pitman recently summarized her marketing advice in a book titled Ignite the Power of Art:Advancing Visitor Engagement in Museum Experiences (Yale University Press).

As I walked through the museum, I noticed visitors listening to audio programs on their own iPhones or rented audio devices, children creating their own artwork from recycled materials, docents offering guided tours of the galleries, teenagers walking through galleries filled with contemporary art, a birthday party being held in the café, and dozens of visitors reviewing a display of artwork by local schoolchildren. The museum was crowded with people who were having fun, learning about art, and spending time in downtown Dallas. There was a similar level of activity in the Nasher Sculpture Center (www.nashersculpturecenter.org) and the Crow Collection of Asian Art located a half-block from the DMA.

Creating art and visiting museums was once considered activities reserved for a small group of eryodite, wealthy, and sophisticated individuals; and artists of those periods served popes, kings, aristocrats, and noblemen. Fortunately for us, that era has ended. But the challenge now facing painters, gallery owners, and museum officials is to learn how to connect artwork to an audience of people interested in viewing, buying, and displaying art. The answer is to use research to gain a better understanding of the audience and to use solid marketing tools to deliver valued content to that audience. Does that mean artists should create what the public expects? Absolutely not. What it does suggest is that once artists have created pieces that matter to them, they need to gauge who might respond positively to the work and how those people can be made aware of the works availability.

Transitions

2010-03-07T08:29:00.001-08:00

A hand-tinted photo of me taken in 1949

Me sitting on a frame in our family's first home in New Orleans with my mother, brother, and fraternal grandmother

One of the last photographs I took of my mother in August, 2009
with my granddaughter, Amanda Deyo

I will turn 62 years old on Tuesday, March 9th, a date I have been anticipating for several years because it will mark my transition to semi-retirement. When Interweave Press bought American Artist magazine in June, 2008, I told the CEO, Clay Hall, that I would like to work part-time when I reached the age of 62. I proposed that I write and edit Workshop magazine, several of the special issue publications, and the "legacy content" magazines published during the year. Both Clay and the magazine's publisher, David Pyle, agreed to facilitate the transition I proposed. It's take a little longer than expected to find a new editorial director to take over my job, but it now seems likely that the new leader will take over later in March or April, 2010.

Unfortunately, I am making an unanticipated transition because my mother died on February 20, 2010. She was 85 and was struggling with congestive heart failure, but I expected her to recover from that problem as she had before. My mother was a strong, determined individual who grew up during The Great Depression; saw her husband and family members go off to fight in World War II; raised two sons and a daughter who had health issues for most of her life; and worked with members of the Presbyterian church for peace, justice, and equality in the world.

Fortunately, I have spent the past 31 years learning from some of the best artists in the country and I am looking forward to spending more time applying that knowledge to my own painting and to sharing it with other artists in workshops. I have had the best job an artist could ever hope for; and I have been encouraged and assisted by friends and family members, including my parents, my wife, and my children. I want to thank them, the artists who have allowed me to present their artwork in American Artist, and the loyal subscribers who have supported the publication since it was started in 1937,

Painting Winter Landscapes

2010-03-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

I don't like painting when the temperature is below50 degrees, but we recently had a warming trend and I was able to get out and spend 90 minutes developing an 8" x 10" plein air sketch. I made sure to work close to the back of my car with all my supplies close at hand, and I positioned myself in the warm sunlight so my fingers wouldn't freeze.

My objective was to capture the range of values and colors in the scene, balancing the dark shapes of the evergreen trees with the light stand of trees and sweeping snow formations. I didn't add a lot of detail because I just wanted a sketch I could later use for a more carefully considered studio painting.

In addition to painting this scene of FDR State Park in Yorktown Heights, New York, I painted two winter scenes based on memories established during trips along the Taconic Parkway on an 8" x 10" Gessobord panel.

Art About Art

2010-02-27T14:38:00.001-08:00

Christopher Pugliese (www.pugliesestudios.com)

Jacob Collins (www.jacobcollinspainitngs.com)

Warren Chang (www.warrenchang.com)

"Jimmy & Camie at Grand Central Academy," by Steve Doherty

I once foolishly asked Christopher Isherwood to tell me the subject of his current writing, and he responded by saying "Myself, of course. What else do I know." The great writer (one of whose stories became the basis of Cabaret) was obviously minimizing the broad reach of his stories, but he was also acknowledging that novelists, playwrights, and painters often use their own experiences as the basis of their expressions. That has certainly been the case with visual artists who for centuries have created drawings, paintings, prints, and sculptures about artists, studio, models, paints, critics, and muses.

Here are just four examples of paintings that explore the artist's life in the studio. Californian Warren Chang has created a number of paintings of himself, his son, and his friends assembled in a studio; Jacob Collins has painted a number of still lifes of the objects and people around him in his New York studios; and Christopher Pugliese is endlessly fascinated by the concrete and intangible aspects of studio activity.

I recently completed a painting of a model posing for Camie Davis' class at Grand Central Academy of Art. I was intrigued with the idea of a person being the subject of intense scrutiny over the eight weeks of an art class. During breaks, Jimmy interacted with the students as a good friend whose taste in music and sports became as well known as the muscles of his body; but moments later he would climb back up onto the model's platform and once again become an object composed of shapes, value patterns, and colors to be evaluated in an unemotional, objective manner. Moreover, Jimmy seemed to "zone out" after he put his arms, legs, and head in the marked positions; and he lost all consciousness of people circled around them in a studio.

Watercolor Illustrations. Jerry Pinkney's Caldecott Gold Medal Book

2010-02-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

Jerry Pinkney in his studio holding the stuffed animal used as a model for the kittens in Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens.

The jacket of Pinkney's Caldecott Gold Medal book, The Lion and the Mouse, for which he created watercolor illustrations.

Jerry Pinkney, one of the top illustrators and authors of children's books, recently won his first Caldecott Gold Medal for The Lion and The Mouse. I stopped by his studio to have him autograph a copy of the book for my granddaughter, Amanda Deyo, and he showed us the watercolor paintings he is creating for his next book Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens, as well as the stuffed animal his used as his model for the artwork.

http://www.jerrypinkneystudio.com/

Great British Paintings

2010-02-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

Departure of the Bucintoro, by Sir Frank William Brangwyn (1867-1956), ca. 1910, oil. Collection the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut.

Detail of Departure of the Bucintoro showing the thick application of oils in depicting the departure of the ceremonial vessel in Venice, Italy.

Plein air cloud study by Constable (1820)

I thought I would offer a brief report on some of the remarkable paintings I discovered at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut.

If you love luscious, thick applications of oil color, you might want to check out the Belgian-born British artist Sir Frank William Brangwyn (1867-1956). His spectacular painting of the departure of the Bucintoro, a state vessel used in ceremonies in Venice, Italy, is an amazing display of swirling paint that coalesces into a scene in deep space.

I'm not a huge fan of Constables dark, muddy landscapes but I was pleasantly surprised to find a wonderful collection of plein air oil sketches of clouds and atmospheric landscapes. The pictures were done in 1820 -- a few years before Corot went to Italy to paint -- and are relatively small works on paper mounted to board (about 9" x 12").

Drawings by Old Masters: Lasting Influences

2010-02-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

Joseph with Jacob and His Brothers (fragment of modello fr the tapestry Joseph Recounting his Dream of the Sun, Moon, and Stars), by Agnolo Bronzino, ca. 1546-48, black chalk, traces of squaring in black chalk on off-white paper glued onto secondary paper support, 17 1/4 x 13 1/16. Collection the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England. [Note the way Bronzino adapted his drawing of the figure in the lower right corner from Michelangelo's drawings]

Study of Male Nude, by Michelangelo, ca. 1504, black chalk highlighted with white gouache, 10 5/8 x 7 3/4. Collection the Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria.

Copy of Michelangelo's The Bathers in the Battle of Cascina, by Aristolie da Sangallo, ca. 1542, oil on wood, 30 1/8 x 51 1/4. Collection of the Earl of Leicester, Holkham Hall, Norfolk, England.

Eroded Riverbank with Trees and Exposed Roots, by Annibale Carracci, ca. 1590-92, pen and brown ink, 15 7/8 x 11 1/16. Collection the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York. [This rare study of nature from life was created by an artist who, with his his brother and cousin, founded the Accademia degli Incamminati school of art in Rome].

Two exhibitions of Old Master drawings that are currently on view in New York explore several interesting issues, including the influences of two of the most important figures in the history of art, Raphael and Michelangelo, and the changing opinions about their art. The Morgan Library & Museum is showing drawings in Rome After Raphael (through May 9, 2010), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art is displaying The Drawings of Bronzino. The Morgan show "takes Raphael as its starting point and ends with the dawn of a new era, as seen in the innovations of Annibale Caracci;" while The Met's exhibition (through April 18, 2010) presents "nearly all the known drawing by, or attributed to, this leading Italian Mannerist artist."

Even though Raphael lived a relatively short life (1483-1520), his elegant, sweet representations of biblical figures and monumental compositions had a profound influence on generations of painters; and while Michelangelo lived a long and productive life (1475-1564), his depictions of muscular, powerful figures changed the way artists presented the human form -- even into modern times.

While generations of artists found inspiration of the work of Raphael and Michelangelo, critics were not nearly as impressed with the way their influence played out. Bronzino's reputation seems to have suffered greatly from the changing opinions about figurative art based on the Renaissance example, and it wasn't until the 1960's that scholars developed a sincere appreciation of Bronzino's talents.

So what insights can we gain from reviewing the work in these two exhibitions? One is that there is great value in looking at the way Old Masters presented the human figure; composed paintings of figures within architectural spaces and in the landscape; and used drawings as a way of defining the images they would expand in paintings, tapestries, and frescoes. Another is that it is perfectly acceptable, prudent, and valuable to copy some of the poses and compositional schemes worked out by great artists like Raphael and Michelangelo. Finally, it is important to remember that critics will love something one day and hate it the next. Artists must lead and critics must follow, not the other way around, because artists search for a truth while critics deal with a reflection of that truth.

Watercolor Paintings & Silverpoint Drawings by Stephen Scott Young

2010-02-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Iron and Brick, by Stephen Scott Young, 2009, drybrush watercolor, 19 ¼ x 22 ½. Courtesy Adelson Galleries, New York, New York.

Lonely Canal in Venice, by Stephen Scott Young, 2009, silverpoint on coated paper, 14" x 10 1/2". Courtesy Adelson Galleries, New York, New York.

Narrow Canal, Venice, by Stephen Scott Young, 2009, silverpoint on tinted, coated paper, 9" x 7 1/4". Coutesy Adelson Galleries, New York, New York.

Stephen Scott Young is one of the most successful, talented, and humble artists I know; and I was delighted to write about his recent work for the spring, 2010 issue of Watercolor magazine. Scott's watercolors are currently on view at Warren Adelson Galleries in New York (www.adelsongalleries.com) priced at $250,000; and one of his signature paintings of a young, black, Bahamian girl sold at Sotheby's in 2007 for $348,000. Scott went though a number of professional and personal changes last year, and the most positive development was that he made two trips to Venice to create graphite drawings, watercolor paintings, and 17 silverpoint drawings.

Silverpoint has been used by artists for centuries and involves drawing on a prepared surface with a strand of sterling silver held in a mechanical pencil or hollow piece of wood. At first the thin lines are faint and shimmering, but in time the silver tarnished to become a warm gray. Because the silver will only register on a surface covered with traditional gesso, casein, or gouache, it is impossible to erase the metallic lines. Even trying to cover up stray lines winds up making the prepared surface looked patched. Most of Scott's silverpoint drawings were done on sheets of Fabriano Uno paper coated with traditional gesso (a warm mixture of powdered whiting and rabbit-skin glue).

Scott spent hundreds of hours developing the small drawings (no larger than 14" x 10") by laying down parallel lines in one direction (slightly off vertical), and then in another direction so as to create diamond or triangular shapes where the hatched lines crossed. In some places he also added stippled dots and horizontal lines to create a rich dark gray. Silverpoint does not allow for the kinds of deep blacks one can achieve with graphite or charcoal.

Scott did dozens of graphite drawings and used those as the basis of watercolors once he returned to his Florida studio. One of the paintings shows a model posing in a gondola along one of the narrow canals, and another (shown here) offers an interpretation of one of the doorways along the canal. His palette was limited to Winsor red, Winsor yellow, French ultramarine blue, and Shiva casein white. That differs from the palette he uses to paint the black citizens of the Bahamian island of Eleuthera (where he maintains one of three studios). The black figures are painted with French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, brown madder, and Shiva casein white.

Scott will be teaching and demonstrating during American Artist's Weekend With the Masters conference taking place from September 23-26, 2010 at the Laguna Cliffs Resort & Spa in Dana Point, California (www.weekendwiththemasters.com).

Painting From Photographs. The Historic Debate

2010-01-27T04:19:00.000-08:00

Interior with Portraits, by Thomas Le Clear, ca. 1865, oil, 25 7/8 x 40 1/2. Collection the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

A interesting exhibition just closed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and is moving to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (February 28-May 23, 2010). The show is called American Stories. Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915, and it includes major works by Winslow Homer, John Singleton Copley, George Caleb Bingham, William Merritt Chase, and dozens of other artists who commented on political, social, economic, and artistic issues in America during the time period.

One particularly amusing and relevant painting is a studio scene by Thomas Le Clear in which he expresses his opinions about the impact of the new technology of photography on fine art. At first glance it appears that the painting reveals two children posing for a portrait photograph in an artist's studio. The room is filled with sculptures, paintings, sketchbooks, an easel, and a mahl stick and yet a photographer is preparing to take a photograph with the subjects posed against an artificial backdrop. As art historian Margaret C. Conrads points out in the catalog for the exhibition, "at a time when photography was considered the more truthful medium and was a strong competitor of painting for portrait commissions, Le Clear unmasked the illusion, even deception, in the mechanics of both media, as well as the complicity of painters and photographers in their creation."

It turns out that neither of the two children posing for a photograph were alive at the time the painting was created (the young girl, Parnell Sidway, was 13 when she died in 1849; and her brother, James, was killed in a fire in 1865 when he was 25), and the setup in the studio is completely inaccurate. Le Clear seems to be saying that while photographer may be able to capture the truth of one moment in time, artists have the power to present a truth about life that transcends the limitations of time and random occurrences. This distinction would have been extremely important to artists in the 1860's when photographers were suggesting that their accounts of the Civil War were more significant that the drawings and paintings artists created on the battlefields. And when the market for painting collapsed during the recession that followed the war, artists like Le Clear felt that their very livelihood was at stake.

Questions about photography's impact on painting are still being raised today. There are those who feel artists must draw and paint from life in order to perfect their skills of perception, but there is a significantly greater number of painters who use photographs as supplementary resources or as primary references. The relevant issues are just as important today as they were for Thomas Le Clear in 1865.

Drawing & Painting Sight-Size

2010-01-20T08:01:00.001-08:00

Steve Smith's photograph of Paul DeLorenzo (center) teaching a workshop at the

Long Island Academy of Fine Art (www.liafa.com).

DeLorenzo showing a student how to stand a measured distance from her easel so both the model and the image on the canvas appear to be the same size.

A student measuring each part of the model's head using a brush held horizontally. Note that he is trying to paint the head exactly as it appears from a measured distance away from the easel.

Another student squinting and holding a brush in front of her eyes while she makes decisions from a measured distance about the development of her painting.

I've written a number of articles on artists who use the sight-size approach to painting, but the method became more clear to me while I was writing an article on Paul DeLorenzo for the spring, 2010 issue of Workshop magazine (www.artistdaily.com). I explain that the procedure is to stand a measured distance away from both the easel and the subject being painted so that both appear to be exactly the same. That is, from 10- or 12-feet away from a painting, the image appears to be exactly the same size as the person or object being painted.

There are two principle reasons to use the sight-size approach. One is to train artists to draw and paint what they actually see rather than what they know about a subject; and the second is to impart "certain aesthetic and technical attributes to a painting, notably the broad handling that comes into focus when seen at the proper viewing distance," according to artist Nicholas Beer (www.sarumstudio.com). In other words, the goal of the sight-size approach is to increase an artist's skill to a level at which he or she is ale to eliminate unintended distortions in drawing or painting, and to create convincing illusions of reality on a two-dimensional surface.

Beer points out that great artists of the past (Titian, Hals, Reynolds, Raeburn, and Sargent to name a few) used a variation of the sight-size method in that they all walked back and forth from their easels to judge how to paint a portrait subject exactly as he or she appeared when the canvas and sitter were in view. He quotes one contemporary account of Sargent's methods which points out that he "placed his canvas on a level with the model, walked back until the canvas and sitter where equal before his eye, and was thus able to estimate the construction and values of his representation."

Darren R. Rousar has written a book that provides specific details about the approach (Cast Painting Using the Sight-Size Approach, Velatura Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota), and he maintains websites on the subject (www.Sight-Size.com and (www.christianchurchart.com). Rousar includes diagrams of how to position the model, easel and lights; and he recommends ways of progressing through a drawing or painting.

What I believe will be valuable about considering this approach is that one can adapt various ways of looking objectively at one's drawings and paintings -- something we all struggle with as we try to determine ways of improving our artwork.

Paint Landscapes From Sketches, Memory & Photos

2010-01-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

9" x 12" oil sketch done on location near Ste. Stai church in Venice, Italy

Photograph of the location I painted.

The preliminary sketch done with diluted transparent oxide red oil paint on a 20" x 20" canvas.

The initial block-in of the local colors

The finished painting done from the plein air sketch, the photograph, and my memory.

Ever since my trip to Venice in May, 2009, I have been looking at paintings of the city by 19th century artists like Sargent and Whistler, as well as contemporary artists like Steve Rogers (http://www.watercolorsbyrogers.com/) and Len Mizerek (http://www.leonardmizerek.com/). I've become more aware of how those artists exaggerated the color relationships, simplified the complicated spaces, and composed the shapes and values. I decided to respond to that new awareness by painting a studio picture using the oil sketch I did on location, a photograph I took at the same time, and my imagination. I did the oil sketch near Ste. Stai, one of the many Venetian churches that Sargent painted.

In order to emphasize the abstract relationship of shapes, I changed the format of my painting from the horizontal shape of the plein air sketch to a square, increased the contrast between the cool and warm colors, heightened the bright colors, muted the dark- and middle-value colors, and used a palette knife to apply thick layers of paint that would emulate the textures of the ancient walls. Using the palette knife really transformed the painting and I'm sure I will use that technique again in other paintings. My friend Urania Christy Tarbet (http://www.uraniachristytarbet.com/) is sending me a set of palette knives she is now marketing because I told her how much I liked the effects one can get.

Drawing Portraits & Figures: Starting with Gestures

2010-01-13T11:55:00.001-08:00

Sherrie McGraw (on the left) teaching figure drawing at the

Fredericksburg Artists School in Texas.

Gesture drawings Sherrie created to show students how to focus on movement, not detail.

A drawing from Sherrie's Book, The Language of Drawing: From An Artist's Viewpoint (Bright Light Publishing http://www.brightlightpublishing.com/).

A drawing demonstration created on colored paper with charcoal and Conte

During the first four days of a workshop that Sherrie McGraw (www.sherriemcgraw.com) taught at the Fredericksbug Artists School in Texas (http://www.fbgartschool.com/), the New Mexico artist emphasized the importance of capturing the gesture of the model's pose, not just the exact measurements or details of the body parts. She explained that this would be one way to capture the "life force" of a person instead of an exact portrait likeness of the figure. An artist might want to go on to develop a portrait, she indicated, and the underlying gesture drawing would add character and personality to the finished drawing.

Sherrie demonstrated that when creating a gesture drawing one tries to make long, flowing lines rather than short, straight lines; and one usually draws rounded, convex shapes rather than sharply angled or concave shapes. To verify that, she asked the workshop participants to look carefully at the outer edges of arms, legs, hips, shoulders, jaws, and ears.

This emphasis on drawing the gesture of a figure's weight distribution, momentary action, and bulging forms rather than the exact, measured appearance of body parts can be traced back to a book published in the late 1930's that promoted the idea of making contour and gesture drawings. Kimon Nicholaides' book, The Natural Way to Draw, was published at a time when many artists were interested in creating "action paintings" or abstract expressionist works of art. They liked the idea of creating a personal response to the energy, expressiveness, and action of the human form rather than the precise appearance of the anatomy, musculature, or naturalistic form.

Sherrie strikes a balance between personal expression and direct observation, and her drawings and paintings offer responses to specific people at one moment in time. I wrote an article about Sherrie's workshop on drawing and painting for the spring 2010 issue of Workshop magazine (www.artistdaily.com) and described her approach to painting figures and still lifes in oil as well as her methods of creating gesture drawings.

Sargent's Studio Props

2010-01-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Nelson Shanks painting in the Robert Henri studio on Gramercy Park in New York

Two of the ten pilasters Mr. Shanks rescued from the Sargent studio in London.

The exterior of the building that housed Henri's top-floor studio from 1909-1929

"Lord Ribblesdale," a Sargent portrait incorporating one of the Tite Street pilasters

"The Earle of Dalhousie" standing in front of columns used in a number of Sargent portraits

Artists often use the same studio props in portraits and still lifes, and it is well documented that John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) often used the same columns, scarfs, chairs, lamps, and backdrops in the portraits he created in his studios in Paris, London, and New York. Richard Ormond, Sargent's grand nephew and the leading scholar on Sargent's work, has cataloged most of those props.

In 1994, Nelson Shanks (www.nelsonshanks.com) borrowed a studio in one of the buildings where Sargent held a lease from 1887-1900 so that he could create a portrait of HRH Diana, The Princess of Wales. While working on the portrait, Shanks noticed that the building next door (that Sargent leased in 1900) was being renovated and the contractor was taking out about a dozen pilaster decorations. Shanks negotiated with the contractor to rescue the pilasters which appeared in the backgrounds of a number of Sargent paintings, and he shipped them back to the United States so they could be appreciated by students attending Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia (www.studioincamminati.org).

Recently, Mr. Shanks transported two of the pilasters to New York where he is renting the studio occupied by Robert Henri (1865-1929) from 1909-1929. I photographed them recently when I began working on a second special magazine on artists' studios that will be published in the fall of 2010 (www.artistdaily.com). The pilasters flank an unfinished portrait of Renee Fleming that Mr. Shanks is currently developing.

It's fascinating to look at Sargent's portraits (www.johnsingersargent.org) and pick out the props that he used over and over again to lend character to his depictions of lords, ladies, dowagers, and industrial barons; and it's interesting how the props were used to enhance the coloration, lighting, or composition of the paintings. For example, the pilasters certain emphasize Lord Ribblesdale's erect posture and aristocratic appearance. The columns next to The Earle of Dalhousie make him seem tall and imposing, but Ormond points out that white skin on his forehead -- probably from a hat that shaded his face -- was an inside joke that Sargent played on his insufferable client.

By the way, if you love Sargent as much as I do, you might want to join The Great Portraits Tour to London that John Howard Sanden is organizing from June 13-20, 2010 (www.portraitinstitute.com). Richard Ormond will be meeting with the group to discuss his life-long study of his great uncle. The tour will also include visits to the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Academy of Art, and Windsor Castle.

Still Life Painting

2010-01-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

John Bosquet-Morra teaching a workshop at the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York

Workshop participants first did quick sketches (on the right), then they created detailed paintings (center) from the sketch and the actual set-up (at left).

Bob Lenz underpainted a grisaille and then glazed colors to capture the appearance of the metal object in his still life.

I just finished writing an article on John Bosquet-Morra's (www.johnmorrapainting.com) recent workshop at the Grand Central Academy of Art (www.grandcentralacademy.classicist.org) for the spring, 2010 issue of Workshop (www.artistdaily.com), and I enjoyed writing about an instructor who encourages students to expand their ideas about still lifes. John suggests using non-traditional materials like small appliances, bricks, and hardware as well as standard fruits and flowers; and he shows how artists can select items that all relate to a story, recipe, or theme. For example, he recommended painting a still life of all the items listed in a cooking recipe so they have a practical relationship to each other.

John also demonstrated several painting techniques, include alla prima direct painting and glazing over a monochromatic grisaille ("gray painting"). That is, he showed how to paint wet-into-wet to develop an oil painting without having to wait for each layer of paint to dry; and he explained how to first paint the dark, middle, and light values with a limited palette of colors and later glaze over thin, transparent colors. Bob Lenz, one of the workshop participants, found the grisaille method appropriate for painting a metail object in his still life.

John recently switched New York galleries and is now represented by the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery in Soho (www.eegallery.com).

Watercolors by Architects

2010-01-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

"Greek Steps, Sifnos," by Thomas W. Schaller, 2008, watercolor, 12 x 9.

"Arabella Street Driveway," by Stephan Hoffpauir, 2008, watercolor 24 x 36.

"Canal Study 3, Venice," by Stephan Harby, watercolor, 17 x 13.

I just finshed writing an article on Thomas W. Schaller's (www.twschaller.com) watercolor paintings for the April, 2010 issue of American Artist, and it occured to me that Thomas is the third licensed architect whose watercolors I have written about in the past year. I described Stephan Harby's (www.stephanharby.com) art in the May, 2009 issue of the magazine, and Stephan Hoffpauir's (www.colepratt.com) in the January, 2010 issue. And if I were to search back through issues published over the past 20-30 years, I could probably come up with three dozen other architects whose watercolors were featured in American Artist or Watercolor magazines (www.artistdaily.com).

Why do so many architects paint watercolors? For generations, architects were trained to make drawings and paintings from their schematic plans so that clients could visualize how their completed buildings would look. When the fine art departments in colleges and universities were discontinuing their drawing and watercolor painting courses, the schools of architecture was still teaching students to use graphite, colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor to create believable visualizations. Harby, Hoffpauir, and Schaller enjoyed drawing and painting so much as students that they contiued to develop their talents after joining the profession. Hoffpauir and Schaller wound up writing books for architects on watercolor techniques; and all three men taught courses and workshops on the subject.

I've been attracted to watercolors by architects because they often show the medium to it's best advantage. There is usually a strong, accurate drawing underneath the flowing blends of transparent color; and the white of the paper is expertly used to bring the viewer's attention through the picture and directly into the center of interest.

Another reason these three architects now focus so much of their time and attention on fine art painting is that computers have all but eliminated the market for handmade renderings. Most architects are now trained to use computer software to create visualizations of their designs, and only a small number of high-end architectural firms commission original drawings or paintings for their clients. Schaller is fortunate to still have a thriving business working for some of the best known architects in the world.

All three of these artists create studio paintings from sketches and photographs, but they also enjoy finding subject matter when they travel. Hoffpauir is inclined to rely on his camera when scouting subjects while Harby and Schaller prefer painting small watercolors on location. Not surprisingly, buildings often figure into most all of the watercolors.

Painting From Photographs

2009-12-29T04:46:00.000-08:00

I normally work from plein air sketches or my imagination, but the scene I photographed in Costa Rica was just too beautiful to pass up. I changed the foreground to make it more interesting and to introduce lines to direct viewers' attention around the composition, and I got rid of the overhanging branches since they suggested something beyond the canvas that wasn't resolved. While painting, I spent quite a bit of time trying to add variety to the otherwise monochromatic palette of greens, mixing various combinations of warm (ultramarine blue + cadmium yellow) and cool greens (Winsor blue + cadmium lemon); and I glazed mixtures of Galkyd medium and transparent colors (transparent red oxide, Indian yellow, Winsor blue). Now I'll spray it with retouch varnish to unify the surface with a gloss.

The painting is 18" x 24", oil on canvas. I'm going to put it on a shelf in my office so I can imagine being back in the tropical environment when I'm stuck in cold, wet, chaotic New York City.

Paradox and Equilibrium

2009-12-23T05:37:00.000-08:00

"Hercules Protecting the Balance Between Pleasure and Virtue," by David Ligare, 1993, oil, 60 x 56. Private collection, Santa Barbara, California.

"Still Life With Apples (Aparchai)," by David Ligare, 2008, oil, 20 x 24. Courtesy Hirschl & Adler Modern Galleries, New York, New York.

As bad as the art business has been in the past 18 months, there are some benefits to galleries closing, downsizing, or changing direction. For example, with the closing of Hackett-Friedman Gallery in San Francisco, several important artists have been picked up by New York galleries, including my friend David Ligare. I've admired David's classically inspired still lifes and figure paintings for more than 25 years, and I had the chance to visit his mountain-top studio in California a few years ago. I'm delighted that with the demise of his San Francisco gallery he will moving work to New York where it will be exhibited at Hirschl & Adler Modern.

What I find particularly interesting about David's paintings is that he finds ways of updating themes from the history of art that have particular relevance for modern times. For example, a number of his paintings deal with the themes of balance and paradox, or the need to establish a harmonic relationship between seemingly contradictory human tendencies. He often uses classically draped figures in the landscape to explore the forces of passion and reason -- the Apollonian and Dianysian traits most people have -- as well as the theme of life and death. As David has said, "the balance of opposites is the essence of Classicism," and the issues have interested painters for centuries. In David's case, he uses a stark, photographic light and the California landscape to certify that the themes are exceedingly relevant to the 21st century.

Another theme David pursues in his still life paintings is the celebration of nature. Several years ago he came across something called "aparchai," or wall decorations in the ruins of Pompeian homes that celebrated the annual harvest. In some cases, the frescoes showed folding screens that could be opened when residents celebrated the new harvest and praised the gods for delivering it to them. David did several paintings with folding screens added to their frames, and he also painted a variation of an aparchai using the three-sided platform on which he has been painting still lifes for decades. The suggestion is that the still lifes are forms of celebraton and worship.

If you don't already know David's work you might want to check out his website (http://www.davidligare.com/) or his gallery's (http://www.hirschlandadler.com/).

Your First Art Exhibition

2009-12-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

My drawing is the one in the middle of the 1955 newspaper magazine article.

The photograph in the middle was staged after the newspaper decided to publish my drawing.

[This blog was first published on the American Artist website (http://www.artistdaily.com/) on June 29, 2009, but my mother recently sent me the newspaper article referred to in the blog so I though I would re-post it with those two pages].

If you are like most artists, you have a clear recollection of how you felt when one of your drawings or paintings was first put on display on a school bulletin board, in an art-school exhibition, or in a commercial gallery. All of a sudden, the artwork you didn't think much about became the focus of attention among your fellow students, family members, neighbors, teachers, and friends. And if you saved that early work of art, it has taken on even greater significance in the passing years. In fact, the importance accorded that first publicly displayed picture may have contributed to your becoming an artist today.

My first public recognition as an artist came when I was in second grade at Bienville Elementary School, in New Orleans. My crayon drawing of the classroom with my best friends standing at the blackboard and the clock accouncing the 3p.m. end of the school day was reproduced in the February 27, 1955 edition of The Times-Picayune newspaper in the Dixie Roto magazine section, along with a phtoograph of the actual classroom and selected students. That's the day all my friends and relatives decided I was an artist.

Your experience may have been more nerve racking than mine. After all, most young people are very nervous during their first public speech or exhibition, and many adults hate attending the opening of their art shows. Nevertheless, the recognition can be extremely encouraging to artists of any age because it allows them to see how others respond to their intensely personal, private activities in the studio.

I'd be interested to know if you also have clear recollections of that first public display of your artwork and the bundle of emotions that came with the experience.

Telling Stories in Paintings

2009-12-19T04:28:00.001-08:00

Burton Silverman near two self-portraits

Silverman's New York Studio and several paintings in progress

I visited Burton Silverman's studio (http://www.burtonsilverman.com/) to interview him for an article in the spring, 2010 issue of Workshop magazine (http://www.artistdaily.com/), and we talked about the workshop he recently taught at the Art Students League of New York (http://www.theartstudentsleague.org/), his career as a teacher and artist, and the potential of representational artwork to tell meaningful stories. As you probably know, Burt used to do portrait drawings for The New Yorker magazine, paintings for the cover of Time, and lots of other editorial illustrations; and he has been one of the top portrait painters and gallery artists for the past 50+ years.

While talking about his illustrations and a collection of drawings he did of civil rights workers in the 1950's, Burt pointed out that while illustrations are often dismissed by critics as being slick, obvious, or shallow, they do have the power to express significant ideas. "Until the late 19th century, almost all art told stories from the Bible, history, mythology, or politics," he explained. "Even the great portraits by Velasquez, Rembrandt, and Sargent told stories about the times in which the person lived. For centuries it was acknowledged that artists could create powerful 'illustrations' that were also great works of art."

Burt pulled paintings out of the bins in his studio to show some of the themes that have interested him in recent years, including portraits of laborers, paintings of nudes posing in his studio, studies of clothed models, and commissioned portraits. He explained that the laborers appealed to him because they were confident, proud individuals; or because they gave him an opportunity to paint figures in the landscape. He pointed to one oil painting of a young man wearing a scarf on his head and a backpack over his shoulders, and another of a shirtless cement mixer. There was a commissioned portrait of a lawyer on his easel, and he pointed out that the man's posture said a great deal about his personality. "I don't get commissions from people who want to look as though they lived in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century," he explained. "When they see samples of my portraits they know I am interested in showing who they are, not what they might have looked like 100 years ago."

The conversation with Burt reminded me of the paintings I saw the day before when I toured an exhibition a The Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.metmuseum.org/) titled "American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life (1764-1915). The 100 paintings are view until January 24, 2010 and travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from February 28-May 23, 2010. The museum describes the exhibition as one that "examines stories based on familiar experience and the means by which painters told their stories through their choices of settings, players, action, and various narrative devices. The artists' responses to foreign prototypes, travel and training, changing exhibition venues, and audience expectations are examined, as are their evolving styles and standards of storytelling in relation to the themes of childhood, marriage, the family, and the community; the production and reinforcement of citizenship; attitudes towards race; the frontier as reality and myth; and the process and meaning of art making. " There is a catalog for the exhibition.

Those of us who, like Burt Silverman, are challenged to tell stories through our art may find this exhibition and the article in Workshop to be of interest.

Christmas Angels

2009-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

My brother, Chuck, and I looking at the angels Christmas morning, 1955

One of the seven 1954 Christmas angels in Rockefeller Center in New York City

near the angels and tree

Still life painters often say they are most inspired when focused on objects of personal significance -- family heirlooms or photographs, saved toys, favorite foods, or flowers from their garden -- because of the emotional connections and the opportunity to tell a story that unified the painting composition. I thought about that as I brought Christmas decorations out of the boxes they have lived in for 55 years. Those tree ornaments and mantel decorations really do hold a lot of memories that could guide me through a painting.

Many of those decorative objects conjure up pleasant memories of the children who painted them, the relatives who crafted them, and the friends who gifted them. But they also remind me of the loved ones who are no longer around to celebrate the holidays.

One particular set of seven painted balsa wood angls holds special significance at Christmas. They were made for me in 1954 by a family friend, Ed Buwe, from a pattern published in Good Housekeeping magazine. Ed was one of the people who encouraged me to become an artist. Actually he wanted me to study architecture and specialize in illustrating building designs, but the fact that he saw promise in my childhood drawings and paintings was enormously encouraging to me.

The decorations also remind me of a former co-worker who would check herself into a mental hospital over the Christmas holidays because she couldn't cope with the sadness of not having a family to surround her. During the holidays I am very thankful to have close friends and family with me, along with the objects that remind me of people who have enriched my life. I hope you do as well.

Art Competitions I'll Be Judging

2009-12-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

I've agreed to judge four national art competitions in 2010, and I thought I would spread the word to my friends who might be interested in competing for some significant prize money and recognition.

1. Pleiades Gallery 28th Annual Juried Exhibition (http://www.pleiadesgallery.com/). This venerable New York City co-op gallery has asked me to select the work their annual competition. It is open to all media, entrants must submit CD's only (JPEGS), no 2-D work can measure larger than 60" x 48", and the entries must be postmarked by May 22, 2010. The exhibition in the Chelsea gallery will be from July 15-August 7, 2010.

2. National Oil & Acrylic Painters' Society (http://www.noaps.com/). June Wayne once presented an exhibition in New York that opened during a snow storm, and very few people attended the reception. However lots of people called June and wrote her letters saying they loved the print reproduced on the invitation and would make an effort to see the show before it closed. June's comment to me was "next time I will send out invitations and I won't bother hanging the show. No one saw the New York show, but everyone had a favorable response." I thought of that comment on the two previous occasions when I traveled to the Ella Carothers Dunnegan Gallery in Bolivar, Missouri to judge the annual NOAPS show. The large, attractive gallery is in the middle of nowhere and very few people actually get to see the first installation of the NOAPS exhibition, but the show gets lots of publicity and travels, and all the winning pictures are seen on the organization's website. As June Wayne might say, publicity is sometimes the most significant result of an exhibition. The prospectus is not ready right now, but the exhibition will open in September so I assume entries will be do in mid-July.

3. PleinAir Easton (http://www.pleinaireaston.com/). This annual competition brings together plein air painters from around the country, although the majority of the participants are active in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area. There is a significant amount of prize money, and while I will be selecting the artists for the 2010 event, museum director Jan Stern will be awarding the prizes. The prospectus should now be available for the event that takes place from July 18 to 23rd (with the exhibition remaining on view until the 25th when the winners will be invited to a special paint-out and brunch.

4. Blossom II -- Art of Flowers (www.blossomartcompetition.com) is sponsored by the Susan K. Black Foundation and opens in the spring of 2011 at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The Best of Show prize is $25,000, and additional prizes totalling $40,000 will be awarded. When I served on the jury of awards several years ago, I was surprised that there weren't more outstanding paintings entered in the contest. Considering the amount of prize money and the fact that the show will travel, I think every talented artist who paints flowers should enter. Entries must be postmarked by September, 2010.

Good Luck!

Landscapes as Metaphors for Our Lives

2009-11-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

"The Carry," by Andrew Wyeth, 2003, egg tempera. Private collection.

"Road Cut," by Andrew Wyeth, 1940, egg tempera, 15 1/8 x 34 1/2. Collection the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.

"Palladian Villa in Tuscany," by M. Stephen Doherty, 2002, oil, 11 x 14.

My wife and I attended a concert by Michael Feinstein and David Hyde Pierce Saturday evening, and during one of Pierce's solo performances he sang "Your Face on My Pillow," a love song that John Kander wrote for his partner. The lyrics describe Kander's joy in waking up next to the person he loves, and it uses landscape images as metaphors for both the struggles and comforts of a daily life. At one point the song refers to the storms of the day being chased away by the proximity of his partner, and that particular image resonated with both my average workday and my landscape paintings.

The more I thought about Kander using sunlight, storms, and calm skies to identify his feelings, the more I considered that we artists use landscape forms as representations of our thoughts and feelings. For example, in his book Andrew Wyeth. Autobiography (Bullfinch Press, 1995), Mr. Wyeth mentions that one of his early egg tempera paintings captured both his personality and his ambitions for himself and his fiance, Betsey; and the wall text describing his 2003 painting The Carry (in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's 2006 exhibition, Memory & Magic), Mr. Wyeth explains that he invented this landscape scene to represent the turbulence of the 1980's when his drawings and paintings of Helga Testorf became the subject of so much gossip and controversy. He once told me that was an extremely difficult period of time for him, and we an actually read his feelings in the details of The Carry.

My painting of a Tuscan hillside is partially based on scene I observed, and partially on feelings I have about the classical order and symmetry of 18th century buildings by Palladio. To me, his buildings embody the peace, order, and discipline I would like to have in my life; and placing one of them in a real Italian landscape seemed to convey that desire.

I wonder if you ever see the elements in you landscape paintings as metaphor for the things you feel, want, or consider. Do you paint the "storms" of your life, or do you imagine a better world? I'd be interested in knowing that.

Watercolor Painting As a Live Performance

2009-11-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

I normally paint with oils mixed with Galkyd fast-drying medium, so I assume I can make radical changes in the composition of shapes, values, and colors as I formulate the intended outcome of my pictures. But I had to exercise more thought, control, and restraint when I painted scenes of Costa Rica in watercolor during a recent vacation with my family.

It occured to me that one might compare the difference between painting with watercolors and oils as the difference between a live stage performance and a filmed presentation. With watercolor, every gesture is observed and judged by the audience of viewers as if they were watching the painting take shape; whereas with oil the performance is carefully edited so that only the best strokes are seeen. That is, each stroke of watercolor paint brushed across a sheet of paper affects the surface in a way that is permanent; so an artist has to plan the mixtures of pigments and the sequence of application in such a way that a carefully considered result is achieved. Adjustments can be made, and lots of teachers explain how to "salvage" a painting that is either timidly executed of overworked, but the best results are almost always the result of deliberate, planned, and economical actions.

After working on three paintings of the Costa Rican landscape that lacked this kind of sponteneity,freshness, and clarity, I achieved some level of success while sitting on the white sand beach in Manuel Antonio, a growing tourist city along the Pacific Ocean. I drew the key elements of the scene on a 9" x 12" block of Arches watercolor paper using a Sakura Koi Watercolor Brush, a plastic pen that holds and releases watercolor paint like a felt-tipped pen. I filled the pen with a mixture of transparent, non-staining pigments (rose madder genuine, cobalt blue, and aureolin) so the drawn lines with disappear as I brushed stronger colors over them. I started by painting the sky area, applied a dark base color to the rock formations, and gradually refined each area of the picture over a period of 90 minutes.

The finished painting isn't anything I want to brag about, but it does capture my experience of relaxing in the warm, humid atmosphere of the tropical environment. It didn't impress the white-faced monkeys and racoons that were trying to steal food from people on the beach, but it satisfied me. I took some reference photographs so that eventually I can develop a larger and more considered studio painting.

The Line Between Representation & Abstraction

2009-11-17T06:22:00.001-08:00

"Horizon Winds," by Jane Wilson, 2008, oil, 30 x 36.

"Hurricane Silence," by Jane Wilson, 2008, oil, 60 x 60.

"Storm Passing," by Jane Wilson, 2009, oil, 12 x 12.

I've spent 30 years editing magazines about representational art, and my own work is decidedly realistic, so it's not too surprising that I have trouble relating to purely abstract pictures. I agree with Jack Beal that such works are often just PART not ART in that they offer some of the elements of picture making, but not all. That is, there is color, form, space, etc., but it is art about art and not about the totality of life. That may be sufficient for others, and it may even be better for some, but to me it just isn't enough.

The division between abstraction and representation becomes more complicated when I consider work by someone like Jane Wilson, an artist who paints landscapes who has had a distinguished career as a professor, arts administrator, and painter. A collection of her recent oil paintings is currently on view at DC Moore Gallery in New York (www.dcmooregallery.com), and there is a 56-page catalog for the show that includes an essay by Stephen Westfall. Wilson taught at Columbia University, Parsons School of Design, and Cooper Union; she was president of the National Academy Museum from 1992-1994; she is a member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters; and her paintings are included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

In Westfall's catalog essay, he suggests that Wilson and many other artists of her generation dealt with a "tension between abstraction and representation." He goes on to say "nearly all her peers who were to ultimately comedown on the side of representation, and particularly landscape, went through an intense engagement with post-Cubist abstraction ... or Abstract Expressionism." He then identifies influences going as far back as Turner and as recent as Rothko to explain why Wilson and her peers developed a style of represtentation that has strong roots in pure abstraction or in the abstraction of observable forms. They subscribe to the idea that a picture has its own integrity apart from its ability to represent the illusion of reality.

I've considered the arguments for why painters like Wilson repeat the same formats over and over again, and why there is only the briefest reference to nature in those repetitive pictures. No matter what explanation I consider, I still wind up feeling that the artists have offered an unsatisfying response to the subject. For me, the art is too much about the painter and too little about the world around me.

This conflict struck home as I was riding the commuter train home from New York last evening. I looked out the window every few minutes and the light of dusk was performing a spectacular opera with more drama than could ever be brought to a stage. As the sun set behind the cliffs of the Palisades and reflected on the calm Hudson River, the sky turned from subtle gradations of blues to a wild display of orange and purple clouds, dark violet land forms, yellow and gold bands along the horizon, and sparkling orange highlights on the water. When I looked down at the reproductions of Jane Wilson's landscape paintings in the DC Moore catalog, I wondered why she would be satisfied with such minimal, arbitrary responses to the spectacle of nature.

The other publications in my briefcase were copies of Darren R. Rousar's (www.christianchurchart.com) two paperback books: Cast Drawing. Using the Sight-Size Approach, and Cast Painting. Using the Sight-Size Approach (Velatura Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.sightsize.com). As I read through the instructions aimed at teaching artists to skillfully respond to what they observe rather than what they interpret, I thought that artists who follow his instruction would likely paint sunsets with greater understanding, skill, AND interpretation that Jane Wilson.

I don't really mean to dismiss Wilson or the other atists who want to make connections to a long tradition that extends from Turner, Bonnard, and Rothko to the present. All I want to suggest is that for me, there is more to be said about nature than the act of making paintings.

Curt Walters and the Road to Success

2009-11-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Curt Walters painting during the Grand Canyon Celebration of the Arts 2009 (www.grandcanyon.org). An article on his recent wokshop and the Grand Cayon event are included in the winter 2009 issue of Workshop magazine (www.artistdaily.com).

By all measures, my friend Curt Walters (www.curtwalters.com) is one of the most successful artists in the country, certainly among artists in the Western United States. He has won almost every major award given in juried competitions, including the Prix de West (organized by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City), and he was recently the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis. But none of this happened overnight, and in fact Curt was rejected for 20 years in a row when he was first considered for the Prix de West exhibition.

I mentioned this because all of us can learn something from Curt's hard work, determination, and resilience. He could have given up on his dreams years ago, and no one would have blammed him considering his success was being thwarted by some very influential artists. But Curt believed in himself, trusted the opinions of people who recognized his talents, and continued to improve his paintings until he was finally called the "greatest living Grand Canyon artist" by Art of the West magazine. He works just as hard today as he did when I first met him 30 years ago and featured his paintings in the June, 1980 issue of American Artist; and he continues to share his knowledge and enthusiasm as he did in the cover story of the April, 1998 issue of the magazine.

Drawing on Toned Paper

2009-11-13T09:38:00.001-08:00

Jamie Wyeth drawings from the book "Capturing Nureyev," published in 2002 by the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine.

I sat next to John Dowd (www.williamscottgallery.com) at a recent session of the drawing group we are part of, and he did some wonderful studies of the models on craft paper using a black and white wax-based pencils. I thought it was a shame for him to create such powerful drawings on a non-archival paper, and I mentioned that Jamie Wyeth started out using the same kind of high-acid paper but switched to using archival papers. When I got home I did a little research and sent John an e-mail with photographs of Jamie's drawings and a reference to two papermaking companies that have both standard and custom-made papers with the same deep, warm tone as the craft paper. One is the New York company Dieu Donne Papermill (www.dieudonne.org), and the other is Twinrocker Handmade Paper (www.twinrocker.com) in Indiana. Legion Paper (www.legionpaper.com) makes Stonehenge, a wonderful cream colored paper available through retail and online art-supply companies, and it is great for both wet and dry media. Unfortunately, it doesn't have quite as depth of tone that attracted John and Jamie to craft paper. There are lots of colored papers available for charcoal and pastel, but they tend to have a rough texture that makes it difficult to get really smooth lines and shade patterns.

Jamie began doing drawings and paintings of Nureyev in 1977 and completed about 35 portraits before the dancer died in January, 1993. He reworked several early studies after Nureyev did, and he and included almost all the drawings and paintings in the traveling show documented by the book. Jamie once told me that the idea of working on a tan surface and highlighting Nureyev's body with white gouache occured to him because Nureyev was always wearing makeup, usually a stark white body color that accentuated his muscles and created a glow around him. "He was always performing. But it was one thing to see him in costume on stage wearing such heavy makeup, and another thing to see him walking down the streets of New York with the same theatrical presence. He looked like a ghost or some kind of bizarre creature, and I was fascinated enough by his appearance to draw and paint him that way," Jamie told me.

Graydon Parrish Workshop on Color

2009-11-13T04:06:00.000-08:00

Graydon Parrish lecturing on the Munsell color system during a workshop at Grand Central Academy of Art.

"The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy," by Graydon Parrish, 2002, oil, 8' x 18'. Collection the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut.

"Rose," by Graydon Parrish, 2009, oil, 16 x 12. Private collection.

I recently finished writing one of the most complicated and illuminating articles I've ever developed for Workshop magazine (www.artistdaily.com). In the winter 2009 issue that is just out, I describe a three-week workshop Graydon Parrish taught on the Munsell color system at the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York (www.grandcentralacademy.classicist.org). The system is too complicated to explain here, but suffice it to say Graydon helped a group of serious, dedicated artists gain a better understanding of color hue, value, and chroma. Graydon began studying the system in earnest when he was creating his masterpiece, "The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy," for the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut in observance of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. Here's an excerpt from my article that may help explain the application of the Munsell system:

"When we mix colors using the Munsell system, we first determine the correct value we need, then the hue, and then the chroma," Parrish went on to say. "For example, to mix flesh color for a figure, we would first mix a neutral gray at the appropriate value level and mix the red component, such as alizarine crimson, and white to the same value. We continue adjusting the hue by adding the yellow component (burnt umber, yellow ochre, and titanium white) at the same value since flesh is in the yellow-red range. Using these red and yellow ochre mixtures establishes the correct hue -- an orange or yellow-red -- in Munsell terms. Finally, we adjust the chroma by adding the neutral gray and correcting for any unwanted hue shifts. Usually adding gray will shift the mixture toward yellow, so in that case we would add a bit more of the red mixture and check it again using Munsell as a guide.

"Finally," the artist continued, "we move the chroma of the flesh color up by adding more of the original components (yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, burnt umber, and white), and if it is still too low we choose higher-chroma pigments, such as cadmium red, cadmium yellow, or the modern organics."

Graydon maintains an informative website for artists interested in the Munsell color system: www.rationalpainting.org. He has his own personal website: www.graydonparrish.com.

Fall Landscape: Composition & Neutral Colors

2009-11-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a attempt to use neutral colors to emphasize strong sunlight on a fall afternoon, and an effort to compose a landscape painting as my friend Jack Beal would recommend. The location is the lake at Teatown Reservation near my home in Westchester County, New York.

Jack always talks about dynamic compositions -- arrangements that move the viewer's eye around and through a picture, and ones that provide areas of energy and rest. He points out that artists used shapes, patterns, and colors to create that kind of dynamism for most of the history of art, but especially in the 16th century when the great Venetian artists Tiepolo and Tintoretto were creating dramatic paintings of biblical and mythological subjects. In this painting I made a deliberate attempt to bend the pathway from the foreground into the middle ground, and then to use the shoreline in the distance as a continuation of that motion. The tree trunks were likewise painted to emphasize that circular motion around the rectangular panel. The row boat mimics the dominant shapes and provides a place of rest for the viewer's eyes (while also suggesting the beginning of a dormant season).

You can see that in the early stages of the painting I neutralized the colors in the background so that the curving shape of the pathway (painted with bright red iron oxide) immediately became the focal area of the composition, and the space where I would paint the brightly colored leaves would first be a contrasting dull background. I added Galkyd medium to the paint so it would quickly dry and I would have no trouble applying the clean bright colors over those neutral gray shapes.

I finished the plein air sketch in about 2 - 1/2 hours, stopping occasionally to talk to the children walking along the path with their parents. As always happens, passersby assumed I was something of an information service and asked me questions about the course of the pathways, whether friends had recently passed by, and if I knew who owned the canoe. They also told me my painting was "charming," "pretty," "almost as good as what Bob Ross would have painted," "just like the actual scene," "similar to Aunt Minnie's watercolors," and "cool."

Painting Venice

2009-11-12T04:57:00.000-08:00

What better place to begin talking about painting than Venice, Italy. It's a location that has interested artists for centuries, and there are probably more drawings, prints, and paintings of the floating city than almost any other place. During the 19th century, James A.M.Whistler and Thomas Moran may have sold more prints and paintings of Venice than the other subjects for which they are well known.

One of most popular buildings to paint in Venice is the Ca D'Oro which happened to be directly across from the hotel where I was staying in early June, 2009. A good friend, Peter Carey, took me there for my first visit, and he napped in the afternoons while I wandered through the alleys and along the Grand Canal with my pochade box, 9" x 12" panels, and oil paints.

A good friend, Sondra Freckelton, observed that I always set challenges for myself when I paint, and in Venice the challenge was to separate the drawing process from the application of local colors. That is, instead of following my usual procedure of blocking in large shapes of color and gradually breaking those down into smaller details, I decided the more appropriate method would be to draw the complicated architectural structures with a warm neutral color (red iron oxide, titanium white, and black) thinned with Galkyd fast-drying medium and then brush the colors over the drawing. That allowed me to resolve the design of the buildings before dealing with the actual colors in the scene.

Since that painting trip, I have been trying to take advantage of the power that neutrals have in bringing emphasis to the colors in a painting. That is, mixing complementary colors (red with green, purple with orange, etc.) or adding blacks and grays to color mixtures to lower the intensity (chroma) while maintaining the relative value. The benefit of this is that when I want to bring attention to an area of strong color, I "neutralize" the areas around that color. It goes back to the idea that when you want to make one thing important, you have to reduce the importance of everything around it.

Portrait painter understand this idea and will often refuse to "correct" a painting in front of a client. When the client asks for the cheeks to be more pronounced, for example, the painter knows to darken the area below the cheek bone. If the client actually saw that happening, he or she would think the artist was correcting the wrong thing. That's why I darked the shapes around the columns of the Ca D'Oro so the pink-white walls would appear brighter.

This is only a rough sketch and I intend to create a larger, more finished painting using my oil sketch and photographs to come up with something that captures the experience of Venice more completely. That should keep me busy through the cold winter months.

Why we draw & paint

2009-11-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

The question we ask ourselves, that our friends ask us, that our parents puzzle over, and that occurs to us every time we get half-way through a painting is "What the hell am I doing?" Certainly the world doesn't need another piece of artwork, and if it did we could pull out dozens of paintings stacked in the closet. We are convinced no one will ever buy one of our paintings, and if they did express interest we would be reluctant to part with our most personal expressions. We would rather give a drawing to someone who loves it than charge them real dollars, and we look back at our old work thinking (a) we wish we could still paint like that, or (b) we should have stopped before we got worse.

In 30 years of editing American Artist magazine, I've asked artists that question; and the answer I always receive is "I don't have a choice. I have to keep making art whether anyone else understands me, supports me, honors me, or dishes me. This isn't a gym exercise I do to build up my muscles, or a nine-to-five job I put up with so I'll have food on the table. It's my life."

So the answers I get are not really answers to the question I posed. Artists can identify the fact that they have an obsession, a passion, an inner need, a driving ambition, or an insane dependence; but they have trouble saying why they willing engage in an act that is, at worst, a form of self-flagalation and, at best, a form of self-realization.

The most frequent answers are grounded in the artist's earliest experiences. Some fell over in front of a great painting hanging in a museum, and when they got back on their feet they verbalized the ambition of one day being able to paint that kind of picture. Others met an adult artist -- and aunt, a grandmother, a neighbor, or a teacher -- and thought they wanted to enjoy the same happy existence that person must be living.

But what of the people who decided to become artists when they were adults? Some walked away from a grinding profession their mother insisted they undertake because they were sure painting would lead to a greater level of satisfaction. Others didn't have the confidence to take a "real job," and a few just liked the idea of doing something that didn't depend on interacting with other human beings.

HOWEVER, I am glad to say that the vast majority of artists I've met recognized that being able to accurately record one's observations, feelings, and ideas can be the most satisfying experience a person can have. And what's even better, there is the real possibility that what an artist records can be exactly what other people saw, felt, and thought. Whether the art is completely abstract or tightly detailed, it does have the potential to communicate in a very particular and important way.

I plan to use this blog to explore that communication by describing my own drawings and paintings as well as the work of artists I admie. Perhaps we can help each other answer the question about the real reasons we need to create art.
Steve