Brodie and McGee Continued

One of the trials and tribulations of creating art is knowing when you have "finished" a painting. I am often guilty of "overworking" a piece.....continuing to work on a piece when I should have stopped. Even being aware of this tendency...I did not have that feeling of being finished with the painting of Brodie and McGee...but wasn't quite sure where to go with it. When this happens I have a number of strategies that often help. A good practice is to leave it and come back later...at least a day later. Sometimes I just put the piece where I can see it as I am going about my business. I will also look at a piece in a mirror. All of these are very useful and often result in my figuring out what the piece needs. But I also like to take a piece to friends and get their perspective and advice. That was what I decided to do with Brodie and McGee. My friend Toni is a retired art teacher and a wonderful artist who always has great insights and advice. As usual it was a great help. I knew I wasn't happy with the blanket the boys were laying on and she helped me to see how I could make the folds more realistic using stronger value changes. As we discussed the hard edges of the toplines of the boys that were bothering me I realized I needed to change the color so that the boys would merge with softer edges into the background. Toni had some suggestions about value changes for the background as well. Toni also pointed something out that I had totally missed. McGee's back needed to be repositioned to emerge from above his nose...not his ear. Bingo....a much improved piece!!! Now I feel finished! Here is the final piece, "The Jones Boys".

Brodie and McGee

My sister Gail and her husband, Steve, have two delightful Shih Shu dogs, Brodie and McGee. I offered to paint them some time ago (quite some time ago actually). Gail and Steve sent me pictures and I gave it a try. That first try was pretty sad and never got too far. Well.....I decided to give it another try. I figured I had grown as an artist and had new skills and insights to apply to the painting in the months since my first try. This is the picture of the boys that Gail and Steve originally sent me:

My first try was partially a failure because I tried to duplicate this photo minus my sister's leg.....didn't work. After a few months of thinking and many new insights about composition and design, I knew that I wanted to change this photo to have the boys next to each other and resized due to their change in position. This decision called for learning how to move sections of photos in Photoshop. Success!!! Here is the result:

So now I have a composition that makes much more sense. I also knew that I needed to come up with a different blanket and background so as not to compete with the focus...the boys!! I started out with a background that was similar to the blue couch in the photo with indications of the texture weave. I also had a blanket with the beginning of a texture weave. Once I achieved that stage...I realized two textures would also compete with the boys. Here is that stage:

As a result I decided to eliminate the majority of the texture in the background and only have texture in the blanket. I also began putting in more color in the boys. At this point I worked on their eyes which always brings a portrait to life.

As I looked at the portrait at this point I decided there was too much blanket and background. I decided that a crop would bring the focus fully on the boys. I taped off the new borders and continued to build the color and texture in the boys.

After adding more detail and adjusting color I decided it was time to get my sister's opinion.....was I close? Did I catch their expressions? Did it look like the boys? What would she want changed? Here is the cropped photo. I took this while the painting was still on my easel and not outside in natural light so some of the colors are not as brilliant as in the painting.

Gail and Steve felt that I had nailed the personalities and expressions of the boys. Yeah!! The only request was to darken the right ear of McGee (on the right). I will make this change and some finishing touches and "The Boys" will be ready to be shipped to Michigan!

.

Paint Around

At the recent Arizona Art Alliance Show it was determined to have a Paint Around Event as part of the kickoff for the Meet the Artists Reception on Saturday evening. I was tapped to organize the event. Basically the event lasted for one hour. I recruited a total of 3 teams of 3 artists each. I and two fellow pastelists who had all been to Italy in the last year formed a team called the "Tuscan Trio". We painted from photos we each had taken in Italy. A second team was three watercolorists who called themselves the "Grey Scale Goddesses". They did flowers from life and photos. The third team were also watercolorists with the team name of "Two Hippie Chicks and a Redhead". They were doing fuzzy things and each had brought a dog photo to work from. The three teams set up their easels in a circle in the area of the reception. After I introduced the teams and the process that would be witnessed the event began. Each artist in the three teams had the first 15 minutes to work on their own piece. They were alllowed to have their sketch completed...but no paint could have been added prior to the event. After 15 minutes each artist moved to their right to the easel of their team mate and worked the next 15 minutes on their teammate's art using their teammate's materials. After 15 minutes each artist again moved to their right and spent the next 15 minutes working on the art of their third member using that person's materials. The last 15 minutes each artist rotated again ending up back at their own easel to put on finishing touches and sign the piece with the team name. Here are the pieces from my team:

Liz Kenyon's piece:

Barb Lang's piece:

My piece:

All the artwork from all three teams is being donated to the Paradise Valley Hospital. It was a fun time and plans are already in the works to have this event at each show.

Arizona Art Guild Show

As an emerging artist I continually evaluate ways to get my work out in the eyes of the public. I am also cognizant of building up my resume. One of the avenues I have been pursuing is to selectively choose organizations to pursue juried member status. I am currently one show away from juried status in the Arizona Pastel Artist Association. I have achieved juried status in the Arizona Art League. Another organization that I have chosen to pursue is the Artizona Art League. Juried status is granted to members who are juried into three AAG shows. I entered three pieces into the jurying process for the fall show.......and all three were juried in!! I was pleased as there were a number of artists, some very successful in their careers, that did not get pieces juried in. I now have step one towards jury status in AAG under my belt! Here are the three pieces that were juried into the show.

Left to Right - "Cortona Window", "Glorious Outhouse", "Golden Barrel Cactus"

Cowboys Artists of America

The Phoenix Art Museum is the site of the annual Cowboy Artists of America exhibit and sale. Bob and I joined Charlie and Barb Lang today in an outing to enjoy the exhibit. After a tasty lunch in the museum cafe we admired the beautiful western saddle exhibit as we meandered to the rooms holding the exhbit. Let me say.......the exhibit was truly inspiring. The majority of the works are very large and allow for close examination down to the most delicate brush strokes. The exhibit was predominantly oil paintings with acrylic, watercolor, pastel, charcoal, pen and ink as well as sculpture rounding out the works. Of course, one of my favorites is Harley Brown from the Tucson area. His pastels are truly amazing.

I spent a lot of time looking at how the artists used aerial perspective and lost and found edges. This is an area I struggle with in my own work. Looking at their work I found that so little can say so much. Details and tighter work were found in the focal areas of the paintings. I see...but now can I do!!! That is the question. We ended our visit in the gift shop where I purchased the exhibit book so that I could study the paintings further.

I will be out painting at Bulldog Canyon tomorrow morning. I am going to try to apply these insights to tomorrow's work. Wish me luck!

Jeep Jamboree

Last Saturday Bob and I took part in our first Jeep Jamboree. What fun! In July I traded in my beloved 2001 BMW Z3 for a Jeep Sahara. Z3's just aren't quite cut out for some of the driving to get to the best painting sites. I needed 4WD and a vehicle with more space for the materials needed for plein air painting. Now I LOVE my Jeep! They are quite a bit more sophisticated these days. The Sahara is designed for commuting and off-roading as opposed to the Rubicon which is focused on off-road. I have electric windows, locks, cruise control, etc. and a wonderful sound system that includes a GPS, hard drive to store music, pictures, etc. All the bells and whistles!

The dealership we purchased through, Airpark Chrysler Jeep in Scottsdale, sponsors an annual Jeep Jamboree. We signed up with very little idea of how the day would go! The Jamboree is run like a poker run with challenges for extra prizes at the 5 stops. We arrived at the dealership a little after 8 am. We signed in and received the directions to the various challenge points. We got an offical hat and a bag of snacks and headed out to the parking lot for the first challenge and first draw for our poker hands. The first challenge was a race to put down and back up the soft top on a Jeep. Bob and I decided to pass as we have a hardtop and have no idea the steps involved. We decided to just draw our cards. My first card was the queen of clubs. Bob's was a 2 of hearts. Off we go to the next challenge point. What a sight to see a huge line of jeeps of various years, colors and shapes all headed down the road!

Soon we were in the outback of the Tonto National Forest bumping over rocks and negotiating gullies. We went up a steep hill with an even steeper and rockier downside, certainly the steepest I have done so far. One couldn't begin to see over the Jeeps' hood to see where we were going as we headed down. Ah, the adventure!! A short distance further our little caravan came to a stop. We had made a wrong turn! Back up and down the hill and back on track. No wonder it was such a steep hill....we were not on the main road!

Our little caravan soon hooked up with the line of Jeeps that had not gotten lost. However, it wasn't long before the long line of Jeeps came to a halt. Soon the word came back that we had made another wrong turn! What fun to watch about 60 Jeeps turning around on a 2 track in the middle of the desert! We soon made it to the second challenge point where the challenge was horseshoe throwing. Here I got the jack of hearts. Bob got another low card. Off we go through the desert to the next point. We actually made it without getting lost this time. The third challenge had the deck of cards tacked to a piece of plywood face down. You shot at the cards using a paint gun. Whichever card you hit was your draw. My aim is not so good with a gun....but the third try I hit a card....the 9 of hearts. Boo. Bob continued to draw low cards that were not related to each other....although it only took him one shot.

Our next leg was predominantly down the river bed of Camp Wash which when wet feeds into the Verde River. Wow! Talk about some beautiful scenary between towering cliffs on each side. Definitely will be back to paint there! This fourth challenge was Bob's favorite. The driver....me...puts a bag over their head and the pilot...Bob....verbally guides the driver through a figure 8 around cones. Other than the fact I started feeling a little nauseous under the bag turning the circles, I did great! Here I drew a Joker which meant I could tell them what I wanted so I took another queen to give me a pair of queens.

The final challenge was a steep hill....up and down. We had to wait in line for our turn on the hill. Unfortunately the large number of jeeps was blocking the entrance to the campground along the river. Just when it came my turn they announced they had to cancel the challenge. The forest rangers were not happy we were blocking the road and were ready to ticket the dealer reps. Oops! I did have to go down the final hill section to leave which is about an 80 degree decline. I was praying we did not turn over when we finally got front wheels beginning to level back out! The hitch even scraped as we levels out! Yes...I would say it was steep!

Back at the dealership we got our final draw and I got another Joker. I chose another queen....but even 3 queens did not win the $1000 prize. Oh well! We did greatly enjoy the BBQ that awaited us along with the live music.

The Jeep Jamboree showed Bob some of the beautiful territory I have been out painting. He really enjoyed the day. I greatly enjoyed the day as well....and have several spots that I plan to return to and paint.......if I can find them again!!!

Sedona Plein Air

Today I went up to Sedona where the 2009 Sedona Plein Air Festival is taking place this week. My objective was to meet artist, Michael Chesley Johnson, and observe him paint. Michael is one of the artists invited to participate again this year and was scheduled to do a demo from 11:00 to 1:00 at the Sedona Art Center. As with many pastel artists Michael paints in both oil and pastel. Although the demo today was in oil my interest was to get a feel for Michael as a teacher. Michael and his wife are from Campobello Island in the Canadian Maritimes, but plan to spend January through March in Sedona. During that time Michael will be holding weeklong mentoring workshops for intermediate to advanced painters in pastel and/or oil. The workshop is plein air, but the mentoring includes career goals, strategies, etc. as well as painting. This aspect is something of great interest to me as an emerging artist.

I found Michael to not only be a great painter, but able to describe the hows and whys of what he was doing as he painted. The session was informal in nature with participants invited to ask questions. I greatly enjoyed the session and learned a few things about oil painting. Michael made an interesting statement regarding oil and pastel painting that really resonated for me. Many pastelists also paint in oil and I have frequently heard them say that increasing their skills with oil results in better pastel painting and vice versa. However, Michael pointed out another advantage of painting with both media. He stated that painting in pastels builds knowledge of values because pastel sets typically include a range of values of each hue or chroma. On the other hand, oils builds knowledge of color as one must understand color theory to mix the color in the correct value, temperature, etc. for the piece being painted. As with most master artists, Michael goes first for value, second for temperature and a distant third for hue or chroma. Here is a picture of the painting Michael completed during the demonstration:

It was a beautiful and informative day in Sedona that was finished off with visits to a few galleries I have not visited in a while before heading back down to the valley!

Reflecting on plein air painting

I have had time this week to further reflect on my week in Pinetop participating in the Paint the Aspens Plein Air Event. Although I paint plein air at least once a week here in Scottsdale, last week was the first time I spent an entire week just painting in the great outdoors. As I reflected several points coalesced in my mind:

1. Painting is even more stimulating and enjoyable when you have no other commitments pulling you back home by a certain time. Knowing your only time constraint was the changing light was very refreshing.
2. I have always loved being in the great outdoors. I loved trailriding with my horse for the same reason. I realize that I loved riding my horse across the state of Michigan for the same reasons that I so enjoyed last week...total immersion in doing something I love in the great outdoors.
3. Painting consistently through the week I realized that I was figuring things out that I may not have discovered with a short one time session. For example...making aspens look more like aspens without painting every leaf.
4. I found myself looking at my work and thinking about values.....values in the desert scenes I have been painting as opposed to values in mountain pines and aspens.
5. I love when a painting comes together as a final product...but I love the process of painting even more.
6. Spending a week with fellow artists talking art for hours was stimulating.
7. Watching other artists work and discussing their strategies and decisions allowed me to learn more than I have learned in many formal workshops I have taken.

These are just some of the thoughts that have been circling in my mind and I needed to write them down.

Life is good!!

Paint the Aspens

Last week I participated in a week long plein air event called Paint the Aspens. The event is co-sponsored by Gwen Pentecost, owner of The Joyous Gallery in Pinetop, Arizona, and the Arizona Plein Air Painters Association. Painters arrived in Pinetop beginning Saturday, October 4th. Canvasses or paper supports artists paint on must be stamped at the gallery prior to their creating a work to be eligible for the event competition. I arrived in Pinetop Sunday afternoon and checked into the Best Western motel. After unpacking I drove to the gallery to have my pastel paper stamped. I had 8 sheets stamped as I had no idea how many paintings I would create before the Friday noon deadline.

My timing appeared to be perfect. The weather on Sunday on my arrival was cold and windy with rain, hail and even snow in the higher altitudes! However, the five days that I was painting beginning with Monday were gorgeously sunny. Monday was quite chilly. As you can see, I had on two sweatshirts, my painting apron and still felt the chill even though I was in the sun.


However, despite the chill, the aspens were showing their fall brilliance in contrast to the Sunrise Ski Resort ski runs that were white with the snow that fell on Sunday. The cold produced magic in regards to the aspens coloration. Over the week the aspen color more than doubled while the temperatures warmed and the snow on the ski runs slowly disappeared. By Wednesday I was painting in just a t-shirt by the afternoon. Check out these sample photos I took:


What a week! I heard elk bugling, had to stop in the road for herds of horses, deer and cattle to cross. Fresh air, rustling leaves and pine needles, and painting all day long in Mother Nature at her best with kindred souls!

I painted seven paintings during the week. Two were accepted into the month long Paint the Aspens Gallery Show at the Joyous Lake Gallery in Pinetop. Here they are:

I will add the other pieces that I painted to my website as I put the finishing touches on them at home here in my studio. Now my fingers are crossed that one or both of the pieces sell during the next month!

I can't wait until next year to participate again. However.....there is much to do to prepare paintings for the upcoming Arizona Art Alliance Show and to hopefully be juried into the Arizona Art Guild Show, both of which are in early November.

Onward!!!

Taste of Cave Creek

On Thursday, September 25th, Cave Creek will be hosting their annual Taste of Cave Creek event. This year's event organizers contacted the Cave Creek Film and Art Festival and requested that the art juried into the 2008 festival be displayed at the 2008 Taste of Cave Creek. This event will be held in the newly developed Stagecoach Village shopping area. The event draws a number of people. This year's event also takes place the same time that the Arizona mayoral conference takes place at the Carefree Resort. Needless to say I am excited at the opportunity for additional exposure and possible sale of my art work. But I must say the excitement is somewhat heightened by the fact that each artist was given two tickets to the event and four complimentary drink coupons. That brought a smile to my husband's face. Some of our favorite restaurants are in Cave Creek.....so we are looking forward to the event even if art sales do not result from the evening!

The season is beginning to roll

Wow! Where did the summer go? I can't believe we are in September already....but the calendar insists that it is so! Bob and I scheduled a lot of travel this year which has been thrilling and so fulfilling, but certainly has played havoc with our time. We have either been preparing for a trip or getting back to normal and catching up upon our return from a trip. This has been the case this week. We just came back from an 18 day Alaskan cruise and tour that was absolutely wonderful. The trip confirmed all the gushing from others who have done an Alaskan cruise. The pristine wilderness was awe inspiring. To see wildlife in their natural habitat was thrilling. The only downside was cold and rainy weather.....but that is Alaska! I have a lot of photos that may become paintings. I am not sure I can do justice to the majesty of the Alaska mountains and glaciers.....but I feel I must give it a good try...so stay tuned!

One of the tasks I needed to complete prior to leaving for our cruise in mid August was to enter two different competitions. This week back included framing four pieces that were delivered to a show yesterday. I also have a piece that needs to be ready for a show in Cave Creek later this month. I am also considering entering the Arizona State Fair Art Department which is a juried exhibition. Yes....the active show season in Arizona is beginning to roll!! It is my hope that I will be announcing awards and or sales in this blog in the coming weeks!

Impact of Italy

Although I have been doing a lot of plein air painting in our beautiful Sonoran desert of late, I did manage to squeeze in a painting of a window from the town of Cortona that totally caught my fancy as we walked the steep streets and marveled at the medieval town. I am rather pleased with the result. The ancient stones with their many colors and textures and the bright flowers just take me right back to Italy!

I also have a number of pictures of doorways from the hill towns of Tuscany that I plan to paint. I hope that they come out as well as this one!
I see a series in my future!

Bob and I are off to Alaska this week where I plan to sketch and take pictures of what I hear is utterly fantastic scenery! We will be on a rail motorcoach tour from Fairbanks up into Denali National Park including time in Talkeetna near Mount McKinley. We will be on a Princess cruise back down the Inner Passage with stops at Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and finally Vancouver. We scheduled an extra day in Vancouver to tour Victoria including Buchart Gardens (more flowers!). We will then rent a car and drive a scenic highway through the mountains in Washington to spend time with our son and his family near Cooley Dam. I expect to come back with ideas for at least a million or more paintings!!

Fool Hollow State Park Paint Out

On Saturday, July 19th, I participated in the Fool Hollow State Park Paint Out. The Arizona State Parks sponsor a series of monthly paint out across the year. Each month's paint at is scheduled at one of the state parks across the state. Although I have done a lot of plein air painting this was my first competitive plein air outing.

Fool Hollow State Park is a small park surrounding Fool Hollow Lake just outside of Show Low, AZ. There is a great campground, fishing docks, a boat launch, nice ramadas with views of the lake shaded by the towering pines. Truly a great place for a paint out!

Thirteen artists from various locations around the state met at the identified ramada at 8:00 am to sign in and have our paper or canvas stamped on the back. We then had four hours to select a site and complete a painting. At noon we met back at the ramada where the paintings were laid out on picnic tables identified only by a number. The participating artists voted for the first, second and third place paintings. The three paintings will be a part of a year end gallery showing at a gallery in Tubac, AZ

I am not a fast painter, so my primary goal for this first competitive paint out was to bring a piece to a level of completion within the given amount of time. This I accomplished! My second goal was to have fun and meet new people. This was also accomplished! It truly was a great experience. I am looking forward to participating in future state park paint outs!

Catching Up

Summer in Arizona is always hot...but this year they are predicting a hotter than normal summer. We have had a very good start with a number of days over 110. Mornings are wonderful to be outside enjoying the Sonoran Desert....but midday my studio is a great place to be! I have been using the studio time to do some catchup in the form of pieces that were close to completion plein air...but needed some fine tuning and polishing.

Bagno Vignoni Cottage was done in Italy on a day that went from sunny to rainy to cloudy and back to sunny. Luckily my choice of painting position was located under an overhang on a building that allowed me to keep painting as others packed up quickly and ran for cover. This cottage was so picturesque with the reflections in the water, the beautiful old stone and the lush spring vegetation, that it begged to be painted.

Oak Creek Rapids is a piece that was also done plein air in the Sedona area. I found a spot on a large rock on the bank of the creek with the delightful rapids due to rocks and logs right in front of me. I was intrigued if I could capture the action of the rapids.....I am pleased with the results. Sedona is known for the red rocks...but Oak Creek has pulled me to the pastels more than once.

Cave Creek Film and Art Festival

Recently I was notified that I was a finalist in the 2008 Cave Creek Film and Art Festival in the Visual Arts Division. I attended the reception at the newly remodeled library last night. I am standing next to my pastel entry here, Golden Barrel Cactus. The competition was quite stiff as Cave Creek has a very active art community.... and... the cash prizes were quite attractive. Alas.....I did not move to the next stage. Next year! I was pleased that I did as well this first year as I did. Also, it was fun to mingle with friends and fellow artists supported with wine and cheese. The show will remain hanging in the library until August 1st.

Italy, the Trip of a Lifetime

There are many suggestions for artists experiencing a lack of ideas for painting (not even close in my case) of which traveling is always a major one. I can't begin to paint all the things I came back wanting to paint! Although Bob, my husband, and I have done a lot of traveling in the United States and Mexico, this was our first trip to Europe together....and what a trip it was! As indicated in the blog above, the trip was built around a 12 day plein air workshop with Richard McKinley (more to come about that part of the trip). We added time on to see more of Italy. We flew into Venice on May 7th arriving around 9:00 am. Please don't laugh...but it apparently never quite sunk in for me that Venice was a pedestrian city other than the canals. I guess I assumed there were roads that wove through the city as well. Not so! That became clear with our arrival as we walked out of the airport a short distance to the port to catch a water taxi into the city.

Venice was fascinating! It was like walking in history. Their streets are often only wide enough for two people and certainly do not follow any kind of grid pattern! Street signs are somewhat sketchy as well....but there are signs with arrows directing one to the major landmarks in the city. One is also constantly crossing the bridges over the canals and it is wise to take that into account in trying to plan out your trip to a destination.

A highlight for us was the art. St. Mark's Square is the main plaza in the city. It is a very large plaza that is always teaming with people. One end of the square is the Correr Museum (Wow! the art!!) which is housed in former governmental buildings. Those offices are on another side of the square. St. Mark's Cathedral and the Doge Museum complete the square. There are cafes with outdoor seating around the square and each has an orchestra. They take turns playing. And then there are the pigeons...they are everywhere!!! The Venetians say that there is one pigeon and two rats for every Venetian. We did not see any rats (they come out when they have high water) but we certainly saw the pigeons. The tourists think it is great to put out their arms and wait for the pigeons to land all over them and then take pictures.

The art we saw was truly inspring. Most of the art was Byzantine with no perspective (that cam later). They were flat and included a lot of gold inlay. Very formal art and primarily religious in nature. As we learned...most of the art was commissioned by the church as the church held the power and had the finances. We also saw the armor and weapons from 100's of years ago. All I can say is that I was fascinated at every turn in every street and museum!!

We hated to leave Venice...but Florence was calling.

My first blog entry!

Today is a big day for me. My website is published and I am entering my first blog entry. I decided that I wanted to try to do my own website. It has been an interesting learning curve...but my first version is up and running! I am more inspired than ever as I contemplate the paintings percolating in my head as they will look as finished pieces that can be shared on my website.I recently returned from a 22 day trip to Italy that included a 12 day workshop with Richard McKinley. In the coming days I plan to share my experience on my blog. It seems like there is so much to do when one returns home from a long vacation.....so I am looking forward to organizing my thinking by recording my experiences here. Watch for the coming entries!

Karen