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!

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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!