Snuggle Buddies

After my whole discussion about whites, there's almost none in this little painting - only in the highlights. The rest of the lights are a combination of using the paint transparently on a white oil ground and the use of Cadmium Lemon Yellow.

Old Holland Paint

This post actually has nothing to do with the above painting from Rockewell Falls, under the bridge in Hadley, NY.

A couple of posts ago I was lamenting the yellowing of the Zinc white in the Old Holland brand of oil paint.
Well - I went to the OH web site and contacted the people who speak English there and sent them a scan, describing my disappointment. I've loved OH paint forever! I was heartbroken.

They took my issues directly to their master paint fellow in their factory and he had the answer immediately. Within 24 hours my questions had been answered, my problems solved - and I'm so very relieved!

It turns out that the pigments in linseed binder -paint- they make are meant to be in light. The first question he asked me was, "Was I by any chance storing them in the dark?" And - yes - I had been. The samples in question had been stored in complete darkness for years.

So I put tape over half of the yellowed sample that I'd sent to them and then taped the whole page in a south facing window for maximum light exposure. It's been there now for a month and the swatch has indeed begun to get back to where it was when I made it - a beautiful pure white. The titanium which had also yellowed is almost pure white again, the zinc I think is about half way there. The paintings I had stored are also returning to their original state. Yea!!!

My complete faith in Old Holland paints has been more than completely restored and I'd recommend them to anyone serious about color. At first they may take some getting used to because the color is so saturated and so pure that it needs to be applied more thinly than some other brands. But it is so gorgeous it is more than worth the trouble!

Speaking of paint, I've had a couple of artist friends of mine ask me recently about my pigments and choice of paints. So in my next post I'm going to write about brands, pigments, colors I use and don't use and why and how I came to those decisions. So - stay tuned..... : 0 )

Model Sketch

This sketch was from a couple of weeks ago. Not a true likeness of the model, but still recognizable as a female of the human race.... lol. Just keep painting, just keep painting.....

Red Tin

I'm so loving red - I get this way in the middle of February - half starved for bright colors. This little painting, 3 x 3 inches is in my Etsy shop.

Darn, Eggs...

Ahhhhhhhhhh - working from life is feeling so wonderful - like scratching an itch... More to come : 0 )

Life Drawing, Painting - Resisting -

My internal commitment to working from life has been refreshingly liberating for me. Funny - nothing's really changed, just had to come to that realization, though the choice has always been there.

I did this sketch last Monday night. Great to be working from the model again too and to work along side some super talented artists!

I also continue with drawing, my color studies, reading..... Another awesome John Berger book - "From A to X, A Story in Letters". A truly incredible book, story - it's art, poetry, resistance, beauty - can't recommend it enough!

Brrrrrr...... and Digging Deep -

Yesterday morning it was 15 degrees Below Zero here - uhhhhhhh - teeeeth chattttttering!!!! This morning, only 5 below - finally some global warming.....

Anyway - Been in a bit of a funk here - Haiti and some deaths of acquaintances etc... So very much sadness and heaviness of heart!

I've been taking this time to dig deep, doing lots of reading. One of the books I'm reading through for the second time in two weeks actually is "The Shape of a Pocket" by John Berger. I found it in the National Gallery bookstore; I've read some of his other works and this one practically jumped off the shelf at me.

It is truly a remarkable book; a collection of essays speaking to painting as an act of resistance. The second essay, "Steps Towards a Small Theory of the Visible" is one of the best pieces on art and painting I've ever come across. I highly recommend it to anyone asking questions of themselves and the world and paint and the visual!

I've been doing a lot of writing as well lately, trying to figure things out.... about painting .... why I must paint, what I want to paint and I've been feeling a certain meaninglessness about the whole thing - not a depression exactly, but a grasping, a remembering..... And I've come to many conclusions, but one of particular significance is that the state of the world and the state of the world as portrayed by the media, the economy etc... is supposed to effect a state of hollow, shallow, confused meaninglessness.

Now - I don't have a TV, so I have to make a very concerted effort to view one generally. While I was in MD, there was a TV in my room and I was appalled at the degradation that's taken place in the 12 or so years since I've had one. I turned on the tube twice, to try to find something interesting to watch (beside the weather channel or Fox News - Ugh!) Both times the scenes opened with a dead body; the first of a little black girl and the second of a pretty red-head who'd been bludgeoned to death in a bathtub. Wow - what I've been missing! Man! Between that and the news............... what can even be said -

Anyway - the point is, and one of the many poignant points of Berger's book is that the prostitution, (my word, not his) of images, cheap, in your face, over the top, and consumerism driven, -billions of them relentlessly barraging people, contributes immensely to the meaninglessness of them and a seemingly cheapening and devaluing of life. I see this in much of the contemporary paintings I've perused of late. Many of them I even love, they're beautiful, but what do they mean??? All these gazillions of images make paintings harder to see.

This has brought me to a necessary and impassioned conclusion for my own work here. For the time being, I'm only going to work from life! For thousands of years this has been the way artists functioned. I feel a bit of a death in a way these days, trying to make a painting from a digital image. Painting for me is about reciprocity, action - reaction, energy, and the precious use of my binocular vision that becomes neutered by both the flatness and limited color of a photograph.

So I am resisting - painting from life, insisting that painting and the richness of family and friends, relationships, walks in the woods, striving, changing, improvings, giving a damn and looking for God's will all do have exquisite and indelible meaning!!!

George Bellows - The Lone Tenement

I saw this remarkable painting in the National Gallery of Art. I made several trips there while I was working in MD. It is just an incredible painting - very approximately -it's 3 x 4 feet. This reproduction is really pretty accurate coloristically. I see it as painting at its best - real paint, light, content, design - the artist both disappears and is everything in it at the same time!

Well - been back for a week here - have indeed been neglecting posting, but not working. I've hoed out my studio - ahhhhhhhh.................. Been drawing, painting, making color studies, writing and thinking about gearing up for spring.

I was also extremely fortunate - in this economy - to be able to order some much needed supplies this last week - including a new color - Sennelier Cobalt Turqoise - can't wait to see it in person.

I've been using almost exclusively Old Holland and Winsor & Newton. Well I've had some serious yellowing issues with the Old Holland - particularly zinc and Titanium whites and I'm bitterly disappointed about that! Fortunately most of the paintings I've sold over the last two years have been watercolors.

Anyway - I've been doing some research and am switching out most of my Old Holland colors for Sennelier - the French Ultramarine Deep is awesome, I'm using their Titanium white etc.... I'll stick with the Old Holland reds I use - Cadmium Scarlet and Cad Red Light - they seem to be unaffected.

Later - And Happy Painting -

Butter Dish - Knife Painting

Another knife painting - no medium....

Been doing 10 - 12 hour days - And - unbelievably, forgot my white paint - nowhere there to buy another tube either - --- ugh.... Did do some drawing though. Also got to the National Gallery - incredible beyond words!!! The botanical gardens were also truly amazing. I plan on going back if at all possible.

So great to be home - be with my little crew, rest, quiet, great food, no rushing around, paint... ahhhhhhh.........

Heading back out tomorrow for another week or so - with my white paint all packed -
Later - : 0 )

Plein Air Snack

Well - here's my first minimalist oil. Minimalist not in style, but in means. As I stated in a previous post, I'm traveling for work shortly and don't want to stop painting with oils. So - I asked my self - Self??? how little can I get away with?? What is the absolute minimum I need to make an oil picture??

Okay - paint, palette, surface, and something to put it on with - 4 things, absolute minimum! Though I may at some point try it without palette - just put the paint on the board and rearrange it like a funky puzzle - will have to be in a mood for that. Now I've added a pencil - 'cause pencils are small, and a rag for wiping my knife - but that's it.

Paint - I take 4 tubes - a red, yellow, blue, and white - small tubes
Surface - Small pieces of board or matt board appropriately coated - from 3 x 5 to 5 x 5 inches.
Implement - One palette knife.
Palette - Small disposable paper palette.

I hold the little painting with my left hand - and the rag at the same time. A little awkward at first, but gettin' used to it. A very quick pencil sketch and then just palette knife work. Set the palette where ever possible and go for it!

This does change a bit the way I work. I'm spoiled by my pochade box - having my paint right there at the right height, right in front of me, but this is about just keeping going no matter now little space I have....

I'll post some more as they come along. They do take longer to dry because the paint is a bit thicker in places. Am considering adding a very small jar of Galkyd or using an alkyd white to improve this aspect. I also have to be able to carry the little painting somewhere where it can dry safely when I'm done. It's all about persevering to grow in spite of and with limitations!

Oh - I also stick a plastic grocery bag in my pocket for the rag and palette when I'm done - No littering!

So far I'm really liking working this way. Will let you know how I make out.

Rockwell Falls, Hadley, NY

I continue to paint out -en plein aire - as much as possible. The more I work from life the less and less I like working from photographs - the difference is night and day!

On the Road

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Everyone - that's first off! I'm smelling turkey roasting as I'm typing here.....
I'm out on the road for the next month - doing scenic work. I'll be able to post, but not scan, so I have a few images to put up - but will mostly be posting writings.

I will - however - be continuing my own work - painting and drawing. Taking watercolors and figuring out how little I need to take to work in oils! Have some good ideas for this which I'll be posting. Not only am I not letting lack of time or space keep me from working - I'm thinking that my ideas here will stretch me as a painter - I'm very excited! Off to try a few out before I actually leave - work out the kinks -

Eat lots, paint good works, and stay in touch.... lol!

On Writing -

Been doing a lot of writing lately, some of which will be distilled down and posted here.

I encourage every artist - no matter your discipline or where you are in your path as an artist - to write - a lot!! Don't do it on the computer and don't even use a pen. Use a pencil and the cheapest composition notebooks you can find and just write for yourself as honestly and in whatever way You choose. Don't finesse the pages or make a sketch book out of it - just get "down and dirty" with yourself. The use of your hand and the pencil is akin to drawing and you'll be surprised at what you think of that you just simply won't using any other method of communication.

I know I've said some of this before, but it bears repeating because it is so useful to our progress and souls as artists.

I'm coming to believe too that the parallel of writing what I want the Way I want also subconsciously helps the decision making for deciding what and how I want to paint.

Pear

These little paintings of fruits and nuts and things are a blast to do. The surface of the travertine tile is really wonderful to work on - silky. Looking forward to tomorrow - a full studio day. Today was an errand day - went well though.

This little pear tile is also in my Etsy Shop.

Rainy Day -

Very rainy gray day here! I decided to start my Christmas card front today - some good music, cup-o-coffee.... I have just the image in mind and will post it of course when it's done.

I used to hand paint or print my cards every year which was a real joy - something I looked forward to with relish. But this year I may be going out of town on business for a month or more and so I'm thinkin' I'll paint an oil and then photograph and make them on my printer. Not the usual hand-made charm, but do-able.

The little study above is in my Etsy shop.

Not Speaking

This still life is about 4 x 6 - and that pear was delicious! : 0 )

Thought for the Day

Here's the color thought for ya for the day.... Take, for example, a fire truck - screamin' red. Well - we see it as red because all of the other colors are absorbed and red is the only color reflected. So - actually "red" is the only color it isn't! It would be more accurate, but infinitely more tedious and annoying to say - "hey look at that not-red fire truck" , or that orange that isn't....

This is one of the things I think about while waiting in lines, while I'm supposed to be paying attention to something else - ..........etc...etc...etc... : 0 )

Alumacraft -

We've had some unusually fantastic weather for Nov. So - I've been taking advantage and painting outside as much as possible. So there will be a few more of these Plein Air sketches in future posts.

I have a turkey on my Weber Grill - off to tend it Yummmmmmmm...... Been sizzling and smokin' away in there all afternoon -

Acorn Tile

Here's my first acorn - these are only 2 x 2 so if it's bigger on your monitor, you have to think smaller, or shrink it on your monitor... We're big on acorns around here. My boys pick up a pocket full on every daily walk, so I have lots of little models hanging round.

My Marbles -

A couple of my latest "Tiles" that I list on Etsy. The acorn titled "Anybody Home?" will be listed as soon as it's dry enough to scan. I'll post a better photo then too -
Later -