June 19th

We painted at the home of Walt Gnosky. Beautiful grounds! We had a model to paint today. Here's a picture of the painting I did....

When the boxes arrive and are unpacked, I'll find my study and critique it.

We also toured Walt's studio and it was inspiring to see his work and hear of his work ethic.

Walt painted with us and then showed us his work that he completed in four hours (and we aren't talking an 8X10 inch study!)

Seeing this drummed home the importance of painting each day.

My day was average. I tried to focus on putting a value or color down and leaving it alone. There some strong areas to the painting. Kevin stood back from my painting and Ray's commenting he liked how strong the two paintings were. I struggled with the warm value in the shadow family. Kevin helped with this, mixing the color that I couldn't quite get and noting that sometimes the values around what we are struggling with may not be right and need to be adjusted.

Overall, a better day than Wednesday. In the afternoon, Kevin gave us an exercise to paint off a limited palette of colors he provided. My three colors were a grey, terra rosa, and Carmine (red). You also had White to use. This was challenging--as you picked your subject first before seeing what color you had to work with. I had chosen a little birdbath with flowers behind it. My goal was not to have a finished painting, but to learn how colors relate to one another and how I might possible get something blue from these three colors. A grey-green was basically all I could get. It wasn't a total failure. The birdbath was really nice in the painting---learned what an unattractive shadow shape I had in the painting--how the carmine could be the darkest dark--but yet warm shadow color. So it was a valuable lesson!

Thursday night was the celebration and dinner at Kevin's house. We enjoyed each other's company and shared dinner. We got to show our families just what we were striving to become--by showing them Kevin and Wanda's work. Of course, we all told them how much we wanted a studio like Kevin's!

One one day left---painting in the morning and a study to studio painting demonstration in the afternoon.

June 18th Demo and Arroyo Seco

Today we started out with Kevin demonstrating what he was trying to teach us at the Adobe Church in Arroyo Seco. He painted each plane in the proper family--shadow or light and built the painting up from there.

Here's a black and white picture of his painting with just the shadow family masked in.

Here is Kevin's almost completed study. You can see why he is the master..


We then went off to paint on our own. I started to paint a very "Monet-ish" looking set of trees--but the energy quickly waned. Kevin came by to critique. He noticed that I was selecting simple subjects and almost always the same. He wanted me to attempt a painting that contained multiple planes. He wanted me to challenge myself more.

After lunch I found an angle of the Adobe Church and began working. Kevin's critique was that it was a solid painting. The building was too low in the composition, making it awkward. The areas of the painting I liked, he didn't and painted over them--we laughed--and I could see his point. Too much detail--no strong shapes....I was mucking around in the details and not looking at shapes.

I had taken my migraine medicine in the morning and by this time in the day the migraine was taking it's toll. Overall, my assessment of the day was that it was not a good day. I struggled in the heat and sun--exhausted and was pretty worn out. I was finding it hard to concentrate on what I concentrated on the day before. The energy of the group that afternoon was very low--we all had a tough day. Even Kevin's energy felt low.

I am hopeful that Thursday is a better day. There's always hope!

June 17th--"You had a good day today"

"You had a good day today." Kevin said to me today at the end of the painting day!

The day started with a beautiful sunrise that caused long but fleeting shadows around the grounds of the hotel--El Monte Sagrado--where we painted in the morning.

While the workshop officially started at 9:00, my body was still on Eastern time. So, by 7:30, I was out around the peaceful waterfalls of what they call the Sacred Circle, easel set up and painting. It was a day of learning and some frustration. My first attempt after 2 hours was abandoned. The composition was too complex---a bridge over a small pond with Irises and rock wall. There were stairs in the back--well--way too much! At 9:00 in the morning, when Kevin called us together, I pulled the canvas off the easel and into the wet box. It won't be seen again--it will be sacrificed to the paintings gods! Hmmm---keep things simple seems to be ringing in my head!

Kevin set the goals for the day--paint the shadow family first--leaving the light family as white canvas. No value darker than your darkest dark in the shadow family and only one darkest dark area. The darkest dark and should be a connected shape in the painting. The same is true for your lightest light--no value lighter and only once in the painting. Never let the shadow family of values cross into the light family. Oh--and while you are concentrating on all of that--we had to pick a piece of paper out of Kevin's hat. We weren't allowed to look at it until we had chosen our subject to paint. The paper had 1 word on it--an adjective or feeling that you needed to have your painting convey.

Kevin encouraged us to sketch a black and white (dark and light families) to simplify the composition into shadow and light family. I did this rather successfully. Well--ok--Kevin used the sketch as an example to the others during the critique. It was a good abstract drawing of dark and light shadows. Of course, one area I have always struggled with is transferring that to canvas. After a discussion about this with Kevin, the learning was to find the darkest dark in the scene I was painting. Then fill in the dark/shadow areas with other values and colors that were not as dark as the darkest dark. Stay in the shadow area. It can be what I call a medium valued shadow family and worked up in value from there--but never darker than the darkest dark!

So far, 3 learnings for the day and it wasn't even noon yet! As mentioned Kevin used the sketch in the critique. He pointed out that only the darkest dark was in the one shape and that the dark or shadow family had a wide range and high key (in the painting I was doing) Here's the picture of the Black and White sketch, and then the shadow family values on the canvas painted in:





Even though the painting was high key--very bright--this was ok because the light family was even higher key and never crossed to the shadow family. Here's the finished study and it's accompanying black and white pic. You can see the similarity to the black and white sketch.





The afternoon session was at one of the founder's of the Taos Society of Painters studio/home/museum--the Couse Studio. After a tour of the house/studio by his granddaughter, we were "set free" to paint. Well--free in the sense to paint within the parameters set by Kevin for the afternoon. The word I had to paint in the morning was "joy". This afternoon the word was "excited". It was hard to paint excitedly when you are hot and tired...but never the less--off I went to find something to paint. OH--a few more parameters. First the subject/composition of the painting had to be 1/3 shadow and 2/3 light family. The shadow family can only be 2 values and the darkest dark had to be a value of 8 on a scale of 10 and purple.
The light family can be any color.

I choose my subject and started with a sketch. In the end, Kevin was quite pleased with the painting and it showed progress in what he was trying to teach us. The composition, when I first discussed it with Kevin, was, in his opinion, uninteresting. Through the use of shadow, light and color, Kevin expressed that I was able to keep the viewer interested. He described the painting--finally using my word that I was to express--"excited." I pulled the word from my pocket and proudly displayed it. He smiled and shared my success! The shadow shape was strong and attractive. The use of shadow family in the clouds pulls it together. The choice of color was very good.

Here's the black and white and color pictures of the study.





Everyone knows the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when someone you admire and respect smiles and gives you compliments on your work. Kevin seemed genuinely proud of me when I successfully met his challenge. So, when he told me, "You had a good day today." I think you could have seen my smile all the way back to Ohio!

The day was so hot--something I can't tolerate very well--and the upcoming migraines were proof of that. I soldiered on--The hard work was rewarded with unexpected compliments and a sense of Kevin's pride and excitement for the progress I've made. I'm sure tomorrow will be just as challenging--weather wise and in what Kevin will instruct us to paint.

Arroyo Seco is the destination. It will begin with a demo by Kevin. More then!

June 16th--Kevin Macpherson's Workshop--First Day!

First, I have to say that Kevin and Wanda Macpherson are the sweetest, most down to Earth people I have ever met. It is such a great opportunity to learn from someone who is so giving of his time and knowledge.

Because of the opportunity to work with Kevin on the exhibit and also to work with him to continue the exhibit of Reflections On A Pond in the rest of the 50 States, it was both an exhilarating and nerve wrecking last few months. Resumes were sent--both art and business resumes. The Procter and Gamble/business resume was a bit long--hehe. When I introduced myself to Kevin, his first reaction was "I thought you were an old lady!" I laughed and said that I'd take that as a compliment. I guess, in retrospect, there has been much accomplished and learned--and yet so much more to accomplish and learn. I try hard not to look back. What is back there--has been edited and what is useful kept. As George Lucas once said, "I edit the past, I live in the present and I direct the future." I think I couldn't have said it better!

There are about 15 students in the workshop at all skill levels. Kevin's critiques are direct, but good. He focuses on weaknesses and also mentions the strength of the painting. Kevin asks for much information from his students before the workshop. For me, he did a great job remembering what I had written. Kevin has a wonderful way of making you feel comfortable. He gives you the sense that he wants you to succeed and wants to help you learn and improve.

We spent the morning painting around Kevin's property. I naturally had to paint the pond. I wanted to experience what Kevin did when he painted the pond project. My critique of my painting was similar to Kevin's.

I started by getting rid of the nerves by mixing the general colors. I then moved to catching the pond colors, painting the mountains, sky and the pond again all as quickly as I could. Kevin's first critique was that the painting was too dark for as bright a day it was outside. I didn't catch the atmosphere. He suggested lighting/bluing the sky. It was too grey. The last critique was that it was still dark--not capturing the summer's clear atmosphere of the day. He suggested capturing an almost "white" color on the pond--even though this was hours after I started the painting. This was an attempt to lighten the too dark painting.

Kevin spent the afternoon discussing light and shadow. After that session, Kevin commented to me that I have a wonderful sense of color and that my weakness was in keeping true to that light and shadow area.

The painting I did this morning truly was too dark. My shadow and light areas converged--the planes weren't present. Kevin and I agreed that I need to think in shapes not details. Is that shape warmer/cooler than the light next to it. Work from my darkest dark--that isn't necessarily black. The darkest dark in the painting isn't always black and sets how high key the painting will be. The important thing is to see the difference between shadow family and light family and don't let the two converge. Doing so results in a muddy painting.

Tomorrow, we will work on focusing on the shadow area and working from the darkest dark. Questions for the day tomorrow:
Where is my darkest dark?
What is the overall shape of the darkest dark?
Is the color next to that warmer or cooler? Shadow or light?
Where is the lightest light?

Also remember:
Paint in big shapes--no details
Simple--keep it simple
Paint by shapes--carve out smaller shapes!

Until tomorrow evening---and another journal entry to remember what I've learned!

This, That and the other thing!

It's been a hectic time around here! I have managed to start a painting or two. If not painting, I reviewed some photographs for future paintings!

THIS
On Thursday, June 5th, my one (wo)man show reception was held at the Middletown Arts Center. With all the storms earlier in the week it was a sunny, although windy day.
So windy that the rain soaked land decided that they just couldn't hold some stressed trees around the city. Well, whenever you have that situation, the electricity wires are in trouble! Yep--you guessed it! The reception was held despite that fact the electricity had gone off at 4:00 that day and was still off at 6:00 when the reception started. It didn't stop folks from stopping by, viewing the art (thank the stars for the big glass doors and windows!), and enjoying some great wine and food. Everyone had a good time joking about the new way to view art--using our imagination and creativity in what we were looking at--and at about ten till eight, the electricity came on to which the refrain of "hey--there's art on the walls!" could be heard!!

I'd like to thank everyone for stopping down and to Deborah Rumford for taking the snapshots shown here and for her help in setting up and being the great friend she is. I'd also like to thank my hubby, Tom, for being a great bartender--hopefully his golf game will improve from all the tips he received!

;-)

Linda displays one of Kevin Macpherson's works that was a special surprise at the Opening Reception.


The exhibit called "Places I Remember" will be on display through the month of June. After that, it moves to the Atrium (not all of the exhibit--just some of the paintings) out off of I-75. It will be at the Atrium through July.





All photographs courtesy of Deborah Rumford of Rumford Productions.

THAT
Time is approaching for me to go to New Mexico to paint with Kevin Macpherson and to meet both him and Wanda (his wife). While Kevin, Wanda and I have been in touch via the phone, it will finally be nice to actually see the two of them. My painting gear has been shipped out and now is the time for mental preparedness and last minute nerves to set in! Seriously, I'm looking forward to being a sponge--trying to take in all I can while in the presence of this Master. I won't be updating the blog while I'm gone (unless there are computers at the hotel I'm staying at), but I plan on writing a "blog" on paper that will capture what I learned each day. A sort of decompressing of knowledge on paper so I can clear the mind and get some sleep!
I'll update the blog with those learnings as soon as I can.

THE OTHER THING
There was a sort of study that has been rolling around the head for a while. The Golden Gate bridge in the yellow/purple complements was the first in the series that I wanted to do. The other day I started the second in the series. My intention is to paint the same scene of the bridge from Baker Beach but do so in the three different complement combinations. The second in the series of three is the blue/orange complement combination. The third is the red/green complement combination. I'm hoping that this exercise/series will explain the palette in each of the complement areas and help with color mixing of the two complements that will ultimately "hold" the painting together.

While painting this study, I found myself doing some good things instinctively that I hadn't done before. Even though I'm still at the foundation level of the painting, I notice that I'm getting more confident in my brushstrokes and therefore becoming more painterly. I patted myself on my back (for once!)and noted that Kevin's advice of painting smaller and painting more really does help you improve quicker. (Don't you just hate it when they are right?!

;-)

So that's it for this that and the other thing.
Thanks for stopping by to read what's been up for the Journey...
Linda

A trip to Ceasar's Creek

Last Friday a student as well as a good friend and I traveled to Caesar's Creek State Park to paint en plein air. It was an interesting day to be painting outside.
The conditions seemed to change from moment to moment. When we first started out it was cloudy, a bit gray and looking like it might rain. As we painted, the sun came out and pretty much stayed out. The wind began to pick up in intensity, making it difficult to make sure that palettes, paper towels, the easel and sometimes yourself from blowing away.

I have shipped my "easy" plein air set up out to New Mexico in anticipation of painting at Kevin Macpherson's workshop, so I had to use my old French easel. It was amazing to see the difference in the amount of time it took to set up the French easel. Also, it made me realize how wobbly my French Easel is. I'm so very glad I invested the money in the tripod, pochade box set up.

At one point the wind blew and if I didn't know better I would have sworn someone opened the door to a blast furnace! The signs of things to come--as we were expecting to get thunderstorms that evening.

The painting session itself was very enjoyable. I started out working on the focal point of the painting, then worked in all areas of the canvas board around it. I grabbed a general color family first then refined after I got most of the painting painted.

The work and focus on color mixing has been very helpful and I think it shows on this painting. Of course, standing waaaaaaaayyyyyyy back when looking at it also helps! Overall, I really liked this painting and for the first time in a long time felt I was successful in capturing what I wanted to capture. The creek wasn't an especially inviting color, being spring here in Ohio which has had a lot of rain, it was a very muddy dark green with little reflections. I played up more reflections as part of my artistic license!

Here's the finished result. I hope to return to this scene in a number of weeks. I'm hopeful the creek will be clear and I can capture the scene with a clear running creek and blue sky reflecting in it.



That's all for now...
Linda