Setting the Bar Higher

This coming weekend I will be part of an outdoor art exhibit in which I'm honored to participate.  It may look like an "art festival" if you drive by and see the tents, but it is much more.  It is a small group of juried artists whose work is of a high caliber and who paint in the traditional representational/realistic style.

One Pear

When I was first asked  to join this group, I felt it was a significant milestone in my art career.  My fellow talented artists are an inspiration, set the bar higher and make me push myself to reach that bar.  After three years, it also feels like a reunion of friends.  Our host, the proprietors of the Sunapee Landing Trading Company, make sure we have fresh coffee and homemade pastries in the morning and refreshing drinks throughout the day, all set up in the shade of an enormous apple tree.

The show is a reunion in other ways, too.  I get to see some of my NH cousins and the wonderful woman who purchased "One Pear" my first year is now a friend and has been a fabulous host each year.

The 3rd Annual Fine Artists Exhibition is held in Sunapee, NH down the road from the famed League of NH Craftsmen's Fair.  Click the link below for more info.
http://sunapee-landing.com/Fine_Artists_Exhibition.php
https://www.nhcrafts.org/craftsmens-fair-overview.php

A Very Limited Palette

For a recent homework assignment, I had to create a painting using only two colors, Transparent Oxide Red and Ultramarine Blue Deep, and white.  We also created a color scale to understand the range of colors that could be created.

The results were rich "blacks", a broad range warm and cool greys, and some a nice skin tones.   I decided to see what I could do with these colors in a portrait.  I started with an imprimatura under painting using burnt umber.  (not one of the two colors, but it would be painted over)

Mid-point

Imprimatura

The blue robe, background and the darks of the hair were easy, but the skin tones were more of a challenge.  Because the photo had a strong light source, I first used warm darks in the shadows (neck and chest area) thinking the skin should have more of the Transparent Oxide Red.  The face had some reflected light from the blue robe, so I tried blue-greys in the shadows of the face.  I also found some other "cool" areas of the face. This made me realize how many blue-greys were in the neck/chest area, too.  As you can see from the "mid-point" version, it now looks too red.  So back to the easel, and below is the finished painting.

Fall Pear

"Fall Pear"

Sold

A Helping Hand

SOLD

You don't have to go too far to find a good subject to paint.  For homework, I had to create two paintings of my hand using a reductive method with burnt umber.  My first two sketches were my hand in my lap and then in holding it up in the air, but they were pretty boring.  I wanted something that someone would actually find interesting.  With the timer on my camera and my reflective light, I took about 30 shots.  I spent about as much time setting up the lighting and running back and forth to the camera as I did painting.  Actually, it was more time painting, but the time spent on the setup made a big difference.  I love tonal paintings and I'm always scared that I will ruin a good tonal study with color.  If I don't make a mess of these two, I'll post the finished paintings.

Happy Birthday to Us

I recently found out I share a birthday with Burt Lancaster, Marie Antoinette, Daniel Boone, Cookie Monster (yay!) and Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin.  So to celebrate our day, I had some cookies and created a painting after one of Chardin's paintings.  His paintings often depict common settings, like the kitchen, and have wonderful diffuse lighting.  I picked one of his easier paintings and one without critters.  

Pears, Walnuts, and a Glass of Wine

I can easily get hold of pears, walnuts and wine, but not so much rabbits and birds.  The challenge was trying to get the right lighting.  Chardin's lighting is soft, yet strong.    Below is my version.

Blue Glass
SOLD

This was a fun exercise and may try emulating some of his more complex paintings.  As always, critiques are welcome.

Life's Lesson for $50

I look at all my art related activities as contributing to my “education.”  My classes at Rhode Island School of Design and other workshops I’ve taken are the most obvious formal lessons.  On the other end of the spectrum, I consider each painting a “class” that I may or may not learn from. 

Last weekend, I participated in the Pawtucket Arts Festival and got a lesson in marketing AND life.  The marketing lesson cost me $50 (entrance fee) and taught me that my work may not be appropriate for all Art Festivals.  But, I also got a few life lessons that were (o.k., I’ll say it) priceless!  First, I had wonderful neighbors (unexpected cold beers where the best!) but secondly, were the wonderful people who stopped by my booth.  No one bought a painting, but the morning of the second day, one of my booth neighbors altered my frame of mind.

People came to the festival for many different reasons (food, music, culture, crafts).  Fine Art was not high on many lists and many probably stopped at my booth just because it was on the way.  I got wonderful compliments, but I was caught off guard by the number of people who couldn’t believe that I had actually painted all the paintings in my booth.  I think it may have been the first time they connected a painting to a live person.  Their reactions of surprise and admiration seemed quite genuine.  I often get that reaction from kids, but never from so many adults.  One gentleman had been out of work for many years (and probably longer without healthcare).  He just wanted to just stand and watch me paint.  He was amazed how a mass of purple transformed into grapes. 

So here is my life lesson:  I didn’t sell a painting, but I like to think there are a few more people out there who will look at a painting differently. 

"Values do the work...

Sunrise on Newport Bridge

Although I struggled getting up with the birds, I only spent a few of hours painting on site.  My goal was to capture the color, composition and values and use my photos to finish it later.  When I looked at the painting later in the day, I was disappointed with how pale and washed out it was.  I then looked at the photos, I found the darks were so much darker than I painted.  I realized my eyes were “seeing” much more light in the shadows.

Using the photographs, I fixed the painting.  What I loved about the early morning sun and the low angle was the deep shadows created on the bridge and the boat.  I will keep my value finder handy from now on, until my brain learns how to see better.   I once read "Values do the work, color gets the applause."  This was a good example.