making the switch from studio to plein air.

 June 9, 2010

   In my last blog I was full of anticipation and vigor for new inspiration. Today, I sit looking at my computer screen in utter disbelief that I actually call myself an artist. You see, summer time changes everything. I look outside and long to be out in all that luscious green…..I hear the birds chirping happily, watch as the sun plays on the leaves of our aspen trees, enjoy the fragrance of newly mown grass heavy in the air… out of the corner of my eye I catch the patio, now partially in cool shade, beaconing me with its outdoor living room grandeur… flowers spill out of pots and along pathways around the house - their joyful mix of colors drawing me closer and closer, reminding me of the Impressionists vibrant color pallet… long cooling evenings of walking through the damp lawn, accompanied by a glass of wine and the voice of my husband by my side, pull me from the studio and any thoughts of painting. So short, so sweet - this summer will pass all too quickly. Please, please can I stay outside? I promise to return to the studio in the fall, lock myself in and paint until the smell of grass and the rustle of aspen leaves call me outside again.

   Obviously, it’s June and, just in the nick of time, my career will be saved by the first of my plein air summer adventures. Remember my blogs from last fall - the ones about returning to the studio? Cold weather and the need for warm toes and fingers brought me inside then. 

    Thanks, I just learned something I didn’t know I knew…. It is difficult both ways, yes, but there is joy, progress, inspiration, pleasure, happiness and success in both scenarios. So, I say to myself, “Ginger, old girl, get on with it and stop being a sissy. Change is good.” I feel better already.

  Only trouble is I have little to share with you, but share I will with some explanation of the process involved.

 

BEFORE Wild Iris Home 12 x 16 Oil	AFTER  Wild Iris Home 12 x 16 Oil I can’t decide if this one is done or not – I’ll let it sit for a while, but in general, I worked on the iris colors, then completed the buildings and reworked them to harmonize with the iris. Remember, a painting works because of harmony, variety and connection!
BEFORE Prelude to Snow  12 x 16 Oil	AFTER Prelude to Snow 12 x 16 Oil This one is NOT done... I have worked and reworked the right “man-made” bank and am very unhappy, but looking at it today, I understood the main issue. I’ll keep it a secret, but if you have a suggestion, make a comment on this blog and we will see if you have the same ideas as I. I had a good time working on the subtle greys in the distance and near background to create distance in a small space. The contact point of the big tree and the rocky left bank was awkward so I lowered the left bank elevation and kept a suggestion of a steeper left hillside. I hope when the floods come, this bank will sustain the increased flow – it’s on the outside curve!  Good thing I’m not an engineer.
BEFORE Henry’s Fork 14 x 18 Oil	AFTER Henry’s Fork 14 x 18 Oil Still not completed. I have some things yet to do here, but what I did was: I cooled the right green bank to create distance, darkened the middle water and warmed it (for contrast), cooled the color of the reflected sky to balance the new cool sky color (colors are darker in reflection), added misty colors on the water surface at the intersection of reflection, shadow and transparency (sometimes we see this as a haze or sometimes surface algae becomes visible at this intersection), and generally worked with the transparent water composition, color and temperature.

  Yesterday, while painting with a small group of artists who meet at my studio a couple times a month, I laid out a companion to the Henry’s Fork painting as seen above. I haven’t done this type of thing recently, but the location for these paintings was the same only looking in different directions. I frequently paint like this on location, so it seemed like a good idea. 

 

Henry’s Fork II  14 x 18 Oil On the Easel

  Tea break’s over and I am back on my head…..painting away in the studio, listening to the birds and catching quick longing glimpses of the sunlight playing on aspen leaves. But today I will prepare my plein air paraphernalia and be ready in a heart beat for painting adventures out doors! Perfect!

 Thanks for listening while I find my way through the maze of being an artist.

 Ciao,

 Ginger

 

HAVING FUN IN THE STUDIO!

I just wanted to share with you the joy I feel being back in the studio this week and last.  Usually takes me a couple of weeks into January before my responsibilities and chores fall away and I can see the open road of painting through March and sometimes even April.  My garden demands its spring cleanout in April, I dream about and organize my planting sequence for the year and my heart yearns for that warm Colorado sun on my face.  But, until April, except for the occasional balmy day, I am happily holed up in the studio, great jazz or classical music playing on the iPod and the fireplace ablaze.  Last year I returned to oil painting during this time (can’t believe a whole year has passed already) and have never looked back.  When you paint in such a concentrated effort miracles do happen.  If I keep my head down, try new things, challenge myself with difficult subjects and remember to stand back frequently, suddenly I see change happening and I know I have jumped another fence in my growth as a artist.

Of course, I started with a simple composition and easy subject – willows next to an irrigation ditch …. Not much challenge, but a nice way to get back into the swing of painting.
 
Willow Shade  14 x 18 oil  (you can follow along as I painted this by going here)

Next I decided to challenge my palette.  Usually I clean off my palette many times to keep my colors fresh.  Richard Schmid says, “What’s on your palette will end up in your painting.” And I have agreed with that for the most part.  So this time, I decided to approach the painting like Tim Deibler does – never clean the pallet, never change brushes, barley clean the brush as you mix new colors – thereby keeping an overall tonal quality to the painting.  I also tried to loosen up, but found that I couldn’t get that loose with the subject and the small size.  (Sorry, Tim, I didn't mean you never clean off your palette, just that you don't do it during a painting.)
 
Harvest Snow 8 x 16 oil
Successful to some degree but wish I had chosen a less detailed barn scene.  We learn as we go!

Keeping the focus on tonal continuity and  a more loose painting style, I began another:
     
On the Easel Tucson 12 x 12 Oil - A start,      

On the Easel Tucson 12 x 12 Oil - Adding dimension,             
















Water Rights  12 x 12 Oil
Better subject matter, for sure, but those rocks…..somewhere between in focus and not loose enough.  Darn, this is tough.  So, I reworked it a bit, added my usual fussiness and like it better, but was that what I intended originally?  Thought I was trying something new.

Then I just pulled a photograph at random out of my stack of maybe 300 photographs on the studio desk and tried to apply some of the lessons just learned to this next painting.  This “at random” approach is sort of like driving down a road somewhere, seeing something really fascinating, stopping to set up for plein air painting and dashing off a painting before the light changes.
 
Emigrant  12 x 16 oil
Okay, so you just knew it would be a Montana scene did you?  Well, most of my photos in the stack are currently of Montana so you would be right, Mate.  Pretty loose for me, tonal to a point, some yin yang between the mountain and the right foreground color of the sage….Will think about this one and keep you posted.  

In the mean time, got any comments?  Questions?  

Cheers!  I’m off to the studio for the rest of the day.

Ginger