Practicing the Gesture

"Bordeaux Promenade"

watercolor, 15 x 22 inches (practice only)

While in Bordeaux this last summer, I was fascinated with scenes like this. There is a football field sized slab of concrete like this near the town center. Inside the slab are valves and jets that spew steam and water and fountain-like spouts all day long. Adults and children alike are drawn to this place as its visual magic changes every ten minutes. Reflections and different configurations of water in its vapor or liquid states make for endless entertainment. In the summer, when it is warm, people gather there to cool off and simply stroll and / or play. I have 50 photos of the activity there and wish I had taken more.

This image is practice piece for one on which I wish to embark soon. It is all too tempting paint the ‘details’ . . .but they are not what make this painting an interesting possibility. It is the glare, distortions and reflections. So, given that, the challenge is to make it interesting by only using the gesture of the brush rather than belaboring details. This practice experiment is to flex my gestural muscles a bit before tackling a big painting of the subject. Prior to putting the figure shapes into this painting, I spent some time practicing making the gestures which suggested people and reflections with a one inch flat brush. Lots of twisting the brush, using edges and corners etc to bring about the feel I was after. The practice helped a lot . . .and shows me where I need to put my best efforts in the upcoming painting. This is a challenge that will keep me occupied for a few weeks. . . . .and will build more skills.

Does that skill building aspect of being an artist ever end? I hope not!

Taking Chances . . .Again

"Backwash"

watercolor, 22 x 30 inches

Having just received a shipment of new paper (never tried this type before now) from England, I just HAD to take the most unfamiliar type and put it to the test . . . .or, shall I say, to many tests?

Waterford paper, made by St. Cuthberts Mill in the UK, is quite beautiful in its whiteness and its textures. The finish they make on cold press and rough are really lovely. But how well does it take a wash or glaze or . . .how does it work wet into wet . . .or if the paint is scrubbed in with a bristle brush? How well or easily does paint lift? And what of the edges? Can the image be manipulated after a base layer has been laid down? What becomes of the paper surface in vigorous lifting? And, what happens to the color when the sizings and chemistry of the paper's structure mix with various pigments?

The heavy package arrived from England late last week. I had never seen shipped paper packaged so well! It arrived without a single sheet being even slightly tweaked! I couldn't use it right away because I was working on the last painting posted . . .remember? The one that was taking all the time with so many glazes. Maybe the distraction of wanting to paint on that wonderful new paper was enough to cause the slaughter of that painting. I know I *wanted* badly to get to it and try it.

So, here is the very first piece . . . .Waterford 200lb cold press. That's right: two hundred pound! Yummy paper. I took every risk I knew of to challenge the surface and try to find the achilles heel of the paper. I washed, glazed, scrubbed, lifted, scraped, pushed, tarnished and did everything I could to see what would happen. And, WOW!! It responds so beautifully and continues to show off the glorious character of the paper itself. The transparency of the colors works better on this paper than any I have tried to date. The white water with a slight cool wash just glows in this piece. (P.S. The lower right corner is orange in the photo because of a lighting goof.)

In all, I am extremely pleased with how well this paper responds! Now to find a source for it here in the USA.

Witnessing Mortality

This aint no winnah !

Yes. It is dying. And it is agonizing in the process. Can you feel the pain? I can hear the painting groan as I am trying to force it to become something. Funeral services for this piece of paper will be quick and succinct. (I hope that isn’t redundant)

For two days you have watched this painting try to be something. I put together an idea in my mind about building luminosity into the painting using multiple glazes of but three colors. The object with luminosity is to attempt to allow the saturation (intensity) of a color glow in the presences of more neutralized tones. What can ruin such a goal is the appearance of strident darks. And, habits can ruin one, too.

Intensity contrast is much more subtle than value contrast. Because we are animals, our eyes always go to the locale of the most value contrast . . . and as painters, we have been trained to use *value contrast,* usually. While I have a clear, idea of my goal in my head about not allowing value contrast to become the basis for this painting attempt, that is precisely what has happened. I allowed habit to take over !! It is now a value contrast painting and I am in too deep to change it. (Don’t look now, Mike, but the neon “duffus” sign in your studio is flashing . . . .over and over!)

So, here are today’s efforts, meager though they may seem. When working with ultra thin veils of color over one another, it takes up precious time . . .lots of it . . . .so, three studio days have elapsed without much of a result. Believe it or not, there are 20 plus hours in this painting. (mind you, other artists would bestow sainthood onto the piece because of the time spent . . .and never throw it out.) I, however, see only that I just became 20 plus hours older. The paper isn’t precious, but the lessons taught are, indeed, precious. During the funeral service, I will mumble some homage to those lessons while I grab for another piece of paper to move on to the next thing. This was only an experiment,

What was the big lesson, you ask? Not having a vision and a plan on paper to begin with. You know what ‘they’ say. Failure to plan is a plan to fail. Next time, I will define my shapes more carefully in sketches and know precisely where my gradations and intensity changes will lie on the paper. That is to say I will KNOW where . . . . .not ‘sort of have an idea’ of where.

Hats off, everyone. Show some respect for the patient, please! This is a terminal case, for sure!

Today's Efforts

No title, yet

The goal today was to begin to equalize values across the painting . . .as stated in yesterday's post. Another 15 thin glazes were added and some corrections in a few places. As the glazes progessed, there is a noticable intensity difference in the large orangish shape . . . particularly near where the white shape is crossed by one line. There are some exposure difficulties keeping the actual image from revealing itself . . . such as the upper left corner appearing much darker than it really is.

Line was a missing element that began to be introduced and, in so doing, divided space for more interest. I am still not sure of where this is going or how it will turn out, though I have acquired some general intetions about it at this point.

This is an entirely different exercise for me since there was absolutely NO planning at all. The entire abstraction is derived from making random marks. More work will happen tomorrow . . . . . . .and I will attempt to fix the exposure difficulties. Am working with a different photo set up and need to adjust the lighting.

More tomorrow.

Fiddling With an Idea

No title, yet.

This is a work in progress. No title, yet. Not close to a finish. Am Working on it daily.

After a conversation with another artist friend who had shown me some of his stunning watercolors, he informed me that he had used over 200 glazes (one layer over another of wet paint onto dry).

Some years ago, I did some of that sort of work with watercolor but found that a small simple painting might take a few weeks to complete. The effects of working that way can be very ethereal and subtle with all sorts of luminous things happening . . . .or developing mud if one doesn’t work with transparent glazes. Burnt Sienna, Viridian and Magenta.

He described a limited palette to me that he had used, Burnt Sienna, Viridian and Magenta . I had never ever considered that combo of colors before. With the abstract work I have been doing off and on over the last few years, his conversation gave me some interesting ideas. So, I went immediately to the studio to ‘fiddle’ with my ideas.

This piece now has around 40 glazes of thin watery color laid over each other. Sometimes, with one color, I may intentionally miss a shape and others I will cover that shape with another. Over time, as the colors mix optically, different intensities develop as well as values. In this piece my values have begun to separate distinctly and that is NOT what I set out to do. So, I must glaze over the lighter areas and work to bring the values closer together so that the colors may offer their contrasts of temperature or intensity rather than value.

Succinctly, it’s tricky! Watch for future posts of what happens to this painting. it could well become a stinker!

Answering The Creative Urge

"Fragments of an Idea"

watercolor, 22 x 30 inches

I enjoy doodling. That is sitting and mindlessly pushing a pencil to create little visual thoughts. I think many people doodle unconsciously . . .like when they are in conversation on the phone. There just doesn’t *seem* to be any artistic direction happening there. Or, does there?

My opinion is that doodles are often ideas trying to be expressed. It might be the subconscious trying to tell the conscious mind that there is something afoot . . . an idea is brewing. So, why don’t more artists consider those ideas as something to develop on canvas or paper?

Returning from a trip last weekend, I sat in front of the TV and discovered an urgent need to have a pencil and paper in my hands. Grabbing a scratch pad and pen, I started doodling. Soon, I was playing with flat shapes . . . .overlapping them, shading them, stacking them . . . .just fiddling with no intent other than to see what showed up.

The next thing I knew was one was speaking to me with “paint me!” written all over it. So I began it. For three days I have worked on this piece to develop it at the easel. With nothing to look at other than the doodle, the mental gymnastics ensued. One finds quickly what design concerns are when confronted with working out a non objective painting . . .and why it is soooo important to understand the ins and outs of sound design.

The very issues that tease us artists in making ANY painting of ANY subject successful come quickly to confront the artist in non objective work. Whether a subject is realistic or not, how it fits into the rectangle, how all the parts relate or conflict and how the eye works through the piece are only parts of the whole puzzle in any painting. Non objective work gives the artist no hints. It all has to come from the thoughts and intuition of the artist. It is mental exercise of very high order. Whether this one fails or succeeds, what counts is the strengthening of creative muscles through the exercise and answering the creative urge.

No monkey or kindergartener could do this, regardless of what some uninformed lay people might think or say.

My Two Cents Worth

"Derelict"

watercolor, 30 x 22 inches

This painting came as the result of an invitation from David Lobenberg to join his watercolor class last Friday for some joint teaching and demonstration. This was the demo.

David's entire class has been working on this truck . . . no easy subject! . . . . and all were excited to watch Dave and I sling paint and attempt to come up with some sort of painting. What a wonderful time we all had! His class is enthusiastic, energetic and talented! Lots of laughs and plenty of conversation about painting and art. I wish I lived closer. If I did, I prolly would be making a pest of myself!!

Thanks for the great welcome and lively participation to all the members of Dave's class! You made me feel very much at home!

Tagging Time

"Mirror At My Toes"

watercolor, 22 x 30 inches

Just finished this piece . . .but now it is time to honor those who have tagged me and to pass along the same honor. I must admit that I have procrastinated on this for some time, so now is the time.

Thanks to Faye Christian Phillips, Stacey Peterson and Milind Mulick for tagging me three times. Each is so very different, yet worth a ton of study. Their artwork is stunning!

I will be tagging some different artists this time and have reasons for doing so. Here's the list and why I tagged them. There is a link in each of their names:

Diane Hoeptner for her playfulness and interesting perspective in her paintings.

Myrna Wacknov for her steady dedication to personal growth and perfecting her drawing skills.

Sandy Maudlin for her talent and desire to paint.

Peggy Stermer Cox for her creativity and willingness to explore spectacular abstractions. We could all learn something from this lady with her shape making talent!

Bruce MacEvoy for more than painting. Also look up his handprint.com and click on the little color wheel. I am tagging Bruce for multiple reasons. First, to acknowledge the incrdible contributions he has made regarding watercolor paints and the science of it. Amazing!! Secondly, Bruce must be the most insistently curious and analytical painter there is. And third, to introduce myself to him. Thanks for everything, Bruce!

Peggy Zalucha who began a blog last March and is one of the world's finest watercolor painters. I hope this tag will awaken her blogging. We need to see more of Peggy and her work. If not me, the world!

Six is all I am tagging today.

Here are the required seven things about me

• I am compulsive to paint paint paint and paint some more
• There are eleven children in my family
• Was once a roofer and a marketing VP for a few hi tech companies before being a painter
• Am an avid cook. Much of my art is in the kitchen . . .I make sourdough bread.
• Have a degree in Engineering and never once practised it.
• Once lived on a lake in Wisconsin.
• Father pushed me away from art as an occupation

Instructions for you who have been tagged:

1. Put a link in your posting to the person who tagged you.

2. List 7 unusual things about yourself.

3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and comment on their blogs to let them know.