Paint Small and Often [Carol Marine workshop]

Last Tuesday afternoon was one of the most difficult workshop experiences for me – but I learned a lot.  We selected one item, I picked a kiwi sliced in half.  We painted this item small, 3”x3” squares in my case, over and over.  We had 10 minutes to draw and paint each of these little beasts.  We whined A LOT, and we sweated in that hot, still room. 

Carol was in constant motion making the rounds.  She encouraged me to leave my white paint out of the mix until the very end of this kiwi project – it wasn’t necessary except for the highlights and was causing a dull result.  I was getting it by the 4th and 5th effort [row 1 #4, row 2 #1]…  but I have no idea what happened on the sixth – apparently I unlearned everything!  Carol even did a little demo for the class of my half kiwi before the sixth sketch but the law of diminishing returns was setting in for me health-wise.  When somebody begged to be allowed a new item for the 7th timed sketch, I jumped at the chance to paint this yellow pepper and get out of kiwi-ville.  It turned out okay for a 10 minute sketch but if you squint at the photo of the pepper you will see how dark my subject was on the unlit side.  My sketch should have considered that pretty early on.  Again, value is KEY to painting. 

 

I learned an awful lot from my Tuesday efforts.  Outlining them in this blog helps to drive home the points again. 

1. Paint as often as possible. Many small and quick sketches teaches more than one large painting
2. Use LESS white for many subjects. 
3. Bring a fan to workshops [wink]
4. Ten minutes is long enough to consider lights and darks.  Slow down to speed up. 
5. Painting is SO MUCH FUN [oops! I already knew that didn’t I]

Cheers!

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Tuesday’s Cherries [6”x8”, oil on panel]

I really benefited from the exercises we did on value at the Carol Marine workshop last week.  The two smaller photos below were taken after one such exercise last Tuesday.  In short, we were to arrange a still life and paint it in monochromatic tones quickly [30 minutes for this one I think].  I had some yummy cherries all ready to go [left photo] and the resulting monochromatic painting is the really dull one on the left.  If you SQUINT at them both you should see a similar pattern of lights and darks. 

 

Today I took the dull, monochromatic result of that exercise and layered the colors overtop. I loved doing this – the dark values come through from the first layer and carry the value pattern.  I used the grey study in a similar fashion to the old masters’ technique known as grisaille [grizz-eye].   The resulting painting is the larger photo at the top of this post.  I wish I had a few of these yummy cherries right now – they’d make short work of my munchies.  Cheers!

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Workshop Monday [Carol Marine, Benalto, Alberta]

As I mentioned last Monday, the first day of the Carol Marine workshop we began with introductions.  What a talented bunch of ladies!  I’ve added the bloggers among them to my list of “Blogs I Follow” on the right side of my blog…  http://cherylsdailyblog.blogspot.com/ in case you are interested.

Here’s a photo of 4 apples Carol set up for her painting demo…  and a thumbnail of her complete painting.  This took her about an hour, what with all our demanding questions [lol].  She’s fast and so fun to watch!  It was interesting to see an intentional tangent [the apples are just touching each other] in this composition and how well Carol pulled it off. 

I want to highlight some of the things that I found helpful from each day of the workshop.  First of all, each artist comes to a workshop with particular needs and talents so what resonated with me might have been “old hat” for other participants or vice versa.  I’ll stick to my experience of the workshop rather than the content – after all, that’s Carol’s content.  If you’re thinking of taking this workshop sign up immediately because it is well worth it!

• Fear… we all have it.  Painting daily helps to relax this performance anxiety.  We reviewed the wonderful benefits of painting small and daily vs big and infrequently…  I’ve experience many that she mentioned – reduced fear of failure, more playful, increased confidence, less emotional involvement.  Try it – really!!!
• Materials – lots of great points from Carol and tips from the other artists including:
  • Carol’s medium mix – 2 parts linseed oil, 1 part stand oil, 1 part mineral spirits.  I’ll be trying this out after I’ve used up my current supply of Maimeri’s ecoblend
  • lots of the artists were using burnt umber [a color I don’t currently own].  I need some!
  • brushes – Carol doesn’t use very many because she cleans as she goes.  Nice – way less mess at the end!
  • brush cleaning – she rarely does more than clean with mineral spirits at the end of the day.  She uses Murphy Oil every couple of weeks to clean them.  I LOVE this idea – brush cleaning is time consuming.
  • brush storage tool – PVC pipe and cap makes a good seal and then brushes don’t dry out.  That makes cleaning with soap and water less necessary :-)
• Painting methods:
• There is no “right” way to paint.  It’s still amazing to me that every artist I observe in a demo has a very unique painting method and style.  I’m getting more comfortable with my own style and finding out more and more how I want to paint – that feels good.
• Carol doesn’t get hung up on painting inside the lines of her drawing, cutting in and/or overlapping the background in places creates some beautiful effects.
• I’m getting the feel for the weight of my strokes.  This is critical with oil painting “alla prima” [in one go] because the under layers are still wet.  Digging around in those layers with a new layer is a great recipe for mud. 
• Squint, squint, squint…  in fact we stopped on Friday morning and took a photo of the class watching Carol’s demo SQUINTING.  We had a great laugh over that – it won’t be easy to forget!

Interesting values [light versus dark] are essential to painting.  Carol gave us 30 minutes to set up and paint a little still life that had a dark, medium and light monochromatic pattern in dominant, secondary, and “smidge” values.  The dominant value in my still life set up  [the cup below] was “mid” [takes over half the painting], my secondary value was “dark” [takes up most of the remaining area], and there was just a smidge of “light”. First I wrote down my pattern, then I painted the cup in a neutral color to match the pattern I had noted in my subject.  You can read all about this on Carol’s Daily Paintworks Challenge from May 21st.  It’s a good exercise in SEEING.

All week, Carol amazed me with her ability to SEE in every way possible – the value, color, intensity, shape, etc. of both her subject and the painting she was making. More tomorrow!

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Beginning with the ending…

I’ve just arrived home from a week long Carol Marine workshop and, although my lodgings were superb [ty Conrad & Teresa], I can truly say I am happy to be home, sweet home!  I’ve neglected my blogging this week due to shortage of time & energy but I’ve painted lots, and I’ve learned even more! 

Tomorrow I’ll begin a day by day recap of the workshop highlights with photos of my work, but today I want to share what happens at the end of Carol’s workshops.  Over the course of the week, Carol painted five 6”x6” paintings during “demos”.  These are made available to student to purchase for a modest price if you’re lucky.  This morning we had a draw to see which students would be selecting a painting to buy, and in which order.  My name was drawn second.  I really wanted Carol’s painting of orange slices, a knife and a little bowl of mine [as yet unnamed].  But, another student’s name was drawn first and she selected this one.  Later, she had a change of heart and we traded – thanks Margreet! 

I love everything about this little painting – the oranges just glow against that blue background and the brush strokes are lively & free.  I find Carol’s style engages me in a way that hyper-realism doesn’t.  As a viewer, I have a role in this painting…  a connection. My eye moves around in the painting noticing the colors and shapes, confirming the story.  The connection is also stronger because I enjoyed watching her paint it!  Throughout the week Carol came by to help me with my painting and every project she commented that the highlights needed to be smaller…  I’ll remember that every time I look at this painting – the dark shape says “knife” with just those small lights on the handle! 

Two very, very tired ladies today… and now to bed!  Cheers!

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Carol Marine Workshop

Today I began a 5 day workshop with Carol Marine.  We are meeting at the Benalto community hall near Red Deer.  I'm fortunate to have a lovely place to stay here at my brother and sister-in-laws' place about 40 minutes from the workshop.  This morning we got things going with introductions and some general discussion around the daily painting movement.  Carol's story is such an inspiration and I am thouroughly enjoying this workshop so far.  This afternoon we were given 2 hours to set up and paint a little still life. 

I found these fun little key limes at the grocery yesterday and I set them up on my kiddie blocks with my new little mixing bowl.  I'm hoping to get some help with making the limes read a bit better tomorrow.  They aren't the usual shape of a lime but are round little guys.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we're just getting warmed up!

Cheers!

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Late June Tulips [oil, 8”x6”]

No, I’m not kidding!  The tulips planted on the northeast side of my house just bloomed a few weeks ago and they will probably last another week.  It’s been a very cold spring around here but today is glorious!  Sunny and warm for the first day of summer!  Enjoy!

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I Miss Biking [oil, 8”x10”]

Lately my daughter Kim has been biking to work along some of the beautiful bike paths here in Calgary.  There are over 1,000 kilometres of paved bike path within Calgary’s city limits.  I enjoyed biking to work until I lost my balance, fell and broke a wrist back in 2004.  The peace of the pathway before and after work was a wonderful contrast to pressured work days.  Since then my health hasn’t allowed me to get back on my bike and I’ve come to terms with that – don’t need any more broken bones, that’s for sure!  But last week I pulled my golf/art cart along a bike pathway in Tuscany and found this little view that pleased my eye.  Enjoy!

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Tomorrow in Balance [oil, 8”x6”]

More practice in oil painting and I took up a Daily Paintworks Challenge on “balance”.  Setting up this balancing act with a little striped box, a bottle of acrylic paint, and “tomorrow’s” blank canvas was just fun.  It was ironic to paint the bottle of acrylic paint with my oils!  We need hope in the future and signing this painting in the bottom right of the “tomorrow” canvas is symbolic for moving on with life and believing in the future.  Big thoughts for a fun little painting.  Have a great week!

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80% Chance of Rain [oil, 8”x6”]

I painted some of this scene plein air but felt it needed a few touch ups at home.  I added the warmer color in the tops of the cloud and underneath, as if it was evening.  It feels like the whole things is working better now.  I have no idea what the rules around “plein air” designations are…  I suppose I should be more curious about that.  Right now I’m happy if I can get a color mixed the way I want, never mind where I painted it.  Ciao!

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Monday Model [oil on canvas, 20”x16”]

I had another go at the painting from class 2 weeks ago…  I like her face and shoulders better now.  She appears to be sitting up straighter.  I also toned down the colors in the dress and warmed up the color in her skin.  This seems to have put the focus back on the model rather than the bright dress.  I feel like I’ve learned quite a bit from this exercise, particularly about the pushing and pulling of warm vs cool skin tones.  Getting a “likeness” however, is still eluding me.  Fun stuff. 

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Elbow River Jam [oil, 10”x8”]

I spent a few minutes finishing up this one today…  it’s all done now but, as usual, I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow ;-).  I feel like I captured the peaceful, yet uncontrollable, essence of the scene and I even like my foreground rocks! That’s a first as I usually struggle mightily with them.  It helps to squint down and not think of rocks at all.  There are lots of colors in those Elbow River rocks!

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Lloyd Leaner [oil, 10”x8”]

There are so many scenes available to paint at Lloyd Park [SW of Calgary].  None are quite as tempting as this gnarly spruce tree which imposes itself in the foreground of many views.  It’s an interesting contrast to all the horizontals in the rest of the land/lakescape.  I struggled with the shapes in the background and although this was painted 90% on site last Saturday, I puttered a bit with it at home as well.  I can see that it’s important not to overdo the studio putzing…  the freshness needs to be retained.  Looking forward to more plein air this weekend at Leighton Centre!  Have a great day!

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Pear Pair [oil, 6”x6”]

A pair of red pears – except there are many, many colors in these “red” pears.  Violet shadows, green, yellow and white highlights, 4 different pigments of red…  all rolled into 2 little pears. 

I’m sure enjoying painting these little guys!  I’m using baltic birch panels sealed with GAC100 and tinted with an orange/red.  The warmth peeks through in places and unifies the whole.  Enjoy!

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Still Green [oil, 6”x6”]

I’m back to studying the colors and shapes of fruit.  I took on this little pear today.  Even though it sat on a purple fabric, the light reflected back into the pear was orange!  The purple behind the pear took on a reddish cast that offset the green of the pear nicely.  Ciao!

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Little Falls at Big Hill Springs [oil, 6”x8”]

This little painting was also done at Big Hill Springs Provincial Park yesterday.  After a morning of chatting with passersby at the main falls, I took a rest break and then set up in a more secluded spot.  This little scene was so peaceful and calm.  Relative to some of the views it was quite boring.  However, sometimes “boring” is just restful… except we’ve lost our capacity to rest!  The sound of the waterfall was peaceful in the morning so I didn’t want to go too far away from it.  Consequently, I stood with a smaller waterfall spraying just a bit onto my left foot when I painted this scene.  Refreshing indeed - plein air painting was made for such a day a this! 

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Wearing Purple [oil, 6”x6”]

Weeks ago I decided that I need to do more small paintings on a more regular basis and really study the mundane, simple things around me.  With that in mind I ordered a supply of 6”x6” deep, gallery wrapped canvasses when Curry’s had their sale last month.  I got some help with “seeing” better last weekend. 

Yesterday I set up a still life with just a red onion with a light green background and painted my first 6x6 canvas.  So fun!  I  love the way these colors complement each other.  There’s a real trick to getting the paint to leave your brush when and how you want it to!  I’ve got a lot to work out in that regard.  My hands can be quite shaky at times so I do better when I make a quick, decisive stroke.  Easier said than done – trust me on that!  Location, pressure, direction, angle, all factors in making oil paint work.  Before the stroke you’ve already made several key decisions – which brush? which color? how intense? what value? It’s very, very entertaining…  Ciao!

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Orange Compliment [oil, 8”x6”]

This is the third painting from the weekend workshop.  I was amazed at how much duller the reflection was relative to the brilliance of the orange!  Given that blue is the compliment to orange [ie mixed together they would be dull greyish] I shouldn’t have been so surprised.  I love painting glass and this was a good challenge for the last painting of the workshop.  One more weekend of focusing on, and painting, what I see – not orange sections and a blue bottle!  So fun! 

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Apple from Liz Wiltzen’s workshop

This weekend I am lucky to be in a Calgary FCA workshop with accomplished painter Liz Wiltzen.  We’re painting in oils and concentrated on value, color, and intensity today with several exercises.  The goal of the workshop is to concentrate on observing these things carefully, putting down the “true” colors.  Once that has been mastered, an artist can move on to their chosen path wherever they want to be on the realism --- abstraction spectrum. 

For the last 90 minutes we worked up our own small [6”x8”] still life.  I brought an apple that was striated red/green – what a nasty thing that was to paint!  The color was difficult due to the complimentary nature of red/green.  Every time I made a stroke it changed EVERYTHING!  I was reasonably happy with the way it turned out despite running out of time.  The background color was challenging and I’ve made it just a tad too cool in the painting.  More practice tomorrow.  Have a great weekend!

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Foothills Fields [ 9”x12”, oil]

Just a little sketch of the rolling fields and foothills of Alberta today.  Country roads take me home….  have a great day!

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Draw [oil, 12”x9”]

Picking up is the only answer for this player…  Note to self:  dominoes are nasty subjects for a “quick” still life painting!!!  But, still better than dabbing at nicks in my walls – FAR better.  Cheers!

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