Pansies and the Wolf Spider

Well it has been over a month since I last blogged. I would like to say that it was because I was re-charging my creative self, but it was just plain busyness that kept me away from writing anything more than a quick post on Facebook.

I painted Pansies! because I was looking for a composition that had contrast, specifically areas of darkness contrasting with bright color. I was teaching a watercolor class where the students already had experience with the medium, but many were unsure of how to portray dark areas without resorting to black.

I also wanted to use the random quality of watercolor bloom, to help define the leaves. After lightly sketching the flowers and a few leaves, I wet just the areas where I wanted color to flow. All of the leaves and dark areas were washed with various shades of greens and blues. When the paper had dried slightly, but the paint was still wet, I dropped bits of clean water on random areas to let the watercolor bloom create the effects of dappled light on the leaves. After the leaves had dried somewhat, I added a bit of Payne's Gray to the darker, cooler, green/blue colors that I had mixed before. I used that color to add the shadowed areas around the leaves and punch up the contrast.

The pansies were painted with combinations of cadmium yellow and lemon yellow. I used a dark purple for the markings in the center of the pansies and used a very very dilute (mostly water, very little paint) to add shadows and depth to the flowers.

So are you wondering why I titled this blog Pansies and the Wolf Spider? Don't bother looking for the spider in the painting...this isn't a hidden pictures game.

Here's the story: I bought the flowers which were in one of the "hang it on your house kind of bags" on Mother's Day weekend and hung them on the tree which overhangs our deck at camp. When I returned to camp two weeks later, I discovered a bunch of shriveled.....but not dead pansies. I gave them some water and promised to bring them home where I could give them more TLC.

So when it was time to back up the car to go home I put the plant in a box along with some other items which needed to go back to civilization. I loaded my car, being careful to leave a space for the box full of ailing pansies (which would of course receive the best of care at home). As I was placing the box in my car I saw a huge wolf spider, big as my fist sitting in the box looking at me. Now, put yourself in my place...small car, one and a half hour ride home. I did the only thing I could possibly do....and I'm sure the pansies are just fine, sitting in the box, in the yard up at camp.

Art and Science

Well, I am back from a long vacation (Hawaii and San Diego) and ready to jump back into the cycle of art exhibits and teaching. The next show that I am participating in is the Central New York Branch of the National League of American Pen Women exhibit at the Caroline Szozda Gallery, 305 West Fayette St. in Syracuse. The theme of the show is "Ekphrasis" which is a literary description of, or commentary on, a visual work of art. In our case, we have sometimes reversed the order, so that we have visual commentaries on literary work. If you are scratching your head saying "what does that mean????" here is the quick and simple explanation: Writers are exhibiting work based on visual art or music, artists are exhibiting work based on writing, or another art form. I have selected a piece done a few years ago titled "Art and Science". It is based on the work of the late Dr. Bonnie St. Andrews, Founding Editor of the Healing Muse, which is a literary and visual journal published each year by SUNY Upstate Medical Center. Art and Science are two sides of the Sword of Life; split halves of a maple seed... The opening reception is on May 11, 5:00pm - 8:00 pm.

Just Hangin' at the Lake

Down at the end of one of the bays on our lake there is a scene I had been wanting to paint for a few years. A kayak nestled in the weeds, surrounded by trees with buoys hanging from them, reflections dancing in the water, struck me as being the quintessential image of our laid back life here at the lake. Some days, when the surface of the water is like glass, the lake provides a mirror image. But with just a touch of my kayak paddle, I can stir up the most interesting abstractions of color and light.

I finally started the painting this past winter as part of a demo I was doing at Eve Galleria. After the demo, the unfinished painting got put away for a few weeks as I was busy with other things. I don't usually work that way; I like to keep the momentum going until the painting is done. But as we all know, life gets in the way sometimes and we put our projects on hold to deal with all of those other things. I finally was able to finish the painting last week. It's Spring now; the first flowers are in bloom and lawn mowers are whirring throughout my neighborhood here in the suburbs.

But in my painting, I'm at the lake and it's high summer. You can feel the sun on your back and listen to the sounds of the lake around you. A fish jumps, creating more of those wonderful abstractions on the water, birds call to one another and in the distance you hear the laughter of the children as they canon-ball into the water. Ahhh...summer.

Drawing classes begin the week of April 23

It's time to get out my pencils and sharpen my drawing skills (and the pencils too) as I get ready to teach "Intro to Drawing" beginning the week of April 23 at the Y Arts Studio. It is good to get back to basics every now and then, and teaching provides me with that opportunity every few months. I have been busy teaching Acrylic Painting and Watercolor, which satisfies my need for color! color! color! But now I will take a few weeks to just look at line, form and value. Eventually color will make it's way back into my work...I can feel the Prismacolors in my hands already!!!
Here's a colored pencil drawing from a few years back, based on a newspaper photo of Dale Earhart. My favorite part is the reflections in his sunglasses. The background is watercolor, the rest all pencil work.

Registration for the "Intro to Drawing" class is going on now. The class is open to YMCA Members and Non-Members; all supplies are included in the fee. The Y Arts Studio is located in the East Area Family YMCA in Fayetteville, NY. Visit www.ycny.org for more information on registration.

Eat Your Veggies!!!

This is the second installment in my series of BIG FOOD. I'm teaching an Acrylic painting class for the next few weeks and needed some fresh ideas for Still Life that I could set up in the studio and paint from. I was probably hungry at the time and the idea of food popped into my head and thus began the series.

I like this series for a few reasons.
1.Using the idea of enlarging the object forces us to take a good look at details, edges, shadows and reflected color. Taking in all of this information and transferring it to the canvas without getting too fussy and illustrative is my goal.

2.Composition and Negative space. Placement of the objects in the picture plane determines the negative space. Well yes, we know that, but working with students to build the still life and experiment with lighting reinforces the principles of composition. Moving objects around until the placement is the most satisfying and then figuring out how to add drama becomes part of the learning process for developing a good composition. Drama is usually achieved by experimenting with lighting from above, below, behind. In playing around with placement of our light source we immediately see that how we perceive color depends on the available light.
My favorite point in this lesson is when students first see reflected color, or color reflected from one object to another.
Suddenly a whole new world opens up!

more on this later........

Hungry Anyone?

I'm taking a little break from landscapes and working on a series of BIG FOOD paintings. I am using the paintings as demos for my Acrylics class which meets on Monday night at the Y Arts Studio. Boredom with the usual still life types of objects led me to the Produce aisles at Wegmans and Tops to look for food that was "good enough to eat...I mean paint". Although the canvas board is only 11 x 14, I decided to paint these objects in a larger than life size, as if bursting out of the frame. I am also trying to do a lot of the painting during the class, when I am not teaching or helping students. This forces me to paint faster and looser, with more lush brush work. Finishing touches are added at home in my studio.

And the best part is, that I do get to eat the food when I am done with the painting!

Creating Movement in a Painting

As we get closer to St. Patrick's Day more and more of the Irish paintings are appearing on the blog. This one titled Ceili! was inspired by the music, dance and excitement of an Irish Ceili (party). Two dancers, slightly left of center, leap toward opposite sides of the painting creating a diagonal tension and moving our eye toward the supporting elements, the musicians. One dancer's foot points directly to the fiddle player, drawing her into the area we call our focal point, or main area of interest. The two dancers and fiddle player create a triangle shape, which becomes our focal point. The viewer can see part of a bodhran and the hand holding the tipper. Part of an accordion is visible, but very abstracted near the left corner. And last but not least, in the top left corner we have what seems to be a band; they are very abstracted and painted in subdued color...I call them the "Muddy Neutrals".

In a painting such as Ceili!, pictured here, we have a moment frozen in time, yet full of the illusion of movement.

How do we capture movement in a painting? There are a few things to consider.
Edges for one, should be somewhat fuzzy, not sharply defined. A precise line indicates something static. A line which is looser, a bit disconnected can indicate movement.

Details should be minimal; enough to define an object without over-emphasizing it.
As the dancers leap through the air, their dresses and hair move with them; they are not static. The fiddle player tosses her hair in a movement that repeats the shape of the dancers hair, and reinforces the illusion of movement.

Color of course is of utmost importance when portraying movement. Warm colors come forward, cool colors recede. Bright colors also come forward and neutrals recede. This is something we can use to our advantage here.

*The artist Hans Hofmann (1880 - 1966) proved that the illusion of space, depth, and even movement on a canvas could be created abstractly using color and shape, rather than representational forms.
Although I did not use many cool colors here, I did use neutrals to create the shadowed areas and to provide contrast for the intense warm colors. I layered several warm intense colors on top of each other and next to each other to create an air of excitement. The neutral were all made by mixing those intense colors together to make a series of subdued tones to complement the intense colors.

The brushwork in this painting was done with a loose quick stroke which changed direction to reinforce the idea of shapes and movement. The palette knife work added a few textured strokes to complete the illusion of movement.

Below is the link for the Hans Hofman website, which further details the push and pull theory.

*http://www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/index.html