Posts Tagged ‘abstract art’
Plein Air Painting Is for Me
The fact the I am a painter is a miracle! All my life I have studied the sciences and never took one art lesson until five years before I retired. Now, however, I love painting en plein air (French for “open air”), traveling and meeting new people.
When I was a child, we lived on a small acreage with a wooded area on a back corner. Occasionally, I visited that area and enjoyed seeing the different plants and shrubs and how the sun danced on the leaves. Perhaps that is when I learned to love trees. Much later I had a wonderful opportunity to take free art lessons at the nearby university. After I moved away, I went to the local gallery and continued with lessons. Several years later I moved to Maryland where I met plein air painters. We actually took our easels out to a field, set up, and I was overwhelmed! What do I put on my 8” x 10” canvas from that vast array of scenery? At the same time, I was hooked! It was exciting to be out of doors. As the poet said, “It doesn’t matter whether I got bee stings or sunburn, lost my brush or my picture didn’t turn out well, I still had a great day.” Now I enjoy beautiful trees everywhere, but when I want to paint, I look for those which grew in an irregular fashion or have seen many years of wind and storms, perhaps losing limbs in the process. Those are the ones that speak to me so I set up my easel and we have a face-to face conversation.
John F. Carlson (1875-1947)
Recently, I read a book which listed twelve US painters of the early 20th century and described their methods of painting. The one which interested me the most was John F. Carlson, an institution in the American art world. His awards in watercolors and oil painting fill a long column in Who’s Who in American Art. His book Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting, written in 1928, was reprinted in 1953, 1958, 1970 and 1973. Recent additions have been titled Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting.
His words: “I would rather be in the woods than any other place on earth,” said John F. Carlson, one of America’s foremost oil painters, “ and I’ve spent a good part of my life painting trees. Naturally, I’ve gotten acquainted with them. Trees are a lot like human beings: rooted men, possessing character, ambitions and idiosyncrasies. Those who know trees see all their whims; see their struggles, too; struggles with wind and weather, struggles to adjust themselves to their society. For nature will not allow them to run amok. Heedless of their neighbors, their individual propensities must conform to the cosmic laws within their own democracy. Thus there is a certain rhythm in a wood; a flow between parts, a give and take that is rigidly observed”. What a great love for trees and the out-of-doors he had!
The Edison Estate
Thelma and I have been waiting for today for a long time. Several weeks ago we inquired about painting at the Edison Estate and we were told that artists are allowed on Wednesdays, and the entrance fee would be $5. The classes for which we had registered were always on Wednesday, so we had to wait until class ended before we could come.
Today we arrived at the Estate about 10:30 AM and I went in to pay the fees. One cashier knew nothing about the fee for artists, the other had heard of it, but wasn’t sure the amount. That already told me they have not been overwhelmed with artists. Eventually I paid the money and we found a tree that appealed to each of us. After a couple of hours we had completed our trees and some background and headed home – the rest to be completed in the studio. It was great to be outdoors doing plein air oil paintings again after so many weeks of acrylics in class.
Just for Laughs
Robert Genn, Canadian painter, in his twice-weekly newsletter recently discussed humor in art. He said he had received emails asking, “If it’s funny, is it art?” or, “does art have to be so serious?”
George Condo is one of the hotties in the New York art scene. Critics have described his oil paintings as “goofy,” “really bad,” “creepy” – you get the picture. Meanwhile, the public loves it. At a current show at the New Museum, collectors are buying his work like crazy, everything is selling out, and Condo is enjoying a life of luxury.
As Marshall McLuhan once said when asked about a definition of art, “Art is what you can get away with.” Genn says, “Be funny. Maybe a few laughs is what’s needed right now.” James Kalm noted, “I often find myself at cocktail parties, fantasizing that the person I am talking with is some sort of Condo monster,” Studios, ataliers, art galleries and museums are all full of Condo characters! We’re just not able to see them clearly!
Photographing Art
Being an artist is more than creating beautiful oil paintings - although that is difficult enough. Painters enter their works in galleries, competitions and shows and post them on web sites and blogs. In order to do this, a photograph is necessary. Either the artist must photograph the work herself, have a husband or good friend do it, or pay a professional – and that can be quite expensive.
Today I attended a class in photographing art. I learned about placing the artwork in relation to the camera and lights, different kinds of lighting, the focal lengths of lenses, the apertures of the lenses and the depth of field a small or large aperture produces. All this and much more are important in producing a great photo of art.
Our Second Show at Marinatown
Today is the third Sunday of March and our group is having another show at Marinatown in North Fort Myers. We are a small group: a chocolatier, photographer, two artists, and others selling healthy skin care, metal wall art, stuffed animals and plastic ware. Another who sold chocolates set up and stayed an hour, but her chocolates were melting, so she left.
In preparation, Thelma and I had finished a few pieces of acrylic paintings yesterday and varnished several. It has been a month since our last show – so all that we created in that month needed varnishing. The temperature rose to around 89 degrees so we were happy to find shade. Others had tents. None of us became rich on our sales today, but most made at least a few dollars. It was nice to visit with the passersby and with each other. This is probably the last show until late fall as next month our show will run into the holidays and Thelma and I will be home in Illinois and Maryland.
Art Class, Again
Today was our fourth “Paint Your Passion” class. Next week is our last one. I like this class so much because Teacher always gives us something to think about. Today she brought pictures of still lifes, dining situations and other scenes inside the home. If a student is not interested in her subject, the student can work on whatever she likes.
At the beginning critique we each showed work we had completed since last week. I had chosen a photo of a plein air painter painting the landscape because it reminded me of a former teacher. My painting needed more green in the shrubbery as I had made it only brown so I corrected that first.
I am not interested in painting still life or any kind of construction or buildings. I had brought a tiny photo of some colorful landscape I liked, so went to the office, had it enlarged and began work on that. I’ll enjoy working on that for next time.
Recovering Your Inner Artist
Robert Genn, Canadian artist, writes a twice weekly newsletter to which I subscribe. Recently a reader wrote to Genn saying he had lost his “inner artist” over the years due to taking care of grandparents, running a business and other life responsibilities. He is not able to begin again and has frequent feelings of failure although he looks at art magazines and books to try to stimulate his creativity.
Genn replied that every artist has those feelings, whether for a few minutes, weeks or years. Books don’t usually help – you have to get yourself busy. Your own personal creative processes are their own reward. Oil painting can be a parade of minor defeats and failures, but overall, the individual working process is more positive than negative. In Canada, they call it “beavering away.” Beavering can start at any time, even with old beavers. Beavers pay little attention to the overweening mountain. Simple accumulation changes the course of rivers.
Your “inner artist” is just temporarily out of action. It just needs exercise. Ready or not, you need to start. The philosopher Lao-Tzu (604-531 BC) said it well: “A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.”
Color
This winter I have been exposed to so much color! I visited the gallery of Leoma Lovegrove, well known painter in the Fort Myers area, in Matlacha, Pine Island, just off the coast of Fort Myers. Her paintings are among the most colorful I have ever seen. My acrylic teacher, Shirley Blake, is an abstract artist who loves color. Also, I found the web site of Wolf Kahn, a wonderful painter of abstract landscapes, which are full of colorful trees and backgrounds! His works are a wonderful inspiration to me.
I am so hoping that some of these colors will seep into my pores. I love color and am trying to do a better job of incorporating it into my paintings!
“Meandering” is Finished
The photo today is “Meandering”, the abstract acrylic painting I finished yesterday. I described it in Friday’s blog spot.
Last week in class I chose a painting of colorful fish to paint for Wednesday’s class, and have been working on it this past weekend. I am not an experienced acrylic painter an have had a difficult time covering the canvas. It just seems to take me 2 or 3 times of repainting an area in order to get the little holes caused by the weave of the cotton canvas filled.
Actually, these particular canvases seemed extra rough, so I gave them all a coat of gesso. Then I primed this one with light blue and have lightly painted on the fish in white. Most of my time today was spent putting in the background in dark blue and green, light blue and white. I’m anxious to see how the colorful fish will look!