Painting Process Continued

 So I am close to done on this painting process.  I like to leave it sit for awhile and re-think things before finally signing it if I am finished.

This was almost finished but it seemed a little washed out to me. So I proceeded to paint the sky a much deeper blue around some clouds.  Things I am still considering - is that lake snow a tad too yellow and does the close by snow need some more work.  Sometimes I just need to ignore it totally for a week or two before I have fresh eyes and decide if it is okay.  Time will tell

Painting Process

How I sometime tackle a painting, some beginning steps.

First you must go on some kind of outing or adventure and snap a ton of pictures.  This was a super day we spent cross country skiing near Fernie, BC

Decide on a picture and do some ROUGH sketches to help determine what is relevant to paint

I like a vivid acrylic underpainting that will show here and there with some pops of colour later

 and warm up the painting a bit - especially in these snow scenes

I use some black gesso to establish some of the darkest dark areas - it will mostly get painted over.  You can't really see it but I did a transparent red earth glaze of oil paint over the large tree area to add warmth to the trees later too.  I begin laying in the sky first, then randomly start working all over.

This is as far as I got this week.  I will let the painting dry before I tackle the closer trees, as they have that red glaze I don't want mixing in and making muddy later.  

Now I hope that it will continue to work out and sometimes I lose courage and don't want to go farther cause I haven't done anything I do not like yet.  I always fear it could go south on me, but if I plan properly, mix my paints out first and not rush it, it tends to work okay!  I WILL post the results when it is finished. Fingers crossed.

 

Outside at Last

Today was my first day this spring getting outside to paint.  It was marvellous... I found a quiet spot in the sun by a creek.  It was partially cloudy out and so I would occasionally have very bright sun on the view, followed by cloud cover.  As you can see in the 2 pics below - it can sure makes a difference to your colours and values when it is cloudy vs sunny.  I attempted to get the 'sunny' view - however - I made the mistake of bringing a canvas stained with a deep orange.  I think for my Plein air painting - a lighter warm colour (grey or Sienna) would be better.

Only wildlife, other than geese overhead, was this colourful fly who sat on my easel for a few minutes, warming up.  Would be cool to paint him, but he didn't stick around long enough.

 I did two fairly quick 'sketches' - one is the general view - very thinly done with thinner and oil - so the orange really shows through too much.  The other was just a 'sketch' of the little tree in front of me.  Both I 'erased' after to reuse the board for my next time out.  I just made sure to paint the panel a light grey for next time.

Memberships to Artist Groups

Being an artist can be a little lonely as you tend to work by yourself most of the time.  Joining an artist group is an option for some.  The different memberships for art groups I belong to are mostly arms length, where I get info and can enter artists calls, but I don't actually get to see other artists unless I attend occasional workshops.  Sometimes I reeeeaaally would like another artists feedback on some problem I am encountering, when a painting is going sideways.

I have been a member of the  Federation of Canadian Artists for a few years now.

"The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) is a registered charity founded in 1941 by professional Canadian working artists including Group of Seven luminaries... It has members throughout Canada and Chapters in Alberta and B.C.. The FCA is dedicated to raising artistic standards by stimulating participants to greater heights of knowledge and achievement by offering what is believed to be the first completely artists' sponsored gallery in Canada. Currently the Federation is the only national-level visual arts organization that manages their own full-time art gallery."

A group of us met in the past year to try to get a Chapter started in Edmonton, but do not currently have enough Active members to form one.   So for now I submit my art to the Federation of Canadian Artists main gallery shows in hopes of being juried into one of the shows or competitions.  Finally I managed to get the following painting, The Usual Suspects, accepted into the Active Members Exhibition starting January 7th, 2020 until January 19th, at the Granville Island Gallery in Vancouver, BC.  Hurray!  I can work my way toward being a Signature Member, I just need to get 5 more paintings successfully juried into other shows over the next 4 years.

The other painting I submitted, The Royal, was accepted but just into the on-line show - it will not be on display at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island.  It still counts toward my Signature status though, which is nice.  

In the past the Federation had on-line critiques, done by signature members, but that did not happen this year for some reason.  So I go back to relying on my family for feedback.  They are great, but often too generous or sometimes too vague - they aren't really sure what is wrong, know something is bugging them.

Strathearn Art Walk - Fun in the Sun

Finding some shade!

On Saturday, I  set up my booth at the annual Strathearn Art Walk.  It was a beautiful day, with lots of great artists / vendors and the weather helped draw a record crowd. This was my fourth art fair experience and probably the most successful one.  I had lots of wonderful people stop by and received some very positive feedback.  I managed to sell 3 original paintings, a few prints / cards, 3 potential commissions and made some great connections with other art minded people.  

Thankfully, my wonderful spouse helped me haul and set up / take down everything and gave me a break part way through.  I managed to race around the site to check out other booths - there were approximately 300 of them, so it took me awhile.  I especially enjoyed meeting some of the other artists and seeing their work.  I held a free giveaway draw for one of my prints, which was a good idea, as I now have a potential commission from that.

So my take-aways from this art fair:

1)  WEATHER is probably one of the biggest factors to a successful amount of traffic through your booth.  Not much you can do but come prepared and hope it is nice out!

2) LOCATION - the park was a really nice spot and most booths had great flow through of people.  Mine was right on a walking path, lots of people wandering by, you did not get to choose though.

3)BOOTH SET UP - not too crowded with stuff, lets more people wander through and looks clean.  

I did not bring a lot of extra art, so when I sold my pieces I didn't have much to replace them with - lesson for next time

4) SIGNATURE PIECE - wow, so many people stopped in because of my large central painting of the mountain town - trying to guess where it was.  Excellent way to start a conversation.

5)BE PREPARED - I finally had my Square credit card reader, a proper cash box, wrapping material for sold paintings - lots of business cards.  I seemed professional this time!!  I did run out of drinking water for myself and so did many food vendors, so I was pretty parched by the end.  More water and snacks next time.

I brought my Plein air easel and paints but as it was sooo busy I didn't have time for that.  I still think it is a good idea if it were a bad weather day though.

Check out this link for some good tips I reviewed (afterwards for some reason) Bob's ideas for art shows

SOLO SHOW OPENING

Last night was the opening for my solo show at the Fernie Arts Station .  Being my first solo show, I was pretty excited and somewhat scared.  I think it went pretty well, I was thrilled to sell my painting ‘Spring Thaw’ to a really nice couple who I will deliver the painting to once the show ends, July 23.  I really enjoyed chatting with everyone and as it was

a nice intimate setting I didn’t feel nervous when talking about the art or my ‘process’.  I think it was the perfect size space and crowd to get an introduction to doing a solo show.  Thanks again to Jackie from the Arts Station who did such an awesome job running everything.  Also, the Hanging Committee did an excellent job of hanging my art, I got lots of compliments about the art and how it was displayed.

All in all I felt great about the show, now to just keep painting and try it again sometime.

Plein Air Convention Days 4 & 5

Finally, I have a couple moments as all 'my Boyz' are busy making me Mother's Day Brunch and I have a few minutes to do what I want. So here is my review of the final 2 days of the PACE19, Plein Air Convention. 

 I actually slept in and missed the last 6:30 am Boot camp - dang - these were very useful, but I think I needed to catch up on some sleep.   

The first seminar I attended was Suzie Baker.  She was great. One of the top tips I took away was you should STOP when you see something that inspires you and DEFINE what about it inspires you.  Get that main idea written down so you can paint the thing that inspired you.  (the light on the hill, the colours in the sky, etc). Three pages of notes from her demo - she would definitely be worth taking a workshop from.

The second artist seminar I attended was Joe McGurl.  This guy is serious - seriously talented and pretty hardcore about plein air painting - take a look at his work - he foregoes using photos.  He builds lots of his own gadgets to make his  plein air forays into the wilderness easier and to ensure he gets accurate studies for his studio work.  Joe was awesome about sharing all of this info.  He is like the Red Green of plein air painting.  And I am a fan of self-building and home made gadgetry, so I took lots of notes.

Today we had a nice long afternoon paint out at Lands End Park.  Views all over the place, unfortunately I became overly excited by so much to see and tried to include it all in my plein air piece.  The top photo was my view, and so I tried to include golden gate bridge, the beach, rocks, etc. I think I needed a focus and my painting was a struggle with no clear focal point or path.

After about an hour and a half. I packed up my easel, did some sketches and went for a nice long hike down to the beach you can see in the photo.  I really enjoyed the day and got some good photos, despite painting a little stinker.

 SUNDAY - THE FINAL DAY OF PACE 19

This was the last day of the convention.  We bussed out to Viastra Winery in Sonoma at 9 am to paint until 5 pm.  Finally, a beautiful day with the fog lifting by about 10:00.  I set up facing the main building and spent until noon working on a study.

 After I had some lunch I switched spots and found this little vista which had some wonderful atmospheric affects happening with the hills.  I sat in the shade and really enjoyed just painting for another 2 1/2 hrs with a bit of chatting with a pastel artist close by.  An awesome end to a great trip!

Hangin' Around the Rosies

I really ended up liking this painting when all was said and done.  Initially I had painted in the purplish, dark bushes behind the roses but took them out and liked that better.  I am now questioning the purple hill in the background, but will let it sit for a week or so before I make any drastic changes.  Nothing I like better than fresh laundry off the line.  This particular clothes line was in White Rock BC, taken when out for a stroll.

11x14 oil on canvas

Purple with a Purpose

I was so excited this morning to hear that my painting, 'After Work Walk', went for $500 at the Purple with a Purpose fundraiser for pancreatic cancer.  Thank you to the person who bid on it!

This fundraiser is especially important to me as many of my family members are affected by this type of cancer. My Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer and the family carries a genetic mutation that causes this type of cancer.  The money goes to pancreatic cancer research - which is really needed as this is one of the mostly deadly cancers out there.  Donate at this link to help with pancreatic cancer research!

After Work Walk - Oil on Board

Lazy Painting

Lately I have been working on some paintings I am doing for a series.  The very large one of the barn and mountain was going along nicely until I got to the foreground.  Everything has 'ground' to a halt. HA!  I had put lots of thought and effort into most parts of the painting, but hadn't thought about the foreground, since, when I drew this out, it seemed like such a small portion of the painting and therefore insignificant.  WRONG!  It has been wiped and repainted 3 times and now the painting is in a back room so I can't see it.  

Black and white photo of large oil painting

The problem being I got lazy.  I planned everything else out pretty good.  (I do see some parts that need tweaking)  Since I put too little thought and planning into the foreground area it now stands out as a weak part of my painting.  It must be fixed before it goes anywhere! I will wipe again and work on it soon.

 Moving on to my next painting.  I felt I planned it out fairly well.  Considered different layouts, laid in all my darks and began painting.  Of course I attacked the foreground immediately and felt that it has a good start.  Current struggle is with the colours in the background ... aaah!  However, I now feel that I can go back to my large painting and tackle that foreground with more knowledge and hope that it will work out.

I say all this to say... you just can't be lazy in any part of your painting.  Proper planning and preparation (value sketches, colour studies, etc.) are what help your painting turn out.  I spent the last hour or two at Outdoor Painter website re-reading about values, composition and tonal drawings just to refresh my memory on why it is so important.   I have heard it several times now from many respected instructors, just need to keep following through.  

What to take with you...

As it was another beautiful day, I headed outdoors for my first real 'plein aire' session this year.  Below is kind of my current set up with one or two extras that may not be needed. 

1.  A Pack:  We won this back pack somewhere and it has a fold out seat attached.  It was big enough to accommodate my Gorilla Painting box.  I rarely sit down when painting, but thought it might be useful should I become exhausted from the painting frenzy.  My tripod fits nicely on the side too.

2.  What is inside the pack:
-Roll of paper shop towels  -  a garbage bag  - pre-stained wood panels 9x12
- 5 to 8 brushes  - paints: cadmium red, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, cad yellow light, yellow ochre light, sap green, viridian and white
- a view finder
- brush cleaner (walnut oil)
- bug spray
- water to drink
- a hat (need a bigger hat next time)
- the Gorilla box which holds all the painting stuff
- palette paper
- tape for the paper
- bear spray  
- in the picture is a great little stool that I got as a gift.  It is from Lee Valley, garden tools.  I don't take it often but if I go on a workshop or will be out all day it comes along.

This was the scene I chose to paint.  Down in the ravine near home. Below is my tripod and box set up and paint laid out.

It is nice to have a companion along if you aren't painting with friends.  We don't bring the dog with us to bear country, but this is in the city so she enjoyed a couple swims while waiting for me.

The painting in progress.  

It's always good to do a couple brief close to home trips before you head off on a serious painting journey.  I discovered I should have had a bigger hat as it was seriously hot out.  It was too windy for the painting umbrella and you can't wear your sunglasses while painting unless you can compensate for the colour differences. So it is better to find some shade that will be around for awhile.  This is just an oil study should I decide I like it I would paint a more precise version back in the studio.