Art in Nappa Valley

We took a quick trip to Nappa Valley, CA last weekend. In between gourmet dinners and vineyard tours, I managed to enjoy the art there as well. The Christopher Hill Gallery in St. Helena is showing some very mesmorizing monotoned paintings by an artist named Jeremy Mann. Christopher has sold 27 of these paintings since June, and noted that this work appeals to American, Canadian, and European collectors. He explained that this volume of sold paintings to an international audience predicts a very promising future for this artist. Norman Foster was another artist whose work caught my eye. He paints landscape and abstract subjects.

The other show I discovered was at The Gallery at Cliff Lede Vineyard called "...on Beauty". A definition of "Beauty" written by each artist was posted next to their work. The variety and quality of work in this show, which included sculpture, photography, and painting, was a great reminder that there are many successful artists whose goal is to produce objects of beauty.One artist from this show that I'm learning more about is Gail Chase-Bien I discovered that her "Refections" paintings are the type of painting I have been planning to do for my new work!

19th Century American Landscape Painting

In my research on messages in American Landscape painting, I came across this article, entitled "Images and Anxieties" . The author connects paintings and the cultural changes that took place in 19th Century America.

September Summary

I have continued to create landscapes from memory, small plein air studies, as well as paintings from photos. I was surprised to discover that after carefully constructing a miniature landscape still life to paint, I had completely lost interest in the project as subject matter! It became just like the fruit and the goblet that I am using to learn transparent painting techniques: okay to practice with but not an inspiring subject to me. The miniature landscape is missing the elements of variety and color which are so plentiful in the natural landscape. Meanwhile, I began experimenting with glazing areas of my landscape paintings and have found several possibilities for incorporating these new techniques. My previous highly textured landscapes were created with palette knife. I'm going to use the palette knife work for the rocks and plants, and the layered transparent techniques for water. The sky is still present in these new paintings, but only as reflection in the water. I have also noticed that most of my paintings include water in some way. The next set of paintings I am working on are focused on water as the subject.

Influences on my new work

I've looked at many landscapes over the past 3 months, and just realized that my memory paintings have some resemblance to a painting entitled "Sapling Forest, Cherry Pum Blossom" by Australian artist Clifton Pugh. This work was marked as one of my favorites from the book, 100 Paintings You Must See Before You Die and is one of the few 20th century paintings in the book that represent nature as a subject. I also found an interesting video clip in which Pugh describes his approach to plein air painting.

August Update

After thinking, re-thinking, and over-thinking critical theory readings, I was able to summarize my thoughts to describes criteria for my new work in my Critical Theory I Summary. I began reading Landscape and Memory as well as Landscape and Western Art by Malcolm Andrews. Andrews delves into the "concerns" about landscape painting which I was introduced to during the June residency. Mentor, Jane Jones, has the experience to teach me transparent painting techniques. My entry was accepted into a show that opens next month at the Art Students' League of Denver, "Art on the River". I have taken on the challenge of not using photo references for some of my work. At first this felt like loosing an arm or trying to communicate in a foreign country...but it's the best way I know to "push myself" toward new possibilities! These are the types of work I will focus on this semester:
1. Plein air painting incorporating new points of view, new paint colors, and opaque palette knife techniques on small canvases
2. Experimental work based on landscape memories, using oils and graphite on gessoed water color paper. These are abstracted, blurry, vague images with memory as the only reference.
3. Layered oil paintings using photo references of places close to my home incorporating new paint colors and transparent techniques on larger canvases.
4. Miniature landscape still life painting created with a variety of the above techniques

Landscape Shows at the Wendt Gallery and Gallery 1261

Here's a current landscape show at the Wendt Gallery that includes Denver artist
Kevin Weckbach. Kevin has taught at the Art Students League of Denver, and now teaches a weekly advanced painting class independant of the league. He exhibits work at Gallery 1261 in Denver which is also having a landscape show right now.

July Journey 08

I have come a long way since the AIB Residency in June: I have reviewed my notes and voice recorded critique sessions to complete my first residency summary. This also involved exploring google and amazon.com for the suggeted artists and book titles to refine those lists. My work space at home is organized for research and painting to supplement my downtown studio. My blog is set up for communication and for easy access to links of artists I have been looking at and other documents. I have started 3 paintings with a new color palette, and I have read Edmund Burke's book on the sublime and the beautiful. I am ready to dive into the work of my first semester!