November Notes

One of my major tasks this month was getting ready for an open studio event at Arts on Seventh, my studio building. I attempted to transform my studio from a cluttered work space into a gallery! (I even installed some cheap track lights.) Although this took hours away from my painting time, it was a much needed break that allowed me to reflect on what I have accompished since June. It helped me recognize that the most resolved work from this semester, are my plein air paintings. In the past, the plein air work was experimental, and now these are some what in my comfort zone compared to the other processes I'm using! My experimental work--the memory paintings, and my work using the new techniques of layering and glazing are not ready for public viewing, although the most successful ones are posted here on my blog. I am currently working on 2 water paintings that have many revisions and layers of glazes and and a plein air painting in which I am glazing over the water areas and adding opaque layers over the grass and trees.

October Observations

October has been a month of continued research, experimentation, and possibly, a new direction for my painting. I've continued to practice the techniques of transparent oil painting using glazed layers for glowing and reflective color. New kinds of brushes and painting tools have also expanded the possiblities in my painting process. My experimental work has consisted of memory paintings, created from outdoor places that I have been. I am integrating the transparent techniques and using mediums that allow the oil paint to drip down to the bottom edge of the painting. I have noticed that most of my memories include trees and water, and little or no sky. I have also used my memory paintings as subjects for new paintings by looking for places that resemble these memories and taking photos to use for future work. The idea of painting water and reflections of trees in water has come from my experimental work. With the help of photo references I plan to create new designs that integrate transparency, dripping paint, and reflections of trees in water.

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