The Art Spirit, Part II

Cows seem to align a lot in pastures (not the title, just noticing)

The air of the north!

When I was interviewed by Paul Sullivan, editor with Artist Daily and a great watercolor artist himself, he mentioned that my interview was part of a series called  ‘Masters of American watercolor’. I was seriously concerned, because I don’t see myself being a ‘master’. Far from it, actually!  As if on queue I found a passage in Robert Henri’s book that talks about this very subject:

“He who is master of what he has today will be master of what he has tomorrow. An artist is a master at the start, if he is ever going to be one. Masters are people who use what they have.”

“Work always as if you were a master, expect from yourself a masterpiece. It’s a wrong idea that a master is a finished person. Masters are very faulty, they haven’t learned everything and they know it. Finished persons are very common – people who are closed up, quite satisfied that there is little or nothing more to learn.”
Pretty interesting, and I love this one:

“A small boy can be a master. I have met masters now and again, some in studios, others anywhere, working on a railroad, running a boat, playing a game, selling things. Masters are such as they had. They are wonderful people to meet. Have you never felt yourself ‘in the presence’ when with a carpenter or a gardener? They do not say, ‘oh, I am only a gardener, therefore not much can be expected from me’. They say, or seem to say, ‘I am a Gardener!’
These are masters, what more could anyone be!”

 

Figurative work and portraits

A Life to be proud of

A life to be proud of, detail

Portraits are mostly done in oil and pastel. Watercolor not so much.
Historically, watercolor has been the sketch medium. It wasn’t until the British watercolor movement in the 1800’s that you would see artists paint a watercolor and consider it a piece of art in it’s own right.
We do have an appreciation for watercolor today, but the status quo really hasn’t changed that much. Oil rules the world of art and it probably will never change. Especially in Portrait painting. Oil paintings fetch a lot more money, there are no size limitations, it is easier to control and possibilities in texture are not as limited. So why bother with watercolor?

The things I personally like about it are the qualities that makes artists move to oils: you can’t control it 100%, it’s hard to fix mistakes and you can’t layer. Yes, you can glaze but that’s different.
When a watercolor comes out nice, it is luminous (oil paints are not) and spontaneous. It feels natural, unforced.
That’s why it is so important to paint it all quickly and decisively with as little brushwork as possible. It then retains that character. As soon as we start layering up too thickly, mixing too many similar washes and even pressing too hard with the brush, it all goes away. All of a sudden, it’s looks dull and tired. How did that happen? We’ve all been there many times!
It takes a sensitive brush stroke and a keen eye to know where the turning point is. Sometimes, about half way through the painting you can feel the doubts creeping in. To me that’s my personal alarm bell that tells me to back off! The Gods of watercolor are sending me a friendly warning…they say, ‘a bit more of this kind of thing and this one will go into the garbage can, so be careful, you!’

Painting Portraits is something I have done a lot in the 90’s. It was supplemental income when I worked as an illustrator for a design agency. Back then I was not proficient in watercolor, but gouache was my medium. It is watermedia but I used it like oil paints. The challenge now is to find a way to do it in watercolor and with atmospheric effects. Maybe even include gouache or acrylic. There are certain things you just can’t do with transparent watercolor. I am excited! I will still paint my usual subject matter, but you will see more figurative work as well.

Beautiful silence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“In the ultimate stillness
Light penetrates the whole realm;
In the still illumination,
There pervades pure emptiness.
When I look back on the
Phenomenal world,
Everything is just
Like a dream.”

Han-shan Te-Ch’ing

Peace (2013)
Original watercolor on paper
Approx. 14″x 20″
Unframed/ matted
Exhibited at the 2nd Int’l Watercolour Biennial, Belgium August 17 – September 7, 2014.

Santa Ynez crowds

Santa Ynez crowds

Once you leave Los Angeles to the north, going past Santa Barbara, you will notice a change in pace. People are not as frantic and nobody is trying to push you off the road with their car.  When you stop somewhere, someone will strike up a conversation with you for no reason! I like it.

The landscape also changes. Dramatically. This is one of the scenes you encounter when pulling off the road somewhere along Highway 154. Cows and horses rule. I like that too. There are beautiful rolling hills with oak trees for miles on end. Perfect subject matter to paint!

After painting, you can visit the nearby Los Olivos for a cold brew, or whatever else you fancy! Life is good.

Santa Ynez crowds
Media: original watercolor on paper
Image size:  approx. 12″x18″
Unframed/ matted
Please email me for purchase information

Partly cloudy!

      

These are very traditional landscapes. Both works focus on the sky as a major element of the composition. A sure fire way to do this is to simply allocate less space for the foreground. Three quarters of the composition is sky. If we choose to divide our paper like this, we better make sure the sky is interesting! We have to deliver, so to speak!

I was trying to use the clouds as part of the design, arranging them in ways to lead the eyes into the painting. Notice how the size of the clouds also plays a role to invoke distance. Both linear and atmospheric perspective at work! A concept I speak about a length during my workshops.

Composition and perspective are often neglected in painting. Many passable painted works lack good design and therefore have little impact. Some of the key questions I always ask myself is: what am I actually painting? How do I arrange all the elements/ shapes? Where and what is my focal point? Is it all working?

Painting the sky is a two step process.  I had to save the whites for the clouds where I planned them, therefore, the first washes can’t go over those areas. The initial warm grey for the clouds are part of the first wash. After all is dry, the second step is glazing in the darks of the clouds. I tried to make them look like they’re hanging over the mountain.
Overall, I am happy with the outcome. Sometimes, the most difficult thing is not to go back in, thinking I can improve this and instead ruin it!