The Right Stuff

Last year at the National Oil Painters of America convention in Fredericksburg, Texas, I was fortunate to hear Joe Paquet speak on Authenticity and Creativity. Click here for a summary of his talk. After that my goal was to take a workshop from him.  He teaches plein air which is totally out of my comfort zone, but my intuition told me I could learn something valuable more than just how to paint a landscape.  Plus, I wanted to get out of the safety of my studio and try to connect with the great outdoors.  Painting anything is about connecting. Right?

My bags packed and art supplies safely tucked away in my new pull cart, I could have been mistaken for a bag lady. I am ready I thought to myself.  Fifteen hundred miles later I arrived in St. Paul.  Walking into Joe's studio in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota my heart leaped with anticipation.  Beautiful landscapes hung on the walls, soft classical music filled the air, and a six foot plus Joe Paquet stood by his easel surrounded by a number of eager students. The next three hours flew by quickly with so much information - his expectations and his views and philosophy about good art. I was inspired!  I literally had to hold back the tears that seemed to fill my eyes. Did I say that I was inspired!?!  And I wasn't the only one; Joe had that same effect on people back in Fredericksburg too.

After lunch was a demonstration along the banks of the Mississippi river. The sun was shinning, our view was breathtaking perched high above the river and Joe was in command at the easel.

I learned about light and shadow averaging, mixing greens from yellow to violet on the prismatic scale, and how the dark greens really have a deep violet hue in them. He demonstrated what he called "freezing the light."   Great day, great information!

Day two and I was ready.  Unfortunately the weather was ready too and it turned nasty.  Never fear, Joe, like Gen. Patton leading his army through Sicily, assured us that we could handle a little rain and wind.  Even though there was a large pavilion to take shelter in the views wouldn't be the same.  I'm not as tough as I use to be, but I was determined not to wimp out. Dragging my cart over the hill I forged ahead looking for that perfect view.  The wind began to increase and my umbrella kept turning inside out and eventually flew off into the air.  My painting that morning was a wash out and I was soaked to my skin.  Joe came around and sent us off for an early lunch reminding us to be back by one o'clock.

The afternoon weather got worse so all of us headed for the pavilion and this time Joe agreed that it might be better to take shelter.  My grandad use to tell me stories of Patton and the muddy, cold marches that seemed to never end.  I think I know now how he might of felt.  Quickly everyone set up their easels as Joe passed out hot coffee.  (He does have a kind heart.)  Hoping for a better start, I bungee'd my easel to my cart and began painting.  The wind picked up with sporadic gust of winds that I later found out were from 60 to 70 mph. Gee that's what we have in Florida leading up to a category one hurricane.

 Sheets of rain blew horizontally constantly; I needed windshield wipers on my glasses.  Sounds of easels falling over and the sound of large tree branches cracking and falling filled the air as I held on tightly to my easel with one hand and the brush with the other.  I saw a roll of paper towel fly by landing in a large puddle of water and rolling out like it was a red carpet rug for the Oscars.  Limb after broken limb dotted the landscape, but we all stayed at our posts feverishly painting.  Hm mm, oil and water don't mix well and I kept dabbing my palette trying to keep it dry.  Water dripped off the back of my panel that acted as a shield for my paint box.

Gen. Joe was keeping our spirits up as he came around giving us short critiques and passing out coffee.  Did I mention the temperature dropped to around 50 degrees.

By four o'clock we were all done for the day, and believe it or not my painting wasn't too sucky.

Joe gathered us together and told us we had all done good and that he was proud of us.  "If we could paint under these conditions," he told us, "we could paint anywhere no matter what the weather might be." He brought us a special treat, and all I can say is we toasted to our success with Joe telling us that tomorrow would be a better day. And it was.

REFLECTION:  Now you might think to yourself that I was unhappy with my experience, but oddly enough I am/was not at all unhappy with my experience; in fact just the opposite.  After a hot bath and a little more spirituous libations, I felt mildly comforted and greatly encouraged, an almost blissful feeling engulfed me.  We don't get a chance too often to test ourselves and to reach down into that deep well of tenacity and determination.  I thank you, Joe Paquet, for your encouragement and your show of strength to not let us wimp out and go back to our soft and easy place.  Through your encouragement you helped me to see that I have the Right Stuff to be a plein air painter under pretty much any conditions.  Yes, the elements tested my fortitude with a little help from our leader - I did it! My inner voice spoke to me and said "Good girl, you did it."  This I had to share with my husband as we drove back to Florida.

Later on the way home, I went back to Joe's website and read an article he had written.  It said it all. The Living Experience ; Why Paint Plein Air?  Joe Paquet is truly a teacher among teachers! Thanks Joe for a great experience!

October 2014 Workshop

I'm getting excited about this year's workshop, Creating the Luminous Painting, here in our unique location in lovely coastal central Florida.  Imagine four days of working along side other enthusiastic painters with a small intimate environment of one on one instruction.  All breakfasts and lunches are provided and an additional evening cruise on our local Spruce Creek is a highlight of one of our evenings.
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                                                       Evening Sunset on Spruce Creek

                                                     Food, Drink, and Balmy  Breezes

Students have their own individual painting station with easels, lighting, tables, and an abundance of still life objects to choose from.  All you need are your paints, brushes, canvas and palette.

For more information and to register click here.  Space is limited to eight, so reserve your place now. 

Newest Painting

Busy, busy, busy and I know I'm not alone.  Everyday on Facebook it appears a lot is going on with my fellow artists.  For me, I'm moving at full speed.  Well it feels like full speed.  I just finished a new painting with all the things I love--kitchen stuff.  This one I'm calling "Baked in Tradition."  Remember the metal flour sifter used before our bags of flour were presifted.   Also included is one of three of my cast iron skillets.  The glass milk bottle comes from my great aunt's dairy farm from years past.   Those that have already have seen this painting have asked how I painted the red checked fabric.  I would love to tell you but I will save that for my workshop in the fall (Oct. 22-26). 

                                                                   Baked in Tradition
                                                                   16X20 oil on linen

Information for this workshop is on my teaching website www.dbelmquist.com and click on workshops.  If you have any particular questions, don't hesitate to contact me.  If you have signed up for my newsletter, you should have received it yesterday.  For those of you who signed up today, I will send you a copy.  Drawing for the special gift will be Saturday around 2 o'clock.  So if you haven't signed up, be sure to do so.  The gift this month is one of my original Small Gem oil paintings. 

Still Teaching

This week has been invigorating for me and I think my students.  My curriculum emphasizes the basic skills including form-light and dark, value, and edges.  Their progress is amazing and I celebrate all that they are doing.  Here a pics of them hard at work.  You go girls!

As you can see, they are all working on individual skills depending on their level of ability.  One size does not fit all.  Check out the information for my upcoming workshop in October.  Would love to see you here.

Teaching, My Other Day Job

Good news.  My weekly classes have filed to capacity.  Bad news.  I'm getting less personal painting done.  It was the best of time and the worst of times.  So I grab time wherever to write and blog .  This morning came early for me and at 5 am, I began writing the second installment for my newsletter.  Teaching and learning will be the subject.  If you haven't signed up for the Newsletter, be sure to do so.
Some of my students are now ready for color and the challenges color brings.  Wish me luck.  I truly want them to understand more than just slapping color on the canvas and calling it pretty.  We will be doing color studies and thumbnail value studies.  It's critical to work these elements out before beginning the actual painting.  My students agree.  Here is Shanna who has never painted until six weeks ago.  Way to go girl!

I've scheduled the fall workshop for Oct. 22-26--click here for more information.  Besides five days of intense instruction on classical painting, including thumbnail sketches, color studies, color harmonies, compositional tools, we have a fantastic evening cruise on Spruce Creek with wine and cheese.  After the cruise, a catered dinner outdoors in the old Florida tradition, bond fire included.  I promise an experience you will be talking about for a long time.

More Info on Sadie Valeri's Workshop

I was extremely pleased to read and see Sadie's blog after she arrived back in San Fransisco.  There is more information showing her step by step process.  Take a look and you will see where we painted and images of her painting.  http://sadievaleri.blogspot.com

Final Wrap-up for Sadie Valeri's WS

I'm back home and have had time for all the information to simmer and let the lessons rise like steam.  Processing so much information in such a short amount of time often makes me want to curl up in a fetal position.  Now that I have had some quiet time to reflect and to look at my pictures, I will try to share briefly some of the highlights.


First of all I have to applaud Maggie Kruger and M Gallery for their outstanding way they treated each and every participant.  Food was always available so that we didn't have to leave for lunch and breakfast was waiting for us when we arrived.  This photo shows the picnic table we all gathered around at lunchtime to get acquainted with each other.  The setting was "old Florida" at it's best.

Sadie broke up each stage of the multi-level process each day with a demonstration, as well, as discussing any questions we had about procedures or materials.

Between each layer of thin paint, we wet sanded the surface with a 1500 grit sandpaper to remove any dust or ridges.  This prepared the surface for the next layer.  Frustration in the drying process occurred  because of the humidity of our Florida climate that Sadie was not use to in San Fransisco.

Here is Sadie's early stage of painting the wax paper with a small silver  pitcher.  The minute brush strokes were amazing as we watched the metamorphosis transform into a work of art.

I'm never pleased with my results in a workshop environment but I will show you one image.  There was no way anyone could finish this process in five days but at the end, we all had a much better understanding of her unique process.

Check out the workshops on the M Gallery's website.  You will be surprised at the high quality of painters who regularly travel down to Sarasota.  Just this last week, David Kassan and Sue Lyon were here. 

Day 4 of Sadie Valeri's Workshop

Most of my underpainting was dry upon arriving this morning but there was a small area of white that was still tacky.  In a perfect world/workshop, all of the paint should be completely dry before proceeding but one must move on.  The next step was to lay down a "couch."  Translated that means a mixture of two parts linseed oil to one part stand oil.  Remember, we are working lean to fat.  After brushing on a thin layer of this mixture, we used the 1500 grit sandpaper to sand down any bumps and to take off any particles of dust.  The finish was beautiful.

Next we mixed strings of the local color that we would be working with.  Everybody else was painting the wax paper which meant some variation of a warm or cool gray.  Not me!  I jumped right into painting the orange tangerine.  What was I thinking.  But with some trial and error and a little help from my instructor, I was painting with very little difficulty.  After the tangerine, I went on to the warm toned white stone pot.  That's as far as I got today and I'm hoping to finish this layer by tomorrow.

This way of working requires a lot of patience and a steady hand.  Although I don't think I will totally change my style of working to this method, I will most certainly use some of this new found knowledge.  Besides learning this method of working, the sidebar lessons were very informative and ones that I had never learned before.  I'm a happy camper!

Review of Day 3 of Sadie Valeri's workshop

Wednesday was continual painting.  I can't believe that a canvas 5"x 7" would take this long to cover in a closed grasaille.  Why would it you ask?  This method requires a lot of LOOK and a few strokes of PUT.  Couple this with trying as hard as you can to match values in relationship to the values around it and the total environment of the still life.  Sadie's latest work is a series called Wax Paper Series.  Almost all of the participants in the workshop set up their still life using wax paper surrounding an object.  For them, the challenge was greater than mine.  When you see my image you will understand.  I choose something simple because of wanted to focus more on learning the concepts with the simpler forms (tangerine with ceramic pot). It was still a challenge.  At the end of the day the entire surface was covered.  Today we introduce color.

Last night our sponsoring host ,M Gallery of Fine Art  and Maggie Kruger, the owner, opened her lovely home on Long Boat Key.  If you have an opportunity to take a workshop from M Gallery, you are in for a real treat and excellent instruction.  I highly recommend it.  Check out their list of upcoming workshops.
People are coming in so I will close for now.

Day 2-Sadie Valeri"s Workshop

Tuesday was a full day of learning.  Sadie's classical training comes through in every aspect of her teaching.  I am now a firm believer in beginning my drawings with straight lines instead of the innocuous curved lines.  Judging angles and distances are so much easier and the objects have a solidity that is not there otherwise.  Yesterday was a short lecture on the nature of organic forms--life and energy.  We all use symbolic words to describe organic forms, i.e., arm, finger, hand.  In life the following is true.  All shapes in nature are tapered, not parallel.  Shapes are spiral including arms, tree trunks, bones.  All forms interlock with each other and continue through to the other form.  And last, and probably the most aha for me, all forms are convex not concave.  For example, a waist looks like it goes "in" (concaved) but in reality, a series of curves that push out.   

After the lecture, she demonstrated the second layer (closed grisaille) using raw umber, ultramarine blue, and white.  Previously the white of the canvas was left white which is an open grisaille.  Wednesday we will finish this stage and proceed with color on Thursday.  Picture coming on Saturday.

Workshop with Sadie Valeri

My workshop with Sadie Valeri--oil painter from San Fransisco--began today.  After a three plus hour drive, I arrived in a remote area of Bradenton, Fl near I75.  Our host is Sue Foster and her studio is to die for.  I will post pictures Saturday after I arrive back home.  Today we watched a three hour demo and then it was our turn.  Using her method, we drew a simple still life on mylar with straight lines and no attempt to capture value.  Upon completion, we transferred the image onto a gessoed board that was prepared by Sadie using her "cooked" gesso on Art Board.  It is the end of this day and the image has been sealed with a mixture of turpentine and Damar varnish.  Tomorrow it will be dry and I believe we will be attempting to lay in a tonal underpainting.