Revisiting Old Work

Faithfull Hound

12" x 24" oil on linen

This painting has been around the block a few times.  In its journey, a few marks and scratches have shown up.  North Light Gallery had it last year and asked if I would fix the marks.  Not having seen this piece for some time, I viewed it with fresh eyes and made a discovery. . . it was too dark overall.  So not only did I fix the marks, I lightened the background and made small alterations here and there.  The painting is now a show-stopper (in my opinion).  Note to self:  put a painting away for a few weeks to a couple of months without looking at it.  Then bring it out, look at it fresh, BEFORE, sending it out into the world.  Writers do this with their manuscripts; the same is true for paintings.

Finally Finished

Country Kitchen  18" x 30" oil on linen
After three months, this piece is finished.  Not only did the cheese go bad but the milk became cheese, or something to that effect.  The plums shriveled and I don't know what condition the raw egg was in when it went in the trash.  Working from life presents its own set of problems.  I think there is a parallel to life if I think about it for a while.  This piece plus three other ones will be sent to North Light Gallery for my One Person show in June.  There will be a reception Sunday, June 20th and I can't wait!  I have never been to Maine.
I have spent about three weeks on a figure in an environment.  Boy did composition issues become a major challenge in the process.  Painting a figure is not easy but putting it in a space with other objects made me take out my books on composition to help create a more dynamic piece.  Note to self:  work out all these problems ahead of time with sketches, value and color studies.

Identifying with a Camp.

This is an 8" X 10" on oil primed linen that I sent to the North Light Gallery in Kennebunkport, Maine.  As I look at all my pieces that I sent, I was drawn to this one more than any of the others.  Why?  It's the combination of both realism of the fruit and yet a soft, almost (but not quite) impressionistic brush work in some places.  Up until today, I didn't really know what to call this marriage of two camps.  I've always been aware of the different styles and movements in the history of art but didn't know what to call the striving for academic accuracy combined with soft brushwork.  Yesterday I was clicking through Gurney Journey's blog on painting techniques and came across some information that told me I had found my "camp."  It's call The Juste Milieu artist.  The words translate as "the right mean," or the "happy medium."  These artists aimed for a middle ground between the Impressionist and Academic camps.   It is both a philosophy of painting and a movement of painters.   Carolus-Duran was a member (Sargent's instructor).  In the late 1880's, the group separated from the Academy, forming under the name Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts.  According to Gurney's research, Joaquin Sorolla traveled to Paris, not to see Monet but Bastien-Lepage, a juste milieu painter.  Their palette seems earthier in color, closer to a Zorn palette.  Sir George Clausen was another member.  I guess we still can learn something new each day!

Taking Inventory

These last few days have been more about business and less about painting.  I will be shipping a couple of pieces to my gallery in Atlanta.  My other gallery is in Kennebunkport, Maine but I am lucky that the owner spends half the year here in Florida.  He'll be coming by this week to pick up a dozen or so small pieces.  Framing is not one of my favorite activities but a necessity.  What I do like is to put all the paintings out and look at them as a unit.  I can immediately tell which ones are my strongest and which ones shouldn't be let out of the house.  Every piece has to be photographed by my husband and printed out on a consignment sheet.  Fortunately, he's good at that.  When I get the images, I will share them on the blog.  I'm hoping for a good summer but with the economy in the condition it's in and now the volcano in Iceland, I'm not taking any bets.

Hazards of a Still Life Painter

Painting can present all kinds of hazards for the painter.  Plein-air painters have to endure the outdoor elements.  All oil painters have to be aware of the metals contained in their paints.  But the still-life painter has it's own set of problems.  For example, flowers wilt before the painting is finished.  Fruit becomes moldy and shrivels looking nothing like it did in its original, fresh form.  Well I am adding one more to the list.  Before I left for the M Gallery workshop with Sadie Valeri, I began a large still life containing objects and foods from yesteryear.  I should have waited till I got back but I couldn't wait.  I decided the jug of milk could be put in the refrigerator and the jar of preserves would last with no problem.  The item that became the "hazard" was the mozzarella cheese.  After wrapping it up in white cheese cloth with interesting folds and positioning it just right, I got right down to business.  Upon leaving Sunday, I decided it would be okay to leave it out because it was still package in a clear plastic wrapper.  I didn't want to disturb the folds that I had arranged so carefully and the weather was still a little chilly in the studio.  After arriving back, I began working again.  I noticed the cheese had a small swell on the side but everything was in its proper place.  Today when I entered the studio, the most gosh awful smell greeted me like a thousand rotten eggs.  The wrapper had broken from the pressure of the rotting cheese and my beautiful still life set-up looked like a white paint-ball had exploded all over it.  Everything needed to be removed and cleaned.  I opened the windows immediately.  I'm only hoping I can arrange everything back to its original position after buying a new package of cheese.  The picture shows how far I got before the explosion.

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.