Heartfelt Response

This week I received a heartfelt response to my last blog, "A Journey Worth Taking."  With the permission from the writer I am sharing it for a deeper insight on my thoughts and actions.

". . .  I'm going to share it with friends because it applies to every walk of life. We must shed our carapace, so we can continue to grow. Birds molt, snakes shed their skin, trees renew their needles or their leaves. Are we any different? Ah, yes, we exfoliate, but that's never enough is it?

We need to step back, detach and walk through a period where we gather, renew, rework, and go within.

I am a writer. There are fallow months. Life interferes, but it's all contributing to a future work. And sometimes, when the words flow out of my fingers, I wonder where they are coming from, who guides them through me, and onto paper. I hardly know the person who writes. But that's also how I learn who I am and find my purpose.

Once, long ago, I thought I was a painter. I still love the smell of turpentine. It wafts through my mind as the memory of a good time; but that was then and now is another adventure.

I am waiting to be amazed at where you go from here. It will be good. Perhaps you have a book waiting to be born, with your paintings as milestones in your journey. People love to experience the inner life of an artist, and you write beautifully about art—and life.

Here's to the joy that is returning,

S.W.

As you can see, this meant a lot to me knowing that when anyone takes the time to respond to my blog posts, I truly appreciate it.  Thanks again.

As an additional note, my interview with the Masters Secret Summit was aired yesterday.  If you haven't seen it, click here and register so you can see all the interviews as they are released.  I am honored to be on the same bill as Burton Silverman and David Hettinger.  They are worth the viewing.  Enjoy.

Reflections on a Journey Worth Taking (reprinted from the Aug. 2014 Newsletter)

I love painting. Okay love may be too strong of a word, but it's right there at the top of my list for activities that give me purpose. Yes there are days when I have to talk myself into entering the studio, but within a few minutes I'm hooked into the process and totally engaged. Having said that, after twenty plus years, the love or passion has changed. The reason for painting has changed too. Like a good marriage, or a fine wine, time and maturity has made me a different painter.

What does this change look like? Initially I found myself in a place that felt wanting and not enjoying the process. It felt like a job. I wanted to regain the passion that I wasn't getting but once enjoyed. Does this sound like marriage? It took time to identify the real issue with these feelings and to come up with a plan to make the necessary changes. For my art to have renewed meaning and to excite me I had to get out of my comfort zone and explore new possibilities. Mind you I'm in the process and it is still difficult, but with conscious effort I am making progress.

So what was this process? First, I have to paint for a different purpose. The old purpose doesn’t work for me anymore. The big one is to not render. Making something look exactly like what I was seeing is now not a goal. The next purpose is to paint authentically and not to please every request. Yes, like all of us I want to have clients that want my work, but at what price? That one I'm still struggling with but trust that we, the galleries and buyers, will be happy.

How am I going to get there without relapsing? There is no AA for artist that I know of so I had to create my own AA-Artists Anonymous. So far it's a group of one and I meet with myself every day. It's not a 12 step program but it does have steps and there is no sponsor except my husband.

My Recovery Program

1. Quiet my environment, meaning Remove-the-Static of the world; the news, Facebook, and all negative influences as much as possible. I can't do it all, all day so I have set aside time each morning for reflection and putting my steps into practice.
2. Writing in a Discovery Journal. Many years ago I practiced this habit and it was extremely beneficial to identify what I think and believe. All topics are on the table, but art is the main focus and what I have to say with my art. That's a biggie.
3. Identify my strengths and weaknesses. This is also done during this morning period of time. What skills are in my tool box and which areas do I need to work on. That gives me a direction for goal setting and a plan for self improvement.
4. Give myself permission to experiment with new techniques and/or ideas. This goes along nicely with number three.
5. Write a Plan of Action; set goal for myself. An easy way to write good goals is to remember the anachronism SMART; S=specific, M=measurable, *A=action steps, R=relevant, T=time bound.  *I have substituted action steps for “achievable” because I think it’s more specific.
6. Limit viewing images of other artist’s work.  I have viewed so many so often on a daily basis that it’s ridiculous! In fact my goal is to not look at images of artist works dead or alive. I confess that I am a junkie with regards to this one! I can spend countless hours on Facebook, the Internet, and my art magazines just looking at images of paintings by other artist all in the name of “art education.” I’ve gone cold-turkey here, but it's a one day at a time struggle.
7. Establish a routine; a ritual, or form of meditation. The ritual is essential to bringing forth a sense of purpose and passion!

I've completed everything but #1 and working on that one every day (actually I’m working on all seven every day). It's a work in progress, but I'm hopeful for a positive outcome.

If you have any thoughts, questions, or experiences in this area, I would love to hear from you. E-mail me at Artist@dbelmquist.com or post a comment on my blog at http://dbelmquist.blogspot.com


Update:  I have been on this journey for a few weeks now and have made some progress that includes a profound understanding as it relates to the direction that I want to take my art.  I will post this week some of this progress.

Problems with PayPal

This is a notice to all my followers and readers who may have tried using my PayPal button to register for my Oct. Workshop or purchase a painting that there is a problem.  When you click the PayPal button you don't go directly to making a purchase. Not sure what the problem is but we are working on it. Please contact me directly if you don't want to wait until we can resolve this problem.
Thanks,
Deboprah

A Painter's Lament

Many of the students I teach and other friends that paint ask "How do I paint loose when my natural tendency is to paint tight."  Great question but the answer is not short.  To begin with, first we have to define loose and tight.  My definition of loose is brushstrokes that are not blended and have volume in the paint quality.  Tight is the opposite where each stroke is blended into the next edge.  Many times a fan or soft brush is feathered over the paint which blends colors and values together. Paint quality is usually flatter in appearance.

Next let's understand that in form painting sometimes referred to as academic painting or indirect painting, the beginning process begins with an tonal underdrawing or tonal underpainting.  Values are established first and then paint is applied in thin tile like marks.  Without going into more details, let's eliminate form painting from this discussion.

I have found that most beginning students naturally paint tight.  They paint everything they see in front of them and try to match color for color.  I believe painting loose requires a conscience understanding and practice to achieve a loose style. Here are some thoughts about painting loose.

As the creator of your painting, you must decide how far to take the details or in other words, the matching of what you see in color and details.  First you should begin with a loose block-in of in the light shapes and out of light shapes.  The block-in can be monochromatic or a color wash of the local color.  Here's where the choices begin.
1.   Leave it in the loose stage but add thicker paint where needed.
2.  A step tighter is to develop your painting to an impressionistic stage by refining the basic light and dark shapes and color masses using broken/unblended color.
3. Take it a step further, add details or blend colors in one of the planes preferably in the middle ground or foreground.
4. Continue developing other areas of details to create secondary focal points without allowing these areas to compete for attention with your primary center of interest.
5. Finally you can refine your painting until is is photorealistic and fully developed with details. All broken color becomes blended together as you pull the painting together in a "tight" rendering.

Here a two examples of tight vs. loose

"Root" is tight in the foreground and middle ground.  The background is obscured as it goes back into shadow.

"Feeling Blue" has the same color scheme but I decided to be tight only in the focal area where the brass and onyx vessel is juxtaposed against the pitcher. 

As you develop as a painter and have more control with your skills, usually you choose a tightness that becomes your style and is recognizable to others.  I have heard seasoned painters say their goal is to capture the essence of the image and say more with less strokes.  Hmmm. Different strokes for different folks as they say.  I would love to know what your experience has been with this idea of tight vs. loose. 

Master's Secret Summit

A couple of weeks ago I was contact by an artist, Kathryn Lloyd for her artist's series, Master's Secret Summit.  This series was new to me so I went on line and saw some of her amazing interviews with master artists like Harley Brown, Virgil Elliott, and Stephanie Birdsall.

Yesterday was my scheduled time for the interview and a first time user of Skype on my laptop with camera.  After a few minutes of technical glitches we were up and running. The interview flew by and forty-five minutes later it was over.  Kathryn was a delight to talk to and I rambled on and on.  Hope she is good a editing.  This is her second round of interviews and am not sure how many other artists are in this second series that will be aired on line Sept. 14th. Click on this link to sign up so you will be able to view my interview and the others as soon as it comes out.

I love pot(s).  No not the growing kind but painting interesting pots in a single large format.  I don't paint a lot of them; only when I find a pot that speaks to me.   Had fun painting with a new color-Perylene Black.  It is transparent and a deep green/blue black.  When mixed with Naples Yellow (Old Holland), you get this yummy color.

                                                                     Nebulae
                                                          Oil on Linen  36" x 36"

New Work

I don't usually post a lot of my paintings on the blog to promote sales but this one is lovely and isn't in any of my galleries.  It has an unusual name, "Mystic Bifurcation," and I'm not telling what it means unless you are the lucky buyer.

                                                             "Mystic Bifurcation"
                                                                        8" x 12"
                                                               oil on panel framed
If you have a friend who needs color and the joy of art on their walls, share this post and encourage them to visit my website.
www.deborahelmquist.com 
                                                                          

 

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!