Workshops and Motivation To Do What We Love - Paint!

Workshops and Motivation To Do What We Love - Paint! 

OR

 In other words:  Conquering doubt and the pains of stretching in your skill set.

"Late Summer -  Plein Air Study" - Oil on Gessoed Hardboard 9" X 12"

The above oil painting is from my most recent plein air outing at Powhatan State Park along the James River this week.  All but the clouds were done on site since they seemed to be everywhere except over the field I was painting.  And my goal was for this to be a sky painting!   I haven't done many with the Cobra water miscible paints but I'm happy with this one.  

But I digress from the reason for this post. Note this is a long blog post sorry;((

It’s funny how ending one large time consuming project in your life - leads to self examination and sometimes an inability to get back to the art you love.  If your like me, you channel yourself in household chores that we may have left for “the project”.  Or you keep yourself busy with the "office to do’s" in an artists life.  Computer work, website updates and getting caught up on the accounting of your business, can provide necessary distraction..... Errr Umm procrastinations.....  All the while dabbling in but not really completing any of the works you have on your easel.  

Knowing this about myself I had signed up for a wonderful workshop from an artist who’s use of color is inspiring, clean and just plain makes you happy.  And HAPPY is what I needed to get much more of lately.  Her name is Dreama Tolle Perry and you can find her joyful paintings and workshop info  HERE.  

Dreama'a 3 Day Workshop in Paris KY, is in oil and for me this was the first workshop I’ve actually done in oil.  Even though I have studied with other wonderful accomplished oil painters -  Charlotte Wharton, (who’s plein air insightful workshop I did in pastel) and Barbara Nuss (who’s plein air workshop I did in my usual colored pencil). (Click on their names for links)

Out of my comfort zone and into the fire was how I felt.  After all I had only completed one oil plein air sketch to date before I went on this adventure.  Dreama’s lovely loose brushwork is much different than the tight style I’m known for.  Her easy going start to her casual paintings is completely opposite from my controlled composition and exacting line drawing whether “en Plein Air” or in the studio.  Oh and did I say her expressive brushwork is just short of gobsmacking!

All of this coupled by her enthusiastic “joyful” demeanor was contagious.  So on Day One - I laid out her translucent color palette in my water miscible oils, picked up a brush too big for my comfort zone and started on this lovely image provided by Dreama. I was thinking, learning to use her format of working thru a painting "alla prima” (fresh - wet on wet) shouldn’t be hard, since I had only tried 2 other paintings in the oils before. After all I had no bad habits to unlearn, and Dreama made it look so easy.  However day one provided a big challenge for this detail oriented mind.  But I love her joyful use of color and I was determined to “Get” this new media. 

Day Two - Da Dun Dahhhhhh (Cue: doom and gloom sound effects)  Let’s just say day two enabled me to have a refresher course on what it was like to start a new media, no matter how experienced you are in other media.  

Humbled and grappling with how to control my brush and this new oil media left me frustrated and feeling defeated.  I was trying to channel Dreama’s style and failing big time!  I looked around and saw 17 other artists enjoying the day and their paintings and wondered what was wrong with me?  Even my supportive friend Kathy Scott, oil painter and roommate for this trip, was having a great time.  Day Two's painting was a complete “wiper”.  Or at least one that will never see the light of day!  I went back to the hotel whipped and feeling defeated.  It took more than one glass of wine Kathy so wonderfully provided before I felt better.

That night I had to dig deep and think about the “why” and the “how” I was going to recover from Day 2, and get thru Day 3.  We had some really good artists in the group from all over the US and one from Israel!  And they could do it.  Then it dawned on me……Cue: Light bulb symbol…... What I realized was that all of the other artists were working with Dreama’s palette but in a style they were comfortable with, their own.  I was not.  This was no failing with Dreama’s teaching, it was I believe, a result of the inner conflict I’ve been having with where my art is going.  After all I was new to oil, I didn’t have “a style” in this media yet.  

So Day Three - Paint from our own reference.  I needed a new outlook.  And Dreama’s words of wisdom on that very Day, helped me realize "I needed to fill myself with the joy to create and work in my own style and however that developed would be just right for me”.  (Paraphrasing here but she said something like that).

Sometimes what we need to hear, comes at just the right time to be heeded in all areas of your life. And for me this was truly one of those times.  (Cue: angelic singing) 

"Fleurs"  Oil on gessoed hardboard 5" X 7"

My piece for Day 3 came out much better than I had thought it could have on Day 2.  More importantly I learned how using transparent colors keep your colors clean and bright.  Dreama's approach is truly a great start to my oil painting future, from her palate to her infectious optimism.  I may bring forth more detail because that’s what I love, and it’s OK, but I will heed her words as I find my future in my art.   

If you can't see it below, Here’s a link to Dreama’s video of our workshop. HERE

Thank you Dreama Tolle Perry for being an inspiring teacher, artist and the voice of "what I needed to hear when I was ready to hear it" at your very special workshop.  Oh and for exposing me to Paris, KY! ;)))  

Gloria

Plein Air Painting - Watch Out For Ticks!

Sorry no art photos with this post but please take the time to read, as it may save you some grief this summer.

This is my version of a public service announcement.  As the title of this post reveals I'm sending out a message to all my fellow plein air painters, travel journalers/sketchers, and just plain anyone who's out enjoying nature.

Ticks!  Eeeekkkk, their creepy crawly, annoying, and more than just plain Yucky with a capitol Y.  They can be dangerous, and I wanted to remind all of my readers to take precaution when you plan to go out to paint or sketch!

Why the concern you ask?  Well you see before I left on my cruise I was Plein air painting my first Oil (see "Norwood's Buttercup Fields" A Plein Air Study, 5" X 7" Oil on Canvas Panel.) And quite a few ticks hitched a ride and had lunch at the Gloria Callahan Diner AKA my legs!  And I was not very aware of them until I showered late in the day.  They were tiny, seed like specs!  SIX of them Eeeeewww.  But I removed them within 8 hours of their catching a ride.

........................OR SO I THOUGHT!...............................

Two days later, the morning we left on our trip, I found that two more tiny seed like in size had hitched a ride, undetected.  They had been on me for 3 days!.  It's recommend by the CDC to remove ticks before they have been attached for 36 hours.  Well this was not good!  But hey we booked a cruise and paid for it so I disinfected myself and took some antihistamine for the itching and planned to enjoy my trip.

The fourth day of our trip (8 days after being bitten) I developed the bullseye rash typically associated with Lyme's disease and was feeling tired.  But no this couldn't be, we were almost to Jamaica, in the western Caribbean, I told myself, "It would wait till I got home.  I had deserved this trip and I was just run down from my hectic schedule".  I won't bore you with the details of how I progressed over the next week and a half.  But suffice it to say I had all the symptoms of Lyme's, my Dr. said.  So she began the two week treatment by antibiotics right away.

If you want to know the all the symptoms click here.  But here is the important facts I learned:

1.  The rash only develops in 70-80% of people who have it.

2.  And the blood test only comes back positive regularly after 6-8+ weeks of it in your system.

False negative results can keep you from getting the treatment, so my Dr. thought it best to treat me and not wait.  AND I was feeling badly,  exhausted, very confused and disoriented .  So please be careful.  I finished my treatment this past weekend and I'm still tired a little achy but hoping it clears up soon.  But overall way better than before the treatment.

YES, I will continue to go out to plein air paint, sketch and enjoy the outdoors.  But I have a new bug spray WITH DEET in it.(see below).  And I will use a scrubby when showering IMMEDIATELY after I get home!

DISCLAIMER:  I'm not a specialist/professional in the health field so please investigate on your own, see your Dr.   I have posted a few links here to help inform you and info I have learned from the reading I have done.   
   
Obvious Tick tips: 

Avoid Contact with Ticks

THE MAYBE NOT SO OBVIOUS TIPS:

Avoid wooded and bushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.

Walk in the center of trails.

The following is from: CDC at www.cdc.gov/lyme/prev/on_people.html

Repel Ticks with DEET or Permethrin

Use repellents that contain 20 to 30 percent  DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) on exposed skin and clothing for protection that lasts up to several hours. Always follow product instructions. Parents should apply this product to their children, avoiding hands, eyes and mouth.

Use products that contain permethrin on clothing. Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents with products containing 0.5 percent permethrin. It remains protective through several washings. Pre-treated clothing is available and may provide longer-lasting protection.

Find and Remove Ticks from Your Body 

Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors (preferably within 2 hours) to wash off and more easily find ticks that are crawling on you. 

Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body upon return from tick-infested areas. 

Parents should check their children for ticks under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and especially in their hair.

Examine gear and pets. Ticks can ride into the home on clothing and pets, then attach to a person later, so carefully examine pets, coats and day packs.

Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for an hour to kill remaining ticks. (Some research suggests that shorter drying times may also be effective, particularly if the clothing is not wet.)

Removing ticks

Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible. 

Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.

After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine scrub, or soap and water.

Dispose of a live tick by submersing it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet. Never crush a tick with your fingers. 

You may want to save the tick in a small jar of alcohol. If you get sick, having the tick can help with diagnosis.

Helpful Hint

Avoid folklore remedies such as "painting" the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat to make the tick detach from the skin. Your goal is to remove the tick as quickly as possible--do not wait for it to detach.

Follow-up

If you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of removing a tick, see your doctor. Be sure to tell the doctor about your recent tick bite, when the bite occurred, and where you most likely acquired the tick.

Source: CDC at www.cdc.gov/lyme/prev/on_people.html

"Norwood's Buttercup Fields" A Plein Air Study, 5" X 7" Oil on Canvas Panel.

Oil Paintings and Plein Air Outings

NEW!!! Oil Painting Blog

New to my blog as well as to me, join me for my adventures in Oil painting.  

Yep you heard it O I L, (water mixable that is!)  

I've always had a sensitivity to oil paint but mainly the solvents needed for their use. After a few years of trying to make pastels, acrylics and my beloved colored pencil work "En Plein Air" for onsite paintings I've found that water mixable oils will do the trick.  I'm using Cobra brand for this purpose and I'm taking to it like a duck to water.   

"Norwood's Buttercup Fields"  A Plein Air Study, 5" X 7" Oil on Canvas Panel.

I had a really great day today!  Who can ask for more than that?

Creating my very first Oil painting, (using Cobra Water mixable oil paints).

Wonderful Spring air, very few bugs, painting in the shade of a hundred year old tree - and Virginia buttercups filling the fields at a local Historical landmark plantation, Norwood.  This plantation has been in the same family since 1835.  To view the plantation click:  here 

The back fields, I plein air painted, in colored pencil, one c-o-l-d November morning in 2013, are horse fields that lead down to the James River in Powhatan County.  When we visited that Nov. day the owners volunteered to allow us to come back in the Spring to paint the same fields when the buttercups were in season.  

Me at my easel. 

And Oh my! Were they right about the beauty of the golden fields!  What a view from the back of the house.  Knowing that at one time, there had to have been tobacco or other crops planted there, but today they board horses.  The horses came and went all morning long but this painting was not about them.... it's was all about the buttercups.  

Ok, about the Cobra paints --  as an ex - acrylic & watercolor painter, who has primarily made her way to the wonderful translucent color of Colored Pencils - 

Cobra's, by Royal Talens,  are Juicy, Creamy and didn't dry fast like Open Acrylics do.  The breeze was warm and 92 deg. today at 2:00 when we finished.  So they did dry enough to add layers on top of my underpainting to enable me to finish in the field.  No solvents are needed, not even water, except to wash out a brush!

Although I worked small, "just a study" I told myself.  It didn't have to be a finished painting, after all.... my first oil and first completed "Painting Media" painting in 15 years.  I left the golden field of Norwood happy and content that I finished a piece in 3 hours.  That would never have happened in CP, I'd have had to go home to finish it even at this small 5 X 7 size.       

OK now since we painted under the trees, evidence of critters and debris fell into my palette the longer the session went.  To the point that I was adding texture as I went.  LOL ;))))

While I have much to learn about these oils, I love not getting a headache from solvents, and clean up is easy with soap & water.  Stay tuned for more adventures in Oil.  

Powhatan's James River Plein Air - Sticking it out in the Rain!

                                           Powhatan's James River Plein Air Study 8 X 10

Now that summer is half over I thought I had better catch you up on what I have been up to recently besides teaching summer open studio class in my home studio.   The above plein air study was CP painted on Ampersand pastelboard last Wednesday.  My cohort in Plein Air travels, Kathy Scott and I painted at the new Powhatan James River State Park.  She in oil and as usual I worked in CP.  We had planned to get an early start before the impending rain or heat and humidity of the Mid Atlantic set in.  But after a brief walk around we were forced to work under the pavilion on our morning's pieces.  The view was at more of a distance from what I had originally decided to paint so I worked from memory of the view I liked the best, supplemented with short jogs out into the rain to re-familiarize myself with the original view.

The rain of course was not my only challenge today.  You see I had a board from a failed attempt to plein air in my bag which had a slightly rendered image on it already, a statue in a garden surrounded by rocks.  Although it appears in the photo below like a landscape sketch it was really in a vertical format 10"h X 8"w.  After erasing the board as best I could, then turning it into a horizontal, you can see what I was left with in the image below:

Not the best when using a translucent media like colored pencil, but I actually had little hopes for this new piece given the rainy day we were working in and the distant view of my desired composition.  As you can see in the reference photo taken below,  my view from under the pavilion showed little of my original vision.    

But 3 hours later when the rain had stopped and a few faint sun rays came out, we were invaded by a YMCA camp bus of little people ready for a "Nature Talk" by the park rangers.  So we packed up and vowed to return on a sunny day.  I worked for a short while when I arrived home the next day tweaking the far bank and foreground areas.  You can see my statue underpainting is hidden (actually she is under the tree bases and along the front bank of the river).  

Lessons learned:  #1Yes, you can salvage a failed start and cover it in CP just like in other media, on Ampersand that is.  #2 I was proud of Kathy and myself having stayed the course in the rain.  We found a scene stuck with it and worked thru the conditions. #3 I think I captured the atmospheric moisture in the distant shore as still kept  the lighting and shadows of my initial view before rain set in.

Besides being a great friend and CP artist herself Kathy is always ready for an adventure!  Here is Kathy Scott's plein air from our trip: A 10" X 8" oil painting titled: The James River In Powhatan.   More of her work can be seen at her website:  http://kathyscott.fineartstudioonline.com  As you can see Kathy chose to keep the rainy feel of the day with her piece.  Her view was certainly different than my own, but I'm sure you will agree, a lovely calming view of the James.

                                         

Our trip was the second in a series for me of James River views from the central VA area in which I live.  More to come for this series.  Next blog post will continue my plein air travels with CP from this weeks trip to a the Harrisonburg area of VA and more!  

Have a colorful week!  

Gloria

Plein Air Colored Pencil Painting - On The James River

A week ago Richmond had it's second Plein Air Event sponsored by Brazier's Gallery 

on West Main Street.  Nationally known artists from around the country and locally competed in an week of plein air painting with the beneficiary our local Richmond Symphony.  Having participated in a past Richmond Symphony fundraiser and as an ex flute and piccolo player, it's a great group to support.  Two of my friends and I went down for the Fast and Fresh painting on Sat. morning where artists where set up on Monument Ave. in various locations to paint from 9am to 11am, with a judging and sale afterwards.  I have to tell you I met some plein air painters I had only read about in Plein Air Magazine, I was a groupie for sure.  Oil, watercolor, pastel and acrylic all media represented except my beloved CP.  But what this morning out had accomplished was just what I had hoped it to, inspire and motivate my two friends to try plein air working for the first time.  Resulting our plan to do so this last Thursday.  

 On June the 20th my two art friends and I,  plein air painted at James River Park in Chesterfield County, VA.  I of course worked in Colored Pencil while the other two worked in oil and acrylic.   Working with other painters is not new to me as I am often the only one working in colored pencil.  My usual goal when working outdoors with painters is to accomplish as much as possible in the same amount of time as they are willing to work onsite.  My slower to develop media means I'm usually the last to leave with less accomplished.  I accept that fact and by now I have learned to set a few goals for myself for each outing.  This time the goals were to get as much done faster than I have ever done in the past and to get a good feeling of atmospheric perspective.  I worked on an 8 X 10 hardboard that I had primed a while ago, a pale greyblue color with Colorfix's Blue Haze Primer, creating a sanded surface.  It seemed the perfect color to work fast and fresh on my own (see reference to the plein air event above). 

Above is the cropped view of my photo taken before I started. 

After scouting out a location at the park with a view of the James (which was very muddy after some thunderstorms the night before). We set out to work, my friends for the first time ever working plein air.  I thought to myself, "if it's their first time then I just may be able to accomplish a lot this time".  I usually work on white Ampersand Pastelboard (my favorite because of the ability to get truly light - lights) colored pencil being a translucent media.  This meaning the blue under-color of my primed board will show thru and change my hues and brightness.  On this bright and relatively cool June day I would be able to work more quickly not starting with a white surface.  Here is what I was able to    

accomplished in a 3 hour period of time (above).  Now this photo turned out a little more warm in tone than the second one to the right, not sure why.  The right one is also a bit bluer than the original due to my great photography skills, not sure why either.  ARGGG.  After arriving home and a quick bite to eat a late lunch, I took the above photo and sat down to work less than 30 more minutes on tweaks and missing info like: the ripples in the water and deepening the tones a little.   Really, I only worked a short time on this.  You will notice I added a smaller version of a tree on the on site photo to the lower left foreground, to point your eye into the painting a bit more.  Not sure if I like it but it's there to stay.   

What I learned this outing:

 #1 You cannot use watercolor pencils for an underpainting on the Colorfix primed surface, it will lay down well but when hit with water the color beads up on the surface and does not sink in like it does on the Ampersand Pastelboard I usually use.  When I have worked on the pastelboard I work 5 X 7 but this blue primed sanded surface allowed me to work 8 X 10 and get a lot done.  However it would have been faster if I could have underpainted with the WC CP's.  With this subject matter the blue hue of the board did not impact the overall tone much.

   

#2 Working with inexperienced plein air friends allows me time to get more done, thanks Kathy and Suzanne for trying this with me.  Next we are off to Suzanne's.

#3  There's nothing like getting out to see other professional artists plein air paint to get the inspiration juices flowing.

#4  I have great friends who will accompany me to paint plein air and to go out of their comfort zone and try new things.   

So everyone get out there and do some sketching, painting, observing.  Whether it's fast and fresh,  or as slow as CP we all can benefit from working outdoors.  First time or not we all have something to learn.  I'm already contemplating my next plein air goal in colored pencil.  Have a colorful day!

Gloria

Just hours to go

And before you know it I'll be in Italy, well in exactly about 24 hours that is. I'm packed and next to get dressed and on my way to Dulles Airport. Flight leaves at 12:30 pm so most of the next several hours will be travel time to Dulles. And then a very long wait at JFK until 8:30 tonight when we leave for Pisa. Into Pisa their time at 11:35 am 9/5/09.

So most of the last several days has been non art related except for the packing and weening out the necessary from the not as necessary. You see I pack from the everything but the kitchen sink manual. So this is REAL HARD. But I am beginning to force myself into a "Plein Air" state of mind, a roving artist ready to paint in what ever beautiful site Tuscany has for me. Or at least that is what I'm telling myself.

The reality is that it may take that first glass of real Italian Chianti to get me to relax! The truth is I may not have any art to post here until Sunday. It's not an official painting day but it will be our first full day in Italy so I hope to do some sketching at the Castello di Colognole where we are staying near Greve. More on that Sunday.