Burdick/Lyon workshop - Part 3

"Doulton"
Oil on linen - 11x14"

This will be the final post on Scott and Sue's workshop.

This portrait of Doulton (Sue's Spanish teacher) was from the afternoon of the 10th day, when things finally began to click in and integrate. Had some help from Scott on this one, and I loved painting it. Doulton posed for us twice, and there was something so wonderful about his energy - he had a big, easy smile and a warmth in his presence that was immensely captivating. It was super rewarding to bring all the learning into capturing the essence of this wonderful model.

Scott and Sue's morning demo of Doulton

"Begin in a slow, steady, meditative mindset" - Scott
"Don't work out of stress - work out of thoughtfulness." - Sue

We saw this demonstrated again and again - a slow, deliberate approach by each of them. And at least once every hour, Scott would spontaneously announce, somewhere between a question and a declaration, "Isn't this fun?!" - I was never quite sure if he meant it or if he was trying to convince himself - but it definitely seemed to keep him in the zone and connected with his process.

So here are some key pointers:

5 Darks of the Face: (when lit from above)

• eye sockets
• base of nose
• top lip
• beneath lower lip
• under chin

Initial block-in:

• Immediately establish the correct angle of the eyes, nose, mouth
• Initially draw changes in angles, point to point - round things off later
• Don't move off of one point until you're sure it's accurate (get eye correct before moving to nose, look for the smallest jumps possible, nose correct before moving to mouth)
• Think only of shadow and light at first, the largest division of lights and darks
• Squint and lose halftones to create the drama of light, otherwise you will over-model the lights and not make the shadows dark enough - everything will come too close to the middle
• It's easy to make the halftones too dark, remember they belong to the light
• Color isn't critical at this stage - value and temperature relationships are what's important
• Open eyes to see color - squint down to see value
  

Once the block in is complete, begin refining shapes and edges, using halftones to turn form.

When you've got a lot done and are trying to decide what's next - ask:

• Where is my lightest light?
• Where is my darkest dark?
• Where is my hardest edge?

Put these in and diminish everything else.

"I am not concerned with getting a likeness. My focus is on getting the drawing, shapes, values and colors correct - and trusting that this will result in a likeness." - Scott

You can see that almost all of these pointers are universal - your work will grow if you apply them to whatever subject matter you're painting. It's impossible to try and share in a few short blog posts all the learning that happened in a 10 day intensive workshop, but I hope these few things have been helpful, and inspired you to put these two wonderful teachers on your list of important ones to study with.

Burdick/Lyon workshop - Part 2

Susan and Scott demo-ing quick sketch in tandem.

I have been home from the workshop for a week now, and as I am processing all the learning, my strongest feeling is what a truly great honor and privilege it was to study with these two incredibly gifted artists and teachers.

What I would like to share today is the biggest thing they impressed upon us every day of the workshop:

Confident, well honed drawing skills are essential for a painter to become masterful. Top level painting requires constant, careful attention to keeping these skills sharp, and drawing from life, because it is so much more difficult than working from photos, is the best way to achieve this end.

Scott Burdick - 45  minute figure demo

In the first few days I really couldn't believe how slooooooowly and carefully they had us drawing, insisting we were measuring, checking, rechecking - not moving from one point to another until we were sure where we were leaving was accurate. It felt truly painful to hold my attention for this long as all the old familiar voices that have kept me from focusing this intently on drawing in the past rose up: "It's close enough, my measuring tool is out of focus, it's too hard to see it accurately anyway, I can't find a measurement that matches, even when I measure it doesn't come out right (read: even when i measure incorrectly ...), this is way too hard, does it really matter? I'll fix it later..." and they just kept circling the room, reminding us again and again that "Artistic license comes after the careful, accurate drawing is mastered."

So I believed in them and stuck with it, and somewhere around day 4 or 5 it began to click into place. My drawings actually started to look like what I was drawing - well proportioned, everything fitting on the page exactly where I intended it, a little like magic. Timed perfectly to move us into painting, where we spent the next 5 days really experiencing how inextricably intertwined these two aspects of creating art are. More next post, for now I'll leave you with the workshop mantras:

Squint and compare. Slow down. Work carefully.
Squint and compare. Slow down. Work carefully.
Squint and compare. Slow down. Work carefully....

Susan Lyon - 45 minute figure demo

Scott Burdick/Susan Lyon workshop - Part 1

Scott Burdick doing a charcoal sketch demo of a Planes of the Head mannequin. (Yup, he did hold the charcoal stick this far back for pretty much the whole drawing).

I'm currently in North Carolina with a couple of painting buddies taking a 10 day intensive workshop with Scott Burdick and Susan Lyon. 5 days drawing and 5 days painting the figure and portrait.

It is academic, thorough, methodical and packed with core fundamentals that are presented over and over in various exercises geared to really connect us with the value, importance and skill of seeing accurately. This workshop feels like I have landed in the middle of an art students league and I am LOVING it!

Our first demo was a basic charcoal drawing,. Throughout it Scott shared tons of info on how to sharpen your drawing tools, how to hold them, how much pressure to apply, how to use them for measuring, and what to look for and consider as your drawing is developing.

Charcoal, chalk stick, pastel pencil, and china marker, all sharpened to long, fragile points to force you to hold them far back and use a super light pressure.

The biggest tip this day was to begin with the big shapes of light and shadow, blocking in the abstract forms, keeping everything in either the light or the shadow. Lots of squinting and comparing to maintain a clear division, and keeping the half tones in the light, and the shadows dark enough to avoid losing the pattern of light and dark. After the demo we all drew a head model, and then the next day moved to quick sketches of the figure. Below is one of several I did that day.

 "Naomi" - 45 minute charcoal sketch

I am learning sooooooo much, totally awesome. Scott and Sue are hugely knowledgeable, so kind and helpful, bending over backwards to make sure everyone (20 students) is getting enough attention and fully understanding the concepts they're teaching. They are top notch instructors and should be on every oil painter's hit list of artists to study with.

Sorry this is not a super articulate post, it's late and we are on day 7 of the 10 days, but I wanted to start to share some of what we are learning.

More great stuff here: Scott and Susan workshop Part 2 and Part 3.

FYI: The Planes of the Head mannequins are great academic tools for working on drawing skills in your studio. You can order them on the website linked here.

Start with the essence

"Daisy" (block-in)
Original Oil - 6x6"

This was a demo from a recent workshop done to illustrate the concept of blocking in the large abstract shapes when beginning a painting. This is especially helpful when you are dealing with a complex subject (like 9 million petals). The trick is to really squint down and reduce your subject to the key shapes of light and shadow. The next step in this painting will be to begin to introduce detail and refine edges, but if you can capture the underlying structure and design elements of your subject then the detail rests on on a strong foundation. In this way less becomes more.

On another note, I will be teaching workshops in an interesting variety of locations over the next 4 months. Please click on the links below for more details:

Plein Air in Southfreeport, Maine - Aug. 19th-21st               
Heli-painting in the Bugaboo Mountains, BC - Sept.6th-10th
Plein Air in Kauai, Hawaii - Oct. 24th-27th
 
Robert Genn's recent post opened the door on some differing perspectives about workshops. Here is mine:

We live in such a marvelous time - we have the ability to handpick the artists whose work we admire,  and travel far and wide to share a few days learning from and talking art with them. If we are lucky a keen student or art group will bring a valuable teacher into our own back yard. These are golden opportunities. I am a huge believer in studying with fellow skilled artists as a means of deepening and broadening our own abilities. Painting is a highly complex pursuit with endless possibilities for advancement and improvement, and whatever we may know, there will be others who know something in addition to it.

At the very least, a good workshop will shake things up and push you out of your comfort zone. At best, it will give you some fresh ideas for exploration, and one or two pearls of wisdom you will carry with you for the rest of your painting life. As well as teaching workshops, I take at least one a year. It has become my process when I return from a workshop to dedicate myself to honing the best of the skills I've learned, and then incorporating them into the rhythm of my own teaching. In this way, my students learn not only from me, but indirectly from all the wonderful artists I have studied with.

Fun on Vancouver Island

"Salt Spring Island"
Original Oil - 6x8"

This was a demo done a couple of weeks ago on Salt Spring Island, BC. It was a flat, gray, mid-afternoon scene and I was completely uninspired by what was there.

I always find this is a perfect time to dig into the bag of tricks and play with an exercise. In this case I chose one of my favourites - thick paint right out of the gate, so thick you have to use a stiff brush and scoop it off the palette. The trick after that is to apply it with a light enough stroke that you don't ultimately wind up with a big, muddy mess.

Every time I try this exercise it is SO fun. There is something about all that paint that feels really playful, and it seems to open up some special, magic portal into creativity. I find I start mixing more colorful colors, trying bolder ideas, and moving the paint in rhythmic ways just because there's so much there. The best way I can think of to describe it is it's like finger painting with a brush - gooey and gorgeous and full of wonderful surprises.

The joy of scales

"One Compelling Note"
Original oil - 6x6"
Click here to bid

Just got home from teaching a couple of workshops on Vancouver Island. In working with 30 students over 6 days, I was reminded of our reluctance to spend our painting time on work that is not leading to a "finished product" - something tangible to show for our time. Coupled with this is the idea that painting is supposed to be fun. Always and only fun.

I find whenever I propose the idea that serious painting requires determined, intensely focused, incredibly challenging hard work, a minority of heads in the room nod in agreement, while most folks start tensing up.

When we are presented with an exercise (or several) that forces us out of our comfort zone, our natural inclination is to run, fast and far. We like to move away from awkwardness, from "looking bad", from anything that has the potential for "failure" built in to it.

The key is to notice that feeling and dive head first into the discomfort, in service of our growth - of moving toward our full potential as artists. We can only get there by breaking this enormously difficult undertaking into its individual parts (drawing, design, shape, value, color, and medium specific technique) and honing each one, so that our wholes become an expression of all that we are capable of.

Carolyn Anderson workshop (part 2)

The two images shown here are detail sections of portraits I did in the Carolyn Anderson (totally awesome!) workshop. I'm showing the close-ups to illustrate what I think was one of the most important things I learned: how to paint soft eyes and mouths.

There is such a strong pull (for me) to carefully draw in the shapes of things and then fill them in. Carolyn likens this to walking down a hallway slamming doors of possibility closed behind you. (I like to call it safety.) But I was there to learn, so when I caught myself doing that in the workshop,  I would intentionally drag off a couple of edges or bring the values really close together where edges met.

 She also encouraged keeping the larger shapes of light and shadow open (not outlined and filled in). In her words "it's important to maintain the integrity of the dimension of the shapes." I had to bend my mind around that one, but essentially I think I got her meaning. In order to create dimension (the feeling of things "filling up space" and having 3 dimensional form, as well as the feeling of the space itself), edge variety is critical (soft, hard, lost - and interesting shape of line when there is one.)

Just a few things to be thinking about once you get past the easy part of getting the drawing, color, and value right. :-)

Carolyn Anderson workshop (part 1)

"Tiffany"
Oil on linen - 16x12"

Just back from a 5 day Carolyn Anderson workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. It was FAN-tastic! Learned so much - she is funny, direct, wise, focused and wickedly talented!

This painting was actually done outside of the workshop on the second night at an open studio put on by the Scottsdale Artist's School. (If you haven't heard of the school or taken a course there, check it out. They offer workshops by some of the best artists painting in the States right now. It's a top notch venue, and the staff bend over backwards to provide an outstanding experience.)

Okay, it's pretty much impossible to share all I learned as it was fairly intense, but here are some key thoughts I brought home with me. (Look for my next post to see images of paintings that illustrate what I learned between this painting and the end of the week.)

• Strive to put down each brushstroke with a clear intention.
• As things are rounding or moving back in space - soften edges.
• Think of eyebrows as accents on the bottom of the forehead (love that).
• Painting is a process that continually responds to information - not step by step until it's done.
• Look at the model and the painting together throughout the painting process.
• Stand far enough back to see all 4 corners of the canvas.

And a couple of powerful things to contemplate:

"We see not only an arrangement of color and shape - but an interplay of directed tensions." Rudolf Arnheim
(This, once I got it, opened up my ability to see and draw in a whole new way.)

"Paintings are like snowflakes. They are unique because of all the events that are unfolding as they fall to the ground. They are not meant to be a fixed idea from beginning to end." Carolyn Anderson

Best of Show - Raymar Fine Art Competition

"Los Cuatro Amigos"
Oil on Linen - 16"x 20"

I am super happy to announce that one of my favorite paintings I have done so far this year just won Best of Show in the Raymar Fine Art Competition for March.

A big thanks to judge Michael Gormley - Editorial Director of American Artist magazine for selecting it. Please click on the Raymar link above to see the other winners.

Off to Scottsdale

"Daisy Reflected"
Original Oil - 6x6"
Click here to bid

Continuing with the 50 flowers project, I tackled this daisy recently. It was set up on a piece of glass laid over a black cloth, and viewed at eye level. Painting the reflection was a supreme challenge, the brain got very busy telling me what it thought it was seeing and I had to keep reminding myself to SEE what was really there.

I leave tomorrow to Scottsdale, AZ for the Carolyn Anderson workshop and the Legacy Gallery's Salon of Fine Art opening night. Look forward to reporting in with some great new learning next post!

Painting models from life

"Moira"
Oil on Linen 16x12"

My good painting friend Sarah Kidner and I have been hiring models to come to our studio lately to prepare for two terrific workshops we will be taking this spring. (A 5 day figurative w.shop with Carolyn Anderson in April and a 10 day figurative/portrait intensive with Scott Burdick and Susan Lyon in June).

Mostly we have been doing one afternoon a week, but last week in a big push to get our chops down, we had a model in every day for 5 days. And just to add to the fun we invited some other friends to join in, which was huge entertainment value. Lotta whining going on, but we did get lots of work done, and we agreed that 5 days straight made for some clear progress - if not in skill, then at least in focus.

Here is what I find valuable in painting models from life:

• It demands you address your drawing weaknesses
• You can see amazing nuances that simply do not exist in photo reference
• There are a world of subtle color temperature shifts beckoning to suggest form
• It is divinely, completely captivating
• It is hands down the hardest thing you can do as an artist
• It DOES get easier with practice

If you're serious about developing your skill as an artist, I can think of no better way to tackle that goal. You don't need to hire professional models, any warm body that will sit still for you is an ideal subject. We pay our models $20 an hour and usually have them in for 3 hours at a time. We have found that putting a movie on the laptop for the model keeps them entertained for a sitting, and they just take breaks when they feel the need.

L-R: Liz, Sarah, Gaye Adams, Jean Pederson and Bobbi Dunlop in Sarah's studio

Randy Higbee Gallery 6" squared exhibition

"Apple Study"
Original Oil - 6x6"

I'm pleased to announce that 3 of my paintings have been juried into the Randy Higbee Gallery 6" squared exhibition. The show is held in Orange County, CA and runs from April 16th to May 6th, 2011. For purchase info please contact the gallery: 1-800-506-7624.

For all you daily painters, this is a great venue to get your work out there and seen. The next show is December 2011.

Note: I originally didn't post all 3 accepted entries as the other two have recently been posted on my blog, but inquiring minds want to know ;-), so here are they are:

"Rose Study"
Original Oil - 6x6"

"Cherry Fun"
Original Oil - 6x6"

Relief for Japan

"Pink on Green"
Original oil 6x6"

All proceeds from the sale of this painting will go to relief efforts for the devastation the Japanese people are currently coping with.

I can't begin to imagine what it must be like for them to wake up each day and see what has become of their world. I hope as you are reading this you will take a moment to pause and connect with them in whatever way feels most appropriate to you.

Scottsdale Salon of Fine Art

"Peruvian Potato Vendor"
Oil on Linen 18x24"

I am proud to announce that my painting "Peruvian Potato Vendor" has been accepted into the inaugural Scottsdale Salon of Fine Art. Click on the link to check out all the other really spectacular painters that were juried into this show. It is hosted by the Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ and runs from April 21st-May 19th, 2011.

Gallery Ground Rules

"Rose Parade"
Oil on Linen 10x8"

A recent experience has stimulated some serious pondering about the value of a good gallery. What this looks like is different for every artist, and of course galleries have their own thoughts on it.

After a wide range of experiences, and a few years clattering around the planet, I have gained clarity on what is essential for me when choosing to team up in a business partnership with a gallery. The best way I can think of to share this it to list the qualities that exist in the owner of a gallery that currently represents me. Without fail, she shows up in this way:

• She has integrity in all of our dealings.
• She's accessible and easy to talk with about art, and the business of art.
• She respects my opinions and finds value in them.
• She believes in my work.
• She's passionate about art and constantly broadening her exposure to what's out there.
• She 110% supports my quest to grow as an artist, and gives me the breathing room to make that a priority.
• She's curious about my other passions and believes they enhance my art.
• When a sale has been made, she lets me know that a check is on the way and a ballpark time I can expect it. WOW! When you live in world of inconsistent income, this is golden.

What I strive to offer in return are many of the same qualities, as well as honoring my commitments regarding shows, trusting that she's doing a great job whether work is selling or not (not calling her frequently to "see if anything has sold"), never undercutting, fostering great relationships with my collectors and focusing my energy on continually raising the quality of my work.

Your relationship with the person who sells you art deserves the same respect and attention as the other valuable relationships in your life. In many cases your galleries are your future collector's first connection with your work, the impression they make will have lasting effects. Choose wisely, and do your best to honor the partnership and your artistic journey with equal care.