Thank You!

You so are!

93 of you have weighed in to date on the question I posed last post - thank you all so much! I have replied to each of you individually, but for some reason I am getting a ton of returned emails from blogger, so if you didn't get a response from me, please know I sent one and I so appreciate your time and feedback in helping me create a fantastic book about the 100 in 100 project.

The A's have it by a landslide, so you can expect to see a book with all of the paintings and some variation of the commentary that best captures the experience and learning.

Why have I never thought to poll you fabulous people before?

Need You Guys!

"Secret Vantage"
Oil on linen - 6x8"

Hey guys, I would really love your feedback. Some of you who have been following for a while will remember the project I created in the spring of 2010 to paint 100 plein air paintings in 100 days. (The painting above was #74).

Well, I am finally getting around to putting together a Blurb book of the project and I am on the fence as to what would be most appreciated by viewers. If you could either comment below or send me an email at: liz@mountainartist.com with your vote for one of the following options I WOULD LOVE YOU FOR IT!

I started out working on a full blown version documenting the adventure but I can see it will take mucho hours to put together so I thought I would step back and check in with you all for your valued opinions. Here are the options:

• A) The full project, all 100 paintings plus a fair bit of the blog commentary that went with them.
• B) The full project - paintings only - no commentary
• C) My favourite 50 paintings from the project with blog commentary.
• D) Just my favourite 50 paintings from the project - no commentary.
• E) Finally, if you think option A - could you please comment if you think it best to have the commentary along with the paintings, or the paintings solo up front with an indexed commentary at the back.

For those who weren't following the project, the blog commentary ranges from highlights of each day's experiences to the things I learned as I was working my way through. If you have the time - I really appreciate you weighing in on this!

Hot Drawing Tips from the Trenches

 

50 minute drawing exercise from the Artsy Poses reference site.

The Challenge

25 people signed on for the July drawing challenge, and 10 of us connected for a conference call this week to check in on progress and buoy each other on.

The call was fantastic with lots of great tips and ideas. There was a mix of "success", with some of us managing to draw every day, and some missing as many as 8 days in the first two weeks. No matter, the point was that everyone is showing up and committed to keep tackling the challenge for the final two weeks of July.

We checked in on what was important to us about pursuing this goal and some great reasons surfaced:

Top Reasons to Draw Every Single Day

"I know that it is the key to becoming a masterful painter."

"I am an artist, and it is a critical component of perfecting my craft."

"I am already noticing that I am seeing differently: more clearly, more intensely, more accurately."

"If I can commit to making this an ongoing daily ritual, it will propel my skill to a higher level."

"It is engaging and fun, and once I get going, I get totally lost in the process."

"I find myself measuring without even thinking about it now, it has become second nature."

Next we checked in on what was getting in the way for those who were missing days, and what was working for those who weren't:

Fab Tips for Supporting Success in the Commitment

Know that it really is OK to draw for as little as 15 minutes, the short time frame is what helps to make it do-able. Then make that 15 minutes a priority over checking email, Facebook, TV, etc. 

Enlist your family and/or house guests to support you in your goal, simply explain what you are doing and why you need to excuse yourself for 15 minutes. They will admire you for it!

Keep your sketchpad by your computer where you will see it first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The visual reminder will prompt you to "eat your veggies."

Have small sketchpads everywhere, in your car, in your bag, in several rooms in the house. Then when the urge strikes you, the book is there and ready to go.

Stay focused on the outcome, the reason for the discipline. This is about becoming exceptional at your craft.

Final Thoughts

There is a line that gets crossed, a point where drawing goes from being "something I should do more of" - to being one of the most joyful aspects of being an artist. Drawing well is what creates the shift, and that can only be accessed through ongoing practice.

Next Call

We also talked about a few different approaches to drawing that mix it up and keep variety, motivation and different kinds of skill building a part of the process. Feel free to come on to the next conference call to hear more about this. There's no charge for this (other than long distance) - it's a labour of love and a great way to network with fellow artists on the journey. Send me an email if you want to join us and I'll send you the date and dial in number.

 

Drawing as Meditation - and a Drawing Challenge

"Mary"
Charcoal on paper
14x11"

Recently I posted about finding ways to keep the creative flame burning brightly when the pursuit of commercial work has your art feeling more like a job than a calling.

Drawing is one of my favourite ways to lose myself in the creative process. Because my drawing is not geared toward creating 'saleable product' (as I don't set out to sell my drawings), I find being engaged in drawing, whether it is for a few moments or a few hours - to be a compelling pursuit that leads me into a very present moment, meditative state. Whether working from a photograph (above) or attending a life drawing session (below) - there is something about the experience of drawing that is entirely different than painting.

Slowing Things Down

Drawing moves more slowly, there is no paint handing or colour to think about, and erasing and correcting is a simple process. I also find the fact that a lot of the page gets left uncovered really centers my attention on the contours of the form I am working with, and how the angles and shapes relate to each other. It becomes a game of one shape or angle leading to the next, with attention on checking the accuracy of each mark as it is made, and at the same time noticing how each line put down relates to the whole.

"Eric"
Graphite on paper
17 x 14"

The Challenge

Of course the added bonus is that developing sound drawing skills will propel your painting forward. On that note, I challenged a group of students I taught this weekend to commit to drawing a minimum of 15 minutes a day for the month of July. I offered to join them in the challenge, and to facilitate a conference call mid-July, and one more at the end of the month - to share our experience around the challenge, support each other in staying with it, and celebrate what we learned by doing it.

If you would like to join us in the challenge, please email me and I will send you the conference call # and the date and time of the first call. You can jump on the program today and still get 11 days in before our mid-month call!

I encourage you to do some of the sessions from life (your cat, your kid, your foot) as this poses its own particular set of challenges. In addition, here are a couple of online resources for 2 dimensional reference that have a wide selection of images and provide an opportunity to do timed drawings (for example a rotating selection of 30 second poses):

Artsy Poses has great photos of models with fabulous lighting.
Pose Maniacs was suggested by one of my students and has anatomical drawings to work from.

Would love to have you join us! Your art will thank you for it. :-)

Upcoming Workshop

On another note: I am teaching a 3 day plein air workshop in Kimberley, BC August 8-10th, and there are two spaces still available. For details please click here.

Learning to See

Value study demo from mannequin - oil 11x14"

Just taught a 4 day portrait workshop to a small, enthusiastic group of students. The curriculum in this course is more demanding than anything else I teach because the primary focus is continued attention on drawing precision.

As painters, developing drawing skill may be the most tempting thing to skip out on. Not only does building skill in this area require intense focus and discipline, it may also seem like one can get away with poor drawing by clever painting. (Many artists do, I am guilty myself of not making drawing a top priority in the past.)

The good news is, if you take the time to truly become masterful in drawing, it enables you to paint anything you want with confidence and freedom, and to tackle the subjects that are impossible to pull off if your drawing skills are weak.

By the middle of the first day I thought a mutiny might be brewing, but instead these guys rolled up their sleeves and dove in, making it a true pleasure to work with them. 

We started with a day of drawing from mannequins, learning how to measure properly, rechecking and correcting as we went. On day two we focused on painting a value study from the mannequin, with a focus on form before detail.

Once they had a handle on this we started working from a live model, raising the bar several notches. Wheels started falling off, but the troops rallied and in the end really started to grasp the importance of getting the structure down correctly. This is primarily achieved through accurately capturing the design of light and shadow before pursuing detail. If the foundation is wrong, no amount of detail will turn it around.

Here is an excerpt from a book about John Singer Sargent's portraits: "He never attempted to repaint one eye or to raise or lower it, for he held that the construction of a head prepared the place for the eye, and if it was wrongly placed, the understructure was wrong, and he ruthlessly scraped and repainted the head from the beginning, sometimes after multiple sittings with the model."

A huge thanks goes out to Scott Burdick and Sue Lyon for providing me with some amazing tools for both my own painting and my teaching in a 10 day intensive I took with them last year.

Lastly, check out this great post on a contemporary master painter, Casey Baugh, demonstrating his approach to portrait painting recently at the Portrait Society of America National Show.

The Hard Core painting gang -  Invermere, BC. :-)

5 Great Places to See Art In NYC

"Afternoon Sun" - Joaquin Sorolla - 116x171 in.
Hispanic Society of America

3 artist friends and I went to New York City a couple of weeks ago and absolutely LOVED it. Amazing vibe, visual stimulation on every corner, fabulous art - it was total sensory overload! We stationed ourselves in a lovely brownstone on a tree lined residential street on the Upper East Side and ventured out each day to walk the city streets and explore.

If you only have a short time in NYC, here are a few not to be missed places to see representational art:

The Hispanic Society of America

"The Tuna Catch" - Joaquin Sorolla - 137x190 in.
Hispanic Society of America

The farthest museum to get to was the Hispanic Society of America in Harlem, but it was only a half hour subway ride for under $5 so no big deal - and so worth it to see these enormous, exquisite Sorollas. The added bonus of its distance from downtown NYC was that we had the whole museum to ourselves for the first half hour we were there.

The Mural Room - stunning.
Hispanic Society of America


The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sargent at the Met

Ok, goes without saying you could spend a month in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and not see everything. We went for the paintings and barely scratched the surface, the collection of American and Impressionist paintings alone includes some of the most famous works ever painted, and seeing them live was breathtaking.

The Frick Collection
A third museum well worth checking out is the Frick. (Sorry no photos - they're prohibited.) It is an elegant museum housed in a former mansion built in the early 1900's with great period art, sculpture, furniture and architectural details.

Art Students League of New York


This one we stumbled across and were so glad we did, the caliber of student work was outstanding. You can book a residency here if you are interested in an atelier studio workshop experience - would love to do this - what a great way to develop artistic skill!



 
Chelsea
Chelsea was a bit hit and miss, but a wonderful, unexpected discovery was a show at the Bertrand Delacroix gallery by Francois Bard, a Parisian artist having his second show in NYC. These paintings are a classic example of lost in translation - the photos simply do not come close to doing the originals justice - we were absolutely blown away by this work. The show runs until June 2nd - if you're in New York - go see it! (details in the link)

"Not Guilty" - Francois Bard

"Untitled" - Francois Bard

Hugely inspired by the art, and even more so by the city, can't wait to get painting!

My fabulous travelling companions
L-R: Janice Robertson, Sarah Kidner, Jean Pederson

Following Alice Down the Rabbit Hole

 "Fall Shadows"

In my last post I talked about finding a creative outlet that is not about commercial work - a place to go when you feel stuck or stalled and need to feed the fire in a fresh, imaginative way. One way that I love as passionately (and completely differently) than painting is following a camera wherever it might lead me. This in not about gathering painting reference, it is something uniquely its own, a treasure hunt for visual gems that stand on their own.

All you need is a camera, curiosity, and permission to completely lose yourself in the experience.

 "Dumpster Diving"

"Tree Wheel"


All of the photos in this post were taken within a 2 block radius, on the same evening, with my iPhone camera. It was very spur of the moment, and entirely captivating.

Just start looking, once you find your first thing, be open to what is possible and then watch what happens. Things will find you. It is truly remarkable how this works - it's like a magic thread drawing you in, one thing leading to the next, compelling you to follow them into a world of infinite possibilities. Things will appear that are unexpected and surprising, and have always been right there, waiting for you to notice them. Amazing.

 "Leaves on Brick"

"Primary Parking"

"Moments Apart"

Give it a whirl, doesn't have to be in the city, I do this often when I am out walking in the forest - there are things hiding in plain sight all around us...

"A good traveler has no definite plans and no intention of arriving." Lao Tzu

5 Ways to Keep Creativity From Becoming "A Job"

"Eggs Planted"
Oil on linen - 6x8"
Click here to bid

I recently posted about the pull of commercially driven work and how it can be a road that leads us away from heart-centered creativity.

Of course if you are a professional artist, a good portion of your time needs to be dedicated to commercial output, and if you are joyfully engaged in the process of creating this work, then you are lucky enough to have the best of both worlds. Yay!

What I want to focus on are solutions for the rest of us, those who feel the angst and discontent that can come with external parameters and pressures increasingly overtaking our creative space. Several of my coaching clients are professional artists, and it has been interesting to find that almost every one of them has brought this topic to coaching. Clearly it is more the norm than an anomaly - so I thought it would be beneficial to offer up some suggestions for dealing with it.

Earn Your Living Another Way
Okay, might as well get this one out of the way right out of the gate. If the compromises of making a living from your art are interfering with what you really want for and from it on a fairly regular basis, then maybe earning a living from it is getting in the way. It's possible the best choice is to find something else you love to do for a living that won't require the same kind of compromise, and free up your art making time to be a total playground - no rules, no parameters, no demands other than the ones you want for it.

What's that? Really bad idea? Okay, I hear you - the dream is to make a living at this gig. Hang in, got some other ideas:

One for Them, One for Me
Not a bad strategy - you paint one for the market, one for yourself, and repeat. Honour this intention and it's highly likely that more than half in the "one for me" pile will be better than the ones in the "one for them" pile, so you'll have more than enough commercial work, but without feeling you're painting in a box.

Intentionally Segregate Your Creative Time 
I have been on this path for a while now, and it is the best way I have found to paint commercially while still honouring what I want most for my art, which is to be continually growing and excelling. I consciously segregate my painting time. When I'm painting for the market, I don't try anything super daring, difficult, or out of my comfort zone. I stay within my skill level and strive for competent work.

Then I schedule painting time in which I am either painting a subject that is not likely to sell in my market (but I am captivated with), or trying something that is totally about challenge and skill building. If I thought about saleability in these sessions, I would have shackles on before I even started. Again the end result often winds up marketable, but it is the mindset while in process that is paramount.

Paint First - Schedule a Show Second

It seems to me the system is backwards. Current system: Commit to a show date with your gallery and then start painting for the show. The only reasons I can think this makes any sense at all are:

• the gallery can slot you into their show schedule for the year and start advertising
• the artist has a job to get done - read "discipline" - which (speaking as someone who has issues with discipline) admittedly is a pretty valuable reason to do it this way
• ideally the artist is going to get a big fat pay cheque at the end of it - but no guarantee there

Those reasons aside, this is so far from optimal when viewed in terms of creative freedom it boggles my mind. Right from the start there are parameters: the number of paintings, when they will be completed by (this is the biggest killer of honouring the creative process ever - don't even get me started...), the general sizes they'll be, the subject matter, etc.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately and here's what I've decided makes way more sense. Paint the paintings first, whatever you want, however many turn out, as long as it takes, the only goal being to explore what's possible. Once you have created a body of work you're happy with - call your gallery and ask if they'd like to book a show. I'm going to test drive it - will let you know how it goes. :-)

Add a Creative Outlet That is Not About Commercial Work
In addition to your creative "work", I have found it is a real asset to have an avenue of creative pursuit that is completely outside of something you would try to sell. On those days (or weeks) when you feel stuck or stalled, it is a place to go where your creative flame can burn in a different way. Choose something that is fun and engaging, and most important - freeing. An added bonus is that your "real work" will definitely benefit in indirect and magical ways.

I have found a couple of wonderful creative outlets that I'll share in upcoming posts, and I'd love to hear if you have some of your own.

10 Things to Avoid if Joy is Your Goal

Found on FB - some good truths here.

5 Day Skill Building Intensive

"The Back Way"
Oil on Linen - 6x8
Click here to bid

Quick post today to announce a 5 day intensive workshop I will be holding in my Canmore studio late June/early July.

We will be working on building skill in accurately seeing and painting color and value using simple still life set-ups for the first 3 days, and then speed painting from models for the last two with a focus on eliminating detail and painting instinctively.

This is the best of what I have learned over the years packed into 5 days, and it is certain to deepen your understanding of key fundamentals and propel your painting forward. More details here. *March 30th update: the class is now full with a wait list.

On another note, check out this very cool video merging 500 years of female portraits in western art.

The Value of Taking a (Big) Break

"Megan" (study)
Oil on linen - 12x9"

Have you ever considered taking a break from commercially driven work?

Have you wanted to, and come face to face with 'the voice'? You know the one..."Are you crazy? You need to make a living. You need to keep your galleries happy. You'll forget how to paint. The wheels will fall off and you'll never get things rolling again. Must keep the work coming." That voice.

I just took a 6 month sabbatical from painting for income. Actually didn't do a single painting, commercial or otherwise (other than workshop demos) from July to January. Unplanned. To a degree unexpected. And absolutely necessary. It was truly the BEST thing I've done for my art in a long time. The break from commercially motivated work is not over yet - will share more about that in a future post as I've developed some pretty strong opinions about it.

That said, the perfect opportunity to dive back into heart centered painting presented in the form of a gathering with 4 great painter friends. We arrived from different directions, traveling long distances, navigating the worst possible winter driving conditions and missed flights in order to assemble for a few days of painting live models.

We stayed in the same house and ate, drank, talked, breathed, lived art for 4 days. It was soul enriching on so many levels, and the perfect re-entry into serious painting. Both feet back into one of the most challenging kinds of painting - loved every minute of it. No judgement, no expectation, just curious looking, seeing, and reconnecting with the remarkable experience that is painting.

"Jennifer" (study)
Oil on linen - 11x14"

"Matt" (study)
Oil on linen - 12x9"

Here's what the break has made me absolutely certain of: If I am not completely captivated and engaged by a painting idea, I am no longer willing to spend time with it.

Bigger learning: Somehow in the time out I've developed the ability to notice as soon as I am getting pulled into a negative thought pattern around a painting, for any reason. (This is an extremely valuable skill that has eluded me until now, and I'm fairly certain a commitment over the last year to a mindfulness practice is largely responsible for this heightened awareness.)

I have made a choice that self-imposed negative energy around my art is no longer acceptable, and any condition that contributes to it (time constraints, other's expectations, fear, financial pressure - all of which are about attachment to outcome) is now prohibited. My intention is to allow only joyful energy into my studio space, and if I'm not doing that, then it's time to rearrange my thoughts, or change the condition.

I recently said to a good friend: "I need to find a way to get my heart back into the studio." It's becoming clearer that this is the way.

L-R: Marvelous Matt, Me, Sarah Kidner, Jean Pederson, Janice Robertson. Photo by the lovely Gaye Adams.

Celebrating the Gift

"Among Friends"
Watercolour - 14x21"
Limited Edition prints available

Christmas seems to be a time that inspires reflection on the year we've just lived. As we do this in a year where many artists have experienced a slow down in sales, I think a check in with our hearts is enormously valuable. What if we focused a little less on how sales or career "success" went (even it went swimmingly), and a bit more on how connected we felt with that wonderful, creative flame that burns inside of us.

There is a gift we artists have been given that can sometimes get lost when looking through the lens of material accomplishment, a gift that is kind of the whole point. We get to experience the wonder of taking a flat, white surface and creating a whole world on it in a matter of hours. This is so incredibly cool that at times it takes my breath away. If I never made another dollar from my art, this alone would be worth the ride. :-)

On another note, there is a Christmas post on my blog, The Art of Living Attuned, that I would really love to share with you. Please stop by if you have a moment.

Merry Christmas amazing painter friends, see you on the other side.

Scottsdale Best and Brightest 2012

"Place Saint-Michel - Paris"
Oil on linen - 12 x 24"
purchase info

I'm proud to report "Place Saint-Michel - Paris" was juried into the Scottsdale School of Fine Art "Best and Brightest" show, and won 2nd place in the oil painting category. The show will run from January 5th to March 25th, 2012.

*Quick side note to those of you who view my blog in your email readers - when I post a video on my blog, unfortunately it won't show up in the email. However, if you click on my blog title in the email, it's an active link that will take you straight into the blog where you can view the video. 

25 minutes well spent

 

A fellow painter who I've been trying to connect with (we will soon Jacquie, I promise!!) recently sent me this TED video.

I am in awe of, and so inspired by how this man has used his art in the world. Very worth watching if you have the time.

5 Keys to Guaranteed Growth as an Artist

"NaPali Coast"
Oil on Linen - 4x10"

Do you bring the qualities of a highly engaged learner to your journey as an artist?

In observing many learners over the last few years, and continuing to be a very keen one myself, I have noticed that there are key ways to show up that facilitate accelerated learning.

I just taught a 4 day plein air workshop in Kauai, and the workshop participants ranged from some with years of painting experience to one wonderfully enthusiastic woman who was picking up a paint brush for the very first time in her life. Over the 4 days I had the joy of watching each of them have their own personal breakthroughs and move to a deeper level in their painting.

They worked hard, laughed a lot, cheered each other on, and grew in their skill as painters, in large part because each one of them brought these important elements of learning to the game:

Beginner's Mind
Knowing stuff is good, but it can block the way to new good stuff coming in. Practice moving what you already know from its position of priority - let it rest in the background while you create space for what there still is to learn.

Willingness to be Uncomfortable
It's amazing how many people greet this idea with enormous resistance. Like being uncomfortable is a bad thing. What if it's a good thing? What if it's a big fat doorway into awesome? I would argue it is, because that's where the growth lives.

If you're comfortable - you're stagnant. Doing the same old thing over and over. All that does is keep getting you better at what you already know. What about all the cool stuff you haven't discovered yet?

Full Engagement and Curiosity
Ok, so if you're willing to embrace the first two ideas, then bring along with you an undefended openness to the learning. Stand on the precipice of "What's possible here?", wildly curious, and dive in with both feet and a wide open heart. The best learners embrace the joy of not knowing and the adventure of finding out.

Relinquish Attachment to Outcome
Now that you're open, ready and set to learn, you will gain the most benefit if you can do one more thing. This is the most difficult, and most essential mindset to stand in. Let go of needing the painting to "work out in the end." I know - hard, but try. Play with paint, dance in the creative process, try things on, don't worry if they're right or wrong, just try them.

Workshops are not about performance pieces, they're about playing scales, learning new notes, seeing what it's like to play standing on one foot. Moving at top speed. Or in slow motion. Backwards. Upside down. Blindfolded.

Learning is about: "What happens if I stand in a place I've never been, what will I see that I have missed until now? How will this grow me? What magic is possible when I stretch beyond what I already know?"

A Little Faith
Expect to feel bumbly, inept, out of control, like you've stepped backwards in your skill level. It's part of the deal. Even though it may not feel like it now, you are expanding yourself in ways that will show up in the most unexpected places down the road. Trust this and give yourself to the learning - it will pay huge dividends in the end.


The Kauai gang - 2011