My New Read

My new favorite book I am  reading  this winter was "Brushwork for the Oil Painter' by Emile Gruppe,. The book is out of Print and it cost me $40 dollars through Amazon,  well worth the price.

Most of my painting experience has been with a knife. I'm able to manipulate the knife easily. The knife  has a great look and puts the color on pure but even Charles Hawthorn warns of it's tendency to make mannerists out of us.

Over the past two years I have been going back and forth between knife and brushes and it has been a challenge.

Once when I was painting Charles Sovek,  (http://www.sovek.com). commented on my using a knife to paint he said "young fella that's going to limit you in the long run. Brushes are your signature it let's the viewer get a sense of your personality and style". 

The Gruppe Book, Brushwork for the Oil Painter has great information on materials , Painting procedure, basic function of the brushstroke, a chapter on buildings (which I love), and Figures.

I suggest borrowing this book from your library. Most libraries have a lending policy throughout their system and can get the book through another library.

This Summer I am teaching a Class through the Provincetown Art Association, it going to be all about painting color using brushes.  Much of what is taught in this book will be explored.

Yesterday I painted this small bar scene. It's different and gets me out of the box I have put myself in. The bar Scene is basically an interior.

Tonalist For A Week

The one thing I came away with this past week is if you make your painting the right value it will be a good painting forget about the color. I spent the week painting with the limited pallet so I could nail down some of the ideas that were being taught.
By noon on tuesday, I had started putting on my colors throwing out the black, I  realized that I'm a confirmed colorist.
Everything that was taught will certainly carry me throughout my painting life.

As a teacher I learned the most from the Ken Auster workshop. No question was left unanswered and there was not the usual "see the bunny in the woods" philosophy that I have witnessed in other workshops. Just because you like someone's paintings doesn't mean they are a good teacher.

In conclusion a quote from Emil Gruppe expresses it best for me.

"You paint the way you're made.  And the viewer, looking at your pictures, is interested because he senses your mind and emotions at work....  I studied with everybody that I thought was any good- each artist had his own approach.  But when they differed, it didn't matter, because the real art comes after the study, when you're on your own and have to... express your own attitude....

Two Red Cars

Limited pallet Sketch


This Last painting is a sketch using my full pallet

Auster Workshop Part Two

All in All I would have to say it was a positive experience taking a workshop with someone who is from a different school of painting than myself.
Ken is not particular in keeping his brushes totally clean, because he is not concerned with making mud. Auster teaches, mud is created when shapes and parts of the painting do not relate, not because you used a dirty brush.
Auster kept instilling his concept of "Paint one animal at a time".

The great thing about taking a workshop is that you taking a workshop to prove how good you are but want to learn something new and utilize it to make your own art better.

We worked from photos. Honestly I have very little experience with this type of painting. Ken had an amazing way to transfer  the painting using a "dot" method.

Above is my painting from the workshop. We used one yellow a warm and cool red, one blue, white and black. The limited palette is useful in creating color harmony.

It still looks like my painting, for better or worse it's just that the palette is different.

street scene of San Francisco after Auster by John Clayton

I enjoyed painting the street scene the best. The street scene is one of my favorite subjects, in Provincetown and Key West to paint. I found Auster's demo and then painting the same scene very helpful.

I plan on using his palette for a week to learn and then bringing back my color and see how I like it. If I don't think a color gives me the result I want, it's  good bye!

Here are some of this week paintings using the Auster palette.

A 6x8 sketch done from like of a simple house.

A street scene of downtown Ft Myers

Another Street Scene of Downtown Ft Myers

Ken Auster Workshop

On the way home from Key West I was able to attend a Ken Auster workshop in Fort Lauderdale. The Brush Strokes is a working artist studio for local artist's which hosted the workshop.
Ken Auster is a great teacher who who works with a  limited pallet and is one who practices tonal methods of painting rather than impressionist painting.
Working outside my comfort zone, was interesting and helpful.

Ken started the workshop giving us a summery of his personal philosophy on painting. Intellect and passion, was key, to Auster's painting.
There was a demonstration on perspective and organizing the masses in a logical way and some of the pitfalls painters fall into when designing landscapes.

Ken's Demonstration of a California coast scene.

The first afternoon Ken Demonstrated a typical florida water scene and then we painted the same scene using Ken's method.

The Second day Ken demonstrated a San Francisco Street Scene and then we painted the same scene.

San Francisco Street Scene by Ken Auster

Close up of Auster's painting.

One of the most interesting things for me was his handling of people in the landscape and how he simplified them.

We ended the workshop watching and painting one of Auster's famous Chef paintings.

Ken's start of the chef 

It was a great opportunity for me to get out of my comfort zone and learn something different. Auster was at the opposite end of the painting spectrum in terms of the cape school teaching. I am a little confused, but I'm excited about all I have learned and want to apply many of these concepts. There is more freedom for me in  having the information to develop my own truth.