Back to Provincetown

On my way home I stopped by New York and caught the Anders Zorn show at the National Academy Museum. I saw the same show in Boston this past fall. I couldn't resist seeing it again. Some of the paintings where not present in the New York show. The National Academy is a small museum and much of the show was on different floors. Having the show in different rooms and floors gave you a break, the paintings where spread out and made the experience enjoyable because you could stand back and really see how inspiring the work of Zorn is.
The small exhibit of Zorn's etchings was amazing.

Mr Ogden by Anders Zorn

It was great to be back in my studio again and start working on a still life painting. I spent the day setting up and painting a still life.

Hilda Neily

This week I have been painting in Gulfport Florida with Hilda Neily. Hilda was my painting mentor and is  a Henry Hensche Student, who lives in Provincetown and Gulfport.

Hilda and I painted together, one painting in the morning and another in the afternoon.

The pallet Hilda uses is vertical and her easel is a simple aluminum stand rite. Hilda maintains that most important for impressionist painting is to have the colors unaffected by strong sunlight so that the painter may make clean clear color notes.

Hilda works on my painting and has some interesting insights in the above  clip.

Sarasota Workshop

On the way home I stop in Sarasota and taught a small class on landscape and color. This was a great chance to see some of Sarasota and see what my old roommate Kyle Ringquist was painting.

Pretty much everyone was a beginner painter, however  interested in color and landscape painting. No one had easels, paints of palettes.  Kyle and I we whipped up six easels and six palettes. It was a lot of fun and just goes to show simple you can create a painting with a few simple tools.

I stayed on a few days and worked with Kyle in his studio. Kyle works in verso on plexiglas. His paintings are in reverse order. His method of painting is interesting being painted front to back and when it's finished has a brilliant result. 

Kyle and I also made some screen prints in his studio. 

Kyle's work can be viewed at the Kyle Ringquist Gallery at 349 Commercial Street in Provincetown.

Geraniums

While I was walking the dog I saw this porch and thought that would make a nice small painting. I think inspiration can happen anytime. I don't actually like being out in public painting, to be honest with you I find it a little uncomfortable. A Plein air artist has to be a little thick skinned.

It was a quiet morning and only the trash man asked if I would put him in the picture. I was polite and said "of course'.

My Center of interest was the flowers on the porch, so everything else is subordinate to that.
This Simple scene lends it's self to expressive brush work.

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