Sarah In the Garden

Sarah Posing 

Along with painting landscape, we painted the figure in my yard in this weeks workshop. Sarah is a great model, so we took advantage of having her in our class and painted her in the garden. I set her up a little higher off the ground so we could see her better. In this lesson we used flat simple              patterns of color to lay in the painting. I didn't want students to get caught up in details of anatomy and drawing, only the essentials of the pose and masses of the figure.
Painting the figure this way is a great way to learn color and  to simplify. When you paint the landscape you tend to deal with the many elements of the landscape and have to select.  When you paint the figure you only have one element to focus on.








We had some very good painters in the workshop this week who wanted to learn more about color and the essentials of landscape.

Glenna Heartwell 

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At the end of the class I gave a finale critique, thinking about what everyone could do to push their development in painting. 

Last week I had an opportunity to take a week long workshop with Arthur Egeli, the owner of the gallery I show at.
He started the painting by painting the silhouette  of the model. He painted the whole sum of the girl playing the guitar as one color, compared to the sky. Very much like a mud head. then the colors of her clothes and hair and guitar.
This was most helpful in understanding the great mass, of the figure.

Taking a workshop is very helpful from time to time. I am teaching this coming week in Provincetown. If anyone is interested in taking the workshop their is still room. Contact the Cape School of Art. Capeschoolofart.com for more information you may also email me here directly.

Figure On The Beach

Taking advantage of a workshop can help you to get out of the
rut of painting the same scenes. Yesterday I was one of the participants of the Arthur Egeli figure painting workshop, here in Provincetown.

Arthur first gave a demonstration and short talk on painting the figure. He set up a young woman on the edge of the pier as if she was fishing.
Arthur helped us with our composition, and perspective. He had a lot of ideas on how to make the figure convincing and give the viewer the idea of the figure in action.

Painting the figure in a landscape is the same  principle as the "Mud Head", (the model is a silhouette against the sky), only
a step further. Now the figure takes on the element of the environment and is a participant in the landscape. The composition is utmost importance, rather than a color study.

I started my painting with a warm undertone because I wanted to eliminate the white and  use brushes concentrating on the drawing and composition.


It was great fun meeting new people, painting and learning something new, not to mention all of Arthur's corny jokes!

There's No Place Like Home

Artist's Garden by John Clayton

You don't have to travel very far to find inspiration on Cape Cod. In fact I just walked out the front door and painted my own garden. I have painted this scene may time before but the roses looked so nice I couldn't resist.

I first started a small painting of this scene and then yesterday, started a large painting of my garden.

I mostly worked with my pallet knife. I had to used brushes because of the size. When I work anything larger than 16x20 I need to cover the canvas with a brushes. Using brushed helped to keep the masses simplified.

This painting is 24x24, I don't usually work on square canvas because they are too equal however it's all in the composing. With a little more work I can move the masses around so they are more balanced.

I also wanted to create a nice rich flow of the light throughout the painting. I recommend painting a smaller study first to decide on how you want to plan out the painting. This will keep your composition balanced, state your masses and help create the light key.

8x10 study for Artist's Garden

Here is the small study that I started the day before.

West End Roof Tops

For  a number of years I have been painting a series of  the roof tops of Provincetown. To me they are the quintessential  Provincetown scene.
Artist's  have been painting this scene for over a hundred years.
With all the trees and buildings there aren't very many views from which to paint it from.
I usually paint this view from my house. I like the scene because of the perspective you are challenged with. You are looking down on the horizon line.
They are like my haystacks, I am always learning something every time I paint them. I try to paint these scenes in different light keys.
This summer I think I will do a grey day painting of the roof tops.

Painting the Figure on the Beach

For thirty years Charles Hawthorne taught outdoor painting  on the beach in Provincetown.

By sitting the models with their  backs to the sun the artist is able to see masses of color better than in an indoor studio.

Hawthorne usually used the local Portuguese children to pose.

Because of their dark complexion they affectionately called the  paintings
"Mud Heads".

I attended the Cape Cod School of Art ,

during the last eight years of the School. The Barn on 46 Pearl Street was everything a summer art studio should be. The barn was insulated  in the 1930's with these Mud Head paintings, that students left behind after the summer.

When the school closed, these paintings where removed and sold around town.

Today the painting of the Mud Head continues. Here we are on the beach yesterday painting the outdoor portrait. This is a great way to learn the light key because you have a few patterns to tackle, the Model, water and sky, or beach.

Mud Head 1930's

John Clayton Painting the Mud Head

My Studies

Here is my study from this morning. I am now moving beyond mud head, and beginning to model the planes of the head with color. When you develop the study it becomes more of an outdoor portrait than a Mud Head. The reason Charles Hawthorne made his students paint with a putty knife was to keep them from modeling and creating details.

Pathway to the Bay

When I first came to live in Provincetown I lived on this street, Johnson street. Painting here always brings back memories.
I love the way the light pours in from the right.
I came back to this scene four times to work on it, so that I could study the color variations within the mass.

I wanted to study the light key, so I came back at the same time and the same light conditions over a period of a week. I might have been able to cut the time in half but people kept stopping by and talking to me.
Provincetown is a very social town so beware, it can be at times distracting, however it's great to be outside painting in the sun and enjoying the sea air and all the colorful characters who inhabit Provincetown.