Overlapping

Sample's

In this painting of the "End of Sample's Boatyard",   overlapping plays a big part in creating movement, textures and interest.  First, overlapping plays a crucial role in interrupting many straight lines. That creates shapes that are not boring rectangles.  More important, the overlapping that occurs around the dock house contains the lightest values in the painting and therefore draws your eye to that area. 

Be conscious of overlapping shapes to create both aerial perspective and textural interest.

New Colors

I've had the same colors on my palette for ages.  I know how they combine with other colors, and which ones to use to mix up a warm or cool gray.  But this summer I decided I needed to shake things up a bit and have tentatively added a few new flavors to the mix. 

I'm still not sure I would recommend that an absolute beginner buy every color note offered by the manufacturers.  Get to know the basics:  a warm and cool of each primary and a couple of earth tones ought to do it.  Gradually, you can experiment with one or two new colors if you find a reason to.  It is very important that you know your color goals as well.  Since I'm gravitating towards more inventive and arbitrary colors to make color a statement that is every bit as important as the choice of subject matter, it only makes sense to expand my choices.

Here's today's effort, which utilizes Quinacrodone Rose. (It took forever for my tongue to get around that one!)

Plein Air Group

I was once asked by an elderly painter I had just met if I "painted in a herd."  I knew what she meant, but nevertheless, I was somewhat offended by the superior attitude.  Painters paint together for all sorts of reasons.  Life drawing/painting classes are certainly more affordable if everyone chips in for the model's fee.
Instructors teach classes in which there are always some people at the beginning of their painting journey.  And sometimes it's just fun to paint with a group of friends.....no teacher, no critique....just everyone doing their own thing.  While waiting for my watercolor washes to dry, I get a chance to walk around and see what other painters have chosen to paint and how they choose to paint it.  And often in that setting, we get to talking about technique or composition or current shows.  The conversations develop naturally, and usually laughter is involved.

Back to my painter friend.  I answered that sometimes I valued the comraderie of painting with my peers.  And a good teacher can inform or remind you of the basics of painting.  I understood that she meant that sometimes painting in proximity to other artists can influence the direction of the group.  I countered that if you have a solid background and have already begun to develop your own style, you can still take clues from the work of others.  If we didn't, we might never go to a gallery or a museum to study what others have done.

So, yes, today I painted in a small herd of talented and dedicated plein air painters.  And I totally enjoyed it!

Local landmarks

                                            The Footbridge
Every town has them.  Landmarks that are so iconic that every artist in the area has painted them a dozen times.  So how do you get a new angle on an old subject? 

1. Zoom in.   Most of the time we put in far too much subject matter and the landmark gets lost in the crowd.

2.  Limit your palette.

3.  Add figures.

4. Let other buildings "frame" the landmark. 
 I once saw a painting of the Missouri State Capitol framed by the opening in a close-up barn.  I never forgot the image.

5. Soften or eliminate the background.

Here's a local landmark in Boothbay Harbor, Maine....The Footbridge House.

Color Theme

                                    Wharf Life #13
This is the third in a series of paintings I've done in which I've limited my palette to white, grays, and blacks.
The first two were vertical, so I wanted one more that was a horizontal. 

Also, note the absence of texture in the water and most of the foreground.  Cluttering up the foreground would make you look at that instead of out where I wanted the viewer to focus.  Instead the eye looks over the foreground on its way to the textures and busy-ness of the dock.  Limit details and calligraphy to the focal area.

Drama

                                 Friendship Sloop Races
It takes big contrasts to create drama in a painting.  Far from photo realism, I still believe this painting achieves a level of dramatic color, value and lighting. 

The technique is again to carve out the whites with the first wash. If the resulting shapes are interesting, and the washes are clean, the lack of detail is an asset in creating drama with big bold shapes. Notice that the white sails overlap and therefore create one big shape with oblique, interlocking edges.

These are Friendship sloops, designed originally to haul cargo downeast.  I love the long graceful curve of the bow and the rectangular shape of the main sail. 

It's hot here!

Alternation

One of the six value patterns described by Ed Whitney is alternation.  It's a kind of checkerboard pattern with no real light source.  Alternating white, gray and black with a few touches of warmth for relief, here's a painting which illustrates the technique.

Basically, I established the white shapes using the grays.  Then I added the blacks, either within a gray shape or next to a white.  You should be able to look at any valued shape and find the other two tangent to it.  There are a few exceptions, but mostly alternation is present everywhere.

Scroll down and see Second Chance for a color version of this technique.
Beware!  This is way harder than it looks!

Layering

After putting on a wet, juicy first wash, while the paper is still very wet, you can load the brush up with another color and layer it over the first.  It should be remembered, though, if you start with a cool, stay on the cool side with the second layer.  You can gradually add more layers and even go to the warmer side.  But if you go from cool to warm or warm to cool too quickly, that will create a mud bath.

Tonight is a full moon, so I suggested another moon motif in this oft painted version of Hendrick's Head Lighthouse. 

The Importance of Values

In recent years I've become a colorist.  But today I felt the need to eliminate most color to express the mood of an old Maine dock.  So values became a key element in the painting.  I tried to keep most of the darker values under the dock.  The large roof area was left in relatively higher values to keep the biggest contrasts at the edge of the dock house and in the lower half of the painting. I threw in some warmer tones there, too, and confined the textures to that same area, leaving the perimeter fairly flat and smooth.  The right side of the painting provides some aerial perspective using lighter values, and the simple shape balances the composition .

I also invented the chimney to break up the straight roofline. 

Second Chance

                                         Centah of Attention
The painting on the other side of this sheet is very accurate and very boring.  When that happens, and I've got nothing to lose, I sometimes flip the paper over and just paint.......No drawing, just a big wide brush full of paint.  The initial wash carves out a white path and establishes a "mother color", as Frank Webb calls it.  Then  I look for ways to highlight those areas by using complementary colors or by surrounding it first with midtones and then darks for contrasts, expanding outward.

The underpainting is fairly abstract with little regard for where the subject matter is going to be placed.  I did save the whites in the steeple, but  most of the rest of the white areas are just a pathway through the middle of the painting.  I keep the calligraphy and what little texture there is also around the middle.  The periphery is lacking in detail, texture and calligraphy so as not to draw attention to the edges of the paper.

I've said it before....a painting is not a photograph.  I wanted the feeling of a busy country corner, not a portrait of some buildings.  There are just enough recognizable landmarks in this painting to let the viewer know that they are on Boothbay Common, in the great state of Maine on a happy, sunny day.

Mood

Today was the quintessential summer day in Maine.  Sunny, light breeze, ocean lapping.  I've painted this scene countless times, but today it felt like something out of a mystery novel.  I've seen Grimes Cove bathed in moonlight, and decided that I would paint it that way.  Of course, quite a few bystanders thought I had been out there all night painting, or that I had visual problems!  Silly tourists.  Or.... crazy artist?? 

Lowering the key once in a while results in a completely different mood.  So do color temperature shifts, and choice of subject matter. 

I'm hoping not everyone wants a bright sunny day painting, and that they'll be intrigued by the change in mood of a familiar scene.

The Bold First Wash

When putting down a big first wash, it's easy to be fooled by the white of the paper and therefore be intimidated into putting down a cautious, wimpy first wash.  Almost any wash you put down on the white of the paper is going to look darker than it will eventually look.  Successive washes can be much darker when placed on top of the first one.

So it's a good idea to put down a bold, brave wash of intense color, especially when carving out the whites.
When it's wet, it will look darker than it is, and next to the pure white of the paper, it will seem even darker. But risk it, and you'll see!

Scale

The Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library is in the heart of downtown Boothbay Harbor.  The quaint old building exudes New England charm.  It is not a large structure.  In order to make that clear, figures were needed to give scale to the building.  The hint of a couple of people across the street lends further evidence of their distance from the library. 

Placing figures near a natural object or a man made structure suggest scale and the relative size of a thing.

Back to the Basics

                                                                 Cosy Harbor, Southport
Sometimes I actually take my own advice.  On Wednesday, I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine at Cosy Harbor.  When faced with so many details on location, I decided to make a painting based on values, with  much less emphasis on color.  I also settled on a time honored practice of watercolorists: I started with the farthest, lightest landmass and moved forward in values.  I reduced the number of boats to three.  And I minimized the value contrast in the foreground.  Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Warm vs. Cool

I've heard it said that warm colored paintings sell better than cool colored paintings.  I have no data to back this up. Anybody out there have any opinions on the matter?

I Repeat....

Repetition is necessary to give a painting unity.  In this painting of Pratt's Island lobster shacks, I'm particularly happy with the repetition of colors throughout the surface. It's pretty easy to spot the repeated oranges, violets, and yellows.  Some are pure, some are more neutralized, but they are included at various locations on the page.  This is why it is important to work on the whole page at the same time. 

 It is also easier if you work wet into wet.  Hard edges tend to isolate colors instead of integrating them.
Try to be conscious of repeating color in the early stages of your painting when areas can be kept soft.

Trail of White

The white of the paper is very important to the watercolorist. But so many times, the white shapes in a painting can be scattered, random and unorganized.  Some authors refer to these as "popcorn" whites.
With some planning, white shapes can be organized to lead the eye through the painting.

Keep in mind, too, that one white shape should be dominant, probably in the focal area.  Try to avoid leaving whites along the edge of the paper. 

In this painting of Boothbay Harbor, the trail of whites form a "T" composition which takes the viewer from the foreground to the background. 

Warming Up

I finally got out to do my first plein air painting of the summer.  Very few tourists are here in Boothbay Harbor this early, so I felt comfortable painting right downtown on the waterfront.  I like the composition, and the atmosphere was enhanced by a young couple, he, playing the guitar, she, singing.

For those of you in those parts of the country sweltering from un-June like temperatures, I am pleased to announce that today it was 70 degrees and sunny.  Come on up!  Or better yet, sign up for my workshop in September!

Painting the Negative Space

A light subject can be carved out by painting the negative space around it.  But many people have problems thinking in the negative.

In this painting of Old Orchard Beach Pier, you can see this approach in the first wash.  The buildings on the pier, some of the closer pilings, and some of the surf pools are left when I painted the space behind and around them. This requires good planning, a large loaded brush and a rather fast hand.  

The second and subsequent washes can be painted as positive darker shapes. Cast shadows can cut into the reserved lights  But the first wash that carves out a clear light shape by leaving it alone is the most important stage.  Study the first wash and the final painting and you'll see how saving those large white shapes was a key to the final painting.

Elements of Design - Shapes

Edgar Whitney believed that the best shapes are longer in one dimension, interlocking, and oblique.
I try to keep that in mind when designing the shapes in my painting.

The hardest thing for students to understand is that shapes and objects are not synonymous.  The shade side of a building can be linked to the cast shadow of the building to form a dark shape.  The sunlit side of the building can be the same value as part of the background to form a light shape.

In this painting demo, the light on the path leads out to the light on ocean and then into the sky to form one light shape.  The path is an oblique and interlocks with some of the darker midtones of the ground vegetation.
And it is longer in length than in width.  Study the tree foliage for the same principles.

The Art of Elimination

In this demo that I did for a workshop in Rocheport, Missouri today, the question that arose in the students' minds, and mine also, was about the tree in the center of the scene.  It was my immediate feeling that I should leave it out in order for more attention to be on the gazebo.  The tree would have immediately grabbed a lot of attention because of its central location and its dark red value which also would have been hard to repeat.
Near the end of the process when I could have still added the tree, the students all agreed that the painting was fine without the tree.  I had also eliminated a telephone pole and a guard rail in the foreground.

Before you choose to include something in your composition merely because "it was there", think about its usefulness to the painting.  Eliminating extraneous objects for the sake of your painting's streamlined idea is a smart move.

Elements of Design - Texture

Using a little bit of texture provides my paintings with some relief in areas that are just a bit too smooth and boring.  In my case, texture is either splatter, calligraphy or dry brush, and it usually can be found in the foreground.  But it should still be located in a small area to form a kind of shape or a line.  Randomly  placing texture everywhere in a painting will diminish its effectiveness.

Sorry I've been away for a while.  I suffered through a weekend of toothache pain and had an emergency root canal yesterday.  Painting and blogging went to the bottom of my priorities while the pain in my mouth took over my life!

I have a workshop with students in the Columbia, Missouri area this upcoming weekend.  Will post photos during that time!

Elements of Design - Direction

Objects, shapes, and lines can all point.  The directions can be vertical, horizontal or oblique (slanted).  A dominant direction can provide a restful feel (horizontal), a dignified formality (vertical), or an energized, exciting feeling (oblique).  Directions can also point out the focal point or direct the veiwer's eye through the painting.

In this painting of an old fort in St. Augustine, the obliques will guide you into the painting from almost every corner.  The shadows zig-zag through the center of interest.  The perspective of the turrets also form an implied directional path. Even the figures line up in an oblique direction.

Consciously designing objects and lines that have a dominant direction is a very helpful technique in creating an interesting painting.

Elements of Design - Color

In my outdoor workshops, I often find that students are overwhelmed with the details before them.  And often times they try to match the local color of the spot. That will sometimes result in a lack of unity and harmony, as colors remain isolated and disconnected from the rest of the painting.

My suggestion is to limit the number of colors which will force a repetition of colors over the whole picture plane.

These two paintings were done with limited palettes.  One was done entirely with thalo green and alizarin crimson.  The other was painted with a warmer palette of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and purple.
Depending on the mixture, one color can dominate.  The midtones tend to lean towards neutral grayed, broken colors while the lights tended to be purer. Alizarin and thalo green make a fabulous cool black value. Burnt sienna mixed with ultramarine blue makes a warmer dark value.

Here are some other limited palettes to try:

Yellow ochre, burnt sienna, Payne's gray

New gamboge, cadmium orange and cobalt blue

Cadmium yellow, burnt umber and ultramarine blue

Pick a familiar subject and paint it several times, each attempt using a different limited palette.  It will teach you a lot about glazing, mixing, and painting values.

Elements of Design - Gradation

A long time ago in Maine, I decided to concentrate on one or two elements and a couple of design principles when I went out to paint on location.  Then, when I returned home, I would set the painting up in a trial mat to evaluate how I had done.

Here's an example.  Gradation, the gradual proceeding from one thing to another in any shape, can be seen in the gradation of color in the sky and the gradation of value and texture in the buildings. 

If you don't have some elements and principles in mind when you set out to paint, you're doomed to fail.  Instead of thinking about painting things (i.e.trees, buildings, water and mountains), concentrate on the the elements and principles you want to use to portray those things. Get your check list out when you evaluate how your design  succeeded or not in each of your paintings.

Paint What You Know

Last week I had a visit with a friend from New Hampshire who was in St. Louis to talk to the students of Parks Aviation College.  Betsy is a retired pilot who flew 757's for UPS.  She brought along the sketchbooks that she's been making of her workplace for the last few years.  There are sketches of the planes on the tarmac, her co-workers, and from the cockpit of the clouds and weather formations she observed.  It's all accompanied by wonderful explanations and descriptions of what she's depicting, and makes for a fascinating look at aviation from the pilot's point of view.

I've said it before:  Drawing is essential, no matter if you are a realist, impressionist or abstract expressionist.  Sketching and drawing should be a regular and routine part of keeping your hand and eye ready.  Sketch your daily surroundings, your workplace, and the people around you. 

Here are a couple of Betsy's sketches.  Thanks for sharing, Betsy!

Impressions of Maine

Maine has several well known towns, but because of a certain family, one community is known by the rest of the country better than the others.  Kennebunkport is a quaint seaside village whose most notable residents are George and Barbara Bush.  I imagine curiousity about their residence on Walker's Point has pulled more than one vacationer off I-95 to see what the place has to offer.

It's also a magnet for artists of every stripe.  Here's my take on the town square, very loosely represented.  I have a second version on the drafting table as I write. 

Painting From Photos

Sometimes it is easy to become a slave to a photograph.  More often we overlook some photos as not having enough in them to make them candidates for painting source material.

In early June last summer,  I stopped briefly at Old Orchard Beach on my way to my summer place in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 

It was a gray, rainy day, and very few people were in this honky tonk amusement town on the beach.  But I took some photos anyway.

Here is one I took from the beach looking back at the amusement park.  You might not think that it would inspire me to paint the scene.  No color, no people, and the rides weren't even open yet, so there were very few people around.  However, there are enough suggestions of the carnival atmosphere to build a painting.  And the gray scene meant that I wouldn't be tied to local color.

The problem in the photo is the lack of subject matter in the upper left hand corner.  I solved that by raising the roller coaster and inventing signage.  The straight unbroken line of the fence also presented a problem.  I changed it by including figures about to enter the park, and slightly curved the fence to repeat the curves in the ferris wheel and the halfdome building.  One figure breaks the line of the fence and the bottom edge of the paper.

You can also detect the linkage of white shapes to lead the eye through the painting. 

One last suggestion.  As you discover motifs that you have used in the past, draw upon those to help solve the empty space problem.  I have often included signs in my paintings, and they certainly came in handy for this painting.  By making them slightly oblique, they were also a useful element to "point" to the focal area.

So don't eliminate photos just because they are not ready-made compositions.  They might just be the motivation to think about the elements and principles to add to make the composition your own invention.

Secondary Triad

The secondary triad is becoming a favorite these days.  Here's a scene of the Old Orchard Pier in southern Maine done in purple, green and a hint of orange.  I'll be trying it again soon in another combination....Maybe analogous colors. 

Try limiting your palette selections for a greater sense of harmony, unity and dominance.

Returning to an Old Motif

                                                                  Neptune's Trident

I love painting statuary and fountains.  When they are combined, that is even more interesting to me.  Here's one in Kansas City of Neptune with his trident. 

I'm having trouble with catching a wi-fi signal at home so I'm at the library today.  Don't give up on me if I don't post for a few days! 

Using a Motif

                                                              Kirkwood Market II

One of the best ways I've found to stretch my limits in painting is to use the same subject again and again, but paint it as differently as possible each time.  The first time you might use local color.  But the next time try using only three colors.  The next time eliminate everything in the background.  The following time raise the horizon line; the next, lower it.  Paint wet into wet, but switch to painting on dry paper for the next painting.
Bring the subject up close, then push it back.  Paint the background to leave a white silhouette (painting the negative shape); then paint the object in a darker, positive silhouette.  Paint in neutral tones, then in pure tones. 

Experimenting will give you  options.  You don't have to follow the same method every time.  Deciding what you want to say will influence the procedure you choose.

Here's another take on the Kirkwood Market with a cooler palette and more pure colors.

Final Version

                                          Kirkwood Market
Here's the final version of yesterday's painting.  I'm using it as a model for a demonstration to students in watercolorist Carol Carter's classes at Maryville University this morning.  I'm going to also try it with a cool palette today.

Linkage

I'm choosing to show the midway point in this painting of the Kirkwood Farmers' Market to make a point about saving the whites to form a passageway through the painting.  Rather than think about objects, concentrate on weaving the whites.

I decided to eliminate the background noise of trees and sky in favor of a dominant yellow/orange palette.  That led to a secondary palette of orange, purple and green.   I used combinations of those colors to surround the whites. I then started painting some darks from the inside outward, grading the values so that the whites "pop" where the darks and lights meet.  Textures also remain in the central part of the page, thus subordinating the borders. 

This stage of the painting tells you more about how to link objects into shapes that are interesting and lead the viewer around the parts of the  painting that I want to emphasize. 

Matching the Sofa

A little while ago I looked up at the painting over my fireplace.  It was a break-through painting when I painted it nearly twenty years ago. But I've been fiddling with the decor in my living room, and wanted a painting that would not only be an example of my latest style, but also come in aid of the red accents in the room these days.  Luckily, we painters have the option of swapping out old paintings fairly easily.

Sometime it became chic to say that you shouldn't mind, and even be proud of the fact that a painting doesn't match your sofa.  I understand that you shouldn't let the colors of your furniture and accent pieces interfere with your love of a particular piece of art.  But one of the elements of design is repetition which comes in aid of harmony.  Why not let the painting complement the decor and vice versa? 

So here's my effort to match the pillows on the sofa.  It's a full sheet (22" X 30"). 

Missing Naples

Here's a painting I did several years ago of the entrance to the Naples Pier. 

 Look for ways to interrupt straight lines or boring rectangles.  It could be a tree trunk, a bench, a railing or a person. 

Also you can simplify tree foliage by using the silhouette technique to describe it rather than including every leaf or frond.  Too many textures in too many places confuse the viewers.  They can't tell what your focal point is. 

Happy Daylight Savings Time!

Watering Holes

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that I've done a series of paintings of people enjoying themselves in pubs and taverns.  I am pleased to announce that Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor, Maine has decided to feature them in a show next July.  I hope that some of you can make it!

Since I've been home in St. Louis, the weather has been conducive to studio painting, so here's today's effort, hot off the easel this noon. 

Workshop Opportunity

We interrupt this blogsite to bring you an important message about Carol Jessen's 2011 Watercolor Workshop in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 

My workshop will be held September 12th - 16th.  The scenery is quintessentially coastal Maine:  lighthouses,  rocky beaches, quiet village streets, working waterfronts and harbor scenes.   Each day's lesson will focus on a different aspect of producing a successful and entertaining painting. 

The workshop is headquartered at the Beach Cove Resort, a small resort with spectacular views of West Harbor Pond.   Located on a quiet street yet convenient to the downtown area, Beach Cove has large, modern and affordable rooms.

To request an online brochure, email me at   caroljessen@yahoo.com  

We now return you to our regular blogsite.......

Bridging the Gap

While travelling home, it's nearly impossible to dig out the easel from under the suitcases to do a painting. 
And taking time out from the trip can cost money in extra hotel bills.  So, how do you keep your hand and eye ready when bridging the gap between locations?

I found myself in a restaurant which covered their tablecloths with paper.  My hand was itching, so I took out a pen and started to draw.  Suddenly there was a beach with driftwood, a dog and a schooner out on the waves.  The only drawback is that your waitress may be reluctant to put your plate down on your tablescape masterpiece!

On the Road Again

I've been travelling for a few days, so I haven't posted anything.  My painting time has also been restricted.  I arrive back on the panhandle tomorrow, so I hope to have some new paintings to share very soon.  Meanwhile, here's a painting to tide you over!

Onlookers

While painting on location, an occupational hazard/delight is having people stop by to look, comment, and admire.  Occasionally, though, their comments are memorable. 

Yesterday I was painting in downtown Naples.  I was standing in a parking lot looking across at a wonderful old banyan tree.  When I was nearly finished with the painting, a couple walked up, and the husband said, "Wow!  That's a really nice painting!  Are you painting a local scene?"  (No, I'm painting a banyan tree in Miami from a photograph and just thought I'd come out to this hot parking lot to do it.  Sigh......)

Most folks are very kind, respectful and admiring.  I generally enjoy the contact.  But some do make you wonder!

Naples Workshop

I was so pleased when five ladies here in Naples invited me to give them a one day workshop today.  We returned to Haldeman Creek on a beautiful February day. (That MUST be an oxymoron!).

The lesson began with a description of the six major value patterns. I chose one and then did a demo which illustrated procedure. 

The ladies said they were in unchartered waters, but felt adventurous enough to try something new.  To their delight and mine, they succeeded beyond their best dreams!  We had colorful minglings, good shapes, warm against cool, cool against warm, gradation....they mastered almost every single idea I threw at them.  Thank you, ladies of Naples!  It was a most enjoyable teaching experience.