We painted today on a huge private estate that belongs to heirs of the Reynolds family, which was fabulous. It was also kind of muggy, but we were brave plein air warriors.
This time we were on our own to choose painting sites, one in the morning and a second site in the afternoon. Laurel patrolled, offering help throughout the day.
No one roughs it here.
I stood under this pergola to paint. Shade was a requirement.
This scene was my task.
In progress (maybe I will show you the ugly steps down the road but not tonight)
Oh no, she fell over again while critiquing my painting,
The finished painting
My next choice
Now what have I done to my blog?? Sigh.
The beginning
Here is the finished painting, I am too tired to continue with this one finger typing and bloggery misbehavior.
Both of these paintings were rectangular, not square, but I am quite inept at blogging on this little device–the normal controls aren’t showing up.
Tomorrow is the third and final day so we will continue next week.
It is possible that I didn’t learn much in March. Perhaps I spent too much time on hold with both Huge & Rude and Small & Bumbling. But now we have faster internet, so that’s a good thing.
FWIW means For What It’s Worth. (Thank you, SD!)
Donald Miller has a podcast and is a delight to listen to. I’ve always liked his writing (Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Scary Close), and now he has a business called Storybrand, where he helps people market their products by telling their stories.
I figured out a new tool for teaching people to draw. (Why did it take 25 years? I didn’t have the tech skills and equipment until a few years ago – there’s one excuse.)
One of my new students taught me a little trick for seeing things when you don’t have your cheater magnifying glasses. Make a mini telescope with your fist, put it to your best eye, and look through it at the thing you are trying to read. It helps a little.
I relearned that everything is harder than one expects it to be. We have Spectrum, finally, sort of. It took 5 days of visits by 6 different installers, and another visit by some sort of technician (or more–I’ve lost track). I still have no phone in the studio, but finally bought enough gizmos to bounce the internet signal to the outbuildings. The sales boy sold this to us on February 7, and now it is April 1. Am I a fool? Nope, but I’ve been fooled by Small & Bumbling into thinking the switchover would be easy.
Posts about walks I take garner more comments than posts about drying paint (unless it is the progress of a mural).
Getting a new book is fun fun fun! (I already knew that, but just wanted to push Mineral King Wildflowers a little bit.)
My new teaching tool shows 4 versions of the same image. The students in my most recent workshop really took it and ran with it. They were very quick to pick up the techniques of drawing.
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $19.78 including tax (unless you pay cash because I’m not making change or unless my website charges you, and I can’t figure out why it does that sometimes and not others.)
In the month of March, I am teaching a beginning drawing class to six people, two hours per week at Arts Visalia, a very fine non-profit gallery in downtown Visalia. (This is the county seat, the town we usually mean in Three Rivers when we say we have to go “down the hill”.)
The six folks were all new to me, although we have found a few connections, as one does in a place like Tulare County. We worked through my regular beginning exercises on the first evening, and they were terrific. Easy to work with, understood and followed directions, asked good questions that helped me clarify my instructions, and they all did very well.
I suggested that they bring photos they might like to draw from for the second lesson. That night, I woke up with such a good idea that it could only have been inspired by God.
It is based on the idea that there is an order of difficulty in drawing. Here it is from easiest to yikes:
Other people’s drawings
Black and white photos
Color photos
Real life
I went through my zillions of photos and chose a stack that will give a beginner a reasonable chance at success. Then I chose one to try out – could I draw this quickly? Could I scan it successfully and make a printable tool for my new students?
Yeppers.
I always have new students do a tracing of the photo so they have a simple version for beginning a drawing. Tracing is a tool, not a “cheat”.
I like this! This means I have 11 more tracings, drawings and scans to do. Good thing I love to draw.
The poinsettia as an oil painting subject was challenging. One of my students requested that I demonstrate rather than just explain. That was a big “duh” moment for me. I should have thought of that myself!
I’ve been in workshops before where it seemed as if the demonstration was a waste of time. This is because the demonstrator/teacher/artist didn’t say why he was doing each thing. He would forget to explain, so I’d watch with no idea of how to make my own decisions. I did my best to explain how I mixed each color and why I added how much of which primary or white.
My demo painting is lying on the table on the left, with just a corner painted. It was enough help for this painter to approach her painting with more confidence than the previous session.
Good progress made, color mixing learned, shapes refined, blending techniques successfully used.
The color got corrected on 2 petals to a more satisfactory match to the photo. Matching the photo wasn’t necessary for believability, but it is great practice.
Great progress made on this one – petal shapes refined, color mixing and blending learned a bit more.
This one is closest to being finished, but knowing the painter, she’ll probably want to keep layering and perfecting. (She is the most experienced painter in the group and a quick study.) It looks a little pale because it is wet and shiny.
Maybe next year we’ll just finish all the incomplete paintings from previous years’ workshops.
Sometimes, in spite of feeling highly unqualified, I show a few of my drawing students what I know about oil painting. I’ve been oil painting since March 8, 2006, and yet I feel green as grass.
But, they want to learn and practice, and I want to share what I know.
This year they all worked on a poinsettia. I provided a stack of different photos, and every participant chose the same photo. What??
The flower shape was a bit confounding, although mostly forgivable. After all, who cares exactly how many petals (which are actually leaves, but who cares about that either?) are on a poinsettia?
I thought this would be an easy-ish subject because we worked mostly in shades of red. Because, who cares if the color is exactly the same as the photo or if it is a red that the painter finds more pleasing?
Nothing is easy when you are new to painting (or drawing or knitting or driving or playing golf or playing a flute . . .)
Wow. That session went quickly. Tune in tomorrow to see the process and the results of day 2.
Drawing in pencil is my favorite thing. My second favorite part of my business might be helping other people draw in pencil. One afternoon a week, I teach 5 small groups of people for one hour per group. Each participant works on his own drawing at his own pace. Her own drawing at her own pace. (Nope, I will NOT use the plural “their” when discussing the singular participant.)
My students are FABULOUS people. Each one has his own reasons for attending, her own goals for lessons; I enjoy each individual and the unique blend of each group.
There is a mix of ages (6th grade is the youngest I accept) and a mix of skill levels. Have a look at some of the recent work.
This is an interesting little coincidence – 2 livestock portraits across the table from one another. Each was working from her own photo.
This drawing is from a photo taken by the student who was almost charged by this elephant. We have named him Elliott.
Clearly this student has an interest in marine life. We are both a bit stumped on how to portray the water, but we’ll figure it out. And no, she didn’t take the original photo of the whale herself.
Today’s featured oil painting at Anne Lang’s Emporium:
Crescent Meadow, oil on wrapped canvas (why do I ALWAYS say this??), 6×18″, $150 plus tax.
Turning Leaf XVIII, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $64 including California sales tax
Remember in the olden days when Labor Day was the first day of school? You’d get up in the dark, put on new clothes, wear shoes for the first time in months and say, “Mom, these shoes are too tight!” to which she’d respond, “They are fine. You just aren’t used to wearing shoes”.
Then you’d stand out in front of the house with your lunch box (mine was Mary Poppins, and although I didn’t see the movie, I did have the record) and a cat or dog for a photo.
Photos were a big deal in those days, taken to commemorate Events rather than for routine and systematic documentation of everyday life. None of us knew what to do with our faces or our hands or our bodies when a camera was looking at us. Today all kids can instinctively arrange their bodies into professional look poses and with their perfectly straightened teeth and the confidence of a supermodel, they all look naturally beautiful.
Now school starts in early August when it is still hot. I think everyone wears shorts to school now, which were forbidden in the olden days except for P.E., which was required from 7th grade on.
I am very old-fashioned. There are no drawing lessons in July or August, and we resume on the Tuesday after Labor Day. (I even wear shoes, real shoes, rather than Tevas or Crocs and if you want, I can pose awkwardly with my cats for a photo.)
Anyone want to take drawing lessons? I have a few openings. . .
Occasionally I have a chance to teach a handful of people what little I know about oil painting. I have only been painting for 12 years, so while I feel qualified to share what I know, I don’t think of myself as a qualified oil painting teacher.
There are 3 women about 2 hours away from Three Rivers who have been learning to oil paint by various methods and by painting together. They invited me to teach them what I know. One was my dear friend, The Captain, who successfully painted a pomegranate with me about a month ago.
This time we painted poppies, each person working from a different photo, but all mixing similar colors and tackling the project in the same order, but at differing individual speeds.
We squeeze out our double primary palette colors and mix up three shades of the background greens.
We draw the approximate shape of the poppy on the canvas, rotating the canvas and photo to view all the shapes from every angle and learn how to erase.
The background gets painted first, working first with the darkest colors and moving lighter.
We mix 3 shades of orange for the poppies.
We paint the poppies.
We let it dry overnight (only sort of dry – this is oil paint!) and then repaint the background for better coverage and more detail.
We repaint the poppy for better coverage and detail.
We evaluate one another’s paintings, congratulating the others on their success and belittling our own efforts (sad, but true).
We exclaim over the fun, the success, and say that we need to do this again.
If you have read my blog for awhile, you may remember seeing occasional references to a friend whom I call “The Captain”. She is exploring oil painting as a new hobby, and she requested my assistance. Naturally, I said YES!
I traveled the 2 hours and 7 minutes to her house (could have been shorter and more stressful but I chose the rural roads instead of the freeways) so that we could spend time painting together. The plan was for 4 people in a 2 day workshop but the other 3 bailed. (What?? Am I a scary teacher?) The Captain and I were able to concentrate and learn and catch up on life, and in the end, she had a wonderful 8×8″ oil painting of a pomegranate.
First, we worked on mixing colors. Mushroom wanted to help.
Then, The Captain drew the pomegranate shape on the canvas and began the background.
We had to take a break to feed a baby. . .
. . .and to greet the most beautiful color combination on a horse I’ve ever seen – this is Ernie, a “halflinger”.
Time to work on the pomegranate with its various reds and textures.
Mr. Mittens wants to know what we are doing.
The blossom end of the pomegranate required tremendous concentration.
Isn’t this fantastic?? Captain, I am proud of you!
