We spent a beautiful two and one half hours at the beach which made me realize that I need, want to get back to seascapes. It takes me back to my dilemma of plein air. Those that I've done I've done from photos or rough sketches but rough sketches miss the colors; photos are better for that but I seem to have this ideal vision of sitting on an ocean bluff with my easel and paints and painting the perfect seascape. One I did last summer...

Studies of the Rock River at flood

Paint, paint, paint. Well, I didn't paint Wednesday. I played a round of golf in the late afternoon but the next morning I painted my fourth study of the Rock River at flood. This one is closer but I don't have the shading right yet. However, it was a satisfying morning of painting.

I haven't opened my package of Bockingford rough yet.  I think I'm afraid to open it because I feel a little intimated by it. It seems magical to me.  It's like the paper has these mystical qualities that are going to transform me into something more - a wonderful painter with as yet unsung technique and feeling.

It's like a little day dream. Time to get on with it. Open Sesame! 

I'm doing a series of paintings of trees and flooding lakes or rivers all leading up to a painting I want to do of the Rock River. The first two I did were OK - one 6x4 and the other 8x10. The one I've been working on today is crap but I'm trying to do it all wet on wet and I guess I need to know more about what I'm painting before I put that water on paper.

done au plein air - sort of - view from my window edited for compositional purposes.

From someone's photo of a house in Spain I think. Both done in May

Take a deep breath and paint. That's what I did this morning. I'm not totally happy with the results but they are leading me to how to do my projected painting of the Rock River at flood tide. I'm looking at it as practice for what I really want.

Painting spurs me on, keeps me interested in life. I love to admire others' work, and I love to paint my own even when I'm not feeling adequate (whatever that means). So when a painting doesn't come out the way I had planned I put it away - unless the plan was flawed and the painting is a nice surprise. The point is to paint or at least sketch everyday. There are fifteen minutes in the busiest of days to devote to my art/craft.

I read about painting. I write about painting but where is my painting? I haven't put brush to paper for at least a week. I have sketches going (I have been sketching at least everyday) but haven't taken the time to sit in my studio and put brush to paper to add color to my life.  It's not for lack of ideas. My sketchbook is full of them as is my camera. Sit down, take a deep breath paint.

We were in Savannah from Wednesday to Friday so I didn't blog nor did I paint but I did sketch and I took a lot of pictures. I saw lots of "original" art. Many of them showed us fine techniques and good drawing and compositional skills which they used to represent scenes from Savannah but most fell flat in my eyes because they had no originality. They were geared to the tourist. Painted only to sell, certainly not to move or excite the senses. Mostly they looked like they could be photos...

Am I criticizing because I don't have those blocking and drawing skills yet? I don't think so. First, these artists were working in oils or acrylics so their techniques and overall effect will be very different from watercolors and second I do admire some of those skills but not the lack of an original voice.

Lessons I draw from this is that if I want to sell my work I need to apply drawing techniques and use my eye (my voice) for what would please a potential buyer but if I want to paint just because I love to paint and love to express my voice in color and depth then I just really need to take a deep breath and paint in my voice through my eyes.

Autumn in New York - from a photo

Painting Au Plein Air (or good old outdoor painting)

I walk with the dog and I sometimes see an interesting aspect of the landscape - a tree stark and bare against a wooded background; a palm tree against a building; the view outside my door or my sunroom; and I think why don't I paint that? Often, I already have and sometimes several times - all different; all showing aspects of my progress or not. Like my progress in color mixing or composition or whatever.

I often let life get in the way of my daily painting or writing but more often I get in my own way. Why? If I'm outside painting or sketching I soon have company. People want to watch me, talk to me ask questions or worse make suggestions. I don't want the company, thanks. I know when I start a painting it takes time before anything comes of it and that my rough sketches are very rough (drawing not being one of my strong suits) so I don't want to explain those things to people.

I admire people who take easel, paints, brushes, canvas or paper and set up outside, start painting and something emerges. For some, their work turns into great art, for others maybe not so great but they all seem to have the ego strength I lack. They can get out there, work and ignore or not be bothered by company.

So more often than not I use photographs. I'm outside and then I take them into my studio. They help me with concentration and composition. And they sidestep my shyness when outside trying to work. Everybody takes pictures.

I'm reading an article in the Artist's Magazine where the artist is describing her set up and under drawing for her still life. She set up with precision, used a viewfinder and took a photo which she developed into a 4x6. Then she worked on her under drawing which took her three days to complete.

The process was precise and rather daunting to me (maybe why I shy away from the still life). I tend to take things away from my backgrounds to make them as simple as possible. Then I can concentrate on my focal point - the flower or the plants themselves. Maybe I'll try her way because while I know how to get perspective in my landscapes and my seascapes I have trouble with the still life.

One way I learn is to try different techniques, different styles. I'm not strong on precise, detailed paintings -it's not how my brain really works. My work is representational yes, but I go in for a looser style. Maybe because I don't really draw well but more, I think because I'm attracted to color and the way color conveys the message of the scene.

From the summer of 2012

I've been thinking about this artist thing - my having the cujones to call myself an artist when all my life I've just seen myself as an average joe. My father was a writer, my brother writer and visual artist, my sister a musician and I just an average person who got along in the world working. Do I blame anyone for crushing my artistic side? Not really. In truth, I never showed any proclivities towards the arts except as connoisseur, avid reader and avid museum and gallery attendee.

I did once write a book which I never bothered to do the work to publish (and am in the middle of a second one now). Why not? It made me tired. It wasn't that I couldn't see that I needed to rewrite and do the work to get my book into a publishable state, it was that I couldn't see how to do it. I tried to get help for it but could never profit from the advice I got. With my latest book, I actually haven't asked for help yet. And that may because I never really considered myself a writer. (Where is Carl Jung when you need him)

Painting however, I've asked for and gotten help. that's because I couldn't have started painting without the help of a small art class. Progress has been slow for me but there has been some progress because I love to paint. I feel calm and focused when I'm in that process.  True, I don't like everything I paint but I've done some paintings that do speak to me. And now I want to spend as much of my life as possible painting and learning from others.

from 2011

what next?

I've figured out to upload pictures of paintings onto my profile but I'm not sure I get how to do that here. I'm in the learning process of blogging but confess I'm a little frustrated with it. Let's see how it goes. Meanwhile I finished a painting and have an idea for something new. I spent two weeks in Northern Illinois plus half a day in southern Wisconsin. Got some great shots and did some sketching but haven't put anything in paints yet.

I've set up this new blog for my art work. I started painting less than 3 years ago after I had retired and moved to the Myrtle Beach area.  I work with a group of friends who come down for the winter but am really on my own for 9 months out of the year. People tell me to take workshops - expensive for one on a fixed income. So I read magazines, books and go on-line once in a while to get ideas.

I'm looking for my own voice and so I thought if I write about my challenges and frustrations daily I might get some insight. Feed back is what I need really. I can talk to myself until I'm blue in the face but I spin my own wheels.

Background: the last time I had picked up a paintbrush was when I was about five. I never figured into the artistic branch of the family although I did write sporadically throughout my life and even had a few poems published back in the seventies. So, after we had moved down here and met some folks who lived in our condo complex for the winter, one of our new friends announced that he would be willing to teach watercolor. I've been painting ever since. I think I've progressed but am still  trying to find my way.