30 Painting in 30 Days

On Sept 1st I decided to do 30 painting in 30 days to get myself motivated and to make up for lost time in August. Well 2 down and 28 to go. I don't want to just do 30 painting but to do 30 painting that use what I have learned this summer in Italy in the correct manner. Old habits are hard to break especially if they are bad habits. For example just jumping in and throw paint on the foreground, than back ground, back to foreground and oh yes some middle ground work. In other words have a plan and a method of get down a design, determine the values and where the darks and lights go, start from the back and get in down and move forward. Painting is a discipline, a Zen and sometimes excitement or impatience's can get in the way. I study a copy of American Artist Workshop, Spring 2008, article of Maddine Insalaco, one of my instructors in Italy and how she put down the overall design, blocks in with dark colors the major forms, puts in the light values, redefines the design, works the details with values and moves step by step to a completed work. Painting is the act of defining the problem (the subject) and arriving at a solution.

I have a painting now in the High Road Gallery in Worthington, Ohio as part of a group show of the Ohio Plein Air Society. Its a juried show. The painting was done shortly after I came back from Italy using the palette and techniques I learned there. I like it.

Columbus Museum of Art Exhibition

The CMA is hosting a plein air exhibition and art auction for the Ohio Plein Air Society beginning Sept 10 - 18th. Members of OPAS, myself included, have made plein air painting of the Russell Page garden which will be destroyed to make way for a new museum expansion. We have submitted our painting to a judge who will decide who will be in the exhibition in the museum. I submitted one which took about 3 hours last Thursday. First real painting since I became ill.

It looks it too :). I call it Garden as Teacher for there is a lot to be learned in plein air by painting this garden with its shape angles, solid geometry, sculptures, and foliage. Not at all like the gentle feminine landscape features of Italy or Ohio

Paintouts and things

The Ohio Plein Air Society has 2 paintouts this month and it looks like I will miss the one on the 8th since I have something like flu in my lungs. I was working on a studio painting of water lilies on a small pond near yesterday and began feeling bad with cold symptoms which lead to chest congestion and so on. Its time for the doctor and a wonderful health care "system". The lilies are, of course, inspired by Monet but its been an idea that has been nagging me for a while. I want to do some still life foliage works of pitcher plants. Since the pitcher is not a flower you can't call them "floral". They are growing in my bog garden so why not take advantage of them. Robert Mapplethorpe took pictures of pitcher plants but labeled them incorrectly as "jack in the pulpits". I should contact the Mapplethorpe foundation about this some day. Pitcher plants are phallic looking, especially Sarracenia purperia and Sarracenia alata, and carnivorous as well and very beautiful. As you can see in this photo the plants are kept in by an electric fence to protect the local dogs and cats.

Presidental duties and other things

I have been wearing my OPAS president hat alot lately since so many OPAS events are coming up in September. The Annual plein air competition at Lakeside/Marblehead, Ohio this year, the High Road Gallery exhibition and the Columbus Museum of Art Russell Page Gardent exhibition are all in mid September and lots of little details to work on. Emails flying and phone calls to get clear communication between organizers and artists established. And trying to paint. I was in painting at the Inniswood Metro park on the 19th of July and did two small works while a large annual tour was taking place. I was part of the park and the show. A live artist painting in the part was my exhibit, I was the art and making art.

This is a bed of flowers at Inniswood

I did a another of roses Crimson Bouquet

I am trying to use what I learned in Italy. Darks, grays, a feeling of distance.

The Trail to the Mountain

I pushed the darks to almost pure UM blue and grayed greens to push the trail back in to the forest. It worked.

Catching Up

I have been back from Italy for 2 weeks and am still getting my act together. I have been very negligent with my blog. I have been out painting trying to put to use the lessons learned in the Italian country side. Many of the exercises I did in Italy are just that: exercises to learn new techniques and concepts but a some have come out well. One already sold. A couple of other I hope to hang in a gallery in Columbus, Ohio. I could go on at length about how well the workshops were conducted by Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Buonconvento and how much I learned but that will have to wait till later. It was time well spent. The picture above is myself under a tent on the only day it rain on us located on a vineard near Montalcino. I am apply oil to acid free water color paper in the tradition of Valenciennes and the original landscape painter of the 18th century. It was very intense: up at 7 am, breakfast at 8, out the door to paint by 8:30 paint till 1pm, lunch in style till 2, paint till 6, critique at 7, lecture than dinner, bed by 10 and do the same again. It works.





This monochromatic study of the cottage of La Ripolina, Buonconvento was done with knife only and a mixture of burnt umber and zinc white. Values are everything. The sun is on the right and close to the horizon, shadows are deep and long, the sky reflected and scattered light. It was a challenge but fun.






This painting was done in a small stream near Montalcino in the morning with the sun on the left lighting up the right side of the stream bank and the tops of the trees. The greens contains chrome green which give a mint tone, a softer color.














This paint is the same scene but afternoon and the sun has move over to the right and now the left side is illuminated. It works well.

Athens Paint Out

The big paintout happened. The weather looked like it was going to be bad but it stopped raining, the wind dropped and 33 artists from all over Ohio, Indiana, and West Virgina came and painted. It was the best paintout OPAS has held since the September Competition last year. I painted a grove of Cherry Trees and others did the same or other landmarks around Athens, Ohio.

Red Sun Blue Snow

The big painting is finished as far as I am concerned. The ultramarine shadows and cad red spot of a Sun plus a little cad yellow pale mixed with white on the left hand hill set it off. I added a glaze of pale yellow/white with liquin to make a fog mist effect half way up the trees. Had to wait for the paining to dry first.

A New Year:2009

Its a new year. A new year to paint much and paint well. A new year to experiment and learn and too apply what I learn on canvas. 200 new paints of all sizes is one of my goals, to sell is another, to attend workshops as often as possible with at least one in Italy. To make art my life for the rest of my life however long t

hat may be. To have a passion that does not burn out but continues to feed on oil, canvas, and work. A new year to live.

My Elysium Fields, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, 2008

I have 3 paintings in a show this January, the Athens Voices, 2009 art exhibition at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, Jan 9 - Feb 22, 2009.

The Road to the Old Barn, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, 2008

The Crabapple Tree, oil on canvas, 8 x 10, 2008

My Painting in Exhibition

Three of my oil plein air painting have been accepted for the Dairy Barn Arts Center Athens Voices, 2009 Exhibition, Jan. 9 - Feb. 22, 2009 in Athens, Ohio. This is a judged exhibition as well.

The Crabapple Tree