March is here!

Dear March - Come in!

DEAR March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat—
You must have walked—
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell!
I got your letter, and the bird’s;
The maples never knew
That you were coming,—I declare,
How red their faces grew!
But, March, forgive me—
And all those hills
You left for me to hue;
There was no purple suitable,
You took it all with you.
Who knocks? That April!
Lock the door!
I will not be pursued!
He stayed away a year, to call
When I am occupied.
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come,
That blame is just as dear as praise
And praise as mere as blame.

by Emily Dickinson  (1830 - 1886)

March is probably my favorite month. At least it was when I lived in Interior AK. Longer days, sunny days, warmer days, green stuff just coming up or sprouting out ...

 

I just found this poem and I feel like I should be posting a landscape ... 

but that will have to wait. I'm working on a still life!

And, fyi: one good way, to all you procrastinator-painters out there 

- to get your butt in gear and paint, 

instead of doing laundry, changing the oil in the car or washing the dishes ...

... simply blog about your progress. Yep, that's it. It helps propel.

 

 

Ok, so here is my still life set-up. 

(If anyone knows what kind of daisies these are please let me know?)

Above is the charcoal sketch-in, on a brightly colored gessoed ground.

 

 Charcoal set with alcohol.

 

 

 Thank you so much for clicking on the email link or just checking in!

Note: Synonyms for motivate include -

prompt

inspire

sway

excite

galvanize

spark

provoke

spur

persuade

incline

incite

goad

whet

induce

rouse

impel

egg on

goose

- among many others.

Be back soon!

 

February Daisies still life painting

This painting is finished 

and has a new home - (thank you Cheri!)

I wanted to show you how the progression, well ... progressed!

It began like this. 

I had a Masonite board that I painted with some abstract shapes:

I had a very nice bouquet of daisies and Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lily).

February Daisies     Oil on Masonite      18 x 12 inches

Matt made my frame. 

I put an Ebony stain with some red paint splotched on the inner portion:

I am very happy with the result.

Thanks for checking in and viewing my art!

Fairmeadows Jersey Farm - Fini!

3 M Ranch is the nickname my folks gave to our farm ... the real name is

Fairmeadows Jersey Farm.

Did you guess the 3 M's?

Mud, Misery and Manure!

Fairmeadows Jersey Farm    ca 1972    oil on Masonite panel    13 x 16 inches

Here is what my palette looked like after the final paint stroke/mark 

(I used a palette knife in the final stages).

Looks like a ton of blackish paint there, but I didn't use much.

Matt got busy and made the frame already, so when the paint dries a bit more, 

I'll put it in the frame and post a photo.

Today as I pondered this painting of my childhood home -

a poem popped into my head that Mom used to read us.

 This is the first verse:

The Raggedy Man

By James Whitcomb Riley

 

O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;

An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!

He comes to our house every day,

An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;

An' he opens the shed—an' we all ist laugh

When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;

An' nen—ef our hired girl says he can—

He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.—

    Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?

         Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! 

 

 To read the rest of the poem, click on the title. 

I am not sure I understand all of the poem, reading it now. 

But the line that I remember the best is -

 

"An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers the'rselves"

 

- from paragraph five.

Here's to good memories! May you remember them and keep making more.

Thank you for viewing my art.

 

Painting - Day 4

Progress!

(The lighting for these two photos seemed to have changed, making the colors different 

and I am not sure why, but you can see the barn and some of the other buildings are getting some paint.)

Still more to do in the foreground, but it is coming along nicely, I think.

Painting this REALLY brings me back to the farm, 

which my Mom and Dad call the 3M Ranch! (They still live there.)

When I was very little, the long low building in front of the big barn was the milking barn, 

with stanchions where my Dad milked some 18-20 head of Jersey cows. 

And when I was still only about 2 or 3, 

my Dad and my Grandad built the milkhouse, where 4 cows could be milked at a time (the building to the left of that old milkhouse). 

Wonder if anyone can guess what 3M stands for? I couldn't remember

correctly and my folks had to remind me.

Thank you for following along. I will be finished soon with this painting (I hope).

Painting - Day 3

Deciding on colors ... i love purple, and what is purple's complement?

Yes, yellow! 

Thank you for checking in, signing up for email blog posts 

and commenting if you have time!

New Painting - Day 2

Adding some color! Attempting already to keep as moody as the block-in.

There's my phone and Jambox for listening to music and podcasts such as:

SavvyPainter

Leslie Saeta's ArtistsHelpingArtists

and about a dozen others

while I paint.

What do you listen to?

Thanks for checking in!

New Painting Progression

This painting is on my easel right now.
I have had the reference photo for a long time. Something my brother took. He has given me permission to use the photo.

It is the farm where we (my brother, sister and I) grew up.

I prepared the Masonite panel (13 x 16) - smooth side - 

with 3 coats of acrylic gesso, creating a bit of a rough foreground 

using some Golden "Extra Heavy Gel (Matte)" 

acrylic medium in the second layer. 

Third layer is a gray gesso that I made by adding some acrylic black.

It isn't much, just a bit, because I really love texture - but this painting doesn't need much.

The gray paint is Payne's Gray mixed with my medium.

Thank you for viewing!

30 Paintings Collage - Juneau

- all together now -

Congratulations to all the >1400 artists who took part in the challenge!

Be sure to look at the BLOG... all the collages look wonderful.

Thank you to Leslie Saeta for hosting! Her abstracts are great and sounds like she had fun too!

Thank you so much for sticking with me and cheering me on. I really appreciated all your input!

30th Painting in 30 Days! - January

Yahoo! Last day in-a-row!

Robert Henri tells me,

"Now, after all this, your sketch is very handsome, fine in color - showing your talent admirably. Why don't you take it as a subject to work out, to study, and to bring to a full completion. Suppose you take a larger sized canvas - say 26 by 32, or some such size, and go at this very subject - not a flighty, hurried way, but as a student - like a builder - to make something that will be wholly satisfying to you. Not a picture to be more "finished" in the common sense, but one to be finished in this other sense, which will please you.  ... It can't be done in an afternoon. It may take some time and many intervals for consideration. The time does not matter if by it you get your whole idea of art moved forward."

Even before I read that quote in The Art Spirit, it was an idea 

I was considering. 

Egads, what if I took all 30 and made big ones? 

... I think maybe just a select one or two ...

2:10 pm Juneau    8 x 6 inches    oil on Arches Huile paper

(I like b&w better than the color.)

Check out Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Blog, especially tomorrow when we all will have a collage of our 30 paintings.

29th Painting of 30 - January

Thinking about "the big picture" ...

"Make up your mind what you want to put down 

and don't let anything prevent you from putting down just that. 

The  big picture should be 

as charming and as free as the little sketch

 - but more concerted."

- Robert Henri

 

4:15 pm Juneau    6 x 8 inches    oil on Arches Huile paper

- also from Henri, in a different part of the book:

"Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture. 

A worker or painter should enjoy his work, 

else the observer will not enjoy it. 

It is not good to wear lace that was a drudgery to someone to make. 

The lace, as well as the picture, 

should be made in joy. .... All works of art look as though they were done in joy."

http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

Thanks for hanging in there with me ... one - more - day!

28th Painting of 30 - January

Use the ability you already have, and use it, and use it, and make it develop itself.

- Robert Henri

 

12:40 pm Juneau     6 x 8 inches    oil on Arches Huile paper

Two more to go!

Leslie Saeta's Blog/30 Paintings 30 Days

27th Painting of 30 - January

In drawing a tree there is a dominant line of growth throughout. 

Sometimes your tree must be so specialized that an expert on trees would be fully satisfied. 

Other times it does not matter if it is even surely a tree.

- Robert Henri

 - cela ne veut pas un arbre -    (this is not a tree)  ;)

11:35 am Juneau     6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

26th Painting of 30 - January

I found myself, after taping the oil paper to its board downstairs in my studio, 

making a little painting from memory of the scene that I have been painting for the last 25 days!

I discovered a sentence about memory painting in The Art Spirit that I liked, 

but decided also to Google for more from Henri. 

The first quote is the one that might well BE in this book, 

but I haven't found it yet - the next one is on page 260 in my copy.

"The good thing about painting from memory is that so much is forgotten." (I love that! -t)

 and

"If you work from memory, you are most likely to put in your real feeling." (Yes! -t)

 

Memory - Juneau      6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

You may remember when I took my Marc Hanson workshop in June we worked on a memory painting and I absolutely hated disliked the exercise. Apparently for me, I need more like 25 days of looking at a subject - rather than 4 x 15 minutes! But in all fairness to Marc, it is a very valuable exercise and I plan to do it more often. As with so many things, the more you practice the easier it becomes (that is probably a quote by someone famous, like Socrates ...).

Here is the 30in30 blog linkup!

25th Painting of 30 - January

"... The artist teaches that the object of a man's life should be to play as a little child plays. 

Only it is the play of maturity

 - the play of one's mental faculties. 

Therefore, we have art and invention."

- Robert Henri

3:40 pm Juneau     6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

Of course we all remember that Picasso said a similar thing about painting like a child.

Keep at it - it is the only way to grow. (a mantra of mine)

30in30 Blog

update to - 24th Painting of 30 - January

HappyNote: Summer 2016 
... I am honored to report that this little painting has been chosen
 to be in Juneau Plein Rein 2017 calendar, 
and will represent the month of October. 

(Juneau peeps, I advise that you buy your calendar as soon as it is available, 
through one of the PleinRein Painters, or at the Juneau Arts and Humanites Council office.)

There are many ways of seeing things. 

When you saw the thing and it looked beautiful to you, you saw it beautifully. 

Paint it as it looked then. 

- Robert Henri

2 pm Juneau    6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

 Juneau-ites know - this is Mt Roberts.

30 Paintings 30 Days in January

23rd Painting of 30 - January

This quote is for my fellow artists and enthusiasts, 

be they students, accomplished professionals or cultivated amateurs.

"I think I am safe in saying, until you became an art student, 

you never saw an outline - you never took the outline into consideration. 

You saw forms and these forms had character and motion.

If you use lines now as a means of drawing, 

try to find the way to make them express what you see 

- forms of definite character and movement. 

Don't become a victim of line."

 

- Robert Henri

I think I may just now be able to begin to understand what he meant.

Do you?

3:50 pm Juneau       6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

Ha - the b&w really shows how close the light values in the sky and the mountains are.

Well, I knew that was the case ... because that is the way it looked as the afternoon light waned.

30 Paintings Blog

One more week! Thank you for checking in!

22nd Painting of 30 - January

"What is the relation of the artist to the community?

 What good does a man's art do? 

There are those in the community who regard the artist 

as a mere entertainer 

come with cap and bells to amuse and perform graces 

before a paying public. 

The true artist regards his work 

as a means of talking with men, 

of saying his say to himself and to others. 

It is not a question of pay. It is not a question of willing acceptance on the part of the public. 

If he is welcomed and paid it is very good, 

but whether or no he must say his say."

- Robert Henri

10:15 am Juneau     6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

In today's Henri quote I so wanted to change his

 "man" and "men" and "he" and "his" to gender equal terms ...

but remember, in the 1920's people thought, spoke and wrote quite differently than I, 

and of course one cannot change a quote.

Thanks for viewing and please be sure to check out -

Leslie Saeta's 30Paintings30Days Blog

21st painting of 30 - January

"Painting is the expression of ideas in their permanent form."

- Robert Henri

Taku Winds - Gastineau Channel

 

12:15 pm Juneau     6 x 8 inches     oil on Arches Huile paper

I have not been using photos for this series ... 

I just look out the window. 

But here is a photo of what the scene looked like (I cropped it like the painting) 

- really -

painting wind ... that's just crazy.

30paintingsin30daysblog

20th painting of 30 - January

"It is necessary to work very continuously 

and valiantly, and never apologetically. 

In fact, to be ever on the job 

so that we may find ourselves there, 

brush in hand, 

when the great moment does arrive."

- Robert Henri

Barely there ridgeline - lately there have been many blurry edges on that ridge.

1:45 pm Juneau     8 x 6 inches    oil on Arches Huile paper

Well, I am working "very continuously" (for 30 days anyway) ... ever-searching for that most satisfying feeling

 of a well-made painting - that "great moment". 

But are artists ever satisfied?

In my readings, and in my own mind ... I find, 

not too often.

http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

19/30 Paintings in January

NOCTURNE

Art after all is but an extension of language

 to the expression of sensations

 too subtle for words.

- Robert Henri

4:30 pm Juneau   6 x 8 inches    oil on Arches Huile paper

Almost 2/3 of the month down. Thank you for checking in and

be sure to check out all the paintings at -

Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days

Happy Painting!

18/30 Paintings in January

Robert Henri continues from "A set palette ...

" ... may look quite impossible for its want of white in comparison with the subject before you. 

It certainly is, any paint is, if you expect to reproduce the thing in nature. 

But your work is not, and cannot be, a reproduction. 

Nature has its laws. Your pigments and your flat canvas have other laws. 

You must work within the laws of your material."

12:30 pm Juneau    6 x 8 inches      oil on Arches Huile paper

I couldn't help but find a poem for this painting today. 

Fog

A vagueness comes over everything,

as though proving color and contour

alike dispensable: the lighthouse

extinct, the islands' spruce-tips

drunk up like milk in the

universal emulsion; houses

reverting into the lost

and forgotten; granite

subsumed, a rumor

in a mumble of ocean.

Tactile

definition, however, has not been

totally banished: hanging

tassel by tassel, panicled

foxtail and needlegrass,

dropseed, furred hawkweed,

and last season's rose-hips

are vested in silenced

chimes of the finest,

clearest sea-crystal.

Opacity

opens up rooms, a showcase

for the hueless moonflower

corolla, as Georgia

O'Keefe might have seen it,

of foghorns; the nodding

campanula of bell buoys; 

the ticking, linear

filigree of bird voices. 

Amy Clampitt

30 in 30 Paintings in January