The fall foliage can be near-incandescent in Acadia National Park this time of year. I know of many good painting spots on the carriage trails, which were constructed and landscaped by Rockefeller a hundred years ago, but they can be difficult to reach unless you're on a bike or, like Rockefeller, in a horse-drawn carriage. The north end of Eagle Lake, which is one of the best spots right now, is just a short hike from the car.
Lois had us line up along the shore and gave us suggestions for painting the fall colors. Most helpful was to paint the most brilliant trees just as dark as the duller ones around them. That is, although you underpaint them with rich color, you keep the color dark, saving the light for later. It's so tempting to make them not only rich but also very light - and usually too light -- right off the bat.
Here is my morning "start":
And here is Lois':
I should mention the palette that Lois has us using. As many of my readers know, I use a limited, split-primary palette of six colors. Lois recommends something like the following. I say "something like," because the exact colors aren't as important as the temperatures. So here's what I have on my palette this week: Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Scarlet Red, Thalo Red Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Thalo Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Viridian, Thalo Green Light, plus two earth colors, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna, plus white. That's 14 colors! The palette of my little 9x12 Guerrilla Painter Box barely has enough room. Here's a photo of the palette:
As I paint, I don't really care what the name of the color is so much as I do the temperature. If I need a warmer color, I just move clockwise around my palette until I fight the right degree of warmth. This "color wheel arrangement" of color has 14 steps of temperature change, whereas my usual palette has only 6. Think of the difference between playing scales on a piano with 88 keys, and then on a piano with, say, all the white keys removed, leaving you only the black keys.
By the way, it's important to clean the palette thoroughly between "first notes" and "second notes." First notes are your first lay-in of color. Second notes, which typically consist of complements to the first notes, are the second application. (There are also "third notes" and beyond.) You don't want the second notes contaminated by any remnant of first notes on the palette. Cleaning the palette between first and second notes helps minimize the mixing area required for the painting.
I have one more comment regarding application of paint. I find that I may use a brush on one painting but a knife on the next, mostly out of frustration with the brush. Hawthorne and Hensche had their students use only the knife, mostly because the knife makes it is easier to apply rich, clean, complementary notes over wet paint. I found this to be very true. Laying down these notes with a brush requires constant cleaning and, if the paint is stiff, lots of medium, plus the delicate skill of a surgeon.
"Island Reflections"
Saturday and Sunday were the two "public sale" days. It was a great opportunity to chat with fellow artists about techniques, materials and business ideas. I don't get a chance like this to network with artists every day! During the week, the artists were so busy that we didn't have much time.
Once back at our casita, I put out all the paintings I've done this week so I could choose my top five and frame them. For the Gala, we're supposed to pick three to display and two for backup. How does one choose? Everyone has a different strategy. One artist in the event says that paintings of red rocks simply don't sell. He's local, so he probably knows best. However, I really like my red rock paintings. I decided to include one in my top three. My other two are the scene of Jerome and today's painting of the cottonwood. My backups are the painting of the buggy at the museum and the first piece I did at Red Rock Crossing with Cathedral Rock in the background. It'll be interesting to see what does sell.
Tomorrow - the Quick Draw at L'Auberge de Sedona! The gun goes off at 10 a.m., and we'll paint furiously for two hours. The painting needs to be framed and delivered by 1 p.m. L'Auberge occupies a little oasis along Oak Creek and is surrounded by Arizona sycamores. It's a lovely spot. I can't wait!
"Jordan Pond Maple"
"Chrysanthemums & Rain"
"Backlit Boats"
"Little Long Pond Carriage Road"
My bridge didn't come out too badly. Still, beginners often think that this loose, painterly way of applying paint is great for hiding poor drawing skills. Although drawing wasn't the point of this week's workshop, Lois noted - and I whole-heartedly agree - that drawing is a fundamental skill for any painter, Impressionist or otherwise. You simply can't hide poor drawing.
Later, Lois did a demonstration from a photo to show us how she moves beyond her "start" to a more finished piece. She stressed that both Hensche and Hawthorne and even Monet rarely worked wet-into-wet; they were more inclined to let a painting dry between stages so that the next layer would go down with rich, unsullied color. Of course, a five-day workshop doesn't allow for this approach, so she made sure to use thick, fluid strokes in the later stages. She also emphasized procedural items, including scraping out any passage that gets muddy and cleaning the palette thoroughly between first notes and second notes. Here are two photos, one of her painting and a close-up of the painting in the final stages.
In the afternoon, we all worked from the same photo, in which she showed us how to handle a landscape in which the flat planes are lighter than the sky. The photo depicted an overcast day with cool light. As always, she gave us guidance for our starting colors. In this case, our first notes consisted of violet for the dark tree masses, pink for the sky and blue for the rocks. Here's my "start" in its final stage, again, painted with a knife:
By the way, I want to thank Richard McDaniel (www.richardmcdaniel.com) who sent me a correction on a typo I made in yesterday's blog. A piano has 88 keys and not 66. At least I didn't type "666"!
Lois had us line up along the shore and gave us suggestions for painting the fall colors. Most helpful was to paint the most brilliant trees just as dark as the duller ones around them. That is, although you underpaint them with rich color, you keep the color dark, saving the light for later. It's so tempting to make them not only rich but also very light - and usually too light -- right off the bat.
And here is Lois':
I should mention the palette that Lois has us using. As many of my readers know, I use a limited, split-primary palette of six colors. Lois recommends something like the following. I say "something like," because the exact colors aren't as important as the temperatures. So here's what I have on my palette this week: Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Scarlet Red, Thalo Red Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Thalo Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Viridian, Thalo Green Light, plus two earth colors, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna, plus white. That's 14 colors! The palette of my little 9x12 Guerrilla Painter Box barely has enough room. Here's a photo of the palette:
As I paint, I don't really care what the name of the color is so much as I do the temperature. If I need a warmer color, I just move clockwise around my palette until I fight the right degree of warmth. This "color wheel arrangement" of color has 14 steps of temperature change, whereas my usual palette has only 6. Think of the difference between playing scales on a piano with 88 keys, and then on a piano with, say, all the white keys removed, leaving you only the black keys.
After a tailgate party lunch, we went up the road a bit and painted a swamp that was full of lovely fall color. She gave us free rein to put into practice the last two days' instruction. I was pretty happy with my piece, but I do think I wandered off the Impressionist path a bit and in places forgot to use "vibrating colors." It's hard to break old habits, but since my goal this week is to try something new, I'll remember better on Day Three! Here's my afternoon "start":
Finally, I leave you with a few photos of Lois and one of her "starts".
Lois' painting, step 1:
