Plein Air Sketch to Studio: Revisted

"Quiet Cove" 12x16 oil - Sold

For me, painting on-location is very straightforward.  You go out, pick something to paint, and then you paint it.  Simple.  But taking that sketch to the studio and creating Art out of it, well, that is a different matter.  I haven't done a great deal of this, mostly because I just love plein air painting, but  when I do, I often end up scratching my head in puzzlement.  Where do you start?  What's the process?  How do you avoid ending up with just a boring copy of your field sketch?

Recently, I was commissioned to paint the view from a patron's home, perched over a rocky cove.  I felt pretty confident going out and taking reference photos and creating my field sketch.  But when I returned to the studio, I realized that, after all these years, I still didn't have a process for turning that sketch into something bigger and better.  When do you use photos?  When do you refer to the color sketch?  And what about re-designing?  I've always fumbled my way through it.  This time, I decided to figure it out.

So, here's what I found worked for me.  It's rather simple, especially if you aren't doing a lot of  scene editing.  (I did add some rocks and a shadow, but that was easy.)  Here's my process for "Quiet Cove":

• Using a reference photo, create a design that works.  (I used vine charcoal on sketch paper and worked my way through some "notan" studies.)
• Transfer the design to the painting surface.  (I used a 3x3 grid and 2B graphite pencil.)
• Referring back to the photo, refine the design.  (I used the pencil and looked for dynamic lines and rhythms, and then I gave the design a quick spray of workable fixative.  I also added the extra rocks and shadow in the lower left.)
• Now, put away the photo and take out the color sketch.
• Referring only to the color sketch, block in the simple shapes with your "best guess" to approximate the colors in the sketch.  (I used a big brush and my split-primary oil palette.)
• Go back and adjust your "best guess" - and keep adjusting it until is either as close as you can get it to the sketch or you find yourself in a place with a better color scheme and harmony.  Don't be tempted to go the photo!  Don't add detail!
• Once you're happy with the color, now pull out the photo.
• Use the photo as a reference for refining the profiles and contours of shapes.  Also use it for establishing any lights and darks that may have gotten away from you.  (I used a smaller brush for all of this.)  If there is an important "detail" that you need - and make sure that you really do need it! -  make a note of it in paint.  (For example, I used it for placement of cracks in the rocks.)
• Now put away the photo for good.  You're done with it.
• Referring to your color sketch, revisit your colors and make any color adjustments.  (They should be very minor at this point.)
• Finally, sharpen or soften edges, add highlights or accents.  As my friend Albert Handell says, "Orchestrate the painting."  Make it sing!

You'll note how little I actually use the photo.  Basically, it's for the initial design, for refining shape contours and adding any important details.  I don't refer to it at all for color.  I found it very useful to understand when to use the photo and when to use the field sketch.

Below are a variety of photos to help explain the process.

9x12 color field sketch

Reference material ready to go

Notan sketch

The setup

Palette close-up

Design transferred to 12x16 surface (toned with Gamblin FastMatte Indian Yellow)

Initial block-in - "best guess"

Continuing the block-in

Adjusting the "best guess" and refining color choices

Finish - Quiet Cove 12x16 oil

Upcoming Introduction to Pastel Class in November

I don't teach my Introduction to Pastel workshop very often, but I have scheduled a three-Saturday workshop for November 15, November 22, and December 13 in Sedona, Arizona, at Gandolfo Studios.  If you are in the Sedona or Verde Valley area this fall, here's your chance!  We'll be covering pastel basics, starting with materials (paper and pastels) and moving on to a variety of techniques to get the most out of pastels.  In the studio, we'll work initially from photos and move on to the still life.  Weather and time permitting, we  may go out to do a little plein air painting. Cost of the workshop, which runs 1-5 on Saturdays, is $200.  For more information or to register, contact me at mcj.painter@gmail.com.

Pastel is the medium that got me back into painting.  When I picked up my first pastel stick, it was like seeing for the first time.  Pastel is an immediate and tactile medium, and each stick is filled with luscious color.  It's a perfect cross-over medium from drawing to painting, so if you've always drawn but have never painted, you'll be a natural!

New Exhibition Space for Artists - Google Open Gallery

Recently, I was invited by Google to be a test user of Google Open Gallery.  (Along with probably a million other people!)  Google has taken its Cultural Institute platform, which it's been using to present high-resolution images of museum collections, and tweaked it for individual artists to use.  I  decided to upload the fifty images of my "Fifty Paintings" Kickstarter project.  Here is a link to my site:  https://pleinairpainting.culturalspot.org/

I found the interface extremely easy to use, and although the system permits uploading images that are up to 50 megabytes big, I chose to upload much smaller ones.  I don't know anything about the download capabilities of the system - that is, can a Chinese sweatshop download my high-resolution images and then set about mass-producing paintings based on them? - but it would bear investigating if you are concerned about copyright.  I've had a few people look at my site, and they seem to find it a pleasure to use.  You can also really zoom in on the images to see the fine brushwork.

If you would, please take a look.  I'm eager to hear your thoughts.  Here's that link http://pleinairpainting.culturalspot.org

Quoddy Artists Studio Tour 2014

Nine professional artists around the Passamaquoddy Bay area will open their studios to the public Saturday, August 23, from 9-4 local time.  Artists will give demonstrations or informal, educational talks as well as offer the opportunity to purchase works.  For full details including directions to the artists' studios, visit the website www.QuoddyArtists.com.

Artist Michael Chesley Johnson, who started the original "Two Countries, One Bay" studio tour, which ran successfully for several years, says he wanted to bring back the tour with a focus on working artists with studios.  "Over time, the tour began to lose the educational focus.  Art is vital to the survival of our culture, and so many people today have lost this understanding.  In this new, revitalized tour, professionals whose focus is art will share their love and knowledge with visitors."

Participating artists are:

• Fred Hartman, Drawings, Watercolors, Whiting 
• Bonnie Beard, Painter, Lubec
• Shanna Wheelock, Potter and Fiber Artist, Lubec
• Trina Stephenson, Fabric and Digital Designs, Lubec
• Sheryl Denbo, Assemblages, Multi-Dimensional Structures, Mixed Media, Lubec 
• Joyce Morrell, Painter, Campobello Island
• Michael Chesley Johnson, Painter, Campobello Island
• Roland LaVallee, Woodcarver, Eastport
• Lisa Marquis Bradbury, Painter, Eastport

Visit the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/quoddyartists) where updates about the event will be posted.

New Locations for Plein Air Painting in the Paint Sedona Program!

Although it is only mid-August, time is flying.  I'm already looking forward to another season in Sedona and to my Paint Sedona plein air painting workshops.  For the 2014/2015 season, I've located a number of new painting spots.  If you've taken a Sedona workshop with me before, consider coming back - you will most likely see some new scenery!

Additionally, I've scheduled two special workshops for advanced painters:  Exploring the Verde River Valley  (January 13-16, 2015) and Advanced Color (January 20-23, 2015.)  Of course, I also offer the advanced/retreat weeks for advanced painters and the "all level" weeks, which are suitable for beginners to plein air painting.  You can find out details on all these weeks and also register at www.PaintSedona.com.

Also, I will gladly customize a workshop for you and your friends if you can bring at least three people.  This could be a pastel-only workshop, or an advanced workshop on a particular theme, subject or technique.  Your choice!

If you've not been to Sedona before, it is a wonderful winter getaway.  (Keep in mind that I teach from November into early April, so it's not just winter but also fall and spring.)  We may get a couple of storms in winter that may drop an inch or two, but the snow is gone the next day and just makes the red rocks that much more breathtaking.  When the sun is out, which is most of the winter, it can be quite toasty when we paint. Daytime temperatures are generally in the 50s.

To whet your appetite, here are a few photos from some of my new locations.  We'll have a big variety of subject matter to paint, and I'm eager to get into it.

Why I'm Not in Many Galleries

Once people learn I'm a painter, the inevitable question is:  "What galleries are you in?"  I often feel that my answer will validate - or invalidate - me as a professional.

To be honest, I'm in only two galleries today, both of them artist-run.  (Green Drake in Milheim, Pennsylvania, and Symbiosis Fine Art in St Andrews, New Brunswick; and if you include my three studio galleries, Pumphouse Studio Gallery, Friar's Bay Studio Gallery and Artist's Retreat Studios & Gallery, that's five.)  Oh, I've been in lots of other galleries, even one that was in Santa Fe.  Some folks feel that if you're in a Santa Fe gallery, you've made it.  Well, that gallery closed within a year and didn't sell a single painting of mine.

I have lots of issues with galleries.  First, you're just one artist of many; if a gallery has 30 artists, you will receive at most 1/30th of its efforts.  Unless there's a reason to receive more, such as if you're a personal friend of the owner or a superstar, you might even receive less.  Second, since a gallery is not a democracy, you have no say on how the place is run.  Some galleries have sales staff on the phone all day who ignore walk-in traffic; others have inconsistent hours or bad marketing approaches; still others hang your work behind a door on the second floor and then kick you out because you haven't sold anything.  Finally, thanks to the Internet, many galleries are finding it hard to survive.  Too often, they end up killing themselves:  A constricted cash flow leads to desperate - and often poor - business decisions that, in turn, lead to acccidental self-strangulation.

All that said, if you're a gallery without these problems and think we can forge a successful partnership, I'll be happy to give you a try.

I like artist-run galleries.  The artists who run them are interested in more than just closing a deal; they have more blood in the game than just some investor's money.  Quite often, they sink their soul into the business with the necessary belief that art will be civilization's salvation.  (I believe that, too.)  They will work hard for an honest artist.  I've had my artist-run galleries frame up pieces to help me save on shipping and assist me in organizing local workshops.  They didn't have to, but they did.

So what really validates you as a professional artist?  Having an M.F.A.?  Having seven galleries, one of which is Santa Fe, L.A. or New York City?  Or, like me, simply being able to say that you quit your day job back in 2000 and have been making a living ever since with your art?

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about what validates you as a professional and about your gallery experiences.

Book Available: Fifty Paintings

Today, August 9th, 2014, is the official celebration day for the 50th anniversary of the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park.  Everyone who enjoys the Park should thank those who donated the Roosevelt Cottage and its 2,600 acres of natural beauty to the people of the US and Canada.  I, for one, have certainly enjoyed the Park over the last decade.  I've hiked all the trails time and time again and have painted just about everywhere in it.  There are few public parcels of land on the east coast like it.  Most comparable, perhaps, is Acadia National Park in Maine, but Campobello is far less crowded in the summertime.  (Visit http://www.fdr.net/calendar-event for a full list of events.)

To celebrate the Park in my own way, I recently painted fifty small paintings of scenes either within or from the Park.  These paintings are currently on exhibit at The Fireside, the Park's new restaurant, until August 16.  Most of the paintings have sold, but I wanted to share them with more people.  So, I have created a small book.    Fifty Paintings:  Roosevelt-Campobello International Park - Celebrating the Park's 50th Anniversary contains images of all the paintings plus a personal essay.

On a technical note, all of the paintings were painted with Gamblin Artist's Color's FastMatte line of alkyd paints.  I had limited time to create the series, and I needed the paintings to dry quickly.  Also, I really like the matte, almost-pastel-like finish of the paintings.  It's easy to create "broken color" with this paint.

The book is available through Amazon both as a paperback and in Kindle format.  For details or to purchase, please visit my author page at Amazon:  http://amazon.com/author/johnson

Road Trip Report: Miramichi and St Andrews, New Brunswick

Ritchie Wharf, Miramichi NB

I apologize for my long absence since the Castine Plein Air Festival, but I have been on the road, teaching workshops.  If you're not from New Brunswick, Canada, you may not have heard of Miramichi. It is about two hours north of the provincial capital of Fredericton.  A group called the Miramichi Art Core, which consists of mostly studio painters, contacted me to see if I would visit and give their plein air painting efforts a jump-start.  Always an evangelist for outdoor painting, I jumped at the offer.

 I'd never been to that part of the province; most of my travels have taken me along the coast.  After two ferry rides, I finally reached the mainland and took a less-traveled route due north (785) to Fredericton through fifty monotonous miles broken only by the occasional logging road.  (It's not a place I'd want to travel at dusk or in the dark; I imagined vast herds of moose roaming dangerously across the road.)  This dullness was broken, however, when I began to get fleeting glimpses of a brook with sandy banks.  It was quite pretty, and I began to think of painting the picturesque.

After Fredericton, it was another two hours to my destination through little river villages along Route 8, which follows the Miramichi River and offers some lovely vistas. The landscape opens up near the town of Miramichi and is filled with rolling hills.  Miramichi didn't exist as a municipality until about 15 years ago, when the twin river communities of Newcastle and Chatham joined.  Prior to that, over two hundred years ago, Newcastle was settled by the Scots and, on the other side of the river and a little downstream, Chatham, by the Irish.  These two mill towns had their differences, both political and religious - the Scots were Protestant and the Irish, Catholic - but they laid these aside for their mutual benefit.  Once surrounded by farms now mostly gone, Miramichi has lately recognized the importance of culture and tourism along its beautiful river, and so groups like Miramichi Art Core have sprung up.

The group's home base is the Ritchie Wharf, which was home to a thriving shipbuilding and salmon fishing industry.  Today, it is one of the town's many public parks and offers river tour boats, a playground, snack bars, coffee shops and gift stores as well as the Miramichi Art Core's gallery.  The gallery is a quaint, two-story building that's a perfect space for showcasing the group's art.

Painting at Ritchie Wharf; Miramichi Art Core Gallery has the yellow doors

View of the Trestle Bridge, 9x12 pastel

Miramichi River and Clouds (oil demonstration) 9x12

This workshop was only for two days, but we covered a lot of material, and now the group is ready for their plein air festival, which is scheduled for August 23-24. I always enjoy giving groups a hand in learning about plein air painting.  If you think your group would be interested, please contact me.  By the way, I also teach custom studio classes; some topics might be color usage, composition and design, or plein air sketch-to-studio.  I do plan my schedule over a year in advance, and I'm already booking for 2015 and 2016, so don't delay!

Pendlebury Lighthouse, St  Andrews NB

 St Andrews is always a treat.  I've been teaching my plein air painting workshop there for several years.  Immediately after my Miramichi workshop, I drove the four hours back to the coast.  St Andrews, a historic resort village, sits on a peninsula at the mouth of the St Croix River, and has restaurants, galleries and shops, whale watch tours and options for lodging.  There's also a new gallery in town, Symbiosis Fine Art, which I'm proud to be part of.  Besides my paintings, it also offers fine jewelry made by friend, Matt Watkins.  (It's right next to the best coffee shop in town, Honeybeans.)

Pottery Cove, 9x12 pastel

Painting at Pottery Cove, St Andrews

Here, I teach for Sunbury Shores Art & Nature Centre.  The building recently underwent a huge renovation, and I was pleased to see how much light now fills the space.  They have truly maximized their view of the river.  They also expanded their print shop, run by master printmaker Robert Van de Peer, and spiffed up my classroom.  The Centre also houses a gallery, and currently on display is a show of instructor work.  I have a piece in it, as well.  The show runs until August 20.

My painting is in the gold frame, just to the right of the large painting.

This time around, my students in St Andrews were mostly local.  (In the past, I've had students from  as far as Calgary and Ottawa.)  Despite the ongoing early morning fog and persistent daytime haze, we had a great time painting the misty Maritimes.  Views of the town wharf and Pottery Cove are some of my favorites.  It was a busy weekend, what with Monday being New Brunswick Day and a holiday. The town had lots of events going on.

Summer in St Andrews, 9x12 oil (painting knife demonstration)

Now I'm back on Campobello Island and preparing to teach another workshop at my home, Friar's Bay Studio Gallery.  I'm ready to be home now for a few weeks - but it won't be long before I'll be flying out to the Grand Canyon for the Celebration of Art plein air painting event!