Road Trip: Painting Retreat Part 2 – Brown County, Indiana

Redbud Farm - 9x12 oil demonstration - SOLD
by Michael Chesley Johnson

Our plein air painting retreat in Brown County, Indiana, continued Wednesday evening with a cookout at a local collector's house.  Our painters enjoyed barbecued pork tenderloin, served the way they do it in Brown County on a bun with lettuce and tomato, and mayonnaise, plus persimmon pudding.  Unlike the large southern persimmons I knew in my youth, the wild Indiana persimmon is smaller and needs to be gathered only after a frost knocks them off the bush.  I'm not much of a gourmand, but I did enjoy this tasty novelty.  We also enjoyed seeing many more paintings by the historic Brown County Art Colony artists.

Thursday took the prize with a visit to the T.C. Steele house and studio, just north of Nashville.  T.C., living in Indianapolis, wanted a place to escape the summertime heat, so in 1907 he purchased a hilltop farm with no running water and, of course, no electricity.  Life was tough, but over the next 20 years T.C. and his wife, Selma, managed to bring in a generator, install some plumbing and build not one but four studios.  T.C. spent the summers painting the local landscapes with friends, but in the winters he traveled back to Indianapolis to paint portraits, which were his bread-and-butter.  The day we visited, it rained, so we had only a glimpse of the lovely grounds.  Lilacs, redbuds and dogwoods—we could see why Steele liked it here.

Bust of T.C. Steele, with Selma in the painting

Steele's "fourth studio" - he rarely painted here, preferring to use the studio more as a show gallery

Steele's painting area

Steele's "fourth studio"

Painting by Steele - Selma gardening

Another Steele painting

The rain abated by lunchtime.  We headed back into town for lunch at the Hob-Nob Restaurant (strawberry shortcake—again!) and afterward, I demonstrated in oil the view from our cabin, which included a redbud tree.  Pretty clouds scurried over the hilltops, so I made sure to include them.  After all the dry weather in New Mexico this winter, I enjoyed seeing clouds and rain again.  Later, Trina and I went into town again to revisit the Brown County Art Gallery.  There were several paintings I wanted to see one more time.

Afternoon demo on the porch

Redbud Hill - 9x12 oil demonstration - Available
by Michael Chesley Johnson

On Friday, we got a tour of the painter Adolph Shulz' house.  (His studio, which is across the street, is owned by another party, and we didn't have access to that.)  This small log cabin has been enclosed in a larger structure, so the hand-hewn logs are visible on the inside.  Again, this house was filled with beautiful examples of not just historic painters but also contemporary ones.  As an extra bonus, we got to see a fine collection of Brown County pottery from the beginning of the last century.

Morning critique on the porch

Adolph Shulz house

Interior of house, showing log cabin

More of the Shulz house

Our happy painters.  Doug (right) is holding a painting of the house he made.

For the rest of the morning, we headed off to another amazing property:  log cabin, log outbuildings, redbud and dogwood trees, plus lots of perennials just starting to bloom.  The owners, who once ran the property as an antique store, also served us lunch—real Hoosier hospitality.  For my painting, I decided to complete a little log cabin I'd started at the camp we visited on Wednesday, and to incorporate some of the scenery around me.   I'd felt the start had something worth saving, and in the end, I was very happy with the piece and even sold it.

Demonstrating

You can see the finished painting at the top of this blog post.

It was interesting to see how the landscape changed over the week.  When we first arrived, there were few or no green leaves on the trees; the starkness of bare beech, oak and maple was alleviated only by beautiful constellations of redbud flowers.  After a day or so, the green suddenly appeared, in a small way, but ominous.  Now the leaves have nearly taken over the delicate redbud blossoms.  The thick green curtain of summer isn't far behind.

Our the retreat has now ended.  Our little group has dispersed, and Trina and I are the only ones left at our hilltop cabin.  Tomorrow, we head out well before sunrise on our way east.  My next post will probably be after we reach Campobello Island next week.  Happy trails!

PS Douglas is also an authority on historic Cape Ann paintings and painters.  He has agreed to help us with a painting retreat there, possibly next year.  If you'd like to join us, remember:  Past students get priority for signing up!  If you haven't taken a workshop with me yet, now's the time.  You can find full workshop information at www.mchesleyjohnson.com/workshops/

Road Trip: Painting Retreat Part 1 – Brown County, Indiana

Springtime Maple 9x12 oil demonstration - Available
by Michael Chesley Johnson

A few years ago, Brown County, Indiana, wasn't on my bucket list of places to visit.  Being a painter of the East Coast and the Southwest, I didn't know much about the art scene in the middle of our country.  But while I was teaching at the Art Barn in Valparaiso (also in Indiana), a student of mine, Douglas Runyan, who is a very fine painter and art historian, told me about T.C. Steele.  Steele, sometimes called the dean of Indiana painters and who was a member of the Hoosier Group, moved to Brown County in 1907 to set up shop.  Other artists soon arrived, and in short order, the Brown County Art Colony began.  Other artists of note include Gustave Baumann, L.O. Griffith, Carl Graf and Will Vawter.  Douglas also touted the beauty of the rolling hills of Brown County, so it wasn't long before I scheduled a springtime painting retreat in Nashville, which was the center of the art scene.

Brown County!

After a long drive on Sunday from Bentonville, Arkansas, we arrived at our hilltop log cabin, nestled among the blooming redbuds and pale spring greens of new foliage, in the town of Bean Blossom.  Our participants were staying at the same cabin or very nearby.  We met Douglas, whom I had invited to help steer the retreat's educational program, at the Hob-Nob for dinner and to talk over plans for the week.  (The restaurant's strawberry shortcake alone would make Nashville famous.) After a drive through town to visit some of the paintings spots he'd selected—besides being an authority on the Brown County Art Colony, he also has painted many of the local scenes—we went to meet with our group and lay out the week.  Douglas also gave us an introductory lecture on Brown County artists.

Our happy group at breakfast at the Artist's Colony Inn

Lyn Letsinger-Miller introduces us to the Brown County Art Colony

Gustave Baumann process prints

Monday morning, we all met for breakfast at the Artist's Colony Inn.  It was hard to concentrate on breakfast what with the fine art on the walls, all of which was from our historic artists.  Surprisingly, some of the them not only painted Brown County, but also spent time with the Cape Ann (Massachusetts) painters, so the walls sported a few paintings of boats and harbor scenes as well as the green hills of Nashville.  Next, we headed over to the Brown County Art Gallery.  Although it's a gallery that features living local artists, it is primarily known as the core of this historic colony and offers a large collection of work by these artists.  Lyn Letsinger-Miller, author of The Artists of Brown County and, like Douglas, also an authority, presented a short video on the colony and gave us a tour of the gallery's collection, assisted by Douglas.  Together, they pulled out some choice pieces from the vault for us to see.

Demonstrating at Brown County State Park

Our painting stop for the afternoon was Brown County State Park.  The nice thing about a springtime workshop in Brown County is that you can still see the land—once the trees come out, I'm told, the land lies hidden behind a impenetrable green curtain.  The hills around the park were dotted with redbuds and the occasional dogwood.  Some of us painted the “opalescent haze” that colors the most distant ridges; I painted an oil study of a sugar maple, which I did as a demonstration.  (Although this isn't a formal workshop, I like to add value by demonstrating and running the critique sessions.)

Morning critiques

Demonstrating at the Flower and Herb Barn

Antiques 9x12 pastel demonstration - SOLD
by Michael Chesley Johnson

On Tuesday morning, we met for critiques just outside our cabin where we have a wide porch to line up paintings.  After that, we drove to the Flower and Herb Barn to paint.  A retail nursery, it was jam-packed with annuals and perennials, all crowded around a historic 1800s farm.  Later, we had lunch at the Farmhouse Cafe, which is part of the farm, and then wandered back to town to visit the Brown County Art Guild.  Like the Brown County Art Gallery, it has a large collection of historic works as well as paintings by living members.  Once part of the BCAG, in the 1950s some members, due to some disagreement, split off to form the Guild.  (We all know how artists can be.)

Painting at the summer camp

Douglas Runyan at work

Spring Greens 9x12 oil demonstration - Available
by Michael Chesley Johnson

Wednesday we paid a visit to a summer camp, where we were given free reign.  Old log cabins, barns, a little stream that wandered through the meadow—it doesn't get better than that!  I painted a view of one of the barns and focused on the strong spring sunshine.  After lunch, I painted an oil demonstration from inside one of the barns.  The weather, which has been surprisingly dry and moderate all week, suddenly turned hot on this day.  After standing in the sun at 84 degrees, we all welcomed the cool shade of the barn.  This humid weather promises another change; rain is expected tomorrow and Friday.

That's all for now.  I'll post a blog on the rest of the retreat later this weekend, when we get to Vermont.

Workshop Report: Valparaiso, Indiana

Jan Sullivan with her beloved chickens

I've been coming to the Art Barn in Valparaiso ("Valpo," the locals call it) for several years now.  My introduction to it was Ann Templeton, one of my early mentors, who also taught here many times.  She suggested I contact the Art Barn and look into teaching a workshop.  I'm glad she did, because she helped me discover a wonderful retreat for my students.  At the Art Barn, we can focus on our craft and enjoy the quiet and beauty of this northern Indiana landscape.

Mentors are vital to artists and art.  I mention this because the Art Barn's founder, Jan Sullivan, was a mentor, too.  She introduced abused, homeless women to the arts; invited school groups to the Art Barn; scheduled nationally-known artists to teach; and ran an arts camp for children in the summertime.  

In the 1960s, when Jan retired from her position as an art supervisor in the Chicago school system, she and her husband purchased 69 acres of farmland with a pond, pasturage and woodland.  In the 1970s, she started teaching art classes in the barn, which at the time had neither water nor electricity.  Since then, the Art Barn acquired both plumbing and power.  Not too long ago, Jan donated the Barn and acreage to the Art Barn School of Art, now a non-profit organization.

I had the pleasure of having Jan in my workshop every time I taught.  She was in her late 80s by the time I met her.  Each morning, she arrived from her house next door in a golf cart, which she also used to tour her property.  When we went off to paint, she would drive merrily to a favorite painting spot and then return with some amazing piece full of color and vigor.

I was very sad to learn of her passing at the age of 94 just a few weeks before our arrival this year.

After class, I like to take walks in the woods here to see the spring flowers:  white trillium, wake robin, jack-in-the-pulpit, may flower and violets.   Jan would have said this is a fantastic spring.

Here's an article from 2005 about Jan and the Art Barn:  http://www.nwitimes.com/lifestyles/valparaiso-resident-builds-barnyard-for-art/article_28ddc4b4-523e-5b36-9e41-cbdf09505029.html

This season, our first two days at the Art Barn saw drizzle and cool weather.  We stayed in to paint, but the Barn has large windows, allowing us to paint en plein air the views of the fields and trees.

Our third and last day we started off with fog, but that quickly turned to filtered sunshine.  We were able to get out and paint the dogwood tree and other subjects around the property.

I did demonstrations in oil, pastel and - surprise! - watercolor.  Here are a few of the demonstrations plus a short video of an alla prima painting started as a monochromatic underpainting with Gamblin Portland Greys.  (For those of you who can't see the video, here is a link to it.)

Some Enchanted Afternoon 9x12 oil by Michael Chesley Johnson - SOLD

Two Watercolors by Michael Chesley Johnson - SOLD

Overcast Study 8x10 oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

Now, the workshops are done.  We are off to Vermont to visit family, to Bar Harbor for an oil change, and then on to Lubec and Campobello.  I'll post again once we are comfortably in our home and all systems are working.  (Will the well pump come on?  Will we have sprung a leak over the winter?  Stay tuned!)

Sedona Workshop 2016 Season Wrap-Up

Crabapples blooming at the Sedona Heritage Museum!

My final Paint Sedona workshop just finished up today.  It's always a bittersweet feeling on that last day—I'm ready to move on to new adventures, but not quite ready to stop sharing this amazing place with students.  This is especially true this year since we have stayed a little later than usual and spring is now in full stride.

Every workshop week includes a visit to my studio.

Painting out at Goldenstein Gallery.

I thought I'd share a few images from the season with you.  I teach in Sedona and the Verde Valley from late October until mid-April each winter, so you'll see a variety of weather as the season progresses.  If you'd like to join me next time, I already have my schedule up for the 2016/2017 Paint Sedona season, and you can register on-line, all at www.PaintSedona.com.

(If you'd like to see  some of my paintings from the year, please visit my Facebook Studio page.)

Painting water is always a popular subject.

Next in our life is the annual migration back to the East Coast.  This time, we'll be idling a few days in Santa Fe to visit the galleries, followed by a brief visit to Salida and Buena Vista, Colorado; then a couple of nights in Denver to visit Doug and Sue Dawson, who have become good friends over the years; followed by two workshops in Illinois and Indiana before we finally arrive on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, for the summer.

Painting rocks is also popular, too!

By the way, I still have room in my two Midwest workshops.  In Illinois, I'll be teaching for two days (May 6-7) in Batavia, just outside of Chicago, at Water Street Studios.  In Indiana, I'll be teaching for three days (May 9-11) at the Art Barn in Valparaiso.  I've taught in both of these locations before, and I promise there is some excellent scenery at both.  I hope you'll consider joining me at one or the other.

We also usually enjoy a trip to Jerome a few times in the season.

Saba enjoys Jerome, especially if there's a little snow left

Although we'll get to Campobello Island in mid-May, my workshops there won't start until the end of June.  They will run until the end of August.  This summer, I'll be teaching exclusively in Lubec, Maine.  So, if you are from the States and don't have a passport, you won't have to worry about a border crossing.  (I still recommend that students bring passports if they have them because Campobello is such a beautiful island to visit.)  Space is already starting to fill for these workshops, so if you are interested, please visit www.PaintCampobello.com or www.PleinAirPaintingMaine.com.

That's all for now.  My next blog post will most likely be from on the road!

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