Artist Hosts and Artist Residencies—Some Thoughts

Painting on the beach on Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Wouldn't this make a fine place for a residency?

First, the proposal—just so you don't miss it, in case you don't read all the way through this post.

Would anyone reading this like to become an artist host, and host me as your artist-in-residence? 

• What you get:  a beautifully framed painting, featuring the scenery of your location
• What I get:  a location rich in scenery and a private place to stay (cottage or cabin would be ideal, or even a spot for a camper)

If this sounds appealing to you, let's talk!  Send a note to me at mchesleyjohnson@gmail.com.

Why am I asking this question? Read on!

I've reached a point where I can spend less time making money and more time making art.  Sure, I can work out of my own studio—I certainly have no lack of beauty to paint, and I have many projects in mind—but a different location, with space away from quotidian distractions, and possibly the companionship of other artists, would inject energy into my work.  So, recently I decided to start looking into residency programs.

By the way, I did one residency several years ago.  This was at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont.  Each year, they put aside a week exclusively for Vermont artists.  (I was living there at the time.)  I applied and got a fellowship.  The residency came at a critical time for me, as I was just getting back into painting after a long hiatus and was still working my day job.  I got my very own studio space, a large, well-lit room in a renovated church, and my very own suite in one of the many houses VSC owns in that town.  Although I was doing mostly plein air painting, I spent time in the studio, too.  This, plus shared meals in the dining hall and a studio tour at the end of the week, exposed me to many other artists.  I think I was the only outdoor painter, but we had, among others, installation artists, sculptors and potters, and painters of the non-objective.

I felt I was a seedling planted in fertile ground.  I took off in that environment, finding it very rich and rewarding.  I still keep up with some of the friends I made.  It is this experience that has prompted me to think about another residency.

Residencies come in two types.  First, the ones where several or many artists are in residence, creating a community, much like VSC.  The other is the solitary residency, where you are left alone to wrestle with your angel (or, for some, to grapple with your demon.)

As much I benefited from my time at VSC, my thought right now is to look into the solitary residencies.  Rather than an energetic milieu, I'm looking for a quiet space and time to concentrate on a project.

At the top of my list are the programs sponsored by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.  These, without a doubt, offer some spectacular scenery—as well as a free place to stay.  In most cases, the fee is minimal or non-existent, and the application is judged by local staff, who although they might not know anything about art, at least have a pretty good idea of whether the applicant might support the mission of the park.  Accommodations are rustic, good for one artist, and you provide your own food and transportation.  Maybe I'm just a hermit at heart and like my life simple, but it seems to me that an artist could really dig down into a project.

Usually, in exchange, the artist either provides a painting or two or conducts a short program for the public.  Sounds ideal, right?  Unfortunately, many of these programs have been suspended because of lack of funding or staff.

Recently, a third-party has stepped in to help the parks.  The non-profit National Parks Arts Foundation handles some of the programs that might otherwise be canceled if it weren't for it.  Terms vary by the program—there are some that cost nothing to apply to—but I saw one that charged $110.  Plus, most of the programs seem to now offer stipends (in some cases, $2000, and no doubt funded by your application fee) and allow entire families or "troupes" of artists.  And $110 is a lot for me to pay for an application fee, especially if there's a good chance I'm not going to land a spot.

This is a bit more than I want.  I prefer the old-style programs:  one artist and a rustic cabin with a view.  A stipend is nice, but not necessary.  And I'm happy to swap a painting or an afternoon's lecture for all of that.

Going down my list, next are programs run by private foundations.  VSC is one such foundation.  But these are extremely competitive.  I was lucky, because Vermont is a small state, and the pool of possible applicants isn't so great for a single week set aside for Vermont artists.  You can see the competition in the lists of alumni, which are often provided on the foundation's web site.  One's confidence shrinks while reading the resumés:  MFAs, graduates of prestigious schools, Fulbright scholars, top awards from national shows, in the collection of prominent museums, etc.  Applying almost feels like buying a lottery ticket.

The third and final option is to find an artist host.  In many ways, this is most appealing, as it would be the simplest and most gratifying.  Especially if one of my faithful readers were to be my host!

Canyon de Chelly Sketches

Eastward Blues  9x12 Oil - $250 unframed
(Junction Overlook)
Purchase Here

As I promised in my recent post on my adventure to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, here are some sketches from that trip.  For a short while, I am making these available at special low prices.  The price is for unframed work and includes shipping to the continental US.  If you are interested in purchasing a piece, please click on the link below the image for a larger image and details.

Also, if you'd like to help me out on these plein air painting expeditions, you have the chance to sponsor an extension to my Scotland trip and receive a painting in exchange.  Please check out my post "Send a Painter to Bonnie Scotland" to learn how.  I am grateful to those who have already contributed to this project and others.  Honestly, I wouldn't be able to make my paintings without the generous support of my collectors.  Thank you, everyone.

For those of you interested in the technical side of painting, my favorite new color from Gamblin is Brown Pink--and there's a lot of it in each of these sketches!  It's an intense, transparent earth red that works well with the desert and canyon landscape.  I found it great for greying down blues and, in a light tint, it is a quick shortcut to depicting sunlit rock.

Down Below 9x12 Oil - $250 Unframed
(Sliding House Overlook)
Purchase Here

Golden Light 12x9 Oil - $250 Unframed
(Mummy Cave Overlook)
Purchase Here

Morning Light 9x12 Oil - $250 Unframed
(Massacre Cave Overlook)
Purchase Here

Quiet Crescent 9x12 Oil - $250 Unframed
(Junction Overlook)
Purchase Here

Snow Squall 6x8 Oil - $150 Unframed
(White House Ruins Overlook)
Purchase Here

Photo by M.L. Coleman

Road Trip: Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona

Spider Rock at Canyon de Chelly

Once a year, I like to get together with my painting friend M.L. Coleman and hit the road.  We'd been waiting for snow—who doesn't like to paint the patterns and colors of snow in canyon country?—but it's been a dry winter, and we were eager to paint.  So this past week, we loaded up the 22-foot Lazy Daze and journeyed to Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle, Arizona.

As you drive toward Chinle, you won't find much to attract a painter.  In fact, that part of Arizona is occupied by a rather bleak section of the Navajo reservation.  Flat, dry, and, without snow, brown.   But hidden out of view is Canyon de Chelly, which is beautiful any time of year, snow or no snow.  Chinle sits on the west, shallow end, and that is where your adventure begins.

Rim View

I consider Canyon de Chelly to be a more intimate version of Grand Canyon.   Actually comprised of three canyons (de Chelly, del Muerto and Monument), it's a little over 20 miles long, less than a mile wide and perhaps a thousand feet deep at the east end.  But two things distinguish it from Grand Canyon.  First, the canyon bottom is easily accessible.   In fact, the Navajo, who manage the Monument jointly with the National Park Service, continue to farm the bottom, which is watered by an intermittent creek.  From the rim, you can peer down to see their patchwork of cornfields, plus a few horses grazing and the occasional Jeep tour toiling up the sandy road.  Second, unlike Grand Canyon, where at midday the lighting is flat and uninteresting to a painter, here you can find an enchanting arrangement of light and shadow almost any time.   Several overlooks occupy fingers that jut out from the rim, offering 270-degree views of the surrounding cliffs.

Cliff dwellings can be seen throughout the Monument

Two different routes through the Monument give you two different experiences.   Neither route is very long, just a dozen miles or so, but my favorite is the South Rim Drive.  This has the most options, from Tunnel Overlook on the west end to famous Spider Rock on the east end, and several in between.  We spent most of our time at White House Ruin Overlook and Sliding House Overlook.  (The names are taken from the Anasazi cliff dwellings visible from the viewpoints.)  I'd hoped to paint at Spider Rock—I think every painter out west has depicted it at least once, and I didn't want to be left out—but the weather turned.   Although we had perfect weather nearly every day, that one afternoon rain and snow squalls blew through with a lot of wind, making painting unpleasant.  We ended up taking photographs plus doing a little “out the window” painting from the Lazy Daze.

Face Rock, near Spider Rock

The North Rim Drive, which follows Canyon del Muerto, has fewer overlooks.  There, the scenery seems a little more closed in with fewer vistas.  But we painted there as well, at both the Massacre Cave and Mummy Ruins overlooks.  Although the Monument has few visitors this time of year, we saw even fewer people on this route.  Toward the end of a day of painting, we visited Antelope Ruins Overlook, getting there just at sundown, when the cliffs turned golden.  This spot seemed to have even more painting possibilities.

Hoodoos

One of my favorite views, near White House Ruin

We never went down into the canyon as we found plenty to paint along the rim.  If we had wanted to paint at the bottom, we would have taken the White House Ruin trail, which is the only trail you can hike down without a Navajo guide.   Another option would have been to hire a guide and go into the canyon on horseback or SUV.  I'll save these for a future adventure there, perhaps in the fall when the cottonwoods turn golden or in spring, when the canyon bottom greens up.  I'm sure I'll be back.

In this post I offer photographs; in my next post, I'll show you the paintings I made at Canyon de Chelly.

My painting set-up (Daytripper from Prolific Painter); M.L. Coleman in background

(If you like to travel and paint, take a look at my plein air painting workshops in the Southwest.)

Road Trip: Chiricahua National Monument

Hoodoos, columns, pinnacles and more

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel with Trina on a Sedona Camera Club outing to Chiricahua National Monument.   We both needed a break between setting up our winter home studio and teaching workshops, so this was the perfect adventure.  I went as "key grip" to help with camera equipment, but I packed along my new Travel Painter Art Box as well.

Sunset

Waning moon over the rocks

We arrived Friday afternoon in Willcox, Arizona, and then hurried off to the park to shoot the sunset, followed by a little astrophotography.  Saturday morning, we met at 4:45 am -- no hotel breakfast for us! -- and went off to shoot the sunrise.  Next we worked the cramps out of our legs by taking a long hike, followed by daytime photography and then a second sunset shoot to round out the day.  Sunday, we had to forego the sunrise shoot to head back to New Mexico to pack for a workshop I'm teaching in Sedona this week and then one for the Tucson Pastel Society next weekend.  Whew!

The Travel Painter Art Box in action

I was happy to see how well the new paint box worked, and how handy it was to carry on the trails.  I only had time for a couple of quick sketches, but it was worth it.  The first sketch I made in a wash in the noontime shade of alligator junipers; the second, toward sunset up on Masai Point.  These sketches will become reference material for a future studio painting.

Six Years After the Fire 6x8 oil sketch

Hoodoo 6x8 oil sketch
(Palette for both of these was yellow ochre,
transparent earth red and Prussian blue, all Gamblin paints)

By the way, this was our second trip to Chiricahua.  Our first trip was about 15 years ago, and I remember being very impressed with the green lushness of the park.  But in 2011, a major fire swept through, charring much of the landscape.  Now, six years later, the grasses have returned, but so many of the hills and canyon sides are filled with broken, charred stumps.  This explains the title of my first sketch.  The amazingly strange rocks, of course, are untouched and just as weird as ever.

Upcoming Shows - Sedona Arts Center, Phippen Museum of Western Art, Kolb Studio Grand Canyon, Sedona Library

A Day in Jerome, 9x12 oil, en plein air
At the Sedona Arts Center

Hippie Bus in Winter, 9x12 oil, en plein air
At the Sedona Arts Center

I have several shows coming up plus some gallery news for everyone.  Read on!

First, the Sedona Arts Center's Annual Members' Juried Show starts Friday, March 7th.  I'm proud to say that two of my paintings have been juried in under the "professional" category.  (The paintings are at the top of this post.)  The show runs March 7th through April 1st with an opening reception on Friday, March 7th, from 5-7 pm.  I'm sad to say I won't be able to attend the reception, but I do hope that you will stop by and see my work there.

Slide Rock Apple Barn, 12x16 oil
At the Phippen Museum of Western Art

Hillside Town (Jerome AZ), 9x12, oil, en plein air
At the Phippen Museum of Western Art

Second, two of my paintings have been curated into the Phippen Museum of Western Art's "Architecture in Art" exhibition.  It's a real honor to be invited to show at the Phippen.  I'm looking forward to meeting the other artists and guests at the opening reception, which is Friday, March 7th, from 5:30-7:30 pm.  (Free for members; $10 for the public.)  I will be on-hand for this one, so I hope you'll come out to Prescott to visit.  The exhibition runs from March 8th to July 13th.

Third, one of my paintings from last year's Verde River Artists Challenge fund-raiser will be on display along with works from the other artists at the Sedona Public Library.  The work is also up for auction.  The opening for this worthwhile event is Friday evening, March 7th, from 5:30-7:30.  Obviously, I won't be able to be at this one, either, but I hope you'll consider visiting the exhibition.

Cottonwood Shadows, 9x12 oil
At Sedona Library
Auction starts at $375!

Finally, as part of the Grand Canyon Association's ongoing promotion of the annual "Celebration of Art" plein air painting event, the GCA has invited me to put work in their store/gallery at the Kolb Studio.  These are small framed pieces that will be for sale until the the big painting event this September.  Below is one of the paintings I've sent in.  If you're up at Grand Canyon, it's easy to get distracted by the scenery, so please remember to visit the Kolb Studio!

Canyon Space, 6x6, oil
At the Kolb Studio - Grand Canyon Association - Grand Canyon National Park

Kickstarter Project Update - Prepping Panels

Batch of hardboard panels, ready to be prepped

(There is still time to give your support to my Kickstarter project. Here is a link to it for details: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pleinairman/50-paintings-roosevelt-campobello-intl-park-50th-a)

As I mentioned in my previous update, I've received an order of panels I'll be using for the project.  This weekend, I worked on preparing the panels, and I wanted to share that process with you.

It would be far easier and less time-consuming if I bought ready-made panels, but I am picky about the surface I'm painting on.  I like to prepare my own.  Some people just slap on a coat of acrylic gesso, but I go a good deal further than that.

First, I buy precut hardboard panels.  The panels need to be accurately cut, and I've never been able to do that well on my own.  (I'm of the "measure once, cut twice" school of carpentry.)  I find the precut ones have no trouble fitting into ready-made frames.  (These are from Dick Blick: http://www.dickblick.com/products/hardboard-panels/)

Alcohol rub

Next, I rub each panel with alcohol to remove any surface oil.  Most of what you get for hardboard these days is what they call "tempered," which means a small amount of oil was used in the manufacturing process to improve durability.  I've checked with my supplier, and these days not enough oil is used to cause the product to not be archival.  (Artists should always use archival materials so they will last the ages.)

Sizing the panels

Waiting for the size to dry

Once the panels are dry, I seal each panel with Gamblin's PVA size.  I brush on a very thin coat.  The coat is enough to keep oil from my paint from penetrating down into the board, which could cause the board to deteriorate; it also keeps any bad chemicals from the hardboard from wicking up into the paint layer.  Basically, it isolates the board from the oil paint.

First layer of acrylic gesso

Texture in the gesso

The PVA dries pretty quickly, so I'm able to put on my first layer of acrylic gesso not long after.  I use random strokes to apply the gesso.  Although each layer of gesso is thin, the gesso itself is thick enough so it holds the strokes and creates a bit of surface texture.  It's this texture I like that I don't get with the "store-bought" painting panels.  (By the way, if I am prepping panels 9x12 or larger, I will brush on a thin coat of gesso on the backside to avoid warping.)

After this first layer dries, I follow with a second layer.  I don't sand between layers, and I again apply the gesso with random strokes.  This second layer is the last, since it creates a white ground upon which to paint that isn't blindlingly white but sufficient to do its job.  (If you apply oil paint transparently, the white ground will bounce light back through the paint and make it glow like stained glass.)

Applying the acrylic matte medium

You can really see the texture the matte medium gives

Once this final layer dries, I brush on a layer of acrylic matte medium.  This layer makes the gesso a little less absorbent.  (I like a certain degree of absorbency in my panels, but not so much that the brush drags.)  It also applies even more texture to the panel.

Sanding the panels

After the acrylic matte medium dries, I give each panel a very light sanding with a fine grit sandpaper to knock off any high points.  The final panel will still have a good deal of tooth and texture to it - just perfect for my painting style.

Final drying

Finally, to make sure the whole package dries sufficiently, I assemble the panels in a sort of "house of cards" that will allow good ventilation.  I do this in a room that is warmer than my studio.  These days, my studio seems to be holding around 54 degrees - a little chilly!

The whole process, not including final drying time as a "house of cards", takes about three days.  So, when you ask how long it took to make a painting, make sure you add that into the calculation!