Join Me for Art School Live!

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*Never AI, always human. Any errors are my own.*

Join me next week for Art School Live! I'll be giving a cool demonstration about rocks and lighting conditions! https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/p/upcoming-demo-art-school-live

Pastel Demonstration: Should You Paint the Background First?

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*Never AI, always human. Any errors are my own.*

Here's my latest demo for paid subscribers of my Substack column. If you're not a subscriber, it's only the cost of one cup of coffee a month! Cheap! Every Sunday! https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/p/should-you-paint-the-background-first

Sunny Day Oil Demonstration: Ebbing, 8x10 Oil

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*Never AI, always human. Any errors are my own.*

Here's a sunny day oil demonstration for my paid subscribers: Ebbing, 8x10 oil. https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/p/demo-ebbing-8x10-oil

Spruce Woods: A Pastel Demonstration

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*Never AI, always human. Any errors are my own.*

Here's a pastel demonstration! https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/p/spruce-woods-a-pastel-demonstration

Demonstration: "Glen Sannox: Looking Ahead, Looking Behind"

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**Authentically Human! Not Written by AI**

For my paid Substack subscribers! https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/p/demo-glen-sannox-looking-ahead-looking

Step-by-Step: Autumn's Turn - 18x24 Oil Demonstration

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**Authentically Human! Not Written by AI**

Get it here

Upcoming Live Painting Demonstration

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**Authentically Human! Not Written by AI**

Now that I’ve got broadband at my rural studio, I’m able to present live painting demonstrations. As part of my mentoring for Mastrius, I’m giving my first demonstration, in oil, on April 11th, Thursday, from 5-7 PM MDT. I hope to see you there!

Here are some details:

✅ Tickets are FREE with my exclusive coupon code: i_know_michael

🚩 INFO and SIGN UP at @mastrius.official or https://www.mastrius.com/upcoming-events/

LIVE DEMO: CAPTURING THE HIGHLAND LANDSCAPE

THURSDAY, April 11, 2024 / 4–6pm PDT / 5–7pm MDT / 7–9pm EDT / 12am–2am BST (Friday) / 9am–11am AEST (Friday)

In this demonstration, you'll learn how to:

• Start a painting fearlessly by trusting your instincts

• Build reliable techniques for consistently strong work

• Use effective tools, incl. a painting knife and soft plastic wedge

• Explore and consider your own creative voice and motivation behind creating

Always LIVE & INTERACTIVE!

🚩 Tickets are only $19 | FREE for Mastrius Members!

✅ Tickets are FREE with my exclusive coupon code: i_know_michael

🎙️ Event recording available for Mastrius Members only!

Demo: Stromness Waterfront, 12x16 Pastel

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**Authentically Human! Not Written by AI**

You can read this post over on my new Substack blog, here: https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/p/demo-stromness-waterfront-12x16-pastel 

Reminder: Meet the Mentor

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**Authentically Human! Not Written by AI**

I just want to remind all my followers that you can join me for FREE in the Mastrius “Meet the Mentor” hour today, Thursday, February 29th, at 5 PM MT. (4 PM PT / 5 PM MT / 6 PM CT / 7 PM ET.) Join me at this link via Zoom.

During the program, I’ll be interviewed briefly, and then I’ll launch into my presentation on “Making Your Best Guess” in pastel. I hope you’ll join me!

Join Me for my "Meet the Mentor" Session!

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**Authentically Human! Not Written by AI**

Mark your calendars! On February 29th, Thursday, at 5 pm Mountain Time, I’ll be live on Zoom and interviewed by Mastrius, the group that I am now mentoring for. You can join me for FREE at this link at that time:

https://mastrius.zoom.us/j/87431353402?pwd=eFdQK3VMLzZ0NUgrWFg1YkQ2cWVudz09

(4 PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET)

The program will last an hour, and I’ll be talking about what I do, why I do it and how I do it. Then, I’ll give a short demonstration of a painting technique that I call “making your best guess.” Are you a painter and frustrated with that first step in making color choices? In this technique, I show you how making an exact choice doesn’t matter! Just make your best guess, and take comfort in the knowledge that you can adjust that choice in the next phase. The demonstration will be in pastel.

Also, the program is an introduction to me as a Master Artist and mentor for Mastrius. Starting March 10th, I’ll begin mentoring up to 10 aspiring artists. If you’re looking for guidance, consider this online group mentoring program. You can find out more details about my program here.

I hope to see you “live” via Zoom on the 29th!

Plein Air Convention: A Demonstration

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(Link and video down at the end)

Back in May, I was on the faculty of the Plein Air Convention and Expo in Santa Fe.  I gave a demonstration one evening on “Outdoor Study to Studio.”  Even though I was presenting to a group of hardcore plein air painters, I wanted to share my thoughts on why it's important for us to get back to the studio.  Out in the field, while wrestling with environmental factors and changing light, it's difficult to do our best work; the studio offers a more controlled space, allowing us to address the finer issues of painting and thus to become better painters.  I think everyone enjoyed the session and got something out of it.

Prior to the convention, presenters were told that sessions would be recorded.  This was so attendees could later watch presentations they might have missed; there were several stages running simultaneously, making it impossible to see everything.  Also, the convention had an online version for those unable to attend in person.  Unfortunately, when I arrived at my stage, the AV tech was AWOL.  Finally, just moments before I was to start, he rushed in to hurriedly wire me up and set up a camera, and then he left the room.  I don't remember if he came back.  After all, I was focused on making my presentation and on my audience.  I'll give him the benefit of a doubt, so maybe he did return.

A few weeks after the convention, some of the faculty—including me—were sent an email letting us know that, regretfully, our sessions had not been recorded because of a technical problem.  This saddened me, as I had hoped that more people would be able to see my demonstration.  (There were two other events, not to mention a large cocktail party, happening at the same time as my demo.)  Worse yet, the videos were supposed to be available to view for a full year after the convention, a teaching opportunity that was now lost to me. 

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and record a video.

To avoid disappointing you, I need to tell you that it doesn't show any actual painting happening.  After having practiced this particular painting intensely prior to the convention, I didn't want to have to recreate it yet again.  (I know this may sound lazy, but I want to move on to other projects.)  However, in it I do go over the complete set of slides I presented, and I also show my reference material, my design and color explorations and also the final painting.  The video contains about 90 minutes of material compressed into 14 minutes.  Enjoy!

Here it is (can't see it? use this link):

I Had a Frame

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I had a frame.

Sometimes, that's how a painting starts—with a frame. A couple of years ago, a patron made me a deal.  He offered to purchase some paintings and to pay part of the bill by trading a frame.  It was a very nice frame—solid wood, gold leaf, enough scrollwork so it looked classy but not gaudy—and even though it was for a large size (24x30) of painting I rarely work in, I took it.  It was a frame I couldn't have afforded to buy, not without a specific painting and a committed collector, but with the trade I thought it was a good deal.

The frame then sat in my studio, getting moved from corner to corner as I puttered around and tried to avoid it because I had no idea what kind of painting I'd make for it.

One day, while on a misty hike along our island's rarely-visited shoreline, I spied a beautiful arrangement of rocks sitting at the edge of the water.  The mist had made the rocks silvery with moisture, and the seaweed, at mid-tide, trailed gracefully about them.  The water was glassy-calm, as it often is on foggy days.  After snapping a few photos, I wondered if I should run off to get my gear and come back to paint my usual 9x12 plein air piece.  But I realized a 9x12 simply would not do it justice.  I felt it called for something bigger.

I then remembered my frame and immediately knew I had found my subject.  I took my photos home and got to work on some design ideas.  I pulled out a couple of plein air sketches I'd made under similar weather conditions to use as color references.  I gessoed some etching paper and got to work on figuring out a color scheme.  I ordered a panel large enough to fit the frame. (Its arrival was delayed for a few weeks, which was too bad, as I had wanted to put this new painting in a show as a centerpiece but the panel came too late.  But that tale is for a future post.)

Once I'd settled on design and color, I got to work.  I used a mid-value grey pastel to place the major shapes on the panel.  I like to use pastel for this step, as I can draw with it more easily than with a brush, and the pastel, being pure pigment, gets more or less eaten up by the following layer of paint.  Next, I used a large brush and blocked in the main dark shapes in raw umber, following this with greys, primarily cool reds, greens and blues.  For this, I made heavy use of Gamblin's Portland Greys, tinting them as needed with color.  I then moved on to sky and water, using the same color palette.  Once completed, I put down the brush and took up a large knife, blocking in first the rock cracks, using nothing but Ivory Black.  (I don't know why we artists are told that black is taboo, but there's nothing like it for the kind of dark you see in the crevices between maritime rocks.)   From here, I continued with the rock shadows, the lit parts of the rocks and seaweed and, finally, sky and water.

While working, I kept my color study, with was about a quarter the size of the final painting, right beside my easel so I could refer to it constantly.  I'd worked hard to come up with a palette that worked, and I didn't want to depart too much from that.  Occasionally, I found myself getting excited by adding some odd bit of color that lay outside my pre-chosen palette, but when I stepped back, I always saw it hurt the overall mood, and so I would scrape it off and go back to my color study, which had the mood just right.

Toward the end of the painting, I found that it was helpful to have a second pair of eyes.  Despite all the tricks of turning a painting upside down or viewing a photo of it to uncover hidden problems, there are some issues that only fresh eyes can see.  Trina pointed out a few that, once corrected, helped the painting immeasurably.  The lesson here:  Don't be afraid to show a work-in-progress to another artist.  You don't have to take the advice, but at least it gives you another perspective and, in the end, might improve the piece.

And don't turn down a frame just because you don't have a painting for it.  Someday, maybe, you will.

Here a few photos of my process.  Not pictured is my palette:  Portland Grey (Light, Medium, Deep), Phthalo Green, Olive Green, Permanent Green Light, Green Gold, Raw Umber, Ivory Black, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium-Zinc White.  (All Gamblin.)

Block-in with raw umber

Restating the drawing with pastel

Block-in over the Raw Umber with tinted
Portland Greys

Restating the drawing with paint,
correcting the drawing

Working here and there

Done with the brush

My set-up.  Color study and value sketch on right.

Now the knife and some richer color

More knife work

Finished painting.
Adjusted shape of two rocks in the foreground.
Can you find them?
"Littoral"
24x30 Oil
Available, frame included - details here

Lake Ice 2 – An Oil & Knife Demonstration

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Lake Ice 2
14x18 oil/canvas - Available

In the last post, I showed you how I created my 12x36 version of  “Lake Ice.”  In the post prior to that, I showed several different design possibilities, any one of which would have made a successful painting.  But one I didn't show was a more square version, cropped to emphasize the lake itself.  So without further ado, here is that version:  “Lake Ice 2,” a 14x18.

Starting with14x18 stretched cotton, pre-primed with acrylic.  I apply a thin wash of Gamblin's Transparent Earth Red. Although I don't always tone my panels--sometimes I like little bits of white to pop through, adding a scintillant effect to a sunny one scene--I always tone my canvas.  It fills in a texture that is hard to fill later.  I then use soft vine charcoal to outline my main shapes.

Starting with a brush, I begin to block in my lightest values.  I add a streak of pure titantium-zinc white to the sunlit lake ice to help me understand just how light my lightest value is.  Everything else will be darker. I'm using cerulean blue hue (all paints are Gamblin) for sky and shadowed ice; yellow ochre for the sunlit ice.

I begin to add the patch of snow in the foreground.  It needs to be lighter than the shadowed ice in the distance, so I'm careful to note that on the canvas.  I'm greying down the strong cerulean blue hue (which contains intense phthalo blue) with burnt sienna.

I block in my distant shadowed tree masses on the cliff, making sure to get the value relationships right with the other shadowed areas.

Now I block in my rock colors--both shadowed and light--and again keeping careful track of the value relationships.  This painting is all about the light, so these relationships are crucial.  For my shadowed rocks, I'm using burnt sienna, cerulean blue hue, permanent alizarin crimson and white.  For the sunny ones in the distance, yellow ochre brightened up with cadmium yellow light. Hints of greyed-down cerulean blue hue create the shadows on that distant promontory.

At this point, with the entire scene blocked in, I put down my brush and move to the knife.  This shape of knife gives me a nice sharp edge on the closest cliff.  I continue to evaluate value relationships between my large masses, and I begin to adjust the color saturation of the foreground cliff, greying it down a bit.

Here's the first pass with the knives. You'll notice I've begun to "muddy up" the foreground snow on the cliff.  It's a bit too clean for snow that's been sitting awhile.  (I think the storm that laid down the snow was at least a month ago!)

More knife work, trying to get the icy feeling to the lake ice.  This is a smaller knife that is good for tight areas.  It's my favorite size and shape, even for large paintings. (Large being 12x16 or 12x24.)

More adustments, especially in the lake ice.

I always like to have some sort of surface feature that runs from light to shadow.  This helps show form.  In a rock, it might be a crack.  Here in the lake ice, I've added a "swoop," a nice curve that goes from light to shadow.  This feature was actually there, but not quite so prominent.  Sometimes the ice gets covered with a bit of snow, and the wind can blow it around, creating a pattern like this.  This curve shows that the lake ice is not just flat but solid.

Now I move to the foreground rock, adding the major cracks with a very dark mixture.  This is ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.  I vary proportions, depending on whether on want the mixture warmer or cooler. 

Final state (also shown at the top of this post.)  I continued to work on the foreground cliff, adjusting its overall value to a darker note, and varying the color within the mass.  Little touches of snow on the cliff  complete the painting.

Lake Ice - Oil Demonstration

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Here's my studio setup.  (Normally, my studio is quite orderly, unless I'm working on a painting.)  You can see the variety of reference material I use.  A. Photograph displayed on a large monitor.  I hook up my Chromebook via HDMI to the monitor for display.  B. A sketchbook with pencil field studies of different parts of the scene.  C. My original design explorations, but I'm focusing just on the one that I've chosen.  Also, I'll be pulling out a number of oil or gouache snow studies I made in and around the canyon to serve as color references.

In my last post, I showed you how I chose a design "by committee" for a painting.  In this post, I thought I'd show you each step in the progress of creating Lake Ice, a 12x36 oil painting.  (I'm long overdue for sharing a demonstration here in my blog.)

My design sketch.  Half-size (6x12) of the final painting.  Vine charcoal on newsprint.  After choosing this one, I penciled a simple grid over it to help in transferring the design.  After spending all that time on design, it's important to transfer the design accurately!

The 12x36 panel.  This is a sheet of birch plywood that has been cradled and then sealed with BIN primer.  Once the primer dried, I toned it with Gamblin's Transparent Earth Red.  Using a pastel pencil, which is basically pure pigment, I lightly sketched in my transfer grid and the design.

My first pass at establishing an underpainting.  I'm using thin paint (as opposed to "thinned" paint, which can be quite drippy) to block in some general value relationships.  I'm limiting color at this point to just warm and cool--burnt sienna in the nearby shapes, cobalt blue in the distant shapes.

Here I'm refining some shapes.  My initial underpainting always tends to be loose and to hide some of the shape outlines.

My first pass of color beyond the underpainting.  I'm now concerned with getting the value of the lighter passages correct first.  The sunlit snow will be the lightest thing in the painting.  If I were to start instead with the darkest passages, I run the risk of running to the light end of the value scale too early.  In a painting where the light is most important, it's best to start with the lights, and to then work toward the darks.

With the lightest value relationships established correctly, I now start to work on refining and deepening the darks.

The foreground rocks needed texture and more grey, so I begin to slather on a variety of greys, some warm, some cool.  My palette:  Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Red Deep, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Titanium-Zinc White (all from Gamblin.)

Detail at this stage.

Now I spend most of my time on creating tree shapes above the near cliff and working out the correct relationships of the darks.  I also add the magic of a couple of sunlit spots on the nearby snow.  These will help move the eye around the painting; I like to compare them to stepping stones for the eye.  Also, I've added a little detail to the lake ice--a few dark patches where the snow has blown off, revealing the bare, darker ice beneath.  It's important that the patches cross over the terminator between light and dark on the lake.  This helps let us know that the cast shadow of the hills is indeed a shadow and not just a a different color of ice (or open water, which it is not.)

Here's the final painting.  For the last stage, rather than my usual hog bristle flats, I used a few rounds that allowed me to get the nice, smooth flow of snow in the shadows.
Lake Ice, 12x36, oil.

Winter's End: Pastel Demonstration Video

Pastel Demonstration for Pastel Society of New Mexico
"Winter's End" 12x16 Pastel on Art Spectrum Paper
See the Video Here

Earlier this month, the Pastel Society of New Mexico invited me to give a demonstration at its monthly meeting.  I've done this for the group before, but in person, on stage.  This time, I had to do it via Zoom from my studio because the Albuquerque Museum, where the meetings have been held in the past, still isn't permitting group meetings.  As always, I eagerly accepted and immediately went about figuring out how I was going to set up a broadcast studio in my painting studio.

Fortunately, I had the gear I needed—a tripod plus a phone-holding gizmo and a couple of good LED lamps.  I also was able to arrange my easel so I wouldn't knock over my phone every time I took a step.  (I tend to bump into things when I get excited about laying down a particularly virtuosic pastel stroke.)  The only limitation I feared was my Internet connection, which one might imagine as a trickle coming out of a somewhat clogged bit of plumbing.   But as luck would have it, the trickle never stopped, and I was able to share my entire process.

The Pastel Society is gracious enough to let the public see the finished, recorded videos from its meetings.  I'd like to share mine with you.  It's only a little over an hour, and I hope you find it enjoyable and informative.  Click here to see the video. (In the video, the blues are a bit over-saturated, no doubt from my smartphone's processing.)

Demonstration: Big Cliff Painting

Morning at the Lake
36x36 oil/gallery-wrap canvas
Available

In my previous post, I shared how I start a large painting with oil sticks. Here, I want to show you how I continue the painting, using Gamblin paints plus Gamsol and Solvent-Free Gel to deepen the block-in and to finish. Above is the finished piece. 

Watch this short video (Can't see it? Here's the link):

Oil Stick Demo

(Can't see the video? Here's the link.)

I recently decided to make a large painting of one of my favorite scenes—one of the candy-striped cliffs that tower over a nearby lake. I've painted the scene many times in a smaller format, from different angles and in different seasons, but I had a hankering to do something much larger. In my studio, I had a 36x36 gallery-wrap canvas that seemed just perfect. So, I got to work, pulling out reference paintings and photos and playing with design ideas with vine charcoal on newsprint.

You might ask, How can a square format be suitable? The square is, indeed, foreign to the landscape. Usually, painters feel that a wider format—3:4, 1:2 or even 1:3—suits the landscape better. After all, the landscape is full of horizontals, and the wide format permits a vista and gives the viewer some room in which to breathe. But for my painting, I wanted to do a more intimate view of the cliff, and I saw all kinds of possibilities with diagonals and verticals that would divide up the square in dynamic and interesting ways. Here are a couple of my design sketches:

A 36x36 takes a lot of paint for the start. For paintings of this size, I like to begin with oil sticks rather than a brush. Oil sticks (or oil bars or paint sticks), which are simply pigment mixed with just enough linseed oil to form a crayon, are perfect for the initial drawing and block-in. Completely compatible with oil paint, the sticks, with the tips softened by dipping them in OMS briefly, let you create a beautiful, soft line. As for blocking in shapes, it's just like when you were a child, filling in between the lines in your coloring book, and then you can take a brush, dampened with OMS, to spread the color around.

At the top of the blog is a video demonstration of how I used Shiva Paintstiks to draw and block in. (In my next post, I'll continue and finish the painting.) Can't see the video? Here's the link.

By the way, there is still time to take advantage of a good discount on Plein Air Live. I will be demonstrating in gouache on Beginner's Day. For more information or to register, go here. https://www.pleinairlive.com/2021?affiliate_id=2989212