Painting Broadly

"Oak Creek Calm" 9x12, oil

It's raining this morning, so I thought I'd present a moody piece I did a few weeks ago. Rain was coming in, so we didn't have much time. I decided to do a "snapshot" - I've written about that before - so this was done quickly and loosely.

If you go down to Crescent Moon Ranch, most of your paintings will be about water and rock and all the wonderful things that plant themselves there. These wonderful things tend to look rather busy and overwhelming when you're staring at them: cracks in the rocks, both subtle and obvious, saplings and bushes, plus a lot of unrecognizable items that come under the category of "flood debris." It's best to squint, really squint, to simplify the fuss and then to paint broadly.

For this one, I just liked the quality of the light and the color. There's very little detail. Painted so broadly and loosely, is it something that one might frame and try to sell - or should one treat it as a sketch and keep it for one's own pleasure? A painter might appreciate it, but would a patron? I'd like to hear your opinions.

Sedona Plein Air Festival Update

In my last newsletter, I mentioned that I've been invited for my fifth year to the Sedona Plein Air Festival. The Festival organizers just released the names of the artists who will be participating in 2010. This year, we'll have luminaries such as Gil Dellinger and Susan Ogilvie. For a full list, visit www.SedonaPleinAirFestival.com. I'm looking forward to meeting all the new artists.

One great painting spot is Slide Rock State Park. Believe it or not, I haven't actually painted there during the Festival! October is a busy month in Oak Creek Canyon because of the fall foliage, and Slide Rock is often hopping with tourists. I usually tend to go the road less travelled during the Festival unless we are asked to paint somewhere in particular, such as in Jerome or at the Sedona Historical Museum. However, I do get up there to paint during my workshops.

Here's a piece I did of the old apple barn at Slide Rock with Lost Wilson Mountain behind it. (Or is that Lost Wilson? If anyone knows better, let me know.) We are barely into spring here in Sedona, so you can tell from the trees that this painting isn't from this year!

"Slide Rock Spring" 9x12, oil - contact Michael

The Glare Aesthetic

"Glare Aesthetic" 8x10, oil/matboard

Before the Impressionists learned that color relationships can be used to make subjects appear sunny and bright, painters invoked a concept called the "glare aesthetic" to do the same. Basically, this involved using large, bright planes next to small areas of deep darks. Contrast and lots of white paint did the trick. Color has nothing to do with it. You may have seen a similar effect when walking a beach on a very sunny day without your sunglasses.

Down by Oak Creek along the flat shelves of pink rock we see it, too. At noontime, the pink is nearly bleached out by the sun, and the only relief for our aching eyes are the little shadow areas under ledges or where vegetation gathers. The other day, I decided to capture the effect, and to see how rapidly I could do it. Broad strokes, quick color mixes and paying attention to, above all, value contrast, gave me the effect I wanted.

Who had the right approach? The Impressionists or the Glare Aesthetic School? Either can give you a powerful and dynamic painting.

Painting Prickly Pears

"Prickly Path" 9x12, pastel - contact Michael

While painting my two "snapshots" yesterday, a raw wind got up and the clouds moved in. Schnebly Hill is a very beautiful perch to paint from, but it's not somewhere you want to be on a windy day. We retreated to the lee side of the hill and found shelter behind some junipers. I set up my easel on the lip of the canyon - it was a long drop down - so I could get an interesting perspective on some prickly pears with Snoopy Rock behind it. (Sorry, but Snoopy isn't visible from this angle.) Since my back was to the canyon, I had to make sure that, in the process of stepping away from my painting now and then, I wouldn't blindly step off the edge.

Prickly pears are a prickly subject to paint - so many pads, so many colors! I started this one by just blocking in a large mass of light, cool green and added some dark passages where the shadows seemed deepest. Next, I outlined a few pads with a dark brown pastel and then colored them in with raw color, going warmer and cooler as I needed. Finally, I added rim light on a few of the other, unfinished pads and suggested a few spines. You don't have to paint every single pad and add all the spines to tell the viewer that he's looking at prickly pears. If you get the overall shape and color of the mass right and detail a few pads, that's enough. The mind will fill in the rest.

I like this sketch because it is not overworked and preserves the energy of working quickly. Snoopy Rock is very sketchily done, but it's not the focus of the painting. I took about an hour to do this one.

Painting Snapshots

On a vacation and don't have time to paint masterpieces? Consider painting "snapshots."

I know that when I go on vacation with the family, I can't paint as much as I'd like. Between hiking, touring and eating, there's precious little time left. But rather than settling for just taking photographs, I've found that making quick sketches is very rewarding. My sketches are usually 5x7, and I spend no more than 15 minutes on them. I sketch with pastel because it's quicker and easier to clean up than oil. And when I'm sketching, I don't fuss with composition or precise drawing and focus instead on mood and light.

Although I'm not on vacation right now, I did a couple of these little "snapshots" this morning while at Schnebly Hill. The weather is changing today, and rain is expected tomorrow. The light is different than it has been, with a bit of haze and more muted colors. I really wanted to capture the sense of the moment in these.

"Thunder Mountain View" 5x7, pastel contact Michael

"Wilson Mountain View" 5x7, pastel - contact Michael