Another sitting surfer

I've always been attracted to the image of a surfer sitting, waiting for waves. Usually this happens when I am also waiting, and have more time to turn my attention to observation mode, instead of just being on the lookout for the next wave. This particular day was beautifully calm and clear...and I was able to walk out in the water afterwards with my camera without fear of getting it wet.
This is a study ( 8"x10") for a larger painting. I didn't know if I had enough visual info to be able to paint the girl, as a black wetsuit just looks black in a photo (no shadows or highlights) .. so tried it on a small scale. I sure wish I knew more about color, and painting..

More aqua, less talk

8"x10" oil study

Surrounded

Walking into an art supply store is like walking into the proverbial candyshop.. Desire rules supreme.. I made a vow not to buy any new canvases until I use the ones I have...And most of them are quite small.. great for studies, experimenting, learning. But they always end up looking like 'pictures" to me...

I guess that is why I am attracted to larger sizes. I feel like I want to recreate the experience of being in or close to the ocean..The stillness or movement, the vastness, the color and form.. It never seems big enough. However, practicality takes over. My studio can only accomodate a certain size.. already it is difficult to stand back and look at the painting without some serious maneuvering. Painting larger also takes a whole new set of technical skills and supplies..as well as time.

When I am on my board, waiting for waves, I am constantly trying to figure out what color the water is.. Last week, on a particularly beautiful still morning, with LONG waits between tiny sets, I was shutting one eye and then the other, looking at the water around my surfboard, when I noticed that each eye saw the water as a different color.. The left eye saw more green/teal and the right eye saw more brown/green... Which was correct? No matter how I turned, it was always the same.. Could it be the angle of the early morning sun? Different eyes? Since I spend so much time trying to figure out just what color it is I am looking at, this discovery was quite a surprise.

The images below are small studies (8"x10" on board) done mostly from memory.. A mini test for myself. Have I learned anything? I think one thing I love about painting water is it's constantly changing nature.. impossible to hold onto.

Ripples

While patiently waiting for the right image to appear on a new canvas, I continue to have a foam drawing always in process.. Just finished this one.. I can't say "ripple" without thinking of a wine from the 60's? Or, "Ripple in still water" from the Dead? Anyway.....


Meanwhile I have been playing with some quick oil "sketches" on small (8x10) boards. As I always work from photos, I am trying to keep the reference at a minimum, relying on what I am learning from all this painting of water.. . It is really scary, and I feel like I am going someplace without a roadmap..or rather, I have been relying too much on the roadmap and now I need to trust my ability to get there on my own... At risk, of course, is perceived failure.. or getting lost..Often, it's when I learn the most. Will post them when they dry..

Taking a break

Ah, the purgatory between paintings.. Finished one, not sure what to do next. It's not that I lack ideas, it's just that I can't settle on one.. This is the story of my life, and the challenge of living with a distractable mind.. When I do sit down and start to explore something, the mind will dismiss it for a number of reasons.. It's too hard, I don't have the technical skills to pull it off, it's really not as interesting as I thought, and on and on. Meanwhile I feel like I am wasting time...because I am not "producing" What I always forget is that this period is work too... So I am trying to relax and not make it a problem..easier said than done. Like anything else, it will run it's course.. And it is spring..trees are blooming, the air is warmer, and the days are getting longer.. Yeah!

In the meantime, I am posting this image of lunch bags. When i was exploring what i wanted to do after the years of pastel still life(s) I decided to draw a paper bag a day.. or whenever I was able to work in the studio. I loved doing it.. And I love how all the bags are different and how they all work together.. Plus it reminded me of all the lunches we had packed for our kids over the years before college.. Now I can't even find a bag in the house.. Things change..

Still moving water

Still moving water
STILL! moving water
Still, moving water
Still moving, water

oil 36"x48"
Somehow, it looks very different on the wall, lighting perhaps? Surrounding wall color? I think the teal blue of the blog background emphasizes the green in the waves... too much, actually...

Plum Blossoms

I love walking into the studio this time of year. It seems like the plum trees in the backyard all exploded in blossom overnight.. On the painting scene, I have "quit" this painting so many times.. Working large, trying to put together all I have learned with the past color experiments.. I feel like I bit off more than I can chew.. Somedays I think I am "getting somewhere" and others I just want to toss it! Being interrupted ( by life's other obligations) is a big issue.. Will post it.. when and IF I finish it..

The underpainting is gone!

oil 16"x20"

What a challenge.. Foam is so amazing! Especially when the camera stops it's trajectory. There are all sorts of funny and interesting shapes that emerge, yet they all seem to belong to a similar "family". It often reminds me of shaving cream, of whipped cream, whipped egg whites, or even melted snow. All seem have the common theme of a mixture of air and water/liquid.. The natural world is amazing.

And here I am still attempting to make sense of it, trying to understand and see clearly something that cannot stand still. The camera a a great tool..It allows me to see more clearly...combined with hours of observation.

With each painting, I feel "obligated" to name it.. This naming has always been really challenging for me, and I often wonder, "what's the point?" Other than distinguishing one painting from another, I am content with "Foam 1" and "Foam 2" but after 20 paintings/drawings, even I get lost. I often want to find some sort of metaphor to use in the name, but then it gets too cute. If the painting went deeper than mere observation/exploration and a love of beauty , maybe it would be different. Sometimes the paintings name themselves...
Guess I will just have to wait!

Underpainting

An artist friend casually mentioned that maybe it was time for me to move away from the calm glassy images I have been working with for so long. Not that I am in any way finished exploring the subject, but I decided to branch out. I had been entertaining the idea of painting wave spray/foam in oil for a while, but frankly, it is a daunting project. As I finished my recent foam drawing, I felt almost warmed up. After I picked an image that I liked, I then proceeded to find all sorts of distractions to keep me from taking that first step. but here it is.. The underpainting for the foam painting. Up until today, I have been putting off painting over it, I actually liked the looseness and drawing-like quality of the paint. ( hmmm, maybe I should be paying attention to something here) But alas, it will be lost and I may totally ruin the whole thing. So here's a photo before it changes..

Gratitude

I am grateful to be surrounded by beauty, for the everchanging surfaces of the water, for a mind that finds delight and interest in the impermanence of it all, and for the ability to become engaged in seeking to understand water through the medium of painting as well as the means to share it with others..

oil 12"x36"

Incoming

The newest of the "foam" series.

Together again

Just to see for myself the difference between two colors and a full palette(!) I painted the piece on the left as a continuation of the "breakthrough" painting.. They are meant to go together.. I also wanted to see the 4 paintings together again, as two of them found a new home.. Am slowly working more studio time into my day.. (each painting is 16"x20")

IMG_3252.JPG

Breakthrough

I am finally getting close to whatever color it is I see in the water with this study.. Thanks to a tube of cerulean blue that I received for my birthday in June..If you look in the archives, you may be able to see how far this painting is from the previous studies..especially July 2006...

The new paint helped, as well as a year(!) of experimenting...but as valuable is the time I sit in the water, looking, looking, looking.. and then trying to remember what it is that I saw when I am in front of a blank canvas..

Painting, but not THAT kind

Ah, I am SO longing to get back in the studio and start a new painting.. As usual, the activities of the summer, mostly people-oriented, while I have welcomed them with open arms, have not allowed me to continue that important mental continuity it takes to keep me fresh, involved, and on track.. My artists mind works best when my life is uncomplicated... Unfortunately, I'm not one of those artists who can just go work when ever I feel like it.. I need certain conditions so my mind isn't constantly drawn to other life issues.
However, since the end of last month, I have been in the process of painting a condo that my son will be moving into.. an amazing lot of work and not yet finished... so I am counting the days..it is nice to paint for the first day, then a couple of weeks later you wonder if it will ever be finished.. And why isn't he helping? He works all day....
Luckily, I have a drawing in progress. SO when I return to the studio, I won't be totally spinning my wheels... Hope to post a new piece soon!!!

Playing with old images

Um, just thought I'd add a new/old image since I just returned from a week on the right coast and haven't returned to the studio yet.. Many thanks for those of you (Carol, Pat, Sheila) who took the time to visit this blog.. That's what it is about for me, sharing with friends.. This is just two different pieces of art, put together.. the things one can do with a computer! Probably approx 3'x6'.. It's so hard getting started again after a break.. especially if I'm already working on something...OOOP! Off I go!

Middle Ground

My work has been following me around. This new charcoal drawing has accompanied me on many trips.. I clip it to some foam core, throw my materials in a bag and whenever the moment presents itself, it is there to work on.. I have worked on it in Inverness and while scanning about 4000 slides (in progress) these past few weeks.. I can pick it up and just do a bit at a time. One of the things I like so much about drawing is the ease and portability of the materials. It was really fun to get back to this series. I really love the images...as well as the black and white..


And at the same time, I finally completed another water painting.. I had a hard time with the photo, hence the easel shot..In the painting process, the hardest part for me is when the painting is almost finished, but I see all sorts of areas that need working on just a bit more..It could go on forever... Minor stuff, but important to me.. ah the perils of a perfectionist.. I can just never get it right... which is good in a way because it motivates me to keep trying.. hopefully on the next painting.. Here I discovered that Gamlin Payne's grey is bluer than the same color from Windsor Newton.. Which works well for me.

oil 30"x40"

Self Portrait

Well, not exactly, but a portrait of a beloved object in my life.. My Mystic board, sitting in the water on a calm day, in between waves.. waiting...As for the painting, I painted over a previous unsuccessful canvas.. Used some previously unfamilar colors. Still working with a limited palette..And, after all, it is all about the water..which, by the way, has a lot of transparent green in the dark areas.. this is overly blue.. and a bit dark..
A couple of issues at work here..
1) This is my third try at a photo.. Since I glazed some of the colors, the canvas is shiny in some spots.. so any light bounces back..in compensation, I took the photo in an area with indirect light, which was really too dark, hence, the slight out of focus look. Not to mention , of course, the ever evasive color matching.
2) Impatient, lazy or does perfection no longer matter? If I spent a bit more time "getting it right" I could probably get a lot closer to the original. But, since this is only a blog (ie. not a portfolio or sales site) does it matter that much to me? Uh, yes and no.. Today it doesn't matter.
3) Working title was "mystic(k)" John Moore, a local shaper, made the board, a Mystic. But it is my stick.. yeah, I know, kinda dumb.. Whatd'ya think?

A beautiful Shame

Beautiful glassy calm mercurial light filled water. In the distance I see a dazzling luminous green object floating in the water..I paddle closer and pick it up.. The contradictory image of the moment stays with me. At home, as I am working on , yes, yet another color study, the bottle finds it's way into the piece. I am reminded of the plastic bag blowing in the wind, from the film, "American Beauty" I guess this is my version. (8"x10")

Traces

Not a good day to write so I will just post "Traces" (12"x36") and keep my mouth shut, for now anyway..

Let go and ....flow

There should be a way that I can write "flow" in the way that I am feeling it now.. I can say it, but somehow, "floooooooow" just doesn't do it..
I am in the third day of working on a new painting.. It is long and horizontal and is meant to be a view from water level, that is, I am in the water, looking out over the seascape from sea level, not above.. Picture a camera half in and half out.. I have had this idea in my head for ages, but have never been able to get the right perspective with a camera (not having a water housing for my digital camera) .. I ended up looking at a surf film shot that way and did some sketches to start me off..
First I just went for it, blocked in the areas of dark and light, just using payne's grey and white.. Yesterday after "working" in the water, (in between the meager waves) that is, really being observant of color, light, etc, I returned home and painted a second time, establishing the sky reflected in the surface.
When I saw it this morning , it was all wrong...Instead of doing some essential errands (like buying food for my family) and my morning exercise, I started to just paint... 3 1/2 hours later, I dragged myself away to write this and to eat something.. And also, walk away from the piece. When I left, it was really coming together.. so amazing.. I hope it looks as good when I return..
I find myself starting to rely less and less on photographic reference, and accuracy, and just going for it. And it usually happens when I make a mistake or just give up on something.. um, I think it's called "letting go."
I sure do enjoy the feeling of flow when it happens... and to think it's possible to live our lives flowing over, around and through the obstacles that we encounter on the way.. mostly of our own making.