Let's Talk About Snowmen When it is 110 Outside

It's like Christmas in July....

I'm just a little late in getting this news out but with good news I think it is always better late than never.  

I am so happy to announce that my painting, "First Snowman" won both the visitor choice award at the Boulder City Art Gallery for two months in a row.  (March and April 2018)  If that isn't exciting news enough, I  find out that this piece has now been selected to be the featured artwork for all the Boulder City Winterfest marketing materials. This piece is very special to me as it is actually a painting of myself and my brother. Here is the memory I shared with the Winterfest committee,

"This piece was inspired by a reference photo that was taken of my brother and I after we finished building, what seemed to me at the time the best snowman ever. We were standing in front of my grandmother's house in Swedeborg, Missouri. I think I might be 5 here and my brother 4.

I clearly remember my sweet grandmother out there helping us put together what is very likely my first attempt at sculpture. I even remember getting the scarf and hat from my grandmother's closet and then going through her button jar to find the perfect buttons to form the eyes and mouth for this jolly old fellow. A photo captured the moment but it was my grandmother that made that moment a sweet memory."

You Want to Build a Snowman?

BEST IN SHOW!

That is what my painting,  "First Snowman" was awarded at City of the World Gallery this past week for their annual JOY show.  This show certainly wouldn't be classified much of an art show, but it didn't deter me from putting my heart into this piece as I painted.  

This painting is very personal for me because the little models are actually myself and my younger brother.  I used a reference photo taken in front of my Grandmother's house in Swedeborg, Missouri probably around 1967.  I remember the day because my grandmother took the time to actually help us build this fine snow sculpture.  On our own we were way too small to accomplish the creation of such a magnificent looking chap but she did what Grandmas are supposed to do and that is to spend time with their grandchildren.

 I can even remember going through her button box to find the perfect buttons to complete his blackened stare and his sweet cheery smile. You can see just how happy we were on that day as we posed for the picture.  Bundled up warmly in our coats, gloves and snow boots we don't that a care in the world.  All we have in mind at that moment was loving our grandma and being so proud of our very first snowman.   Even today I find myself humming the "Frosty the Snowman" song as I think about that cold Missouri day.

I might have moved to the Las Vegas desert way back in 1978 but you just can't take the Missouri out of my heart.  Painting is a way for me to clear my mind of the insanity of the world I find that I am now living in and tell a story where for just a moment I can capture a memory or a feeling.  I guess that makes the term "ART FROM THE HEART" clarity.

"First Snowman"- 18x24 Acrylic

Wanna Build a Snowman?

"First Snowman"- Original Acrylic on an 18x24 stretched canvas

Very often life floods in and takes over when I start to paint a composition.  I'm thinking of my childhood or some life experience that I have encountered along the way.  This piece that I'm calling "First Snowman" is no exception.  This painting is actually based off a photo taken of myself and my younger brother in front of my grandmother's place in Swedeborg, Missouri.  I'm not positive that this is the first snowman experience but because my grandmother took the time to build it with us it is the forever memory that makes this snowman standout from all the other snowmen in my childhood.  

I can still recall picking buttons out of her button box to aid in the creation of facial expressions on what otherwise just a cold blank stare.  Her plaid scarf around his neck and a silly knitted stocking cap finished off his accessories.  The picture snapped that day shows both myself and my brother, red cheeked and squinting from the bright sun but smiling ear to ear because a woman we greatly adored took time to make a memory in the life of a 4 and 5 year old.

The photo of us and the snowman was cute but we are standing in front of my grandmother's house with just a plain window and drab blue-gray aluminum siding as a backdrop so of course I had to make up a charming snowy barn scene.  That my friend is the joy of using artistic license.  

I will end this blog post today with a meditative question to myself, but one that I hope you too will consider.  I have to wonder that now that I am a grandma soon to be seven times over, do I do enough making of memories with my own grandchildren?  I can make my life get so busy that I'm not so sure that I've done the best job in the memory department as I could.  I think it is time to do some planning as the holidays approach and carve out some memory making activities.

Not Another Fishing Story

This week I painted two pieces really that took me down memory lane to my childhood growing up in Central Missouri.  My dear grandmother lived in a tiny community called Swedeborg that had a total population of about 300 I think and we lived there with her several times.  I would also visit and stay with her for weeks at a time.    As with many that lived there, fishing and hunting were a cheap source of entertainment and an activity that many of the residents enjoyed.  My grandmother adored fishing and since I adored my grandmother, fishing was a favorite activity for me growing up.  

"The Fishing Hole"  11x14 Acrylic

I decided to paint “The Fishing Hole” because the reference photo I was using had such great contrast between the sunny bank and the opposite shadowed river bank.  Partially through my painting I got excited when I decided to make my focal point and old forked stick left by some fisherman to hold his pole.   Now my grandmother would never prop up her pole because  part of the whole experience was to hold the rod in such a way that your right thumb had the fishing line resting across it as it came out of the reel.  This gave you the ability to "feel" the fish when they began to nibble at your bait rather than just watching the end of your pole.  If you felt that little tugging on the line you were to jerk your pole upward in hopes of hooking that fish before he discovered your hook.  

I have so many childhood memories connected to this simple activity.  Camping with my family where the Roubidoux joins the Gasconade River in Pulaski County near Waynesville, Missouri.  I can still hear my grandmother calling me her "little fishing buddy" as we sat on the shore for hours on end.  Come evening you could look up on the high ledge above the river and watch as the bats began to fly out of the *Roubidoux Cave.  They would dart around the river looking for their evening meal and I was amazed at their sonic radar abilities yet they often couldn't detect the fishing line and would fly into it. Having those bats flying into your fishing line was both thrilling and frightening at the same time.  My grandmother would tell me stories of men digging guano out of the cave.  Being scared of heights I would sit and stare up at that cave and wonder how anyone could be so brave as to try to climb up there; guano or no guano.

Most children can't sit still these days but if you wanted to be a good fisherman you had to be both still and quiet or you would be rebuked for "Scaring" the fish.  Needless to say that even at my young age I could sit there still as could be enjoying every minute spent whispering with my grandmother and imagining all the BIG ones".  I can't recall any particular birthday gifts I received in my childhood years with the exception of one.  My 9th birthday I was given my very own fishing pole.

My 9th Birthday and a Fishing Rod and Reel all my own!

"At the Rivers Bend"- 16x20 Acrylic

As it is with many of the painting I complete, I find that I make an emotional connection with it as I'm working on it.  Right away it became apparent that it was important for me to give this piece a story.    I could imagine this perfect little spot along this river to spend an afternoon with your favorite rod and a good book or in my case a sketch pad.  Both of these pieces will be available on my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com so be sure and use the link to check them out.

*ROUBIDOUX CAVE (19)

In a vertical bluff overlooking the junction of Roubidoux Creek and the Gasconade River is a cavern with a high, wide entrance giving access to a large chamber which has several smaller but well-lighted rooms opening into it. There was formerly a considerable depth of earth on the rock bottom, but most of it has been taken out for fertilizer. What is left is dry near the entrance, but wet farther in. Although it would make an ideal Indian home, being easy of access and within a few rods of the two streams, there could be found no indications of such habitation; and owing to the small amount of earth remaining, the presence of many large rocks, and the close proximity of a large club house on the public highway immediately in front, no excavation is possible.  A cairn on the point of the cliff over this cave has been completely demolished. (Fowke) (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18931/18931-h/18931-h.htm)

No Pain-No Gain

Yesterday, was my scheduled 4th painting lesson.  I was anxious to progress on the current oil painting that I am working on of a fallen tree up on Mt. Charleston.  The difficult thing for me when it comes to taking these lessons is that I feel insecure because (1.)  I'm painting in oils and (2.) my natural approach to the subject is very different from that of my instructor.  Each step of the way she gives me instructions on the next process in the piece and often I don't produce the result that she is wanting.  Either I am trying to be too detailed, over doing it or not doing enough.  This can be frustrating, but as I have stated many times, I am self-taught and obviously in many aspects, self-taught incorrectly.  Bad habits can be hard to rid oneself of if they are deeply ingrained and apparently my bad habits have very "deep tap roots".

I was excited to take along my most recent painting that I call, "Memories of the Road Home" and one of which I have been very happy with. As I painted this one, I had tried to remember the points I have learned in the book I am reading by Margaret Kessler entitled, "Painting Better Landscapes" and the things I have learned so far in my 3 previous painting lessons that I have taken with Lily Adamczyk and all in all I thought I had done a pretty good job.  Boy was I mistaken!

This is my original painting that I had completed that I am calling, "A Memory of the Road Home".

I was sure that Lily would discuss a few things that I could improve on to make it a better landscape painting.  After all, there could only be a few minor changes that I could do to improve it because the overall piece was done well, or at least that was what I thought.  It was the last few minutes of my lesson when Lily suggested that we take a look at what I had brought along.  She picked the canvas up and in a matter of 30 seconds or so she said..."Do you mind if I...." and she grabbed a roll of masking tape in her other other and began placing pieces of tape in different directions on the surface of my canvas.

Lily said that when you are painting buildings it is very important that you emphasize angles and lines and the best way to insure that they are straight is by using masking tape.  As you can see, I was blind to the extent that my lines and angles were off.  Only the tape showed me just how crooked they were.

Lily then proceeded to pull out her brushes and paint palette and go to work on the roof of my old homestead.  She explained that the detail of painting each shingle wasn't necessary but what was more important was getting the base colors correct and giving just the impressions of the tiles.  That was also her advise when it came to old wooden slates that the house is comprised of.

Lily giving me a lesson on how to improve my painting

I was amazed by her ability to add a few colors together and come up with the perfect matching color to use for those old green shingles.  She mixed Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Green,  Black, and White to make the shingles.  We also added a blue tint to the path way to give it interest.  My other notes include- STAY AWAY FROM WHITE...and throw away your fan brush.  An angle brush works great because you don't have to paint every blade grass, rather give the impression of the grass.

My piece in it's current stage of transformation.  We have brought the one tree down into the foreground, added a stone wall, radically changed the grass and my path.  I am still working on lightening the grass and detailing some of the foreground. 

It was a painful couple of hours, but my resolve is to turn the PAIN into GAIN and remember that critique, no matter how painful, will make me a better artist.  After I finish this piece a second time, maybe I will start a second painting of this same house so that I can reproduce this effect on my own from start to finish.  Perhaps this view with some overgrown rosebushes and an old tire swing would make and interesting composition.  Practice makes Perfect...and I need a LOT of practice.

Something to Think About

As I was studying the book called "Painting Better Landscapes" by Margaret Kessler, I found on page 24 a gem amongst the technical advice.  Even while you are still visualizing and planning your piece you need to consider the WHY of the painting.  Why are you painting this scene and what mood are you trying to convey.  She says, and I quote, "With in the limits of convention, paint the ordinary in an extraordinary way.  Don't just decorate: dramatize.  Exaggerate motion and color; vary the value range and textural quality.  By emphasizing or downplaying objects, manipulate the scene to engage the viewer psychologically."

There is freedom in this statement and as an artist I appreciate that I have artistic license to add or remove certain elements to improve my composition.  Of course I didn't need to read this in a book to know that as the artist the only boundaries that I have are those invisible ones that I myself have created in my mind.  Breaking those chains and tearing down the cobwebs that years of non-creativeness have left isn't always and easy task.  I struggle in my compositions with using colors and painting the randomness of nature.  I can stand back to observe my piece and realize after hours of work that I have once again painted my bushes to have a manicured symmetry and all lined up like little soldiers at attention and all my rocks are smooth round river rocks.

This is exactly why visualizing and planning are SO important.  I must see this painting completed in my mind before I ever start laying out my palette.  Sketching my idea out will  help me steer away from these composition traps and I am ready to begin.  So here is my inspirational photo and I will blog my steps as I work through the teachings outline in this book by Ms. Kessler.

This old homestead photo that we took while on our Missouri vacation is very near to where both my great-grandparents lived.  I recall both of their houses on the main dirt road that parallels the highway 133 between Crocker and Richland.  My mother was born in a house probably very much like this one there in Swedeborg.  I attended the little country school there for both 1st and 3rd grade.  It is this exact feeling that I want to evoke with this painting.  I want to stir up feelings that include memories of a vibrant house that is full of laughter and that now stands in decay because of neglect and misuse.  The memories are still very sweet because they are bigger than the outer shell made of lumber and penny nails.

Old House Ruins located in Swedeborg, Missouri

Ivy covered log located in what is left of the yard of the old house

Quick sketch made of house and log that I will use as my plan.  I am considering adding a old water pump too.

Memories of the Road Home- 16 x 20 Acrylic. This is the final rendition and I am pleased with the end results.  I wanted to inspire self-reflection as one looks back into the past.  I used several photos we took as we visited Swedeborg, Missouri on vacation this summer. This town is where my Grandmother and Grandfather lived, my mom was born and two sets of Great-grandparents lived. My roots are deep in this little town of about 250. When you spend time painting a scene like this you do a great deal of remembering about childhood, growing old, family and those that have gone before you.

In memory of:  Franklin Vail & Claudine Butler Miller (Mauer) 
                          Harry & Hazel (Morris) Miller
                          Clara May (Freeman) McKim