IF YOU WANT TO LEARN TO PAINT BETTER...THEN TEACH!

I'm finding a great deal of satisfaction in sharing my art with a younger generation in the form of weekly lessons.  I'm always a little nervous before they come but once we get painting that hour just flies by.  Here is a little glimpse at my home studio and the space I have designated for students. I took this photo just last week of the brother and sister students that I have intently working on painting the details on their pink zinnias.  

I was once told by a veteran artist that you really learn a great deal about your own art work, style and technique when you take that step and begin teaching.  So not only are these kids learning from me, but they are teaching me and improving my skills at the same time.   A BONUS- Weekly lessons also keeps me motivated to keep my studio space clean and organized!  

My students painting chickadees and zinnias.

To check out more of my artwork, please visit my website at:  JulieTownsendStudio.com

Art is a Family Affair

Being an artist is for me very much a family affair.  I'm so blessed to have the support of my husband and children with making my dreams a reality.  I couldn't do this without them.  My husband follows me to galleries and artshows, helping pack and unpack the truck, hang artwork or make a frame if I need with very little complaining.  

My children endure a constant barrage of photographs sent to their cell phones of my newest works in all steps of completion and are always my most energetic cheerleaders.  My adorable grandchildren actually have no memory of a time when grandma didn't paint and there wasn't a "STUDIO" in my home.  I LOVE IT!  Here is one of them modeling my most recent masterpiece!  This little guy would make any artwork look good.  I love that he comes into the studio and picks up a dry brush and pretends he is painting chickadees with grandma.  I can't wait to be able to give them painting lessons and spark that creativeness that I know is there.  

Who Knew Talking About Landscapes Could Be So DEEP

When I took my first painting lesson back in July 2012 with instructor and friend, Lily Adamczyk the concept of creating depth in your landscape was stressed from day one.  Prior to taking lessons, I would work on my backgrounds by adding almost as much details as I did with the foreground. 



This earlier piece I called "Nevada Dreams" lacks that distance and transition from foreground to background that I am now learning is so important.  I still like elements in this piece, but now I'm learning there are several things that I should have done to make this composition better.  I now know that I should split my canvas in 1/3's rather than making this 1/2 sky and 1/2 landscape.  I also believe I could have better accomplished the impression of distance if I had made the mountains end  at either 1/3 or 2/3's of the canvas and give the impression of a distant range far in the horizon.  After all, Nevada has more mountain ranges than any other state so there are always mountains in the distance no matter where you look.  I will one day revisit this shack located east of Tonopah and give it another go around.

Nevada Dreams- 24 x 36 acrylic painting

This next painting that I call "Fallen" was completed as I took my first lessons with my accomplished instructor.  It clearly gives the impression that the forest path continues.  Your eye is drawn there because you can see the impression of trees and sunlight in the distance.  You know that your hike isn't finished but rather this is only a stopping point as you ponder this giant of the forest that fallen.  Good landscapes must engage the viewer, causing them to stop and consider the whole canvas.  A simple glance would never do.   So I have tried to remember that lesson with each of my painting since then.

Fallen- 16 x 20 Oil painting- See how the forest trail continues on further giving this painting depth

Newest acrylic called "Galena Creek Birches"-  again I have continued the trail on into the forest drawing your eyes up the hill.  For a better picture you should check out my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

Watch Grass Grow

I have blogged a number of times about my painting lessons that I am taking with a very talented local artist by the name of Lily Adamczyk.  If you have followed any of my former blog posts you know that I have been painting only for the past 2 years and have been using acrylics up to this point.  Taking lessons from an accomplished artist and learning a new medium like oils can open one up to a new level of critiquing that facebook friends or family dare not provide.  In their defense 1. they probably don't want to hurt my feelings and 2. even with all my bad habits I demonstrate a level of skill they may not have themselves.  

I chose for the subject of my first solo oil painting a field with three longhorns.  Well, actually two longhorns and a calf.  We took this photo somewhere along the road while traveling in Nebraska.  I loved the look these bovine gave us as we forced my 14 year old niece to stand in a field of corn so that we could take her picture. You don't come across too many fields of corn in the Nevada desert so we made her pose all across the countries bread basket states.  Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't seen too many longhorns in Las Vegas either.  Regardless of what crazy things we were doing to make them stare at us like this, I loved this photo and knew immediately that I wanted to try and paint it.

So as I began painting out my scene on the blank canvas, I couldn't really get around the fact that my subject was surrounded by a great deal of green grass.  I decided to split that up with a small stream running across and to have a distant barn on the horizon.  As I posted this painting on facebook, I received a number of compliments about the way I painted my grass.  So, I proudly carried my partially completed work to my most recent painting lesson so that Lily could get a close up look at my masterpiece.  I was sure the she would like the way I handled the long grass in this composition because I tried to follow her instructions on the painting I had done previously that I call "Memories of the Road Home".  Boy was I WRONG!!! 

Lily's first comment to me was that she see me making this mistake all the time and she is going to break me of my bad habits, especially when it comes to painting grass and having things springing up from the edges of my canvas.  I guess that meant that she didn't like the tree I added in the corner.

The first correction she had me do was to add more contrast to the grass areas by adding brown squiggly lines in different directions. After these are completed, I'm going to come back in with a light ochre to simulate the grass that has gone to seed in my photo.

 
With this close up, you can see that I have started adding the contrast to the grass and have worked to DEFINE the BOVINE by darkening the shadows and highlighting the areas that are being impacted by the sunlight.  I can honestly say that this action has resulted in a marked improvement.  Lily is always right.

This is close up of an area that I have not yet added the contrast and I can see what a difference this makes in the overall feeling of the grass.  

I was thinking about the fact that for so many year I have not viewed nature with "ARTIST EYES" and now I am trying to interrupt what my memory remembers it to look like.  The randomness and imprefections that exists in nature is missing from my pieces because I'm trying to interrupt it and not really obeserve it.  What I really need to do to improve my paintings, is get outside and literally "WATCH GRASS GROW".

Nosey Girls- 18 x 24 (Oil)

Back to the basics-WAY BACK!

This blog is somewhat of an embarrassing blog to write because it requires that I make a very personal confession, "I have dirty brushes."  Okay, there I have said it for the world to read and so now I can move forward towards my recovery.

You would think that somehow along this journey to becoming an artist, I would have learned how to properly maintain my brushes, but I guess not. I only remember in high school art class washing my brushes in the sink under running water and doing that only until the water ran clear.  I thought that was all there was when it came to brush care....(I will continue this blog as soon as you have stopped laughing.)

I became suspiciously aware of the fact that there just be a bit more to paint brush care when I started taking formal painting lessons.  Each week, I would arrive to Lily's house to have sitting before me my unfinished painting, a clean palette with little colorful blobs of oil paint and 5 or 6 paint brushes that all had bristles that were well rounded, a sharp point or had a nice sharp edges.   The bristles were stiff and a frankly a joy to paint with. I know that a number of my brushes are very old but I have found that when I buy brand new brushes, that before you know it, the edges of the bristles are spread apart and I no longer am able to paint a nice straight detailed line.  Even after trying to shape the edges, while the bristles were wet and allowing them to dry on a flat surface I would still have brushes that were far from what Lily had.  So a couple of weeks ago I decided to swallow my pride and ask Lily for help.
 
The paint brush exorcism took place yesterday at the end of my painting lesson when I painfully submitted my brushes to Lily's scrutiny.  During my 2 hour lesson, my brushes soaked in cleaning solution suspended by a wire hanger.  Just before I was to leave, Lily and I went to her kitchen sink where she pulled out a tub of brush cleaning soap and began to squeezing the bristles and rubbing the brushes vigorously in the palm of her hand.

To my horror, old paint that had worked its way into the ferrule of my brush began to turn the white soap lather into a nasty green-gray color.  I think I heard Lily mutter something under her breath about never having seen such dirty brushes. 

Yes...that is suppose to be a 3/8 Angle Shader on the right that I apparently have ruined in comparison to a #6 angle brush that with my new gained knowledge won't ruin.

So here is what I learned about brush care:
     1.  If the brushes are really dirty you will need to soak them in a brush cleaner solution perhaps as long as overnight.  I definitely think that describes my current situation.  You want to us a brush washer that allows you to suspend your brushes in the solution without covering the ferrule of your brush.

2.  Use a brush soap and get the bristles well lathered.  Rub the bristles vigorously in the palm of your hand then squeeze the bristles between your finger and thumb nail to work the old paint out from deep within the base of the bristles and the ferrule.  Repeat until your soap lather is white.  Leave some lather on your bristles to work as a sizing to allow you to form the desired shape with your fingers.

3.  Lay the brush flat on a paper towel to allow to dry.  Don't stand them up on the end of the handles as the water will stay in the ferrule and will eventually cause damage to your paint brush handle.

 Now is when the fun really begins.  I am off to the store to purchase the necessary items and then I will begin the long process of trying to save my brushes by soaking and soaping them back to life.  As you can see, I have my work cut out for me.

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.

Week 3-Be Patient and Paint the Plan

My oil painting is progressing along nicely and I'm pleased at the progress.  I knew that I would learn a lot by taking one on one lessons but I find myself struggling at my home easel now.  I'm trying to incorporate the things I have leaned these past 3 lessons into my own works at home and I feel a bit lost.  I think this is normal and I just have to keep working at it until I break free of old habits and take my time staying with the plan.  Painting TOP to BOTTOM, BACK to FRONT.  No cheating even if I can't wait to see how that bright yellow foliage of the Aspen trees are going to pop against those dark green pines.

For the past two years that I have returned to my childhood passion,  I have been committed to practicing and have painted nearly 100 pieces.  Some of course better than others.  I have sold about 8 pieces in that time but have many stacked around the house.  I believe I have shown my dedication and have reached that point of taking my art to the next level.  Private lessons are what I feel is needed for me to advance to the next level. 

I think there are plenty of other new, struggling artists that must feel the same way that I do.  At 51 years old, do I have enough time to progress my talent to where I want it to be?  Only God knows that answer,but in the mean time I want to either be painting, teaching or sharing what I am learning with others by blogging about my experiences.

Original Photo that I chose to use as the inspiration for my first oil painting

WK 1- Laying out the composition by sketching the main details using a neutral colored paint

WK 1- blocking in the main base colors that will eventually be the mountains, sky and foreground

WK 1- Stopping the first lessons with my canvas covered in a layer of acrylic paints.

WK 2- Here I am painting my canvas top to bottom and back to front.  Most of this background area will be covered up with my foreground details but you have to give the viewer that distance to create interest

WK 3-  Here I have changed the mountain color from purple to more blue.  Blue gives a better feeling of distance because of the haze created in the atmosphere that gives a blue tint to objects in the distance.  I have focused on my areas of light and shadow and developed the path way.  The view's eye is drawn to both areas in the distance that reflect the sunlight.  It makes you feel that the path continue down over the hill and there must be something interesting there.

What I learned in my first painting lesson

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking my first real painting lesson.  I wasn't sure what was expected, so I took not only a blank canvas, but a quick painting that I had started recently.  I thought it would be a good idea to ask her opinion on the piece.  Of course, when you ask a fellow artist for an opinion, you have to be ready to receive an answer.  She started out with "Your mountains look good, BUT..."  then followed about 10 items that I had done incorrectly.  I watched as she made some changes with her brush and knew she was pointing out the things I too have criticized about my own work.  Below, I have included a before and after the lesson and then summarized many of the things I learned.  I would love to hear if you find any of this helpful.

1.  With large bodies of water you have to break it up to make the composition interesting.  The farther the water is away the darker it will appear.  Never use white unless you are painting waves with foam like you would see when painting an ocean scene.  Adding white to many of the bright colors result in not brightening but rather causing a graying of the color.  With water it is better to paint lines of lighter blue.  Cobalt and Cerulean make a nice color for the water for the closer to the shore but Ultramarine Blue is a wonderful color to paint the water in the distance.  Always paint water strokes horizontal to the horizon.

2.  The detail on the distant shore like should be more impressionistic.  In this painting, my shore line is too straight and the trees are too even.  Adding blue highlights to the distant shore gives the appearance of the distance

3.  My clouds were mixed with White, Paynes Gray and Cerulean Blue.  Lily recommended that I mix a purple gray shade for contrasting clouds.  She mixed a very small amount of Alizorin Crimson with Cerulean Blue and white.  The smallest touch of Paynes Gray gave a light shade of gray purple color that made my clouds pop.  The clouds also were too uniform and needed variation of the edges with break offs.  Lily referred to a tickling the clouds as she painted and then used a hake brush to blend dark to light with light sweeping strokes.

4.  Compositional the dead tree that extends from the bottom of the canvas takes away from the painting by drawing your eyes down to the edge.  Lily immediately began taking the lower portion of the tree away by painting the lake water and rocks over that area.   It was decided to leave the upper portion of the tree and add some sparse foliage to add to the feeling that the tree is dying.  This change allowed the reflection of the trees in the water to better be seen.

5.  The trees on the distant shore would not have such a highlights so we removed them and made the shore line irregular in shape.

6.  Over and over I have tried to break my habit of painting rocks that look smooth and round like all rocks on the earth's crust have been polished smooth by the ocean.  Lily pointed out that the shadow from the trees would result in just dark shapes of the rocks and not highlighting.  Also we broke up the rocks by creating sharp edges and removing the white highlighting.  She would paint dark paint with an angle brush, then use lighter painting to focus the edges of the rocks and then again with the dark to establish the bottom and cracks in each rock. I also learned that a good dirt color contains yellow.  Burnt Sienna, yellow, paynes gray and white will make a really good dirt color.

7.  The original rocks that I had painted and that extended out into the water appeared to be magically floating on the water surface.  We painted a group of them out but decided that a little grouping of rocks jetting out of the water added interested and broke the water up in the composition.  Lily shared a trick of painting the rock and then coming back in and cutting the rock by adding the water line about 2/3 down.  This allowed the remainder of the rock below the surface to appear as a reflection.  Then you come back in and add horizontal lines to across the reflection to give the appearance of water shimmering.  We also painted a number of very small rocks where the water and shore line met to give the impression of a rocky shoreline.

8.  The island needed to extend out to give the appearance of depth.  We added an additional line of rocks that gives the impression of the island extending on around rather than ending in a sharp edge.

The final result is what I believe to be a much better painting.  I'm just SO excited to be taking lessons and can't wait to work on the new oil painting that I started.