Inspiration All Around You

It was back in October that my husband and I had the joy of taking a small (not necessarily small for Brad and I) hike with our son, daughter-in-law and brand new baby granddaughter at Mt. Rose in the Reno area.  The trail is actually called Galena Creek Trail and it was an amazing mile or so up and back.  I understand the trail will actually take you all the way to Lake Tahoe but I didn't need to walk that far to be inspired.

This one little event has so far resulted in a number of paintings that have all be inspired by the photos we took of that area.  I found myself just snapping pictures of everything.  The fall colors were brilliant against the clear sky.  The sounds of wildlife and rushing water made the experience not only a visual masterpiece but also a treat to compare to any concert man could produce.  One thing I know is that there are more paintings coming in the future that can be traced back to that two hours one crisp October morning.  So take a little time this week and find something inspiring and don't forget your camera!

Frustration to Fruition

How long is it in an artists evolution before painting becomes so natural that you no longer hesitate to achieve the perfect grass, trees or rocks? I mean these are the staple to any good landscape.  Here is an example of my question-I started a 24 x 36 inch painting of a series of grass covered hills and find myself painting over my grass twice now and I'm still not happy with the results. This bothers me is that I went to bed frustrated and woke up this morning feeling even more frustrated about this painting. Even if I don't go back into the studio today, I know the half finished painting is there and so are those grassy hills that just don't seem right.

 I find myself still painting at times out of order and thinking to myself, "How long before this process of creating a painting becomes natural and EASY?" I know that I try to paint too quickly and don't spend enough time really thinking about where I am going with my composition, otherwise I wouldn't still be painting a tree before I've finished my background. I think better planning out the steps of my painting will help me with this. I always know the basic subject matter that I am going to paint but I don't spend enough time focused on the steps needed to achieve that painting. The one I am working on now started out well enough.  You can see the progression of the painting as I follow these steps:

STEP 1-Sky is painted w/clouds.

STEP 2-Lay base layer for the distant rolling hills.

STEP 3- Paint the distant grass details on those hills.

 (It is in Step 3 and find that painting this much grass with my fan brush is time consuming, painful to my back and makes me very tired.  This is the step that I rushed through because a 24 x 36 canvas covered with grassy hills gets tiring and then I thought I would like the way the grass looks better if I paint the foreground trees. MISTAKE.

STEP 4- Paint details of grass, dead tree and shrubs in the foreground and maybe add a deer as an additional focal point. 

 Not yet finished because I still need to add much of the foreground details which include the tall grass, the road and the dead tree. I added the deer last night and I think he looks great if I can say so myself.  This one probably will be several more weeks before I feel it is completed and ready to be added to my gallery page, but at least I find myself today warming up to it.

The road is steep here because of the hilly terrain and the overgrown shrubbery hides your view as it descends down the other side.  You can only see a hint of it as it continues around the grassy slopes covered in summer wildflowers.  Suddenly, you stop dead in your tracks as you notice that you have just startled a young buck feeding on the tall grass and you know that at anytime he will bolt but for this moment you both are frozen as you stare in awe and try to memorize the ripples of his muscle, the shade of his fur and the number of points on his rack.  If this painting makes you feel this way, then I have succeeded in transforming my Frustration into Fruition.

Just A Check for $1.00

Yesterday, I took the time to go through a pile of unopened junk mail that had been piling up on the table in my entryway. I was on a cleaning frenzy and felt a slight annoyance as I started flipping through each unopened envelope.  How many trees are wasted each year so that this junk mail can be delivered to clutter up my home?  I know I receive my fair share of it. In the pile, was the typical credit card offers, AARP membership information (now that I'm 50), and other assortments of the same old same old. I sometimes don't even open them because it isn't worth the risk of getting a paper cut,  but one envelope in the stack caught my eye. I had never seen this company send me anything before and so I immediately assumed that my contact information had been sold on a list recently.

I decided to rip open the flap to see what this was all about and was shocked to find a check for $1.00 made out to me. I stared at the information, trying to understand what this simple piece of paper really represented. Slowly, the full realization began to come into focus. The note section on the check stated "Fineartamerica.com payment" and of course it was made out to me. After a few moments passed, I realized that I must have sold a note card on the Fine Art America website and this was my profit from that sale.

I've seen many business that have a framed a one dollar bill hanging up behind their cash register. This always represents the first $1.00 made when the business opened and also is a reminder of the vision of many more dollars to come, when finally, all the sweat and hard work begins to pay off.

Now, I think I will cash this check, but I might just hang a photo of it up in my studio as a reminder that someday my dream of being a successful artist just might come true. Such a small thing, but someone in Brownsville, Texas liked my painting "Little Blue Bird" enough to spend $4.95 to buy a copy of it on a simple note card. I believe this is a small confirmation that I am slowly heading in the right direction and with focus and determination, this will be the first of many checks to come.

 You can check out my work at Fine Art America by following this link:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/julie-townsend.html

Green is a Problem

It wasn't that long after I picked up my brushes and started painting again that I realized that I was having difficulty being satisfied with the colors in my paintings.  I never seemed to obtain the vivid colors that I had desired and had envisioned.  I specifically noticed my frustration with the color green in particular in my compositions. I just felt they lacked the depth of color and usually as I kept attempting to brighten my foliage I would find that the end result was a tree completely overworked, lacking the definition that I desired. Is the problem the actual shade of green that I had purchased? I would stand in front of the paint display, looking at the different names listed. Hooker Green, Permanent green, Chromium Oxide Green, Sap green, phthalo green, and so on and so on... What was the name of this illusive green paint that I really needed on my palette?

I had the occasion last week to ask several artists about what was the green that they used most and I was shocked when I was told by my very accomplished artist friend, Lily Adamsczyk, that she never buys green, but rather she mixes yellow and paynes gray to achieve the green that she desires. I was shocked to say the least. I thought you mixed blue and yellow to make green or at least that was what I was taught in elementary school art class.

The second artist I asked named sap green as her favorite but then immediately she began clarifying the fact that because sap green is a two pigment paint that phthalo green was probably a better choice. I didn't admit this fact to her, but I was lost  back at the "two pigment part."  I realized, that just like composition rules, there is a whole science to paint colors that go far beyond the blobs of paint I squeeze on my palette when I begin preparation to start a new painting.   There is SO much to this painting stuff that I know so little about.

I must not be the only one that has issues with GREEN because in the book, "Color and Light" by James Gurney, there is a whole section dedicated to this problem called "The Green Problem." In this chapter, Mr. Gurney gives the following tips for helping with my GREEN problems.
1. Mix your greens with a variation of blues and yellows so that the color is weaker and varied.
2. Vary that color in your composition from leaf to leaf and tree to tree.
3. Add a mixture of reddish or pink gray on your palette to weave in and out of the greens. This adds depth and interest to the composition and breaks up the green. I have been following this idea for sometime as I use purple as my shadow color in the foliage. I try to steer away from the use of black and have for sometime been substituting dark purple for all my shadows.
4. Prime your canvas with pinks or reds so they show through. This will help make your greens pop on the canvas.

So upon review, I guess I need to remember that if you want your "Green" to pop, trash what you learned in elementary art class and  pull out the tube of red and while you're at it, don't forget that tube of Yellow and Paynes Gray!

Happy Painting!