Finding the Ah-Ha! with an emphasis on the “HA”…

Or maybe better said – finding the perfect or nearly perfect composition in nature and then painting it.  As a pastel artist who does a lot of landscape work, I am always looking for that ah-ha, that perfect composition that I can snap a photo of and use as a reference for a painting.  The “art” of doing that is to not create such a perfect photo that painting it would do no justice, but to find something unique and interesting that calls out to you!

Hay bales are such things.  The way they lie in the fields, how the shadows are, the slope of the field, the sky line.  Maybe the sky isn’t so interesting, but another day you might find and shoot an image of a fabulous sky that would be a great reference for a painting of bales.  So combine photos for reference in your paintings.   Do quick colored sketches to see what works.  Try some different papers; push the colors; experiment….that’s how you get the ah HA!

The last couple of weeks I drove a lot of miles around south central Montana, looking for some interesting references to photograph as well as some points of interest to just stay and paint.  Accomplished both…I drove out to the Indian Caves and photographed the beautiful cliffs and valleys that were filled with wild yellow clover and lush grasses from the late spring and excess rain.  There was an abundance of water in creeks that normally would be dried up by this time of year.  On a couple of afternoons, the hot days brought in storm clouds and a threat of rain or hail with thunder and lightning.  The skies were none less than dramatic scenes which were recorded for later paintings.  My goal was not to be still painting en plein air when the storm skies came in near, but to be safely in my car or abode snapping shots of interesting skies!

So when I go out to paint, I take my camera and shoot lots of photos along the way for reference later.  My advice is to not get caught without a battery charger for your camera or at least know you have a fully charged battery for the day’s adventure.

I load these on my laptop in a photo editing program and keep them indefinitely.  Occasionally I will go back to digital images that are several years old and pull them out as a reference for a new painting.  The fun thing you can also do is photo enhance the images if you have a photo editing program like Photo Shop or similar programs.  Many will allow  you to review and save your images in different lighting – like warm and cool colors, black & white or sepia, etc.  Then you can also manipulate your images for really interesting effects.

It’s a whole different art form to manipulate your digital images and sometimes you just find something that says “ah HA!” to you…some of my best paintings, using reference photos have come from not so perfect photos…

I have altered an image in a few different ways to perhaps not suggest a painting of any, but to illustrate a way to look at one image differently and maybe come up with a painting that says ah HA!  So take lots of photos and manipulate them and see if you can get the one that makes you create your work of art!

   

Art Defined in Textile

I love the southwestern Native American textiles. The blankets, weaving patterns of brilliant color into geometrical designs are incredibly beautiful. In the Northwest, Pendleton Woolen Mills produces woolen blankets with fabulous designs and color.  Another art form… 
The southwestern weavings are incredible…some of subtle shades of grays with perhaps red or a muted turquoise; others brilliant in color. The process of hand weaving is so very time consuming. It is with pride that these artists display their work at the Indian Fairs and Markets.

 

Twenty + years ago I was working in the Denver area and had the opportunity to go to the Indian Market that was held at a stadium in Boulder. It was a festival of Native American Art with the rugs and blankets hanging throughout the show.   It was beautiful in the display of colors and craftsmanship.

I have a few pieces, a couple of small rugs, a Pendleton blanket that serves as a bedspread in a guest room. I guess what I love about these pieces is the use of color…they are bright, lots of colors and it doesn’t matter what the “seasonal” colors are in the fashion world…these pieces use the basics of color to play one off the other…just like a color wheel.  It’s all art.

A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words…

So what about photography???  An art??  Of course!!  Well, that’s my opinion anyway.  I have some friends who are amazing photographers.  Like anything, there is a place for a photo, when it best defines a scene; one that isn’t best suited to be painted, but to be photographed.  Sometimes there are sunsets that are so absolutely incredible and outrageous that painting them would result in something a bit garish.  A photograph is needed to  define the actual beauty of the scene.

A few years ago I bought 3 photos done by Bill Hughlett, an accomplished photographer who is  a brother-in-law of my friends Steve and Dianna Woolley.    His work that I have, was part of a show that he,  I and numerous other artists participated in as a fund-raiser for the now closed Carnegie Art Center in Walla Walla.  What intrigued me about his work was the fact that Dianna told me they were not digitally enhanced.  Wow!     What an  eye!  The one of the boat hull and reflection was just such an intriguing piece…but the other two I bought were subject matter that I absolutely am crazy about… architecture – and that with a  sort of southwest flair with interesting entries, stairs, doors, etc. 

Someone who’s photographic skills have taken him down a career path and who photographs many of the local scenes that I paint is Mark VanDonge.  His work is spectacular with interesting light and composition.  His photos of the Blue Mountains are exquisite and he also does these great real estate videos of homes for the real estate market.

(Pioneer Park by Mark VanDonge)

His work, I think, has taken the housing market’s photos to entirely a new level of professionalism.  If you pick up any local real estate publication, you will find his work gracing the pages.

Look at the work of Alfred Stieglitz….what an art of how he photographed Georgia O”Keefe and many other subject matter.  His nude work of her was quite beautiful as were his fully clothed portraits…And the work of another great photographer – Ansel Adams.  Only photography can represent what he saw and the gifts he gave the visual world.  Incredible black and whites! 

Georgia O;Keefe by Alfred Stieglitz

My friend Kimberley Miner is a  photographer who has been very innovative and marketing minded in her work.  Last winter she offfered mini sessions of 30  minutes for photographs.  Les and I bought one and it was one of the most fun times to go out to a deserted old farmstead and let Kimberly photograph us and our dogs.  She said, “I am not going to pose you; I want to see you just do things you normally do.” or some such words.  We have never had as many compliments on photos of us or had as many be ones that  we liked.  Photography is Kim’s art!  

These are but a few of my favorite photographers who grace us with their “art!”

Arts or Crafts???

A few years ago a group of artists in my area got together and decided to form an art group of “fine” artists.  Well, everyone was a fine artist in their own right, but no one could come up with a definition of “fine art” that satisfied the entire group.  I think some of the ones that were bothered most with the critical need to define “fine arts” have since left the group and those who remain probably have a just a nice time getting together painting, crafting, creating…whatever genre they choose; fine art or not.   It’s their art!      

I think about the Native american art and some of the beautiful pottery that is done – even without a wheel to throw them on.  The sides are a smooth as glass and some of these  are made with coils of clay layers upon each other in a coil fashion, then the sides smoothed.  This is art… and in probably every sense of the word is “fine” art.  This bowl is from the late 1800’s and appears that the images were all drawn freehand and I am certain not done on a wheel.  

My Mother was a fond collector of Native American baskets and weavings.  She particularly liked pine needle baskets and at one time even made a small one.  On a trip to Wenatchee quite a few years ago she and I went out to one of hydro dams on the Columbia.  In their visitor’s center was a display of some of the most beautiful pine needle work I had seen.  It was done by a woman, local to Wenatchee.  We loved her work and ended up buying some pieces.  I gave my Mom a couple of the baskets and she cherished them.  After she passed away, I had got her baskets back and have since passed one on to my friend Carolyn who appreciates artful things and I still have a couple.  These were two of the baskets from “Joyce” of Wenatchee.  She did something that I hadn’t seen before…utilizing the base of the needles as part of the decorative effect of the basket rather than eliminating that end.

One of the weavings that Mom had was a flat reed/grass piece.  It was another thing that came my way from my mother’s estate and I honor it with a place on a wall of my dining room.  It had hung in my mom’s office where she wrote and sometimes painted.

Woolen weavings are a classic of the southwestern Native Americans and certainly are an art.  A long ago trip to the southwest was remembered with the purchase of a simple Navajo rug of about 3′ that I have always had hanging in my homes.  Subsequent trips to the Albuquerque area brought some other small rugs; but the first buy in 1975 from a trading post in AZ has always been my favorite.

So I look at these sorts of art or craft as “ART”… there is a lot of heart and time and energy and talent that is put forth to bring one of these pieces to completion.  And for lots of people creating art it isn’t about the fact that they are making a ton of money from their work…they do it for the love of the ART!…

spray paint and railroad cars…

The railroad that follows the Columbia River and provides transportation for paper mills and distribution centers always has numerous cars sitting idle, waiting to be loaded and moved to some other destination.  Some of these cars, from time to time, will be laden with graffiti from who knows where.  Sometimes you can pretty easily decipher what is painted on the cars with spray paint; other times not.  Sometimes you will see only words; sometimes characters.   I wonder who did the painting; where were they and why?  those railroad cars travel all over; a moving gallery of “art” – if you consider this art.  I think it is a type of art form…It may certainly not be one you identify with or even like in the least, but you must admit there is a certain amount of artistic talent needed to create some of the things you see on the sides of the cards.

Whenever I drive by railroad cars with the graffiti on the their sides, I wonder about that art form.  Where has that car been?  Who did that painting on the car?  Why?   Is is just graffiti?  Is it an art form?  I guess I think it as an art form or sorts.  I have seen some pretty intricate paintings even though it is defacing someone else’s property.  So I think it is sad that someone with obvious talent is doing a basically wrong thing by spray painting the side of a rail road car.  So what does it mean?  What do the words say?  Gang related messages traveling thousands of  miles in warning.   Some of the paintings have more than writing on them; some in really vibrant color.  I am sure it  relates somewhat to supply on hand at the time.  Are these “artists” skulking around after dark in the railroad yards looking for a clean canvas to deliver their message on?  Is it a warning or just mischievousness; is the message meant to go somewhere specific or is it random?  I wish they had canvases and a gallery…there’s talent there…

Define Art…

Art…it’s a pretty personal deal.  My goal with this blog is to tell about something “art-like” in my world…or maybe one of my friends world.  We don’t all look at art the same way.  Thankfully!  Art can be the graffiti on the sides of freight train cars, the works of master painters, children’s projects from school, stuff you see on walks, a plate of food, a deli’s showcase, photography…So come with me on this journey.

(Jean’s wood cut images)

Art…A couple of years ago an elderly friend of mine passed away.  She was a wonderful artist who was talented in lots of mediums – watercolor, block print making, etc.  A patron of the arts, Jean was a founding member of the local Art Center and volunteered there for years.  Late in her life she brought some beautiful tiny wood block prints to the center to sell.  She said her kids had picked the ones they wanted and she had just decided to sell the rest of them.  I bought two of them and cherish them.  They hang together in my dining room in a grouping of  some small works.  Whenever I take a look at them, I fondly think of Jean, her great smile and gentle ways.  Art for her seemed to be done for purely pleasure.  She didn’t seem to care if  she made a bunch of money on her work; she did it for the pleasure of making art.

After she had passed away,  her children gathered things that they didn’t want and had a yard sale.  She had lots of interesting artifacts from around the world, but the two things that I fell in love with were two sets of wood block cuts for printing/imaging.  I am a huge fan of art stamps and have a collection that is quite extensive.  So when I saw these wooden boxes of wood blocks, I had to have them!  There is a collection of letters and numbers in different fonts, some well-worn; others hardly used.  On occasion I pick a couple and ink them up and stamp them into a project, but mostly I just take them out and look at them and remember my friend Jean…