Jan Blencowe The Poetic Landscape

Black & White at Salmagundi Club

2012-01-27T20:57:00.000-05:00

I am thrilled to tell you that both these charcoal drawings were accepted into the historic Black & White Exhibit at Salmagundi Club, NYC. Jan. 23- Feb. 10, 2012. Top right, Northern Marsh , lower right, Snow on Chittenden Hill .

Below is a bit of history about the Black & White Exhibits.

The early exhibitions were called “Black and White”, in reference to the important annual show that the young club held on drawings, graphics and grisaille oils. From 1878 to 1887, the club gained a national and even international reputation for these annual exhibitions, which were open to all artists, passing before a jury of club members. Such international artists as Sargent, Whistler and Eakins submitted entries as well as many prominent women artists. Without a permanent location, the exhibitions were first held at Leavitts Art Gallery on Broadway, moving to Kurtz’s Gallery (American Art Association) and then to the National Academy of Design. A critic for the New York Herald in 1879, reviewing this exhibition, gives praise to Winslow Homer who “sends a frame of very clever and effective outdoor studies in pencil on gray paper with the highlights in Chinese White. In another are grouped three decidedly impressionistic memoranda of scenes of Coney Island and an incisively drawn characterful sketch of a pretty, determined girl standing on the beach.” ~ Excerpt from Alexander W. Katlan’s book The Salmagundi Club Painting Exhibition Records 1889 to 1939: A Guide to the American Exhibition of Oil Paintings and the Annual Exhibition and Auction Sale of Pictures

For more fascinating history books about the Salmagundi Club check out Alexander Katlan Conservator, Inc's website

Click HERE to see drawings by John Singer Sargent
Click HERE to see a selection of James Abbot McNeill Whistler's etchings and HERE for chalk drawings
Click HERE for a large collection of drawings by Thomas Eakins
Click HERE for drawings by Winslow Homer

I took this picture at the Salmagundi Club of John Francis Murphy's grisaille oil painting, A Bit of Lowland, which was exhibited in the first Black & White Show in 1878.

Drawing has such a long history, and is so fundamental to the creative process that I grow more inspired by drawing and looking at drawings with each passing year. Whether they are finished works of art in their own right or conceived as studies, preparatory sketches or simply the artist's doodles in a sketchbook, drawing more than anything else, captures the artists own unique mark making and documents their mind and thought process. If you really want to study an artist, study his drawings.

Pansy Painting Pandemonium

2012-01-26T17:21:00.001-05:00

Pansy Pandemonium, 10x10, acrylic on linen panel, Jan Blencowe, copyright 2012

Temperatures are mild again, I have a hyacinth growing in the studio and my thoughts have turned to spring!! There's nothing I enjoy more than filling my planters with pansies, violas, and Johnny Jump Ups. I buy them in flats the minute they become available. The painting above contains all those varieties.

Painting a floral, especially a pure floral, (no vase and surrounding still life objects, and not a garden scene with structure, large masses and perspective), but rather a painting where your point of view is pulled tightly in on just the flowers, is much like painting the sea, it's about painting abstractly.

Both the complexity of the surging sea and the complexity of the tangle of petals, stems and leaves requires the artist to edit, suggest, improvise and work from what she has stored in her memory about the subject. A good deal of thought must be given to rhythm, pattern, balance, and movement in the composition. Values and color are laid on top of the rhythmic pattern.

Here you can see that I had a photo and also a sketch that worked out and identifed the major movements in the composition as well as the arrangement of shapes, and though you can't see it the photo, the sketch also indicates where the most complexity of shapes will be. In this instance I deliberately decided to work on a square canvas, even though the photo is a rectangle thereby giving me good reason to edit and rearrange, lest I be tempted to copy the photo too closely.

Some color adjustments were made as I chose to emphasize the blue/orange complementary color scheme. As a result much of the yellow was sacrificed.

It's All About Design

When you're working with this type of subject, flowers that are up close with little distance, you'll encounter many repeating shapes, made up of many small parts. There are several design strategies that can be used to help you organize your composition.

Overlap forms to create a sense of space, distance, of one thing being in front of another
Make sure repeated flower forms are presented in different sizes, small, medium, and large
Make sure that your flowers are not all facing the viewer, show some in three quarter view, some from above, some turned obliquely etc.
Decide which size flower form will dominate. Will there be mostly large forms or mostly small forms?
Show flowers in various stages of openness, some fully open, some in bud, some partially open.
Study the characteristic of the foliage and the growth habit of the flower.
Decide on a dominant movement for the composition. The piece above is based on a diagonal with the large yellow/orange pansy in the upper left as the counter point.

These close up florals work best in small formats which I think adds to their charm!

Here's another example of a close up pansy painting done in oil...

Morning Pansies, 6x8, (sold)

Now go find some flowers and think DESIGN ( and spring) !

The Garden of Mindfulness

2012-01-20T14:33:00.002-05:00

Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience. ~ Psychology Today

Winter is upon us, with the marsh frozen, snow on the ground and more on the way. But, in my studio soft morning light is gently waking the Japanese Garden of Mindfulness. Isn't this an inviting scene? This is a visual representation of "quiet" and "awareness". It's interesting to think about portraying ideas, like "quiet" that involve the other senses in visual form that your eyes can see. What does "cool" look like? What does "fragrant" look like? What does "bitter" or "noisy" look like?

When we assess our subject matter, it's recommended that you clarify in your mind what the one thing is that drew you to the scene. Usually we think of things like "The shadow on the barn", "The way the light rakes across the meadow", "The angle of the bridge against the city skyline". It's that essential quality that artists are encouraged to focus on to help them direct their efforts to create a coherent, strong painting. But what happens when the thing that draws you to a scene is not visual? What happens if it involves the other senses or some emotional quality?

It is then that I believe artists dig deep and begin to share their unique vision of the world. They use everything that's presented to them and re-arrange and use it to create that other sensation. The move, re-size, push or subdue color, add or subtract elements and use all kinds of painting techniques to achieve then desired sensation in their viewer.

Having been a gardener for many years I can tell you that a walk through a garden, very early on a beautiful June morning is an extraordinary experience. It is a breathless time, just before the birdsong begins, when the dew is still fresh on the grass. It is a time that gently commands you awareness. You begin to look and listen. You become aware of nearly imperceptible fragrances and sensations of moisture in the air and the movement of the breeze. That experience is so profound yet really, so ordinary, something that is available to most people. There in lies the secret, taking a moment to cultivate the awareness of the beauty that surrounds us. I hope that this painting brings that to you!

On the Drawingboard

2012-01-18T19:16:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe it's Wednesday again! Wednesday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week because it means one whole day in the studio with my good friend and fellow artist Claudia Post. Nine o'clock to four o'clock dedicated to our growth and development as artists.

Today we finished up the still life from last week. I chose vine charcoal and a very nubby, textured green hand made paper, which is an unusual choice for a still life, though it would be fabulous for a landscape.

Here is Claudia's final.....

Click HERE to read last week's post about our different drawing styles.

Today after finishing up these pieces we decided to push ourselves in a different direction. Claudia had received a beautiful bouquet of roses for her birthday so they were our subject. Besides the complexities of roses with all their voluptuous petals we each chose to work on a new, different kind of paper and to work in a medium that would require us to work in the style opposite to what we usually do.

I chose to work on rose colored handmade paper that had tiny flecks of white in it, and to work with a pastel pencil and do a tight drawing.....

Claudia on the other hand abandoned her sharpened Nu-Pastels and drawing method and worked on Wallis paper using Pan Pastels.

Here's where she ended up at the end of the afternoon....

Pretty awesome !!! She took lots of photos and she will finish up from those since the roses will open overnight and look totally different tomorrow.

Our art study Wednesdays are proving to be very productive and positive, enriching us, expanding us, and energizing us. Just what we need through the long, cold winter months.

The Love of Drawing is the Root of Many Things

2012-01-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

It's good to go back to your roots. That which is basic to your craft, fundamental, essential and foundational will always be important to the work you are currently doing. For an artist there will never be a time when drawing is not important. A true artist is a student of art throughout her whole life.

In that spirit, that art spirit, my friend Claudia Post and I are meeting on Wednesdays, for art studies. On these days we will go back to the roots of our profession, literally back to the drawing board.

We will be exploring drawing mediums, papers, still life, figure work and possibly some new mediums as well. When the weather gets nicer we may venture outside to draw from nature.

This is what we set up for our first study...

We had been looking at the still life work of Soren Emil Carlsen (1853-1932) and finding great inspiration in his quiet, contemplative but powerful still life work.

"The Samovar"
29" x 27"
Oil on Canvas
c. 1920 (Courtesy of New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut)

"Study in Grey" 34" x 38" Oil on Canvas 1906 (Dallas Museum of Art)

Here I am working from the set up and below is Claudia Post working from her vantage point....

Take a look at our drawings on the drawing boards, see mine way over to the left, and notice how differently we have approached the work. That's because though both Claudia and I have excellent training in our backgrounds we have been trained in two completely different, but equally respected and legitimate, drawing traditions!

Claudia's training comes out of what is known as the classical tradition. This tradition is linear, (the emphasis is on line), it is balanced and carefully composed. My training, and preferred style, is the Romantic tradition which is painterly and relies on value masses (as opposed to lines) and emphasizes loose, broad strokes.

Take a look at our drawings of the very same subject and see if you can see the difference....

Claudia is carefully building her drawing with lines, including using parallel lines to indicate areas of shadow. She sharpens her charcoal and works with a very delicate touch. Note that we worked on these drawings for the exact same amount of time!

After a very quick use of line to place the objects I turn my charcoal on it's side for broad strokes to lay in values, use my charcoal stick blunt, not sharpened and pull out the lights with a kneaded eraser. This process mimics the "ragging out" technique I use when painting.

I think it's easy to see the difference in the linear and painterly approaches!! Both are beautiful and will yield different but wonderful results.

As the sun encroached on our easels we set up another small still life in another part of the studio and began a second project.

By now I'm certain you can guess whose is whose!!

My painterly drawing, using charcoal powder and vine charcoal on steel gray Canson paper.

This is Claudia's more linear drawing. Notice how much detail she is able to capture in the paint brushes!!

To which tradition, classical or romantic do you belong??? This is actually a very important question for artists to answer. Knowing how you fit into the family of artists and to what branch of the art family tree you belong helps you appreciate your own unique way of working and helps you focus on the areas of painting that are most important to you. Next time you're in a museum and viewing paintings ask yourself which tradition you think the artist belonged to.

Next week we will be continuing to develop that first still life set up so you will be able to see how both of us bring our works to a finish.

Charcoal Drawing and Paper Review

2012-01-05T17:46:00.001-05:00

Snow in the Berkshires, charcoal/white pastel, 19x12, Jan Blencowe, copyright 2012
see it in a sample frame on my website

Yesterday a nice big box of drawing supplies arrived at my door! Several sizes of willow charcoal, (very soft, grayish, and what I use the most in the beginning of the drawing process to block in and cover big areas), a nifty sharpener do-dad, which is really for pastels but is working quite well for charcoal, powdered sepia, and some chunky sepia sketching sticks, tortillons, kneaded erasers, an electric eraser and Sennelier Delacroix Fixative (never used this before so we will see how it is in the next day or two and I'll let you know).

However, the most important part of the order were two kinds of drawing paper which I have never used before. As with pastels the surface you choose for your charcoal drawing makes a huge difference in the character of the final piece and how the charcoal will adhere, layer, remove and blend. Today's drawing was done on Cartiera Magnani Pescia. It's grey, (also comes in white, cream. light blue and soft white), 100% cotton, acid free, chlorine free, 140 lb., lightly sized, cold pressed surface. It's sold as a multi-media paper appropriate for all dry media, pen and ink and watercolor. That made me skeptical (too many uses, can't be good for all of them!) as did the fact that, although it has a cold pressed surface, it was a smoother surface than I generally use for charcoal. The good news is that I really love the light gray color and the weight of the paper and though smoother than I thought it was going to be, it held a ton of layers and grabbed even the soft willow charcoal nicely. I do miss the texture of other handmade papers I've used but now that I know what this surface is like I can use it to advantage. This would be an absolutely beautiful surface for still life, portrait and figure work.

The other paper I purchased is Garza Papel from Spain. That one has lots more texture and it's white. Now if I could just find a nicely textured paper in gray!! I'm hoping to get to New York Central Art Supply soon and get some great handmade paper.

If you like drawings take a look at the slide show at Spainerman Gallery of their upcoming exhibit of works on paper by Peter Moran (1841–1914), to be held January 19–February 18, 2012. Part of the noted Moran family of artists, Peter Moran was a painter and etcher, specializing in rural scenes and pastoral landscapes. This exhibition presents drawings in graphite and Chinese white, including views of East Hampton, New York, and probably other sites on Long Island, (my home territory!).

Don't forget....
Live with Art, it's Good for You

Don't Die without Paintings on your Walls

2012-01-02T21:25:00.001-05:00

In 2012 I'm making an effort to improve my relationship with time. I'm reading a book called Receiving the Day, Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time. by Dorothy C. Bass

Today I learned this lesson about time, I am to live within each day that is given, not lamenting the past or fretting over the future, nor cursing the interruptions of this day, nor trying to squeeze out of this particular day more than it can give, nor squandering away the day, but simply doing what can be done in this day.

This poem was shared in the chapter I read today...

Otherwise

Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed

on two strong legs.

It might have been

otherwise. I ate

cereal, sweet

milk, ripe, flawless

peach. It might

have been otherwise.

I took the dog uphill

to the birch wood.

All morning I did

the work I love.

At noon I lay down

with my mate. It might

have been otherwise.

We ate dinner together

at a table with silver

candlesticks. It might

have been otherwise.

I slept in a bed

in a room with paintings

on the walls, and

planned another day

just like this day.

But one day, I know,

it will be otherwise.

Here is the author's observation of the poem, from the book...No bland acceptance of death informs this poem. Kenyon asserts mastery of a certain kind over this day, seeing to it that what she needs - walk, work, rest, food, companionship, beauty -- surrounds her.

Of the many gems of wisdom that struck me (mastering our time rather than being mastered by it, finding balance, listening to your body's needs, respecting the various tasks you must do each day) the one that fairly leaped off the page was the need to be surrounded by beauty, to sleep in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls.I suspect that that is a need many people ignore. But to ignore that need is to rob oneself of deep comfort, joy, and sweet delight. Jane Kenyon wrote this poem a few years before she was diagnosed with cancer. She was diagnosed in January 1994 and died in April 1995 at the age of 47. Think what she would have missed had she not slept in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls. Think what you will miss if you live without paintings on the walls in your room . I am coming to believe that owning art, surrounding yourself with beauty is as necessary as food, even as necessary as love.

Above is one of the sitting areas in our house. There are no less than 5 paintings in just that area, three are mine but two are by other artists. If you could see to the left into the sun room there would be eight more paintings gracing the walls, four by other artists. They all bring me exquisite joy. Imagine what my sitting area would look like without those paintings.

Jane Kenyon's poems and life remind us that we never know how long our stay on this earth will be and that our life will be richer, fuller and deeply satisfying if art is a part of it. Art can be expensive because each piece is a unique, one of kind creation. But art comes in all sizes and prices and can be purchased over time. I am more convinced than ever that art is a necessity in our lives and like the pearl of great price worth sacrificing other things to acquire. One of my goals for the new year, other than improving my relationship with time is to acquire one really beautiful piece of art to add to my home. Will you join me and do the same?

A New Year's Gift for You

2011-12-30T19:16:00.000-05:00

I read books. A lot. I also spend a fair amount of time reading on the internet, other blogs, articles, Facebook, videos, websites, many of which I find by following links that others have posted. And if you're a regular reader of The Poetic Landscape you know that I also do a good amount of writing. During my literary travels throughout the year I come across many wonderful ideas and images. When I read I always have a highlighter with me plus a notebook, and when I'm on the internet I book mark a lot of pages so I can go back and find the things that made an impression on me. This little movie I made brings together some of the words, ideas, images and videos that caught my attention during 2011. Please take a moment and enjoy The Best Art Quips & Quotes of 2011, my New Year's Gift to you.

May the muse visit you often and bestow beauty and creativity on you in 2012,

Jan

Snow Scene in Charcoal

2011-12-28T14:12:00.001-05:00

I've written before about the beauty of working in charcoal here , and here . A post about the advantages of charcoal is here , and most recently a post about using powdered charcoal here.

Because any medium that is done on paper, (pencil, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, etching etc) needs to be matted and framed, and because I really, really prefer museum glass, which is very expensive, I have previously kept the size of my charcoal drawings on the smaller side. Here are two, framed up, Sherwood Island and Griswold Point so you can see what they look like and what size they are.

Since I find myself uninspired to paint right now, but very interested in working in charcoal I threw practicality to the wind and worked on the largest sheet of good paper that I had in my drawer. And let me tell you this was such a freeing, wonderful experience. Working large allows you to fully exploit the expressive nature of the medium.

I am by nature an expressionist. I favor mediums and techniques that allow you to work quickly and broadly, in this case with the side of a big fat stick of vine charcoal, a bristle brush with powdered charcoal and white pan pastel. It's not about careful draftsmanship as much as it is about vigorous mark making and pulling an image out of loose, chaotic areas with strokes that go this way and that. A good deal of the interest and fun for me lies in not knowing whether this piece will eventually work and discovering what secrets are hidden in the ambiguous shapes of light and shadow that I lay in rapidly at the beginning. It's an exploration, a journey without a map, a journey you embark on following your instincts and the wisdom you've gained over the years through study and practice.

Usually, if I choke and get overly concerned about drawing and accuracy right at the beginning the piece will shrivel and die, becoming fussy, persnickety, tight and contrived. Sometimes if I catch myself soon enough I can resuscitate the drawing by doing something radical like smudging or wiping the whole thing and then rapidly and without any self-conscious concerns attack it with fresh, confident broad strokes.

Charcoal on paper is perhaps one of the most economical mediums to work in and since you are freed from concerns about wasting expensive paint or linen you can go at it with a risk taking attitude. So the inexpensive nature of the materials somewhat off sets the expense of framing. (At least that's what I tell myself!) However, I will caution you that while the charcoal itself is dirt cheap the beautiful papers that I prefer can be a bit pricey ($10 a sheet), but still cheaper than linen or stretched cotton canvas.

There's something very elemental about black and white charcoal pieces. Even though they lack color they seem to me to be vivid, clear and precise even when the charcoal is applied broadly and clings to the paper surface with velvety smoothness. It is for me an altogether satisfying medium and one that rarely disappoints.

Merry Christmas! My Year in Art

2011-12-21T18:31:00.001-05:00

More about Charcoal Drawings

2011-12-14T20:23:00.000-05:00

Working on Borden & Riley 80lb. gray pastel & charcoal paper #410 and using General's pure powdered charcoal, vine charcoal and a kneaded eraser. The powdered charcoal comes in a jar and you apply it with a brush so it feels a lot like painting. If you work on a paper that can take water then you can dip your brush in water to create washes, otherwise you can brush it around dry. A good quality charcoal paper will grab lots of the powdered charcoal and you can create dry washes, and if you use fixative in between layers you can actually build up layers similar to the way you would with watercolor washes or oil glazes. Of course just be sure that you finished using your kneaded eraser to lift any values that are too dark because once you spray with fixative it will be difficult or impossible to lift the charcoal.

Here's a nice article from Artist Daily about using charcoal and here's a link to purchase a DVD

Dynamic Charcoal Drawing Lessons with Chris Wynter

I've not seen this DVD but I may purchase it to pick up some pointers.

Live with ART it's GOOD for YOU!

ArtMatters! Tip of the Week Slow Down and Refocus:7 Questions to Ask Yourself

2011-12-13T12:44:00.000-05:00

Winter Dunes, pastel 8x10, Currently being exhibited at the Salmagundi Club Holiday/Winter Show , 47 5th Ave. New York See it in a frame on my website here and then give it a Facebook "Like" by clicking the "Like" button on the right. Thanks!

I seem to be in a bit of a creative funk. Blocked when it comes to painting, what's on the easel has been 12 different paintings in the last three days and I'm not sure it's going anywhere good. I'm a bit short on inspiration and reference material at the moment. I'm thinking that I should get outside and paint or sketch en plein air and take a few museum trips. Plus, I've been so busy this year it would be a luxury to take two weeks for family time as my husband is taking the last two weeks of the year off for vacation.

But there is always more to learn and we wouldn't want to become stagnant so I'd like to share with you this article by Robin Sagara of Artists Career Training, www.ArtistCareerTraining.com www.ArtBusinessLibrary.com

Slow Down and Refocus: Seven Questions to Ask yourself

Just click on the headline above and go read a short, to the point, very do-able article on art marketing. Enjoy!

Buy Original Artwork

2011-12-11T17:08:00.001-05:00

Old Lyme Autumn, acrylic, SOLD

There's been an incredible amount of good stuff flying around on facebook lately. The video about Why Beauty Matters from yesterday and today this, written by Russell Gordon and shared with me by Diane Cooper Hoeptner...

(Both Russell and Diane are artists whose work I think you would enjoy seeing, so click the links.)

When I see all these beautiful & thoughtful, original paintings my artist friends post here on FB & elsewhere, knowing the amount of craft & love that went into each piece, watercolors, gouaches, oils, drawings, available often for surprisingly low prices, I am simply stunned that there are people standing in line at box stores to buy ubiquitous cartloads of tomorrow's landfill who would never think to buy original artwork. Folks, if it has a barcode... it has no soul. Buy something real with your hard earned $$. Buy original artwork. Chances are you know an artist.

I know that I'm preaching to the choir here, but if you share this far and wide via your own blogs, websites, facebook pages and twitter accounts hopefully we'll reach some people.

I love this last line....

Folks, if it has a barcode... it has no soul. Buy something real with your hard earned $$. Buy original artwork. Chances are you know an artist.

In fact I'd like to put it on a T shirt!

Live with Art, It's GOOD for YOU!

Why Beauty Matters

2011-12-10T19:31:00.001-05:00

This hour long video from the BBC is making the rounds on Facebook among the artist community. It is an incredibly important and profound statement about why beauty matters and what the modern "cult of ugliness" says about the society in which we live.

Please take the time to watch it and share it. It needs to go viral, that's how important this message is.

Block in of The Porcupine Islands, Maine

2011-12-07T19:41:00.001-05:00

This is the beginning block-in of my latest painting. It's a 20x30,acrylic on linen. The view is from the top of Cadillac Mountain, in Acadia National Park, on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. Those are the Porcupine Islands in Frenchman's Bay, which you can see from the north side of Cadillac.

Apparently a lot of people like to photograph these islands at sunrise. During the fall and winter Cadillac Mountain is the first place in the US to see the sun rise. But for me it was the amazing, sweeping cloud formations overhead that caught my interest. The sky that day emphasized the overwhelming feeling of vastness that you sense in Maine.

The height of the mountain, 1,528 feet (470 m), makes it the highest point on the eastern seaboard. Cadillac mountain is largely composed of pink granite, it is covered with spruce and pitch pine forests, tiny sub alpine plants (such as cinquefoil), short gnarled trees, wild blueberries, and boulders of all sizes and shapes.

The sky and clouds are the star of this show and that is where I will concentrate my time during the next several painting sessions.

Stay Tuned! and Don't forget....

Live with ART, It's GOOD for You!

The Advantages of Working in Charcoal

2011-12-04T19:53:00.001-05:00

Today I taught my regular once a month class. We worked on charcoal drawings as an exploration of landscape composition and values. Charcoal is such an easy, forgiving medium. Something in the wrong place? No problem, just dust it away! This lets students easily make composition and design changes immediately, as soon as something doesn't look correct. This is a big advantage because it prevents students from settling for compositional deficiencies because it's too difficult to change something (like with oil paint) and it trains the eye to become accustomed to spotting errors and fixing them immediately because it's so easy, therefore no bad habits have a chance to develop, like settling for a awkwardly shaped rock or a poorly designed land mass. There's no excuse not to fix something when you're working in charcoal precisely because it is so easy and quick to fix. Vine charcoal is very soft and dusts off or lifts with a kneaded eraser, leaving no trace behind. Pastels can stain paper and graphite can leave dents of engraved lines in the paper, but charcoal vanishes without a trace and will never leave a ghost image or impression in the paper surface. All trace of the struggle to create the artwork will be invisible and not mar the final piece in any way. This allows you to work freely and with intuitive abandon, taking risks and trying bold new things.

The piece above was done on Borden & Riley, 80lb. medium gray Charcoal paper #410. I used soft vine charcoal, a soft General's Charcoal pencil, a blending stump, a kneaded eraser and white pan pastel (and my fingers).

Here is my student Priscilla evaluating her progress.....

She is copying an Alexander Wyant painting for her study, here's a close up of her progress. She's doing really great for a first try with charcoal. She has a naturally sensitive hand, and her mark making is quite lovely. My hand is bold, dramatic and heavy compared to Priscilla's delicate touch, and that's a great comparison and shows the versatility of charcoal.

Ten Ways to Support an Artist this Christmas

2011-12-02T12:43:00.001-05:00

Ten Ways to Support an Artist this Christmas ~ by Jan Blencowe

1. Let's start with the most painfully obvious, buy an original piece of art work. Go to an art gallery, visit an artist's website, or visit their studio. Look for something that takes your breath away, makes your heart leap, and makes you feel wonderful when you look at it. Then buy it. Just do it. You will never regret the beautiful painting or sculpture that enriches your home and your life.

2. Commission a painting: a favorite view, a person you love, spouse, child, grandchild, a beloved pet, or as a memorial of a loved one who has passed, painted from a favorite family photo.

3. Can't afford #1 or #2, ask the artist about acquiring your new painting by making installment payments over time. Or offer to barter, remember artists are creative sorts and will be open to creative ways to get their art into your life.

4. Give yourself a gift while supporting an artist, sign up to take a class or workshop in 2012.

5. Buy a gift certificate from an artist or gallery for an art lover, or for a couple recently married and furnishing a new home or a family that's just moved into a new home.

6. On a tight budget this year? Find an artist who offers smaller works or giclee prints of their work and buy something that makes your heart sing without making your wallet cry.

7. Share the love! Artist share their art freely for all to enjoy on the internet via their websites, blogs and Facebook pages. Share the love! Click "Like" when they post artwork and leave positive, encouraging comments and most important of all "share" their posts with your other Facebook "friends" and help get the artist's work in front of more eyes.

8. Do you have friends who love art, visit galleries and museums? Get some business cards and postcards from some of your favorite artists and pass them out to people you know who love art.

9. Go to an art opening, sign the guest book and include all your contact info. Sign up for the artist's newsletter. Better yet bring along a few friends and encourage them to do the same.

10. Buy some art supplies for a child in your life, ensuring that the next generation of artists has a good start on the creative journey.

A Thanksgiving Message of Beauty

2011-11-23T22:15:00.001-05:00

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2011, I am pondering the blessing of being an artist and thankful that I have a supportive family, a daughter who shares my passion, collectors who purchase my work and a few fellow artists and close friends who share the joy, commitment and vision of living the artists life.

I am currently reading the book The Artists Rule, a twelve week journey, Nurturing your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom by Christine Valters Paintner. It is a rich book, filled with many profound insights and sparkling gems of truth. I will need to read it and work through the exercises many times before I fully absorb all it has to offer.

In the book is this Blessing Prayer to Begin a Creative Work, written by Macrina Wiederkehr. I have found this prayer to be a powerful ritual, which thoroughly prepares my spirit and mind to begin the creative process. It helps me be more mindful of serving the mysteries, of God, Emmanuel (God with Us) beauty, healing, restoration and peace that are the constant under currants of my work. It's a bit too long to share in total here but I will give you an overview and a few lines that speak to me...

The prayer opens asking the archangel Gabriel, the messenger from God, for assistance to believe that... I have the potential to lift good news out of my soul that I may be a messenger of beauty for my household and beyond

It calls upon creative saints of old such as Hildegard, Francis, Scholastica and more modern ones like Thomas Merton, and others who see deeply like Mary Oliver, and Annie Dillard.

The prayer invokes the symbolic properties of each color like blues and greens for calm restfulness, balance, healing, hope, serenity and contemplation and purple for wisdom, meditation, transformation and spirituality.

It calls everything in nature by name from that which is great and awe inspiring like storms, oceans, moon, sun and stars, to small things like pebbles and quiet lights, to bless the paintings I make. The prayer is powerful and the book a road map for an amazing artist journey.

I have been humbled and become very thankful that I am able to participate in the making of art and chosen to be a steward of a very precious gift, one that enables me to be a messenger of beauty for my household and beyond.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Live with Art, it's Good for You!

Jan

Ebb Tide, a Maine Seascape

2011-11-15T08:58:00.001-05:00

A gazillion hours later and this one is finally done. After many, many changes this finally has the panoramic feel that I was pursuing from the beginning. It also has the tight, cool, color and value harmonies I was after. Although initially I thought this would be a monochrome painting I eventually decided to add color on top of the more monochrome layer beneath the final version. Getting the perspective right was also an issue throughout this whole piece. I ditched the houses as I felt they brought too much of a narrative component to it and competed with the sense of wilderness and solitude that I was after. Once the big issues, perspective and color, were resolved I was able to tackle with delight the challenge of creating the thin sheets of receding water the occur at low tide and I had fun creating the myriad of rocks, pebbles, sea life and general muck that is exposed during an ebb tide. This part was very time consuming but really, really fun to paint. The challenge was of course to bring believable detail to the foreground area without it becoming fractured and too busy. The addition of rich detail and painted texture in the foreground allowed me to beef up the clouds in the sky with some moderate impasto, which is lost in the photo but very visually satisfying in real life. At the very end putting in the sea life was the best part! Though you can not see them in the photo there are three small red rock crabs scuttling among the exposed rocks and seaweed and a starfish clinging to a rock. These are small discoveries that reward the viewer who takes the time to really wander through the painting.

I looked along the San Juan Islands and the coast of California, but I couldn't find the palette of green, granite, and dark blue that you can only find in Maine.~
Parker Stevenson

Some Paintings Seem to Have a Mind of Their Own

2011-11-10T12:15:00.001-05:00

Work in Progress

This is the painting of a thousand adjustments. It's far from done . Although I started with a well thought out drawing, followed by a separate exploration in charcoal, and a well developed under painting all from a photo I took, especially chosen for its strong compositional elements this piece has demanded constant adjustments, shifts in emphasis, changes to design elements and restructuring. Some paintings, especially the strong ones, seem to have a mind and will of their own. I like to think they want to become something extraordinary and they are demanding, unhappy and whiny, complaining every time I do something ordinary, mediocre or just plain wrong while I'm painting. These are the paintings that push back and force us to dig deep and rise to the next level. They teach us the most, but they are the most difficult to raise (just like some kids).

It may be a while until this one is brought to completion. It's forcing me to work slowly, thoughtfully and with a good deal of sensitivity to its needs.

When confronted with such a demanding painting I listen closely to it and I do as Picasso advised "follow the paint".

New Work in Progress-Update

2011-11-06T22:50:00.002-05:00

I'm making some headway on this work in progress. There's a long way to go but I thought you'd like to see an update. If you scroll down a couple of posts you'll see how this began. I've reigned in the bold and too busy cloud formations and worked to align the value structure. I eliminated the buildings and replaced them with pine trees which feels much better to me. The buildings brought a narrative component into the painting which I decided I did not want. I added a smaller tree on the right hand land form for balance. I am carefully holding down color intensity and the entire foreground needs to be filled with lots and lots of small rocks and pebbles. That part is going to require some restful music, a cup of tea at hand and a more calm and meditative mindset than I have been able to get into for a couple of busy weeks now. So I am actually looking forward to blocking off some time to quietly and slowly create that part of the painting. More to come.

Autumn Tree Study

2011-10-29T22:29:00.001-05:00

Here is the finished version of my autumn tree study from last week. Of course today the woods outside my studio window look totally different covered in snow! This is the first October snowstorm I can remember, though my son tells me that it snowed in October in 1987. We were without power, phone, cable and internet for about eight hours today. I am so glad that we bought a generator just before Hurricane Irene.

Anyway, now that things are back to normal (except for the fact that it is still snowing and it's not even Halloween yet!) we can turn our attention to the new painting. This study was meant to cover a few technical problems. Specifically, creating believable distance in a short space with many saplings, underbrush and tree trunks crowding the viewers field of vision, just as it would be if you were walking in the woods, well drawn tree limbs including ones that are foreshortened, controlled use of texture and brush work for the underbrush and the leaf litter on the floor of the woods, the selective use of hard and soft edges to create a strong sense of realism and a careful use of tone and color to capture the feel of autumn in the woods without being garrish.

I was really quite enjoyable working on a study, taking time to specifically tackle a set of painting challenges without worrying about completing a "finished" painting.

Yesterday, I accompanied two friends, Claudia Post and Bivenne Staiger, to the National Arts Club in New Yourk City for the Catharine Lorrilard Wolfe Arts Club Awards Dinner. Both Claudia and Bivenne were in the show and it was a wonderful opportunity to attend an event in an historic and artistically important place.

Bivenne, Claudia and myself

Inside the National Arts Club

Enjoying the wine! I was not driving!

Claudia Post, her Portrait of Lillian, and me.

I'm also delighted to tell you that all three of us were elected to membership in the Salmagundi Club in New York City! Founded in 1871, the Salmagundi Club is one of the oldest art organizations in the United States. Housed in an historic brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village, New York City. The Club owns a collection of over 1,500 works of art spanning its 140 year history. Its members have included important American artists such as Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth and Childe Hassam. Today the Club builds on this legacy by providing a center for the resurgence of representational art in America.

Many exciting things are about to happen in the coming year and I am looking forward to each new experience!

Tree Study in Progress

2011-10-23T10:33:00.001-05:00

A "tree study" in progress. Acrylic on 12x16 linen panel. Jan Blencowe, 2011

This is part of the view from my studio window. The somber colors of a gray October day were simply too much to resist. I put aside everything I was going to do this morning to focus on both a study of trees and of the subtle colors of a gray day. This scene seemed to be the perfect opportunity to practice the uneasy but evocative and mysterious intermingling of naturalism and poetry.

This needs to dry and get an isolation coat or two before I proceed. Meanwhile I'll be thinking about it and analyzing what's working and what's not, deciding what will stay and what will be eliminated. I will flick in some detail at the end but I anticipate leaving this rather loose and sketchy, a true etude.

Good-bye to Summer

Bestower of fruitfullness,

little pockets of gold

sing among the green

humming the melody

of autumn's arrival.

The calendar speaks

of no such thing,

but trees rarely lie.

Sumer's vibrant swelling

of sweet fruitfulness

still entices me.

Cool mornings and ripe afternoons

are too delicious for me

to simply say "good-bye".

I grieve again summer's going.

I struggle once more to welcome

the dying inherent in autumn.

I turn to my heart,

where you dwell in harmony.

Together we will prepare

for this never-easy-call

to say farewell to fruitfulness.

Wise Lady of the Seasons

you sing a spiraling melody

urging me onward with your song,

the only words of which I hear

are " let go, let go let go."

Joyce Rupp, Prayers to Sophia

In the Beginning

2011-10-19T18:20:00.003-05:00

Here's the start of a new painting I am working on. It's a 24x30, with a burnt umber under painting and the sky and a bit of the distant land blocked in. This is going to take a while to complete, first off because my Tuesday class doesn't want me to work on it unless they are there to observe! Which I completely understand, it's very rare to see a work of art developed from beginning to end. Most demos are not long enough to have an entire painting developed before your eyes. Second, this is a larger painting that will have a cool palette of close value colors and that's going to take many layers to achieve.

Meanwhile I am going to start a very moody winter scene this week. Although not tomorrow, because tomorrow I will be on a spiritual retreat exploring "The Spirit of Celtic Images".

Bantry Boat with Celtic knotwork

Live with Art, It's Good for You,

Blessings,

Jan

New Charcoal Drawings

2011-10-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

I'm working on a version of this as a painting in a slightly different format and I like the exposed mud mounds left by the low tide so much that I thought I explore it as a black and white charcoal study.

I love the expressiveness of charcoal and the ability I have to work in a subtractive way. That is, I am able to fill an entire area with deep, rich charcoal and then pull out the light with a kneaded eraser. The addition of white allows me to get the sparkle and contrast I need while the warm brown-gray of the paper serves as the middle value.

Exercises like these are invaluable for honing a sensitivity to tone and value relationships along with getting practice adjusting hard and soft edges and creating mood and ambiguity.

I went back and made some tweaks to yesterday's charcoal, Acadia Memory, bringing some darker tones into the foreground water.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Cape Cod Museum and I'll have a review of the shows I see there for you on Sunday or Monday.

Live with Art, it's Good for You!

Blessings,

Jan

Drawing Day in the Studio

2011-10-13T17:41:00.001-05:00

Autumn Coast, 9x13, Graphi-tint pencil, Autumn Brown, water added, on hot pressed paper

I love drawing. I don't spend nearly as much time doing it as I would like to or ought to. Funny thing about drawings (and most works on paper), they don't fetch as big a price as a painting on canvas or linen of the same size, yet I think that drawings are so expressive and retain so much of the artists handwriting that they are perhaps worth more than a painting in the long run.

(BTW if you'd like to purchase either of these send me an email jan.blencowe@comcast.net)

The piece on top was created using graphi-tint pencils, they are graphite pencils with pigment added. They are also water-soluable and when you go over the drawing with a wet brush you essentially create a watercolor, which is what I did here. I have this new "dynamic viewing" option plugged into the blog now so if you click on the image above it will open larger in a light box. It's kind of cool and lets you see the painting/drawing larger and in more detail.

The second piece is vine charcoal, a very expressive medium and some white charcoal, which is essentially pastel for added contrast, on beautiful heavy weight handmade paper.

I'm holding off on working more on my new large painting as my Tuesday students have asked me not to work on it until next week so they can observe the entire painting process. That means that I'll probably draw for a few more days, which is fine with me!

I got word today that Experience is an Arch was juried into the New Britain Museum of American Art Show. This is my fourth year in the show and I am very honored to have a painting selected by Elizabeth Ives Hunter, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Museum of Art. Coincidentally, I will be going to the Cape Cod Museum on Saturday with my daughter for the regional portfolio review for high school students. While I'm there I'm looking forward to seeing Men and the Sea, works of Frank Cardozo Nicholas, given my new interest in seascapes.

I'm extraordinarily busy these days, but in this case busy is good! The Autumn Art Trail last week end was wonderful. I had approximately 30 people visit my studio and I had a delightful time chatting with them. I began a new group of students on Tuesday who will continue with me for a month. I have a prospective student coming on Sunday for an interview. Plus I am organizing an incredible art event, that I can't tell you about yet! On the heels of that I will be planning a special invitation only holiday open studio with another artist.

Live with Art, It's good for YOU!
Blessings,
Jan

Autumn Art Trail Week End

2011-10-07T12:54:00.000-05:00

I hope that you'll be able to visit my studio this week end ! The Arts center of Killingworth Autumn Art Trail kicks off tomorrow morning at 9:30 am. More info here

There is a free outdoor art fair on the Madison Green and you can buy a $10 ticket to tour 12 professional artists studios along the shoreline. It's going to be a gorgeous week end weather -wise and there are many art and artisan delights to be seen.

This is the time to be purchasing holiday gifts and investing in original fine art for you home.

This is the first time I am announcing this....Persephone's Farewell (the original painting see it here) is a 16x20, and is $2000, unframed. The original is currently in the Celeste LeWitt Gallery at UCONN. I have ONE amazing quality giclee reproduction on canvas framed as above. Outside dimensions including the frame are 15x18. The absolutely unbelievable price for this is $329. No kidding. I've worked a special deal so that I can offer something very price friendly for the open studio this week end. The giclee looks stunning, the digital image of the original I used was professionally photographed by Caryn B. Davis in Chester, CT and I have hand signed the giclee in paint, lower right.

However, I am also making this ONE reproduction available to my blog family. So if you would like this for your home, please email me ASAP jan.blencowe@comcast.net. If this sells from the blog I will then take orders from people during the open studio this week end and they will have to wait a couple of weeks for their order to be filled and come back to the studio to pick it up.

I'll be blogging the open studio week end so stay tuned and follow me on facebook and twitter for up to the minute studio tour news!

10 Steps for Giving a Successful Painting Demonstration

2011-09-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

The first stages of the demo painting.....more to come next week!

I was at the East Hampton Art Association this past Wednesday giving a talk and demonstration about using acrylic paint. As one attendee commented, I gave a "kick-*ss" demonstration! LOL

Given the fact that I do a lot of talks and demos and I love to do them, (and apparently they are successful) I though I'd share some of the things I've learned through trial and error over the years.

10 Steps for Giving a Successful Painting Demonstration

Confirm the time and location a day before
Double check all the supplies you are bringing
Arrive early enough to set up properly
Think through what you will paint beforehand
Have 3-5 clear points you want to make about your painting method
Review those points at least once during your demonstration
Plan beforehand how you will demonstrate those points
Use all your usual materials, this is not the time to try a new surface, color or brush
Be sure to move away from the easel frequently so the audience can see your progress
Have a hand out reviewing your materials, methods, your contact info, website for people to take home

At lot of this in just common sense but it's good to be reminded. If you're not very experienced at public speaking, practice, out loud at home, even if you need to send your family out for pizza so you get some time alone to do this. No kidding it's a must and really helps your delivery.

Make eye contact with your audience, have a sense of humor and roll with the punches as things will always go wrong, stuff falls, you get paint in your hair whatever, it's all part of being real!

"I Am An Artist" Tee Shirt

2011-09-27T16:40:00.000-05:00

I am an Artist. This does not mean I will work for free. I have bills to pay just like you. Thank you for understanding. Buy it here !!!

This has been going viral on Facebook this week and someone finally found a link to purchase it. It makes such a good point in a good natured way. I just ordered one !

Tomorrow night at 7pm I will be giving a painting demonstration for the East Hampton Art Association, at the public library, 105 Main Street, East Hampton, CT

The group is interested in hearing about how I use Chroma Interactive (slow drying) acrylics. I'll be bringing many acrylic products and materials that I use and explain how they can be applied in a variety of painting situations. I'll also be bringing several finished paintings that make use of different acrylic painting techniques. Of course we'll cover some painting basics like values, color, and composition. Plus, I will be painting! I decided with all that to cover I would do the under painting today and show the block in stage and perhaps some development during the demo since it's during those phases of the painting process that the acrylic techniques really come into play.

If you're in the area please feel free to stop in for the demo!

Painting from Memory

2011-09-25T14:37:00.000-05:00

New tonalist autumn landscape...

View it on my website here

Angels on the Oak Leaves, framed.

A couple of very late nights in the studio and this one is now finished. It still needs several isolation coats and then several coats of varnish, but that's about it. I tried it in the new frame style I've been using and I like it.

Here's the reference photo

And this is one of the Bruce Crane paintings that I kept close by for inspirtion....

Bruce Crane, Autumn, 1901

The other is in a private collection and I couldn't find an image of it on the internet. Perhaps you can see some of the compositional similarities that drew me to this work based on the photograph. Two groups of trees left and right, forming a "gateway" and a third group of trees further back, plus a serpentine lead in (stream). Of course there are also many differences in the spacial arrangement, but enough similrities to provide guidance and inspiration.

Because the panel was a different length to width ration than the photo, which was longer, I had to compress the scene and bring the viewer further into it creating a more intimate encounter, much like the Crane painting above.

All the perspective lines in the photo lead back to the end of the fence, left of center, yet that gorgeous red bush is far to the right so I transplanted it to that area to create a center of interest and a better compositional arrangement.

Once my under painting was done, I put the photo aside and barely looked at it again, because generally 90% of my paintings are created from memory and imagination.

I recently came across this blog, Secrets of a Modern Painter, written by Gabriel Boray and I found a four part series about painitng from memory. This small excerpt is from Part 4 of the series:

"Working from photographs is completely different than working from memory; relying on only your mind and soul to call forth the vision will add more breath and life to your work than any increased facility with rendering that photographs may offer could ever come close to. Photographs are great for stimulating ideas, and useful for studying and memory of course, but try to keep them separate from the direct painting experience - they will only get between your mind and your memory." ~ Gabriel Boray

I really like this line of thinking. It's an aesthetic value that I have always embraced and held in very high regard.

In part 1 of the series I found this provocative statement... "In order to quickly gain confidence and develop your own painting style you should primarily paint from memory." ~ Gabriel Boray

For someone who has been bombarded with the plein air and classical painters mantra work from life, that statement is quite provocative indeed. Yet, I believe that he is right, to most fully develop your own unique style, and add power and authenticity to your work you can't be a copyist of any sort. Though I will say that copying from life is a thousand times better than copying a photo.

Expressive and emotional content is my most highly valued aesthetic component in a painting and that can never be achieved by copying, but can only come when the subject is filtered through time, memory, your unconscious and the depths of your soul.

The title for this piece comes from a line in Saint Columba's The Prayer of Colum Cille...All full of angels is every leaf on the oaks of Derry, which I came across while I was on a retreat last week exploring the Celtic Saints of the church.

Now I have to decide what I'll do next. I feel like doing some drawings in charcoal or conte crayon. So maybe I'll take a little time and do one or two before moving on to another painting, and for some reason I feel like working small, go figure! Stay tuned!

Using a Color Wheel

2011-09-21T12:40:00.001-05:00

This is the new landscape painting I'm working on, and I thought it would be helpful to show you how using a color wheel can help your paintings.

This color wheel is made by Grumbacher, it's called the Color Computer and I've had it since my college days in the early 80's so I don't know if they even make this anymore but there are many versions of the color wheel out there you can buy.

As a tonalist painter I am particularly interested in creating harmony in both value and color in my work, but it's also very useful if you like to create "pop" through vibrant and intense color, including complementary color schemes.

Here's how this works. The small wedge shaped window in the top arc, is my key color scheme, which is Yellow Orange. The top color in that group is the tint, the next down is the pure hue of yellow orange, and the next two bands show the pure color at lower intensities, which can be created by the addition of the complementary color or black.

The larger wedges to either side are analogous color harmonies. On the left there is orange, and red-orange and you see the tint, the pure hue and two colors at lower intensity. On the right there are wedges of yellow and yellow-green, again with the tint, pure hue and lower intensities shown.

All the colors in the complete top arc are harmonious and can easily be used in my painting to create an harmonious whole. I think it's easy to see that I've stayed within those boundaries, particularly keeping the greens warmed up using olive green, and quinacridone green-gold as my two basic greens in this piece.

Even if your goal is color harmony, all paintings need some amount of contrast. You can do this in three ways and the color wheel helps you make those decisions. First, you can use the direct complement to your key color scheme, in this case you'll see that in the small wedge window directly opposite the yellow-orange wedge. The direct complement is colors in the blue-violet family. Your second choice would be to use a split complementary scheme. Those colors are the lower wedges to the left (violet) and right (blue). These color complements are a great choice if you prefer jewel tone, vibrant paintings. I've chosen to use the third option, using a triadic color scheme. You'll find those colors in the small circles. They are the lower intensities of the red-violet family and the lower intensity colors from the blue-green family. These triadic colors are the ones I'll use in the shadow areas.

To summarize the majority of my painting will make use of all the colors in the top arc, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange (the key color), yellow and yellow-green. These create an harmonious analogous color scheme. In much small quantities, mostly in the shadow areas I'll use the triadic complements, the lower intensity colors form the red-violet and blue-green family.

Besides using a color wheel I have out my reference photo upper left and then two paintings by Bruce Crane that have similarities in mood, color and composition to what I am painting. These three things help me stay focused on my goal: create an autumn landscape painting in the tonalist style that makes use of tight color & value harmonies, evokes transcendental light (glow), and is heavy on atmosphere and mood to elicit an emotional (or spiritual) response from my viewer.

Stay tuned for more, later this week.

The Start of a new Autumn Landscape Painting

2011-09-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

Under Painting

Block In

First Stage of Development

Palette of Colors: Start lower left and going up and around clockwise, Naples Yellow Light, Warm gray, Toning Gray Yellow, Yellow Ocher, Raw Sienna Dark, Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Green Gold, Olive Green, Chromium Oxide Green, Vermilion, Quinacridone Sienna, Transparent Red Oxide, Quinacridone Red Violet, Ultramarine Blue.

I've had it in my mind to paint this scene ever since I took the photo last October. My painting process has become quite a lengthy thing with layer upon layer already built up and with many more to come. The last pic shows the direction the painting is heading. It's a tonal direction, with muted colors and soft, lost edges. I've been thinking about George Inness's work a lot lately and also Bruce Crane. This first stage of development is meant to lay the ground work for toning down intensity, creating tonal harmonies, encouraging mystery and to coax a transcendental light.

"During the late 1870s and1880s, George Inness created some of his most expressive paintings, leaving visibletraces of his brushstrokes on the surface of the canvas, thereby reinforcingthe viewer's awareness of the artist's presence as creator of the landscape.The union of empirical pictorial freedom and highly enigmatic, visionary spacesand forms emerges dramatically in the late paintings" ~ Carter B. Horsley

That last sentence captures what I am after.

You might wonder why I go to the trouble of creating a structured under painting and a brightly colored block in, if I am just going to paint them out as I develop the painting.

George Inness said

•I paint in all these details in order that I may know how to paint them out.

When you paint in the details and then obscure them by simplifying, reducing, getting to the essence of things the details are transformed by layers of paint and the process of reduction, and while they no longer play a central in the finished painting the painting is richer for them being there in the first place.

I'll have more updates as the week progresses. Stay tuned!!

New Seascape Painting, Spring Sea Rising

2011-09-13T09:19:00.000-05:00

view this painting in a sample frame on my website

for purchase information email me jan.blencowe@comcast.net

Here we are at seascape number four and I find myself employing new painting techniques to capture the unique qualities of the ocean, sea foam, seaweed and the abundant presence of rocks.

The marshes endure the ebb and flow of the tides differently than the coast line. In the marsh the inundation is slow and seeping, a gradual creeping of water onto the land. The marsh itself is a sponge, absorbent and soft so the process is quiet and stealthy. If you're standing in the marsh on dry ground painting, a few hours later you can find yourself ankle deep and if the water is warm and you are focused on painting you might never notice that your sneakers are gradually becoming soaked!

All this is not so at the coastline. Waves, driven by the wind and the pull of the moon, move at speed to the shore and there with great force they encounter seemingly indomitable rock. (Though not truly indomitable, as the daily bathing of rocks in seawater will slowly over aeons wear down even the most jagged rock into a soft, feminine, rounded form). That meeting of surging sea and solid rock produces the spectacular, and terrifying crash of waves and the fireworks of sea foam and salt spray that mesmerizes us.

It's very interesting painting two such opposite things in a single painting. There is first off, the challenge of painting the solidness of rock and second, the challenge of painting the practically vaporous white surf and foam.

A few detail shots to show some new techniques. First, the rocks. OK, rocks and be pretty boring. When they feature prominently in my paintings I feel the need to handle them with more impressionistic "broken" brushwork and more color....

detail, Spring Sea Rising

Next, the sea weed on the rocks (in shadow) created with deep rich jewel tone colors and multiple glazes.....

detail, Spring Sea Rising

Finally, the crashing surf in sunlight. Even though this will look like an oil painting once it is varnished and framed I never forget that acrylic is after all water-media, a cousin to watercolor and gouache. As such the crash of water and sea spray can be created by actually having the paint behave as water does through the use of a typical watercolor technique, spattering.

detail, Spring Sea Rising

This painting's title is taken from a haiku by Yosa Buson

The spring sea rising

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The spring sea rising
and falling, rising
and falling all day.

Translated by Robert Hass

Licensing Your Art

2011-09-08T09:55:00.001-05:00

Dunes at Dusk, acrylic, Jan Blencowe

Art Tile Box, featuring Just Us Three, by Jan Blencowe

Almost three years ago I was contacted by a company that wanted to license one of my floral paintings to use on high end Art Tile jewelry boxes that feature paintings from artists around the globe. Yesterday, I received the first box as a gift from the company, a lovely letter and royalty check. The boxes are very well made, and the reproduction of the artwork is exceptional in color and clarity. This was something that the company spent a long time on, researching and finding the absolute best process for reproducing the art. The respect shown for the artists images throughout their whole process was very gratifying for me. My art was not treated as just another commercial image but as the valuable, original fine art that it is. If you are a retailer and would like to carry these very unique boxes you can view the collection and find information here.

A year or so ago, another group contacted me asking to license some of my sand dune paintings for Interior Designer Barclay Butera. I worked with them and you can see the results here and here. Each month I receive a royalty check from the sale of the sand dune giclees.

Yesterday, that same group contacted me about licensing some of my plein air paintings. Right now I'm in the midst of working out that deal.

I bring this all up for a few reasons. First, if you are building your internet presence through a website, blog and social media your art will be found and purchased in many different ways. This is why I teach internet marketing to artists. In fact, next week on Tuesday, Sept. 13th at 7pm I'll be giving an Art Marketing talk for the Cheshire Art League, here in CT.

Second, in this depressed economy, and really anytime for artists, we all need multiple streams of income. Licensing your art gives you a way to continue to earn money from a single image with no additional work or time expenditure on your part. (except to go to the bank to cash your royalty check!)

Third, I believe that beauty and art should be accessible to everyone not just those who can afford to buy my originals. The world needs beauty, don't you think? So, allowing some of my images to be used as commercial products brings my work to people on a larger, wider scale.

Now, you may be wondering if this hurts or helps the fine artist. There are a number of ways to look at this. As an artist you may decide that using your talents for more commercial purposes is the right way to go. Certainly, many, many famous fine artists started out as commercial artists and many continued to do both throughout their careers. Artists have a right to make a decent living through the use of their talent and the world needs beautiful things. If you really want to get into licensing your work I will defer to Tara Reed. You can visit her website and learn everything you need to know about licensing.

Personally, I am very selective about which images and what ways my art will be used. Occasionally, and on a small scale, I will enter into a licensing agreement and allow my images to earn money as another stream of income. I have never once heard a collector complain and in reality the artist owns the copyright to the image and can allow the image to be used in any way he or she feels will be a benefit.

Ultimately each artist must decide if any commercial use of their work is the right thing for them at the time. In this economy (which I fear may take as long as 10 years to recover, if it recovers at all) artists must think creatively about ways to earn a living.

If you have experience using your images in a non-traditional fine art way that either worked or didn't I invite you to share your experiences in the comment section.

At the end of the day, I'm happy that my work is out there being viewed and enjoyed by a wide variety of people. I hope that collectors of my work, who are drawn to its peaceful, spiritual message also concur that the world needs beauty and that everyone should have an opportunity to bring beautiful art objects into their lives.

A New England Seascape Painting

2011-09-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Irene left us without electricity, cell phone, cable, internet and land line phones for a week. Fortunately, we purchased and installed a generator in preparation for the storm so we were able to cook, shower and have lights in the evening.

Because we have a generator and I have good natural light in the studio I was able complete this new seascape during the week. I am now completely convinced that seascapes will become a regular subject for me. In fact, I have started another one that is on the easel right now. The endlessly changing sea and the multitude of rock configurations offer many intriguing compositional and textural possibilities. After the one that's on the easel is finished I'll probably switch to a few landscapes until I have more really exciting source material for seascapes. That source material will come from Rockport, MA this time because I'll be taking a trip up there in early October to deliver my painting Schoodic Point Afternoon (from my recent trip to Acadia) which was juried into the Rockport Art Association's New England Open Exhibition by one of my favorite plein air painters Don Stone.

News, Upcoming Demos, Exhibits, Workshops, Open Studio Tour and more...

I have several events planned in the next couple of weeks that I thought you'd like to hear about. On Tuesday, September 13th, I'll be giving a talk on Art Marketing for the Cheshire Art League, (CT) 7-9pm, covering things like artist statements, resumes, biographies, websites, blogs, and social media. On Thursday September 15th, 4:30-6:00pm my show Rhyme and Season: The Poetic Landscape opens in the Celeste LeWitt Gallery in the UConn Health Care Center in Farmington. If you're in the area I would *love* to see you there! When you enter the campus drive all the way up the hill and around the bend to the building at the very top. There's a little guard house at the entrance to the parking lot. Wednesday September 28th, 7pm I am giving a painting demo for the East Hampton Art Association focusing on the Chroma Interactive Acrylic Paint that I use. Saturday and Sunday, October 8th & 9th I will be opening my studio as part of the Killingworth Art Center's Autumn Art Trail. A $10 ticket gets you into a dozen private artists' studios along the shoreline and beyond. That's going to be a great weekend!! I hope you can come. I'll have lots going on in the studio, including painting demonstrations, art talks, special purchase opportunities, open class registration, and some delectable autumn themed food and drink. On Sunday October 30th, 10:00am-4:00pm at the Tracy Art Center in Old Saybrook I'll be giving a one day Landscape Composition Intensive Workshop. No painting involved but you'll need a note book, a sketchbook and some other drawing and sketching supplies. Be prepared to take in a lot of information!

Off the Bookshelf

Right now I'm reading a few wonderful books that in different ways are nurturing my creativity and artists' mind. They Are...

The Artist's Rule: Nurturing your creative soul with monastic wisdom by Christine Valters Paintner

Excerpt: Our call as monks and artists is ultimately about serving the great mysteries of life and honoring this as a rich and fertile path.

How to Paint Successful Seascapes by Roger W. Curtis

Excerpt: You can give a painting snap by bringing a dark rock up against a burst of sunlit foam. But use this device only if you want a dramatic jolt. Otherwise, you should soften the effect by introducing transitional values; in that way, the eye will move more smoothly through the painting and the viewer will usually feel a greater satisfaction with the work.

The Alchemy of Paint by Spike Bucklow

Excerpt: ...color and beauty, which are ill-served by the modern worldview, are well served by the traditional worldview. When European scientists shifted their view...colors' beauty stopped being 'the splendor of the truth' and retreated into 'the eye of the beholder'. And our experience of the world became poorer.

I hope everyone effected by the hurricane now has power and is getting their lives back to normal! I'll try and have a few progress photos for you in the next day or two. The new painting is 20x24, and I expect it to take at least 2 weeks to complete. Stay tuned!!

Sea of Time, new seascape painting, Winter Harbor Lighthouse

2011-08-24T16:47:00.000-05:00

Breathing a sigh of relief now that I have been able to bring this piece to a unified, harmonious completion. This was a tough one. First off, it's not my usual brand of linen and I didn't think that using Winsor & Newton instead of Centurion LX would be that big of a deal but it was. The W&N is much rougher and more irregular in its fibers. The primer is also much more absorbent, so I felt like it was sucking the life out of my colors, even after repeated gloss isolation coats and layers of spray sealer. While the more matte finish makes it easy to photograph without any glare, this is going to need extra isolation coats and also extra layers of varnish before it has the depth and gloss that I like for the final product.

Second, it's a square. Squares are a more contemporary format for landscapes (which lend themselves much more naturally to a rectangle), and square compositions provide their own set of peculiar compositional challenges. This piece went through many compositional revisions along the way until I was able to make all the elements of the landscape hang together in an harmonious whole without any one element seeming like it was unrelated or isolated from the overall pattern of shapes.

Third, my photo reference was very sparse. The rocks in the upper right are invented as are the rocks in the lower right. The surf is entirely invented from memory and imagination, as the sea was rather calm when the photo was taken.

Fourth, the light was also invented. The photo was taken later in the day with a considerable amount of haze, in the distance which turned everything an indistinct blue-gray. This meant that I once again had to use my imagination and memory to invent a value pattern and a color scheme.

For the color scheme I used this painting Seal Rock, by Albert Bierstadt for inspiration...

I've seen this painting in person many times at the New Britain Museum of American Art and it immediately came to mind as I was beginning my seascape.

Below I had some fun with Photoshop inserting the Bierstadt piece into my own to check for color harmony.

I think you can see how the color schemes are related. Basically, this is a complementary color scheme blue/green and orange/red.

The value structure was difficult for me because I guess I never realized how dark ocean water is compared to the shallow, reflective, still or gently flowing waters of the marsh. My daughter informs me that every meter of water depth selectively absorbs about 45% of the red light and about 2% of the blue light passing through it resulting in a deep blue green color.

I haven't done many seascape paintings, so this is a relatively new genre for me. Its a genre that I have basically avoided because wave action is rather complicated and you need to understand how waves are formed and how they behave to create a convincing portrayal. They also have many, many shifting planes, that require various and subtle value shifts and to top it off water is reflective so those multiple planes also act as mirrors. Is it any wonder I have shied away from seascapes!

I do like creating seascapes though. They give me ample opportunity to compose, and create patterns and colors in a very abstract way. Look for more seascapes from me in the months ahead since I plan to continue to work in this genre for a while.

The little lighthouse in the distance on Mark Island is the Winter Harbor Light. Behind it is Turtle Island. The light house has a fascinating history having been owned by several writers and artists. You can read about the history of the Winter Harbor Lighthouse and it's creative owners here.

Several of the writer/owners of the lighthouse wrote books about the lighthouse or used the setting for their stories.

Winter Harbor and Our Island Lighthouse by Bernice Richmond and The Light in the Tower by Joan Howard all feature the Winter Harbor Lighthouse.

Some of the turbulence in my seascape surely reflects some of the turbulence in my own life right now. Today I came across this quote which leapt off the page at me, probably because I've shed more than a few tears in the past few weeks. I hope you will be blessed by the words of Washington Irving as I was.

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love.” ~ Washington Irving

Seascape Update

2011-08-20T07:48:00.000-05:00

Here's another detail from the seascape that I am currently working on.

Oy, this has been such a painting! Sometimes paintings seem to paint themselves and other times they fight you the whole time. This one has been a struggle but is finally pulling together in a really exciting way.

Part of my struggle has been working on a different brand of linen. More about all that later, just wanted you to know that I'm still at the easel!

Seascape in Progress

2011-08-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

This is a small section of the new seascape that I'm working on.

I'm blogging this morning and listening to Chopin Nocturne no. 5 in F sharp Opus 15 no.2, as I wait for an isolation coat to dry on my latest painting in progress. Patience is a virtue.

I am in the middle of many transitions right now and as a result I feel out of balance- like walking on a rocky shore when the rocks tilt and move beneath you as you take the next step and let your weigh rest on them. Growing,changing, and personal transformation are important to me and I always hope to be engaging in the unfolding of who I am as a person and as an artist. However changes mean upheaval and challenges to what you are accustomed to and that brings with it both excitement and stress.

I am currently in the process of extricating myself from a business association that has hurt me in many, many ways. No need to ever stay in an unhealthy situation. I wish the break was quick and clean so I can put it all behind me but we are at the ratty, tail end with money of course being the sticking point. Sigh.

So that is one transition. The second is more directly linked to my work, though I am fairly certain the turbulence in my own life right now is making its way into my paintings.

I am currently in a period of restlessness concerning the style of my paintings. Certain things and people are influencing me and I am undecided as to whether I want to submit to those influences or if I want to resist them. That's what's going on in my head, however the influences keep coming out on the canvas which makes me wonder if I really have any intellectual control over this process at all. LOL I strongly suspect that the Muse has her own ideas about things and bestows gifts as she sees fit not necessarily as I desire them.

I see my work over the past few paintings becoming more highly defined in terms of its realism and wonder if that is what I really want to be doing. As a counter to that I see myself again becoming interested in seascapes. This is partly fueled by my recent trip to Acadia. But I also know that you can't paint the sea from life because it is in constant motion and that you can't simply copy a photo of the sea because seascapes must be designed. They are composed of large swaths of canvas filled with extremely expressive abstract patterns of light, color and texture that when handled correctly and deftly designed give the impression of crashing surf and undulating oceans.

I have very limited experience painting seascapes and that makes this transitional process scary, yet I am forging ahead. I'm not sure how long this piece will take but as soon as I have something edifying to show you I will. Now back to the easel!

A New Painting, Acadia Surf at Twilight

2011-08-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

This is the first of the studio paintings based on my plein air studies and photos from my recent trip to Acadia. It was difficult approaching this subject matter in the studio when my initial sketches were done while actually viewing this amazing scenery. I struggled to find a way to synthesize and interpret all of the wonderful experiences that I had while there on the canvas. There is something to be said for letting your actual experience of painting a scene en plein air be filtered through time and memory. That interval between being there painting and recalling the scene in my studio allowed me to be able to resist being overwhelmed by many details and to focus on the composition of the piece as well as its emotional content and overall mood.

Technically there is a lot going on, on the surface of this painting. The multiplicity of textures was necessary to really differentiate between the very different and strong components of the landscape: air, clouds, trees, rocks water and surf.

Here's a detail of the breaking surf...

There are also layers of impasto, though less built up, in the clouds and many layers of thick acrylic gel medium built into and over the rocks to give them visual weight, solidity and to preserve brush stokes, as well as to create the smooth, glistening sheen of wet rocks.

This painting is composed of many layers of thin glazes, transparent and opaque paint, impasto in different degrees and veils of scumble. All of those are carefully balanced so as to not to distract from a unified and harmonious whole.

The sea is such an integral part of the Acadia landscape that I have pulled my two favorite seascape painting books off the shelf for a review while I am simultaneously reading Ian Robert's book, Mastering Composition.

I have a scene in mind for my next piece that will probably be in a square format. Squares are always interesting to work on and require a different way of thinking about the landscape which naturally lends itself to a rectangular format. And though I fear it may be a cliche this next painting may include a seagull, which I hope to keep from being comical looking though I find them to be comical birds. Stay tuned.

Painting the American Vision, a review

2011-08-03T13:56:00.005-05:00

The Course of Empire, Desolation 1836, Thomas Cole

Last Sunday I had the very good fortune to be in Salem, MA, just as the show Painting the American Vision was opening at the Peabody Essex Museum. Drawn from the celebrated collection of the New York Historical Society, this exhibition features 45 magnificent landscapes, including Thomas Cole's iconic series of monumental paintings, "The Course of Empire," as well as works by Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Asher B. Durand and others.

Painting the American Vision was originally organized by the New York Historical Society as The Hudson River School: Painting the American Vision, and all works are from that institution's collection. The New York Historical Society is renovating it's facilities so it's stunning collection of Hudson River School paintings which are rarely loaned out are traveling to other museums this year. None of the paintings in the show were ones that I had seen in person before, so this was an absolute treat for me.

The show is housed in the third floor galleries. The wall colors, stenciled tree motif and quotes on the walls all enhanced the experience of viewing the paintings. The galleries are intimate but roomy enough to take in the large works even when a half dozen or more people are in the room. The number of paintings per room and how they are grouped provides a nice visual flow and understanding of the premise of the show, which is that the young United States was trying to shake off its colonial past and to create paintings based on America's natural monuments like Niagara Falls and Yosemite that would rival European paintings featuring monuments like the Colosseum and the Roman aqueducts. It is interesting to note that this search for a national artistic style that was truly American in its nature and essence was a discourse that touched a broad spectrum of the American population, it was not a discussion limited to the elite of the day. It would appear in newspaper and magazines with many people weighing in with opinions. It is at this time that the National Academy of Design is founded (1825) and later as a reaction to the conservative stance of the National Academy (which some construed as too European, and too heavily modeled after the Royal Academy in England an opinion held by George Inness), the American Society of Artists was founded in 1877. The cycle of conservative to progressive repeated in 1897 when the Ten American Painters group broke away from the Society of American Artists. The Society of American Artists ultimately merged with the National Academy in 1906.

A national discussion regarding what American art is today might be a fascinating one, particularly if, as in the past, a broad spectrum of the American population would raise its voice to be heard on par with urban art critics and art academics.

Sam Scott, associate curator of maritime art and history, said at a preview of the show "The artists in this show really believed that there was something good, and worthy, and in fact divine in the act of contemplating the natural scene." He says that as if it is unbelievable that someone would actually think that, which is funny because I do actually think that there is something good, and worthy, and in fact divine in the act of contemplating the natural scene! I suspect that the collectors who buy my work think that too! See why we need a national discussion on art?

The Course of Empire ~ Thomas Cole (click to visit an interactive tour of the paintings)

The five painting cycle, The Course of Empire, is an allegorical narrative. I had not seen it in person before, as I mentioned, and I was quite impressed by it. It was not just the paintings themselves that impressed me, though they are quite finely done in terms of color, composition and mood, but it was also the deep philosophical thought that went into their conception.

Cole writes about his initial concept...

A series of pictures might be painted that should illustrate the History of a natural scene, as well as be an Epitome of Man—showing the natural changes of Landscape & those effected by man in his progress from Barbarism to Civilization, to Luxury, the Vicious state or state of destruction and to the state of Ruin & Desolation.

The philosophy of my subject is drawn from the history of the past, wherein we see how nations

have risen from the Savage state to that of Power & Glory & then fallen & become extinct..

Cole's idea was also fueled by Byron's 1818 poem Childe Harold in which appear these lines...

There is the moral of all human tales;

'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past.

First Freedom and then Glory—when that fails,

Wealth, vice, corruption—barbarism at last.

And History, with all her volumes vast,

Hath but one page.

Intrigued by Cole's Course of Empire yet? No! Well here is a link to Beyond the Notes' companion for The Course of Empire, a string quartet composed by Nell Shaw Cohen (b. 1988) and inspired by the paintings of Thomas Cole (1801-1848). Explore this website to learn more about the paintings, the music, and the connections between them. LINK

Spend of few minutes at Beyond the Notes and watch some of the video clips with the composer Nell Shaw Cohen who does a lovely job explaining how Cole's The Course Of Empire inspired her musical composition and you can view each painting and listen to the corresponding movement of the concerto. I absolutely love it when there is a cross over between artistic disciplines! I know you will enjoy this!

Here are the paintings that caught my eye at the show.

Jervis McEntee, Autumn, Mill Stream, 1860

I loved this one because most of the final painting is simply the earthy colored, thinly applied, brushy under painting. Only certain areas are picked out in local color of thicker, more opaque paint, the trees, some of the rocks and greenery and the sky. The inclusion of the under painting in the final form of the painting gives this an expressive quality, and a sense of the fleeting nature of the autumn season and the fragility of the landscape at this time of year.

Wood for Winter, 1860, George Henry Durrie

It is completely lost in the reproduction however, this winter scene glitters with sparkling snow on the branches of the trees. Tiny shimmering globules of clean white paint liberally sprinkled throughout this piece reproduce for the viewer the distinct sensation of freshly fallen snow clinging to the tree branches so that one can almost feel the cold air! This is an excellent reason to see artwork in person and not to rely solely on reproductions in books or on the internet, so much is lost! It's also a good reason to buy original art to live with rather than cheap wall art prints! Same reason, so much is lost!

Tomorrow 2 more from the exhibit!

The Maine Painting Trip, part 4

2011-07-27T16:02:00.000-05:00

The whole reason we took this painting trip is because my friend Claudia had such great memories of painting in Acadia more than a decade ago with Betty Lou Schlemm, and Mike and Dot Stoffa.

Trouble is she remembered that there was this great spot to paint with amazing views, and you could park right there, not schlepping easels and gear down a trail. She also remembered that they stayed in great little cottages, but she wasn't sure which town they were in! LOL

Finding that exact painting spot and the little cottages became a holy grail for us during the trip! We did indeed find the spot and the cottages eventually! This was the spot above, Blueberry Hill, and the cottages were still there owned by the same person, though the other owner had passed on.

This was a beautiful, beautiful morning but it was HOT ! The 2 parts of the diptych each took 2 hours so I painted for a total of 4 hours and the scenery was so gorgeous, I was completely in the zone and the pieces seemed to paint themselves!

painting on Blueberry Hill

This was the day we had the most fabulous and authentic downeast Maine lunch. We had enormous lobster rolls and homemade blueberry pie! So good!

Before lunch we rested in the car to get some shade so that after lunch we were ready to move to another painting spot on the Schoodic peninsula.

This was the scene earlier in the day. The light was much better by 3pm.

By the time we were done we were hot and exhausted so we splashed our feet in the cold, cold waters of the Atlantic.

We had intended to do one more painting the next morning before we left, but it was gray and drizzily so we went to an antique store instead!

After that we headed home, determined to go back next year and paint for a full week! I hope you enjoyed sharing my Maine painting trip on the blog! It was fun to recount it all for you.

The Maine Painting Trip, part 3

2011-07-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

After our windy disaster at Sand Beach, we drove around the Loop Road, (rather frustrating that the road through the park is a one way, causing you to have to drive all the way around just to get back to a spot just a half mile north of where you were!)

This little spot is right off the road so we had to set up along the side of the road with cars zipping past. It was getting near midday and the light was becoming rather flat, as you can see in the painting. I had glazed the whole thing at the end to unify the various greens but when I brought it inside it really lacked pizazz. So after we arrived home in Connecticut on Saturday night I popped some contrast back in before I forgot what the scene was like and the experience of being there faded. Yes, I did that after driving for almost 9 hours! Crazy person that I am.

We had lunch in the car and swung back to the motel to meet up with Daryl, Claudia's husband and our photographer friend Lou.

After a short break we set off for Schoodic Point, which was about an hour away. Schoodic Point is another section of Acadia, and further away from the touristy areas and much more a part of the authentic downeast fishing villages of Maine.

We pulled into a picnic area and came upon this lovely cove....

We painted from about 5pm -7pm as the sun was getting lower in the sky, warming up the colors. Then after driving around the Schoodic Point peninsula we headed back for dinner at the Chart Room where we had the most fabulous twin lobster tail dinner!

We met a lovely couple from Canada in the restaurant and they took this great photo of the four of us.

Daryl Hinkson, Claudia Post, Me, Lou Zucchi

After dinner we drove down to Southwest Harbor, through lovely Seawall and stopped at the Bass Harbor lighthouse.

We had our usual "campfire" circle back at the motel, looked at Lou's fabulous photo's from the day on his laptop and enjoyed some wine before turning in for the night.

The next day, Friday, was our big day for painting. Back to Schoodic Point early in the morning to catch the clear morning light from Blueberry Hill. Stay tuned!

The Maine Painting Trip, part 2

2011-07-25T10:03:00.001-05:00

Up at 6a.m with plans to get to Sand Beach before too many people arrive to sunbath and swim. A cup of tea in the room, skip breakfast, drive to the location. It's a beautiful morning with, gentle light and just a thin veil of mist in the air. It's very sunny, but there is no shade on the beach of course. I walked down the beach hoping to get under the shade from the cliffs but no luck, there's a marshy inlet there and I can't stand in that.

No matter, I set up using my feather weight tripod and my small, light 6x9 pochade box and attach my umbrella to the tripod. Trouble is I'm basically facing the water and the wind is beginning to pick up and it's coming in off the water and it keeps blowing and threatening to blow my tripod over. OK, no problem. I decide to sit on the beach and take in the tripod legs, so the tripod is now only about 18 inches tall sitting in front of me, as I sit crossed legged on the sand. Good, I can still have the umbrella up.

I'm 3/4 done with my painting and the wind really starts to kick up. I have to stop painting and I'm struggling to keep my tripod down. A nice gentleman comes over to see what I'm doing and I ask him to just hold the tripod down for a moment so I can adjust the bungee cord holding the umbrella on. In that split second my palette, filled with wet paint flies up and plasters itself to my jacket. Ummmm, OK, I laugh and thank the man for holding the tripod, we joke about the wind and he goes off to join his wife, who seems annoyed at him for taking so long. In another split second my umbrella breaks loose and flies away. I jump up to turn around and watch it fly over a fence in to a restricted wetlands area over the dune.

What to do? I think to myself, I have to go and get my umbrella, I can't paint for the next two days without it, and there's no where up here to buy one. Also, a reflective silver umbrella stuck in the marsh can not be good for the wetlands environment, so I climb over the fence and go in. I tip toe through the sand trying to be as careful as I can walking through the grasses and spy my umbrella. I have to go further in before it flies off and lands in the pond. So I do. The man and his wife are standing on the beach staring at me. In my paranoid moment thinking that a park ranger is going to scold me, it seemed to me that the wife was going to yell at me but the husband hushed her up and they walked away. Relief. Except that I see that my tripod has blown over, my painting is face down in the sand, as are my brushes.

Well crap. But, I will not be deterred. I fold up the umbrella and put it in its carry bag, I do the same with the tripod. I put the sandy brushes to the side, I set my paint covered jacket on the sand to dry. I get out new brushes (good I brought so many!!) I sit back down on the beach, hold my pochade box in my lap, brush off as much sand as possible from the painting (nice to be working in acrylic so most of the painting was dry enough to do that), I ignore the sand that is in my paints on the palette and I continue to finish my painting.

So this little gem of a painting comes with a bonus: a good story, and authentic Sand Beach sand from Acadia National Park embedded into the paint! LOL. Kidding aside, the sand really does look good on the surface, it is on the beach area and some in the surf, both appropriate places for the extra sandy texture. I was able to brush it off the sky where it was kind of distracting.

If you ever see small plein air paintings and wonder why they're priced so high for the size of them just remember how much artists can go through to capture that scene, on location. These special pieces bring you an authentic experience the artist has had in the unpredictable great outdoors!

Tomorrow I'll share with you the second two paintings of the day, one is a marsh scene and another a magical cove about an hour east of this location.

The Maine Painting Trip, part 1

2011-07-24T10:49:00.002-05:00

It's been two years since I've been able to take a painting trip but this one made up for the long wait! I traveled to Mount Desert Island in Maine, to Acadia National Park, with fellow artist and good friend Claudia Post, her husband Daryl and a mutual photographer friend Lou Zucchi.

This was a short trip, just four days, but we used every single moment to advantage. We left at 4a.m. and arrived at Robbins Motel in Bar Harbor about 1pm. We tossed our gear in the rooms and headed straight out to Acadia to buy our passes, explore the park, take photos, choose painting locations and mark them on our maps with notes about what might be the best time of day to paint there.

Around 5:30pm we headed back to the motel and then went to a near by lobster shack for dinner. The lobster was amazing, and the sunset gorgeous but we had all left our cameras in our rooms!! LOL

We went back to the motel and sat around outside in our Adirondack Chairs and planned for the next day's painting.

We got up at 6 a.m. the next day and were on the road by seven. We had tea and coffee in our rooms and ate crackers and fruit in the car on the way to Thunder Hole area in Acadia. We had found a sweet spot with great views from out on the rocks the day before that had a trail off the main walking path. Even though we marked our map we couldn't find the little trail! The road through Acadia is a one way loop and so we had to drive all the way around the loop, almost an hour, to get back to the Thunder Hole area! The second time we parked and walked further on the walking path and finally found the trail which is down very low and can't be seen from the road which is why we missed it the first time. It all worked out for the best because by 8:00 a.m some of the mist had dissipated and the light was better.

We unloaded our gear and climbed out onto the rocks. We already knew which view we would paint from the previous day's exploration and we started to set up when Claudia realized that her new pochade box was missing the mount that attaches it to the tripod!! Even though it was very hot and sunny Claudia decided she would tough it out sit on a rock hold her box on her lap and without benefit of an umbrella to shade her she painted the scene.

It was great to be out early before too many people were there and the light was beautiful, the salt air refreshing and the lapping of the waves and the buoy bell ringing created a perfect setting. The first painting above is what I accomplished that morning.

When we were done painting about 2 hours later we climbed back to the path and then got to the car, drank a lot of water, and continued along the loop road to Otter Point. We pulled into the parking lot and began unloading our gear. Claudia had to figure out what she was going to do now that she didn't have a mount for her pochade box. Fortunately, she had also packed her half-box french easel.

I went across to find the best view along the trail while Claudia switched her gear around and while she was doing that the van parked next to us had a family in it eating lunch and the gentleman leans out the window and asks Claudia if we were going to plein air paint. So, Claudia says yes, we're both artists up here for a few days to paint etc.Turns out the guy is an art collector. Now, on my car I have door magnets that have my website address and an image of one of my paintings and my name etc. The man says to Claudia, I know that name "Jan Blencowe" I just saw her video on YouTube that showed the progression of a painting from start to finish, the one I posted just before we left!

Claudia promptly gave him one of my postcards and one of her business cards and told him we would be posting the paintings from our trip and he said he would be checking our websites to see them. He was thrilled to have bumped into us.

This is a great example of the power of YouTube and social media in general, it just goes to show how big of a reach you can have if you have a strong web presence.

After our second painting, Otter Cove above, we explored more of the park and took more photos then headed back to the motel, cleaned up and went to dinner, and planned to get three paintings done the next day. We mapped out our route, packed the car with food and supplies and hit the hay, exhausted at 11pm planning to be up at 6 and on the road at 7 again the next day.

The next day turned out to be an adventure and I'll have another post ready for you for tomorrow so stay tuned!!

New Painting Video

2011-07-17T21:13:00.000-05:00

Fringe of the Marsh, Fold of the Land, 16x20, acrylic on linen, Jan Blencowe, copyright, 2011

Before I leave for my summer painting trip I wanted to leave you with something a little special and a little different. This is a short video I made showing all the stages of my newest landscape painting and a poem about the marshes I recently discovered. See you in a week, enjoy!

The Marshes of Glynn

Sidney Lanier (1842–1881)

GLOOMS of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven

With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven

Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs,—

Emerald twilights,—

Virginal shy lights,

Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows,

When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades

Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods,

Of the heavenly woods and glades,

That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within

The wide sea-marshes of Glynn;—

Beautiful glooms, soft dusks in the noonday fire,—

Wildwood privacies, closets of lone desire,

Chamber from chamber parted with wavering arras of leaves,—

Cells for the passionate pleasure of prayer to the soul that grieves,

Pure with a sense of the passing of saints through the wood,

Cool for the dutiful weighing of ill with good;—

O braided dusks of the oak and woven shades of the vine,

While the riotous noon-day sun of the June day long did shine

Ye held me fast in your heart and I held you fast in mine;

But now when the noon is no more, and riot is rest,

And the sun is a-wait at the ponderous gate of the West,

And the slant yellow beam down the wood-aisle doth seem

Like a lane into heaven that leads from a dream,—

Ay, now, when my soul all day hath drunken the soul of the oak,

And my heart is at ease from men, and the wearisome sound of the stroke

Of the scythe of time and the trowel of trade is low,

And belief overmasters doubt, and I know that I know,

And my spirit is grown to a lordly great compass within,

That the length and the breadth and the sweep of the Marshes of Glynn

Will work me no fear like the fear they have wrought me of yore

When length was fatigue, and when breadth was but bitterness sore,

And when terror and shrinking and dreary unnamable pain

Drew over me out of the merciless miles of the plain,—

Oh, now, unafraid, I am fain to face

The vast sweet visage of space.

To the edge of the wood I am drawn, I am drawn,

Where the gray beach glimmering runs, as a belt of the dawn,

For a mete and a mark

To the forest-dark:—

So:

Affable live-oak, leaning low,—

Thus—with your favor—soft, with a reverent hand

(Not lightly touching your person, Lord of the land!),

Bending your beauty aside, with a step I stand 45

On the firm-packed sand,

Free

By a world of marsh that borders a world of sea.

Sinuous southward and sinuous northward the shimmering band

Of the sand-beach fastens the fringe of the marsh to the folds of the land.

Inward and outward to northward and southward the beach-lines linger and curl

As a silver-wrought garment that clings to and follows the firm sweet limbs of a girl.

Vanishing, swerving, evermore curving again into sight,

Softly the sand-beach wavers away to a dim gray looping of light.

And what if behind me to westward the wall of the woods stands high?

The world lies east: how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky!

A league and a league of marsh-grass, waist-high, broad in the blade,

Green, and all of a height, and unflecked with a light or a shade,

Stretch leisurely off, in a pleasant plain,

To the terminal blue of the main.

Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and the terminal sea?

Somehow my soul seems suddenly free

From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin,

By the length and the breadth and the sweep of the marshes of Glynn.

Ye marshes, how candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free

Ye publish yourselves to the sky and offer yourselves to the sea!

Tolerant plains, that suffer the sea and the rains and the sun,

Ye spread and span like the catholic man who hath mightily won

God out of knowledge and good out of infinite pain

And sight out of blindness and purity out of a stain.

As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod,

Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God:

I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies

In the freedom that fills all the space ’twixt the marsh and the skies:

By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod

I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God:

Oh, like to the greatness of God is the greatness within

The range of the marshes, the liberal marshes of Glynn.

And the sea lends large, as the marsh: lo, out of his plenty the sea

Pours fast: full soon the time of the flood-tide must be:

Look how the grace of the sea doth go

About and about through the intricate channels that flow

Here and there,

Everywhere,

Till his waters have flooded the uttermost creeks and the low-lying lanes,

And the marsh is meshed with a million veins,

That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow

In the rose-and-silver evening glow.

Farewell, my lord Sun!

The creeks overflow: a thousand rivulets run;

’Twixt the roots of the sod; the blades of the marsh-grass stir;

Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whirr;

Passeth, and all is still; and the currents cease to run,

And the sea and the marsh are one.

How still the plains of the waters be!

The tide is in his ecstasy.

The tide is at his highest height:

And it is night.

And now from the Vast of the Lord will the waters of sleep

Roll in on the souls of men,

But who will reveal to our waking ken

The forms that swim and the shapes that creep

Under the waters of sleep?

And I would I could know what swimmeth below when the tide comes in

On the length and the breadth of the marvellous marshes of Glynn.

Hudson River School Paintings

2011-07-13T07:30:00.002-05:00

Today I wanted to share this beautiful video of Hudson River School paintings I came across. Enjoy!

Inspired by Inness and Tennyson

2011-07-06T15:46:00.001-05:00

view this painting in a sample frame on my website

Th Alban Hills, 1873, George Inness

Ever since I first saw this George Inness painting with a central archway formed by trees in the near middle ground inviting the viewer to wander through I have wanted to use this motif in a painting.

I kept my eyes open for a situation like this one and was rewarded last fall.

As soon as I came upon this line of trees in the marsh it instantly reminded me of Inness' painting the Alban Hills. I decided on a medium large canvas 24x30, and decided to continue my exlorations of leaving portions of the watercolor like underpainitng showing in some areas and adding some wildlife to the piece.Can you see the Eastern Cottontail in the lower left?

I wanted to say a word here about using another artwork or a photograph (that's not one you've taken yourself) as inspiration for a painting you create. This is a good example of what is actually permissible. I borrowed a concept. The concept of using trees that form an arch as a motif in my painting. If the Inness painting were a photograph I came across on the internet I could still have created the painting I did, borrowing the concept. BUT I could not have copied the photograph and simply changed a bit of the color or added building etc. so that my painting was a close copy of someone's photo with just a few obvious changes. The same goes for using another artists painting as inspiration, you can use the concept of the painting (trees that form an arch) but what you create has to be a totally new and original piece of work. Now Inness' work is in the public domain, like Van Gogh, Monet etc. and artists can and often do make copies of masterworks for clients who want a hand painted version rather than a print. I wanted to give a good example of using another artists work (painting or photograph) as inspiration in a legitimate way by further exploring a concept they use in your own work.

OK new topic. This whole archway concept made me think of this portion of the Poem Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I've given a nod to Tennyson's poem in the painting's title.

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch where-through
Gleams that untraveled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this grey spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

"New Earth" a poetic landscape

2011-06-30T22:35:00.000-05:00

New Earth, 18x24, acrylic on linen panel, Jan Blencowe, copyright 2011
View in a sample frame on my website here

detail of two great blue herons in New Earth

This is the painting I started last Saturday when I was gallery sitting my show at the Arts Center of Tolland.

I've been experimenting in this painting with combining the very fluid and transparent watercolor effects you can get with acrylic and the oil painting effects of more opaque paint and a glossy highly finished surface.

More about that in the video...

The key to using the acrylics like watercolors is to remember that you can't just thin the paint with water, because if you thin it down too much it won't adhere properly to the support and if you glaze over it or apply an isolation coat it will pick up the pigment and basically wipe it away. So use some kind of acrylic medium to thin down the paint along with clean water. Speaking of isolation coats they're important too, not only do they add depth and gloss they also ensure that those thin transparent layers of paint are sealed, and adhered permanently to your surface. Make an isolation coat using 2 parts Golden soft gel (gloss) and one part water, apply with a foam brush. Allow it to fully dry before adding another layer of paint.

The other important piece to remember is, that if you're going to leave more of your under painting showing through you need to be a bit more mindful when you paint it. I've had to slow down a bit, and while remaining loose and spontaneous be aware of the color, placement and strokes I use when creating the under painting. What could literally be sloppy before because it just needed to be a value and compositional map and was destined to be covered up now may show through in the final painting.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

The other thing I really busy with right now besides painting and getting ready for my next solo exhibit which you can check out here is overseeing the installation of a beautiful, new Zen Fusion meditation garden. If that's interesting to you you can check out progress pictures here.

OK, so you're thinking What in the world is Zen Fusion? A traditional, authentic Zen garden is a dry garden, called karesansui, and it is composed of rocks and raked gravel without water features or plants. That austerity combined with great design creates a minimal visual space, uncluttered and conducive to meditation and stress relief. However, I'm not a Buddhist monk and as a Western gardener I haven't the discipline necessary to limit my garden to rocks and gravel, though there are plenty of both in my Zen Garden. So a Zen fusion garden takes elements of a traditional Zen garden and combines the with some Western influences, like plants. My simply designed minimal garden will have a Japanese Maple, and azalea, a Mugo pine, a Kousa Dogwood, ornamental grasses to line the perimeter, creeping thyme to cover the "islands" because we have too much sun to grow the traditional moss. Plus there are plenty of rocks and gravel for raking into patterns that are meant to represent the movement of water. Stay tuned for more updates!

An Exciting Announcement

2011-06-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

My next solo show, Rhyme and Season: The Poetic Landscape opens September 15th, 4:30-6:00pm at the Celeste LeWitt Gallery, in the University of Connecticut Health Care Center in Farmington, CT

I've set up a website especially to promote the show and I'd love it if you would visit it and read about this special event. www.Rhyme-and-Season.com

Be sure to click on the YouTube link and listen as I share what inspires me. I know the opening is months away, but I would really love to have a big crowd as the concept behind infusing a health care facility with original fine art to promote healing and well being is an especially intriguing idea and I am grateful to be part of it.

You can read about the Connecticut Collection, and the creation of the Celeste LeWitt Gallery over at www.Rhyme-and-Season.com

Please pass this announcement on to anyone you think might be interested in attending the opening and viewing poetic landscapes meant to soothe and calm the spirit in an ever stressful, fast paced and noisy world.

Thanks so much ~ Jan

June Evening, a pastel

2011-06-24T11:55:00.000-05:00

View on my website in a virtual frame, HERE

Just a quick post today to keep you up to date with what's going on in my studio. I struggled through this pastel and finally brought it to a finish late last night after gaining some fresh insight and inspiration after watching a DVD by Richard McKinley. I just love his his method of using watercolor under paintings for his pastels. That is my next adventure with pastels I think. Although I've used watercolor under paintings before, McKinley has some particular methods and ideas I really like. I'm also realizing that since I've been away from pastel for about 6 years I'm still painting too tight with them and I'm determined to loosen up in my next few attempts. Oddly, my last two acrylic paintings seem to have tightened up, but I'm pushing for looseness there too. Loose but not sloppy or clumsy. Purposeful looseness countered with just the right amount of detail and always sensitivity, that's what's running through my mind right now.

On Monday I'll have a big announcement so stay tuned!

Plein Air Painting and the Macchiaioli

2011-06-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

My plein air painting time was cut short today when the thunder got too close for comfort and the rain kept diluting my paints! So a quick start was finished up in the studio. No sense in wasting a perfectly good panel right?

This is a good segue to my thoughts on an article in this month's issue of Plein Air Magazine. The article is titled Plein Air Painting: A Vehicle, Not a Destination written by Jean Stern, Executive Director, the Irvine Museum, Irvine, CA.

Stern gives us an informative history of painting outdoors. He begins with the invention of the soft metal, collapsible paint tube by John Rand in (1801-1873), with Winsor & Newton offering tubes of paint for sale the following year. Next, we are reminded that the Barbizon School under the leadership of Theodore Rousseau were the first plein air painters. Camille Corot, Narcisse Diaz de la Pena and Charles Francois Daubigny are also highlighted as prominent members of the Barbizon group.

Stern then brings up another group of anti-academic painters the Macchiaioli who worked in Tuscany in the 1850's They have largely been ignored by art historians, it was interesting learning about them.

Hay Stacks by Giovanni Fattori, a leading artist in the Macchiaioli movement.

Vincenzo Cabianca, Marina presso Ladispoli

Then Stern takes the discussion in a different direction making the connection to French Impressionism, and talking of the challenge of painting under moving natural light.

But then we get to the point. Stern boldly asserts that the legitimacy of plein air painting has been "subverted to accommodate those who seek to appropriate the popularity and commercial success now attendant to that designation [plein air painter]."

Stern laments the fact the plein air painting has become a status symbol, to the point that in some groups you're not really a painter unless you're a plein air painter. I have encountered this type of thinking and it's really such a shame that some artists think this way. The world is such a big place with room to spare for all who create.

Stern believes that plein air paintings are just the beginning of a journey. While those little plein air gems can tend to sell well if they're well composed and executed, Stern believes that the plein air sketch confirms its reason for being when it leads to a refined, studio painted final work. Landscape is surely the most supreme of art subjects and it needs to be shown in a large format.

What do you think?

Why Critiques are Important

2011-06-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

Reflecting on Life and Joys I had Forgotten wearing their new frames

Last night I had the joy of being one on a panel of two offering comments and encouragement at a critique night for artists. Artist were invited to bring 2 pieces of art and for a mere $5 were given individual attention, suggestions, encouragement and direction for their work.

Critiques often make artists cringe. They can be devastating or be the most helpful thing in the world for an artist. Artists at every level from beginner to pro can benefit from another pair of trained eyes looking at their work.

My opinion is that criticism, and pontificating on aesthetic philosophies has no place at a critique. Each artist should have a chance to explain what their intention was in making the piece because that is the only way to truly evaluate whether or not the piece was successful.

Robert Genn says "The job of instructor, in my view, is to help people realize themselves at whatever level they are at." I believe that is very similar to the job of the critique, help the artist understand their own work better and how to make the next painting they do even more successful than the one before. Help them paint their way, only better! Encourage, guide, direct, teach and open their eyes to the possibilities that exist in their paintings, even the ones that might not be so successful. Inspire them to go back to the easel and try again with fresh knowledge and ideas.

We had such a great group of eight artists bring work of all sorts, mixed media, watercolor, photography, plein air, pastel, acrylic and oils. As people got comfortable the whole group began chiming in with enthusiasm to help their fellow artists and make some really excellent suggestions!

It was enlightening, inspiring and invigorating to be among artists excited about their art and pursuing their creative dreams, learning and growing together.

My critiquing partner was master pastelist Claudia Post, you can visit her blog here.

I'd also like to share another blog with you. Paul Baldassini was a first time visitor to our Critique Night at Maple & Main Gallery. Paul is a very fine painter of contemporary realism and he has a very informative blog here.

His series Working Land, springs from concerns about the disappearance of local farmlands and rural tracts of land due to mindless over development. To see his stunning paintings visit his website here.

Come to think of it you might enjoy visiting the websites of all the participants from last night!

Joan Cole: Website Blog

Ishita Bandyo : Website Blog

Randie Kahrl: Website

Barbara Timberman: Website

Barbara Rossito: Website

Dan Nichols: Website

Plein Air Painting Sold in Tolland

2011-06-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

Arts Center of Tolland Garden, acrylic, 6x8, SOLD

I was at the Arts Center of Tolland today plein air painting as visitors came to view my show, Beyond Place Landscapes for the Soul and I sold this little garden scene right off the easel! Thank you to my new collector from Tolland!

I had a great group of people come through including David Barnas of True Health Unlimited, David is a Personal Trainer, Nutrition Counselor and is writing a book! He has a wonderful, positive blend of spiritually centered health and wellness services. You can find True Health Unlimited on Facebook too!

Next Saturday will be the last day for the show so if you have your eye on a painting Saturday, June 25th between noon and 4 is the time to buy and bring a restful, soothing, contemplative painting into your home.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

“Creative minds are rarely tidy”

2011-06-17T20:02:00.000-05:00

This is the creative mess that is currently going on in my studio! I have a commissioned charcoal drawing started and my daughter is working on the still life.

Here are some quotes about creativity to get you thinking.....

“Talent works, genius creates.”

Robert A. Schumann quotes (German Romantic composer, 1810-1856)

“The creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner, than the average person.”

Frank Barron quotes

“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.”

Rita Mae Brown quotes (American Writer, b.1944)

And on a happy note, I was notified this evening that my painting All is Calm, below, sold tonight at Maple & Main Gallery, Chester, CT

I understand it will be on its way to Arkansas!

I will be at the Arts Center of Tolland again tomorrow from noon-4pm gallery sitting my solo show, Beyond Place: Landscapes for the Soul

I'll be painting so come down and watch , ask questions and talk art with me!

Adding Wildlife to a Painting

2011-06-16T13:48:00.001-05:00

detail of the Mallard and ducklings from Reflecting on Life

It's been a very, very long time since I've included any animal life in one of my landscapes beyond the occasional distant bird in flight. I have a painting of cows in a pasture from 2009 but that's about it. Why?

I suppose there are both philosophical and technical reasons. Philosophically, my paintings are about the influx of Divine energy in nature and following that, nature as a way to encounter the Divine spark of life in all created things. The paintings are an exploration of the special characteristics of light, both how its physical manifestation can transform a place and create a mood or a sense of reverie, and its metaphorical qualities and symbolic meanings. Illumination of the heart, mind and soul can be accomplished through the contemplation of sunlight and moonlight and observing how the degree and type of light changes the landscape. Because in truth the amount of spiritual light we have within us can transform the interior landscape of the heart, mind and soul, and my paintings are meant to show how a certain quality of light can transform an ordinary place into a place of sublime, transcendent beauty, much in the same way as God's light with in us can transform ordinary people into vibrant icons of Himself.

Light, earth, sky, water and flora have always seemed adequate elements to employ in my visual explorations. The interesting thing though, is that I love animals of all kinds and you would think it natural for me to include them. But many animals depend on camouflage and stay hidden during the daylight so we don't often encounter our wildlife neighbors and it seemed necessary to edit them out of the landscape. Plus, having been a plein air painter for many years I can also tell you that when you're on the spot painting and a fox runs by or a heron mounts skyward there simply is not enough time to capture them on the canvas and unless you are exceptionally familiar with their anatomy or you have a photographic memory you're better off leaving them out of your painting.

Which brings me to some of the technical reasons. First, the moment you introduce an animal to the painting, its difficult to keep that critter from becoming the subject of the painting. The viewer's eye will seek out and land right on any living creature in the landscape (ditto for a figure or anything man made), so the painting as a pure landscape is diminished. Placement is extremely important, as the composition needs to be built around the animal for the most part. Dropping in some cows, sheep, or large birds like swans or egrets as an after thought at the end of the painting can be a deadly mistake. Any compositional arrangement or center of interest you had created will be upstaged by the animal. Second, I have seen many, and created many, attempts at including animals only to have them look "pasted" on to the surface, failing to create a believable integration of the animal into its surrounding habitat. Third, unless you have excellent drawing skills and have spent a considerable amount of time observing the animals you want to include in your painting you are likely to create "cartoon" animals and not realistic renditions of them.

Probably five years ago my father-in-law made a comment to my husband, wondering why when I painted so many landscapes I never included animals in them. At the time, I knew that the answer was because that's not what my paintings are about . But that was then and this is now, and over recent months I've been considering the idea that my work is ready to expand and move into a slightly new direction. Two things are happening in my mind and work right now. I am beginning the painting looser and more expressively than ever before. Second, I am learning to develop very select areas of the painting with highly detailed elements. The challenge is to not let that detail over run the whole painting but to find a dynamic way to balance high detail and very loose expressive passages. Those two elements will need to be held in creative tension, and that requires a great deal of thought an analysis during the painting process. However, by developing some areas of the painting with tight detail those areas provide the perfect place to include wildlife! I find that an exciting possibility. Of course I realize that that means embarking on a new area of study, redoubling my efforts to find and observe wildlife, plan trips to the zoo and natural history museum to draw animals from life and educate myself further about the animals that are likely to be in the environments that I paint. Exciting isn't it?

One of the greatest benefits of being an artist is that you are always learning, growing and developing, and life is a joy when those things are taking place in your life.

Hay Bales on a Hot Day

2011-06-09T20:34:00.001-05:00

Plein air set up at Fisher Farm in Avon, CT

After dropping off six paintings at Petrini Fine Art Gallery in Avon today I went exploring and did a small plein air painting at Fisher Farm.

It was a broiling 96 degrees and I was so glad I had my umbrella and plenty of water. Several years ago I had a bad experience while plein air painting on an extremely hot day. Too long in the sun and not enough water brought on heat exhaustion, not fun. Now I am very careful to stay in the shade, drink plenty of water and quit after an hour or an hour and a half, depending on how I feel.

I like what David Dunlop says during his plein air painting DVD, he says he's not married to the scene and feels completely free to rearrange, and compose to make the best painting possible and that's what I like to do too.

The hay bales were all over, just not in the particular section of field I wanted to paint, but I moved them into my picture plane. The field was very wide but my 8x10 canvas wasn't a great shape to capture that so I narrowed the field and brought the white flowering shrub from the right forward and into my foreground.

I came home with a good start, which is all I ever hope for when plein air painting, as I prefer to finish the details and glazing in the comfort of my studio.

We had a massive thunderstorm this evening, but now all is quiet and I'm looking forward to curling up in my chair and reading.

Don't forget, Maple & Main Gallery in Chester has the opening for the Summer exhibit tomorrow, Friday evening from 5-8pm. it's a spectacular show, very diverse and exciting. I'll be there if you'd like to stop in and chat. I'll be wearing a name tag so don't be shy about coming over and introducing yourself!

On Saturday I'll be at the Arts Center of Tolland, my solo show Beyond Place: Landscapes for the Soul is on exhibit and I'll be there painting and ready to chat and answer questions about the methods of painting I use.

Summer is here and I feel abundant and refreshed getting out to paint today. I hope you all give drawing or painting outdoors a try. It's amazing how much we gain from spending time in nature!

Snags, Skulls and Vanitas, oh my!

2011-06-07T16:04:00.000-05:00

Having 3 acres which includes a beaver pond, a wetlands area and a stream really helps if you like to paint outside! Other than a few quick watercolor sketches done several weeks ago this is my first painting of our new property.

It's very interesting getting to know the character of the land here. The beaver pond long ago flooded this area so there are many snags, (dead trees) some of which I have included in this painting. There are cat tails and lily pads along with a number of other aquatic type plants growing in and around the water that I haven't identified yet.

But back to those dead trees. They give the wetlands a very distinct feel.

It's somewhat lonely, forlorn, and a little uneasy. This uneasiness is perhaps because they are dead and therefore are stark reminders of death and decay even as the rise from verdant green marsh grass. They have their own macabre, austere beauty though. They remind me of the skulls that always make their appearance in 16th and 17th century still lives, reminders of our own mortality and a warning to contemplate our lives and our eternal future.

These kinds of still lives are usually called vanitas, here's a bit from the wikipedia article...

In the arts, vanitas is a type of symbolic work of art especially associated with Northern European still life painting in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, though also common in other places and periods. The word is Latin, meaning "emptiness" and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2 from the Bible is often quoted in conjunction with this term.

The Vulgate (Latin translation of the Bible) renders the verse as Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas. The verse is translated as Vanity of vanities; all is vanity by the King James Version of the Bible, and Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless by the New International Version of the Bible.

Vanitas themes were common in medieval funerary art, with most surviving examples in sculpture. By the 15th century these could be extremely morbid and explicit, reflecting an increased obsession with death and decay also seen in the Ars moriendi, Danse Macabre and the overlapping motif of the Memento mori.

From the Renaissance such motifs gradually became more indirect, and as the still-life genre became popular, found a home there. Paintings executed in the vanitas style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. They also provided a moral justification for many paintings of attractive objects.

Common vanitas symbols include skulls, which are a reminder of the certainty of death; rotten fruit, which symbolizes decay like aging; bubbles, which symbolize the brevity of life and suddenness of death; smoke, watches, and hourglasses, which symbolize the brevity of life; and musical instruments, which symbolize brevity and the ephemeral nature of life.

Fruit, flowers and butterflies can be interpreted in the same way, and a peeled lemon, as well as accompanying seafood was, like life, attractive to look at, but bitter to taste. There is debate among art historians as to how much, and how seriously, the vanitas theme is implied in still lifes without explicit imagery such as a skull.

Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628
Pieter Claesz (Dutch, 1596/97–1660)
Oil on wood

Source: Pieter Claesz: Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill (49.107) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leiden master, ca. 1635, Vanitas still life with skull
Hamburg, Kunsthalle

STILL-LIFE WITH A BOUQUET AND A SKULL
1642 - ADRIAEN VAN UTRECTH

OK so this has gotten a little heavy for a discussion on plein air painting, I guess. But it is true that when you spend a great deal of time outside observing nature you begin to realize that death, however sad, is indeed part of life and that life seems to go on in spite of death, with the decay of plants and animals even nourishing the vitality of the earth. Human death seems to retain more of a sting yet even the very earliest peoples all over the globe seem to have anticipated a life beyond this life, and that I believe is reason enough to hope and be hopeful that the cycles of life and death we see in nature speak of a greater cycle of life after death for all creation.

So my little painting may be just a pleasant landscape scene with some water and dead trees to some but it certainly made me stop and consider a very deep question today, and to marvel at how great spiritual truths can be hidden in plain sight, in snags even.