Farming

Farming   watercolor   19 x 11

is a difficult endeavor, although it holds a rather romantic notion in our minds...one of simplicity and honesty, I think. 

My goal in painting this work was to focus on a foreground of semi-nothingness, a quilt work patterning where values and color tonalities have minimal variation.  And, I realize that this challenge may have been far more easily accomplished in oil than watercolor.  For the reference photo, I pulled off of a major highway and hiked to the edge of a local farm.  The terrain was horribly uneven and difficult to maneuver.  I chose a spot leading up to the farm that best seemed to illustrate my goal.  The sky was minimalized.  The buildings were done in just a few strokes.  Most of the work was, of course, in the foreground, where I attempted to achieve chaos and uncertainty.  I am satisfied with this attempt, although I found myself yearning for more opacity, as transparent watercolor has a limited range of workability.

All in all, I feel that this work totally exemplifies the difficulties of farming.

Gouache Redux

OH-585 S   watercolor and gouache   8 x 21

Many years ago I created several works in watercolor using a white gouache base that has been left to dry.  The colors become milky.  Pigment moves around, as this gouache layer acts somewhat as a gesso underpainting.  Whites can be retrieved, up to a point.  The delightful surprise this time around was that the resulting strokes left their own marks, leaving the work much more interpretive. I was less impatient to achieve reality.  I chose a simple layout with simple shapes.  The brush barely touched the surface.  Pie crust.  Darks are understated. 

This method provided the perfect atmosphere for a scene spotted on a beautiful spring day on OH 585-S while on a road trip to Wooster.

The brighter blue passages tickle my fancy.  I am pleased.

essence...

Virginia Foothills   oil/canvas   20 x 10 x 1.5

is a wonderful word.  To me, it implies the distilling of something into its most flavorful, fragrant or visual parts.  A boiling down.

The Place:  Carter Mountain in Virginia
The Time:  a muggy day in May

My husband and I accompanied our son Seth and his friend Louise on an upwards hike up the mountain.  I was promised a natural fruit slushy of my choice at the top.  Well.....both Seth and Louise are marathon runners.  They trudged upwards effortlessly.  I enjoyed the exercise but was happy to wearing my sweat band......I was sweating like a.....well.....perspiring to some degree.
The fruit slushy was fabulous.  We took many photos.  The trip down was easier.  The day was amazing.

The patchwork patterning of the orchards was intriguing.

Essence.

Can't see the forest for the trees

Landscape preparation drawing

Where did all of these truisms come from? Probably from someone who is highly perceptive. When I return from my evening watercolor classes, I am usually flooded with feelings. If I feel that most of the artists have been successful that evening, I am rewarded with joy. Sometimes the feelings cause me to question how I have approached a subject....or, more importantly....how can I improve upon that approach the next time? Landscape paintings are popular....they make us feel good in a rapidly shrinking world. In fact, noted landscape painter Ann Kah recently remarked how her canyon painting had been manipulated as she was unable to stand back far enough to get a real sense of distance. Wow! That is so true.....if we move back far enough to gain distance, we are always bumping into something else..........profound. (kind of like shopping at Marc's) And so it follows that we sometimes lose sight of the forest for the trees. In all paintings, BIG FORMS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SMALL ONES. So, the gesture of the grouping of trees is more important than the trees themselves. It is indeed possible to unite an already-painted grouping of trees that have been described too individually. Somewhere along the learning curve, however, an artist is able to see the grouping of trees as a viable form, then will work to separate the forms in a later pass. Both ways work, but the later, to me, indicates a more sophisticated way of seeing. Perhaps that just takes time. In this sketch, I have indicated the dark areas negatively, which are the spaces between the trees.