John Lovett's Workshop Day 5

On Friday we worked on several ideas...John took our questions and suggestions and tried some different genres of paintings to show how his technique transfers to those subjects.

This is my painting (1/8 of a sheet of Arches 140 cold press). We masked off the birches with tape before we started and then effort was made (as always) to identify an area for the center of interest. John's loose technique of drips and splashes using his "ugly brush" were used.

The technique of misting off some areas (vignettes) of the painting with "veils of gouache" still was used and also I added some gouache mixed with watercolor to sprinkle in light greens and reds to add some color into the underbrush and "infer" plant growth with leaves.

I used acrylic burnt sienna permanent ink with a plain old fashioned nib pen and then sprayed lightly with water to help the ink bleed slightly. Some marks in lighter colors were made with white charcoal and pastel pencils.

I asked John to demo making tiny people (1-2" high) to place in paintings. Here are the samples he did for us.

All 17 of the participants had a good experience and it was fun to meet folks from all over the country! I came home exhausted which is a good sign. I have unpacked into my studio again and hope to get in to do some painting this weekend.

One of my "quotes" from John indicates that he feels a good painting should have "subtle confusion" in it. In other words...some mystery for the viewer to unveil for themselves. Lots of things to remember as you paint.

John Lovett's workshop Day Four

John adds something new and interesting to his demos each day. He repeats those things we ask him to do over so we can watch again how he makes his choices.

In my first painting the sky is actually painted in tinted gouache in order to feature or highlight the transparency of the buildings in the painting. The painting is a quarter sheet of Arches 140 cold press (as are all the paintings except the following one which is an eighth sheet).

I also used gouache to make the clouds in the sky in the second painting.

I looked at my notes this evening I had written:

1. Draw minimally but carefully

2. Use dark darks in the center of interest

3. Plan the center of interest early

4. Use gouache and gesso for vignette effects

5. Start by blocking in shapes

6. Use hake brushes dry for smoothly effects

7. Shake and drip in colors you need to reinforce

8. Forget local color

9. Re-arrange objects to please your painting.

Here are my paintings for the workshop so far...I have another one in the works that is not working out so well...hmmm.

This one is almost exclusively with that "ugly" brush I mentioned last Monday evening. It's hard to get used to. But John says that half of a painting is learning how to correct things so I haven't given up yet.

John has a wonderful website with all kinds of helpful tips on how he approaches all kinds of subjects. Click here to see it.

Seeing a Door in a New Way

We had a busy day 3 and John demo'd two paintings. The first picture is my interpretation and the second is his demo. Since I took the photo, I've already dithered this painting some more (and so has John dithered with his).

One of the techniques in this demo is "gouache resist".

Gouache: gouache |gwä sh; goōˈä sh |

noun a method of painting using opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a gluelike substance.• paint of this kind; opaque watercolor.• a picture painted in this way.

ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, from Italian guazzo.

Anyway, the curlicues in the upper doorway are painted in gouache. Well, first a light wash. Dry. Then paint with white gouache. Dry. Then paint over entirely with a dark color. Dry. Then with a sprayer of water spritz off the layer of dark paint that rests on the gouache. Gently.

John has used a layer of light guoache also in the right hand corner to "mystify" that corner. I did it in the left corner but obviously I need to do it again more heavily.

This technique can be done with gesso (permanent) or with gouache (not permanent). Both require whisking the area with a soft dry brush.

I'll share the second painting tomorrow because I really was not anywhere finished with mine at 5 pm when I officially became brain dead.

Incidentally, the tiny bits of color in John's upper door is water soluble crayon.

John Lovett workshop Day Two

The temperatures in the north woods have taken a decidedly Florida-like turn! Wow, be careful what you wish for!

It is 91 in Lac du Flambeau, WI AND it is 91 in Leesburg, FL.!!! We are in shock again. But never fear...the north woods will always pop back with surprises and we expect a high of only 57 by Saturday. A person does NOT know what to wear up here!!!

Anyway, at Dillman's we work in AC! So we are happily comfortable. This first painting is my first attempt at a dock scene ala John Lovett style. It is not done. John critiqued it and I need more masts in the sky. John's demo on this is the last of the 3 photos.

My other try was from my own photo reference and it's not done either. This reference is from my own photos of Cross Creek, FL the home of Marjorie Rawlings (author of the Yearling)

Painting with a REALLY ugly brush

What a wonderful day! I started my first day with John Lovett at Dillman's resort in Lac du Flambeau, WI.

The first photo is our ugly brushes.

A gift from John for each student.

It is VERY hard to find such a seemingly useless brush!!! But darn if it does work just great! Who would have guessed!!!

Next is my first painting with John (with the flag and the flowers), then

John's demo for today (with the boat) and last a photo of John painting.

John is a very lo-key teacher...always happy to answer questions and help you with your work.

He spent the first morning going over materials and techniques that are signatures for his style of painting which basically watercolor but with a multi-media approach! We did everything from glue

rice paper on to the paper (Arches 140# quarter sheets) to use all kinds of pencils (charcoal is two colors, watercolor pencils such as Inktense, and pastel pencils. And we also made use of old-fashioned dip pens and acrylic ink! We use gouache and gesso on the paintings too.

Like most workshops by 4 pm I was brain dead. It is also 86 degrees here! How this happened in the north woods I have not a clue.

We have AC in the studio so we are very comfy and I live right on a lake so we are comfy too.

I am all set for day 2 but I need a GOOD night's sleep.

Artsy Fartsy Shoes

Okay you Bob Burridge fans...those of you that got this week's Artsy Fartsy Newsletter...yup..this is what Bob suggests.

You have to "think outside the box" with Bob. This is what he calls "I-can't-think-of-anything- to-paint-today-so-I'll-paint-my-shoes" activity. My husband was speechless. You are doing what?

They were my old drippy paint shoes anyway, of course, and had lot of window paint and garage stain on them as well. Couldn't hurt these shoes. Now...will I have the guts to wear these to the workshop this week or not?

You have to admit..."they go with everything!". Hahahaha.

They will be perfect for in plein air, don't you think?

En Plein Air in Minocqua, WI

It felt wonderful to be painting outside again...haven't done that since March in Florida!

You can tell from what I am wearing that I am in the north woods. It was 67 degrees at 9 am when we started but the sun was warm and we soon felt pretty comfortable.

Eleven artists showed up for the the first north woods event! Special thanks to Florie Enders who does all the organizing!

I didn't get around to get pictures of others painting as we were pretty spread out around the town. Hopefully Florie will have some on the North Woods blog and I can direct you to that later in the week.

I chose architecture this week...the Minocqua Brewing Company is a darling restaurant that Greg and I enjoy. Right downtown near Torpy Park. They are a home brewery too and make their own distinctive beers. (I am only interested in beer when it is ice cold beer and 100 degrees outside!) I think that might be awhile here. Most of us had lunch here after the paint out!

I chose two 12 x 6 gallery wrapped canvases for this time, primed in black gesso...painted in acrylic. My first diptych.

I'll miss next Thursday as I'll be in the workshop. But hope to be back on June 16.

Workshop Photos on my iPad

I know that ALL of you blog readers have taken many workshops (me too) and that many of you have GIVEN workshops (me too).

But once in a while there just seems to be one that initiates that amazing kind of electricity in anticipation that you can't quite define.

So it is that I anticipate a week long workshop with John Lovett (Australian watercolorist) beginning a week from today.

If you are a reader of International Artist Magazine, he writes columns in that magazine regularly, has made many DVDs and leads international workshops all over the world. Now he is coming to Lac du Flambeau, WI????? I know. I am amazed too. 15 minutes away from my tiny little cabin practically hidden in the woods. If you google Dillman's Resort you will find out more about where this magical spot is. And if you click on workshops you can find John's class description. (You will also find a plethora of very fine artists teaching there!)

I am sorry that I have only really a week to enjoy the anticipation and get ready. As you can tell from previous blogs, part of the week is taken up with just finding where my supplies have gone to and dusting off the studio and finding the supply list...yadda yadda yadda.

Thus the first photo of the initial supplies... finding just the right watercolors, gouache, gesso, pens, inks, pastel pencils, watercolor pencils, rice papers, and acrylics along with just the right brushes (almost all flats). I tore 3 sheets of Arches 140 cold press into quarter sheets this morning. I found that for the most part...I had everything I needed. He uses some very small flats for details but I dug some up.

One problem...I couldn't find any charcoal pencils in any of my catalogs. I am sure they are somewhere, but it seemed only in sets and I am asked to bring only black and brown. Sigh. Hopefully, he'll have some for sale? If anyone knows where you can buy these separately let me know. It'll be too late for the workshop...but maybe later.

I have decided to bring my photo references to the workshop on my iPad.

I sorted those I wanted to bring on my desk top into an album.

Then I synced the two devices and downloaded the album to the iPad. Voila.

You can see what the album looks like opened up with small photos. And I enlarged one to full screen to give you the idea. It'll be much nicer than trying to print it off on my inkjet and also much easier on the pocket book in terms of printer ink. The color on the iPad is splendid.

The battery is good for 10 hours so I should be good to go.

I'll let you know how that works out!!

I may do a few sketches from the iPad this week as our weather forecast is totally gloomy for the entire week!!!

Making the Studio Ready for the summer

I don't know about you...but when I want to "work" the space needs to be somewhat organized and inviting. My studio is a 1/4 chunk of a nice garage here in northern Wisconsin. Last year I even got a real door that I can shut. My hubby put in a nice picture window for me a few years back so that I have some good natural light facing toward our lake.

The studio has been getting a little grungier the last few years and it surely does need more finish work, but I need to get going now...have a class with John Lovett coming up June 6 and my en plein air group starts up this Thursday. So today was unpack, clean, vacuum and organize day. It's not done..but I made a real dent.

I just got here from FL last Thursday and I do bring my paints back and forth because the cabin is unheated here (not good for paints) and because I want my brushes, palettes and some collage materials like some stencils and stamps and papers. Any paintings you see, however, were left here. I don't have room to carry paintings back and forth. I decided to hang more of them this year as it seems that otherwise they get knocked around and it's not good for the frames or the paintings to be "stacked". Our cabin itself has very little wall space for hanging paintings...so the studio has to make do for this purpose.

Weather has "moderated" somewhat here in the northern part of WI so that we are now averaging 65 most days. We might get into the 70s tomorrow although it looks like rain again! It would be fun to see where you all paint too.

Transparent Watercolor Society of America

One delightful interlude on my trip from FL to WI this spring was a stop in Kenosha, WI to see this exhibit. It was amazing! The boat watercolor painting was at least a full sheet...maybe slightly larger. It was by Steve Rogers of FL and is called "Naoussa Light".

The second is by Catherine Hearing of Minnesota. Slightly smaller. It is called "New Vintage".

It was a large exhibit and I'll show a few more later. The joy of the transparency is, of course, the GLOW. These two demonstrate this dramatically.

Some paintings from past exhibits are online...just google TWSA.

Remember me?

We are finally back to our cabin in the north woods of WI...following an extended trip of sight seeing and visiting friends and family. Bet you thought I'd disappeared in a tornado. But that is not funny, is it. We drove through Alabama about 10 days after their tornados went through and we were absolutely stunned with sadness. And now Joplin, MO too.

Photos in this blog entry are from Callaway Gardens, GA on May 9 and 10. We enjoyed two days there. This little log cabin caught my eye one day...it was a steamy 97 degrees that day and I was so glad I'd brought a folding chair! I haven't gotten back to put in the printing on the cabin yet. And I need to throw a few shadows into the foreground. I took a TON of photos for later.

I'll try to get more of the travel sketches online soon.

I am trying to adjust to dial up again in the boon docks up here.

It is almost painful!

What a whiner!

One Quick Sketch Before We GO

In the sunshine today it was 100 degrees in central FL. But the humidity was not too high and we had a lovely breeze. I think in the shade it might have been 90. It was just beautiful actually.

You'll see Greg and I enjoying one last swing in our back yard and I took out my sketch book and did a little sketch of our neighbor's porch/yard next door. They have already left for Michigan! I left a little vignette room off to the right so I can write some things about our last day.

I feel like we are the last snow birds to leave Hawthorne Park! But we probably are not. The really awful midwest weather has not enticed us to leave sooner.

We are about ready to pack the car now (BIG DEAL) and then we may go down and have one more swim in the pool and cool off. Hope to be back on the blog by Memorial Day Weekend. Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day!

Blogging on the run?

With the arrival of my new iPad2 I began yet another learning curve! Yikes. I read my first book on it (Kindle App) and that was quite fun. I am not giving up on books, but I can see how easy it is, especially when in transit to have your books on this device!!! I am downloading a rental movie to watch as we go along.

Another thing I thought might be fun would be to be able to blog along as I travel. How hard could that be? Hmmm. Turns out it is not quite the cinch I thought. You have to have a blogging app!

I've been reviewing the blog apps and so far "Blogsy" seems to be the best choice. Although at this point in time, adding photos to the blog through this app is not a breeze.

Are there any other "Bloggers" out there that are using an iPad? It might be fun to hear about which app you are using. I think I can write on my blog without using an app but I cannot put any graphics or photos on without an app to do that.

We are leaving on Monday. We'll stop for a few days at Calloway Gardens, GA before heading toward WI. I missed the azaleas unfortunately. But hopefully I'll find other things in bloom.

Then we'll head toward the Natchez Trace and head up toward Nashville. Then to Paducah, KY and then s.e. WI for a 10 days to visit the kids and old friends.

A Picture of me....

Sometimes it is better to be humbled by the vision someone else has of you. That is sort of the way I felt when I got this portrait done of me (by my 4 year old grandson, Mike).

His mother explains that those are my "fingers" hanging off my arms. I think having that many would be a huge help in art, don't you?

The round circle I interpret as a belly button.

And the choice of hair color really does not have much to do with me (I hope). At least it's not gray!

Having taught early childhood education for over 30 years...I am delighted to see this "very developmentally appropriate" rendition of granny. Arms always come right out of the head first. The next bench mark will probably the body and then the arms coming from the body.

The the fingers ARE fascinating, aren't they?

I am preparing now to leave Florida in a few days. These "transition" periods are very strange for me when I am not really in one place or in the other yet. A science fiction sort of thing...time warp.

Congratulations Leslie!

Those of you who follow my blog know that I posted this painting by Leslie Johnson during the winter. She was in my acrylic paper painting class last fall and finished up the painting later.

I just got this message from her today...

Ginny, I just had to let you know that I submitted my artwork from your Workshop last year, the painted paper acrylic collage/painting, to the Eagle River (WI) Revitalization Project, Artscape, and it was selected and sponsored by Ogren Electronics for this summer long event! I believe 40 were selected. They took the artwork from each entry, blew it up to be reproduced on 24” x 51” banners that will hang on Wall and

Railroad Streets from Memorial Day until Veterans Day! The project will also be showcasing the art and artists in full color brochures and on posters and promoted as a walking tour . I am so excited! Leslie

I am so proud of Leslie!!! Well done and I can hardly wait to go to Eagle River to see the banners this summer! Nothing makes a teacher happier than successful students!

Telling a Story

Some paintings tell a story or hint at a story. When I painted the old train depot in Winter Garden, Fl earlier this month (en plein air) I could not help but be amused by the contrast between the history of the museum and the children being given their "train ride" right up to the door.

I decided to add an older man in the painting just to maybe give the idea that he was also amused by the contrast or maybe thinking of other days?

Any ideas for a title for the painting?

Watercolor and ink on canvas. 12 x 16.

Sketch book at Key West

For some reason these photos of my sketch book seem a little on the yellow tint. Sorry about that. Anyway...the first sketch is down on Mallory Square where we ate dinner by the gulf the first night.

The second is the view from our lovely little porch overlooking the pool and portico at Hyatt Sunset West.

The third & fourth are Fort Zachary Taylor on the gulf beach...just a lovely spot. Greg and I walked 3 miles round trip and so enjoyed being there. I do wish we had brought or worn our suits! The water was 80 and it was so nice. The fruit smoothies were good too!

I took a lot of photo reference shots that I will enjoy thinking over in the months ahead!

Unfortunately I got back to Leesburg (a day's drive north of Key West) with a pretty bad chest cold and cough. I have been to the doctor and she has me on meds for it. I feel better today but am not sleeping well so am tired. Boo hoo. Whine whine.

I have not been sick in so long I forgot what it is like! Taking it easy today. 90 in central Florida.

Mario Sanches: primitive art of Key West

"Mario does his bas relief wood sculpture with three chisels and his painting with dime store brushes. He does not study art as it might effect his style."

The Key West Art Museum has a great exhibit of Mario's work along with information on how he carved and painted his relief paintings.

He used natural materials in his work like coffee grounds and egg shells for texture. A real "mixed media" artist of his day!

The top one shows the cigar making industry and also shows a "reader" who was hired to read to the people working there. He read news articles to them in the morning and a book by chapters in the afternoons. Not a bad idea for people doing somewhat mindless work in pre-air conditioning days!

Mario died at 96 in 2005 and leaves a legacy of the early history of the keys! I found the work quite interesting!

Is this art? The controversial J. Seward Johnson

Just coming off an amazing week in Key West...part of which included a visit to the main art and history museum featuring some of Seward Johnson Jr's mixed media displays. I hesitate to call them "art" and as you will see if you check out this site.

But it is certainly not dull reading!

This interactive display is, of course, based on Gustave Caillebotte's wonderful work called Paris Street: Rainy Day 1877. I have seen this painting many times at the Art Institute in Chicago. More on the trip, some of the sketchbook sketches and beautiful photos in the next few days.

En Plein Air in Winter Garden

I worked this morning on the old train station and train museum in Winter Garden, FL. By noon it was 91 degrees with high humidity.

The committee provides us with umbrellas and there was a light breeze.

Next week when I get back from Key West I'll see about finishing this up.

Watercolor on canvas.