Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy new year to all my fellow artists and friends

I have been really busy with the family over the holidays. I haven't been able to paint. My new year's resolution is to spend more time listening to my family and friends, and to paint and write, and read more. My daughter says that I should put more exercise on my list too. I'll see about that.

A nice little painting for a friend of mine of the Grand Tetons in the early morning sits ready for me to complete. I'll get started on that tomorrow.

Happy new year to all my friends and family.

Monday, December 21, 2009

The Sydney Laurence Project: "Misty Morn"

I finished my first interpretation of Sydney Laurence's "Misty Morn." It is 20 x 30 canvas.


After drawing a very rough outline in charcoal I began to paint. I generally start top to bottom and dark colors to light colors. So I laid in the sky and portions of the mountains. When working with snow covered mountains it is best to start with the light areas and add color. So I left a large portion of the mountains unpainted. Later I added the white and contaminated it with color a little at a time.

I added the clouds after the painting had sat for a while. The clouds focus the eye on Mt. McKinley.

Notice the three distinctive zones of the painting. McKinley is in the background. The middle zone includes a stream and mountains. The foreground is apparent but in the interpretation lacks interest.

Now I will try to save the painting by adding some color contrast to the foreground. Perhaps I will add an element to the foreground to provide interest, as Laurence himself did.

The blue mountain in the middleground  appears to me to be too dark and distracting so I will have to tackle that too.

Otherwise I like the painting. It has been a worthwhile exercise. More later...

Friday, December 11, 2009

The Sydney Laurence Project: Materials

Canvas
There are many opinions concerning canvas types, panel types, preparation, etc. I paint on canvas. Panels are fine for the beginner, but only the best quality panels do not warp.

Most of the time I buy my own pre-primed canvases framed on 5/8 inch thick frames. I prefer Fredrix canvases but almost any brand will do for our purposes. Sometimes I frame my own odd size canvas. Either I purchase Fradrix wooden stretchers or I make my own.

Gallery framed canvases have become popular. These usually are 1.5 inches thick. They can be difficult and expensive to finish frame. If you don't live in a major metropolitan area you may have to use two frames for a gallery framed canvas - one as a foundation for the other in order to get the thickness you need.

Oil Paints
Oil paints are of different qualities. High quality paints contain more pigment than low quality paints. You can 'feel' the difference in the quality of paints. A good tube of paint is heavier than a lesser grade of paint. I avoid 'student' grade paints.

There are many different brands of paint and I use several. I know a 102 year old painter that uses Grumbacher oils exclusively. Most of my friends use Winsor & Newton oils. I prefer Gamblin oils. Get what you can get. I use dickblick.com for many supplies.

I have a big box full of oil colors but you don't need that many. Most of the time I use a handful of colors and I suggest that you start there. A set of primary colors and a big tube of white will do for beginners. You don't need black.

Color mixing is not hard to learn. I suggest that you experiment as you go along.

Brushes
With brushes you get what you pay for. Some artists are absolutely religious about brushes. Cheep brushes fall apart as you use them. Keep care of your brushes.

Buy good oil solvents to clean your brushes and use them safely. Some solvents can spontaneously combust when left on cloth and paper products. When I finish cleaning my brushes I place all disposable cleaning materials in a sealed container. A glass jar will do fine.

Special Note on Linseed Oil
If you use linseed oil in any painting process you will need to discard contaminated materials in a sealed container with water in it. I have had linseed saturated cloths burst into flames in my hand!

Never leave materials contaminated with linseed oil unattended. Spontaneous combustion is a big problem for linseed oil saturated materials. 

Clean Up 
Most of the time you can clean up with soap and water. If you have trouble cleaning your hands use some vegetable oil mixed with dish washing soap. That works every time. Paint and oils on your clothes can sometimes be removed with a gel-like cleaning product called Gojo. It is normally used to remove grease from hands.

The Sydney Laurence project: Getting started

Sydney Laurence (1865-1940) is a good subject for beginning landscape painters. His work is a combination of realism and impressionism. Often the main subjects of his paintings are presented in a realistic style and the secondary subjects are of impressionist style.

The subjects of his paintings are spectacular. He is best known for his paintings of Mt. McKinley. That sort of subject is great for the beginning painter because one can easily use his/her imagination in depicting the subject.

In addition many of his paintings are formulaic. There is a distinct foreground, middle ground and distant area in his paintings. Each area has an obvious subject. This sometimes can be confusing but it works.

Many images of his work are readily available on the Internet. They make excellent subjects for a student's interpretation.

For my first project I have chosen "Misty Morn" (c. 1919) as a subject. It is a 19 x 14 southern view of Mt. McKinley. The image presented here is a Photoshopped version of the original painting. It has been simplified for our purposes. The tonal values have been compressed and the foreground has been manipulated so that the study will truly be an original painting.

Notice that the painting has the three distinct zones common in Laurence's paintings. Each zone has an area of interest. In the original painting the artist had a lean-to structure and a man tending a fire in the foreground. They have been removed because that may be too complicated for a beginning painter.

More to come...

Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Sydney Laurence project: Learn to paint


This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. The Sydney Laurence project is an interpretation of Sydney Laurence's paintings of Alaska and the northwest. I've decided to interpret his works, not copy them, as a way to improve my landscape painting. Along the way I will discuss the process, post pictures of the progress and show video instruction. Learn to paint with me. Anyone can paint.

Sydney Laurence (1865 to 1940) was the first classically trained artist in Alaska. His grand style is often described as similar to Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran. It differs from those painters in that the subject matter truly is grand and not wildly exaggerated.

I have chosen Sydney Laurence because as a geologist I spent years in the Alaskan bush. Alaska is bigger than life and I paint it that way.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Paul Gauguin exhibit

I went to the Paul Gauguin exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The exhibit was limited but well worth seeing. Several of Gauguin's contemporaries were also displayed. It is interesting to me that Van Gogh cut off part of his ear after a big argument with Gauguin about the perfect impressionist style. He cut his ear off over a disagreement about the type of brush strokes one should use!

It was puzzling to see impressionist art displayed in frames form pre-impressionist periods. Funny how we worry about some details and forget the others.

If you are able to see the exhibit it is worth your time.

Monday, November 2, 2009


This 4' x 2.5' oil painting of Mt. McKinley has been a work in progress for almost a year. The massive foreground has been a problem - a balance between the desire to meet reality with composition. In the end I think composition will defeat reality and the forest will grow in the foreground!

Friday, May 22, 2009

I try to live each day a little better than the day before. On many days I find it necessary to revise the previous day's work. This is just as true in painting as it is in everything else. Every panting is a work in progress. It is a moment in time. At once it is a moment in time and place. It is a moment in the life of the artist.