Painterly reflections...

 Hi there.

I've just wrapped up 3 1/2 weeks of plein classes and have 1 two day session yet to complete. Group numbers varied up to 14 which is plenty if you want to get some one on one time that is meaningful.

There is a bit of a high for me at the end of each session when you can see the progression from day1 to day 5 or this weeks' group, day 3 of a 3 day session. The excitement, a sense of accomplishment, the bolstered confidence and the parting smile and comments add up to having had lovely time.  

Like the awakening of an inner child looking with genuine curiosity for a way to express themselves with paint is amazing to see in someones' face. Robert Henri wrote about the art path being one of walking bravely with great joy.

My Killarney canoeing/painting adventure last fall was doused with 5 days of rain and intermittent sun poking through to provide some relief. But the pleasure of painting from the cover of a sheet of clear plastic held there with sticks and rope to provide a place for 2 easeles and 2 chairs was joy indeed. The atmosphere was dense and heavy with moisture and banks of fog rolling through but wonderful fall colours expressed themselves with poetic precision - really special!    

The gentle headwaters of this lake provided lots of mosquitos and deer flies and the occasional horse fly to entertain me while capturing an oil sketch from which this piece was made. No pain, no gain, as the saying goes...

 After 4 days of walking by this early morning spot to breakfast with my crew at Bark Lake, I'd had enough. I asked them to stop here after breakfast with me and watch - 16  x 20 in about 45 minutes catching the powerful juxtaposition of power and softness. Delicious! 

What is it about painting? Where is the magical draw or what is it? Looking with fresh eyes, looking with intent to see anew, seeing as a child with wonder for the first time something new - if we can get that feeling coming into our psyche as we look out on the world we inhabit, maybe there is a hook that will have grab us and reel us in to a fresh perspective. C W Hawthorne said we have make beauty come from the ordinary and we can do if we have the vision. I believe that's true.

from my end of the brush...

john

Back from the Covid-19 Funk

Ya, I know it's been a while. 
I left my day-job nearly a year ago and launched pretty full time into my art stuff. That means painting more, more workshops, more art school teaching opportunities that I could respond to and, of course, more familiarization with the business of making my art more of a business than it has been in the past. 
So, the kind questions that came up to the surface really quickly were simply preferences, just like you laptop. 
What has to happen to keep you happy and running?

1) Would I prefer more classes, workshops and more art school activities like HSAD, (Haliburton School of Art and Design)? 

I have loved being a part of that school for something around 20 years and have always looked forward to every session, plein air and studio. That goes for all the clubs, private groups and activities I have organized as well. That's all been very rewarding and I expect that will always be true.

2) Can I reasonably expect art sales to change significantly without any more effort in that direction? Answer, no. What about if I put more effort into gallery representation and shows?
Answer, yes, I think so.

Finding your audience is a tricky business. It means trying out many different venues of showing your stuff and seeing what produces the desired results. I've sold everything from studies for $150 to $5000 large works and everything in between. Where to focus and why...what results are you after?

3) Am I willing to commit more time to the " branding", social media and marketing side of life in the arts? Answer, yes...to a point.

Where the effort reaps benefits that will allow me to get more painting accomplished En Plein Air and in the Studio, I am willing to put the time in...but, how much?

4) What's the benefit for my family, my wife and my friends?
Answer, if I achieve the right balance, it should be good all around but I am sure that hiccups will ensue and they will have to be managed for the benefit of all concerned.

Lots to think about...so, I got my year mapped out and  was ticking most of the boxes when a very large hiccup, called Covin-19, stuck a nail in all four tires and we ground to a halt. The resulting funk made completing a painting nearly impossible, self doubt ensued, Overdoses of self criticism became the norm. What a highly unproductive sinkhole that had become!

Plan B

Learn to conduct workshops on Zoom
Get painting more and explore, not looking for results, just expanding possibilities and direction for pleasure of pushing paint - the audience will take care of themselves until you we all raise the post Covid flag and learn what our new normal will be. But art, my art, will be a part of that picture. The classes, workshops and art schools will be a part of that picture too...just different.

 This plein air sketch was one of 2 from last Thursday...painting buddies are great. I highly recommend you have one. It's like a running partner. You will work harder and give up less easily when its going a little tough. But, you're committed and that's what art making is all about - being committed.
john

Into a new stage of life in the arts...

Hi there everyone!

This past year of painting has been pretty packed with events. But, one of them was more significant than the rest for few reasons.

I left my full time job after over 25 years so a new reality begins - no regular pay cheque, the routine of work that had controlled much of my life is gone and the discipline of that routine forced my art making into every nook and cranny I could find in order to produce 150 or so paintings a year, teach about 15 weekend workshops a year and take my holidays to teach painting at various schools and colleges as well as over the last 5 years do some painting in Europe.

Whereas art making was a sideline, it's now the main line. The cost of canvas, brushes, paint and gas now occupy a greater place of significance in the day to day existence.

Marketing myself as a brand goes from a part time pursuit to a necessary focus for financial viability. This change, although welcome, will take some time to get the proverbial ducks in a row. 

These are a few of the elements I am looking at to have as a framework going forward. 

1) Learning from those who have walked the walk successfully...

2) Learning to use the tools of communication effectively from people who know how its done...

3) Planning and committing to a strategy for meeting short and longer term goals in measurable bits...both in growth as an artist and the financial wherewithal to keep the ball rolling within the arts.

4)  Finding, building and promoting the joy found in all of these activities for a life in the arts...

This was a morning view in Tuscany where a lot of joy in teaching and art making came together this Fall...next spring, I'll be back for another round with a dozen painterly participants...if that's of interest to you, let me know.



Kind regards,

John

We are off to Avignon to say hello to Cezanne and Van Gogh and more...

Last night I tested my sleigh...

Its about 5 feet long of very light and flexible plastic. On the front are 2, 6 foot long fibreglass rods. Attached to the rods is a harness belt. With my cross country skis on, the belt cinched around my waist and 100 pounds of fire wood loaded into the sleigh, I started off on a training run in the deep snow through the bush behind our house.

 I won't need this gear in Avignon but this weekend I head with my friend to Killarney Provincial Park for some snow shoeing, cross country skiing and winter camping amongst the La Cloche hills north of the French River. We camp in a tent on the snow, we cook on a fire and we hike like crazy for a few days. 

The light in the late winter and into March, along with the colour returning to the tree buds in the forests, the light through the ice melted and reformed over massive rocky hills continues to inspire me year after year. Its always different. Like Monet and his haystacks. He kept painting them because the changing light and conditions kept providing new insights into the emotional look into the infinite rage of colour and light dynamics in nature. 

Then I have 3 months to get prepared for Avignon...Quaint, stunning, ancient, contemporary, delicious, evocative, provocative and altogether a privilege to experience it. 

The language of colour is so entirely wonderful to work with in paint. The never ending Light Story, the dance between light and surface, the relationship of surface and edge...off to do some more exploring...

Join me sometime!

Tuscany 2018 - once wasn't enough!

In a few more weeks, myself, my wife, my travel/art tour colleague and 13 very excited painter friends will be off to a place across the valley from San Gimignano. It was medieval village at one time. Five generations ago a family settled there to build a farm and a way of life. Its called Fatorria San Donato. The buildings are now converted to house keeping apartments for agri-tourism and groups such as the crew I am escorting.  Some buildings are dedicated to wine making. some other farm related activities occur in some others. Its a living breathing space. From there we will go to other towns, villages and cities to soak up the new and old and very old culture after a good painting session

Why go to paint there? The paintings you do probably will not sell. There is plenty to see and paint here.  True enough... But, in a new place your senses take on a new energy. You look with intent - intent to see afresh, to discover, to uncover, to have your being challenged by painterly prospects outside your current experience. That juicy joy comes back with you and informs how you look at the familiar when you get back home.

Painting on location with the light changing so much, you have to develop a method that captures the motion and emotion of the space as you see it at in that short space of time. The joy is capturing it as a memory recorded in paint to present the feeling of a stone wall and not the rocks...the brilliance of the red on the roses without the detail. Paint a vision of that space that draws you in to feel it, to be absorbed by it. It doesn't happen every time but like the golfer looking for the perfect shot.............

you have the confidence you'll get there. 

Edit on the fly - when the painting speaks, Listen!

While on the hill south of Red Wing, Ontario...don't try to find it on a map, its just too small...with my class of outdoor painting enthusiasts, we looked west across the rolling escarpment for an afternoon demo. The cloud banks against the hills were impressive in early June with vibrant green and blues and there was evidence of a storm brewing that the on-shore winds would bring our way. I chose a low horizon line with the trees on a middle distance fence line jutting up into the sky with a big, rolling sky above. In the foreground I decided to include a piece of a barn that initially I thought would bring a sense of scale and distance to the work on a 12  x  16 panel. 
At about the 80% point in the painting process, the storm hit large. We hid for a few minutes under whatever shelter was there and then came out for a finish.
The painting spoke... calling me an idiot for thinking the the corner of the barn mattered at all in the composition. A swipe with my knife and it was gone taking an OK composition and pushing up to an entirely new level of power and space...painting the feeling of the place as Lennart Anderson, a Brooklyn, NY artist said in a video I recently watched. 
The facts are useful but they never get in the way of a good storey in writing or in paint.
jda

opening up in the face of challenge

You know and I know that life as a working artist can be a serious exercise in juggling. You have your "day" job, your teaching schedule, your gallery commitments and creative life wedged in there with family and friends. Somehow, there needs to be a space for creative play...that's where the growth come from.  Andrew Wyeth's dad, NC Wyeth, was among the finest illustrators to come from America. But he was always working to to order, a publishing idea and deadline or the like. He wrote that he always wanted to be and " easel painter". He meant some one with the creative license to just pursue and idea in paint. Thats where the play comes in. 
My wife purchased a week of classes for me from an artist I admire, someone who followed Charles Hawthorne's comment that "if you can't paint from life, paint from still life"... .someone whose work I have followed for years. This was the first class in many years that I have taken as a student and not the instructor. Vulnerable describes the possible feelings of the week. But it wasn't that way at all. You grow by opening yourself up. You stagnate if you don't. The work from my easel was solid to start because I was using my methodology. It works. Then, after a work over from my instructor, I fell on my face...new methods, new thoughts in the approach...new timing...I was so used to demonstrating where time is of the essence...
But, by the end of the 3rd day some growth was beginning to emerge. By the 5th day, I was so excited by what was happening...you get the idea. Shedding the old skin, comfortable as it was challenged me. Taking on some new ideas further challenged me. By the end of the week, you couldn't wipe the smile off my face....the play time, no deadlines, no commitment except to learning allowed changes, good ones, to happen. So, let go, have a little faith in the process and see where it takes you.

jda