Studio Work, Winter 2011

This winter I decided to make a body of work using the visual vocabulary of the horse that I have acquired over the years in a fashion that would take me out of my usual habits and pursue a few ideas about process that I haven't had a chance while doing the 'plein air' thing.
Working towards a group show at Emerald Downs this summer I have found it a challenge to contain the size of my efforts to the allowable largest size in the show permitted of 48". 
I have discovered roller brushes and acrylic latex which has enabled to get me out of the habit of muscle memory.  I only wish I had more space.  Perhaps 100' long walls.  Wouldn't it be a gas to splash colorful horses all over?!

It's unfortunate that the process I'm using isn't more handy and I could use it 'en plein air'.  Maybe that is what I will try next?

This piece is 30x40,  I use Greek names to elevate the poetic substance of the piece.  It helps me to think of the horse out of my conventional context.  I used acrylic latex over a previous oil painting with heavy body.  There are some cool impasto layers that imprinted on the roller bushes and made tracks across the surface of the canvas.

  I later exploited this element and made stencils.  Truley establishing the vocabulary of images into a lexicon of visual vocabulary.  I actually have a box of stencils I can bring out anytime they fit.  I'm thinking stamps might be cool but the roller has done well as a stencil tool.

Jazzed, I used the roller directly and ran out of room on a 30x40 canvas so I got out a 18' roll of canvas but my wall was too short and I could only use 14'.  Guess I better find a bigger wall!

Unfortunately taking a photo of a large canvas in my cramped studio doesn't make for a very good representation.  Sorry.  I don't quite know where I will go with this piece and I wish I had spent some time doing an underpainting so maybe this one will go away and that will happen but it sure was fun!

Links; Reese, How to Draw A Horse, DVD

William F. Reese, master artist passed away last year.  I stopped by to visit his wife, Fran and had a woderful visit and as usual went away with treasures of wisdom, one of which is an instructional dvd, "A Tribute to His Love of Horses," that Bill made before he passed away about how to draw a horse.  Bill was meticulously thorough in his knowledge of horses.  He had a life size skeleton of a horse and studied the anatomy of the horse in university.  The dvd is wonderful for me in that Bill's presence, his stern yet encouraging words are as if he is still with me.  Bill and I shared a high regard for the beauty of the horse.  If you are one to work with horses in your art this dvd is a must have and can be ordered from Fran through their website, http://www.williamfreese.com/ .  Have a look around as there are many other valuable items for the artist.  I also highly recommend Bill's books on painting, "The Painter's Process".  A no non-sense book of wisdom for all aspiring painters.

In the Shade of the Sun I Sleep

In the shade of the sun I sleep

my soul wanders,

I wake behind the veil into the light

my soul sleeps.
 
All the night is my world as I dream.
 
All the day is not as I live.
 

W. Blair Bruce "The Smyths"

I saw this painting in Ottowa at the National Gallery of Canada. It is extraordinary in that it 'vibrates'. scroll down to see the details of his technique. It is a large painting, maybe 6'x8'. I also love the genre.  Wheelwrights have heated up an iron tire of a wooden wagon wheel probably to repair the fellows (spokes) of the wheel.  I like to think the fellow in the lower right corner is the wagon owner.  You can see another tire in the fire in the lower left.  Perhaps a new tire.  Pretty tough way to fix a flat!

I'm off on another tangent in the studio using glaze techniques which is very interesting and brought back the image of Bruce's piece. The piece hung near the Group of Seven gallery which is why I went to Canadian National Gallery in Ottowa. I wasn't dissapointed by the extensive G of 7 collection but I discovered this piece and was delighted. The online photos don't do it justice as it is one of those paintings that has to be seen in person to appreciate.
When I was in college, 40 years ago, sheesh has it been that long, I pursued something like this technique and have always been interested in 'broken color' of the impressionist but this is the first piece I have seen that emmulates such a tangent as 'additive light' as opposed to the 'subtractive light' common to most painting techniques. Computers and stage lighting use 'additive light' techniques.  Bruce still employed the pointilist/impressionist technique of placing complimentary colors side by side to achieve a vibrating effect but had an extraordinarily exuberant yet deliberate brush technique using transparent glazing techniques.
I think I will pursue this techniaque to achieve the challenge of dipicting Washington rainforests.
An interesting life, W. Blair Bruce married the Swedish artist Caroline Benedicks and had a classic romantic life of love and art.  Read about their history care of the Hamilton Public Gallery dedicated by Caroline to her husbands work; http://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/aa_brucebo.php

Considering

Ruby Beach, WA

I dashed out to Ruby Beach on the Olympic Penninsula on one of the few sunny days in Olympia and had a delightful time in the expansive wild seascape of haystack rocks and breaking waves.  A 30x40 painting can be a chore but is a pleasure to use big brushs, big paint and big strokes.

Wa State Capitol En Plein Air

I'm enjoying the opportunity of painting on the campus of our Washington State Capitol and the surrounding area.  Fortunately the sun has been shining on the wet west side of the state.

Sanpoil Studio Works at the Oly Furniture Works!

This painter is happy to invite you to visit the Olympia Furniture Works to view my original plein air oil paintings.  The Furniture Works is a delightful assortment of new and used furniture that is very easy on the pocket book and now has some awesome Caudell originals.
Make a day of it visiting Olympia.  Spend a day in the Capitol and watch the sausage making process of law making.  Stop by the Saigon Rendezvous and try some awesome Thai Cuisine (my favorite is #9 the Fried Egg Roll Salad).
Olympia Furniture Works, 402 Washington St. NE, Olympia, WA

Mac Art Benefit and Quick Draw, Feb, 19, Spokane, WA

Mark your calendar for Feb, 19 for the  MAC Art Benefit and Quick Draw held at the Northern Quest Casino, Spokane, WA.

 

A showcase of 50 regional artists in the Inland Northwest will have their work auctioned to help benefit keeping the doors open of the NW Museum of Culture.
I will be participating with a few other brave artists in the evening Quick Draw which starts at 4pm. 

Washington State budget crunch may close the doors of the only cultural center in the Inland Empire.  A sad situation that leaves an enormous cultural gap that will deprive students, artists and museum goers of the little cultural opportunities available in the greater Spokane area.

The MAC has been a beacon of light and opportunity for artists such as myself, in a desert wasteland of cultural opportunity in the Inland Northwest forever.  It is perhaps the only venue outside of universities and a very few galleries, that an artist can show their work and see the work of others.  It will be a sad day when the doors are locked due to budget shortfalls but the state has no choice when it comes to ending Basic Health programs and state support for schools and hospitals.

I hope you will take the opportunity to support our efforts to keep the doors of the Museum open and at the same time avail yourself of the marvelous original artwork regional artists have provided.

The Northern Quest Casino is an exceptional venue.  I highly recommend the accomadations and dining opportunities that the Kallispell Tribe maintains in Airway Hieghts, Spokane, WA. http://www.northernquest.com/

When "Place" is Important you can't beat the Canadian Rockies

Banff and the Canadian Rockies makes it apparent when plein air painting that, "Place" or the setting in which you are painting makes for better paintings.

The Banff area of the Canadian Rockies has been painted by the famous and not so famous for a century.  At the Whyte Museum in the town of Banff, I picked up some exceptional books on just that subject.

Lisa Christiensen, assistant curator and hiker, has written "A Hiker's Guide to Art of the Canadian Rockies" $29.95, ISBN 1-894004-39-6, complete with paintings, maps and local information on exact places artists such as Carl Rungius, A.C. Leighton and the Group of Seven Painters, J.E.H. MacDonald and Lawren Harris stood to paint 'en plein air' at Lake O'Hara, Lake Louise and many, many other wonderful places.  These books are indespensible to the plein air painter, saving many hours of searching for good painting vistas.  Many of the places they painted can be accessed from your car but many can only be got to by hiking or helicopter.  The Canadian Rockies are exceptional with regard to accessibility and convenience.  Canadians have allowed guides to build lodges in the back country.  Mountain climbing and heli-skiing have been a tourist industry for some time. 

Aside from the wondrous panorama's available to painters there are easy opportunities to observe wildlife.  We saw mt. goats, mt. sheep, bull elk, bull moose, cow moose and calves, coyote and a silver back grizzly.   You have to keep an eye over your shoulder when you have your nose in your paint and pepper spray wouldn't be a bad idea.  A paint brush doesn't make a very impressive deterrant.  Maybe a can of paint thinner placed on the tail? 

I look forward to returning.  September is the best as the Larch and Cottonwood are turning.  Earlier in the year such as spring or early summer and you may find too much snow.  It was 28 f when I was there in October.  Glad I took my warm clothes.  It did warm up to 45 during the day.

One thing we did find is that Canada is down for maintenance after their Thanksgiving, second weekend in October.  Many of the trails and activities were closed.  It was so bad we joked that "even the sun is down for maintenance" it was so cold.

Literature for plein air painters in the Canadian Rockies;

Lisa Christensen ,"The Lake O'Hara Art of J.E.H. MacDonald and Hiker's Guide", $29.95, ISBN 1-894856-17-1

Jane Lytton Gooch, "Artists of the Rockies, Inspiration of Lake O' Hara," $19.95, ISBN 0-9680036-2-1