"Water's Edge"

Here is the finished painting that I fiddled with a couple days ago (mentioned in this earlier post).
http://art-a-day.blogspot.com/2015/01/graphics-work.html

Alas, it looks to be a new painting with not much recall of the original study. But I am happy with it. These lovely ponds are tucked in the Amon Basin off Leslie Road. I hiked in a short distance to find this viewpoint. Not much was happening this day, until 2 bicyclists came zooming past and startled me. For the most part it was just me and the water and the ducks and the sage and the rabbit brush and the trees. A lovely soliloquy for a winter's day. Perhaps I will return there again soon to see what nature provides. Softer colors I'm sure.

"Water's Edge" in it's final revision. 9x12 oil on board, ©Laura Gable

In the Heart of Amon Basin

This area is in the Amon Basin, behind the homes to the north end of Willowbrook housing development. I painted in the field around Christmas on one of the last warm sunny days we've had. Today (while in-situ in the studio) I brightened some of the colors and fussed with the shadows--trying to make them not look fussy ;-). Hopefully I've not lost the freshness of plein air. Anyway a fun exercise painting in the Amon Basin. A few of us are wanting to host an art show of paintings we've done there sometime in the near future. So paint paint paint some more of this beautiful area, and we will show folks just how spectacular it really is.

"In the Heart of Amon Basin" 11x14 oil on board, ©Laura Gable

January 31, it's a wrap

The past couple days of January were spent doing a field study and then some studio work to complete. The few days of sunlight got me wanting to wander out and paint. Though a bit breezy, I did paint briefly in the truck -- a bit cramped and messy! It was fun to study the scene though and just get down a few preliminary strokes before heading to the studio.

There's a lovely sheltered path that passes under a high embankment of trees along the Columbia River off Columbia River Park Trail. Perhaps you will recognize it. The river laps the shoreline, nourishing the abundant eco-system there. I was thrilled to see a figure in bright yellow walk into the scene, and got a shot of him before he disappeared into the shadows. (Follow the progression of the painting below, final is shown last) 

Field Study - "River's Pause", 8x10 oil on board, ©Laura Gable
I got down just enough color to suggest the scene. I enjoy the freshness of this piece.

FINAL: "River's Pause", 8x10 oil on board, ©Laura Gable
(The scene was refined a bit, small strokes added, focal point adjusted, colors and value adjusted.)

Here's the best awareness for the month -- the most rewarding part of art for me is the disappearing into the process of creating ... Moving into that space where time seems to be suspended. May you find magic in these moments like I have.

Thanks for journeying with me. I enjoy the creative interaction, seeing what others are up to in their processes, and value the comments we've shared. Thanks so much Bobi for making this available to us again, and for guiding our steps. You are a jewel.

Visit me on my personal blog if you want, I'll post there throughout the year. http://lauragable.blogspot.com

Grey-Scape

"Grey-Scape" 6x4 oil on card, ©Laura Gable

Who is ready to see the end of these temperature inversions, grey days, mist, freezing fog, hoar frost, intermittent flurries, and freezing rain? We start to realize the value of LIGHT in our days, and which gives us so much to study as artists. A moment ago I saw some actual blueness in the sky so am hopeful that the skies will turn today.

One of my artist friend's recently mentioned that even on cloudy days the sky is actually lighter than it is when it is full of brilliant blue. It does make sense that light grey is lighter and brighter than the cerulean and ultramarine blue skies we crave. The pervasive greyness alters and unifies the landscape's colors and tones. The value scale falls in the middle (2,3, & 4 on a scale of 1-5), as most bright highlights and deep shadows fall away. So with this in mind yesterday, I painted our local hillsides and waterways from memory. I know I would do better with a photo reference, but this moody landscape is emblazoned into my psyche! Greyed color can actually be quite lovely and serene. The yellows in the foreground were even greyed. Compared to the other colors they seem so bright. The cheat grass and other nimble brushes within the marsh take on some varied and interesting colors this time of year.

So my awareness of the day: When I open up and really see with these two treasured eyes of mine, I can find beauty even when things are gloomy and grey. Find the mystery in the misty days.

PS - we are almost done with this challenge. I didn't do a painting a day, but I tried to do something creative most days and when I was too tired to pick up a brush, I even counted the creative thoughts as valid and pertinent!

Cloud Scape

"Cloud Scape" 8x10 oil on board, ©Laura Gable

Painting clouds can be challenging as there are no hard edges. This is my attempt doing so from a photo of a distant horizon and the earth curving away above. I'm not sure I've captured the curving away of the sky, as this was very vast. I do like the feel of it though, and the bits of orange that crept in on the left side of the lower sky. Even though it may look like it, there are no intentional monster faces in these clouds. But if you see something there, am sure it might be a window into the individual psyche (smile).

Today's awareness: I have this wanting to create scenes from memory, yet I find I do much better if I have something to reference in front of me while I paint. Seems like a simple awareness, but it is powerful none-the-less.

Clover Island Stroll

"Clover Island Stroll" 11x14, oil on board, ©Laura Gable

Today was the perfect day to complete this unfinished plein air study. It was started on a lovely September day on Clover Island here in Kennewick, WA. The island has been going through a facelift over the past few years, with the addition of the lighthouse and these lovely foliage lined curving paths with boardwalk viewing bump outs. Though it was a breezy day that started out with intermittent sprinkles, it turned into a bright sun filled afternoon ... perfect for painting lighthouses. This pair of friendly walkers happened by at the right time so we can get a sense of scale of the vertical shapes.

Today's effort involved adding the figures, and refining the shape of the trees and clouds, plus altering the colors on the lighthouse and pathway. I'm wanting to do more in this series. Hopefully it will warm a bit so an outdoor excursion is possible ... or I will dig through my photographs to find a worthy candidate to paint. So that's the day's awareness ... paint in a series.

This was shared by my friend recovering from hip surgery, and it feels very fitting for this painting: "God is good, He widens our path so we don't stumble." May you have wide clear paths today. 

A few progress shots of a painting I'm still working on.

We seem to be entering the doldrums of the month. The point when the new year's gusto starts to settle down. When we begin to realize we are still treading the same path we were on before, but perhaps with a more purposeful step, and a bit more refreshed view of things.

I want to share a few "progress" shots of a painting that I'm still working on.

I started with a balsa wood board that was primed with gold gesso. The first few coats of oil paint mixed about 50:50 with Dorland's cold wax medium were applied with spatula (soft turquoise and wax); Another layer troweled on (soft green and wax); and then with a brayer (white and wax). These colors did dry between coats. A small amount of scratching happens at this point. That is the Step 1 (not pictured).

Step 2 (one is not posted)

Step 2: Once this dries for a few days, I used an oil pastel crayon to draw out the figure. A rubber tipped tool moves wet paint around, making hash motions. She is ethereal and made of the clouds and ocean waves. A bit like a Mary Oliver poem I've read recently --

"Today again I am hardly myself.

It happens over and over.

It is heaven-sent.

It flows through me

like the blue wave.

Green leaves - you may believe this or not - have once or twice

emerged from the tips of my fingers."

Step 3

The figure is defined a bit more a few days later (again with oil pastels) and bits of the background start to take shape.

Step 4, almost there

This time I decided her head needed some attention so oil paint without wax was brushed onto the face and parts of the background. More oil pastel were also drawn on. Next step will likely be another bit of wax/oil paint applied and some scratching through to reveal the under layers. I did that a bit on step 4, though not as much as the last painting that I did.

She will yet evolve a bit more ... stay tuned.

Colorado Spring

Hello art-a-day viewers. It's not to late to jump into the challenge. Drop us a line, or comment here, and we'll add you as an author.

Here's my post from a study I did over a 3 day period - it had some struggle in it. My goal was landscapes again. I'm enjoying painting these small ones, they are refreshing.
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"Colorado Spring" 6x8 oil on panel, ©Laura Gable

I still have a hankering for Colorado. And Springtime. This field of lupines and wild flowers was so pretty, from so long ago. The back hills were beckoning me into the scene.

I had a bit of struggle in this painting. I wanted to establish a hierarchy with the two trees so made the right one more dominate, and added a path so one could get into the painting. The lupines are still a bit troublesome though.

Wallow in the Oils

This day's goal was to wallow in the oil paints and use a limited palette-- using only the paints I have here at home. Well it worked for awhile until I realized that the last dregs of white were not nearly enough. Landscapes need a lot of white!! I do love the blues I was using here -- cobalt teal and another softer King's blue from Rembrandt that my niece recommended. Anyway this one is based on our land here in the shrub-steppe region of eastern Washington. Oh and it was painted from a photograph taken earlier in the first wisps of the Autumn season. I like the composition and may consider it for a larger painting later. BTW this photo was taken with my Canon DSLR camera.

"Sage Lands" 5x7 oil on canvas, ©Laura Gable (taken with Canon DSLR camera)

To continue a discussion we had earlier about the photographs we take, I thought I would include below the iphone photo I took of this same painting. (The one above is still a bit brighter than the original, but both were adjusted in Photoshop). See how the iphone photo doesn't quite represent the nuanced color as well. The bright color is fun though, but not what I'd intended. ;-)

same landscape, photographed with the iPhone. 

PS. Do you like the size of these images? I'm struggling on which is still viewable, yet isn't too ostentatious. Top is sized large, bottom is sized middle.

Goals for the day - absorbed in expression, try new techniques

"Tempest" oil paint and cold wax medium on golden gessoed board, ©Laura Gable 

I've been setting daily goals for my artwork with this Art-a-day challenge. Today's is be expressive and try new techniques. I've been playing with this cold wax medium for a bit and still have a lot to learn but it is fun and forgiving. I've been mixing oil paint with cold-wax medium and then working in layers. The wet or dry layers can be manipulated with scratching tools, and the paint sometimes goes on with knife, spatula or brayer. It gets messy. (Yay for messy. Who likes messy??)

This painting has been in progress for a while - just put some finishing touches on it today. Next time, I will post progress photos since the process is quite interesting. Today I introduced oil pastels for the squiggly strokes (some blended with fingertips), added more white mixed with wax, and scratched through dried color. The bright gold tones peeking through is the base coat of gold gesso. I love gold gesso.

So why cold-wax medium? I had free Gamblin samples, and purchased Dorland's last year. I sometimes use it to coat covers in my book arts projects (hides fingerprints, gives a buttery feel). Unlike Encaustic, it doesn't need heating (and not recommended). Mixing it with oils allows one to work thin layers over thick ... so the traditional "fat over lean" can be ignored. I usually mix 50-50. It can be buffed when totally dry for a waxy look.

Even though this is non-representational I see the suggestions of a landscape back in there, so I chose "Tempest" for the title. I love the word. It's my grandmother's middle name. She was a force to be reckoned with. Thanks for looking!!

A Fearful Night

Though not as parodied as da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the popular "Starry Starry Night" by artist Vincent Van Gogh is a close second. There is something about the turbulence of the skies, and movement of the giant cypress trees that evokes a sense of unsettledness, which draws us in. I understand he was trying to represent the motion of the wind and the glittery nature of the stars in this famous nighttime painting.

I chose to use this artwork as a model, in my interpretation of one fearful night in a region quite like our own--with arborvitaes and basalt cliffs. It is the first of a 3-part series for a friend that follows a familiar Bible Psalm--taking the viewer from this fearful yet hopeful location to a place of calm waters and then finally to a glorious place of renewal.

... though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me ... (after van Gogh)

Check out my personal blog at http://www.lauragable.blogspot.com

Belated "sketch crawl" painting

Long Shadows

"In the bleak mid-winter, the snow lay on the ground." A favorite stanza from a Christmas carol comes to mind as I peered out the window yesterday morning to this most beautiful sight. I love it when the sunlight streams through the neighbor's arborvitaes and onto the glistening snow covered lawn. Hard to capture, but I've made an attempt here in oils for a quick "sketch."  

A Divergent Path

My sketch crawl paintings didn't get done because a sick headache took over my life yesterday. I did take some photos, so hope to get those sketched or painted soon.

This is a very strange painting from a few days ago, and I really have no idea what compelled me to paint it. I was thinking about this kid who used to sit behind me in 1st grade, he was missing an eye. Whenever the teacher would leave the room he would pull on my shirt sleeve until I would turn around and then he'd open his eye socket up wide so I would look into it. Kind of a creepy kid, wouldn't you say? I don't know why I kept letting him get away with this behavior, or why the teacher wouldn't move me to another spot. Today I've thought of all sorts of things I would say (or scream) to him about how it just wasn't appropriate. Yes it's a bit of a different painting for me, but this is a group I trust this sort of stuff with, so there you go. I've always thought art was a healing tool, so perhaps this is healing some little part of me that was left in the past.

creepy eye socket

Snowbound painting, and insight about painting edges

Posting yesterday's snowbound memory painting... with an attempt to balance the expanse of white and tiny yellow sunset line with the grasses in the foreground, in a looser approach.

Quick little snowscape study, heading towards a looser representation.

And some wisdom from Montana artist Carolyn Anderson (http://carolynanderson.com), who creates expressive, loose, impressionistic oil painting with great economy of stroke. She has a lot to say about impressionism, edges, and the craft of painting:

"Realist painting comes with its own set of parameters and craft can certainly be one of them. But I have yet to agree that craft alone will make a great painting. Craft without creativity is only part of the equation. When we make judgments about what is acceptable, or not, what is good, or not, and what “realism” is, or is not, we end up narrowing the possibilities of what our paintings can be.  Painting is about learning to see  - and hopefully, sharing how we see and what is visually important to us with others. We share a responsibility to interpret, not to try and re-create. We need to be open to the adventure of exploring, visual information. If we accept that what we paint can never be “real”, then we should be able to take our “reality” and see it in new and interesting ways.

[And regarding edges of things] In painting edges are the transition between shapes, values, and color. They help to define or diminish form. Used creatively, edges in painting are areas of translation – allowing one area to become another. Everything is connected to everything else. A favorite book states, “how the pieces are connected to each other is at least as important as what the pieces are." As an artist, you question the reality of what you are seeing. Instead of going in and drawing that shape as an outline, you draw where you see an edge. A lot of people are taught to start with the  outline. I'm saying that the outline is not a reality. You start with what catches your eye, which has a lot to do with the quality of the light."

Sleeping in a Floaty-Soft-Place



Here's what I'm thinking.

All of my literary and artistic heroes were early risers and know for working hard all day. I've found that I don't work like that. All my best painting is late at night, I can't stand painting in the "wee morning hours".

Today I tried to imitate Hemingway's vigorous work routine by painting this morning.

It was torture!! I just can't focus, I need to be alone when I paint. Mornings are filled with people running out for work, or hanging out half the day, or lawn guys firing up leaf blowers. Afternoons here are filed with the "lovely" voices of children shrieking in what I can only guess is an epic game of tag. By dinner time my family is back, and it's not until everyone has gone to bed that I feel able to paint, and paint I do.

I guess what I'm saying is that every creative person has their own schedule, a "magic" time of the day. My time is from 9-11 at night roughly. Anyways, this is what I've accomplished tonight.

Not much, but I'll paint more after uploading this. My biggest fear is to lose track of time and forget to post everyday! Thank God it hasn't happened yet! ^_^

Stay Artsy & DFTBA

Sarah Bosserman

the Casual Artist this weekend

Owyhee Picture Jaspar, Plume Agate (I think), and another type of Jaspar

I picked up some fun new agates and jaspar pieces at a little rock shop next to Hubby's Pizza in downtown Kennewick. He's looking for more visitors, so pop on over there if you love rocks. He has mostly slabs and cuts of agates, jaspars and petrified woods. Not a lot of crystals. I'll get his phone and address for you if you're interested. I just love the picture jaspars. If you look closely, you can find little mountains and landscapes in the color striations. I also think these patterns will show up in my artwork in some form, maybe in a background of a painting or part of an abstract. The shimmery periwinkle blues in the plume agate are stunning. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do them justice.

~

My upstairs home studio has been the clutter station for awhile, so I've begun excavating.  It's going to take awhile, but it's also exciting to carve out a space to create here. In the meantime, I brought some paints from the downtown studio, but they started to dry out and this is the meager attempt I made to salvage what I could. There's a lesson in there, of course. How can you get vibrant art if your paint is dried out? Being stingy and creating dynamic art don't exactly go together. It was a fun exercise in lifting and keying the painting. I wanted predominant blue tones, but there seems to be a lot of red in this photo.

quick oil study of still life

Protective tree

Close up of the sunflower.

Tree painting, in progress

My tree painting has been in progress for months it seems. It's been "parked" in the charcoal state, though recently I had added the Buff Titanium gesso around the branches and applied Retouch Varnish to set the charcoal. I enjoy using charcoal directly on the canvas, as it is more tactile and has great movement, especially when using sweeping arm motion on a large canvas.

Today I added the oil paint color on the bottom, and a bit of opalescent shine to the top most branches. I don't use shimmer very often, as it can sometimes look a bit glitzy or cheap. So I took a chance this time. The painting's story is set in my Midwestern homeland, with the stalwart elm and earnest sunflower who thrives in the protective shadow of the immense tree...both common elements in that part of the country.

The spiritual significance became clearer to me today. Growing together in a symbiotic state, and interconnected, we thrive. We need each other. One could even attach a deeper spiritual connotation to the enormous tree -- who's branches disappear into the ether at the top. It's open to interpretation and I'm sure we all will see something clearly different. I enjoy the story behind the art.

Monet's Work Ethic Applied, Sort Of

After so much time spent on

one painting, I'm glad to find that I'm not sick of Space Men as subjects.

I remember when I was 5 learning about Monet's Water Lillies for the first time. I used to think "Doesn't he get board painting the same thing over and over again?". I was to little to begin to understand the powerful fixation between subject and execution. I have to keep working, keep adding layers, keep adjusting, keep improving, keep at it, on, and on until it lines up with the vision in my mind. I can be my biggest fan but I can also be my biggest critic. So now I understand Monet a little more. Of course this all leads to the fact that the Space Man isn't finished yet, but with each day I get closer.

Oh, and these photographs never do my paintings justice.

Stay Artsy & DFTBA

Sarah Bosserman