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Sycamore Canyon Cove © Marian Fortunati 8"x10" Oil on RayMar Panel |
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A group of artists from the Malibu/Ventura Chapter of the California Art Club got together for their monthly paint out. I always try to make these get togethers because I enjoy painting with others... discovering new and beautiful spots and the challenge of ever-changing coastal scenes.
I had never been to Sycamore Cove State
Beach. It is north of Leo Carrillo and south of Pt. Mugu and it turned
out to be the perfect spot for us to meet when temperatures in the
inland areas were in the three digits. In fact with the cool sea
breezes, I was a little cool at first so I put on my sweatshirt and down
shell that I always carry with me in the trunk with all of my painting
gear. After a bit in the bright sunshine, however, it warmed up and I
took off the extra layers.
I painted happily for a few hours but the
wind came up a bit and I was happy to break for lunch. I had blocked
in the main shapes and gotten my color notes down so that I was fairly
sure I could finish it off at home. I had a chance to chat with old and
new painter friends during lunch and before I had to run off to pick up
Tyler who called me because he wasn't feeling well at school.
The painting sat for a few days and in the
meantime I went to the Edgar Payne show for the third and fourth
times. I really looked hard at the way Payne had painted his sea foam
in the shadow areas and when I went back in to finish off this little
plein air piece, I tried hard to get the right value and temperature in
that foam. I also wanted to avoid rocks that looked like dog manure
(paraphrasing a friend talking about the color of the rocks during a
recent class with David Gallup.) David always encourages us to use
lots of color of the same value especially in the darks so that the
surface is more interesting close up. It all reads as a certain value
from a distance and it's only when viewed close up that one sees the
playful color. This is something that Payne also did.
Don't we all wish we could channel those artists we admire while we paint??? David always tells us to be careful about the art we look at most because someday sometime we will find examples of it in our own work. Well, I certainly hope that some of that is true.
One of my blog readers, Russell Black, gave me some wonderful advice about my last post... this among many gems is quoted here:
"My only "real" advice is don't make a boring painting. We have enough of those on the walls of every gallery already. Be different. Be you. Paint from the heart, from the soul, and give us what only you can offer us, your view of the world."
THANK YOU, Russell! I will try.
There are some great comments on that posts and I appreciate each of them!!
Don't we all wish we could channel those artists we admire while we paint??? David always tells us to be careful about the art we look at most because someday sometime we will find examples of it in our own work. Well, I certainly hope that some of that is true.
One of my blog readers, Russell Black, gave me some wonderful advice about my last post... this among many gems is quoted here:
"My only "real" advice is don't make a boring painting. We have enough of those on the walls of every gallery already. Be different. Be you. Paint from the heart, from the soul, and give us what only you can offer us, your view of the world."
THANK YOU, Russell! I will try.
There are some great comments on that posts and I appreciate each of them!!
And by the way... about the silhouette
controversy in the last post.... Today David said that there should be
SOME silhouette effect in my painting. So I will go back and revisit
it. I too, believe I lightened it too much.
He also told me today that he really thought I had done a great job in this painting (one of three I brought in for a critique). Color, value, composition and edges all got favorable comments. I was thrilled because David does do great and helpful critiques, so when he had no big suggestions for improvement, I was thrilled. However, he then pulled out a book by Alfonse Mucha and another by Hiroshi Yoshida who each made beautiful decisions about patterns and shape. He used examples and talked about elegant and descriptive shapes and design which would be a final element to consider before doing "masterful" work.
Happily, Dave is a patient teacher as I'm afraid that one, especially, is going to take loooonnnnggg time for me to internalize.
He also told me today that he really thought I had done a great job in this painting (one of three I brought in for a critique). Color, value, composition and edges all got favorable comments. I was thrilled because David does do great and helpful critiques, so when he had no big suggestions for improvement, I was thrilled. However, he then pulled out a book by Alfonse Mucha and another by Hiroshi Yoshida who each made beautiful decisions about patterns and shape. He used examples and talked about elegant and descriptive shapes and design which would be a final element to consider before doing "masterful" work.
Happily, Dave is a patient teacher as I'm afraid that one, especially, is going to take loooonnnnggg time for me to internalize.
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By the way... I would love to see you at the reception for my one woman show:
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One Lucky Artist at Gale's Restaurant
Event Dates: 9/22/2012 - 11/17/2012
Reception: 9/30/2012 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Gale's Restaurant
(626) 432-6705
452 South Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena CA 91105
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