Painting of a Jade Plant

Journal Entry: March 6, 2015

Today was a teaching day but the class was small so I was able to do some work on the piece.  The cloth is starting to come together and I'm finding great satisfaction in the way it's evolving. I can see where it will take on more dimension and feel once I start to add some compliments and some blue as well to the lights and shadows. I've been experimenting with this as I go along. I'm not an impressionist but I do love the way color can enliven a traditional painting when added in the right place. One of my favorite painters is Howard Terpning. His use of color is pure magic and I'd like to add some of that to my work. The metallic threads in the cloth are fun to do as well. The use of tiny pieces of white along with yellow ochre and cad yellow in certain places really work to bring these out. One of my students accused me of using metallic paint! Ha! Overall, very satisfied with the progress today. 

Painting of a Jade Plant

Journal Entry, March 2, 2015

I spent the better part of the morning contemplating this possible disaster and trying to decide where to go next. The plant itself didn't take long to get a first pass in a few days ago but I can see that the fabric will be more of a challenge. The light in the studio is best now around 2:00 PM. It wafts softly onto the setup and the shadows are deeper and warmer at that hour. But the light soon fades after that and I'm back to artificial light. I can't wait half a day for one hour's easel time. I can see that I'll have to work on this problem before my next piece. It's never been this much of an issue before. Why am I so focused on it now?                                                           

  
In tackling the tapestry, I considered painting it alla prima or working flatly and then describing the lights and shadows with glazes and scumbles. I decided on a combination of the latter. It's a challenge because the shadows are rather shallow and poorly described in the morning hours. By working it in glazes, I have the option of darkening and brightening selective passages when the light is right. (An apology to my readers about the easel light which blows out the plant.) I worked the darks and lights on the areas of cloth that didn't have design on them and left the design relatively flat. Much of that will have to be described later.

My container looks sick and lopsided. I can hardly stand to look at it. Definitely a lesson in getting the drawing right before starting work. I covered a lot of canvas today, but the real meat of the work still lies ahead. 

The Painting of a Jade Plant

I usually reserve step by step explanations of paintings for my teaching blog (www.musensbysusan.blogspot.com), however I haven't been working that blog in some time and I thought this blog would be a better platform because this is a not so much a step by step lesson but more an insight into the mind and heart of what this artist is thinking from the inspiration and inception of a painting, through its stages of growth and into its final and painful birth. So join me for awhile as I share with you entries from my journal as the painting emerges. As I'm already quite a ways into the piece, I'll be putting down here the first few stages and corresponding entries in one shot. I'll break it into two separate blog entries bringing it to where it is today and then further developments will be shared as they take place.

Journal Entry, February 24, 2015

The inspiration for this piece came as a whispered prayer from the Jade plant itself which has been growing patiently in the foyer of my home under the soft, filtered light from my northern skylight. The plant loves it there I think. I can tell by the way the stems reach straight up toward the light. I fear that the painting may be taking too long and that the poor thing regrets its request and wishes to return to the sanctity of that quiet false rain forest atmosphere where it has been for a very long time. It is, after all, rather gloomy in my studio. I turn the set up directly to the light of my over large studio window when I'm not at work. The race is on now to finish before the plant suffers for its vanity.

I thought for a long time about how I wanted to do this painting. Should I work in pastels or Oils? I decided on oils and then I took another month to consider my concept. After all, I have always taught and been taught to have a concept. How else will I know when I'm done? When I have fulfilled my concept, the work is done. Or so I've come to believe.  Though I do have a concept in mind, I've decided to honor the request of the Jade and ask the painting what it requires instead. It seems to call for a background that would speak of it's ancestry or at the very least lend some viability to its name. Hence, the Asian wallpaper in the background. Now, mind you, I don't know that Jade plants are at all descended from Asian ancestry. But who am I to question a plant after all? While I wanted to honor this request, I had to consider the how of it all. I'm really not very good at calligraphy and, for that matter, my own handwriting is terrible. I settled on some paper that had Korean writing on it and scanned that into my computer, printing it out through the magic of Photoshop onto archival paper. This was affixed to canvas - which had some problems of its own. Won't go into that here, but I've learned a lot about this kind of application since. Being a classical painter and having had the importance of archival materials beat into my head, I struggled with this whole idea of mixed media for another couple of weeks. A call to Golden relieved my anxiety and I moved forward. (Please comment on the blog if you have any questions about how I proceeded here.)

Journal Entry, February 26, 2015

I transferred the drawing this past Sunday and spent the better part that day just getting some glazing down. I used combinations of burnt sienna, burnt umber and permanent alizarin crimson to lay in the color. Today, I felt that I could start in on the container or is it a vase? It doesn't seem quite the right word. I was a bit stymied by the light. The cool light coming in from my north facing window just doesn't seem to set it off right. I was definitely frustrated over this unexpected conundrum. I changed the temperature of an additional light bulb several times. I'm still not happy. The plant wants natural light. I can hear that and obviously it needs it to survive this process as well. I can easily see this painting taking a month or more. Just artificial light won't do and besides, I dislike working from it. I settled on a combination but can see that I'll need to use my internal vision more than my physical sight to get the quality of light I envision. But the whole trial and error thing took the better part of the day. Sigh. I didn't get far, but at least I made a start. 

Journal Entry, February 27, 2015

Well, things are moving ahead although I can't say I'm completely satisfied. I struggle to integrate the background with the foreground. The leaves of the plant are trickier than I thought, and as is the manner of plants, it keeps changing as it endeavors to turn toward the light. Still, the plant is dictating this painting. It thinks it's the client and has commissioned the work. So I have to deal. The under painting could have been done better but the ground on which I'm working has its own challenges and so I made do with a very basic wash in and allowed myself to forego the usual detailed grissaille. I hope none of my fellow graduates from Georgetown Atelier see this once I post it. The container is off a bit and this first pass is not what I was aiming for.  But the Jade is taking shape. I've experimented a bit with some broken yellow/green in the background and think I'll keep it. So much still to do.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Floral Still Life, Oil on Paper Mounted on Board

"Asian Influence"Oil on paper mounted on panel

I've been heavily involved heading up a local event here in Port Angeles for the last five months. The event, "Paint the Peninsula", was a plein air competition which lasted five days and included a barbecue kickoff, a wonderful cocktail party at Camaraderie Winery and a Gala black tie event and show, all culminating in a Quick Draw competition and mini festival. That, in turn, was followed by a three day workshop offered by Ned Mueller, our judge. It was grueling as I not only helped to run and coordinate the event, but hosted two house guests and participated as well. Twenty years ago, this wouldn't have been a problem. Currently with a fresh back injury, it was like running two marathons back to back. I'm done. Stick a fork in me. 

Anyway, with all this work on my plate (no pun intended), this weekend was the first time in a few months I've actually had to get in my studio, turn out the overhead lights and just paint. No phone ringing, no other work to do and no students. Just me and the set up and the quiet. This photo doesn't begin to capture the light in the painting. It has a bit more contrast in this photo too than is in the painting which I've tried to fix on Photoshop, but then I lose other stuff. Darn. The camera is still new to me and I'm a poor student of photography. Well, I'm going to have to cave and take some lessons. I did better with my Canon, but the Nikon is a little trickier. 

I work under north light from a large cathedral style window which brings in soft, cool light. It's more noticeable when you see it live, but there's some broken orangey color in the background peeking through that helps to give the painting an airy feeling. Still working toward achieving that special quality of light that evokes a soft moodiness.  I'm coming more and more to the point where I copy less of what I see and add more to the painting of what it needs. I'd like to get to that place with portraits as well. All good things in their time. 

Still Life Study of Chinese Tea Pot and Rose Hips, 12" x 11"

It's been a very busy and hectic year. While I've been a full time artist for years, sometimes working 60 hour weeks, I never dreamed that the top item on my bucket list could be more stressful than that. Attending an atelier is both an exhillerating and exhausting journey. I attend four days a week (day five I have to teach at my own studio so I have enough money to attend school the other four). Because I live so far from Seattle where Georgetown Atelier is located, I have to spend those three nights with a friend and a relative. Then I drive the three hours home late on Thursday after class.

I'm on a brief vacation now and I have quite a few pieces I'll be posting over the coming weeks to show off a bit. This small piece which is only about 11" x 12" is a small color study for a larger still life I'm still working on at school. We generally do these as they help to iron out problems which occur during the painting process before we actually get to them. Some areas didn't come out well in the photo. Another student took them at the atelier during the past two weeks and forwarded this to me so I can't account for the the faded area in the lower right hand corner. But otherwise, it's a good representation. The edges need a bit of work and you can tell it's not a finished painting in and of itself, but over all, I'm pretty happy with it. The large piece is proving to be quite a challenge. I'll post it when it's done and perhaps share some of it's development along the way.

Painting of Ancient Teapot and fruit, 11" x 14", Oil on Panel

"Old but not forgotten"
Currently NFS

I've been so busy since the holidays I've hardly had a day to spare. But as I just finished this piece as an entry for a show, I decided I'd better take the time to post it. This piece was definitely not a daily painting. While some parts were done partially ala prima, for the most part, it took me several long sittings to finish. Photographing Oils is always a challenge as they tend to reflect light. It's so hard to prevent this from occuring that it can take me a week or more before I can create the right lighting situation to photograph them. This is the best I was able to accomplish. Hope it works for the competition.

School continues to be a challenge and a passion. I spend two days in Seattle now and then race home to teach two classes back to back on Wednesday. Not much time left for other things. Hope you like this. Next piece is a pastel landscape.

Oil Painting of White Orchids and Red Tapestry, 13" x 21.5", Oil on Unstretched Canvas

"Balance"
I've been meaning to do a wall hanging for some time. A recent trip to Korea gave me the nudge I needed to get started. I chose some unstretched canvas for the job and then got busy. This painting is not yet for sale as I need to add the fabric and tassels that will complete it as a wall hanging. To see how this painting was done, to www.musensbysusan.blogspot.com and follow the links.

Tea Pot Painting, Oil on Linen, 14" x 18"

"Crystaline Tea Pot"

Hooray! I'm finally working out some of the kinks in photographing my work with my digital camera. This never used to be an issue but lately it seems I've had a horrible time getting a good shot with it. So today I spent an hour or two figiting with the manual mode and the (OMG) user's guide. It's a good thing I have a Master's Degree. I needed it. Anyway, the research helped and I have a much better image to show for my time.

Most of you will recognize this Tea Pot as it's been the subject of many paintings. I first painted it in pastel about 10 years ago. I've shown that painting here before and you can see it below as a comparison. I've never been able to capture it quite a well as I did in that pastel, but I think I've come close here. I've been working on this piece as an entry for the Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Show. I've taken it as far as I think I can. Now I'll just hold my breath. It's my first attempt so I don't have high expectations, but I can dream can't I? Here's the old pastel. What do you think? Did I do a good job with the oil? The light is, of course, different. In the original pastel I used warmer artificial light and in the recent oil above, I used natural north light. Additionally, the cool green against the warm red cloth and background do make the pot appear a bit brighter and more colorful although I've done my best to play that down a bit. Groan...I'm perseverating.

Asian Jar with Pears, Oil on Panel, 11" x 14"

I locked myself in the studio today. After having been tied up with classes and teaching for days, it was nice to have the studio to myself for awhile. I started this piece the other day but had to stop in the middle because of other committments. Like marriage. While I'm happy with the jug in the back, there are still things that I'm not satisfied with. I believe I'm still at a juncture in my painting and not entirely certain of where to go to next. It's sort of like being at the edge of a cliff. Taking the next step is like a leap of faith. My classes are going well enough, but the pace is slow and it will be awhile before what I'm learning translates itself to my work. I think, I'll try for a stronger sense of realism in the next substantial piece. In the meantime, you may see a small one or two. I have a couple of weeks before I go back to class. I'll be staggering for a few weeks until the end of the June session because of the Hood Canal Bridge Closing here on the peninsula. It takes an extra two hours to drive to and from Seattle so I'll be taking it easy on myself by skipping a couple of classes. School is out then from the end of June through mid September. I'll be glad for the break. Heavens! It took me five hours to come back from school on Tuesday.

Oil Painting of Asian Tea Pot on Woven Cloth, 8" x 10", Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

"Blue China Tea Pot"

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Time for detail. I took an extra day to let things dry so I could put a bit of detail into this piece. I adore this little blue tea pot and have used it in a few other paintings. I've yet to capture it's sweet essence. I picked up this red woven scarf in Spain in October and I had a lot of fun painting it. Imagine what I could do if this was a weekly painting instead of a "daily" one?