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Last Friday-Marie's Studio

 by Victoria Morris Ekelund on 4/23/2010 9:52:22 AM
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Friday I drove up to Fraser to spend the day with Marie. I didn't get there until 11, and by the time we got around to painting it was almost 2! Marie showed me what she had been working on, including a nice little study of a new place she had found the day before. Our original plan was to go back there, but it was not to be. The clouds were playing with the light something fierce. I had brought up a few paintings I wanted to work on just in case, so I set up at one end of her studio and went to work. I started with this painting from last spring at the Iris Garden, a local business that is friendly to artists setting up and painting. I did not post my painting from this day, too embarrassed, but here is my blog post and the original painting, which is 9x12:

 


Wednesday night I had this painting critiqued and Drew suggested I warm up the shadow under the tree, which I did. I also made a pattern of light and darks through the iris, and pulled out some details in the iris's up front. I am not pleased with the ivy on the back fence, and I prefer the original painting of the top of the tree foliage. I think I will take it back to that.

Next, I pulled out this painting,Copper Penny Iris (and no, that is not the official name of these plants) also from a year ago, from my back yard. I love these coppery iris. Again, I did not post the original plein air study, which is below and is 10x16, as I wasn't quite happy with it. Looking at it now, I don't think is was as bad as I thought at the time. We are our own worst critics, after all. And I do like the original light green of the neighbors grass in this one better than what I did to it later in the studio.

There is a mid-rework of this painting that I did not photograph, as I can see when posting these together, that the brownish background worked fine, but I darkened it at some point. I did not touch the background on Friday. I worked on unifying (there is that word again!) the dark values in the iris plants and trying to weave the ground and ground cover in and around the flagstones (which are on the right hand side, as they sure don't "read" as flagstones). Those have not worked out too well YET. I reworked the chain link fence too. And since I am so unhappy with how the flagstone is working, I decided to see what happened if I cropped it to an 8x16 instead of a 10x 16 and I think that solved my problem area which is not to say I don't need to address what is left of it.
These iris are in my back yard and I am going to try this scene again. I do like the composition and the juxtaposition of elements.

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Antiquerra, Spain revisited

 by Victoria Morris Ekelund on 12/31/2009 8:06:15 AM
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Here is an interesting progression I have been working on when not feeling like painting on the works in progress lined up in my studio. I went through some of my older paintings and found the painting below in the stack. I have always had a warm spot for this particular piece even though I have never been satisfied with it. The original plein air piece is at the bottom of this post. I added the dumpster back in - and using the photo reference, changed the shadows. I also added the vehicles and lamppost for more visual interest. Feels more complete. The version above I did in 2007 trying to salvage the scene, but I think I did more harm than good, and taking out the dumpster and the driveway just left a very bare and boring foreground.

I was in Spain painting a few years ago and the bus stopped atop a knoll over looking Antiquerra. We were literally parked next to the city dump, but there was a wonderful view of the town. That view was a bit overwhelming to me at the time, and there were 60+ people lined up to paint it, so I went back to the bus to find some shade. The door to the "hold" was open and provided a great seat with shade, but the only view was of the end of this little street with a trash can. So that is what I attempted to capture. My relative relationships were not very good, to say the least. I had run out of film (hadn't gone digital yet) so I borrowed someone's polaroid (now this is seeming very dated) and took a not very good photo of the scene.

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October 24th Critque

 by Victoria Morris Ekelund on 10/29/2009 7:10:16 PM
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Today I went to the Saturday class of The Masterpainting class; I have not been in quite awhile and today was the critique for the months assignment. I did not do the assignment, but I did want some paintings critiqued. I did bring in an assignment from last spring that I didn't get feedback on as well.
High, Wide and Lonesome, 36x18 inches. Simplify. Too much going on. I asked if I should force the middle ground back further and he agreed. Simply the road by taking out all the break ups and value changes and give it more gradation, from darker at the bottom edge to lighter at the crest; Simply the wedge of hillside on the left side to be more one value; Accentuate the Jeep Wagoneer so it is more the main focus by making the light edge lighter and the highlight on the rear edge more intense and unifying the shadow shape with the wood panel (ie, tie it in by bluing it) and lighter trim. BUT he said, on the other hand, if he saw this painting in a gallery in Santa Fe, he would think it a very good painting as it is. He just wants to push me.

The Lockkeeper, 15 x 30 inches. Unify the shadow side of the lockkeeper and tie that shadow shape into the bike and the cast shadow. And also unify the shape of the light hitting him. Again, he said it is not much that needs to be done but that would strengthen the painting overall. I could also try lightening the gravel road first to see if that helps. Loved the background.
On the Beach, 20x 16 inches. I am close to this being a local tone or front lit approach. Since I was going for front lit, I am going to keep it there. Very little needs to be done to "complete" this painting. Lighten the green boat's flat plane facing the light, lighten "Oliver" so that it is not the same value as the sand, but not too light since it is a canted plane, and all of the tops of the boats around the rims to match the value of the white/pale green boat in the rear.


Painting without a name, 10x16 inches. I brought in my B&W photo of this painting to show him what I was aiming for but knew I was missing completely. He agreed with my assessment of it being a "who cares" painting. He suggested looking at some Richard Diebenkorn books to take it in a more abstract direction. I like this suggestion. He said the composition is strong, the light, medium and dark patterns are interesting, so do away with the detail that I was getting to involved in. ie keep the shapes flat and accentate the graphic. The name of the is village Semur-en-Auxios, and is located just off the main road between Dijon and Paris.
Grand Lake Regatta, 16x12. This painting was actually done as a class assignment from last spring on Local Tone. I am still not there after 4 tries. He said to take it to light and shadow would be easier, but I really want it to be local tone. With that in mind, I must darken the light strip of water to read with the foreground water. I must lighten up the sails and take the warm patch out. Keep the value cool. So, back to the proverbial drawing board. I am determined to get this right. Not because it will ever be a great painting but for my own edification.

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