A few weeks ago I attended a lecture given by Scott Christensen at the Denver Art Museum. The price of the lecture was museum entrance, so that was a bargain. I have a membership. I had no idea going in what to expect, but it turned out he was going to try and answer the Question: What makes a good painting good? To try and answer the question, we first watched a film from the Lincoln Center of a "lesson" in music using Bach's Italian Concerto. We learned that Bach transcribed Vivaldi's violin concertos to learn "to think musically." (I would liken this to an artist copying from a master's painting in an art museum over and over again) And through the Italian Concerto, which was written for a harpsichord only (concertos were typically written for a solo with an orchestra) we learned how Bach did it using the left hand as the orchestra and the right for the soloist; truly fascinating. And a lot of the same terms that were used in describing Bach’s method in music also work for art, i.e. composition, variety, chaos, relationships, order, repetition, modulation, balance, unity and variety. I.e. Too much repetition leads to boredom and too much variety leads to chaos; that subtle shifts are needed; that the difference between great and average is infinitesimal and yet very great indeed. That Bach created tension and variety without being chaotic. He simplified to bring order out of chaos. This ties in to what Kevin seems to be hammering into me, which is to simplify!
Scott Said there are three "p's"...Preparing, i.e. learn drawing, composition, values, tones, relationships (the broken record for aspiring artists); Practice, i.e. do lots of studies and don't think about painting (where have I heard this before, maybe Mark Daily?) and Playing ie where the preparing and the practice come together.
A few things that Scott mentioned that resonated with me in particular were 1. That he had just been to an exhibit of John William Waterhouse paintings; that a few things struck him as very interesting indeed. One was how you could see the strokes of how often Waterhouse had reworked or changed an area to get it to work the way he wanted (I LOVE this as it is always heartening to know how the masters struggle just like we all do) and that out of this whole exhibit, 5 paintings kept drawing him in. That to him, a painting that stayed with someone or kept bringing them back, was a “good” painting.
2. That we have all “seen” a great painting waiting to happen while driving. You stop, you go back, and the scene is gone. The thing is, you saw it at “a glance” while you are driving, but you stop and everything is just there. The scene is overwhelming and the light isn’t what you “saw” at all. So the point is we need to trick the brain and glimpse, not over observe, while painting outdoors and bring that back into the studio as well.
3. What Scott said about saturating the market with our art; I had come to the same conclusion a few months back. We are in such a hurry to be "out there" and we rush around slapping together paintings instead of taking time and really formulating what it is we want to say. I personally was caught up in trying to have enough to post in my blog so that my viewers would not get bored and forget about me between posts. It is hard to compete with the Daily Painting blogs where artists post a painting a day. Small paintings, to be sure, but still it is hard for me to do that working during the week at a day job. I then came to the conclusion that I had to follow my heart and hope the rest would follow. I have slowed down considerably and painting larger forces you to do that anyway. But it was good to hear him say that. When you think about it, Vermeer only had about 35 or so paintings that are attributed to him, but what paintings they are.

And I thank Marie for inviting me to join her at the lecture, not only was it a good time, and new ways to look at "composing" but lots of artist friends were there as well.

The above painting was accepted into the OPA National Juried show that will be held this year at the Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. I have been a member of OPA for about 6 years; this is the second time I have submitted to one of their shows. I was rejected from a regional show a few years ago, so I did not expect to get into the National show. So right now I will have High, Wide and Lonesome starting on a national tour begining in Oklahoma next month with the Paint America 100 show, two plein air paintings going to the Nomades del Artes show at Southwest Gallery in Dallas, TX, opening April 2 and this one to AZ opening the end of April. This all started because I read one of those short artist spotlight articles and the artist said his one regret was not submitting to national juried shows sooner. So here I am, starting to submit to more national juried shows. It takes time and energy and effort, not to mention having a body of work to choose from, all of which are in rather short supply with this particular artist. But as a friend of mine at my day job says "baby steps."

 This weekend saw some work on the road which included putting the winter refuse from the tress in and working on the big shadow (snow and melting snow) in the middle of the alley. I did not get a lot of time in on this painting this weekend but not because I have lost interest, which was my fear. The above update was done on Saturday. I also dabbled on a few of the WIPs (works in progress) that I have all over my studio. (to see one that I think is just about done: Deadheading: before and after)

I finished blocking in this painting yesterday; it is 3o x 40 which is ambitious for me. This is being done from photo reference and the painting I did a few weeks ago: Alley Scene off Harvard Gulch Park. I have not touched the original alla prima painting wanting to keep the freshness of the brushstrokes and the angles I played with. I must remember to keep that going in this piece; my husband had to remind me to knock the telephone poles off kilter, which you can see I did do, but I think they may need a bit more of an angle. I am going to try and post photos of the progression of this piece as I paint it.

 What made me want to paint a brown paper shopping bag you may ask. While sitting in the Saturday class a month ago, Kevin was telling us the next assignment; to paint a large field of one thing and try to make it interesting. His examples were painting a landscape where the majority of the painting is just a field; or take the side of a building, but make it the major force of the composition. Paint this large expanse of one color and make it interesting. Sitting on the floor while this was going on was a chiptole burrito take out bag, which, if you are not aware, is a more vertical brown paper bag with black graphics and a handle on it much like this one. The juxtaposition of the bag and where it was on the floor and the lighting made me think, why not paint a paper bag? All one color and a large field with the handle to break up the space with good shapes. BUT, once I got started, I realized there really were too many plane shifts on this bag to fit the assignment. It is not yet finished, as I want to put the logo on it - a clothing store. I have no idea where I got this bag, but it sure was a fun project. And there is so much variation in color in just a "brown" paper bag! Painting is always an adventure.

Here is a painting I have been working on for a few months. I had set my camera on the table at a local Bistro called Z-Cuisine. The flash had mistakenly gone off, which caught the attention of one of the patrons. My camera was initially pointed at the second table, but when I turned the flash off, this gentleman was looking right at me as I clicked the shutter again. I thought the interplay between the two tables came out well. Four people, three different things going on. The original reference photo has more light on the figures, but I went for a more local tone approach. That way, I could focus more attention where I wanted it.

The man looking up is viewing an art piece that is the chandelier. It is interesting to note that the majority of people who have seen this piece, think they know the man looking at the camera.

This holiday season saw a few things happening that have kept me from doing much computer work. First, we signed a contract to remodel our kitchen, with work to start on Dec7. The next week, on Thanksgiving Day, my laptop died. I just could not focus on replacing my laptop with having to move everything out of the kitchen and keep some of it handy for use during the two week remodeling. The second week into the project, my husbands car died. I have not had the inclination to do much in the studio, with having to make so many other decisions. That is not to say my mind and brush have been idle. Just quieter than usual. I did go out and paint on Christmas Eve Day, at my favorite little park. I am not overly thrilled with the piece but I was blinded by the light reflecting off the freshly fallen snow. I am not making excuses, just observations. I will post it for everyone to make their own assessment. Now that I have a new laptop up and running and am using the trial version of photoshop CS4 for a month, I will get some photos taken.

I also have been reworking some older pieces, all of which are in varying states of "work in progress." On that note, I would like to post from an article I just read written by Ron Riddick.

"As a great teacher once expressed to me "no great masterpiece ever just hastily happened." There was great searching, questioning, working, reworking, caressing, redefining and patience."

Through my reworking of older pieces, I don't expect a great masterpiece, but I do learn so much and I can't help but believe, I have improved both myself and the painting. In sharing both my triumphs and my not so successful works, I hope to strike a chord within each of you. We are all "works in progess" after all.

http://autumnpaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/ Notice that I won Judge's Choice award for my painting High, Wide and Lonesome. I am honored to have been one of the few chosen and to know that my "voice" or view, resonates with others. Artists from all over the world participated in the Facebook challenge. What fun!