Category Archives: sketching

Cows, twilight and a moon

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Art, England, paintings, sketching

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It is the first day of spring today with a forecast of snow tonight…climate is on my mind.  What better way to deal with it than to escape to the perfect English landscape on a summer’s day.

This is the Cotswolds in England a few summers ago, just south of the lovely village of Tetbury, and this scene was the view from our bedroom window at The Hare and Hounds Hotel.  The next morning we were going to tour Prince Charles’ Royal Gardens at Highgrove House which is nearby.

As I watched out the window, the sun began to set, the cows barely moved across the field and the moon rose giving everything a magical quality.

I added the traveler peering over the wall, decided to decrease the size of lamp and have the edge of the wall in the foreground disappear a bit into the rich grass.

I refined the sky with the ever-present British clouds skirting the horizon, and added details to the incredible farm buildings in the distance. I watched this scene from my window until just the moon lit the sky.  The cows didn’t stray far.

Working Title “Moonrise”  oil, 30 x 48″

Will the trees still be here tomorrow?

06 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Art, Bath, England, Gardens, paintings, sketching, Travel, Uncategorized

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I think about the destiny of the natural world for the next generations. With the climate change prognosis so uncertain, I worry that we will miss the window of opportunity to protect such diversity and beauty. I hope it is not slipping away.

My two young grandnieces are the future. They love the outdoors and see it all with that new sense of wonder so common in the young.

I had visited Bath, in the UK, a few years ago in November, when the leaves were falling and everything had a muted, mysterious end of season look to it.

Walking through the botanical gardens, I came across these birch trees, hanging on to their last leaves, framing a gorgeous color palette of greens, rusts and gold.  I had noticed a woman pushing a baby carriage earlier and decided to place her moving in to the distance of this scene.  My nieces, Lilly and Abby, became my models from a photo their mom had taken in a different setting.  I placed them in to this park, put fall jackets on them and had them enter this special space.

This was a difficult one to get the sense of shadowed uncertainty I wanted, but still keep it fresh and hopeful.  I hope I succeeded.

Note my last, final changes in the small details.  There is always a moment when I am not sure I am finished and spend time, often days, just looking, thinking, looking again at other artists work (Doig, Wyeth, Wiesenfeld, Celaya) and making those final decisions that mean it is finished.

I added a leaf over the girls’ head, and a falling leaf between them and the viewer, changed the tone of the green lawn, some subtle rays of sunshine and edited Abby’s hat to be smaller and less “matched” to her jacket.  I was finally finished telling the story.

“Will The Trees Still Be Here Tomorrow”, oil on linen, 40 x 30″

 

 

Children at the Museum

31 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, England, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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A few years ago, I was in Cambridge and saw a museum scene in Cambridge of children relaxed and attentive on the floor of a gallery, contemplating and studying the art.

A patron asked if he could commission a new version with a similar vibe since the first one had sold this past summer. It was a familiar scene I have seen over and over again no matter where I go, a classic…students immersed in the art. So I took it on, trying to be original but capturing the fun and excitement of young students visiting the museum that had worked so well in the former painting.

I chose The National Gallery of Art this time, in Washington DC. I never have a total preconception  of what I will paint.  I always figure I’ll know it when I see it.  I knew I wanted young children in school uniforms visiting a museum. I found lots of school groups.  But not the age I wanted. So I kept looking.

When I walked up to the museum on an early weekday morning reconnaissance mission, I was pleased to see a group of children, in uniforms, sitting on the curb outside the museum.  I had my potential reference, at least for poses and styling details.

I  went in to the Museum, and walked through the galleries trying to decide on the art I wanted to showcase. When I walked in to the gallery with the vivid colors of Caillebotte, I made my choice, and shot several photographs of different angles.

Then for the school group.  I found the children again, and took enough photos of different poses from the back so as not to identify them, to get positions and poses.

I went home to sketch and realized I still wasn’t sure  about proportions in the space.  So back to the Museum for an hour or two of watching children come in and out of the room to determine height and proportion in relationship to the art and room. Perspective was tough.

Finally I had it.  I looked online for different uniform combinations, and decided on the blue, gray and black to compliment the colors in the art.  And only then was I ready for the weeks of sketching and painting and playing with colors and shadow.

Luckily, we were all pleased with results.  More often than not I try to capture models in an actual scene and then change them enough so they suit the scene.  Much easier than the cut and paste method, but with perseverance, this worked out well.

“Child’s Play”, oil on linen, 24 x 30″

Hidden Away

15 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by in Art, Bath, England, paintings, sketching, Travel

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My newest painting “Behind The Hedge” came about a few seasons after I visited a charming village near Bath, England, called Castle Comb. This often happens.  I will re-visit images from past travels.  Certain ones always seem to leap out again and again, and finally I find the time to paint them.

A special place stays amazingly fresh in my memory. This particular morning, after a stroll through the idyllic village, I walked past a hedge that was still changing color in early November.  The colors, the hidden cottage and the water rushing nearby all made for a very fairytale like scene. It was one of many hidden gems throughout the small historic village that seems to have escaped changing times.

It took me a few years, but I have re-visited the images of Castle Combe in the heat of a Washington DC summer, and can almost feel the cool, damp air and smell the fire smoke coming from chimneys.

I have been thinking more and more recently of re-visiting some of these English landscapes that I love.

They are so joyfully simple and beautiful. And the foliage and trees, especially for this late fall visit, offer an incredible palette of soothing color.

A magical escape.

“Behind the Hedge”, 14 x 11″, oil on linen

Seeing Red

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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Sometimes an image will stay with me for quite a long time and pop out years later in a painting.  In the case of “Reds” (which I just finished this week) this image recalls a visit to MOMA in New York City in January of 2015. I had gone up to see the special Matisse Cut-Outs show. I was not allowed to photograph in the galleries for this particular show, but of course couldn’t resist a few photos of the happy art lovers waiting on line to get in.

But it certainly put me in the mood for the Matisse room of the regular MOMA collection, and “The Red Studio” has always been one of my favorites there.

The room was not as crowded as it sometimes is.  Maybe the Matisse lovers were in the special cut-outs exhibit.

But when I saw these three young girls, all in shades of pink…they just reinforced Matisse’s monochromatic palette filling his canvas and pushing out from the edges.

Whenever I would re-visit my favorite reference files of photos from museum visits, I would stop and linger with this one. It’s been tacked to the wall in my studio off and on for the past two years.

The figures seemed to mimic the happy floating objects in Matisse’s studio.

I wanted to keep the loose joy of the master work without directly falling into its style.  But, these three figures really are simply a perfect extension of the composition.

Reds are tough.  And Matisse’s red is such a specific shade, which I actually felt I could never quite capture, although I layered it many times trying.

But the sense of vibrancy and movement is there, and extends into the surrounding room.  How can anyone not be happy in the presence of a Matisse.

“Reds”, oil on linen, 30″ x 24″

 

Life in Venice

14 Monday Nov 2016

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On our summer trip to Venice, we were overwhelmed by the crowds of tourists pouring through the narrow passageways and squares. The canals were no better.

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We finally found peace in The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, an oasis in a wild world. I observed two visitors who also found this retreat magnetic.

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This museum was the art patron Peggy Guggenheim’s former residence.  Both the interior and exterior views were fascinating…therefore, Looking In and Looking Out, two small 10 x 10″ canvases that capture my experience in some small way.

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The interior was room after room of exquisite paintings that this intriguing woman had collected over her lifetime, set in the quiet rooms she lived in. And yet when you went to any window, or stepped outside on the patio facing the canal with its boisterous traffic of gondolas and commercial boats, you saw the craziness of the Venice world through the most beautiful dark black grill work.

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These two small works are little oil sketches I did exploring the two sides of this fascinating museum.  If you get to Venice, put it at the top of your list.

Teach your children well

20 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Travel, Uncategorized, United Kingdom

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No matter what museum I am in, in any city, I will almost certainly see a group of school children visiting the galleries with their teachers and often a docent from the museum.

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The Art Lesson just happens to be a scene I witnessed in the UK, at the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University. But it could have been at any great museum.

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The Museum itself is imposing, and when you enter you see cavernous ceilings, long halls lined in marble and a beautiful and eclectic collection of paintings.

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When I first walked in to this gallery of impressionist paintings, there was an energetic group of children loudly roaming all over this particular space. But they soon calmed down and took their place on the floor in front of the paintings. And there they stayed surrendering to the art.

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The casually relaxed children were clearly in stark contrast to the formal gilded trim and marble columns.  But with a certain intensity, they finally found peace with their surroundings.

 

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I could relate to these children.  I have often wanted to sit on the floor in front of a great painting and just let the images speak for themselves.

Winds of Change

21 Thursday Jul 2016

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It has been a year of great movement.  And as usual my work in the studio tends to reflect what I am feeling emotionally towards my small world and the greater world beyond it.

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I have been working with the City Series for over 4 years now, especially the museum scenes, and I am still drawn to its theme of finding solace and refuge in a world gone mad.

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But I have also been thinking of other peripheral themes, including seasons of change and life cycles.

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I have no idea where any of this is going yet.  And I tend to be a bit distracted when going through these thought patterns with my art.  But the thinking never stops.

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This was an image I discovered in the mountains on a morning’s drive near Little Washington in Virginia, right after we first moved.  I’ve been thinking of these new images ever since, and how much they connect with images I have seen in England. Finally “Autumn Burn” popped out on canvas.

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Autumn Burn, oil on linen, 14 x 11″

If I were Queen

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

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I have always loved John Singer Sargent’s work. I have a book of his watercolors on my bookshelf which I refer to often, but his oil paintings of figures I search out to see “in person”.  So when I had the opportunity to see “Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last summer (2015), I jumped at the chance. His colors are so rich and his figures look so grounded, graceful and comfortable in their own skin.

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I was lucky when I was at the exhibition.  It was busy, but not overcrowded.  I was able to spend quiet time with some old friends, and make some new ones.  I had never seen Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth which Sargent painted in 1889.

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Ellen Terry was a famed Shakespearean actor in London. Sargent had seen her performance in the role of Lady Macbeth and she agreed to pose for him in costume.  The robe was of green silk and blue tinsel adorned with thousands of beetle wings which created an iridescent effect. The colors in the painting were magnificent, highlighted by the gold trim, the impressive gold frame and the crown (which she never actually held over her head this way in performance…a dramatic pose devised by the painter). I decided to put an undercoat of gold to exaggerate this golden tone.

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When I saw the woman with the red locks and red-orange sweater tied around her waist approach the painting, I knew I had the proper audience that would connect directly to the painting. The stunning red braids in the painting looped with gold were mirrored by the young woman in front of the painting.

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I darkened the skirt of the woman in the background on the right, moved figures in the initial sketches to create the dramatic “V” from the foreground to the painting and the red-haired girl. After days of working on Lady Macbeth’s robes with translucent layers of thinned paint, I then worked on connecting the painting to the viewers with the reflections on the floor.

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The last stage was refining the details in the red curls of the museum guest and placing a glowing reflection around her, while making the other figures less defined.  If I were Queen was finished.

If I were Queen, oil on linen, 18″ x 24″, showcasing John Singer Sargent’s Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1889, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition

 

 

The Assignment

28 Thursday Jan 2016

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The has been a very transformative year.  We moved north and have settled in a loft-like condo in the metro DC area.  I moved my studio into my every day living space.  And we just made it through Snowzilla, The Blizzard of 2016.  I do love an adventure.

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I started The Assignment right before the holidays when I was just settling in to my new space.  I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out painting in an alcove off the living room. I had been so spoiled by my private studio space over our garage at our last home. But we opted for more urban living and downsizing went with it.

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Heck, after months of turmoil moving everything in to storage after a quick closing and looking for a new home, I wasn’t sure if I could remember how to draw, let alone create a painting that I would love. When I am away from my art for too long, I always doubt my skill.  This time was no different. It never gets completely comfortable, thank goodness.

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But slowly I started craving my studio time again.  I took the metro in to Washington DC to The National Gallery of Art to see if that would shake up my creativity, and as I wandered through the elegant galleries of the west wing I spied Agostina by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.  I remembered when I had been in front of this particular painting a year ago, and a photo I had taken for future reference. I keep huge files from my museum wanderings.

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I went back home and reminded myself of what I saw.  Four women were deeply involved in the painting, notebooks in hand. But they weren’t writing they were looking and thinking…not a cell phone in site. I love these women.

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I guessed they had a common bond in their assignment, but they also were alike in their obvious interest in the art. I could sense their thoughtful contemplation.  They were each so different, yet they had a bond.

As I snapped away a man came rushing past the group.  The perfect foil for their quiet study.  They were at rest. I like to think I know them, although I can’t really. While I was painting them,  I became part of the group, and we were all communicating with Agostina, a very soulful image.

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Agostina Segatori was a famous artists’ model and the proprietress of a cafe in Paris in the second half of the 1800s.  She obviously knew Corot who painted this portrait and sat for Manet, Delacroix and Dantan. Van Gogh mentioned her in two of his letters.  It is believed they had a relationship in the spring of 1887, and he painted two portraits of her.

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And so these women of the twenty-first century connect with this enigmatic woman of the 19th.

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I love art museums where worlds collide in peaceful harmony.

Note:  After a quick run back to The National Gallery of Art to look at the work again, I realized I had made Agostina too bright.  I went back to my studio and took out some of the Disney princess aspect of my original attempt.  Although I don’t pretend to copy the works exactly, I think this version looks closer in mood to the master work.

 

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The Assignment, oil on linen, 40″ x 30″