Tag Archives: oil painting

A studio by any other name is still sweet

12 Monday Dec 2011

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In my life, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a “studio”.  It may have been a box of art supplies that moved around a tiny dorm room or apartment – wherever I could find a corner to work – but it was still a studio nonetheless.

a corner of a very small guest bedroom/den/office/studio

Doesn’t really matter where it was, as long as I could paint. Notice that the furniture is covered with sheets in the photo below.  I wasn’t always very neat.  But I also often had a vase of flowers nearby.  Just for the mood.

corner of the dining room

I often went out to my screened porch to paint. Lovely. This was one of my favorite places to paint…

porch

…sometimes, even in the snow.  There is something about working on a summer beach scene with snow on the ground outside.  Art can transport you anywhere, and any season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was another one of my favorite painting spots…a third floor room that was away from everything.  It was a converted attic that was perfect for painting. I loved looking down on the world from this space, the true artist’s garret. Now if it had only been in Paris.

The attic studio. I loved looking down from the window.

When we moved to the caribbean, it was often hard to find space, but I managed.  If I didn’t use a corner of the dining room area, I would take over the guest bedroom.

Ready for visitors...a guest bedroom in the caribbean.

It converted quite easily, and the sea breezes were great when they weren’t blowing my canvas over.

Bed one day, workspace the next

any spare corner will do

The only problem was moving everything when guests would arrive. But that was an easy solution. A small price to pay for having great space.

Finally back in the states, I had a room all my own, and the work started in earnest.  I was now a full time painter and the space reflected that.  Age has its advantages.

The clutter of many ideas

I loved being able to put things that sparked my creativity everywhere in the room. What a luxury.  This was very special space, and it looked out over a perfect garden.

My current studio is the the best ever, although I tend to say that about each new space. But this one is very special. It was even designed as an art studio, and the north light floods the room.  I spend most of my days in this creative space without any regret.

all materials at hand

and the perfect natural light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It really doesn’t matter where I work.  Once I start painting, I get lost in the creation process anyway, and most of the time I am totally unaware of my surroundings.  I call it going in to the zone, and from what I gather most artist’s experience it.  There is a moment when you lose yourself totally in the work and the world disappears.

But this studio is sure nice to return to when I put the brush down.

My 4 favorite art materials

14 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, England, Grasmere, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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Of course you should know by now, if you have been following this blog, that I love to make “pictures”.  I am driven.  Put a pencil in my hand and somehow I start drawing wobbly lines.

I have always thought it is curious that people who don’t think they can create art say “I can’t draw a straight line”. Neither can I.  My lines swirl and gash and streak, but very rarely go straight.  Every once in awhile I do a piece featuring architecture and have to concentrate on edges and angles,

Metropolitan Spring, oil on canvas, private collection

…but more often than not, the lines move in waves and swirl around the paper or canvas in organized abandon.

Wave #9, oil on canvas, artist's collection.

Finding my inspiration in England is perfect for my style of movement and emotion.  The whole countryside seems to swirl with energy.  I am never more pleased than walking in the country with a breeze blowing and a faint mist in the air.  Of course those days of pure sunshine in England are also nice, and I have experienced my fair share of those.

An early morning walk in the Lake District near Grasmere

I have created art for more years than I can count, and I thought it might be of interest to talk about why I chose the mediums I do to work with.  We fine artists all have our personal favorites, and like old friends we become very comfortable with them knowing their strengths and accepting their weaknesses.

1. Oil Paint – this has to be my all time favorite.  I am sure one of the reasons is that the oil painting studio is where I spent the majority of my artistic time at University.  I must admit I never did well with stretching the canvases, but I loved the glistening, smooth paints gliding over the surface.

My paint box in sweet disarray

The variety of color is inspirational, and if I add a touch of linseed oil, I can layer the pigment in a way that bits of color from each layer shimmer through.  It dries slowly so at different stages I can either mix other colors through the layer if it is still wet, or put a sheer layer over the dry so it comes through. It is such a forgiving process.  I can change my mind a thousand times, I can stroke it or scrape it or pile it on. (See my post Art on the Move to see how that works)

Metropolitan Spring in the studio

Everytime I look at a display of those tubes of paint in a store or catalogue or online, I am like a child in a candy store with too many choices.  One of my favorite parts of beginning a painting is choosing the colors. Sometimes wanting to try a unique color palette will drive my subject choice.

2. Pastels  – I was in Yosemite National Park in California on holiday by myself many years ago (before MBB) and I decided this was just too good to pass up, art-wise.  I had no art materials with me (I have since learned and never go on holiday without at least a good sketch pen) so I went in to the art supply store in the center of this gorgeous valley.  How considerate of them to sell art supplies right in the park! There on the shelf, right next to the Ansel Adams calendars, was a set of pastels and a small sketch book which I thought would be easy to put in my pack.

My current pastel box. The choices of color are limitless with blending!

I spent the entire vacation trying to figure out how to use the things, and finally realized if I layered the colors like I did the oils and blended it with finger, eraser or other tool, it had a wonderful effect. Pastels have become a true friend.

A wild color study of a flamboyant tree done in pastels, collection of the artist

3. Conté – this is a intriguing mixture of compressed charcoal or graphite mixed with a wax base. Conté crayons are most commonly found in black, white, and sanguine tones ( a blood red that is perfect for accenting areas).

It is harder than chalk (almost like a soft pencil), but can blend like pastel.  I remembered using it in school when quite young, and when I noticed it on a shelf of an art supply store, I thought this would be fun.

Pineapple, private collection

It works, again, with the same layering and blending technique I use with oils and pastels. I can build up my layers, blend them on the paper with the edge of my eraser, and then easily add sharper detail on top.

a conte drawing on colored paper

4. Pen & Ink: If you read my post, The Art of Sailing, you can understand why I love pen & ink.  With a small sketch book in my pocket and a pen, I can capture the world as I walk through the countryside. It is perfect for those English days when a camera is best kept in your pocket.

I have always used pen & ink as a sketching tool, a way to recall what I have seen rather than a finished medium, but I keep thinking I will explore it more one day.  It recalls Rembrandt and Durer, and I am always surprised how one small innocent tool can create such a variety of effects with marks and cross hatches and swooshes (a technical term for letting your hand go wild with pen on paper).

If you’ve ever thought you’d like to experience making art, just try it.  There are so many materials to explore.  And, who knows, you just may find a new way to express yourself and make friends with your own favorite material.

Look at my website for more of my art.

 

Art on the move

10 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in Art, paintings, Uncategorized

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I am getting ready to transport some paintings down to the Admiralty Gallery (www.admiraltygallery.com) in Vero Beach Florida for the start of their season.  This beautiful space facing the Atlantic on Ocean Drive has graciously represented me for several years now, and it is always exciting to start a new season with them.

This year I have tried a new form of expression in oils – abstraction.  But the essence of all of my paintings…nature based, energy and motion, color play…is still evident in these works. It has been liberating to do a less “realistic” color palette, but, I must admit, I miss the more immediate connection to actual representative art from nature.

We’ll see where it goes.

Dusk, 28 x 22, oil painting

As usual, all the new pieces are based on my travels.  In the wave series, which I have explored for over 7 years now, I found the inspiration at various locations from the coast of Great Britain, to Portugal and Spain, the Caribbean Islands, and Maine.  (You can see more of these works on www.patwhitehead.com) This particular piece, Wave #26, was based on waves I had seen in Florida on a reference expedition.

Wave #26, 36 x 24" oil

 

When I decided to take on abstract painting this past summer, I found that the technique that I had used on the wave series was the same here. I first decided on a composition based on something I had seen, then started to explore color and motion within that framework.

In Horizon, I had initially done a small pastel sketch of wave motion, always looking at the underlying tones of highlights and shadow.

pastel sketch reference

Horizon, 12" x 16", oil painting

 

 

It is interesting to see the underpainting steps that lead up to a more realistic “wave” painting and compare it to one of the abstract paintings.  I still struggle more with the abstracts.  There are so many more options for color. You’ll see what I mean:

Step 1, “Wave #27” – I wanted a bright undertone to these waves, and to immediately establish the motion of the surf.

Step #2 – I rough in the color palette on top of the underpainting. Because I use a mixture oil paint and linseed oil on the top layers, they can be transparent and show hints of the layers beneath.  Also, I often scratch the surface to reveal these different layers.

Step #3 – I begin to add highlights and detail–more layers.

Final – notice the strokes blending the different layers, and other colors being added to put emphasis on certain areas. At the very end I add spray detail.

Wave #27, 24 x 18", oil painting

 

When I began on the abstract, First Blush, I was concentrating on a band of pink flowers I had seen.  I made the undertones of the background dark to highlight the brightness of the pink.

Step #2 – I was still torn as to how dark I wanted the background area to be, and I was having some difficulty removing myself from the detail I often paint.

Step #3 – After many days of going back and forth, I decided I wanted to really emphasize the pink with a lighter, fresher background, and show much less detail. The emphasis was to be on the feeling of lightness.

Step #4 – I still wasn’t happy with the contrast although I loved the movement and soft tones. The solution was to go even lighter on the background, add more subtle motion in that area, and really pop the Rose Madder color.

 

Finally, I got it just where I wanted. Sometimes the real beauty is found after much struggle. And sometimes you just trip in to it.

"First Blush", 18 x 24", oil painting

 

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

26 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by in Art, Gardens, National Trust, paintings, Travel

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Of all the gardens I have visited in England, one of the most beautiful and original has got to be Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Located in a rural area of Kent, I found it quite by accident after coming across a small documentary about it on television years ago. I put it on my list as a “must visit next time we are in England”, and the next time we were in England, we rambled through the countryside east of Tunbridge Wells and found it near the village of Cranbrook on the A262. There, near the ruin of a great Elizabethan house is the spectacular National Trust garden, gently tucked in among the farmland and surrounding woods.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

It was a gray and rainy day (how unusual for England), which was a gift really. The garden was green and fresh, and there were hardly any visitors on that particular day. The history of the garden is fascinating, and many words have been written on the garden’s designers Harold Nicolson, the writer and diplomat, and Vita Sackville-West, poet and novelist. But I was most engaged with the visual richness and complexity of the many garden rooms.

Each time I turned a corner, a new intimate garden would be revealed. And on this particular day I seemed to have it all to myself. My husband was game for awhile, but finally retreated to the warm, dry restaurant located on the grounds, and left me to explore at my leisure. He was happy, I was happy.  Win, win.

From Vita’s solitary tower in the center of the gardens I looked down on her secluded world and got a new perspective. I could see the few visitors weave through the paths under their bright umbrellas. Occasionally they would meet. This was the inspiration for “The Encounter”, an oil painting I did in the year following my visit.

The Encounter, oil, 36 x 48", private collection

"The Encounters" inspiration

Another tower view

Perhaps one of the most interesting “rooms” to me was the white garden. It is magical and serene, especially in the mist.

 

In the painting that I did from this enclosure, I inserted a mysterious figure moving through the garden. I also increased the moodiness of the scene. I could only imagine past visitors finding their way through the mist to the rose arbor. And I wanted it to look like dusk, when white gardens look their best.

"White Garden", oil painting, 30 x 24", artist's

"White Garden" inspiration

After leaving the white garden, I moved outside the “rooms” in to the fields beyond and found the most glorious apple orchard. The red fruit was bright from the rain, and weighing the branches down. It smelled delicious.

It was all there. Another painting…or two.

"Apples I". oil painting, 7 x 5", artist's

"Apples II", oil painting, 7 x 5", artist's

It is so fascinating to me where new inspiration for art comes from. I can travel and wander for days, and may not find anything that truly inspires me. And then all of a sudden, I find a Sissinghurst. It just strikes me immediately and ideas for paintings roll through me.

I still like to return to my quiet studio and let the idea “cook”. But I immediately know when I see it that there is a real visual to draw on, and I always make notes, whether with my camera, or in a sketch book, or on a scrap of paper. When I begin the work, it all comes back in a rush…the sight, the smell, even the sounds of the moment when I was actually there.