2019 Painting Classes

 We covered a lot of territory this winter in the Painting Class:
we explored different under painting ideas, negative painting, and also things more concrete - like how to paint glass, metal and flowers.
The top 2 photos, painted from the same reference show one on a black under painting, the other on Magenta.  Changing up an under painting is an easy way to give a piece just a little bit different vibe.


The Pear and the Cardinal were both exercises in Negative painting. Notice the LARGE dark and light shapes in both pieces. This is where negative painting, or painting around shapes, creates detail by breaking up the shapes in a way that is often more sophisticated than layering paint on top of paint in a positive or additive way.
This is a technique used a lot by the best watercolor painters.


The bottom photo shows our study of glass
and things massed together using both positive and negative painting.
Flowers are great practice for painting things that are grouped,
and that have a lot of detail.
My goal is to create a sense of massing and detail with out actually painting that detail but by allowing it to appear in the eye of the viewer by using negative painting to break up the large and small shapes.
Click on any of the photos to view them larger.

The Tuesday Night Plein Air Show

Colorado summer means fabulous sunsets. In Painting Class last Tuesday evening we enjoyed an especially stunning progression from afternoon to night.
After painting on the river we stood around until 10 - just enjoying the beautiful evening.
If you opted to stay home - you REALLY missed it.
The paintings here are my take on the last 2 weeks of class and the photo shows painters waiting for the setting sun to break through the clouds after a brief shower.

A couple of Tips for painting sunsets:
     >The BEST color in a sunset happens AFTER the 'sun-ball' has dropped below the horizon. So- while the sun is high, use the time to lay in a simple foreground and by the time the sun drops - the landscape part of the painting should be DONE - or at least roughed-in. 

     >Good cloud shapes make good sunset drama. During the winter we practice sunsets in class but there is no substitute for actually observing the movement of clouds to anticipate how cloud shapes will develop in the great outdoors.
In one evening a hundred sunsets can pass by - you only have to paint ONE.
     >Don't let early evening weather discourage you. The BEST sunsets come after a rain and clouds are what make it.
Our summer Plein Air Class has learned that rain at 6:30pm can lead to an evening of beautiful sunsets at 7:30.  Patience is key. 

2016 Santa Fe Plein Air Festival

. . . And I am going to be there;
all week - painting the 'Enchanted Landscape' -
actually, all over New Mexico,  with about 40 other juried artists - painting en plein air.  We will be in Santa Fe, along the High Road,
at Ghost Ranch, Abiquii and Chimayo - these great spots are all on the agenda.
The show will feature almost 100 plein air landscapes painted during the week and awards will also be given.
I hope you will join us Thursday evening, June 9th,  5-7 pm
at   InArt Gallery,  219 Delgado Street
for the Opening Reception of this show - in beautiful Santa Fe.

Class Notes: Magic Complements

Working with complements is a great color mixing exercise. Complements are 2 colors that are directly across the color wheel from each other.
They also serve as the simple version of the "How to make BROWN” recipe,
and part of our color mixing vocabulary:  “to mute a color - add the complement.”
Sounds so simple - but as my students know - there is nothing simple about color mixing. It is the artist's lifelong quest - with piles of "icky colors" left in our wake.
In class, I look for constants where beginning painters can go to feel safe.
If you look back a few posts on this blog- I ask the question “What color is Brown?”.
I ask because students ask. That whole range of neutrals,  from warm (brown) to cool (grey) - how does a painter mix them?
COMPLEMENTS - is the simple answer-  that is not so simple.

In class we use a classic Limited Palette:
Lemon Yellow  (cool)
Cad Yellow Deep (warm)
Cad Red Light  (warm)
Alizarin Crimson (cool)
Cerulean Blue  (warm)
Ultramarine Blue, and White (cool)

In our discussion of complements - students scratch their heads-  Where on our Limited Palette are those magic Complements ?
What?  Do you mean I have to mix the complement of yellow or red or blue?  - And by the way there are 2 of each here- which one do I use?
Good questions.
Answers are: You are right - “complements” do not reside on our Limited Palette,
Yes, -  you have to mix them from what we have been given,  and as to Which one to use - well, both.  
Huh?
I already hear the wheels turning. . . . some students will think about just buying a tube of something that complements a pigment on the Limited Palette.  Hmmmm. . . .
But wait. Put down that supply catalog;

It is a wonderful fluke of pigment karma that we have a set of genuine complements in the Limited Palette listed above.
No mixing, no hard decisions about warm and cool, blah, b-blah, b-blah.
Our go-to complements are Cadmium Red Light and Cerulean Blue.
I won't take time here, to discuss their precise characteristics - suffice to say - if you are trying to mix anything from a warm neutral (BROWN), to a cool neutral (GREY) - start HERE.
The last few weeks in class we have examined, experimented and played, using JUST these 2 pigments.
We have experimented with landscape and with still life.
Everything posted here was painted with only 2 pigments: Cadmium Red Light and Cerulean Blue and in all of the paintings we get intense color as well as a breadth of beautiful neutrals.
Try this exercise at home using ONLY  - Cad Red Light and Cerulean Blue, and white  - you will be surprised at what you come up with.

Judith Greenwood painted the sweet piece at the top in acrylic.

Class Notes: Oh, those Summer Nights

Last Tuesday night our class painted out north of town and about 7:30 the sky opened up and we enjoyed one of those WOW sunsets that goes from beautiful to fabulous to amazing - in about 15 minutes;
and about 15 minutes in -
it occurred to me - the complete presumption of trying to capture this wonder of nature. I painted as fast as I could in the twilight and really didn't want to look too closely when I threw it into the pizza box. The next morning I saw it was covered with bugs - silent testimony. . . .
to an evening well spent.
      This is the last week of the Summer Plein air Class.
Tuesday Evening at 6:30pm  we will meet on the south side of Carroll Park for sunset and mountain views.
Thursday Morning at 9am we will meet at the corner of Third St. and Poncha, behind Safeway for street views with lots of trees and shade.
     Summer will be gone before we know it.  Painting out is one of the best ways of making the most of this short season and stretching it out just a bit farther.
And the show in the sky last week had to beat whatever I could have been watching on TV.

So. . . .what did you do on your summer vacation?

Every summer my painting classes head to the great outdoors.
For the evening class this summer I chose locations with long views specifically so that we could work on sunsets.
In the Studio Class we work on "sunsets"- as an element of the landscape and I have found that practice and a little study about: cloud shapes, sky color, landscape values, and low light painting can go a long way in preparation for the actual outdoor experience.

My personal feeling is this: cloud shapes MAKE the sunset. Sky colors and a quiet landscape help to make it all work but if the cloud shapes are dynamic and an active compositional element- then the sunset will also appear active and dynamic.

Everyone in class improved their plein air sunsets and I found my self much more comfortable doing what used to be very intimidating.
The time frame for a sunset is SO short - if you only do one plein air sunset a year -  it can be like trying to catch a tiger by the tail;  the results are seldom pretty.

I did a bunch this summer as practice and most went off wet to galleries where they sold rather quickly.
These are only a few - all are plein air, and all are pretty terse.
The last is 9x12 and probably my final plein air sunset of the season.
This winter I want to make larger versions of the studies and next summer do much larger work en plein air.
Practice, practice, practice.

Class Notes: Painting The Evening

We are into the summer "monsoon" season which brings afternoon and evening rains to Colorado. This can be trouble for evening painters but if you are patient sometimes the sky will break apart with amazing late light effects.
On this Tuesday night our class met north of town, in what used to be a dairy. This spot has given me great long view paintings of Mt. Blanca and in the other direction, flaming sunsets over the San Juans.

One thing we have observed about early evening painting tho',  the sun seems to linger high in the sky - so it can be difficult to anticipate just WHAT the light will do as the sun sets and where the best scenes will be. We stare into the sun, block in landscape shapes, it feels hot like high noon, then bam - the sun drops suddenly, daylight vanishes and you are caught trying to frantically capture the most fleeting light.
This evening was just like that. Rain had come and gone all afternoon and clouds flew around the sky. Here Lara and Judith struggle with glaring afternoon sun while trying to make decisions about how to proceed. 

Richard and I set up looking west to the horizon where a bank of clouds sat blocking any sky.  It was a gamble but I was just betting that the sky would break apart, lighting up the clouds for a nice sunset - and it did.  As it turned out tho'- the best stuff was going on in other parts of the sky: rich alpen glo on Mt. Blanca, virgas that looked like fire falling from the clouds and distant thunder heads catching light from a sun long set. It was one of the most beautiful evenings - ever-
an unfolding drama that just got better and better. Painting aside, I was thrilled just to be out to enjoy it.
On the bottom is my piece from the evening.

Coni's Road Trip Winds Up on Canyon Road

The Plein Air New Mexico paint out culminated in a wonderful show at the Mark Zoeller Gallery on Canyon road in Santa Fe on Friday evening August 3rd. Standing room only most of the night created a very festive atmosphere and a lot of paintings went out the door. My painting from Fort Marcy - 'High Hat over Santa Fe' also sold- yay!
Mark Zoeller also opted to keep selected works of his choice to continue to hang in the gallery through the high season. My two paintings: "Hyde Park" and "From Bahada Hill" were part of that group.
This was a fun and successful trip. Santa Fe is a great town to spend time in but I will be glad to get home; and in 2 weeks I head to Rocky Mountain National Park for the Estes Park Plein Air Event. I think I am ready.
'High Hat Over Santa Fe', 8"x10", SOLD.