Do Learning Hours Count??

"How long did that boat painting take?"

asks a visitor to my studio (or art festival or gallery).

A well meaning inquiry I am sure but one that is impossible to answer

(save the old adage "63 years").

"If I were paid by the hour," I want to reply, "You could not 

afford me."

But I don't.

...a photo of boats, taken on a gorgeous evening off the coast of Naples, after a sketch in acrylic paint I switched to oils and got to work...

Not a terrible beginning but way too blue and I loved the pink sky reflected in the water... the shape of the boats was going to be a challenge....gravity and balance...

... hard to see but a warmer hue to the water and some detail to the vessels...30 minutes of thinking,  better part of an hour executing...ugh, the farthermost boat looks like a leaf floating ON, not IN, the water...and front boat now out of whack....

( An old trick of painters is to turn everything upside down so it is no longer a "thing" but a shape.  It is easier to see the edges of something if you take away its name... a lot of time in this position...not all painting but trying to see where it slipped off the rails.)

A lunch hour spent looking at the piece from across the room...now the composition was irritating me so I paint out the rocks and most of the boat details.  All three need resizing ....

...no guess on how many hours it took to get rocks repainted, boats reshaped and water browned up....my "center of interest" in the front is now a disaster... getting weary but still determined.  I note my investment of time, paint and canvas and return the next day for more work.

...front boat now wider, squatter, and the yellow orange goes back to pink, the dark interior now too dark, whole thing is better suited to two... frustrated...paint palette is a mess (an hour at least of clean up...) 

OK: white flag, 'uncle.' surrender, I give....painting is to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em.  I fold.

As I toss this in the dumpster pile I try, try to think of what this piece taught me, hoping that when I attempt this again I can avoid those mistakes and cut quickly to the chase of capturing the essence of my original thoughts.  

So if it falls together in 3 hours next week do I still get to count the uncounted hours it took to find my way there?

What is the most gracious way to handle that inevitable question "How long did it take you to do this?"

Still Learning,

Cindy

p.s. thanks!  apparently my pilgrimage post struck a chord with many of my "type A" readers...it was reassuring to know that I am not the only one that has to be reminded to lift my head and enjoy the process along the route.  Your comments were, as always, appreciated!

What I Learned in Play

 "Everything I Need to Know...I Learned in Kindergarten" was a tongue in cheek book but loaded with wisdom.  I decided in that same spirit to make a list of everything I am learning by painting with an abstract surface that evolves from "play."  I was surprised at the list, here is a share:

LOOSEN UP BABY!  a dear friend made the astute observation that in recent years one of my personal goals was to be more flexible and spontaneous with my schedule.  Ouch...the pain of practice but oh, the joy of the results.  She pointed out that this exercise was no different.  Either way I was giving up control (perceived or imagined) and letting the flow carry me along.

UGLY CAN BE MADE BEAUTIFUL!  This is not a quick process, while the beginning play doesn't seem to take much time, making the silk purse certainly does.  Sometimes I think the play part is so ugly I want to trash it.  But.  Still.  Stick with it, problem solve, define the possible options and pursue one carefully.

OBSERVATION IS CRITICAL TO SUCCESS! Ever gotten somewhere and realized you did not see half the things your traveling partner did?  A keen, observing eye is important when translating the play into a recognizable thing.  Since much is painted out of your head (from memory) you have no backup other than your brain on how a root hits the ground or a road turns a corner.  Making mental notes is a prerequisite if you are to paint believably.  Observe and observe and observe.

FREEDOM IS A WONDERFUL THING!  Painters are often slaves to the photograph, terrified to move a tree or change its size.  But photos don't always offer great compositions.  I have a blank slate here, nothing to refer to means I can build a barn or insert a river where ever Mother Cindy decides.  Wowee Zowee......

SLOW DOWN, SMELL SOME ROSES!  Another reason this style of painting takes a while is that many, many decisions have to be made and the fewer strokes of the brush you use to make them the more interesting the final product becomes.  I want to leave some of this delightful "play" for the viewer to experience, but how I do that takes time and effort.  Never a bad thing to slow down, think, muse, contemplate alternatives.  It's not a race; it is a process albeit a sloooow process.

LEARN (COLOR) CHEMISTRY!  Unless I take copious notes in my prep/play time (and that would spoil the play no?) I now have to go back and reproduce the colors and hues I used to start the piece.  While this takes patience it also takes a learning eye for color mixing.  Like when bakers know the cake needs more baking powder or less flour, I have to be able to look at a color and know not only what it was made from but how much of each...or at least a way to get there.  Eighty percent of the time is spent in color mixing...even for a "little dab."  The better my eye gets the faster it will be....the yummiest colors are never those that just pop out of the tube (sorry Mr.s Winsor and Newton).

It's not a bad list...for painting or for life.  In fact, the list drives home to me how much I can gain from this process regardless of the art I choose to do.  I'll be sticking with it for a bit...maybe morphing it into my own brand of beginning and seeing where it takes me.  I don't know what path you are pursuing right now but if it is a struggle try making a list of how far you have come already, it really helps you see the progress.

Enjoy your weekend, slow down and observe something new!

LOOSELY YOURS,

Cindy

Experiment, Expire, Exhale, Repeat

OR: Do you still let your inner child out to play?

It was a week of experimentation...sometimes to the point of exhaustion, expiring late at night, remembering to exhale; only to rise and repeat it all.  Growth is hard work, it is not always pretty and it is full of highs and lows.  That is the risk we take when we choose to leave our zone of comfort and learn something new.

a play day with clay to warm up the child inside

Then off to class:

Andy Braitman at work, stretching our boundaries

 Work in progress

Stay tuned for resolution ... or not!

I'm thinking I may stop here and sign this one

 pink mountains, purple trees?  ok, now

I'm loose as a goose...

 Starting to make sense of this-
trying to bring  just a little order to the
pink chaos




The four tubes below are all I can use,
color chemistry: please don't fail me now!

Rapt attention while the master leads a critique

meanwhile, back in the studio....

Have you let your inner child out to play this week?  Let him wander around somewhere not worried about getting clothing dirty or spilling the milk?  Have you encouraged that child to take the risk of failing....and having others see that "failure"?

Did you label that flub-up a disaster or a stepping stone?

Here's to a weekend of getting your hands dirty while you still can, of doing something that may not turn out "right" and of totally enjoying the process  - try squirting that whipped cream directly from the can

into a wide open mouth while grinning from ear to ear. Learning and playing are hard work.

Now I understand why children need their naps!

PLAY fully yours,

Cindy

Why I like to do "series"

People often ask me how I choose what to paint.  To be honest there are about a 1000 legitimate answers to this question and I get so excited by so many wonderful things (colors, shadows, people, techniques, new media, different sizes and so on) that I often find myself bouncing all over the map trying dribs and drabs of many things.  It's like a wonderful buffet tasting where you never feel like you really ate.

Enter the "series."  I choose to paint in series as it keeps me focused on at least one aspect during several passes.  A series can be a group of 5 pieces (or more) or it may be the entire body of work done over a specific period of time.  It can be linked together by subject, media, size, color, title, or...? 

The object (for me) is to keep one thing consistent and work within that parameter hoping to gain some expertise in execution and greater depth in understanding.  I recently finished about 16 pieces on the subject of stones.  Subject matter was my only link to all of the pieces as I played with different sizes, media and techniques.  I varied the composition from realistic to fantasy.  Get the idea?  This method does not engage some folks but it is very helpful for me.  When I come across a composition now that contains a stone, I am giddy with confidence and ready to tackle it.

This does not mean that I am not "allowed" to paint anything else.  I'll never give up my "play time" doing little experiments or not accept the challenges of a group show etc.  It just gives me an outline from which to continue to learn.  It also results in a body of work that is cohesive enough for an interesting show.

I'm explaining all this as I previously mentioned that you would be seeing a lot of trees coming up.  For several years I have collected trees, photos, notes and locations, that had very human qualities to them.  I am loving every aspect of culling the photos, planning the compositions and centering in on the feelings I think these trees are expressing or experiencing.  I hope some of them appeal to you but if not I know I will enjoy the journey.

Also be on the outlook for "Places." These will be smaller pastels of places I have travelled and enjoyed...little icons of the world, or maybe just scenes that tend to capture the mood of the place.
I will be selling these on my website for only $100.00 and that includes the frame, glass and mat!  Such a deal....they will make great gifts by the way.

That's it!  Back to the studio.