I thought it would be a good thing to look ahead for the second half of 2021 now that the excitement of Independence Day has subsided. What does the future hold in store for my art over the next few months?
Summer
As the temperatures and humidity begin to rise painting en plein air will happen early in the mornings and on clearer days. We’ve had a bunch of rain in the Hill Country over the past week but looking ahead it’s time to get out and take advantage of the nice weather. Last week Ilene and I took a walk around the train at Lady Bird Johnson Park and I scouted some landscape areas I’d like to sketch and paint. Continue reading “Looking Ahead for the Second Half of 2021”
It seems atmospherics have been quite a hit at the Fredericksburg Art Guild for me. In the past, I’ve used the technique I learned from Danielle Lanslots to make almost exclusively 5″ x 7″ paintings. Getting just the right “feel” on a larger scale seemed to elude me.
This technique uses a wet-on-wet technique to add layers of color on wet paper. I use my favorite brand, Arches, and in this case, it’s a Cold Pressed 140 lb paper. Instead of my standard 5 x 7, this painting is done on a 9″ x 12″ sheet.
Most of my pigments are by Daniel Smith and the two primary colors for “Sienna Cabin” are Quinacridone Sienna and Moonglow. Like my hero Bob Ross, I paint mostly from the memory of places I’ve visited in my short sojourn on mother Earth. This could easily be a cabin at Philmont Scout Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico; Brian Head, Utah; or McCall, Idaho.
I really enjoy how the Sienna and Moonglow work together to create browns and the Sienna seems to add light to any painting.
These paintings are truly a joy to paint and will usually take me a couple or more days to add the first layer or two, then wait until the watercolor does its “thing”. It’s at that point that I begin to make out what the painting is telling me to bring out. That’s right, rather than fight the Mind of Watercolor, I’ve learned to go with its flow…pun intended.
I’ve done many of these with just the landscape, mountains, trees, perhaps a bird here and there, but this is my first go at a man-made structure.
I hope you enjoy “Sienna Cabin”. Please comment below and share on your favorite social media site.
Just in time for our 50th Anniversary, the Fredericksburg Art Guild has updated its webpage as it starts its next 50 years, God willing, of serving the artists and community in Fredericksburg, Texas and the Texas Hill Country.
The Guild was founded in 1971 by world-famous artist John McClusky. What started as art lessons above a local store became a place for local artists to not only learn to paint but also a place to display and sell their art.
One of the most ancient forms of art is that of the Christian icon. Orthodox tradition holds that the first icon “written” was that of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (God-Bearer) by the Apostle Luke.
In the days of the Roman empire, while Greek was the common language of the people, many were uneducated or didn’t speak either Greek, Latin, or Hebrew so telling the “Good News” of Christ could be a bit of a struggle. One of the ways the early Church told the story was through icons. It’s also important to note that since Christians view Jesus as equal to God, who is unseen, an icon of Christ, or His mother was an icon of God. In fact, in the Christian tradition, ALL humans are icons, or images, of God. Continue reading “Merry Christmas”
Whether you make art to sell or just to have fun the best way to get better at it is to:
Treat It Like a Business
Now when I say treat it like a business I don’t necessarily mean going to a lawyer and a CPA. You don’t necessarily need an LLC or bookkeeper, but you DO need a business ethic. What do I mean?
Let’s start with one of the biggest challenges new, and even seasoned, artists have…time.
We all want to paint, draw, sketch, whatever, but finding TIME to practice our craft can be a bit dicey at times. If you work a fulltime job, care for loved ones, volunteer, etc. we’re always faced with a time crunch. What to do?
Bring It With You
First and foremost, bring your art with you…if you can. Pretty much every artist sketches whether your medium is oil, acrylic, watercolor…doesdon’t matter. What matters is building the muscle memory for sketching and you can do that anywhere with merely a pencil and a piece of paper.
What’s your inspiration they ask. Where do you get your ideas? I don’t think there’s an artist who has lived who hasn’t been asked those questions. In fact, even artists ask each other where they get their inspiration; why?
Let’s face it, coming up with ideas day after day can be a bit of a challenge for some. As artists, we take what we see around us, process that information in our brainpans based upon our life experience then try to pass along our interpretation based on our abilities and experience. Continue reading “Inspiration”
If you’ve noticed my body of work over the past year or so, you’ll notice that much of my work is of the same subject or subjects. Perhaps you ask yourself why Keith concentrates on one or another subject rather than trying new things…well, that’s what this article is about.
They say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and in some ways we artists are, in fact, trying to imitate what we see made either by the hand of God or the hand of man. Artists take what we see, process that image through the filter of our lifetime experience, then attempt to imitate what we see in our mind’s eye. Continue reading “Painting and Drawing the Same Subject”
Well, I’d hope to have done the second installment of Tools of the Trade this past month but, wow, my motivation level has taken a major hit. Has yours too?
A Chinese curse goes, “May you live in interesting times.” When I first heard it I thought, “Hmm why is that a curse,” but now that we’ve seen over 7 months of 2020 I don’t need to wonder why it’s a curse anymore. Continue reading “Strange Times”
I’m not sure how many of my readers have thought about scratching that itch to draw or paint…I hope it’s all of you because I KNOW everyone can if they’re willing to put in some practice. So I thought this month I’d spend a bit of time talking about some of the tools of the trade when it comes to drawing and painting with watercolor.
Most of us have taken a ballpoint pen or a #2 pencil and doodled on a piece of paper. In fact I can probably safely assume that most of us doodled in the margins of our books and papers in school. That’s how it begins. Seeing the magic we can make with a pencil and a Bic pen gives us the encouragement to go a little deeper. Continue reading “The Tools of the Trade”
COVID 19 quarantine 2020 is over forty days old for most Americans and as an artist I’ve tried working harder and using the time to hone my skills. Interestingly I see where many artists find that with all that time on their hands they feel less like painting.
We began our COVID 19 quarantine back in March when our Archbishop directed that we limit services to no more than 10 people in the church at one time. It came at about the same time as President Trump and the US Centers for Disease Control recommended gatherings be kept to less than 10 people. Continue reading “Quarantine 2020”
