10-17-13 Weekly Watercolor

This week's watercolor is a commissioned piece, so I haven't given it a title or put the date on it. Painting the mountains was particularly fun. The shadows have different qualities: true shadow and shadow with reflected light. Rendering the shadows were critical for giving dimension to the slopes. The time of day was before dusk. The mountain tops are still in full light, yet the same mountains make for an early evening light for the town below. A beautiful setting!
    I'll write more after this painting has been received by the recipient...

10-8-13 Weekly Watercolor

Along the Bluestone, 9 x 4.5", watercolor

I'm thinking ahead to my next show, which will feature people and creatures. The working title is: Earthlings. At the same time, a new style has been percolating. After a couple of visits to the Musee D'Orsay, I've become smitten with some decorative panels by Pierre Bonnard. In these works, Bonnard flattens the natural backdrop and people are decked out in flat patterns that somehow also effectively define the figures.
     So for my Weekly Watercolor, I decided to make a study for a possible work for the next show. At a wedding over the weekend, I spoke with a cousin about my plans for my new work and I also saw a young cousin, and was once again struck by her spunky personality and I thought of how well this scene would fit my new way of working. I made a pencil sketch to work out the composition and traced that off on the watercolor paper (Arches, Cold Press, 300 lb.) This study has already given me ideas for tweaking the composition and is directing me on an approach. Students in my watercolor/pastel classes might recognize this image, as I've used it for a demo-painting.
    The scene here is at Pipestem State Park near Athens, West Virginia, my mother's hometown. The Bluestone River flows through a gorge and you have to take a tram down to the lodge below. We have had a lot of fun family reunions at Pipestem. It is a very special place!

10-2-13 Weekly Watercolor

Morning Work, 7 x 5",  watercolor

I'm home after a trip to visit my daughter in France. It is appropriate to feature a horse for my weekly watercolor. My sister, Jennie Rees, covers horse racing for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Sometimes I accompany her to the track or training center as she goes on her rounds. The easy demeanor of the riders always impresses me. They are coaxing these large animals to be calm, focused and energized all at once.
Gray/roan horses are my favorites.

9-12-13 Weekly Watercolor

Trio of Birch Trees, Cadillac Mountain
watercolor on paper, 5 x 7"

I knew the subject of this week's watercolor as soon as I spotted a trio of truncated birch trees on top of Mount Cadillac. The vegetation was quite striking at the top; the bronzy greens being set off by the pink marble rock. The stark white of the birch bark shone brightly, making up for the short stature of these birches. The dancing, playful quality of this trio was particularly alluring!

9-4-13 Weekly Watercolor

First Fruit, 7x5" watercolor on paper

Once again, I went only as far as my backyard to locate subject matter for my weekly watercolor. I particularly liked the way the shadows are playing in this image. The hosta blooms were an interesting challenge.
     As it turned out, I had to make an unexpected trip out to our lake place and watercolor proved its portability. I simply took the watercolor in progress and used all the "premixed" palettes (left from classes I teach, etc.) at Clover Slope Studio. There was a Copenhagen Blue which was pretty interesting for the shadows. Coming back to Lexington and Fourth Leaf Studio, this blue was diluted with premixed Prussian and French Ultra Marine Blue. All in all, this was a fun exercise.
     Something that came up in my last workshop; one of the participants insisted on using only 3 watercolors, a blue, yellow and red. She mixed all her colors from that. That is a challenge I will try soon with my weekly watercolors.
     This watercolor will be headed for the drawers in the back of MS Rezny Studio/Gallery. You can own it!

Rich Ecology

Lichen and Leaves, watercolor & pastel on paper

I have already written about Sweet Spot Ecology. Today, as promised, I am going to write about Rich Ecology, something I have already touched upon in my profile: There are layers and layers of life, seen and unseen; known and unknown; and in a previous posting: The Efficient Complexity of Nature, 11-12-12. The rich and mysterious complexity of the Earth is captivating. Using a layered  approach to making art lends itself to rendering such a scene. I've been thinking about this rich ecology for a while. David Haskell's book, The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature, revels in this richness and has intensified my sense of all that exists around us. The image portrayed in the painting shown here is from Haskell's woods in Sewanee, Tennessee. As I am writing this, it is the last day for OF the EARTH at MS Rezny Studio/Gallery, where Lichen and Leaves is on view. (Come on down and see the show, you have an hour and a half!)

     Thus, I was keenly interested when my art librarian friend, Meg, lent me a book entitled: From Corot to Monet: The Ecology of Impressionism. My first action was to take in the paintings--they are splendid, of course. I even found a new favorite artist, Jean Charles Cazin. But I was a little curious about how ecology and impressionism go together. It turns out, that my concept of considering the whole of a scene, from the seen and unseen to the known and unknown goes back to impressionism. One of the ways in which impressionism was radically new was in the way that it includes all that is in a scene; the traditional, the modern, industrial and agrarian life, technology and well-established custom. Impressionism came into being as the Industrial Revolution was fundamentally changing life for the western world. Here, Thomas Moore's thoughts on ecology ring true as well. He points out that ecology is not simply about nature, but also about human activity such as the Industrial Revolution, and cultural influences. It is interesting to think about how all of this comes together in the world we live in. It is indeed a complex and sometimes maddeningly chaotic, yet still fearfully wonderful world!

8-27-13 Weekly Watercolor

Sycamore along US 68

This tree is a favorite one that I look for every time I travel on US 68 from Lexington to Nicholas County. I take photos when I get the chance. They are expanding US 68 between Paris and Carlisle and the new lanes will be quite close to this magnificent tree. I hope the roots won't be bothered!
       I chose this scene to work on to practice a technique that I developed while working with participants in my Experimenting with Watercolor & Pastel class. You start with the lightest color (as always with watercolor) and after letting that dry to fill in the darker value background, but start with a lighter value and drop in the color.
      I love the way sycamore shine against a blue, or even gray sky!