Grand Canyon Work: Small Endeavor for a Day

While taking a lunch break today, I watched a little of Charlie Rose's program with Chuck Close and Richard Serra talk about creativity and the brain. A woman artist was not part of the discussion, which I thought would have added to the conversation. I mean, the male brain and the female brain are different from each other we've learned. How so, scientifically, as it relates to creativity? Historically men have been heralded as leaders in art. So, what do women artists' brains reveal in relationship to art and creativity? Well, it was interesting that Chuck Close said, and I paraphrase, that inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. While that seems flippant, it is true that we have jobs to do. I like to think this way too--do the work, surprises happen, new ideas emerge. I'm endeavoring. 

This week, I'm working on "The Beast" again--the Grand Canyon painting that I've been working on since 2008 (48" x 72"). This is one new section. Of course, it brought back wonderful memories of going there, standing there, dazzled by a sunrise on the rim. I surely hope I can finish this painting soon! Grand Canyon Image © 2011 Melinda S. Esparza Plus, I am delighted that this small work: Evening Light Catalinas (5" x 7") sold this past week. What a boost for this artist. Evening Light Catalinas Image © 2011 Melinda S. Esparza Okay. Lunch break over. Wishing you all a productive, happy discipline in the studio!

Imagine and Paint

The dog days of summer are starting to get to me. It's hard to know where these experiments are coming from, but here's another one. It's an 8" x 8," on artists' board. Untitled.

I read once or twice that not having a defined style can be the mark of an immature artist. Then again, I read a few more times that an artist with several approaches is one that merely has a diversity of styles. You can probably guess where these two perspectives come from...and from where they don't.

Naturally, I like the second observation. This painting is a landscape straight from the tips of my fingers, using up paint from the tube, wondering what would happen if I didn't have a plan--kind of a challenge from an artist who usually likes to have one.

"Recurrent Bits of Form"

In Art & Fear (David Bayles & Ted Orland), the authors talk about the ritual of artmaking and how we all discover ways to keep ourselves headed toward the studio and toward the making of more art. 

If you are isolated in the studio, as most of us are, I'll guess that you've found that super-imposing small, but, significant tricks or rituals assist you in overcoming the many distractions of daily life. The whole focus is to get into the studio without feeling guilty, creating freely and happily! 

Bayles and Orland wrote, "We use predictable work habits to get us into the studio and into our materials; we use recurrent bits of form as the starting points for making specific pieces." That rings true for me. When I've been blocked in the past, I'll super-impose a dictum that I can work only on Tuesday and Thursday. Of course, on Monday I want to paint and on Tuesday, I do not. However, if I stick to this, eventually Tuesdays and Thursdays are exciting days I look forward to. 

What is so intriguing about the authors' reference to recurrent bits of form, is that the familiar methods we use in our approach to the canvas are also solid, structural discipline. This series of landscape paintings is my way of re-using elements that I've recently discovered. Repeating them, these bits of form, become like Tuesday and Thursday in paint and brushstroke. Once the structure is built, embellishment and variation, I hope, will follow. This piece is a 9" x 12," oil on canvas, of the Sonoita, Arizona area looking east. What kinds of tricks do you play?

Molino Basin #2 Study in Process

After an exhausting week, I've only got a quick post of another version of the Molino Basin in my new and improved process. This painting is also 9" x 12." I got stuck in step #3 for awhile, but this may be done now. I took a chance on revising a landscape from a few weeks back, too. I think it's better, but sometimes it's hard to tell without a bit of distance and time. This is also a 9" x 12" painting.

 

Quick Study After Many Hours

"Success is not a function of individual talent. It's the steady accumulation of advantages." --from a very smart scientist whose name was torn away when his picture and quote were snagged from a magazine article on talent, luck, and the success that 10,000 hours can bring to anyone sufficiently diligent, blessed, and a little bit crazy, and how they can enjoy the benefits of success as long as they have patient and supportive family members who will help maintain an environment for growth, practice, and occasional appropriate praise, and then, placed on a refrigerator for perusing and meditation each day, as one reaches for the vitamins that sustain the body but not the soul--like paint and canvas and the smell of medium and good Blues music wailing from the boom box in the studio. Whew! (Gee, I love a run-on sentence now and again...) Actual credit to Malcom Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success.

But, I digress. This painting is of an area near Molino Basin at the base of Mount Lemmon. It's about forty minutes from my home. It's a great spot to see the transition between the desert and the Catalina mountains. It is 9" x 12," on canvas. Again, I am attempting to start with the image and then react to how the landscape influences my mood.

...Und Vahlet....Und Vahtch

Put on a sweater, wear long pants. Oh right, don't forget to change from the summer flip flops (white) to the winter flip flops (black). Grab camera, forget dogs, race for Sabino Canyon once again. This time with the pre-paid, displayed, Park tag. Alright. Maybe race isn't quite my style anymore. But, hey. A scientist recently wrote, "The early bird catches the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." Snow on the Santa Catalinas, cool air, crisp blue skies, and the sights and sounds of the desert are so exciting that it inspired a completely different approach this week. Here are the three paintings (9" x 12") My goodness, one painted each day. I chose to simplify and ask how the landscape makes me feel rather than try to capture the stunning sights before me (often, I feel too inept for realism). I took many photos and I've linked a slideshow of them at the bottom of this post.

Into the Wilderness--Plein Air, Sans Weapons

I'm shifting slightly toward another direction this week (I've got a portrait that is developing adequately, but I'm not ready to post it yet.) More on that soon. 

We took a short day trip down Sonoita way (45 miles southeast of Tucson) on Friday. Just before the Border Patrol Checkpoint (have you got your papers in order?), we turned off onto a small, bumpy road and headed west. There was another road about three miles later that led off to some hidden hills. We took this washboard dirt road, but became intimidated by the sign that warned travelers that drug smuggling and illegal immigration could be encountered in the area. 

We decided to park under the sign and set up our pochades. Was it quiet? Sort of...except for the single engine airplane (drug smugglers or law enforcement?), the friendly group of off roaders with the ATV and the man with his two huntin' dogs with subsequent shooting. Yes, it was mostly quiet. We brought along our German Shepherd, Loki, and his fluffy companion, Katie, for moral support, ahem, safety. I wondered out loud, again, about the laws concerning concealed weaponry. Actually, I could be heard blurting, Whars mah gun?! We looked at Loki and smiled, deciding that he's always loaded.

  It was bright and sunny, too. This hill, with its minimalist shape and few bushes intrigued me. I usually make different choices. Mr. artyfice set up across the washboard looking west. The dogs, watered and fed, lounged in the vehicle, at the ready, eyes attentive on the surroundings. As I painted, I asked myself how would Jeffrey Boron paint this? And, what approach would Silvina take? I really like how each of these artists use their brushstrokes and textured paint. Another great reason to visit artists' blogs. I'm still exploring this style. As we passed the Border Patrol officer on the way home, she smiled and waved us through.

New Mexico Light

Although the painting currently on my easel is a portrait, here's a small painting (5" x 7") that I finished about a week ago. I reworked this puppy several times and am okay with it now. Funny how a small painting can almost break your resolve to see it through. Life is just so much better this week, yes?!

Wishing every artist a new start.

Landscape du Jour and Dream of the Blues

A quick study showing process. J. H. Thomas has an interesting approach on landscape painting that fascinated me. My response was to take a 5" x 7" canvas panel and try his method. I'm not sure if the painting is done, but I'd like to think so. I started with a thick covering of cerulean blue and titanium white, followed with the major shape of the mesa with an indian red. Later, I added the mixture of alizarin crimson, french ultramarine, etc., for contrasts. I did use a palette knife and brushes.

  I miss playing my guitar lately. "The Marshall is supposed to be 200 watts, but mine's never worked right; it peaks out at 80."--Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Yeah. This is how I feel. My amp is an old Legend...but, when it works right...80 watts is enough.

Back to Landscape Studies...for now

Working on three pieces in one day? I don't recommend it! Makes you crazy with paint fumes and you can drive yourself so far that your body says, "Hey. You're not taking care of yourself!" Here are two of those studies. I'm liking these two subjects. They provide some dramatic lighting as I try to learn how to transfer impressions into paint. This is proving more challenging than I had thought. I wish I could travel more. Wish I had more energy. I'd paint twelve hours a day. 6" x 8" and 5" x 7," oil on panels. 

Oh, but the critical mind is very, very tough. Reminds me that the more one paints, the quieter that left brain criticism becomes. Yet, even a few days away can limit creativity!

 

A question from Writing About Art, "Who creates 'meaning'--artist or viewer?" Roy Lichtenstein is quoted as saying, "I wouldn't believe anything I tell you." Today, I will consider this to be my left brain's cautionary note...

Windy Point Revised and Revised Again

Something bothered me about this Windy Point study. For one thing, I didn't think the composition was strong enough. But, it has been so helpful working out paint issues that I have added manzanita and touched up other areas. It won't make it into any catalogues any time soon, but, well...that's not the point. Catalogues are for another day. I'll continue to work on it a little.

The following painting is now available on ebay! It's my first offering and I hope you'll visit.

This got me to thinking about another painting I did before my recent study of landscape painting. Here's a painting I did from a photo of the hills south of Sonoita as we were on the way to Patagonia. I opened the photo in Photoshop and set up my pochade in the relative comfort and light of the computer screen.
Feeling a bit ambiguous today. There is a big deadline that is nagging at me, too. I've got three portraits that I'm considering for submission. I'll post them and see if I get any votes.

And...I'm done

I found a couple of other landscape artists on the internet that also have been moved to paint the Sonoita area: Herb Wood; Roderica Tilley, watercolorist. I do wonder how many there are.

Sonoita oil study

Robert Henri said, "Don't worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to," from The Artist's Mentor.

This study was a lot of fun. I had a 5" x 7" panel with a red ground on it. This is the same view as the other studies except this one is worked with Artisan Water Mixable Oils. The question I ask myself a lot is why paint and why paint a particular scene?

Sometimes it's because the shapes and angles just feel interesting. Sometimes there is a personal connection, or the weather is so phenomenal, that it is inviting. This series contains all of the above as well as a desire to learn from the materials. Well then, sometimes I'm avoiding that monster 5' x 4' canvas of the Grand Canyon I've not worked on in a month. © Melinda S. Esparza

Sonoita and Oracle Studies

Here's a quote that I think of often. It probably is the way most artists feel: "I worked in between carpools and buying food and cooking and whatever else I had to do. I lived an outside life, but really I was living an inside life." --Anne Truitt from The Artist's Mentor.

 

Caran d'Ache water soluble crayons are quite the challenge. I think I'll go back to working in oil for awhile. I've got two more studies today. I started by thinking that I'd try to work with the crayons like a watercolor, but that didn't work. Maybe it was the watercolor paper. Maybe, if I'd wanted a watercolor, I should have gone ahead and used watercolor! 

Included in this set, is a study of the Oracle area view of Mt. Lemmon that I did a month ago. Comparing it to the Sonoita Hill study I made today, there really is a different approach. Caran d'Ache is very tricky indeed. Approximately 5" x 6." © Melinda S. Esparza

Journal study

Here is a view of the Sonoita Hills from a photo I took last year. Sonoita, Arizona is about 45 miles southeast of Tucson. There is quite an uproar going on right now about a Canadian mining company that is determined to begin mining in these hills within the next couple of years. This view is very popular with plein air painters. 

App. 2" x 3," on Moleskine paper.