Daily Painting Practice - Epitaph for an art blog

The times they are a changin'.

Well it's been almost ten years since I first started Daily Painting Practice.  But everything in life has an ending, and so it is with my blogging.   The ease of Facebook is an evil tonic to someone like me who suffers from LAPS ( Lazy Art Posting Syndrome) and so I find myself surrendering to the tides of technology. 
You'll still be able to find my adventures in art on (My Facebook Page) or (on my website). So please join me there in my blogging after life.

Here are some of my thoughts and some thoughts from a few people I spoke with about the passing of Daily Painting Practice. 

All palettes must be cleaned at some point.
Every tube runs out of paint.
Brushes wear out and so do art blogs.
Never cry over spilled art blogs.
Old art blogs never die... they just get dropped by goggle search.
 There is a place where all good art blogs go.... ( The NSA)


Words of comfort by some friends of Daily Painting Practice.
 

“Well, what can I tell you? Life in the wide world goes on much as it has this past Age, full of its own comings and goings, scarcely aware of the existence of Art Blogs, for which I am very thankful.”-Gandalf

 

 

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the Computer." -Dumbledore

"...Art should be independent of all clap-trap..."  -James Whistler

This isn't the end. Go Paint!-Peter Yesis

Daily Painting Practice - Do, redo, what ever it takes to get it Right

If a painting hangs around long enough it is bound to get worked on again, and again, and again... Until I get it right.

 Here's a painting in progress I posted back in 2012.

 Right off the bat I focussed on how the birches lit up the forest.

 I thought I was close to being finished back then. Two years later...

 it still hung around the studio, I'd work on it then figure I was done...Of course I wasn't. The painting never caught my attention like that first spark of the idea. So I worked on it some more....

Birches 12x16

and now I finally called it complete.  I may have lost the light but I'm pleased none the less. So, how do you know when a painting is complete?  When she-who-must-not-be-named says so.

Cape Elizabeth Land trust Wet Paint Auction

Doing it big.

I was honored to be juried into the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust's Wet Paint plein air event this year.  This was going to be a little different than  other plein air events I have been to.  First, you get assigned a location to paint and to make things even more interesting... you only get to paint one picture for the day.  Then that painting gets auctioned off in the evening. No pressure right?

 
I was told I should paint as large a canvas as possible by friends who have done this event  in prior years.  To me 16x20 was large for plein air.... however, being the brave soul I am I upped my game and boldly went for  18x24.

 We had to get up at 4:30AM in order to drive down to  Cape Elizabeth and arrive at 7:30.  Luckily, she who must not be named  did the driving and I ..."centered myself"  (actually it's called a nap).
 Arriving fresh I scoped out a place in my assigned area ( Danforth Cove) and went to work.  I was so lucky, this place was  beautiful!

  However, the heat was not.   This is a very poor photo of the finished piece I took with my  phone that evening  at the auction. 

 The venue was very nice ... so was the food. To end the day on a happy note...good news ,the painting sold!

Daily Painting Practice - the composition you want... or a surprise

Continued with the painting hoping to  unbalance the composition. At this point I was leaning towards  making the  bird feeder the  focal point.

Tea For Two

16x20

But surprise surprise the hydrangea flowers just kept pulling me back.... so forget everything I wrote about last time.  Flowers or bird feeder... the focal point is out of my control.

Starving Artist Sale -Maine Composition and Color studies -

Starving Artist Sale:
Composition and Color Studies - $200 Framed Free shipping-
To purchase see the Starving Artist Sale on my website (www.peteryesisart.com).

Coastal Study #1

5x7

oil on hardboard panel 

A great way to start a collection.  Composition and color studies are paintings not brought to the same degree of finish as my usual work but do capture the feelings and sense of place I hope to bring to my larger pieces.

Daily Painting Practice - Too much balance in the composition

When is balance in a painting a bad thing?

I knew when I started this composition there would be a point when a decision had to be made. Of course this decision should normally be made before you start to paint, but then my approach is hardly ever normal.

 The problem is the ever sought after and much in demand...focal point. Where does an artist want the viewer's eyes to begin and how long does he want those eyes to remain there? These should be deliberate decisions by the artist. When I have a painting that is weak in composition it is most often because I haven't made a decision about the focal point.

 The analogy is often made that the focal point should be the star of the picture and everything else is part of the supporting cast. Not having a focal point in a painting would be like not having a main character in a play or movie. The audience needs a reason to care or in the case of a painting a reason to spend time looking.

 So here we are right at the point of deciding, two actors are standing on stage, one on the right and one on the left. Who should be the star of the scene?  
It is too balanced, even though the bush is round and fat and the pole is thin and straight, that diversity is not enough . We need a star to care about. So, I must make a decision: the hydrangea bush or the bird feeder? Something must stand back and support the other.

Daily Painting Practice - Caught in the act - Bad habits of an artist.

Caught in the act -

The crime: Starting a painting without thought and with malice toward a canvas.

The Facts:
On the morning of May 20 an artist walked into the studio and began to attack a young canvas. It was primed and waiting patiently for the next stage of its development. Without reason or forethought, and with no explanation, the artist picked up an unclean brush and began using it on the victim. Luckily the artist was caught in the act before he could inflict some real damage.

Warning: the following photo is graphic and disturbing.

When asked, "What were you thinking?" The artist broke down and ran from the studio. He was last seen in the kitchen ... near the refrigerator... Sad very sad.
 

 It could have been worse.  The assailant was caught in time and the little painting is now recovering from the attack with no damage to her image.  It is hoped it will develop into a fine painting.
 Let this be a lesson to all who paint...  
 Remember ... It's a crime to start painting with a dirty palette or brush.

Daily Painting Practice- Paintings for the gallery

There is a lot of prep work  before sending work off to a Gallery.

 Framing is always the most time consuming and there is no way to get around the expense. After many painful experiments with different frames, (and trying to buy cheap) I've finally learned my lesson and will not by frames from art supply companies any more. I recommend not skimping but not going overboard either.

Standardizing on good frames takes a lot of the hassle away. 

The day before is the norm for me to get everything ready to deliver.  First is varnishing each painting, I am trying Gamvar now but in the past I have used Liquin or a Windsor Newton mat varnish.

 Not much room left to maneuver. I also photograph each painting before putting them back in the frames. I hang tracing paper in front of the light to cut down on glare and hot spots while taking several exposures of each painting. Then I need to select the best ones and photo-edit each for the website.

 After this the hard work begins, I need titles... I try but I really am terrible and giving titles to the work. ( I'm of the  "Seascape Number 14" school of thought). However, she who must not be named, has taken on most of my titles... after mine get rejected. 

This one I did name however.

Surrounded

 16x20

oil on canvas

Make a list of which paintings are leaving, give them prices and make sure they are added to the database and website. Then find a box for each one and pack the car.  Then wait by the phone and hope to hear of a sale  or two.

daily painting practice - Maine fog, rocks and foggy rocks

Painting Fog

I find fog so interesting to paint.  The light is bouncing around within the atmosphere, dispersing color all over the place . Yet at the same time it holds everything it touches together.

Rocks on the other hand are an extreme mental excersise for me.  Meaning, that I must constantly think about the surface angles or planes, and figure how the light reacts to those planes.

Ah, but foggy rocks are even more interesting, because the fog softens the edges but reflects the light in weird ways.  It is very difficult to get just the right delicate balance between soft edge and hard edge, weight and atmosphere, depth and concealment when  trying to capture that feeling of fog lifting over the water and the rocks. I paint the fog in very thin layers and wait until the paint drys before scrumbling in another layer, wiping off the paint as much as I put it on the surface.

Painting in progress continues...

Portland Head Light  in the Fog

 

Daily Painting Practice - Portland Head Light a Maine lighthouse

Today's Problem: How do you paint an icon.
I'm not talking about the religious type of icon painted on a wooden panel , I mean an icon of a place. The Portland Head Light located in  Cape Elizabeth, Maine is an iconic image if ever there was one. It is probably the most photographed lighthouse in Maine. Nearly everyone has seen a photograph, calendar, postcard or print of it.  So why am I going to paint it? 

 I have been there many times and painted the surrounding coast line but only a few times have I tried painting the lighthouse. Once, it was foggy and raining and I stood 6 inches from the edge of a cliff to do it.

 Every artist I know likes to eat. Some, more than others, and some  think drink is more important, but the end goal is the same. Eat to live and live to paint....... but we must sell something to do either. 

  Since gallery owners who represent artist's have the same interest in eating, we both make compromises in order to  attract collectors. Sometimes that means painting subjects that everyone has painted before. This is not a new problem that the artist faces but it always brings up the same questions for us. Who do I paint for, myself or a potential collector? 

Portland Head Light in the fog

  If you paint still lifes, ask yourself how many apples or sunflowers have been painted before and by how many artists? Yet, people love and continue to buy paintings of apples and sunflowers... and this has been going on for centuries. 
 
So I have no problem at all painting a lighthouse that is an iconic image... well, I have lots of problems painting it  just not a problem selecting it as a subject.   

And so I begin.....

 

Back to daily painting practice

Back in Business!

After a long absence due to an acute case of blogatosis ( a debilitating disease caused by laziness leading to an addiction to posting art on my Facebook page),  and a long hard winter here in Maine, I am back.  

For my grand re-opening of Daily Painting Practice I will be going back to basics, that means, posting more progress pictures and showing how I develop ideas, what techniques I am using, and as a format for discussing what I find of value in developing as an artist.

While Facebook has been a great place to network with other artists and to display work to interested groups of certain types of art, it is not a good place for descriptive writing, teaching or sharing anything in developmental stages. 

So I will be posting regular (a very subjective word) installments again. Stay tuned ... hello, is anyone still out there?
 

Painting Maine Seascapes - Winter Water

What's on my Easel?

Progress being made on my latest seascape. I really enjoy the process I go through when creating these. The sea has so much movement.  It is  fun to discover ways to capture that feeling. 

 Recently I started trying to condense my values. In this one I did just that. I then added the brilliant warm white near the focal point. I think it works  well. It definitely draws your eye to the center of interest.
Enjoy!

Winter Water 

 work in progress

18x24

Painting Maine Seascape

What's Off my easel  this Wednesday?

Yesterday I decided to start a new tradition of completing all of my unfinished work before the new year begins. So starting at 6:30 Am in the studio I got busy.  There are about  20  paintings I need to  complete. Some  large  like this one and some small (5x7) .

First one. Finally completed.

Clair de Lune

36x48

oil on canvas

available through my website

Painting in Maine - progress of a Seascape

Another edition of :
 What's on my easel Wednesday.

Work in Progress

36x48

Someone on Facebook asked me what colors I used in the rocks of this painting, so I thought I would re-post the early sequence again and go through some of the detail and bring you all up to date.

Here's some of the colors I had on my palette during the process.
Titanium White,
Ultra- Marine Blue, Colbalt Blue, Cerulean Blue,
Viridian Green, 
Naples Yellow, Cadmium Lemon, Yellow Ochre,
Indian Red, Permanent Madder Deep,
Dioxazine Purple
Burnt Umber,  Burnt Sienna

 I started with an under-painting using Indian Red and Burnt Sienna

 Some Viridian Green and White.

 Ultra- Marine Blue under the warmer foreground water.

 There's some Cobalt Blue in the mix now also some yellows.

 At this stage I remember thinking this was a foggy day scene and I was messing around with the idea of adding some angry seagull screaming into the wind...

 Then I added a sun behind the fog... which became a moon.... which cools the water color and darkens the rocks....

So, this painting has been hanging around the studio for over a year getting worked on  when I am in the mood for a challenge. And now I am almost there.... some detail in the foreground and.... of course, I still need a title.

Daily Painting Maine - Flower painting - Yellow Dahlia

Another Composition Study-

Composition Study - Yellow Dahlias

5x7

gouache on watercolor paper
$90

Daily Painting Maine - What's on my easel Wednesday - Mt. Katahdin

What's on my easel Wednesday?

 Witness 

 work in progress

 18x36

Last month was my first trip to Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park.  What a place to paint!!! I did several plein air pieces that day and took a bunch of photos. The morning started so foggy we could not see the mountains but as the clouds and mist lifted and the sky opened up, this is the view I witnessed.

Studies from Midcoast Maine - Flower paintings

My latest experimenting... gouache for composition studies. 

 Dahlias Composition Study

5x7

gouache on watercolor paper
$90

This past weekend I started a new project.  Composition studies on 5x7 watercolor paper. I wanted a way to quickly get my ideas down without having to use oils. If the composition works,  I could choose to develop the idea on a larger scale in oils.  Not only that, they would be available to start your art collection.

  Since I already had sheets of watercolor paper in storage from a past lifetime (when I wanted to paint watercolor like Winslow Homer), and I am a big fan of James Gurney, I purchased some tubes of opaque watercolor (gouache). 

Dahlias Composition Study

5x7

gouache on watercolor paper
$90 

Of course, beginning this experiment meant I would need to try it out on some flowers, and nothing beats an arrangement of dahlias....except maybe marigolds or mums.
Enjoy!

Daily Painting in Maine - What's on my Easel Wednesday

The snow storm last week was a surprise .... so was not having any power for three days.

I changed things a bit and I missed my plan to post each Wednesday. So here is my belated

What's on my Easel Wednesday. Enjoy!

Sea Path

30x40

Daily Painting in Maine - What's on my easel Wednesday

 As I was taking a few  progress shots of new paintings I am working on, I had an idea .  Over on Facebook they have  this thing called  "Throw-back Thursday" (TBT). And people post all these old photos of themselves when they were younger from that box of photos that's hidden in the attic.... it's not for me though.  Those pictures are hidden for a reason.

My idea was to start " What's on my Easel Wednesday" on Facebook.  Then I thought why not do the same over here on my blog? ...Maybe this will get me to post more often....or at least every Wednesday.

Here are two progress shots. Both are about 50% complete.

 No name yet

16x20

The one above is at the block in stage. It's a very simple composition  but I need to see or feel how the  water will be acting before I make a commitment to the final push.

Surrounded

16x20

This one I know how the water is reacting so I need to define the lights and shadows and play with edges. Then I'll step back and see where to sprinkle some  highlights.