Studio Sign

The sign went up over the front door.  2009 marks our 30th year in Vermont.  

Over the last 6 months, we have been building a studio.  The skylights face north, so the light is cool and consistent.  It measures 24'x28', and it is large enough so I can teach.  Prior to this, most of my teaching was done out of state and in the form of "workshops".  Now, with the studio, I can set up a weekly schedule, as well as workshops for serious students who want to learn to paint in a realistic manner from life. 

..and back at the studio...

...Meanwhile, back at the studio... I love summer, and this set-up says summer to me!  This was painted in one day.  It is an oil on panel that is 12"x24".  When you have fresh fruit, you have to paint quickly or else fruitflies have a field day.  My first session on a painting is generally my longest, and consequently, most important, so I paint as long as I can before the light fades (natural north light).  This is where I get my forms, colors, masses, and rhythms set.  Anthony VanDyke (17th century, Flemish Old Master) is credited with saying:

Endeavor as far as possible to complete your picture alla prima, because there is always plenty left to do afterwards.

To me, this is very true and logical.  It also keeps your work fresh and the fruitflies at bay. :)

Lake Champlain

Yesterday was a perfect summer day.  So, we headed in to Burlington to paint along the shores of Lake Champlain, New England's West Coast.  Looking across the lake, you can see the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.  Jack set up in the shade (very smart) and chose a long view.  The clouds were magnificent and changed continually, so it would have been a good day to just paint clouds, too.  You can see the start of his painting with his toned panel, not yet covered by paint,  at the bottom.  We always paint on a toned canvas. 

I chose to paint the shore, where the light, that was filtering down and hitting the rocks, caught my attention.  When I forget my mahl stick, I use my left arm as a mahl stick.   This helps to steady, or brace,  my right arm so that I can make more precise brushstrokes.  

Painting with friends

Painting with other artists is always fun.  Recently, Jack & I had the pleasure of painting with Jeffrey Freedner, who also studied with Frank Mason.  We set up overlooking Boyden Winery in Cambridge.  The farm field has a lovely dirt road that snakes its way down to the Lamoille River.  Jeff really caught the movement and a nice sense of depth.  He also has a blog:  www.jeffreyfreedner.blogspot.com.  

He has a great hat that keeps his neck from too much sun, and it offers good protection against those sneaky mosquitoes!  

Drawing at the Swimming Hole

When we painted and drew here the other day, it was gray and started to rain, and we returned home before I was really "finished".  So, my plan today was to go back and try to finish, or clean-up and tighten-up a bit, my other drawing.  However, when I arrived sun was hitting my tree, and it was so lovely, that I was inspired to do another.

Drawing can tell you alot about yourself.  I discovered, or I am beginning to realize more and more, that I draw more like a painting.  I am attacted to the light effect and the movement, more than the details, and I work from the general to the specific, as I do in painting.

Again, I am using my sketchbook (Fabriano Quadrato Artist's Journal), and I am drawing with pencils and white chalk.

More Drawing & Painting at the Swimming Hole

Jack & I decided to go back to the swimming hole in Jeffersonville.  Jack usually works on one of his plein air paintings for several sessions.  He works slowly and deliberately, carefully thinking out his form and light, while modeling and drawing with the brush.  This is the third session with this painting.  Working this way, he has to return to the same spot, at the same time, so the light is the same.  

Big Easel

We got out early this morning, and Jack took me to a place that he had painted in early spring.  The weeds were over my head, but we managed to get to the little brook with the view of Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont.  The space was pretty limited.  Jack had a large canvas, so he took his "big" easel.

This easel was owned by Thomas Curtin, who was a friend of my sister-in-law, and was an artist who had lived in Cambridge, VT.  He had passed away in 1977.  Before he died, he gave the easel to my sister-in-law to give to us.  It is a Gloucester easel manufactured by Oscar Anderson, and it is a very ingenious invention.  It is very simple, and Jack's paintbox and landscape palette fits nicely on the v-shape in the middle.  The canvas is sits on pegs, and the top of the canvas is held by a stick.  

Jack is working on linen with an oil priming, and it is 24"x30".  He will go back several times to the same spot to finish the piece.  This was just the start.

I am working on a small gessoed panel, and instead of getting in the big mountain, I decided to concentrate on the bank just across the brook.  You can see that my landscape palette box is held onto my easel by a small bungie...works great!

Here is a close-up of my palette box.  I need to fix it up a bit now.  When I mix a fresh palette, I can keep it in the freezer, and this will keep the paint from drying out.

Landscape Palette

Sometimes I use a smaller easel, which is lightweight, compact and good for camping trips.  When I use this easel, I do not bring my normal "landscape palette" box, because it is too large. So, I came up with the truncated version that you see here.  The colors shift prismatically, as well as in value, which I find very useful.  

Jack was smart and painted in the shade.  

Drawings

I decided to do more drawing this summer, so while Jack was painting this morning, I took out my trusty sketchbook and drew this tree.  It is done with pencil, a little ink and it is highlighted with white chalk.  When it started to rain, we packed up.  I may go back to try to finish it.  I have painted an oil sketch in this same spot, so now I am trying to do a little more detailed drawing, which will enable me to do a larger studio landscape, using my plein air sketch and the drawings that I hope to accomplish.

Make Art

The local swimming hole in Jeffersonville, with its little waterfall, is a great painting spot.  Early in the day (especially a gray day) is quiet, whereas later in the day (if it is hot and sunny), the place is packed with bathers.  Jack took advantage of the quiet to paint here.  

You can see his set-up, with his "landscape palette" of premixed value scales.  Premixing a palette gives you control, as well as freedom to explore color harmonies.  It also enables you to paint quickly, which in outdoor landscape painting with its ever-changing light and other challenges (bugs, wind, rain, etc.) is important.

Our local art supply store came up with this bumper sticker.

Modes of transportation

With summer finally here, outdoor landscape painting (plein air) goes into full swing.  Jack's favorite mode of transportation is this old Helix (Honda) scooter.  It gets over 70 mpg, so it is very economical. You can see his easel strapped to the side, his basket with supplies, and he built a special box to carry the wet painting, which goes in the trunk.

Jack

With the arrival of spring, we are in the midst of a huge snow/ice storm (of course).  Because of the storm, our Thursday group decided not to meet, because we all travel some distance to get to Stowe.  I was pretty sad, so Jack agreed to pose for me.  This is the alla prima that I just did.  Maybe, I'll try tweaking it a bit, if I can get him to pose again.  He reached his limit for sitting, and I didn't press it.  I just realized that  I've only painted Jack a few times, but it was usually a picture of him in the act of painting , and not a head study.  It is funny how time slips away.

George

I'm working on this still life...well, I've been trying to finish it really.  I just replaced the lettuce which had wilted a while ago, as well as some tomatoes,  and started painting, when Roy showed up needing me to babysit for George.  So, I got out my trusty backpack!  Truly, the backpack is the best gadget ever invented.  Well, maybe that's a bit strong, but it sure is handy.  I used this backpack when I painted  with all of my kids.  One more thing...you are never too young to start art training...look how interested George is. 

New Developments

The painting group at Dee's this week held many surprises.  The model was great.  I try to move around the room so that some weeks I have rim light, sometimes side light, sometimes three-quarter, and sometimes flat light. I chose to paint flat light this week. Flat light is always difficult, but it is good to battle it out and try.  Remember, there's work in brushwork!  So, my brain had a workout, and I'll post the results tomorrow.

At one of the breaks, one of the other artists asked Priscilla the ages of her children.  She answered, "Violet will be 4 years old in June,  Emma is 16 months, and NEW BABY IS DUE IN NOVEMBER!!"  What a surprise!  Boy, was it hard to keep my mind on painting.

Yes, I love painting, but I really love being a grandma!  Besides....there will be more models!  

So, here it is by the end of the session.  Trying to figure out where to put the bow is tricky.  But, I will put it in carefully when it is dry.  All in all, it was one of the most entertaining painting sessions ever!  

Jeremiah

Here is my start.  I wiped my first attempt out and flipped the canvas to do a horizontal for the second attempt.  This was probably 20 minutes.  Frank Mason always said that you put down everything you know in about 20 minutes, and in many ways that is true.  My initial lay-in hit the pose I wanted as Jeremiah played song after song.  It was interesting to note that watching him play and trying to get the gesture was better than when he "froze".  The pose, then, became very stagnant and less interesting.  Alla prima painting is sort of like gesture drawing...actually it is gesture painting, which is drawing with the brush at its best.

More pictures from Dee's studio

There's no instruction.  Each artist works in his/her own manner.  Here is Jack.  He is painting with oil on paper.  Our model this week was a local musician named Jeremiah, another one of Priscilla's friends.  He's a fiddler, and he played the entire time.  It was wonderful.  Painting a moving target is no easy feat.  Occasionally, he would "freeze" and we would scramble to try to get in those hands before the bow started moving again.  

Dee Macy's Studio - Stowe, VT

Our Thursday group has grown to around 11 artists.  We meet at Dee Macy's studio in Stowe.  Every one splits the model fee and just paints.  Priscilla has decided to paint instead of model.  

Dreadlocks

After posting the painting of Charles, I decided to add this painting that I did of Priscilla with dreadlocks.  I probably painted it in 2004.  It is also an alla prima painting on panel.  This was the original "Stylin'" painting.  If you go back to the beginning of my blog, you will see me painting Priscilla again in the same theme.  The dreadlocks were gone, but the curly pony tail worked.

Our group on Thursday painted our first male model, Charles.  He is a musician from Bakersfield, and one of my kid's friends. Enlisting models seems to take a standard course...first you get family members and then talk friends into posing. Charles had never posed before, but being used to performing, he didn't mind us squinting and staring at him. It is an odd fact, but there are probably more kids in Vermont with dreadlocks than in most other states.  Yes, 2 of my 5 children wore them at one time or another, and I must admit....they are fun to paint!  This, again, is an alla prima oil on panel.

Head Study

Here is another alla prima oil that I painted during one of the sessions in Stowe.  It is fun to complete (or at least try to get as far as I can) a painting in one sitting.   I am convinced that in order to keep learning, I need to do quick studies like this and then slow, carefully conceived and constructed paintings.  As long as an artist can stay on a learning curve, she/he will continue to improve.  Painting can be frustrating at times.  There are always times when you seem to hit a plateau....and then.....Bingo!  You have a break through.  Advice to self:  Keep painting!

Still Life Revisited

I did a little glazing on this one:  the background, bowl, berries and print.  I might do a little more, but I don't want the painting to get too picky or overworked.  So, I will put it aside for a while and think about it.

Another Alla Prima

I thought that it would be fun to do a painting with my granddaughter, Violet, and my daughter, Priscilla.  Violet had her little easel set up in my studio.  Priscilla was on the other side of her 2-sided easel, painting a picture of Violet.  Somehow, I forgot how hard it is to get kids to cooperate.  So, the painting kept morphing.  Priscilla started looking more like me, and Violet stopped posing altogether.  This was a one-shot attempt, but I think I will try to keep working on it.

Alla Prima Study

Recently,  I have been painting with 5 other artists in Stowe, VT.  We meet at Dee Macy,s studio which is large enough to accomodate all of the easels, painting supplies and a model.  The model takes a pose, which is repeated for 3 hours.  In that time, we all paint like crazy.  This is the result of one of those sessions.  It is an alla prima oil of my daughter's Mother-in-Law, Nancy.  This is one way to solve the expense of  hiring a model.  All of the artists pitch in to pay the modeling fee.  This would have been one that I would have loved to work on just a little longer.  Perhaps, we can get the model to pose again, but it was a fun study, at any rate. 

Still Life

Here is a little still life that I just started working on when I had to stop and take care of my grandchildren.  When I got back to it, it was too dark to paint in the studio.  The next day, the paint had dried.  I prefer painting wet-in-wet where I can manipulate the paint and carefully work out my forms, modeling and editing as needed.  So, I had to re-work the entire surface.  I need  to finish this painting soon (the berries are getting a little spoiled).  The actual vase has a blue print, but I refrain from putting it in until I am satisfied with the form and light.  When the paint is dry, I will carefully apply the blue.  In this way, I can keep the print very clean and crisp..

Margaret Hampster

There are times when our children do some pretty strange things.  My daughter invented Margaret Hampster,  an odd character , who has become her pseudonym.  She poses as Margaret when she hosts the Community Calendar for a public access television station.  Margaret is never seen without her "mink".  This painting is a work in progress.  Margaret, of course, is wearing her "mink", and she is holding her "pearls" (which I haven't painted in yet).   This is the first portrait painting that I have tried under electric lights.  I never paint under artificial light, but in order to get the model...I had to work at night.  It is certainly different than under natural light, but I am still having fun.  Hopefully, I can get back to working on it soon.

OK. One more old photo. Here is Jack painting outdoors in 1975. This was during the Art Students League days, before moving to Vermont. We used to take Frank Mason's Landscaping Painting class every June in Vermont. It always struck me that an entire group of artists would put their jobs on hold, go to Vermont, and take this month long plein air workshop. It was intense, and we worked really hard. The classes met 3 times a week: one was a sunrise class, one was a sunset class and the other one was a class where you brought in work that you did on your own for the critique. We would spend the entire month camping out, on the land where we now live, and doing landscapes. It was a lot of fun. Frank, who is now 86 years old, is still teaching this workshop every June, as well as still teaching at the Art Students League. He imparted a love of painting from life that has left an indelible mark.

Here is a view of the north wall in 1983. Paintings used to hang all around the room. The cabinets are now along the north wall under the window. We heated the studio, in those days, with a wood burning stove that stood in the middle with a long stove pipe, that vented to the outside, just above the window. It was pretty cold in there, and it took a while to get toasty. You can see a homemade easel and Becky is peeking out at the bottom left of the photo. This picture has good light (no flash). The light is soft and the shadows are luminous.

Here I am in 1983. The baby is my son Daniel. You can see the still life set-up and the painting. We painted a lot of hexagons for a while, and this one is on linen. Another table for still life is set up on the model stand, which is on the east side of the studio in the photo. This picture, too, was taken with a flash, so you are not getting the real light, which was very dramatic.

Here is a picture of Jack in the studio in 1981. He is sitting on the model stand against the south wall. Note that this is pre-water heater and pre great shelf. We used to have paintings hanging all around the room and stacked along the floor. You can see the door to the outside, which is on the east side of the studio.

Well, here I am in 1981. The baby in the backpack is my daughter Elisabeth. As you can see, some things never change.....I still paint and hold babies at the same time (see the first photo at the beginning of my blog). My old easel is holding a still life that I did that year of nasturtiums. Behind me is the south wall of the studio with the door that leads into the house. The studio was a cream color then, and we didn't envision having to have so many shelves and storage racks. You can see another one of my casts on the wall. The camera had an automatic flash, so you are not getting the real "studio light".

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the Winslow Art Studio in the 80's and 90's. We only have a few pictures to share. Obviously, this is before we had a digital camera . This first picture is of the sign we hung on our garage in 1980. Yes, Jack made the sign.

Studio Photo Explanations

Since one commenter requested photos of my studio, I quickly took several shots and posted it below, but I didn't have time to give a commentary....so... here we go: We built the studio when we moved to Vermont in 1979. It is attached to our house, and it is 16'x20'. From the doorway (bottom photo), I am looking towards the north side, where we have a big window that starts about 8' off the floor. This gives us great light. North light is constant. It doesn't change, and since we paint basically paint from life, and we are painting an illusion of light, the light on the subject (flowers, people, whatever) has to be the same. Jack built the cabinets,that you see under the window, around 1990. Our growing collection of props and materials are housed behind these doors. On top of the cabinets, you can see some of my casts.

My easel (present this year) stands on the west side of the room. You can see my still life table with its faux marble top and painting storage racks below. Jack built this, too. I set up still life here, as well as on the dresser to the right of this. So, my light usually come from the above right, unless I get to set up on the other side of the room. Jack also built the painting storage racks to the left of the still life table. Storage is a problem if you are a prolific painter.

On the east side of the room is Jack's easel with a landscape that he is working up from one of his plein air studies. The study is on my old easel which is to the right of this. You can see our skeleton, some pigments, a model stand which is covered with boxes of mat board at the moment, and another storage thing with props in front of a door to the outside.

On the south side, there is a shelf that runs across the room with more stored paintings, and yes, you guessed it....Jack built this, too. You can also see our water heater, the huge frame that was on one of Jack's large paintings that hung in the store, some mahl sticks and a dart board (go figure). The quote that runs along the bottom of the shelf is by J. M. Whistler and reads:

As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight.

Since I consider myself a poetic realist, this quote says it all. I love quotes and have them around the studio for inspiration and help.

So, that's my studio...somewhat messy, somewhat disorganized, somewhat corny, but with dramatic light that lends mystery and importance to somewhat ordinary objects.

Studio