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Archives for May 2015

My Favorite Thing/s – Suzie Baker

Suzie Baker · May 25, 2015 · 7 Comments

My name is Suzie Baker. I am one of your OPA Board members. One of the ways I serve is to organize this blog. I’m kicking off a new, regularly occurring, feature to our blog called, “My Favorite Thing/s.” It will be a short, sweet and to-the-point paragraph or two from various OPA artists. They will share their favorite things. Most are finding it hard to narrow it down to just one thing. In the coming months, you will hear from Thomas Jefferson Kitts, Lori Putnam, and Ann Kraft Walker, to name just a few.
I’m going to start us off with a few of my favorite things. There are a few items in my collection of tools that I find indispensable. I use them for my signature in different circumstances. (Isn’t it crazy that we can do a great painting and then get intimidated when it comes to our signature).
Wipe Off Tool: I use this tool to sign my name directly into wet paint, it wipes off the paint down to the tone of the canvas. Great for Plein Air work. This tool can be found at almost any art supply store.
Artist Suzie Baker
Ruling Pen: This is an oldie but a goodie. I’ve had this same ruling pen since I was in my 20’s. I’d panic if I lost it. On mostly dry paintings, I sign my name by thinning down my oil paint with Gamsol or similar. I deposit it into the opening of the nib with the side of a loaded brush and then write it on my canvas holding the pen vertically. Ruling pens can be found in protractor sets or online. Oh, how I love my old ruling pen!
Artist Suzie Baker
Do you have a favorite thing to share? I’d love to hear about it. Please email me at suzie@suziebakerart.com or just comment here. I’ll watch the comments and maybe do a compilation in the future.
www.suziebaker.com

Top 10 Qualities of Successful Artists

Lori McNee · May 18, 2015 · 10 Comments

For years, I have known and worked with many artists who range from struggling to very successful. Although there is no exact formula for success, I have noticed several common qualities that most successful artists possess. How many of these following success traits do you have?

  1. Passion: Art is at the core of their lives and they love what they do. Yes successful artists want to make money, but they are motivated by their passion, rather than by external rewards. If it were all about the money, they would run out of ideas.
  2. Courage: Successful artists have the courage to pursue their passion and their dreams. They are willing to take calculated risks. They have courage and understand that a comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.
  3. Entrepreneurial: Successful artists understand how the art business world works. They work hard and know how to manage their time and how to delegate menial tasks. These artists understand the value of networking with galleries and their fellow artists. Successful artists also use branding, and social media to enhance their business and marketing plan. They recognize that money is a by-product of the value they offer. They follow their dream.
  4. Focused: Successful artists can concentrate. They keep their eye on the mark, and are goal oriented. When their tasks are complete, they continue to come up with fresh ideas.
  5. Evolve: With fresh ideas comes evolution. Success artists continue to grow, learn, and test themselves as artists.
  6. Resilient: They push themselves and know that success requires hard work. They learn from their mistakes and celebrate their achievements. Instead of giving up, they learn and better themselves from the rejection they often receive. Successful artists are problem solvers who find solutions. They are persistent.
  7. Support System: Successful artists surround themselves with likeminded people and those who are supportive of their art career. They do not allow naysayers or unsupportive people to block their path to success.
  8. Excellence: No matter what they pursue, they strive to do their best.
  9. Givers: Most successful artists are willing to share. They understand that the more you give, the more you will receive. They enjoy helping their fellow artist and are open in sharing their expertise with others.
  10. Manifestors: Successful artists view creativity as an abundant source. They are able to manifest their artistic visions onto canvas and their professional dreams into reality.

To succeed takes hard work, but it can be a learned behavior. It’s basically a matter of your attitude, and how you approach your art business and creative tasks. If you want to achieve your life’s dream of becoming a successful artist, hang out with successful artists and model yourself after them.

Kathy Anderson Class

Chris Saper · May 11, 2015 · 9 Comments

Through the generosity of the OPA’s Shirl Smithson Scholarship, I attended Kathy Anderson’s flower painting class at the Scottsdale Artists’ School. While I’d loved Kathy’s work for many years, it was once I’d met her, and subsequently watched her DVD, that it became obvious that she was as skilled an instructor as she is a painter – particularly important to me because I take very few workshops, and have learned along the way that an artist’s excellence at the easel has absolutely nothing to do with whether he or she is a talented teacher.
Having approached the workshop with some specific goals in mind, I’d like to share how they were met from my own perspective as a commissioned portrait artist – things that were different, those that were similar, and how I experienced addressing the challenges. My goals in taking the workshop:

  • To understand the disciplined use of transparent and opaque pigments and the use of washes to get desired results;
  • To achieve the clean color for which Kathy’s work is so widely recognized; and
  • To manage edges in a more cohesive and creative fashion.

Set-up

Unlike some other workshop situations, Kathy had us each select our flowers from a huge variety of fresh planted flowers from a nursery, encouraging students to choose flowers that we thought were beautiful. Although it took more time up front (compared to Kathy setting up our compositions for us in advance), it accomplished several things right away: we each could choose to paint subject matter that was individually exciting to us; it gave us time to examine and explore the structure of each different flower in our set-ups; and it forced us to consider a design that had movement and areas of both energy and rest, compositional elements that she stressed throughout each demonstration.

Some of the flowers available for students.
My easel in close proximity to still life set-up.

The twist-tie solution to an errant azalea branch.
The twist-tie solution to an errant azalea branch.
There were only two students per still life set-up, which meant we were uncrowded and could be very close to the arrangements. By close, I mean REALLY close, in that we couldn’t physically GET our easels any closer. In this way our observations were quite similar to sight-sizing the portrait or figure, and encouraged life-sized work. In contrast to a portrait painting workshop, (where one model per every two students would add enormously to the cost of the workshop), I could see right away why this was so important – because in painting portraits, some distance is necessary to view the model and canvas with a gestalt, but in painting flowers properly, each bloom to be accurately painted has to be treated like a tiny face, attending to drawing accurately, measuring distances and angles. Proportionately speaking, the distances are probably equivalent. However, my thinking about all good representational painting is that while detail is not necessary to convey accuracy, the relationships among shapes, color and value are.
Kathy stressed the importance of having a design that works as well as possible, from the beginning, commenting that her plein-air kit contains (among other things) clips and bungee cords to move stuff that needs to be adjusted. I found this micro-solution for my azalea branch in one of the drawers in the student lounge.

Lighting

The taborets were lit by daylight-corrected bulbs – probably about 5000-5500 degrees K, lending warmth to the shadowed areas. This color temperature seems to be prevalent an Kathy’s floral and still life paintings, and is what one would expect in a garden from life, in conditions other than strong direct sunlight where lighting is subject to rapid change resulting from time and climate conditions.

Materials selection

my wash and lift-out
My wash and lift-out.
Kathy’s detailed description and reasoning for the choice of materials was on the money. Oil-primed surfaces – and not just ANY- oil primed surface – is a prerequisite to properly lift out areas of transparent wash in order to set up the surface to accept clean application of fresh color. We experimented with several different warm, transparent washes, using Viva paper towels to lift out areas of interest. It was particularly challenging to me to use so many colors not on my regular portrait palette, and not to have access to more familiar colors, but it worked out fine just the same. It also helped to underscore that there are many ways to arrive at the color you’re after. The warm undertones were also very different for me, since when I tone a canvas prior to I always use cooler colors- greys, green or blue greys and the like, because I know I’ll always paint realistic skin tones with warm colors, and I like to have the cooler notes show through in places. Using warm undertones for flower paintings makes sense to me, though, since earth and foliage are warm, and are inherent in natural garden settings. Blossoms, though, can be a variety of warm and cool colors and can have very strong color saturation, unlike skin tones.

The Demonstrations

Kathy’s daily demonstrations were thorough and varied. They focused on alla-prima approaches to painting the floral still life, always emphasizing the importance of a lyric design, variety of color, shapes and angles, and the joy that has to precede doing them (well, anything actually) really well. As the composition developed Kathy described Nancy Guzik’s approach to finding places to paint “little triangles”, serving as directional arrows though their dark values and the crisp edges they create.

Kathy conceptualizing the design
Kathy conceptualizing the design.
Kathy’s wash and lift-out.
Beginning the orange and pansy demo.
Little triangles.
Adding detail.
“Oranges & Pansies”, Kathy Anderson, oil on panel, 10 x 14
“Oranges & Pansies”, Kathy Anderson, oil on panel, 10 x 14

However, Kathy also demonstrated continuing to work on the painting from life during a second day, as well as taking photos at the first session in order to be sure to preserve the things that are most exciting- flowers, just like humans, can tend to droop after too much time on stage ☺
Also extremely valuable was her demo on how to go back into a painting that is dry to make adjustments or to complete the piece. The only reason – and I completely concur with this- artists can paint successfully from a photograph is because they have had extensive experience painting from life. Photographs lie to artists in the ways we most desperately need truth: color, value and edges. I firmly believe that learning has to be done from life – regardless of whether portrait, landscape, or floral subjects- and only after many, many canvases, can photos be interpreted in the best, most convincing manner.

The Opening

11On Thursday night, Scottsdale’s Legacy Gallery hosted a two –person show with works by Kathy Anderson and Mark Boedges (spectacular landscape painter). Although I wasn’t able to attend, fellow student Josi Callan shared photos from the opening. Legacy’s Scott Jones dropped in several times during the week, and couldn’t have been a better ambassador/advocate for artists everywhere. (Look for future information on Scott and his insights into gallery-artist relationships).
Because I am fortunate to live only a few minutes from Legacy Gallery, I had the chance to visit on a quiet day after the opening and to spend as much time as I wanted drinking in Kathy’s fabulous paintings, each of which offered a silent, retrospective review of all that she’d taught the previous week.

In Summary

Yes, you should take the opportunity to study with Kathy Anderson. If you like learning from DVDs, buy hers. Kathy is as generous and warm as she is on her video. I don’t think there is ever a time when an artist should stop being challenged, stop studying or stop trying new things. Choose your instructors with care. Show up to class with the right materials and most importantly, the right attitude. Your time is too valuable to waste.

my piece from class, “Debbie’s Garden”, oil, 6 x 8
My piece from class, “Debbie’s Garden”, oil, 6 x 8.

Fireside Teakettle

Barbara Schilling OPA · May 4, 2015 · 3 Comments

Fireside-TeakettleI’ve had some requests to post some of my processes so I am going to do a step-by-step of this painting. The teakettle is an antique given to me by an old friend…I wish I knew the story of it, I’ve never seen another one like it. I hope you enjoy the information on my technique(s)!
No two paintings are ever approached or completed in exactly the same way. I think it is very important to allow the energy to flow naturally and sometimes that may take a course during a painting that you didn’t originally plan. I think that is not only ok..I think that is necessary if your painting is going to find life. While the “rules” to painting are absolutely necessary to learning how to create a pleasant and believable work of art, it is with practice that you can learn to bend and remake some of those rules. That is when an artist truly begins to find their own voice. That is an evolution that must take place or the artist is simply mimicking that which has already been said.
There are as many visions for a painting as there are artists to paint it. The following process is simply my vision.
Let me begin with my palette. The colors I choose are very important for the technique I use. I love the combination of transparent and opaque and there are two things you must have to get that effect:

  1. Oil primed linen (I use Centurion oil primed. I stretch my own canvases so I purchase it by the roll. It is also available prestretched. I find that Jerry’s Artarama has some reasonable prices)
  2. Transparent Pigments. I have certain colors and certain brands that I cannot paint without.

Most of my colors are Rembrandt unless otherwise specified (The brand is important because colors and transparency can vary a lot from one to another)

Rembrandt transparent pigments;

  • transparent oxide red
  • transparent oxide yellow
  • transparent yellow light
  • olive green
  • transparent oxide brown

other “must have” transparent colors that I do not have a preferred brand:

  • alizarin crimson permanent (make sure you are getting one that is permanent, the older alizarin crimsons would fade with time)
  • ultramarine blue
  • quinacridone rose
  • viridian green

These are my initial layout and block-in colors. I do not use any opaque pigments at this point.
I do not use all these colors for every painting it depends on the color harmony or local color of the objects for each painting.

Opaque pigments;

  • Titanium white (I prefer Rembrandt, but use others too) Any time you add white to a color it starts becoming more opaque…the more white the more opaque.
  • cadmium lemon yellow
  • cadmium yellow medium
  • cadmium red light
  • yellow ochre
  • cobalt blue
  • dioxazine purple (sometimes)
  • burnt sienna

Mineral spirits is my primary brush rinse and thinner although I may use some liquin as I progress to the final stages of the painting.
I like to keep my brushes sharp (chisel edged). I use almost all Silver Bristlon Brights or angled (these are a little harder to find) I like a semi-stiff bristle. If I want to “scrub out” a larger area I will use a natural bristle bright as they are stiffer and tend to be more durable for that rough treatment.
It is hard to keep brushes sharp for long and I do replace them every couple of months.
I learned a technique from Daniel Keys for putting a folded cardstock over the tip and securing with a bulldog clip. It does help but you have to do it carefully or you can really mess up the bristles!

Ok..lets start painting!!

1
When I start a painting I like to imagine the flow of the design. My initial marks are following the eye path I wish to create. Then I will start loosely sketching some of the more precise shapes so I get them right. I have started with transparent oxide red and ultramarine blue on this one.

2
now I have started adding local color to the objects, although I am still just viewing them as shapes and not as specific objects.

3
All The colors used at this point are transparent. I am judging my middle value of each color for the most part. Where I want to create lighter values I either “scrub-out” with a paintbrush or wipe-out with a paper towel.

All my canvas is covered now.  I find white areas distracting and like this stage when the painting is starting to feel like it is getting somewhere.
All my canvas is covered now. I find white areas distracting and like this stage when the painting is starting to feel like it is getting somewhere.

5
Here’s where volume starts. I begin usually at my determined focal point. That way I can decide as I go along how much I would like to abstract the secondary objects. Simply adding white to some of my mixtures will give me the correct opaque color for my higher value areas. Areas that will remain darker in value but still want a sense of solidness to them (like the teakettle) will require using a mixture of my darker opaque pigments. Yellow ochre works well for this as does burnt sienna. A very dark, opaque color can be acheived using burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.

6
As I continue to add opacity I create more volume in my shapes and more importance to the areas I wish to lead the eye throughout the painting. At this point I call it my “push and pull”. I wipe out where I feel I’ve added too much detail and it is distracting to my focal point.
My opaque areas are also where I usually apply my thickest paint. sometimes putting it on so thickly that I can almost sculpt with it to create form. I only do this where I want the most important parts of my painting to be. The point of interest.

7
Although I am working on the background throughout the painting process it is important to really evaluate how it is interacting with the objects as the objects are becoming more solid. You may want areas of the background to remain transparent but you also want it to feel “real” where the light may be bouncing off it.

8
scrub out…add in..hmm..scrub out again. This process requires some courage. if something isn’t working, it doesn’t matter how “nice” it is, sometimes it just has to go. A painting is not about one beautiful passage it is a part of the story as a whole. If that precious passage is not right for the painting…off with it!!! It’s only paint after all.

9
Now I must make a lot of decisions. Where to darken, lighten, add detail, subtract detail, balance some color, readjust some compositional elements….a lot of stepping back and just looking. Walk away and come back. Look at it through a mirror. Stand on your head to look at it. Whatever it takes to help you see it with a different perspective.

10
I step back, I leave it for a day, I think it’s done. Oops, the bottom left corner is too warm…I’ll adjust that. But overall I feel satisfied.

Fireside Teakettle
Finished!

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