New pochade in the wild

Finally got to take the little Alla Prima Pochade outside for a proper session.

At the Berkeley Marina 6X8 O/P

It's been forever, but I finally got to use the new box. I actually "took it for a spin" way back when I first got it, but that session was unsuccessful, gear wise and especially painting wise. I ended up sending the box back to Ben for a quick modification, he put magnets on the top side of the lid to store the side tray when packed up rather than the bottom (the standard location). It's a small point, but without the change, it meant hving to screw the quick release plate on and off every time I set up and again when packing up. Kind of defeating the purpose of a "quick" release plate. Again, awesome service from a real craftsman, he didn't even charge me for the work, and I'm happy to report that everything works great! I thought I might have an issue with how small the mixing area is (it's REALLY tiny), but it actually made me scrape down the palette more often, which in hind sight is a good thing for me when trying to keep my colors clean. I'm still building my little kit ( I just got a new bag to carry it all in) but that's half the fun when you're a gear junkie : )

Tahoe in Snow

Started this one outside, but the tree I was under was no shelter for sideways blowing snow.

Truckee River 6x8 O/P

This was as far as I got before being snowed out, a pretty fierce storm blew in pretty quickly forcing a hasty run back to the car. Still, it was more than enough information to let me play with and still be true to the scene (mostly). Once I got home, I saw how horrible my initial lay-in for the foreground river was and altered it for a more interesting angle. I also added a little more color because with the overcast, blizzardy conditions, it was pretty much just a black and white scene. A real nice subtle study in values. I don't know if adding color kills that effect, but it felt like it needed it. Maybe I'll go back and try it again in just grays.



Here's a picture from the previous day, the weather was much clearer, and my long slog uphill schlepping all my painting gear through knee deep snow only got me tired, and bad photographs. Still, scouting around for scenes was really fun, I just need to remember to pack the snow shoes next time. That and a lunch, dang I got hungry!

Spring 2010

Some weekend stuff...

Near the Sugar factory in Crockett, Ca. 8x8 o/p

Looking North from the Es Anderson Equestrian camp, Tilden Park, Berkeley Hills. 6x8 o/p

New Rig

Ooooo...!


Well my new pochade from Ben over at Alla Prima arrived last week, ain't she purty? Here it is right after I cut the glass and siliconed it into the palette bed (the ugly white silicone has since dried clear). It's a replacement for the Julian experiment. I really wanted a small paint box that I could carry around and use like a sketchbook for oil sketches, and I think this will fit the bill nicely. At 6X8 it's seriously tiny, but it's got the two key features I was looking for in a little sketchbox: integrated panel storage, and enough clearance in the lid to keep wet paint on the palette. As my buddy Ian says (he just got this guys' big brother) these are just beautifully crafted, with lots of clever design solutions. Maybe I'll go into a deeper review once I get it a little dirty : )



In the top pic, that's a tiny 5X7 panel loaded on the box. A 6X8 pretty much covers the entire mounting area, and slides perfectly into the lid.

Mt Tam from the Albany Bulb 5X7 O/P

Between Bouts of Heavy Rain

Looking NE from the hills at Del Valle Regional Park 6X8 O/P

Looking north up the coast from the Muir Beach overlook 6X8 O/P

Del Valle Regional Park
Muir Beach Overlook

Leftover turkey

Just getting around to posting this from a Thanksgiving trip to Bishop, it may be a little stale ; )

The White Mountains in low clouds. 6x8 O/P

I finally got around to testing out the little Julian Box over the Thanksgiving day weekend, and discovered a few key points. First, don't try a new setup in 30 degree temperatures and 20 mph winds. Second, if using a bare wood palette, make sure the wood is "seasoned" first or it will suck the oil out of your paints and make mixing (already thick and frozen paint) a real bitch. Third, the solid frame slides that hold the panel in place, make it difficult to paint to the edges of your panel. And finally, even if you're just experimenting with a new set-up, don't skimp on good brushes, always use the best brushes you have.

Everyone's a critic...

Even with, or perhaps because of the limitations of this session, it was actually really fun! The light was changing fast, so I had to fix a composition in my head and then paint like mad while it was still fresh in memory. I'm thinking that this race the clock mentality is the way it's actually supposed to be (at least for quick studies) as it really makes me more focused as I try to break down a scene into it's most basic components. And the added plus of fighting with your materials, and trying to keep your easel from blowing away only adds to the excitement. I finished this in under 40 minutes, because on top of the changing light, I could'nt feel my fingers anymore. Which brings up one final point, when painting in cold conditions, limit the amount of bare metal your fingers come in contact with eg. frozen paint tubes, leatherman tools that you need to use the pliers to open the frozen paint tubes, metal paint scrapers, wing nuts on your pochade box, tripods and tripod heads, and even the ferrules on your paint brushes.

So in the end, I'll have to give the Julian box a 'fail' as an oil paint box. Probably the biggest drawback it has, is the lack of space between the palette and the stored panel. This means that you can't leave paint on the palette and close up the box, which to me, means longer prep and cleanup time, as well as wasting paint. Who knows, it might still find a new calling as a sketching/watercolor box, but that may require a few mods... : )

Driving Southeast to paint the Southwest

The Matt Smith Workshop in the Superstition Mountains Arizona

From Horse Mesa, Tonto Natl. Forest 8x6 o/p

As I said last time, I’ve wanted to paint the desert for a long time. I fell in love with the South West many years ago when I hitchhiked around New Mexico after college. The light, and the landscape stayed lodged in my brain, and I wasn’t even painting landscapes back then. So this workshop was just the excuse to pack up my paints and drive east. This was my second workshop with Matt, but this workshop was much smaller, only eight students (all of them really cool too!), which is quite indulgent, allowing for more one on one time with the instructor. I have to say about Matt, that apart from being an incredible painter at the top of his game, he is also a remarkable teacher. He has an easy rapport with students, communicates ideas and opinions clearly and honestly (and is a heck of a nice guy to boot who loves his wine almost as much as I do). So when you team up Matt with his artist/wife/workshop organizer/den mother Tracy Avant-Smith, you’ve just doubled down on good people!

Unfortunately, just about everything I painted during the workshop is really horrible so I can’t bring myself to post them, but I’m not too bothered by that. I go into workshops with an open mind to experiment with different approaches and maybe new materials. This workshop was no exception, and I really feel like I picked up a lot. I wish I could verbalize all that I learned, but I guess that’s the point of taking a class in the first place. I’m one of those people who learns from seeing things done and then doing it (kinesthetic?), so I found it really helpful when Matt would demonstrate a particular point directly on my canvas. . It really loosens you up when you’re reminded how easy it is to put something down, as well as taking things out, like an undo button (in oils anyway). I’m often guilty of seeing marks as precious, or I’m too lazy to experiment, but that’s really the point, isn’t it? Matt constantly reinforces this trial and error method, and I found it a helpful relief when he would say something like “I’m not one of those guys like Richard Schmidt who can nail a color or value on the first try” Yeah, me either! Disclaimer: because Matt was "hands on" I can't really claim all credit on these paintings. They're shown just as a record of the workshop and largely unfinished (I paint slow...). For instance, the prickly pear shown below, wouldn't have the "pop" that it does if I hadn't been shown what adding the dark passages behind the plant do for the composition as a whole. The actual background was a very bright sand. Inventing and experimenting like that is imperative, and it's too easy to get sucked into "recording" a scene rather than "creating" a painting.

Prickly pear near The Peralta Rd. Trailhead Tonto Natl. Forest 6x8 o/p

Here’s a fun tidbit though:
I learned to limit my earth colors ( yellow ocher, burnt sienna and the like) in my distant color passages. Use them only as modifiers, as earth colors are just too warm to sit back in the distance. Instead, mix the color base from your primaries, a tough thing to get a hang of, as all those desert colors ARE earth tones. Look at your scene and determine which of the primaries your hill (for example) is based on. Is it blue or more on the red side? Then start from there, rather than starting with (mostly) burnt sienna and trying to cool it down (it will just get too chalky). So for my palate, distant earthtones were mixed with alizarin crimson, cad yellow lemon, ultramarine blue and white, (all cool colors) with a smidge of ocher and sienna here and there. (Well, it was something like that, I’ll mix some again and confirm it). This reached comical heights as one by one, people were banned from having earth colors on their palates. I had burnt sienna scraped off my own palate.

From Horse Mesa Tonto Natl. Forest 6x8 o/p

Painting the desert is challenging to begin with. Values and colors can be pretty close depending on the time of day, and you’re challenged to push and find contrasts where there may not be any. To top it off, we were plagued by overcast skies most of the week, and even got rained on, on our last day. I’m not making excuses though, I still want to go back and paint more. That magic hour right before sunset, in the desert, and man does everything just come alive, even driving on the freeway is beautiful, just something about that light...