Painting a Series

Over the last year I have painted a lot of paintings and it dawned on me that I was painting things all over the map. I know I have painted some of these paintings just because they were subjects I liked and wanted to challenge myself to paint. I do have a several paintings of the ocean, done at different times, and of mountains, or rivers, but I really didn't have a series of paintings from any one place, or with any one theme.  I had entered three very different pieces in a Masterpiece Medley Show at the Blue Line Gallery. I was very fortunate to have secured a spot as one of ten artists to show their works in the Vista Gallery next month. Perhaps for this show it will be good to show very different kinds of scenes, but perhaps for the next show, I will enter several with the same theme.

Flash Flood!

The Pastel Society of the West Coast is calling for entries for a show in May June of this year at the Haggin Museum in Stockton. I thought for this years show that I would go with entries from one locale, and I chose a series of paintings on the Southwest. I have been enjoying a number of artists paintings in Southwest Magazine and perhaps that is what sparked my desire to do a series on the Southwest. I finished one a couple of months ago, a 12" X 16" pastel of a flash flood in the desert that would be a good entry. It was a scene I witnessed when I was 21 years old and driving across the desert in north eastern Arizona, on my way to Monument Valley.  The skies in the distance were a dark purplish black, and one could see the lightning flash and hear the thunder rumbling even though it was a long way away.  As I was crossing a wash, I saw water coming down in a big wave, so I pulled over to get a picture. I missed the initial wall of water, but did get a shot shortly after that I used as a reference for this painting.

Morning Sun on Monument Valley

Last month I completed a second painting that was a larger format, 18" X 24" I have called "Morning Sun in Monument Valley" that should also be a good entry for the PSWC show. This painting is from reference photos I took when my brother and I were exploring Monument Valley Tribal Park in my brothers old Triumph convertible sports car. We had camped there under the stars, and got to drive far into the interior of the valley on the dirt roads.  Today tourists must take a tour on one of the Tribal touring buses to venture into the park. That takes away the ability to stop whenever one wants to to take photographs. I am fortunate to have over 100 that I took on slide film that still have their bright colors. 

I feel good about these paintings, and thought I would also paint one of the beautiful buttes one can see from the old Trading Post, near the park entrance. These buttes are magnificent, and one feels awed by their size and colors. For this painting I thought I would do my first large format pastel, a 24" X 36" painting on a sheet of Wallis Belgium Mist that I had purchased. I recently tried the Wallis paper, and really like this texture to work on with pastels because it has a lot of tooth.  I drew the scene I wanted to paint on the paper in charcoal so I would have a guide to follow for laying my under painting colors. I used a lot of purple for this one because it will work so well with the reds and browns one sees everywhere.    

I have included the initial sketch so you can see the scene that I wanted to paint. I can tell you right now, it is very daunting to paint a pastel painting this large for the first time, but it is also very exciting. I have to tell you about the scene, and why I wan to paint it. While the memory is from over forty years ago, the moment comes back to me like magic when I look at some of my slides that I took that evening.   The scene I want to capture is at sundown, when the sun has dropped below the canyon rim but is still lighting the clouds in the sky with soft pastel colors of pink and mauve. There are big thunderheads everywhere, and the thunder is rolling and echoing through the valley and bouncing off the canyon walls and the buttes. Periodically there have been torrential rains and so the colors in the valley are so bright and vibrant. The sweet smell of fresh rain and wet earth is in the air. The colors are overwhelmingly bright now in the soft evening air. There are no shadows because the sun is hidden behind the canyon, but its light is shining brightly in the clouds and reflecting down on the land below. One can see for miles, there is no haze only more thunderheads many miles away. The landscape looks like a painters palette of colors all running together. I hope that you can visualize this scene. On my next blog, you will see be able to view the completed painting and learn all about my journey to capture this marvelous homeland of the Navajo Indians.

Gaining Confidence as an Artist

We all seem to have insecurities of one kind or another. Some of them are passed on by our parents anxiety, but most of them are a result of our own inability to throw ourselves into the world with abandon and make our mark. If we were to share how terribly insecure we felt at moments in our lives when we wanted to try something new, and just didn't have the moxie to take that step, some people would be incredulous. That is only because they have a self confidence that some of us lack.  Some folks are paralyzed by insecurity and let it rule their very lives, too afraid to take little steps that would help them grow. Overcoming those anxieties is all about growing up and gaining confidence through our trials and good experiences. We all deal with it in a different way.

I have had a good life and although I started out somewhat timidly, I gained confidence gradually through some successes in employment that gave me responsibilities. The event that changed my confidence tremendously and level of maturity was being inducted into the U. S. Army and going through intensive training to prepare me for combat in Vietnam. The training helped mature me, and let me know how to behave in a combat situation. However; until I was actually faced with that life and death struggle, I had no idea of how I would actually respond. When my platoon was confronted with a major ambush that felled some of our ranks and wounded others, I found myself performing confidently and almost methodically the way I had been trained. Yes, it was a frightening, horrible time, but I lived to fight another day, and each day thereafter I got stronger inside. That is true for every journey if you keep going.

After the Vietnam war I chose law enforcement as a career and successfully went up the ranks through my career, retiring as a lieutenant 25 years later. I had a second career with another State agency that oversees law enforcement training and retired from that also. I resolved to do something different when I retired, and while I did some consulting for awhile, it was not the direction I wanted to pursue really and the economy was not cooperating.

My wife had a brilliant idea, and one I will always be grateful for. She gave me the gift of pastel lessons with a local award winning artist and I realized when I went to classes that I really wanted to get back into art. It had been my first love as a teenager, and I felt on fire with the desire to paint again. Getting over those first jitters was the hard part. Going into a field where one has had no formal training and knows very little about color, or design makes one gulp with in trepidation. Having our own cheering section to boost our confidence is a necessary and a very critical part to assuring a modicum of success.

My second encourager after my wife (She was first) was my pastel teacher and mentor, Reif Erickson.  He is an exceptional painter, a natural teacher and the author of a number of books on pastel painting techniques. He guided me, taught me and I watched him, listened and learned so much from him about various techniques that would make me a better painter. Each week we would assemble in his studio, only four or five students at a time, to watch in awe as he would demonstrate the painting of the day. He would begin by sketching it and then painting the entire landscape scene in about 45 minutes explaining what he was doing and why he was using a particular dark color as an under painting. Once he was satisfied with his painting, he would set his pastels down, stand back and look for a moment and then say, "There, now its your turn." With that he would take a sheaf of photos and pass one out to each student to use for "their" painting. 

Those weekly challenges in his studio helped me gain confidence. While I would get a pretty good rendition done in class, I would always take them home to work on them until they met my personal level of satisfaction for being finished. Cindy was very complimentary as was my daughter Amber who was living with us at the time. Early on it was just personally satisfying to create a pretty landscape. Then the bug bit me deeper and I began going out looking for scenes I wanted to paint, so that I had something that was original and all my own. For a while, I was painting two scenes a week, one in class and one on my time that I would take in to have Reif give me feedback on. As my confidence grew, I got better. I gave a landscape painting to my brother for his birthday of Half Dome, because the two of us had gone to Yosemite for a weekend photo shoot like we used to do when we were young and single.

My son Colin a successful Graphic Designer encouraged me to get a Flickr site on the web and put my paintings on it. He sent me the link and I enrolled in their free program and began uploading my paintings to an artists pastel site. The feedback from other artists on my paintings helped my confidence tremendously. Eventually I chatted with some of those that became friends, just like the Face Book Network allows people all over the world to connect.  It was another source of knowledge, learning and most importantly, peer support. It has also given me the opportunity to encourage other artists to keep creating beautiful things for others to enjoy.

I began getting different kinds of paper to experiment with different surfaces, and also added to my pastel collection. I had started with the list Reif had wanted us each to have in class, but was now expanding my color spectrum so I had more greens, blue and browns to use in my landscapes. I tackled more difficult subjects to push myself.  A good friend who liked my painting style came to me and asked me if he could commission me to paint four paintings of places that he and his wife loved.  I jumped at the chance and threw myself into the challenge, determined that they would get paintings that would indeed remind them of their favorite places. I found that painting scenes that others liked was very difficult. The scenes were not ones I would necessarily have chosen to paint, but since I wanted to make sure they were pleased, it pushed me further and I gained more confidence as I finished each one.

By this time, I was buying frames and cutting my own mats with a professional C&H mat cutter I had purchased from a shop that was down sizing their framing section. Once I had matted and framed all four of these paintings in two foot square custom frames, they were all ready to hang. I went to my friends home, and we carefully measured and hung the grouping on a wall of their newly decorated living room and they looked wonderful. My clients were delighted, and I was beaming with satisfaction that I had accomplished a major hurdle in my newest career as a fledgling artist. I joined our local Placer Arts Council and also the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville to meet other artists, and to open other art opportunities.

As my technique and knowledge increased, so did my desire to paint bigger and better paintings. I finally began entering national contests with some of my paintings that I felt confident about. While I have not won any, it has not dissuaded me from continuing to try. I have been reading many books by different successful pastel artists, Richard McKinley, Barbara Secor, Maggie Price, Margot Schulzke and others including my mentor Reif Erickson's, to learn more of other techniques and wisdom. I also began some self promotion attempts with my art with some local places taking my portfolio around to show merchants. I was successful in having a meeting with a local restaurant owner and will have an opportunity to hang some of my paintings in her business establishment next month. I was also contacted by a local doctor who asked me if I would be interested in hanging some of my paintings in her remodeled offices beginning in March. I entered a juried show at the Roseville's Blue Line Gallery where I am a member, and received a huge break. I was notified I was one of ten finalists invited to show their paintings on a Masterpiece Medley Show at the Vista Gallery in February.

This has been over a year's journey and the ride is wonderful. It has filled me with a desire to succeed in a completely different field.  It has also given me a wonderful sense of fulfillment and satisfaction at this time in my life. The best part is that it has fueled my creative side and given me new confidence as well as new goals to work toward. Whatever your journey is, it is up to you to strive, and struggle to get there. Reach for that goal, work for that confidence and satisfaction that comes from the journey. Nothing is impossible if you keep going and want it badly enough.

Renewal

The eagle is soaring, or is at least in my mind. After a near disaster with the Krylon fixative applied at too low a temperature, I was able to save my three weeks of work on this painting. I let a night pass and started rebuilding the color that was so dulled by the fixative. I had to completely redo the sky and clouds. I was not sure if it was going to work because it was very difficult to get the blue to cover evenly. I also decided to blend in a lighter Winsor & Newton, Cerulean Blue Hue at the bottom at the skyline, and a slightly darker Cerulean Blue at the top of the painting to give a more realistic color change in the sky. I gradually reworked the clouds and added a white edge to the final clouds that one sees when the sun highlights them.

Next on my rework list was the Bald Eagle since he is the focal point of this piece. I needed to completely rework the head, eyes and beak to bring it back into the correct intensity with the proper shading. Then I tackled the feathers beginning at the top and gradually working down to the tail feathers. I was fresh with a good night's sleep and so this phase went well. By afternoon, I was starting to relax and realize that my painting was recoverable, and if I was patient, I could make it even better. God works in mysterious ways, he stretches us and teaches us with each challenge if we just use the gifts He has given us with patience.

Once the Eagle looked regal and alive, it was time to begin work on the background. The whole mountain section and forest from the skyline to the bottom had been dulled, and much of the original shading I had painted in the piece was gone, and some parts even appeared to show the surface underneath as if the pastel had been pulled off and clumped. I worked each section slowly and carefully, from the mountain peaks to each valley, and gradually highlighted trees, and brought the piece back to life. The fall colors in the Black Oaks had been dulled, but once I finished touching up the color and adding additional shading, they looked more natural than before. When I was finally finished I stood back and re-examined my painting and realized that this was a good lesson, and definitely worthwhile one. The piece looked better than it had originally. Perhaps in my haste to get done, I had overlooked some details that make a difference. The need to carefully examine the damage to the various parts and restoration had made me more attentive. More sensitive to the effect of light and shadow.

Once I had carefully resigned my piece, I set my camera up in a well lighted room (Natural light from a skylight helped) and took several shots. I cropped it to size in PhotoShop and voila, the finished piece was ready for posting.  I hope you enjoy the finished piece I have entitled, "Where Eagles Soar."

An Artists Meltdown Over Use of Fixative!

There is nothing more frustrating after spending weeks of work on something really special to ruin it oneself through not thinking. I have been working on my largest pastel painting to date and have spent several weeks of intensive work on it to paint something very different and very special.

My younger brother Martin in Canada sent me a beautiful closeup picture of a Bald Eagle up in a tree some weeks ago. He was a regal looking creature, and one could understand the strength that flows from his eyes. They are gorgeous birds in flight, and an intelligent predator. I thought it would make a wonderful subject for a painting, but the photo was just the eagle on an old dead tree branch and a lot of sky around it. It needed a suitable background.

Three weeks ago Cindy and I went up in the mountains on one of our exploratory photo trips to see what we could find. We were having great fun exploring old stage coach roads, driving over old suspension bridges and roaming around on the back roads in the Sierras between Colfax and Forest Hill.  We were near the end of our journey when we turned off the highway that leads to Forest Hill to explore a dirt road that looked interesting. It had an interesting name also, "Chicken Hawk Road", and was probably given that namesake during the gold rush. The road took us right up to the top of the ridge over looking miles of forest land to the east. It was late in the day so I stopped a number of times and took photographs from several vantage points that looked promising, and they offered marvelous see forever views. Unfortunately there were no clouds at all in the sky to break up the beautiful blue. 

Once we got home and I had time to transfer my shots to the computer, I found one that would be a perfect backdrop for my eagle painting. I printed out an 8 X 10 as a reference photo and sketched out the scene I wanted. Then I sketched the eagle in the middle of the picture, making adjustments until I felt it was the right place. Once my rough sketch was in I could begin my painting.

I began by doing the background and filled in a rough of the eagle.  I gradually worked through the process over the weeks and redesigned the eagle because the perspective was off. Once he looked right, I continued with finishing the background. It was a long and tedious process with so many trees, and so much fall color on the mountains and valleys. The foreground presented a challenge, because it was going to be in the shade, and getting the right values was perplexing. I finally did the whole color scheme on the lower painting completely over until I was satisfied with the result. Now my painting was almost complete, but it lacked something.

I consulted with a knowledgeable artist friend, Toni Callahan and she gave me some good honest input as to what was missing. Feather detail, it needed more. My picture didn't show much detail so I went surfing on the web until I could find a good eagle photo in the same stance as the one I had. I found several and did find one with excellent feather detail. Once that detail was added, my painting came alive. I was so pleased to get it to this point and kept working the painting areas to see what needed tweaking a little more. 

I finished the painting this morning.  I had one more thing to do, and that was add a light blue haze over a portion of the mountains.  Before I could do that however; I needed to protect the existing pastel. with a fixative. Once the fixative dried, I could add a blue on a portion of the mountains to give them a hazy look and push them farther away. This had been a terrific challenge, I was so pleased with the end result.

I signed it, and took it out to the garage to spray. Once I had some covering over my bench I took out the Krylon fixative and sprayed the pastel with a back and forth motion giving no thought to how cold the can of Krylon was or how cold it was in the garage. Obviously the cold made the Krylon finish thicker, because the whole painting darkened considerably, and it appeared that it pulled pastel away from several areas.

I stopped the fixative but it was already too late. I quickly took the painting back into the warmer house in hopes that the fixative would dry and everything would be fine.  After several hours I went back to the easel and was horrified with what I saw. The painting was much darker and blander than before. I would have to redo the entire painting and re-shade the eagle because all of the highlights were muted and indistinguishable from the rest of the body. The sky was mottled and a darker blue. I could have screamed, but what good would that do?  Fortunately we were going out for Thanksgiving dinner and I would not have to look at it for a while. Maybe when I cooled down and gave it some time, I could get back to it.

We arrived home this evening and I surveyed the painting. It is as bad as I feared and will take a lot of work to fix, but I know I can do it. I have attached a picture of the painting that I took before the fixative was applied in the paragraphs above, and the second one is after the fixative darkened the painting, and flattened all the detail to the right of this paragraph. If you look closely, you can see the sky color I have tried to fix that is the lighter blue, and how much darker the fixative has made the sky and rest of the painting. Wish me patience, I have my work cut out for me!






       

Awakening to the Pitter Patter of Rain Drops

We have had nicer weather this past week in the high eighties, such a relief from the high nineties of the week before.  Yesterday was so cool when I woke up, it was mid fifties which is such a temperature drop for this time of year. A very welcome change when one could actually snuggle in the blankets to stay warm. Today was  an even bigger surprise, for when I awakened, I could hear the pitter patter of raindrops. Who would believe here in the foothills of northern California that it was raining in August?

What a wonderful soft soothing sound the rain brings as the rain drops plink off anything metal, and patter on the deck and patio cover. One can hear the water shushing through the gutters and running down the down spouts. The rain drops gently swish through the trees falling from leaf to leaf, and gathering in bigger more random drops with a splat. The air is fresh and clean... that wonderful washed by God smell one has after a rain that brings the scent of wet grass, and damp ground. It is like a prescription for the senses that soothes every pore in ones body. Ah....breathe deeply, smell it through you nose as you take it in.

Everything seems cleaner and brighter when it rains, and every green lawn and tree displays a brighter green. Perhaps because the layer of dust on the leaves was just washed away. Perhaps because our sense are so awakened to this wonderful marvel we call rain. It is so nice to walk in when it is just a gentle light shower. To feel the rain drops on one's hair, and skin. One just feels like the air is flavored with all the scents of the garden. To see those beautiful water droplets bead on the colorful flowers and to be able to drink in the perfume and bright color of the fragrant roses. A perfume no cosmetic lab can match. God's special blend to remind us of his creativity.

The birds sing more gaily, even they seem to have their spirits lifted. They flit from tree to tree, fluttering from branch to branch as if to celebrate this heaven sent shower. Calling to one another, across the meadows. The squirrels chatter, and run up and down the trees playing like the little scamps that they are. They can fly through the trees and leap from branch to branch like acrobats.

Our hearing seems enhanced when it rains, but traffic noises seem muffled and far away. Listen to the rain, that wonderful pitter patter, the gentle sound of dripping water and for just a moment let it wash your troubles away. Listen to the rain, do you hear it?

Damage Estimates

Well its been weeks since my last blog. The damage estimates are in, all of the wet and mouldy stuff has been removed and the wet wood dried out and cleaned. The removal by Servepro was a slow process and cost a thousand dollars. They were neat, efficient and very good at what they do. I have no complaints with their response and their diligence in removing any harmful mold and sanitizing everything.

Estimates to repair the drywall, replace the carpeting, repaint, and repair the roof are in. Cost is well over $4,000. The insurance company said the roof was improperly designed so they will not pay to repair it, the furniture that was damaged is not covered either because the leak was not caused by wind damage to the roof. Oh well, the insurance company did give me a settlement that will allow me to repair the damage to the dry wall, repaint and recarpet less the 1,000 deductible.

I made a decision to buy the materials at Home Depot and replace the drywall, insulation and moldings myself. I will pay a tradesman to mud and texture the wall, but I will paint it. Fortunately I know how to do this work, and the drywall is all done as of yesterday and the guy will come Monday to mud and texture the drywall.  Boy I was tired after all that work!  I will have to get some paint mixed and will have to buy a couple of gallons since there are two different colored walls in the bedroom to repaint, and one in the garage. That is the easy part.

There should be enough money hopefully to pay a professional to fix and repair the roof so it does not leak again. I had a good estimate from Haas Maintenance and remodeling so just have to get on their repair schedule. So that is the saga of the big leak.

Can anything else go wrong?

I know owning a home gives one satisfaction. Owning a home is also or can be having your own personal money pit. Two years ago it was the deck that needed replacing. Tearing it all out, getting down to just the support beams and rebuilding it completely inclusing adding a patio cover over our bedroom to block the sun. The old deck was a maintenance monster with redwood that needed resealing every year because of temperature extremes. The new deck is for the most part maintenance free. I rebuilt the deck with treated support joists on 16" centers and used two colors of TREX, a wonderful sawdust and plastic bags  combination that even has wood grain. It requires no staining, just washing down. I replaced all the wood railing with trex covered treated posts with wrought iron in between. No more painting to worry about, yea! One difficult job that looks very nice was screwing all of the decking from underneath with special hardware so no screws show anywhere. Just masterials cost for the replacement deck was over $11,800, but I saved thousands of dollars on labor by doing it myself. I was fortunate to get some help from my son-in-law when he could, and also from my brother for the final touches.

Last year it was the central heating and air that went out right toward the end of summer. We struggled through a few warm months but fortunately have ceiling fans that kept the air moving and only few days of triple digit heat. Replacing the HVAC was a big job, and required a third of the ducting to also be replaced because it was leaking and the duct material was breaking down. We managed to get it done by Thanksgiving, and that cost us another $4,600.00. We now have a more efficient unit that has actually lowered our heating and cooling bills. Some definite good came from that fix!

Well this year it is a water leak from our roof.  Cindy and Amber were gone last week to visit her Mom  and Dad in Pico Rivera. Amber wasn't too sure when she would get to see her grand parents again because she and Eric are bound for Germany when his training is done in July and he has a few weeks off to ship their household goods over to Manheim. 

While they were in southern California we had a big rainstorm for several days and it dumped an inch and a half of rain. Unbeknownst to me, the roof was leaking due to a faulty design in one of the valleys between the house and garage. Amber's bedroom toook the brunt of the water down a wall behind a bookcase computer desk combo. The carpet got soaked, and the furniture wicked up the water in the legs. The wall in the garage also suffered similar damage but of course there was no carpet to get wet there, and the leak was hidden by a cabinet on that wall that is floor to ceiling. Amber discovered the damage after she got home. She said, "Uh Dad, come to my room, we have a major problem."  Major problem was an understatement!

The evidence was her weights that were stacked on a piece of carboard were rusty and the carpet was soaked along with the furniture's legs. The following morning I emptied all the books from the book shelves, pulled all the furniture out and saw the mold on the floor and wall. I cleaned all the furniture with bleach to kill any mold on the wooden support legs. I let it dry in the sun on the deck. I pulled the carpet back and it was like a huge wet sponge as was all of the padding. I cut an eight foot by 6 1/2 foot piece of carpet out in order to get all the wet stuff outside. The wood floor under the carpet was soaked as were the baseboards and tack strips. I washed the ceiling, walls and floor with bleach once the carpet was out and set a fan in there to help dry things out. I filed a claim with my insurance because the damage is covered, although I have a thousand dollar deductable. Gee terrible timing, I just raised it last year from $500 to 1000 to save money on premiums! Ha, I didn't save anything, it cost me a bunch more.

I took phtos of all the damage with my digital camera. Then I emailed the photos to my insurance person and they called me back and sent an adjuster out to survey the damage. He recommended Servpro, a special mold and water damge company to come out and remove all of the affected wet drywall and insulation and mold. I asked him to get them rolling and they started yesterday. I still have not seen a damage estimate for the cost of removal of everything but they are very thorough and very efficient. They do an excellent job of keeping one informed of each step and thorughly clean up everything and remove all of the nasty affected materials. They finished taking out the ceiling drywall and a wall in the garage today, as well as removing the 4X8' storage cabinet after I unloaded all the stuff in it. The heat fans and dehumidifier are running round the clock to dry the walls 2X4's and flooring. 

I am hoping to get a contractor in soon to get the walls replaced, the roof repaired, and the room repainted and recarpeted. I know it will cost me $1,000 for the deductiable but won't know for a few days what the total cost for the project will be. Owning a home is nice, especially when nothing goes wrong. When it begins to get older and expensive repairs occur it becomes a bit of a money pit! Thank good ness my garden doesn't break down, just the dang sprinklers!