On Making Color Charts

In my quest for learning how to oil paint, I have come to the conclusion I know very little about color theory and usually just go on my "instinct" when painting and choosing colors. I have read some on my own, but knew all along I need to get serious if I am going to meet some of the goals I have set for myself in this painting journey.

One of the most inspiring and encouraging artists that I personally know is Lori Putnam, a Nashville artist whose work I both admire and drool over! See her website here. Her work is fresh, loose, and just absolutely beautiful. She also has a couple of small booklets (which you can purchase at her website) about oil painting, plein air painting, and color theory that I have purchased that I consider some of the best material I have read on these subjects. And believe me, I have a book addiction, and if I showed you a photo of my shelves of books relating to painting and art, you would know I know what I am talking about! Her booklets are full of little gems of information that I might have read or heard somewhere before, but her way of presentation just sticks with me. Sometimes it is like that with learning.

Lori also has a wonderful blog that includes some valuable posts on many subjects relating to painting, but some very good ones on making color charts and using a 3 color plus white palette like she does. Now I know there are probably countless posts and book chapters out there on chart making, and there is no one right way, but I decided to just go with this and do them. I was not convinced that I could possibly get this many colors with just one tube of each primary and white. However, after doing the charts with Lori's detailed instructions, I am convinced. As most artists are, I am a visual learner for the most part and learn best by doing.

The main thing I learned after doing this exercise was this - I don't have to have every color paint that the manufacturers make in my painting supplies to make beautiful paintings. Now, I know that sounds simplistic, but somehow before I did these charts, I thought that the people who painted with a limited palette or even an expanded limited palette were just somehow born with some sort of talent or sense of color that I was not born with and I could never learn it and would have to buy my own yellow ochre for the rest of my painting career. There is nothing wrong with using a ton of paint tubes, but if you aspire to plein air paint much, it makes it rather difficult and cumbersome to use 20 different tubes out in the field.

Will I only paint with these 3 colors from here on out? I'm not sure yet and also know that it doesn't really matter right now. Some of the best advice that every artist that I have studied with has been something along the lines of "this is the way I do it, but you must find your own style and way of doing things." Great advice!

Susan's Tulips

Susan's Tulips

11"x14" oil on canvas

It has been awhile since I last posted. I have had several family obligations this summer and had very little time to paint, but hopefully that will change now! I have tried to keep up with my art friends' blogs, but also have had little time for that too. So excited to be catching up soon!

I painted these tulips back in May after a lovely dinner at a dear friend's home. She and her husband had several couples over one evening and these tulips were the centerpiece on the table. As an artist, I couldn't help but sit there and wonder how I would paint them! I sat and wondered what colors I would mix to get the color of the petals and how I would set it up in my studio. I know some of you know what I am talking about! Anyway, since she is a good friend, I just asked when I left that evening if I could borrow her tulips to paint them! Since she was so kind to let me take them with me, I just decided to give her the painting. 

I set the tulips up on a sheet of glass in my studio to get the reflection you see in the front. Then, when I lit the set up, the reflection just appeared! I love doing this and learned this tip from several other artists.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer and getting in more painting time than I am!

"Summer Pots" 6x6

"Summer Pots"

6x6 oil on canvas panel

This is a fun little painting using some of the colors and brushstrokes I learned in the workshop with the fabulous Dreama Tolle Perry. I had a photo of the bench with the great light on it, but it didn't have anything sitting on it. I decided a couple of terra cotta pots with some colorful flowers in them would be the perfect addition! This is one of the things I am learning to do in my compositions. Not rely on just what I see, but what I can imagine I see too! Tried to stay loose and not over work the paint on this too. 

I am headed to Little Rock, Arkansas next week for a workshop with Guido Frick, a German painter who studied with Sergei Bongart early in his painting career. Really looking forward to painting outside on BIG canvases and loosening up even more on my brushstrokes. Look up his work if you are not familiar with it! Very fresh and exciting style and I know I will have fun with it.

WKNO Art Show Opening

The Artist Group of Memphis

I have been busy preparing for two art shows I am participating in with a group of artists here in the Memphis area known as "The Artist Group." It is a group of friends that was started by Joy Routt and Julie Hooker years ago to show their work around town. It has grown over time to include 17 artists. Not all artists participate in each show, but it is fun to have a group of friends to show your art with! This is a photo of the opening reception last night at WKNO studio here in Memphis. This show runs through the end of May, so if you are in the area, stop by sometime and see and buy some artwork! It is fabulous and such a variety within the group of artists. Some of my work in the show is shown below. 

We have another opening next weekend at St. Mary's Episcopal School for a weekend only show with some of the proceeds going to the Children's Ballet Theater that performs there in the Buckman Theater. 

Also, please keep this area in your thoughts and prayers. We are facing some flooding of historic proportions that have not been seen in this area since the early 1900's. The mighty Mississippi River has run over it's normal banks all along the way to the Gulf and will continue to rise for at least another week. It will be a long while and a lot of damage to many homes and businesses until this water recedes. A slow moving natural disaster for sure.

Dreama Tolle Perry Workshop

I just returned from a wonderful workshop with the fabulous and inspiring artist, Dreama Tolle Perry. It was held by a group of SUPER FUN people from the Artists on Main gallery and school in Goodletsville, TN. Led by the infamous David Gillahan (hey David!!), they are a group of artists on a journey to learn to paint and have fun together. David has classes at the gallery and let me just say, they really learn something there! He not only teaches about oil painting, but about friendship and support, which as artists, we all need! Most of the people in the workshop were David's students, but they made me feel so welcome and comfortable and I was so grateful for that. The photo below shows some of the workshop participants although some had already left by the time we took the photo.

I have been wanting to take a workshop with Dreama ever since I started painting again. Her beautiful use of color in her paintings always draws me in and the stories she writes along with them always make me smile. I was not disappointed at all and in fact, I would go back again and again just to study with her and hang out in the atmosphere she creates in her workshops. She is such a kind and graceful person, and immediately puts you at ease when the workshop begins with her attitude and humor. Also, she infuses so many pearls of wisdom throughout the workshop, you can't go home thinking anything else of your art but that you have something special to tell the world and you better get busy doing it! I have always tried to have a pretty positive outlook on my own work because I know I have to be my biggest fan (!!!), but she reiterates how important it is to look at what you want to say with your art and believe in yourself as you enjoy the process of painting, and not just the resulting artwork.

The painting above is one of the ones I completed in the workshop. I was able to use some colors of paint I had not used before and it was so fun! I also learned a lot about how to take my own reference photos that I photograph and add some fun elements to them in order to improve the composition and the color to make them more pleasing to the eye. For such a 'literal' person like me, this was eye opening and I now see so many more possibilities when looking through my photos I have in iPhoto.

I also included a photo of Dreama below with the beautiful smile on her face, which if you have met her before, will surely bring a smile to your face. Take her workshop if you have a chance.You, too, will not be disappointed!

Framed Show Photo

Although I did not get to attend the opening of the 6 Inch Squared show in California last night, one of my artist friends from online, the fabulous Dana Cooper, was in attendance and kindly snapped this photo of my painting, all framed and happily hanging on the wall! Randy's frames really are beautiful and I could not be happier with the one they chose for me to frame my painting. Now it just needs a red dot next to it! Contact Higbee Gallery if you are interested in purchasing it!

I am so excited to have a painting accepted to this show in California, which opens tonight. Randy Higbee, also known among artists as the "King of Frames" (which he is!), is having a show with only 6"x6" paintings. It is hung and opens this evening! Wish I could be there but some of my artist friends are going so I will hear about it from them. The painting I had accepted is pictured below. Randy and his group framed it in a beautiful floater frame and I know it will look great hanging in the presence of such wonderful work from artists from all over!

I am currently in a workshop with the FABULOUS artist and just all around fun person, Dreama Tolle Perry. She is such a great instructor and I have met a great group of people who are also taking the workshop. It is in Goodletsville, TN, and the Artists on Main group is sponsoring the workshop. So ready for my second day and I will share some photos and reviews when I get back home!

My Studio Artist Wall

Because I am not only an artist but an art collector, I decided to start a wall in my studio for some of the paintings I have recently acquired from different artists across the country. Most are small format, 6"x6" or a little larger, and all are from artists whose work I love a lot! I will add to it as time goes on and as money is available :). I included close ups below with the artists in case you would like to check out their work too!

 

 These are from artist Michael Chamberlain

The fabulous artist, Laurel Daniel, who has been so 

helpful and supportive to me in my art journey so far!

Artist Cathleen Rehfeld does beautiful work and also teaches in her area! 

The final photo shows a painting on the left by artist Tim Horn, who I have had the pleasure of studying with in a workshop in Atlanta. Also pictured is the work of artist Carol Schiff, who is masterful in her use of beautiful brushstrokes and paint application in all of her paintings!

There are MANY other artists out there whose work I would love to own, and plan on continuing to collect as I can. I feel the art not only inspires me but brings a sense of light and joy to my studio, and makes it such a wonderful place to be!

Jennifer McChristian Workshop - Last Post

(Click on image to enlarge)

Well, this is the last post for my workshop that I will do. I hope you have gotten something out of them! I really like reading reviews and information about workshops that I sign up for before I sign up for them on other people's sites and blogs. It usually is a tool in helping me decide if I am ready at that particular point in my journey for that instructor, or if I will benefit from that particular type of instruction or painting. That is why I have spent the last few posts in showing a bit of what I did at this workshop so if you ever have a chance to take one from Jennifer, you will see kind of what to expect. 

This is another study I did on the fourth day of the workshop. As you can see, I forgot to take the reference photo when I started my sketch and the light had already changed by the time I got out my camera! If you paint outside at all in the sunlight, you know just how this is! I quickly got my sketch down with my values (did a thumbnail sketch with markers in my sketchbook instead of the painted value study) so it didn't matter to me if the light changed or not. I was going with what I first sketched out in my thumbnail sketch. As you can also see, I used that "artistic license" again to change a few things about the composition. Left out an umbrella, the car in the background, and just included less detail than I saw in the actual view. I really tried to concentrate on the values and getting the right colors for the values I had drawn off in my thumbnail sketch. And again, not a finished painting, but something I may decide to use as a study for a larger studio painting in the future. I now have enough information to do that with my thumbnail sketch, color study, and the photo I took while there!

Jennifer McChristian Workshop - Continued

Although the first day of the Scottsdale workshop was inside due to rain and cold, the rest of the week was outside at beautiful locations around the area. The weather was just fabulous and so nice to enjoy the sunshine while painting. This demo above of Jennifer's was at the Papago Park location, where we painted for two days. So many great things to paint there! In addition to painting, I took TONS of reference photos that will no doubt make it into my paintings in the future.

Below I included my painting of the second day of the workshop. It is another study which I included the reference photo, value study, and the color study. Again, these are VERY SMALL, about 4" x 5.5", so the aim was to capture the big shapes and simplify them. It takes lots of practice to weed out the many details of a scene and only concentrate on big shapes and the major value areas. One of the ladies in the workshop who was accustomed to painting on very large canvases kept saying she felt like she was painting on postcards! However, it was a good way to keep the shapes simple and really concentrate on values. When I finally did a painting on an 8x10 canvas later in the week, I felt like I was painting on a giant canvas! These exercises were a great learning experience for me and something I will do again and again to develop the skills of painting that I would like to in my own painting experiences.

(Click on image to see enlarged)