One Year Blog-aversary!

"Sunset on the Marsh"

8" x 10" oil on canvas panel

I wondered yesterday how long I had been blogging and remembered it was right about now last year when I "took the plunge" and started a blog. It turns out TODAY is the one year anniversary of the "birth" of my blog! Yay! I don't know why that is so exciting other than it is something I started that I actually stuck with, which isn't always the case with things I begin! However, I love to read other blogs and learn so much from other artists "out there" that share their painting journeys with all of us "out here," so I feel the need to do the same. Not that I have tons of knowledge that others do not, but I just feel the need to give back and hopefully bring a little bit of encouragement and information to someone who reads these posts. 

I also have "met" so many more nice artists and received so much encouragement through this blog. That is the main reason I keep doing it. No, I don't post everyday. And I don't even have a posting schedule like some of you. I am not a daily painter, but I really admire those who are and support them through my encouraging words on their blogs, and through my purchases of their art. My studio wall and office wall is lined with beautiful art I have purchased and I plan to continue to add to that in the coming years. 

The painting above is a plein air piece that I did in Apalachicola, FL this past October in a workshop with Lori Putnam. As I have mentioned before, I will begin a mentoring program with her next week, and I am so excited about being able to concentrate on certain goals I have for myself in relation to my art. I will certainly share my progress with you all along the way!

And let me once more send out sincere thanks to all of you who offer encouragement and advice and kind words to me through this blog. Happy Blog-aversary to Meeeeeeeee!!!!! (I wonder if this occasion calls for cake??)

Apalachicola, FL with Lori Putnam

"Beach Cottages 1"

9" x 12" oil on linen panel

Whew! October was a month of travel and fun workshops for me! Against the advice of most artists, I signed up for 3 workshops in the same month. I love to paint plein air, and in the South, October is a fabulous month for that because of the milder weather. Plus, all of these workshops were with people that I have always wanted to study with and it was just convenient for me to go the places they were going to be. And also contrary to what most artists say, I am not AT ALL confused or messed up or whatever from the three different teachers and their varied painting styles. Unlike most people, I go to workshops for several reasons. One, is to meet other artists and chat and visit during the week about something we all love - painting and art. Another reason is just to visit different places. And then, of course, to learn. I love learning about things and especially about painting. I don't go to workshops to totally change the way I paint or think about painting. I always come away from a workshop with something I can carry over into my own journey, whether it is a small tip about supplies, brushstrokes, other techniques, colors, or some idea or theory that I have heard explained a thousand times before that finally "makes sense" to me after another instructor says it their way. Anyway, I am not recommending that anyone do what I did, because it was physically exhausting (haha!) but mentally fun and I wouldn't trade anything for my month of October 2011!

Lori's workshop in beautiful Apalachicola, FL, was sponsored by the Apalachicola School of Art, which is a wonderful organization that is just getting started holding workshops in this quaint little town. They are working on a website currently but you can find some information if you Google the name. They have held a plein air event there for the last several years, and we were able to see some of the fabulous artwork from some of these events hanging in the school.

Not only did I meet some fun people here that also took the workshop, but I had a blast painting the shrimp boats, marshes, and the other sites here. It is really a plein air painter's dream here with all the choices in painting subjects, and I hope to return here maybe for the plein air event next May to watch all of the artists that are there painting. I can also recommend taking workshops from this school. They are really welcoming and the whole town is accepting of art and artists, so look them up and see what they have to offer if you are interested in workshops at all. They are just getting started so keep an eye out on the growing schedule. 

As you may remember, I am starting a mentoring program with Lori in 2012, so I am taking any workshop I can with her now so that she will be familiar with my painting and what I need to work on as we begin the mentoring in January. As with the first workshop I did with Lori, she was again a wonderfully patient and giving teacher and I felt so inspired and encouraged by watching her demo and also by her advice at my easel. Below is a photo of her teaching before her demo the first day. 

We painted in several places in the area, including a morning in the studio because of the high winds and light rain on the final day. The painting you see above at the top of this post was on the beach one beautiful and sunny morning. Below is a photo of my set up and the painting after I was finished. Of course, the light had changed by then but you can get an idea of the beautiful place I was standing while painting.

Stay tuned this week for another fabulous workshop review about my next October workshop, Dee Beard Dean. Maybe I should do this for a job? Anyone want to hire me to take workshops and write reviews? Plein Air Magazine maybe? Now THAT would be a dream job!

And, I just couldn't resist a little Photoshop editing of the photo below! You will probably have to click on it and enlarge to see the "hazard" well. We painted one day after lunch on the side of a road with beautiful marshes on either side and really high winds! We shielded ourselves with our cars and our equipment and setup was truly tested. After we painted, Lori also did a demo in that spot. As I sat with my new friends and watched, I kept imaging "critters" climbing out of the water which was just a few feet away from us. Needless to say, this is not a "real" photo but one I am deeming "The Hazards of Plein Air Painting" just for fun! I know all of you plein air painters out there can think of other hazards from your past plein air experiences.

Smoky Mountain Painting Fun

This past weekend, I participated in a painting trip with 5 other artists from the Nashville area. I belong to a group there called The Chestnut Group  (follow link to see some FABULOUS work from the members and read about this wonderful organization) and although this was not an official group trip, all of the artists are also members of this wonderful group of artists. The participants of this trip above are (from left) me (yes I was blinking when the camera took the photo!), Claudia Williams, Cynthia Crook, Roger Dale Brown, Beverly Ford Evans, and Cathleen Windham.

We stayed in a cabin there with this beautiful stream right out the back door! Needless to say, there were many painting opportunities all around us and we took advantage of that and painted for three days. I came home with several studies I plan to enlarge back in the studio this winter. Below is one of my almost finished pieces from the trip. I hadn't gotten to the red truck peeking out of the door to the barn when it was time to move on! We had such a blast loading up in Roger's truck and laughing all the way to the next painting stop. It is truly one of the things I love most about this painting journey I am on - meeting new people who all enjoy and understand the love of art and painting!

I always love seeing other artists post their work in the place they painted it when doing plein air work, so I remembered to take one of my own this time!

I have also posted some other photos from the trip on my Facebook art page Smoky Six Trip Photos, so take a look there for more inspiring photos of the beautiful state of Tennessee!  I am off tomorrow to paint in a workshop with the fabulous Lori Putnam on Florida's Forgotten Coast (Apalachicola) so look for more painting fun next week!

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!

"Grandma's Cottage" 8x10

"Grandma's Cottage"

8x10 oil on canvas panel

This is a house in the beautiful town of Franklin, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. It is a plein air piece done in a workshop setting last fall with artist Anne Blair Brown. I have taken two workshops with Anne and enjoyed each one so much! She is a wonderful artist and has some good information to share about painting with others. I am not sure who lives there, but I like to think my grandmother does so I can go visit in this charming little cottage!

"Family Farm Home" 6x8

I have many other hobbies and things that I love to do besides paint. Some have come and gone (and I still have the "stuff" to prove it!) but scrapbooking is one that remains. I have a great group of friends in my "Scrapbooking Club" that meet once a month to visit, share, eat, and hopefully record some of those memories for our families! Although I now have moved on from "paper" scrapbooking to digital only, I still meet with them and now bring my laptop to scrap on!

On this particular day, we were meeting at one of the member's farms which they just built and is a working hay farm. I brought my plein air supplies and set up and painted their home there while everyone else worked on their scrapbooks. My friend loved it and gave it to her husband for Christmas. I loved painting all the angles and the pretty red color of the house. Although I just intended it to be a "sketch" and not a "finished" painting, it turned out okay and was so fun to do!