39, The Parting

The Parting 8x10 oil/panel

This is based on another old historic photo. I'm going to guess that these friends are either Navajo or possible Apache, based on the dress and where the photo was taken.  There was something about the way that

these two old friends reached out to shake hands in parting that touched me.

That nice feeling was quickly forgotten in trying to paint them from an old, grainy, black and white photo!

I finally kept saying to myself "simplify, simplify"... the entire background was done with a palette knife and I tried to keep the figures themselves very painterly.  Those poor old Indian ponies look pretty forlorn, don't they?

38. Chickadee

 Chickadee 5x7 oil/panel

Today I wanted to explore using the palette knife for a simple, unconstructed background.

Palette knife work will lay on pure color without picking up what's underneath. It can create some beautiful effects.  I know of some artists who paint completely with a palette knife.  I consider it just one more tool in the painter's toolbox, one that I'd like to use more often.

I have a friend , Jim Connelly, a fabulous painter, who uses the knife to great advantage in his work, and that's really what inspired me to try it on this little daily today. Jim's work has graced the cover of Southwest Art magazine, and been in numerous national shows. He does wonderful things with backgrounds!  Here's an example:

Isn't this great? It's one of my favorites of his.With his perfect use of color and value Jim has created a sense of a sunny, dusty arena without one shred of detail.  It's like magic.... More beautiful work can be seen on his website here.  Jim also does illustration and digital work - there's some really cool stuff - check it out!

So, I enjoyed using the knife.. I might even go a bit darker with the background.  

38. A Copy of One of My Favorite Artists

After Frederick Remington's 

"The Cowboy"

11x14 oil/panel

Today's project involved making a "copy" - more like a close approximation, of a painting by one of my all time favorite painters, Frederick Remington.   A trip to the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art when I was about 7 did quite a bit to motivate me to become a painter.  Even at that young age, I was enthralled by the work of Remington and Russell - they painted horses! And cowboys!!! I was amazed!  I think at that time I knew I wanted to draw and paint and become an "artist".  I'm still on that journey, and now, 50  years later (yikes) I am just now painting the things I love (horses! and cowboys!)

 For those of you who might not know, it is acceptable to make a copy of a painting, as long as you label it as such.   This painting is a secret Christmas gift for someone who does not really care much about art, per say, but seems to relate to Remington's work and likes it.  I think he'll be pleased.

Even making a "close approximation" is a learning experience.  I was not trying to go brushstroke for brushstroke, but just get close enough that someone would see the painting across the room and recognize it.

But the kind of close studying one must do to even 'approximate" gives real insight into how this master worked.  I am still in awe.

I had a small printed postcard and a page in a book to work from, and they were very, very different as far as color goes. So I picked the card to use for color, and the book page was slightly larger for some of the detail.

Here is a short video of this painting in progression.  I may still touch up a few places, but I need a smaller brush!  That cowboy's face is only about 3/4 inch, and it was tough to even approximate the detail that Remington achieved.  First I show the set up, with the little postcard as reference, and then a series of progress shots.  After the first bit of covering the canvas with an average color for each shape, the changes m;ight be quite small, but they're there!

37. Iconic Cowboy

Iconic Cowboy 11x14 oil/panel

Today's is a little larger;, 11x14, because I wanted more room to "move" with the brush.  And okay, because I have a couple of 11x14 frames that'll work.

The aim was to get a sense of brilliant sun.  One of my favorite artists is  Winslow Homer, and he had a way of creating this sense of really bright sun by actually darkening the sky and landscape - which seems rather counter intuitive, but he sure made it work.   So I thought I'd go for rich color everywhere, a slightly darker sky, and anything in the sunlight is infused with a cad yellow to create a sense of  warm sunlight.

This was an old historic black and white photo of a real cowboy - he seems to me to epitomize what that was.   

36. Calf Roper

Calf Roper 8x10 oil/panel

I put together a little video of this one in progress.. just still shots in progression. Sorry, there's some glare  from my easel light;  You'll notice that in the last final frame, the guy's shirt suddenly changed color. The whole painting, I had fought the value of that white shirt, so, heck, why battle it? I just changed the color.  That's the nice thing about painting - it's your own little world and you are the king of it - so change what you want!  It's good to be king.....

Here's the little video...

35. Drought Conditions

This Drought is Tough 8x10 oil/panel

This drought IS tough.... ranchers around here have it better than some, since we're in the mountains and tend to get a little more rainfall than those at lower elevations, but  every one of them will tell you it's been a hard year. And of course the Las Conchas fire damaged huge, huge tracts of grazing land and forest.   With hay going as high as $15 a square bale, they have a hard row to hoe.

My job isn't so tough.. I just have to paint.  That's hard enough some days, though.  I am really working on being more "painterly".  I ask the question, "how can I put down a brushstroke that represents this piece of light and color?"  rather than "how can I make this look like a stirrup?... or whatever...".  That's the hard part, because what we are doing is painting how light affects things - we're not painting "things". You've all heard me harp on this before.  Sometimes I feel like I am pulled in two directions, though.  These type of scenes just scream for  DETAIL!!!   Part of me would just love to get out the tiny brushes and draw in all the details of the saddle, or whatever.  But growing as an artist, for me at least right now, means learning to put down purposeful brushstrokes that represent a chunk of value and color, so I squint even though I'm using a photo reference here, and I use the largest brush I can. I also did a fair amount of negative painting - I do not start these  paintings with any drawing, just some rough thin brushstrokes to place the objects. so for the horse and rider in particular, I sort of carved them out of the background.

And, can I just add one random thought:  cows ARE fun to paint.  Especially Herefords.

postscript.I reworked the background on this one because after looking at it, I decided it was too chalky and too busy.   I think this version is much better now....what do you think?

Yikes! No daily today!

This WAS one of the daily paintings.. here it is hanging in the show in Keene, NH.

I started a small painting this morning, but I had all these errands to run,and I've just now gotten home.... I stopped by our local gallery on the way back, and one of the other artists was there, playing Irish fiddle - it was absolutely wonderful, so of course I had to stop and listen and talk with him.    The main reason for my trip to the "village" (what we call Jemez Springs) was to ship a painting  and  to make a DUMP RUN.  When you live in the sticks, there is no such thing as trash pick up.  You gotta take your own trash.  And since the dump and recycling center is more than a 50 mile round trip, it not only takes quite awhile to get there, but I always try to combine it with other errands so as to make the best use of the gas. So, in addition to the other errands,  I stopped at the general store to talk to the gal there about a painting commission, and while there, the UPS guy came by, recognized me, and gave me a package he had on the truck. (art supplies!). Small town life is cool.  That wouldn't happen in the city.    I also stopped at a local resale shop to see if they had any goodies for painting. I've found cool stuff as still life props in places like this.  Today, I did find a beautiful blue goblet and a little brass cup.

soooooo.... I didn't get home in time to work on the painting for today - You'll just have to wait.

Now, I gotta go light the wood stove and get some warmth going in this house!  And start supper! And feed the dogs!  (the dogs are hoping it is not necessarily in that order).