by Diane: Update #15 to Art Escape; How painting the flight of Swallows reminds me of painting waves

Painting movement has been an interest as long as I can remember. When I was very young preschooler, I had an activity book with wildlife birds printed on stamps.  I still have one with ducks in flight.  Then my first painting in an 8th grade art class I painted falling leaves in front of a doe.

So later I tried to draw my children moving  and as they grew I painted them roller skating. I try for showing movement like I perceived it as opposed to what a camera would do. In recent years I am fascinated by the motion of waves in some paintings. At home I do not have an ocean in my back yard but I have the beautiful flight of swallows. I have lived in the same home for over 30 years and just found so many beautiful subjects I could have seen through painting.

by Diane; Update #6, When best of plans fail

Spring is calling; my interest in topology wavers: my acrylic paint palette is hardening. I have an urge to finish my old projects.
       I framed and hung my recent topology inspired pieces with one small abstract I did in 2003. Going against my plan to not be critical, I became critical of the one on the white wall. I am falling back to my usual process of the way I throw myself on the empty canvas and mid way become critical.
        Looking through older work that had promise but never came to a finish that I could for long find acceptable, I added more color but the flow of the swallows flight still does not read well with the color and texture being more dominant than the flights. 

         Liking neither the tangle painting on the white wall or the swallows and tractor, I just recognized that the flight of the swallows could be described in topology tangles. Could I have stumbled on an application of math to describe an event in nature? I was inspired to change back to working from topology. Can topology be used to describe movement through time?
         The tangle painting that I did not like is now not a failure - just unfinished. I hypothesise that the swopping in and out of the swallows could be mapped to show that their flight patterns help them work the air together to catch insects to eat. Their flight route could be drawn in a a two dimentional projection like a topology tangle.  I am looking forward to doing more observations in this new way when the swallows return.

    This week I am much to absorbed in my art to be my husband's helper in his time of need as his neuron motor disease symptoms are bound to worsen. We are still navagating the medical specialists when most of their office have all but shut down. When the pandamic is over, we have great expectations of being included in a comprehensive clinic which will have professional advise for all his needs in one visit a month.

                  

by Diane: About the header painting

 

The header is a detail  from "Rock and Snow," an oil painting on cradled 12" square by 1 1/2" deep board. It is one of a series begun the summer before my senior year in high school. The first painting was of Humbug Creek with a big moss covered rock - my first oil painting on location.

1960

I have been back to Humbug Creek camp ground two more times and painted the rock and creek. Abstracts often evolve into this series at isolated times.

July 2,000

 

Nov. 3, 2019, down stream from Fall Creek Fish Hatchery and Research Center

 

My demonstration for afternoon watercolor workshop

at

2019 Fall Creek Arts and Crafts Festival

November 2, 2019

 

Painting the rock is always a comfort zone painting reminding me of pleasurable outings into the out of doors. The most recent was done on a marvelous sunny day with not even a breeze at the Fall Creek Festival.  More on the festival watercolor workshops I taught in my next blog Wednesday, Nov. 13.

By Diane, Design encountered in Paris

The best curated exhibit we saw was at Center Pompido:." Prehistory: A Modern Enigma" at Centre Pompidou was a journey we walked through on a serpentine path through room upon room.   Artists like Paul Cezanne was exhibited with 23,000fueled their creativity with scientific findings about prehistoric images.  They speculated where we are in the course of history now and in the future.

The last room of the Prehistory; A Modern Enigma exhibit featured an artist who made fanciful animals out of cardboard and painted them with poster paint. Children's craft tools!  The artist must have had a blast of fun. One important part of being human is having fun releasing the child in us. For the first time I see people of prehistoric times capable of creating just for the fun of it when survival needs were satisfied.

 I do not recall Gaugin being represented, but the exhibit's theme reminds me of Paul Gauguin's "Where Come we? What are We? Whither we Go?" his masterpiece after he left France. He was drawn to and respected the natives in Tahiti. He painted the women solid like prehistoric Venus of Lespugue.

                           We were stunned by this chair and foot rest provided to customers of the Bon Marche. Melissa and I liked the look but wondered if it was comfortable. It sure was we both agreed.

 

Arts de la table at the Bon Marche reinforces what I think.  We are all participants in creating art knowingly or not. The more we are aware, the more enriching it can be to design. 

Fast food is packaged and as a tourist we were hungry and sometimes tired or in a hurry so we purchased food at grocery stores. The packaging has far less plastic than I am used to here in Oregon. The folded paper boxes are also more aesthetic than molded plastic.

 Not all fast food cutlery was wood.

 

by Diane; The elements in my photographs that speak to my painting

Seeing  interesting pattern, shapes, line, and color in the landscape is a step in framing my photographs to a rectangular window. Then without copying any photograph I repeat natural pattern, shape, line and color learned in taking pictures.
Or does the exercise of painting inform my picture taking with the camera at the same time taking pictures with the camera informs my painting?
I without intending to
selectively photograph these natural elements of design
 which are similar to what I have painted.

painting

photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practicing with the viewfinder of the camera, is similar to composing many paintings. It helps me see the emotional impact of the design elements. Only in a painting I have the license to make changes spontaneously.

by Diane, Overcoming painter's block recipe - benefits and shortcommings

Starting July 31st my past four Wednesday blogs were about the development of two similar paintings.

I declare them finished this week.  At least for the foreseeable future!  Their titles might be  MY DREAM #1 and #2. The  recipe for these combined three entities - our garden, a painting surface already covered with textured paint.  Henri Rousseau's painting, THE DREAM was an interesting start because I enjoyed the lush forest.

The first painting has more of Rousseau's symbolism that led me to see changes in meanings of symbolism between 1910 and today. Also needed a larger surface. In the second painting.  DREAM #2  became more personal with symbolism from  life closer to my home garden.

One of  the personal symbols was my husband Don's and my sculpture of Nessie.  I wanted to commemorate my wild garden that we both created but will be replaced by easier to maintain plants in a drier climate.

 Another entity in my formula is the surface. DREAM #2 was painted on top of an incomplete abstract became the surface. I borrowed much of the original abstract for the overall coloring of the painting.



 This week I attempted to resolve MY DREAM.

 
 

Mine symbolizes mystery and female renewed, creative flow.

Rousseau's has female symbolism of renewal, peace plus esoteric mystery.

Some of the subjects are shared and  may have different symbolism.

Mermaid by our front door

 Summation of the benefits and critic of my experimental recipe to banish painter's block

This new adventure followed a dry spell when the sightings of foxes abruptly terminated my last series of immediate reactions to what I was seeing of them.  Hopefully the foxes went closer to the river where their pray wouldn't be warned by the snapping of dry grass. As we saw fewer and fewer fox we worried that the mountain lion sighted in our neighborhood took them.

Writing was a positive part of my process keeping me thinking, photographing, and researching origins and symbolism of plants and animals. Writing about the experience, I want to add in retrospect, was as important as the three entities in the formula to overcome painter's block. A fifth entity is a strategy of determining when the painting is finished.

 If  the summer had not dried up the garden plants,  if the yellow jackets did not pester me, if I wasn't about to pack for travel, I would have been tempted to add some birds, and define the pears and peaches, or add surreal Koi fish flying about.  Adding more was becoming work instead of fun. So my final hours of painting was devoted to looking at the abstract composition of color values, compositional contrast to bring some flowers and the snake to more dominance. I made the background darker and more purple to help to make the moon more noticeable.

I am happy with the painting.  Thank you Rain for making me a co-author here.
Stay tuned. In October I foresee another need for a painter's block formula. Painter's block often occurs after life's interruptions.

 

by Diane: Simple recipe for painter's block

The roll of fox paintings was interrupted by my husband's gall bladder surgery. On Saturday the day after surgery he did well. We enjoyed a brief visit from daughter Melinda, Mark and Madisen being available in case we needed anything. We sure appreciate their love. As the days passed he could not sit around and constantly he was on the go giving me time to paint.

The fox is not visiting the dry field however.

Furthermore many of my observations were about violent encounters of wildlife.

Doing more violent paintings has no inspiration for me after the mass shootings last weekend.

 

Working in the flower garden before my husband's surgery was an obvious starting point for new paintings.

 

 One catalyst for creating something new is making connections between unrelated things. Making a visual connection between absurdities.

 I found a used surface - a partially finished abstract watercolor started in Ruth Armitage's workshop on Approaching the Abstract.

 

 

 

 I set up in my front yard where I could be inspired by our flowers. Even if my husband has a different aesthetic for the flower garden cleaning up my preference for a jungle garden, I could at least paint a jungle like Henri Rousseau's "The Dream".

 

 

 

Only "The Dream" is 6' 8 1/2" x 9' 9 1/2".  The forms in the large painting compressed to my small 12" square surface became a challenge more difficult than my ability to render.  I first painted the nude in the water departing from Rousseau's.  The abstract pipe cleaner marks like water in a stream became more dominate in the painting than "The Dream" and my flower garden. I decided to play with  the nude in the stream.

The lily at center took away from the flow of the stream. With some paint thinner on a rag I easily removed the lily. Removal was easy because of how well

 I had covered the watercolor with acrylic medium.

The theme for this painting will be continued

 on a medium sized 22''x28" canvas with another abstract already on the surface.

Maybe I will come back and paint more bubbles inspired by the circles in the original abstract. The bubbles are blown form the golden flute. Also will judge if this painting is racist because the dark skinned flutter is in a darker part of the painting.

by Diane, Painting my reality without camera references

Traditionally painters make plans like taking photos of their subject and making drawings of their composition before starting to transfer their final drawing onto the canvas. Then when all is perfectly planned, they paint.
          Rejecting tradition, I want the painting to be my first impulsive fresh statement capturing the vigor of my child- like enthusiasm. I try to summon my courage and go right for drawing in oil paints on my canvas. Of course my rejection of a safer path can result in more failures. Critics used to photographic reality will say my fox doesn't look like a fox. Most often I am the critical one meaning  correcting errors. For example, the dark background on the fox's right front leg is a distraction counter to the fluidity of the fox's movement. So I added more dark under the fox and transitional grays.

Convex belly,
left horizon line confused
right front leg

        During the past month of oil painting  fox in our backyard, I accept my depiction of anatomical inaccuracy trading it for lively exaggerations of gesture and color.  As I watch the fox, I am becoming more familiar and want to see if I can remember well enough to better capture an abstracted form on my canvas. I was not satisfied with my first paintings after continuing to study the foxes' flowing movements.  Before painting more oils, I drew in grays with sumi ink and washes of white acrylic ink.
   

The dark below the belly defined the belly as being concave
 because in order for the fox to have maximum spring
 the pelvis tilts down pulling the belly in before the apex of the jump as the back legs push
and the chest expands with air 

Other parts of my life come into play on how I am observing the fox. I have been learning Tai Chi Qi Gong for two months. So my co-ordination and memory of strange, slow, sneaky movements are foreign to my Western stiff tight neck and knees. I imagine myself as smooth and as a fox. but of course I am not.  I am becoming more aware of my breath and how I am distributing my weight and what it does to my bones as I move. So when I am drawing the fox, I can imagine the fox's body as if it were my body giving me a reality different than the camera's.  The fox has to move with the same principles as the practice of martial art. Interesting to make comparisons and record with a little distortion where the weight and breath is in the fox.
        Time to paint more memories of the fox, last seen on Monday. I sure hope one of the four foxes we watched, survives the predators.

        Not taking pictures with my phone, also, allows me to accept childlike distortion and simplification making the spirit of the gesture dominant.

I do not know if 6,000 years ago
when Qi Gong was first practiced
if the first masters
took inspiration from the movement of foxes.

by Diane, Facing frustration on fox paintings

 Since my Wednesday post, I thought working larger would be easier than doing two paintings with very small foxes. I tried on Thursday just head portraits on my 10" x 8" canvas boards. I planned to make them more abstract. For me to make them more abstract showing gesture,  movement and expression I need to know their anatomy. Anatomical cues of placement are essential for me.  I find that I am unsure how the nose, eyes and ears are attached.
      Needed for next week - searching for pictures of foxes as well as using the field glasses to observe in the field in back of our place.

by Diane: Painting foxes

Completed on Day Four

Fox were in the back yard close up for observation until July 5th. The fireworks must have made them fearful to come too close.  We still see the two young ones playing tag.

 Fox move fast. I watch them often. But when working largely from memory, my eyes are on my painting and I look little at the landscape. My husband Don alerts me when any wildlife is in our view. I remember their movement more than their features. I love their perky gait and their grace. Defining their form and movement requires working both their contour and the background as one.

 

Don said he did not understand their orientation. That is okay. The one in the lower foreground I am looking from below. In the middle ground I am looking down.

 

Mornings are so pleasant. Don is watching the ever changing landscape. We are so fortunate to have this view.

 

 The fox the other morning were crying out their warning call when a very big lighter animal appeared running towards us on the road. When it was closer we understood the high pitched bark of the fox. It was not another fox but a coyote.

 



Day 0ne

It took me several days to paint the fox. This 8"x10" oil on canvas board. At first they did not relate to each other. Don said they looked like deer.

Day Two

 

Another painting in which the barn and fields were painted first.  Then the foxes came through and I decided my painting was a stage.  They were begging to be painted.
 

Diane on Beginning new paintings

To take advantage of the early morning sunshine, I started painting at 7:00 AM  last Thursday. The first gestural attempt sometimes is the best. Thursday I mixed a cold wax directly into the oil paint. Using wax for the first time since 1966.  I noticed the smooth texture of oil was lost. I remembered why I didn't explore wax mixtures further.

 Friday I noticed the car would not fit into the garage and I was less thrilled by the yellows. I missed the spring green  grass with morning dew making it almost white.

Monday morning the weather was taking a turn.  It was cooler with a breeze. Early on there was a burst of sunlight low in the sky.  Shadows were very distinct at 7:00 AM. Darkening the sky changed the mood. I want the good feeling from sun light shining through leaves like glass and dark trunks and limbs like lead.

Then the mist obscured the background trees.  A lighter sky perhaps. When the oil paint dries, clean fresh color is easy to apply. In the background closer evergreen trees can be added in a darker tone. I Brushed a spider from my face at about 9:00 AM. I am applying cold compresses to my eye.           I did  not painting outdoors Tuesday. Wednesday was a good painting day.