Oil Painting

Having experienced life outside the art world can be a curse and an advantage.

Like so many, and certainly in my case, these experiences have taught valuable lessons in marketing, sales, work ethics, as well as the ability to run a business. No substitute for experience.

The path you take can be varied as long as the goal you have set for yourself remains in sight.

I liken it to being an athlete, with kids playing any number of sports. All dreaming of making that final winning play in the World Series or Super Bowl. Do these dreams begin as goals, or are they steppingstone to our future.

Little League Baseball, Softball, Soccer, Gymnastics, Mighty Mite Football, you name it, and millions of kids have tried it. All providing experiences and opportunities to grow.

Then comes high school and the numbers are greatly thinned. The dream continues and the passion builds. College, however, will be the end to many of these dreams. The numbers are drastically reduced as the cream rises to the top, and a very elite few go on and play professionally. The experiences, however, are never diminished. They still are a very important part of you.

The art world has a very similar parallel, with millions of kids drawing and painting in schools, at home, rec centers and anywhere you can find crayons, markers and pencils.

The exposure is vast and the satisfaction these budding artists receive by seeing their creations hung in classrooms and on parents and grandparents’ refrigerators, as well as their own rooms, is all inspiring and motivating. “Look what I drew today, I drew it for you”!

As they grow in years and advance in their craft, the numbers begin to thin. By high school, the standouts are having their work submitted in contests and some seek professional classes with the dream of becoming an artist. Many of these artists might find different ways to fuel their creativity in other areas such as music, dance, theater and speech. All filling a desire to create and be heard.

The ability to find mentors and professional guidance has never been greater. The best of the best are teaching in person, online, doing workshops all over the world reaching masses of truly wonderfully talented artists.

Colleges continue to excel and produce amazing young artists and give them the opportunity to be seen and heard.

I was one of those individuals that chose a career outside the art world.

I fueled my passion by owning my own business in the automotive world creating custom vans, trucks and automobiles.

Entering the world of art full-time was and has always been a thought, that one day could come true. I never stopped drawing or painting throughout my corporate life, and it was something I always found rewarding and fun. It was a kick in the britches.

I never thought, however, it was something I could make a living at. This was something very high on my priority list. Taking care of my family was paramount.

When I finally decided to make a career change, I was at the point financially where I could jump in wholeheartedly and without reservation.

I remember it clearly; I told my wife I wanted to be a full-time artist. She said, “What! Are you crazy?” I said no, I want to spend the rest of my life working as a full-time artist!

After taking medication and time to think she agreed, and the rest is history. (I’m exaggerating of course, Susie has always been my rock and supported my crazy ideas 100%.)

Being one that wasn’t a well-known or standout artist was a problem. How could I possibly succeed among the thousands of successful artists today.

I started by contacting a very talented artist Jeff Hein who owns and operates The Hein Academy of Fine Art here in Salt Lake City. Jeff teaches classically and has a very successful atelier online and in person, not to mention a very successful art career.

I began by taking classes from Jeff in the evening, until a full-time position became available. For two and a half years I worked countless hours failing and absorbing criticism, as well as celebrating milestone victories along the way. This truly became the foundation of my work. I still hadn’t found my footing and voice yet and Jeff’s words where embedded in my mind, “Don’t Be Lucky, Be Good. You have one opportunity to make a first impression. Be sure you are ready!”

At 58 this wasn’t something I wanted to hear, but it was something I definitely heard. He was absolutely right, I felt the clock ticking and pushed and worked as hard as I possibly could. This being the curse I spoke about earlier. Is there time to switch careers mid-stream and find satisfaction and success in this area? Was this even possible?

I couldn’t allow negative thoughts to creep in and destroy all the work I had done, so I began painting for me and just enjoying the love of painting.

I started plein air painting in 2012 and found a new voice and calling within myself.

At the end of that year, I told Jeff I love you like a son, but I’m driven to paint on location En Plein Air! He understood and we said goodbye. Still an amazing friend, we see and paint together at events and plein air outings.

I took workshops from Bryan Mark Taylor, Charlie Hunter, Ron Rencher and Matt Smith. All were incredibly enlightening and rewarding. Again, hearing Jeff’s voice, “Don’t be Lucky Be Good”!  I painted plein air as much as possible and took every opportunity to learn whenever I could.

In 2013, I entered my first plein air event. I thought I had won the lottery when I took 4th place in the Wasatch Plein Air Paradise in Midway, Utah! This show has on average 100 plus artists that participate, with many of them being the best in the land.

It was just what the doctor ordered. A small amount of success among folks I had admired from afar, and now having my work alongside theirs was a dream come true.

It wasn’t a Best of Show, but it was that small spark of inspired motivation that told me I was on the right path.

Years have passed with hundreds of events in the rearview mirror. Finding success as a fulltime artist was a dream and that dream is a success measured on my terms.

Was I able to maintain my passion and love for my craft? Yes.

Was I able to support my family financially and grow my business? Yes.

Have I grown as an artist as well as a person? Yes.

Does each gallery sale excite, drive and motivate me still? Yes.

Was the decision to start down this path as an artist feel like an accomplishment? Yes.

Does my work get into every show I enter? No.

Have I reached all my intended goals as an artist? No.

Have I learned all that I can about my craft? No.

With all this being said, I still have a million miles to go. I still hear the clock ticking.

My drive to continue to take workshops from world class artists is something I enjoy and ability to keep learning is important.

There are thousands of paintings left to paint, each with the ability to express my voice. Without the promise of any tomorrows, how many will I be allowed to capture. This is what motivates and drives me.

Each piece is an honor to paint and hopefully it will touch and move a viewer to a special place or memory.

Is it too late to try something new?

I don’t think so. I find that when we challenge ourselves, step out of our comfort zone and really face change, that is where we truly find growth and feel energy that makes a life worth living.

Each horizon can be an opportunity and a new path to follow. Don’t miss these wonderful opportunities by being stagnant and not willing to be challenged. Be the best version you can be. You don’t have to be the very best there ever was, you just have to be the best version of yourself and abilities. That is where you will find peace within. You will then see the amazing you that you have created.

Have a super fantastic day today and don’t forget to share your smile with everyone you meet!

I don’t know about you, but when I begin a larger painting I tend to start thinking of the painting as “precious” far too early. Either it is a large and costly substrate, or I get going on the painting and as it is going well, I get too worried about messing it up. Then I get into trouble by painting too carefully and the painting suffers as a result.

I use small studies to counter that.

Before we go further, I have to talk about watercolours. Yes, I know I am writing for the OPA blog, but please humour me for a minute. I started as a watercolour painter and it is on paper that I learned much of what I know about painting.

There have been a number of times on my artistic journey when I have made quick strides in acquiring better painting skills. The first time was when I got myself some better materials, switching from student-grade paint and paper to 100% cotton paper and good paint. This experience is true in any medium. If you are painting with paint and cardboard canvas panels from the craft store, you will see a change when you switch to actual linen or buy a few tubes of good quality paint.

The next artistic leap forward was when I briefly got on the daily painting bandwagon in 2013. I committed to making one small (5″x7”) painting a day for 60 days. I did it for 2 months only because I was also still working at my first career and had 2 children under 10 years old. I didn’t feel I could commit to more than 2 months.

I initially had planned it as a marketing strategy, and it worked well for that, but it ended up being far more valuable in terms of what the daily practice taught me. I ended up repeating the 60 day experiment twice more in the next two years. Each time, I found myself learning more about how to compose a painting, how to simplify, how to use a bigger brush proficiently and more about what does and does not make a successful painting.

I also learned that a painting that fails is no big deal. Rather: an unsuccessful painting was just an idea that did not work, and I would get to try something different when I painted again the next day. This gave me an unanticipated freedom from expectation. I did not have to carefully consider what subject I was going to paint because I would be painting something else the next day. This freedom let me play and it was wonderful.

I learned the value of repetition. I was publishing these paintings each day so I did want to have something to show by the end of the day. If I made one that flopped completely, I would just restart. I was painting on small pieces of paper, after all. The second attempt gave me a chance to address what I thought went wrong. This was incredibly valuable as it let me answer the question of “what if I had done this instead of that?”

Ok, enough about watercolour. This is the OPA blog after all, I should write about oil painting.

Now, years later I am also an oil painter. As I explore a new idea for an oil painting I often start with a small study. I have gotten comfortable with small square panels, 6″x6”. I like the square format because it helps to remind me that I am just painting a piece of a larger idea. I buy birch panels from a local supplier in bundles of about 20 and so I never feel like I am going to run out.

When I am painting on such a small surface I do not feel like I am taking a risk when I try something new. The little paintings don’t feel “precious”. Rather they are a place where I can play with the paint. If one doesn’t turn out, it’s no big deal at all. I do not feel I have “wasted a panel” because I have a bunch more sitting on my shelf, waiting their turn.

Here is one such little study that ended up leading me down a whole new path as far as portraying light.

I’d never painted anything quite like this before and so I started it as an experiment. I was pleased with it so I did several more small boats like this, immediately after, getting a feel for what did work and what did not.

From those smaller studies I went on to make a few larger ones, all pulling from the experiments begun in my initial studies.

This was a series of studio studies which led me to take this small painting practice outside. I find the small size much more manageable than a larger surface would be when painting at the seashore. For example, where I live, during mid-tide, the water level will rise or fall 5 or 6 feet over the course of an hour. As rocks are hidden or revealed by the waves the composition changes completely. This means I have to work quickly. I am still slower in oils than I am in watercolours, but I can more or less complete a 6″x6” study before before my scene is gone.

I used a palette knife in these, again, so I could work faster. I was painting outside and speed was of the essence.

When I came inside, I could slow down and paint with more intention, and a brush instead of a knife:

Perhaps you can see where some of the observations from my tiny plein air studies are incorporated in this studio painting.

Lately I have come home from a trip where I was lucky enough to spend several days observing classic yachts in a regatta. I sketched on location (again watercolours, faster medium and easier to travel with). When I got home I wanted to paint all the boats. At once! There were so many boats I wanted to paint that I had a hard time choosing just one to start with. I started with a series of small studies so I could paint several of them, quickly, getting familiar with them and figuring out which ones I would want to paint on a larger scale.

The lessons I am learning from these small paintings are important. Even now that I am a relatively newly elevated OPA Signature member, I feel like I still have much to learn about putting down paint. For one example, I have long struggled with backgrounds in my boat paintings. How much do I show? How much do I leave out? How much can I blur out?

If you look closely at the background in the two studies above you’ll see some progression between the first and the second. In the first I was still fixated on showing a discrete tree line whereas in the second I let go of that and discovered the painting doesn’t need it. I don’t know how many times I have read the words of better painters than I saying “simplify, soften edges, paint less not more”, but I had to have that happen in my painting in front of me to absorb what they were expressing.

To restate what I said earlier, it is far easier to experiment, and try risky ideas and be open to
accidental discoveries when producing many works on a smaller and less “precious” surface
than it is by working labouriously on one or two larger paintings.

I’ve taken the atmospheric blurry background from Classic Study II and put it into this painting:

I have left out the cluttered suburban background that was really there, letting me concentrate on the beauty of this elegant ship.

If you have read this hoping for a list of specific lessons I have learned over the years from my small studies, this is where I disappoint you. What I learned might not be the lessons that you will learn. The important message I want to share is: do the work. Experiment. Paint many paintings. Make them small for speed if you need that like I did. Try lots of different ideas. Make lots of paintings. Don’t treat each one like it is headed for a museum, or even a frame. Try something different. Mess up. Try again. Paint something else. Have some fun with the paint. The more you paint the more you will figure this thing out.

As for me, I will keep painting, on surfaces small and large, learning as I go.

I’m amazed that I’m contributing to this blog after my long journey to become a Signature Member of OPA. For years I have read OPA’s blog, gathering so much information from its great artists and I wondered what I could possibly share that might be interesting. My story is pretty much like a lot of other artists’….I have always wanted to paint. After my children were born, I started painting in watercolor at home. We live in a rural community and art education was too far away and too expensive for me to access. I picked up every book I could afford on watercolor and learned about paint, papers and how to begin painting.   I worked on our kitchen table at odd hours while my children were sleeping. Eventually I had to get a job and the only time I had to paint was either early in the morning before work or evenings and weekends. When my children were finally in college, I signed up for local classes after work; I was so excited to be taking classes with other artists. After painting in watercolor for about 15 years, I bought some pastels and loving the drawing aspect of them, began reading books again, and found evening pastel classes. I painted in pastels for many years, entering shows and winning awards. Entering shows helped me to get perspective on how my work was being received. I joined the Southeastern Pastel Society and enjoyed the demos and camaraderie as a member. Eventually, I became President of Southeastern Pastel Society and presided for 7 years.  A local gallery took in my watercolors and pastels and the sales helped pay for my addiction to painting. During this time, I earned the status of Signature Pastellist in Southeastern Pastel Society.  I managed workshops for Albert Handell OPAM and Sally Stand in North Georgia, and enjoyed meeting and making friends with many artists I had admired for a long time.

Getting restless and needing a change is normal for an artist; I decided to take oils out and paint en plein air. With the help of some local artists, I pulled a group together who wanted to paint en plein air. This was before plein air painting was the thing and there weren’t many people doing it. It was actually before email, so I used snail mail and phone calls to set up our locations and time to paint as a group. Our group was limited since I was still working full time. We painted together and produced some of the first plein air exhibitions in Georgia. It was a fun time. My oils weren’t great but I kept on working, finding there was a larger learning curve than expected. I continued taking oil classes after work, working from live models and painting en plein air. When my son and daughter were out of college I was able to quit work to paint full time, thanks to my wonderful, supportive husband.

Setting art goals like entering more shows, painting en plein air regularly, trying new surfaces and tools, joining a sketch group and taking classes from master artists has kept me motivated and excited about painting. If my work begins to feel stale, I return to pastel studies to change things up.  When things feel stalled, I keep working through, challenging myself with new approaches or subject matter. I enter shows regularly getting into some and rejected from others. Rejections make me work harder to get better. My point of all of this is to say “never give up”. A simple sketch every day can be done in a short time and can be worked into a busy schedule. Some important things to know are, working from life and drawing are a must. There are classes in most places, and now the internet has free instruction. My books are treasured and still show me the way. Old habits die hard, I still get up and paint early in the morning, which is the time I have set for myself to be in the studio.

Technology today has opened doors so wide that anyone who has the 3 D’s (Drive, Determination and Desire), can achieve their goals in painting. Having the support of a loving family is a big part of this journey. I teach workshops and weekly art classes now, and feel that I’m the one learning; I have to stay ahead of my students to be able to help them grow. Most of my paintings are landscapes; working on location infuses my work with light, atmosphere and feeling of place. Painting en plein air is a spiritual experience for me, much more than being in church. It’s where I see God’s hand and know that I am where I am supposed to be, painting the beauty of this world.