Oil Painting

Beyond packing plenty to drink, a midday snack and lots of sunscreen, painting en plein air can go from a beautiful day with Mother Nature to a fight for your life if certain precautions aren’t taken before throwing on the back pack and heading down a trail. I have painted plein air for almost twenty years and in that time I have encountered my share of treacherous weather changes, more snakes than I can count, rutting elk, a very upset larger than life brahma bull, wild pigs, bobcats, two black bears and bandits intent on taking my wallet. That does not include the number of times my life hung in the balance as I negotiated a narrow canyon ridge or large trucks narrowly taking off my backside as I painted on side of the road.
Over the years I developed a healthy respect for how quickly things can change when painting outdoors and have developed my own personal set of safety precautions along the way.

1. Don’t Post on Social Media.
   
   The safest thing you can do for yourself and your family is to NOT post pictures of yourself while out of town. I am as guilty as anybody of posting on social media while traveling. Who doesn’t want to show all your friends that you are painting along the California coast or traveling to France to teach a two week workshop? I do you it. You do it. We all do it. STOP!
   There’s no better way to announce to the world that your home is vacant and ripe for the pickings than to post pictures of yourself out of town or boarding a plane to Europe. Instead post date your blog so it is published while you are away. Then share your blog on Facebook and Twitter. This keeps you active on social media and it appears you are at home. If you must post on Facebook or Tweet something, post a picture of yourself in the studio or what you have on the easel. With a little planning you can post something several times while traveling to make it appear you are home working away at your easel.
   Believe it or not the world can go a week without hearing from you. Please wait until you return home to post pictures of your trip, workshop or paintings.
2. Paint with a group
   

   

   I cannot stress this enough. As much as I enjoy painting alone next to a running stream deep in the woods, it is far better if someone knows where I am. Painting with a group provides safety in numbers and companionship.
3. Let someone know your plans
   Whether you are painting a few miles from home or hiking into the back woods ALWAYS let someone know your plan, including what time you plan to return. If your painting excursion takes you away from your group or public view, leave a written plan with someone you know, a park ranger, hotel clerk or even a gas station attendant. Include a trail map with your plan highlighted in red ink, vehicle description, vehicle license plate number and a recent photo. Most importantly, let them know when you plan to return.
4. Make yourself visible.
   Most of us tend to dress fairly drab because we don’t want a brightly colored shirt reflecting onto our canvas while we paint. The problem is we blend in and therefore are hard to spot, especially if we are standing on side of the road or, in a worst case scenario, become incapacitated deep in the woods or on side of a mountain. Taking a hint from my running buddies I have started wearing luminous shirts over my painting shirt while hiking into and out of a location.
   I buy an XXL so it fits comfortably over my other shirt. This one cost me $5 at Walmart and can be spotted a mile away. Once I get to where I’m going I take it off. On my arm is a Spot GPS device. More about that later.
   In addition, when I am painting on side of the road I put out safety cones. I put one at least 500 feet away, then one half way and one right next to where I am painting. Make sure you get the ones that have the reflective stripe on them. The ones pictured cost about $15 at Home Depot, Lowes or Amazon. We plein air painting types are notorious for trying to capture that last ray of setting sun and that is when we are most likely to get hit by a passing motorist. Headlights hitting the reflective stripe could be a life saver.
   I also hang the luminous shirt on the roadside corner of my car because that shirt will be seen before my car.
5. Be trackable. Don’t rely on your smart phone.
   Before heading off on an unmarked trail or down that rarely traveled dirt road give some thought to the possibility of something going wrong and how you will handle it. As a society we have become too dependent on our smart phones and their GPS abilities. Anyone who has traveled west knows how difficult it is to find a signal in the mountains or northern Arizona for that matter. Good luck on much of Highway 1 along the California coast as well.
   How many of our smart phones require a four digit code to open? Heaven forbid, but if you are hurt, unconscious and someone else finds you, chances are they will try to use your phone to contact someone you know. If it is blocked because your phone needs a code, it can greatly hinder emergency personnel from contacting someone on your behalf. I had two personal experiences with this exact scenario just last year.
   On the back of your phone tape the phone number of the person you need contacted if for some reason you are unable to make the call yourself and someone else needs do it on your behalf.
   Now back to the Spot GPS device.
   The SPOT motion activated GPS is one of several type tracking devices on the market. I wear it clipped to my back pack. The Spot provides location-based messaging and emergency notifications that track you worldwide using satellite networking. There are no drop zones and once the SPOT is turned on you are immediately being tracked. Notice several buttons at the bottom. One is an “OK” button that notifies friends or family that everything is going as planned. Another button is for tracking so your contacts can track you on a map using their computer or smart device. Another is the S.O.S. button for emergency rescue. If you hit the S.O.S. button emergency crews are immediately notified of your location and dispatched to find you. To save battery life it shuts down when you stop moving for more than five minutes then starts up again when you begin moving.
6. What to do if you get lost?
   Let’s assume first that you have left your plan with family, a friend, a park ranger or someone else you can depend on. When going hiking on an unfamiliar trail or down a road you are not real sure about, I make the following suggestions:
   Pay attention to your surroundings. Pick out landmarks going into a location so you will recognize them on the way out. Recognize when you are lost, turn around and go back.
   Monitor how you are feeling. Especially at high altitudes or in low humidity locations. Be aware of your physicality at all times. Hence the extra water and snacks.
   If you cannot get out on your own stay near an open area so emergency rescue can spot you from the air. Make a signal by placing your luminous shirt in open view. Start a fire for warmth at night and smoke during the day.
   And finally I thought I would share a few safety essentials I carry in my back pack and suggest you do the same. All of the items shown add about a pound to my pack.
   Starting with the rather large knife on the left and going clockwise the following items are pictured: pocket knife, first aid kit, flashlight, utility tool, headlamp, emergency blanket and a 5-in-1 survival tool.
   My latest addition is the lighted Powercap by Panther Vision. All my hunting buddies swear by them. Three different levels of light intensity provide plenty of hands free light. I want to try doing a nocturnal painting with it.
   
   And finally the 5-in-1 survival tool. This tool is a must and should be every plein air painter’s back pack.
   

I hope you found this blog helpful and maybe gave you some food for thought on how to make your plein air experiences safe. If you have any safety tips that you use, not mentioned in the blog, please share. Happy painting everyone.

When I began to think about the topic of working from photos or working from life, I thought back to when I first began painting. At that time I was focused on recording all the details I could. I had very little thought of how my paintings could be more than just a faithful recording in paint of what the camera had captured. Photography became a crutch for me. In the end I slowly lost the skills of drawing and the sensitivity of color, value and edge information needed to help communicate my own unique vision of the world around me. Sure my paintings looked like the photo I was working from, and on occasion, I was able to capture a little bit of the life of the subject I was painting, but for the most part my paintings were lifeless. I was lacking all of the things that make for an interesting painting and for me, probably the biggest, poetry. I know poetry in a painting is pretty vague and very individual, but I think we all feel it when we see it in a great piece of art.
Painting from life has always been about the experience and the knowledge gained from studying life. I cannot think of any better way to grow as an artist than to work from life. A question to ask yourself is what is more important to you, the finished painting or the experience gained while creating the painting?
Certainly, photography used as reference in a painting has its place, as long as we can avoid the pitfalls of working from them. Photos rarely capture accurate color and value. (I should say my photos rarely capture accurate color and value.) Some of you are probably better photographers than I and don’t have this problem. Working from a photo really is just a memory exercise. You’re asking yourself what color was that when I took that photo. This is when all that time you spent working from life comes into play. The more you work from life the stronger your paintings will be when working from a photo. Every time you work from life you’re creating a visual library in your brain. When you’re back in the studio, you can access this visual library when working from a photo that is lacking the information you need.
One of the benefits of working from a photo is the opportunity to explore subject matter that working from life doesn’t always allow. We’ve all been on vacation somewhere when we see something that we would love to paint, but it’s happening so quickly that trying to paint it would be impossible without taking a photo. This is when taking a photo and making some visual notes in a notebook can be of great help when you’re back in the studio working from that photo. Taking the time to study the scene and making those visual notes either in a notebook or in your mind is very helpful. We’ve all be caught up in the moment where we see a great subject and we just start snapping picture after picture, without any thought of making some mental notes as to what we’re seeing. When we get back to the studio, we’re often disappointed that our photos didn’t capture what we saw.
Photoshop can be a great tool for artists who want to play around with different color combinations and compositions. Changes in colors can be very easy to do in photo editing software. This can be very helpful if you want to change the color of a piece of clothing your model is wearing to see how different color combinations work in your painting. You may also want to try collaging different photos together to try different compositions as well. The possibilities for editing your photos are endless for someone who understands Photoshop. In the end, any photo editing software is just another tool for the artists. An artist needs to determine if it’s something you want to experiment with.
I think Dean Cornwell sums it up best when he said, “Do what the camera can’t do- the camera can’t add the spiritual; it can’t go beyond the mentality of its models. Test your work ask yourself can the camera do what I have done? If you can make a real picture you won’t have to worry about the camera.”
I hope we all will continue to work from life as much as possible. Understanding that photography is just another tool we can use for exploring new creative ideas, but should never become a crutch for developing the skills and experiences that can only be found when working from life.

A question that invariably is asked by students or observers during a workshop or demo is “How do I develop a style?” A comment I often hear from fellow artists at shows, galleries and museums is “I would recognize his/her style anywhere.” As artists, we want our work to stand out for its individuality, to be recognized as part of our body of work and for what we have to say as an artist even though our style may evolve throughout our career.
Brush mileage is the answer we hear for how to become proficient as a painter. I believe this applies to developing a style as well. Style develops while learning to master the elements that are essential in a great painting. When an artist takes on the prolonged study of painting, the essentials become a natural part of the artist. Hopefully, we will continue to learn and grow as an artist, to experiment and improve. As a result our style becomes a work in progress.
The elements listed below have been discussed and dissected in countless books and articles. They are intertwined in a painting and cannot be completely separated other than as a basis for study and learning.

I have chosen paintings by two artists working today to illustrate some of my points. Both artists presented here are representational painters, painting predominantly alla prima and both are bravura. Each has a style decidedly recognizable as their own. Their use of edges, color and value is impeccable. Their works have a sense of place, a sense of light and, for me, a sense of love.

Color Palette – As artists, we choose to limit the number of colors we lay on our palette. We choose which warms, which cools, which darks and lights, transparent and opaque, so on and so forth. We will during the course of our career even zero in on brand choice. So, our palette and choice of colors becomes part of our recognizable style.

Values and value range – Great artists are superbly accurate on “getting the value right”. They usually can be recognized by the key or value range that most of their paintings fall. In the paintings presented here, Mr. Gerhartz used an overall dark tone which unifies the painting; Mr. Gonske stays high key throughout. Both present a magical sense of light through the use of values as well as value range.
Composition and Focal Point – An artist moves you around and through a painting with the use of darks and lights, pure rich colors and grays as well as where they place the focal point. Edges, texture and brush strokes are crucial in aiding this movement around the painting and to the center of interest.
Edges – The use of edges, soft, hard and intermediate serve to strengthen the composition. Sometimes I think that the pursuit of edges may be the most difficult to master.
Texture – This applies not only to thick/and or thin application of paint, but it also applies to the surface we choose to work on for each painting: from gessoed boards to stretched or mounted linens and canvas, fine weave to coarse weave, etc. I have seen beautiful works painted on copper and on aluminum salvaged from soft drink cans. The surface we choose becomes very much a part of our style.
Brush strokes and paint application – Choice of brush, i.e. bristle, sable, nylon, filbert, flat, bright, etc. or palette knife, whether applied thick, thin, broken, and the length of stroke becomes inherent to the artist. This inherent quality helps to mark his style, it is his signature so to speak.
Subject matter – I have often heard it said that there is no new subject matter, just new ways to present it. That uniqueness of presentation is style. It is what differentiates us as artists and as human beings.
In his book, Alla Prima, Richard Schmid tells us: “Do not ask yourself, “What do I see?” Rather ask, “What do I see?” In doing so, we are on our way to developing our own style.

One of the more overlooked technical devices in creating a painting with sophisticated interest, is gradation. Although it is easy to think of gradation in terms of color or value, by extending your gradation vocabulary in all aspects of the work you can add interest, excitement, passive and active passages, elicit specific responses from viewers of the art, and produce paintings that invoke mood, time, and feeling in a more calculated way.
COLOR AND VALUE
Before we look at more advanced ideas, let’s look at a few common examples of using gradated color and/or value in the landscape. If you paint landscapes, you may have been taught to apply gradation of lighter to darker or warmer to cooler in a large expansive sky. Not being one to fall back on formulas, I suggest my students begin to recognize when this truly happens in nature, at what times of day and with which specific colors and values rather than automatically reverting to this concept in every single case. Sometimes the sky may also gradate from warm to cool (or vice versa) as it spans from left to right rather than from horizon to Zenith. Learning which of these devices to use to convey a specific idea can strengthen your landscapes and keep them from all looking the same.

Gradation of color and value can also be useful when painting other subjects. In a still life, for example, you might use a gradation in the background from left to right and from top to bottom. Notice in this quick head sketch how color gradates and alternates from warm to cool to warm to cool to warm to cool as it wraps around the form of the form.

Still another way to think of using gradation with color, is by varying the amount of color intensity from very neutral to extremely chromatic. Notice here, from left to right, we experience neutral, chroma, less chroma, neutral. See how the most intense chroma is where I want you to linger the longest when you look at the painting. I use this same type of gradation many times in the landscape to move the viewer’s eye around the painting, lend atmospheric perspective, and add interest.

SHAPE, LINE, EDGE, and TEXTURE
Now, let’s take a look at gradation and how it can be useful in reference to other technical aspects of painting.

When it comes to shapes, gradation suggests a hierarchy of importance in the different areas of the piece. Some areas of this piece are still very simple, large masses; similar in color and/or value, allowing the viewer’s eye to have “rest.” Other areas have been broken down into smaller and smaller shapes which draw you in and make you want to explore each shape’s meaning. Rather than describing, or detailing, every aspect of the painting in the same manner, leaving some areas quiet, others more exciting, and still others greatly defined can add interest to your work.
In this same painting, notice how the edges are gradated. See how they are much sharper and harder in the most important parts of the painting, and gradually become lost and soft as they radiate away from them.

A pleasing aesthetic and one which I use often, is the use of paint-thickness gradation. This painting shows us how some areas of paint are applied as thin washes. Still others seem to have one or two additional “coats” of paint. As the painting is completed, paint gradually gets thicker and thicker until final areas are closer to impasto. By using this type of gradation, we can gain texture and depth in a piece. The same is true here using gradation of line. Notice there are wide legato-like strokes as well as staccato-like, tiny accents. These two devices alone can increase impact in your work.

Practice seeing and using gradation as many ways as you can. Then edit and use the types that work best for your subject. This sort of experimentation brings a load of learning at the easel and buzz and excitement to your next exhibition.