Hudson Fellowship Day 19

Katerskill Lower Falls Color Sketch

9 x 12

oil on linen

We had a huge thunderstorm last night and as a result the falls were the highest and fastest I have seen them. Recently they'd slowed to almost a trickle in some places. I feel like this section of the falls has become my own studio. I've walked over every one of the rocks here many times now and I know several bends of the river pretty well. When hikers decide to wade in the pools and climb on the rocks, I feel like strangers have wandered into my studio and are touching my props.

Above: Block-in line drawing and first part of color wash.

Above: Thin color wash, consistency of watercolor.

Above: Refining blocks of color and shapes, adding details.

Above: Added details and adjusted colors and values.

Hudson Fellowship Day 18

Kaaterskill Boulder and Pool (work in progress)

9 x 12 inches

oil on panel

see previous stage of this painting

The background is still not done, but I made a lot of headway today working on this painting I started a couple days ago. I'm finding I've had to re-learn what I have already learned in my studio work:

1. Slooooow waaaaay doooooown.
2. Mix up puddles of the main colors and values with a palette knife before working with the brush.
3. Look, look, look... only put down one single stroke and then look back again at the subject.

I know all this so well from my studio work, but somehow outdoors I feel I should be able to get away with slap-dash dabbling. Anyway, it's starting to sink in: I have to be calm and slow and look, even outside. It seems simple, but between the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears, the cold breeze chilling me to the bone, and tourist hikers snapping my photo every few minutes, I have apparently been distracted from everything I thought I knew. Glad it's starting to come back, had a lot of fun today.

PS: For more about this year's Hudson River Fellowship, visit the official blog at:

http://grandcentralacademy.blogspot.com/

Hudson Fellowship Day 17

Kaaterskill Boulder with Falls

9 x 12 inches

oil on panel

See previous stages of this painting

Eight more hours spent on the boulder study today and I think it's done.

Hudson Fellowship Day 16

Kaaterskill Boulder with Falls (work in progress)

9 x 12 inches

oil on panel

See previous stages of this painting

I spent the day at the Kaaterskill lower falls again and worked more on the above painting that I started yesterday. It wasn't raining, so it was a much easier day! I also began another painting below:

Kaaterskill Boulder and Pool

(work in progress)

9 x 12 inches

oil on panel

Having fun, planning on working on both more tomorrow. Now, sleep....

Hudson Fellowship Day 15

It's raining pretty steadily today, but I decided to go to the lower falls (Kaaterskill Clove) and see what I could get done. It worked pretty well, I just set up my new huge plein air umbrella and worked under that for about 3 1/2 hours. With my ipod playing and my raincoat keeping me dry it was even cosy! Benefits of rain: no mosquitoes and no tourists. That and the wet rocks look so pretty and shiny!

I just did an underpainting today. This was all on the advice of a fellow painter here, who says he does a thin color underpainting using the oil paint thinned to the consistency of ink or watercolor.

Progression is below:

Above I started with a line drawing to block-in the layout using a small round synthetic brush, and a paper towel corner dipped in turp for an eraser.

Above I used the burnt umber thinned with turp to lay in the basic lights and darks.

For the underpainting I used turp-thinned paint and kept the values light and the colors reddish. Everything is just a tint.

This is the underpainting as it stands so far. My plan is to continue working on it for a couple more sessions and see how far I can develop the painting in on-site. You might recognise this as the same boulder I drew back on Day 2.

Yesterday evening we went out to do another sunset study. This one again suffers from being too light. Not sure I'm cut out for the lightening-speed approach this requires to capture the hues, values and chroma.

Here's a shot of several of my fellow painters finishing up their studies just after the sun has set. That's Hunter Mountain beyond us, you can see the cut trees from the winter ski trails.

Hudson Fellowship Day 13/14

"Hudson River from Olana"

9 x 12 inches

oil on panel

See previous stage of this painting here

Today I went back to Olana today to complete the painting I began last Thursday. Luckily the weather was similar to the previous session. I adjusted the composition and refined the colors and added more detail overall. I also adjusted the shape of the river quite a bit, I think in this version it sits on the plane of the earth more accurately.

Last night I arrived from my lovely weekend off refreshed and excited to paint so I ran out and did this sunset. We've grown to quite a crew of sunset sketchers, there were about 10 of us set up on a high flat driveway area perfect for sunset viewing. Jake said he'd been there all day and saw a black bear running - fast - not far away. I don't think I'll go up there alone!

"Sunset Color Study II"

6 x 8 inches

oil on panel

For my first sunset study I went too dark but on this one I over-compensated and went too light. The hue, value and chroma of each stroke would be hard enough to evaluate if the subject were not also constantly moving and changing! It's a frantic 90 minutes of painting, but also pretty exciting. Random excalamations of dismay erupt from one or another painter at regular intervals.

Hudson Fellowship Day 10

"Hudson River from Olana"

Color Study Stage I

(work in progress)

9 x 12 inches

oil on panel

Today was rainy in the morning so we drove to Olana, which is the home Frederick Church built for himself on a 250 acre property. He bought the land for the views of the Hudson River and he designed the landscaping to create ideal compositions. Everywhere you look is an amazing scene for a painting. His house in incredible too, a Moorish-inspired castle, full of artifacts from Church's extensive world travels and lots of his paintings.

We did a tour of the house and after that the sun was shining again so we decided to stay there and work on the grounds. I had my supplies along so I set up my easel and worked for 4 hours on the above study. I'm hoping to go back to Olana and work on it more, the above is just a start.

Also, last night a few of us decided to try sunset studies, below is the result of my first attempt - one hour of ever-changing sunset glory that just about drove me mad. A ravenous swarm of mosquitoes sure appreciated us standing still with hands encumbered by painting tools, and right at dinnertime!

"Sunset Color Study I"

5 x 7 inches

oil on panel

Afterwards I learned from my instructor Edward Minoff that my values (light/dark) are way too extreme and I need to significantly lighten the clouds and everything in the distance. He showed me his study and I could see what he meant.

I can't wait to try both again, but I'll be away from the fellowship this weekend to go visit my husband. So I won't be posting for a few days, back on Monday.

Hudson Fellowship Day 9

"Ship Boulder"

graphite pencil on toned paper

Hudson Fellowship Day 8

I'm trying to pick a composition and commit to one scene (or maybe 2) so I can focus my studies towards making a fully developed painting. Having a hard time choosing though, everywhere I look there's something to potentially paint.

This was my atempt today but I don't think I'm going to pursue it. It's too complicated to understand what's going on.

The fatigue is starting to get to me. Not getting enough sleep, plus hiking/scrambling around in the gorge, plus sitting and working for hours in the cold, are all starting to wear me out! Going to try for 9 hours of sleep tonight... my goal is try to sleep at least as many hours of the day as I paint!

Check out the Grand Central Academy Blog which is documenting more sketches from the Fellows, so you can get a closer look at what's on that long table.

Hudson Fellowship Day 7

Trees with view of Hudson Valley

ink and white guache on paper

cloud studies, pencil on paper

Hudson Fellowship Day 6

Where I worked from 9am to 6pm today

"Two trees with exposed roots"

approx 9 x 12 inches

ink and white guache on toned paper

"Waterfall and pool"

approx 7 x 12 inches

ink and white guache on toned paper

Day 4 boulder sketch, more details added

Hudson Fellowship Day 5

falls study

ink and guache on toned paper

approx 9 x 12

A closeup-of the upper region of the composition I sketched yesterday.

Hudson Fellowship Day 4

Composition study/equisse

India ink and white guache on toned paper

approx 8 x 10 inches

I worked with pen and ink today for the first time and loved it! A diluted ink wash creates controlled values much faster than graphite pencil. I started with a rough graphite-pencil block-in, and then refined the contour drawing with a dip-pen and ink. Then I diluted the ink with water (on a plastic palette) and used a brush to lay in the washes, building up the layers slowly to reach the values I wanted.

Study/etude of boulders and falls

India ink and white guache on toned paper

approx 6 x 10 inches

Every couple of days we all meet as a group and show our sketches on a long table. The work as whole is stunning... absolutely everyone here can draw incredibly well and it's both inspiring and daunting to see the row of studies. The instructors Edward Minoff and Travis Schlaht give anyone who asks a detailed critique about how to focus our drawings to be useful studies for a painting we'll do later at our studios. Jacob Collins apparently arrives tomorrow...

To see a nice quick overview of the work from previous years go to this page of past Fellows and mouse over each name to see an example of their work.

As for painting... yes, I am itching to begin painting in color! But on the other hand, doing these drawings has only emphasized how complicated nature can be, and I know I'll be grateful for having done all the line drawings and value studies when I start grappling with color.

Hudson Fellowship Day 3

Lower Kaaterskill Falls "equisse" sketch

approx 9 x 12 inches

graphite pencil and white charcoal pencil on paper

I spent another day at Kaaterskill Falls. I like the boulders, the trees with exposed roots, and also the small waterfalls, so I found a composition with all three. In the above sketch I was just trying a compositional block-in. I tried to limit myself to 3 simple values, to help me break down the scene.

Water study, approx 9 x 12 inches

Earlier in the day I did the above sketch, trying to understand how a waterfall behaves.

Thumbnail/croquise
approx 4 x 5 inches

This was my first thumbnail sketch. It's tiny but the scene is complicated. I wanted to do a quick sketch and then move on to do about 4 or 5... but I ended up spending an hour and a half on just this one.

Hudson Fellowship Day II

View of Katerskill Falls with fellow sketchers at the bottom

Boulder with small waterfalls

graphite and white charcoal on toned paper

approx 9 x 12 inches

Tree roots with glimpse of waterfall

graphite and white charcoal on toned paper

approx 9 x 12 inches

I worked most the day lower down the trail, well below the falls. The river has boulders and fallen trees making miniature waterfalls all along it.

After 7 hours of drawing and light hiking I was very done for the day.... but had to wait for my more intrepid fellows to wrap it up before I could get a ride home. My fellow landscapers are a hearty bunch. Luckily a short rainfall came along and sent enough packing for me to catch a ride. (And luckily I was well prepared for rain after yesterdays' deluge.)

I definitely want to go back to the falls another day and work there again. But next time I'm taking my own transportation!

PS: The Grand Central Academy has it's own blog and they are updating the blog with posts about the Landscape Fellowship as well, lots of cool photos of our locations:

http://grandcentralacademy.blogspot.com/

Hudson Fellowship Day 1 - sketches

Drawing in the the Catskills

You are forgiven if you can't tell what the above sketch is meant to represent.... it has elements of a boulder and moss, but I got lost in the details and everything just became this amorphous organic mass. Anyway, before I could pull it back together thunder began to roll and I and my 25 fellow Fellows began a rain-soaked dash down a slippery mountainside.

The afternoon was salvaged when the sun came out and I was able to spend a couple hours sketching on the banks of a flat, wide creek with miniature waterfalls stretching across it.

So to catch up anyone who doesn't know what I am doing: I'm participating in a 1-month landscape workshop with the Hudson River Fellowship which began yesterday in upstate NY. The Fellowship is following the study of landscape using pre-Impressionist techniques, the same method we use for studying the figure: Breaking down the elements of form, value, color and composition into individual steps before attempting a painting that incorporates all of them.

So we are beginning with studies and thumbnails, and we are using the terminology that the European-trained American landscape painters used in the 19th century:

croquise: thumbnail composition, as little as 5 fast lines
etude: study of a detailed element, contour only or value drawing

equisse: compositional study, fleshed-out thumbnail
grisaille: monochromatic "wipe-out" painting done with burnt umber
pochard: a color study done outdoors - not concerned with drawing, just color notations

With all these elements the goal is to bring them home to the indoor studio and assemble a complete landscape painting.

More about the 19th Century American painters of the Hudson River School

HRF website recommended books

Excerpt of Asher B Durand's Letter on Landscape Painting
(I've heard these exist somewhere in audio format but I can't find them, if anyone knows where they can be found please let me know, it would be great to listen to while painting!)

Plein Air in Utah

I just spent 5 days in Utah visiting my good friend and fellow painter Janell for a plein air painting trip in her hometown of Park City. The weather was unusually rainy/cloudy/windy for Utah in in June, but we managed to paint between raindrops.

Utah is just incredibly gorgeous and I spent most the 5 days with my mouth agape while admiring the dramatic displays of alternating mist and sunlight rolling off the mountains.

It was very, very cold. I actually had a single HAILSTONE land in my pochade box. Do I get some sort of plein air badge for that?

This pretty little streak of sunlight disappeared as soon as it was too late to change my painting, and only made intermittent appearances for the duration of the session. I spent the time between episodes of sunshine practicing painting the purple sage.

My amazing dad knit me these fingerless painting mittens from the softest green wool. From this angle you can't see, but they even have an intricate cable braid down he back of the hand. Far too nice to use for painting, but he insisted it's ok if I get paint on them.

It was all good practice to get ready for my upcoming month of outdoor painting in upstate NY.

Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park

On the Bank of Stow Lake
9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas board
Session I, work in progress

My paints finally arrived successfully from France!! I don't know what that crazy "pick up your package at the post office in France" message was on La Poste's web site, all I know is the box arrived today!

I was so excited to have my paints and brushes back that I immediately strapped my paint kit onto my to my bike with bungee cords and rode over to Golden Gate Park a few blocks from my house.

In the middle of the GG Park is a circular lake with an island in the middle called Stow Lake, and I knew I'd find something beautiful to paint there. I just loved this spot with the trees hanging over a quiet patch of water.

I decided to spend a whole session on just the values, and save color for another day. It was a good approach for me because just working with dark and light feels simply like drawing with charcoal, which is a lot more comfortable. I'm hoping I can keep the organization of the composition and the feel of the filtered sunlight once I start using color.

Anyway, thanks everyone who wrote sympathy and encouragement for my temporarily lost paints, I was really upset to think they were missing and your emails really cheered me up!

Belgrave Ave Plein Air SOLD

oil on panel 5 x 7 inches

Today my friend Janell and I set up for side-by-side plein air painting. We painted in the neighborhood up the hill from my house, called Ashbury Heights. This yellow house sits on a sharp corner, where one fork of the street goes downhill and one goes uphill. My favorite part of the composition is the shadow the streetlamp cast on the pavement.

The weather here was amazing today, almost 80 degrees and clear skies, which is very unusual for us this time of year. Unfortunately, the 10-day weather.com report for Paris predicts clouds, showers and high-50's there for the foreseeable future. So my plein air painting opportunities may be limited!

Rolling Hills of Marin County SOLD

5 x 7 inches SOLD
oil on panel

5 x 7 inches SOLD
oil on panel

I took a lovely daytrip up to Marin County (just north of San Francisco) for a drawing/painting date with my friend Kat. Kat took me to China Camp State Park where a short walk up a dirt path opened up to views of gorgeous rolling hills and eucalyptus trees.

I had a great day - it's rare that I make two paintings I am happy with in one day.

I have been having so much fun investigating all the "greens" of nature. I am discovering there is not much true green at all. Everything is fundamentally a cool blue or a warm brown, and only tinged slightly green. A little green goes a long way. I think every beginning landscape painter knows that horrible feeling when you try to emulate all the lovely grass and trees with vibrant greens and yellows right from the tube and YUCK, it just doesn't look right.

I've been using mainly cobalt blue, cad light green, mars red (which is a lovely rich red brown) and raw sienna (which acts like a brown-ey yellow ochre, I like it better than ochre). And a lot of titanium white.

These seem to act like perfect mixing primaries, especially for outdoors. The Mars red is red enough act as a compliment to the greens (so if a puddle of paint is too green, I mix in a tiny dab of Mars red to cancel the color and make it more neutral). The burnt sienna acts like a dark yellow and helps warm up my greens if I need to paint some sunlight areas (cad green with some burnt sienna with a ton of white). The cobalt blue and the sienna make a lovely dark shadow, and if I then add white I can get a nice subtle neutral gray, warm or cool depending on the ratio of blue to brown.

These are my main colors, but I also mix in a little magenta and ultramarine blue for the coolest and darkest violet shadows.