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ON THE EASEL

This page offers a glimpse of several studio paintings that are still in progress and therefore "on the easel." I hope it will provide you with an insight into my creative process, as well. Let me know what you think.

Painting in the studio is an entirely different experience from working directly in nature. While plein air painting requires speed, and intuition, everything is more considered in the studio.

When I work on a large canvas in the studio, I understand from the start that the painting will evolve over several— perhaps many—sessions.

The trick is to keep the painting loose and 'open' enough from session to session so that it appears that I worked fast. I know there will be struggle to get the drawing and composition right, and to find the right colors that create the illusion of atmosphere and light, but I do not want my audience to see the evidence of that struggle.

When the piece is done, it should look as though it was effortless— as though every element of the painting just fell into place.

 

Beaver Swamp Haze, Study, oil/linen/board, 10"x14"

 

Beaver Swamp Haze (2nd state), oil/linen, 18 "x 26"

The idea for Beaver Swamp Haze began with the small plein air study below. Painted on a hot and humid mid-summer morning, the painting appeared stagnant and lifeless, until I pasted a small cut-out paper egret onto the board (and later painted it into the scene).

What is unusual about both the plein air study and the larger studio version (above) is the limited palette that I am using. In both, I have chosen to use just three primary hues plus white: Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Rose, and Cadmium Yellow Light. By mixing the entire range of greens from these three pigments, I have had much more control over the subtle shifts of value and color temperature in the greens with which I have created an illusion of pictorial space.

 

Morning at Black Creek (below) is a variation on this same theme: of an egret silently flying through the warm haze of a summer marsh. I have rarely seen egrets at Black Creek, but visually I thought the white plumage would work best.

Cloudy Morning, Black Creek oil/linen/board, 8"x12"

Egret at Black Creek, oil/linen/board, 5"x7½"

This small plein air study (top) is the most recent of several paintings I have done at this exact site during the past three summers. Black Creek Marsh —one of my favorite birding locations, is located just southwest of Albany, and very near to where my kids spend summer mornings at a day camp.

 

Morning at Black Creek (2nd state), oil/linen, 20"x 30"

I had always wanted to put a flying heron or egret into this view at Black Creek. I initially tested the concept digitally, by cloning white, egret-shapes into a jpeg of Cloudy Morning, Black Creek (left). When I had determined exactly how I wanted to procede, I tested the idea on a small board and finished the study as Egret at Black Creek.

Before embarking on a large painting, it is wise to test the concept at a small scale, which requires much less of an investment of time and angst.

First Arrival (1st state, before cropping), 12"x16"

First Arrival (2nd state, before cropping), 12"x16"

First Arrival-- Red-winged Blackbird, oil/linen/board, 9"x14"

The plein air study in the top images (shown in two stages, painted one day after the other) is the exact same painting as in the bottom finished version. The board was cut down to place more focus on the water and reflections, and the bird was added to bring life, and a touch of unexpected color to the scene.

The detail to the right shows a close-up of the Red-winged Blackbird in First Arrival.

 

Spring Melt, Red-winged Blackbird, (2nd state), oil/linen, 20"x 30"

This canvas is a direct enlargement of the smaller First Arrival (left). When I first saw the small version on the computer screen, and then again projected as a slide, I could see that it appeared to have the breadth of a large painting, in spite of its small scale.

The key to finishing this painting, I believe, will be to maintain that sense of discovery that is evident in the vigorous brushwork and vivid colors evident in the early stage. As with all studio paintings, my goal will be to refine the shapes and drawing, while not over-rendering and sapping the energy of the study

First Arrival-- Red-winged Blackbird (detail), oil/linen/board, 9"x14"

 

Sunlight Under Pines originated when I photographed a flock of turkey hens strutting through my yard. The scene is right outside my studio, and I painted the tiny study Turkey Woods looking out my window on a bright sunny January afternoon. The composition in the study stands on its own, I think. But the turkeys fill the scene with movement and add a narrative element to the larger painting.

Turkey Woods oil/linen/board, 5"x7"

Sunlight Under Pines (5th state), oil/linen, 20"x28"

As is evident from the note in the parentheses above, this image of the painting depicts the canvas after 5 working sessions. Each session is typically several hours long, all on one day. Between sessions, the painting is set aside for at least two to three days to dry before working on it again.

Even though I have an eager buyer for Sunlight Under Pines, I have yet to complete it. I have learned from experience that I should never touch a painting without knowing before hand exactly what I plan to do. I need to envision my next step before I take it, and with this painting, the path is a bit unclear still.

 

Reference photograph of a Red-shouldered Hawk, taken from my studio, March 2004, and my original inspiration for Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk.

 

Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk - 2nd state

 

Work on this next painting, tentatively titled Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk, , has been a two-year ordeal (scroll down to see a series of images). The painting was originally based upon photos and sketches made from my studio window. Each March our resident Red-shouldered Hawks set up territory in the woodland behind our house, and for a short time they are very vocal and visible.

Originally, my goal was to create the illusion of a sunlit woodland edge — without literally painting every twig. My vision was of a clearly rendered hawk, within a colorful blur of twigs and branches.

But this was a challenge that eluded me. I worked on the painting for a month or two, until the trees had leafed out, and the scene out my window became entirely green and obscured.

As you can see from the numbered versions shown here, my initial impulse was to design a painting that was perhaps too literally derived from the scene out my window. It was not until I abandoned that concept that the painting began to make progress again.

Perhaps because I returned to the canvas during the following winter, I began to simplify the scene, and to shift the season to winter. I combed through years of reference photographs to look for the right material from which to work, although I drew also upon memory and my imagination.

Finally, by the 15th or 16th state, I began to feel as though I had developed a successful composition. From there, I needed to work on the overall sense of atmosphere and light —which did not feel right —and to better integrate the bird.

Continued below...

Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk - 6th state

Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk - 9th state

 

Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk - 16th state

Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk - 13th state

 

Morning Chill--Red-shouldered Hawk oil/ linen 18½" x 21" -in its current 18th state!

Yes, believe it or not, this is the 18th incarnation of this painting. With so many underlayers, the surface has gradually developed into a rich textural mosaic of paint. Note that as the image brightens and takes on a credible winter chill, but more importantly, I am using the snow to break up the stark, linear shapes of the trees.

This is very close to finished now; perhaps just one more session...

Edge of the Woods --Red-shouldered Hawk oil/ linen 16"x16"

Last year, when Morning Chill was in a rut, (somewhere around the 10th state), I worked up this small, vigorously painted study on a separate canvas. I dashed it off in just an hour or so one afternoon when I was particuarly frustrated with the progress of the big canvas.

This was breakthrough I needed. Somehow, I had captured the chill, and snow-bound woodland that I had decided I wanted for the original painting.

 

Barred Owl and Chickadees, oil/linen 30"x 23 ½"

The painting started some years ago when I sketched the owl as it perched in our backyard. With my spotting scope, I could see it well from my studio window. From that drawing, I quickly worked-up a small study (right). But an image that works so well at a small scale requires much more information when enlarged threefold. What can be suggested simply with the flick of a brush in an 8"x10" study has to be considered, drawn, and resolved at the larger scale.

 

 

Finally, there is this large canvas, tentatively titled Barred Owl and Chickadees that has been sitting unfinished in the corner of my studio for so long, that I have forgotten how many sessions and transformations the current state represents!

 

Barred Owl Study, oil/linen/board, 10"x8"

 

 

 

Updated March 2006

 

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