The Process of Painting

I always start a new quarter by explaining to my students how important it is that we develop a practice of simplification and analysis before beginning a drawing or painting. I have them do an exercise to find large simple shapes based on value within a reference image. This helps tremendously!

This quarter I decided to create a slideshow to illustrate the process. Below is the image i randomly grabbed off of my phone and beside it is the big, simple shapes I created based on value and space.

You can see that the photo of the forest nicely illustrates the HUGE amount of detail there is in the natural world! It is vital that we simplify what we see by grouping detail into large shapes while paying attention to the values in the scene as well as conceiving the view as layers of space - distance, midground, foreground.

We do this on the fly by thinking through the process of analyzing the scene, then making quick thumbnail sketches to record the simplified scene. This way we can refer back to the sketch when we become overwhelmed by the vast amount of detail before us!

For more on this, I invite you to checkout my slideshow

Seeing the Landscape

While working on my slides and analyzing the image, I became enamored with the scene and the moment i had a chance to get into the studio I started a painting based on this image.

Check out the other posts in this series to follow along with the process!

30 Paintings in 30 Days - oh my!

I'm challenging myself!

I realized that I have exactly 30 days before the Art Sale at Drawing Jam - the Gage Academy of Art annual all-day drawing extravaganza!

What better time to launch my personal painting-a-day challenge? 

The sale takes place on December 5th so here we go! Wish me luck and check back as I post my daily painting progress! 

PASTEL PAINTING:Fall Color 10/6/2015 - 11/10/2015

Pastel is a wonderfully expressive medium - perfect for creating vibrant paintings of fall color! Practice handling soft pastel while working with composition, hue, value, chroma, light and form. A little art history, some technical stuff and a lot of fun included. We will work both from photographs and from life. Please download and read the handout for what to bring.   

DATES: 10/6/2015 - 11/10/2015
MEETS ON: TUESDAY
TIME: 1:00PM - 3:00PM
TUITION: 
- EDMONDS RESIDENT $136.00
- NON-RESIDENT $156.00
LEVEL: ALL LEVELS WELCOME
INSTRUCTOR: KATHLEEN MOORE
LOCATION: FRANCES ANDERSON CENTER, EDMONDS, WA

REGISTER HERE!

Three Things I Focus On When I Teach

There are three things I focus on in my work and what I wish to pass along to my students:

1. Looking carefully, to really see.

2. Quieting the mind and stopping automatic labeling and self-criticism.

3. Developing skill in the techniques of drawing and painting.

First, we have to realize that we rarely look carefully enough at our surroundings to really SEE what is in front of us. If we accept that idea, we can allow our minds to open to the limitless impressions of our environment.

Second, as we begin to look carefully, we have to let go of what we believe we see. Our minds are so conditioned to thinking in symbols that we can actually confuse the object in front of us with the idea of the object. We also have to let go of self-criticism and doubt - be courageous - and remember that the process of observation, both inner and outer, is the point of the exercise - not the finished product. Process first, products will follow.

Third, practicing observation with a quiet, open mind is the most important skill, then follows the technical aspects of creating art - composition, materials handling, etc.

Three

I just finished this one up today. It had been sitting in the studio for a while now, waiting for that final touch.

Where did the year go?!

Where did the year go?!

Seriously, as the year wrapped up, I found myself stunned that it had gone by soooo fast! In fact, panic set in! The same panic I feel at the end of the week when there is too much to get done at work. The same panic I feel Sunday evening when the work in the studio hasn't progressed enough, or at all, and I know it will be days before I have time to get back into it. The panic I feel when I am torn between hanging out with my kid and doing all the other "stuff" that isn't getting done. I perceive myself going in circles – never getting anywhere!

But – I WANT to go somewhere! I have been reading and searching and studying so much over the last year/s – trying to improve myself, trying to figure it all out, trying to find focus. The trouble is – I have too many "things" to focus on! My family, my job, my artwork, my aspirations of making some kind of difference – HA! Each one of those "things" is a full-time job to really do well – right? So that's my dilemma – sprout extra heads and hands or get a different view of it all! Of course, my first impulse is to look for a new book that would give me directions for how to do this – but that literally made me a little nauseous! - too many books! – then I thought – oh, I'll google it! Are you noticing how I operate? Constantly looking for answers from external sources….. yep.

Sometimes the most amazing things happen…

By way of a convoluted story you don't want to read about, I found myself in St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral on December 31. I had been told that they had a labyrinth set up and were going to have a special New Year's Eve service with it that evening. Well I stopped in during the afternoon and the place was empty and quiet. I had attended a labyrinth-walking service in the past and knew that when you enter the labyrinth, the path takes you back and forth, sometimes going toward the center and then away from the center, all the while moving you in a generally circular pattern of convolution – just like life! How fitting, I thought! So I decided to contemplate my crazy-circles life by walking the labyrinth.

In silence and solitude

in the cold winter

light filtering in through windows

piercing the towering masonry,

I walked the circumambulating path…

Slowly, very slowly, I moved along the intricate route. My body, unused to the slow pace, wobbled out of balance. I stumbled often and had to stop occasionally to regain equilibrium. I felt impatience growing in my heart and mind to get to the center– and watched myself struggle with the feeling of self-judgment for being impatient. Each turn of the path offered up hope if it pointed toward the center or despair if it turned away from the goal – my heart leaping or falling with each redirection. Then, suddenly, I was at the center! I took a few moments to just be there, in the center, then began the journey out, back along the same path.

By now my body had become accustomed to the slow pace and I felt empowered by having reached the goal, so I moved along with more grace and centeredness. I felt that I held the center of the labyrinth within me as I traveled along. But, as time went by on my journey out, I felt a sense of loss growing in my mind and heart. Again I found my heart leaping or falling with each turn of the path. This made me curious. Why was the center so important and the exit so dreaded? Perhaps the exit is really the entrance – to some insight – or – to myself… wait, what? OMG – a zen moment…Ha!

What was my purpose in "walking the labyrinth"? It wasn't to get to the center, it was to experience walking the labyrinth – period. The goal of obtaining the center was imposed on my mind by the pattern I was walking on and I forgot, as I traveled along, what my true purpose was.

How illuminating!

light filtering in through windows

piercing the towering masonry,

All the "things" I feel I have to focus on are exactly like the center of the labyrinth, goals imposed on my mind by patterns in my life. Absolutely nothing wrong with any of those goals, but they are all truly means to an end, that being to experience life, my life – consciously and with curiosity.

So, this year I think my theme will be FORWARD as I remind myself that, while my life seems convoluted, complex, and crazy, I am actually moving forward along my life – and that is my true purpose – to consciously experience my life and respond to insights born out of that experiencing.

Or, perhaps it should be CURIOUS as I remind myself that no insight can occur without a question.

OK – it seems clear now – my theme for this year is FORWARD WITH CURIOSITY!

Happy New Year! May you move forward with purpose and curiosity!

The labyrinth I walked was the Chartres design printed on canvas at St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, WA.

For more information about Labyrinths try: http://www.labyrinthos.net/chartresfaq.html or http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/

We must be INSPIRED!

I've thought a lot about what I do and why – over and over I've heard myself think "The thing I care most about is ART". This always struck me as odd – why ART? Why not something more important like family, world peace, etc. you know what I mean.

This has been a source of personal perplexity for a long, long time. Then it hit me – ART, the activity that I engage in and work to see to it that others have the opportunity to engage in - the activity that is so close to my inner core that I feel that I would die if someone took it away from me - is not what I care about most, is not what motivates me to get out of bed in the morning, is not what causes me to bury my head in spreadsheets 40 hours a week to help keep and art school running.

ART is not my purpose – it's one of the things I do because I am inspired by my world and the people in my life.

INSPIRATION is my cause and my purpose.

INSPIRATION is the primary necessity for life.

Before we seek the most basic, physical needs of food, water, and protection from the elements, we must be inspired with the belief that our lives matter. One might argue that the instinct for survival trumps any higher-brain activity like "being inspired" and will always kick in to see to it that we will live to see another day. But that is not the case. The mind is complex. Survival is about seeing ourselves in context with others. Survival is dependent on meaning. A person who has lost sight of the meaning of their own precious life will wither, even refusing to engage in the most basic activity of eating.

We must be INSPIRED to live and we must INSPIRE others with the meaning out of which our own lives grow.

Catching the Moment

Nature Photography by Jan Viney at the Lynnwood Library Gallery In her exhibition statement, Jan Viney explains that she connects with the natural world through her camera, attempting to capture a single moment in time and convey the feeling of Oneness she experiences with her surroundings.

Twelve giclee prints of a variety of birds are displayed in this show. Swans, ducks, an eagle, an owl and a woodpecker are among this collection of beautifully photographed birds. It is clear to me that Viney has good command of her camera equipment. The photos of birds in flight are amazingly detailed.

Most of the artist's photos are very centrally composed and finely focused. This tends to emphasize the object, or the thing-ness of Viney's subjects. It is obvious that the artist has a deep love for the amazing creatures she photographs, but there are two pieces that, for me, go beyond being good photos of birds and provide a place for my mind to enter into the fuller experience of meaning that the artist is striving to convey.

"One Mind"

The first is titled "One Mind", 16X16 in, (Dunlins – Olympic Mts.). The title easily speaks of the coordinated movement of a large flock of birds flying over the water in a tight formation, yet there is so much more! This piece has a strong central composition focused on the object - a flock of birds. Yet several qualities come together to create a place for contemplation that lies beyond the subject matter. There is a shimmering, dissolving quality throughout this image as water, land and sky merge, reflections of birds mirror snow-capped mountains and a sublime white 'egg' that is at once one thing and many things – and no-thing - rises on the flashing wings of hundreds of birds. This mandala-like piece speaks to me of the two-way tie between beginnings and outcomes.

"Focus on Your Good"

The second piece is titled "Focus on Your Good", 16x16 in, (Northwest Flicker). Though this photo is very sharply focused and tightly cropped, it draws me in. The composition is not as central as the others and there is a nice sense of compositional movement as the eye zigzags from branch - to bird - to branch in a backwards "Z" pattern. The diagonal thrust of the bird's body is carried right through its sharp beak and gives the impression that the bird's attention is focused elsewhere. Then there is the realization that the small, gleaming eye, its size and color repeated dozens of times in the bird's plumage, is looking directly into the camera, into my eyes, and I find myself powerfully drawn into the deep blackness of that small portal, beyond the highly defined individuality of that particular bird - and beyond my busy life - into a still place where I become more aware of my connection with the whole web of life.

Jan Viney – Nature Photography - On view through March 15, 2012 at the Lynnwood Library Gallery, 19200 44th Ave. W, Lynnwood, WA 98036, phone 425-778-2148.

www.janvineyphotography.com

Painting shows me

Turning Red

Painting shows me my stubbornness, my insecurity, my indecision. It also shows me my courage when I persist anyway!

Jumping

Eagle

Painting shows me how I "close my eyes and jump" at things.

Painting is a dance

Aloft

Painting is a dance - sometimes a struggle - between specificity and ambiguity.

Dialog

Agave

 The chief reason for practicing art is to engage in a dialog with my being.