Painting is a Lot Like Training a Dog...

So when you train dogs for basic obedience or agility, it's important to focus on your intent. You want to have a clear vision of what it is you want the dog to do, then use your body language as well as the command to communicate that to the dog. This clarity is also important reinforcement of alpha-dom; anytime the dog thinks it might be the one driving the bus, so to speak, your ability to keep the message clear and simple makes a world of difference.

Before I begin a painting I always have a focus; a mood, an atmosphere, a focal point, whatever it is I want to achieve with that piece is at the top of my mind. Occasionally it's so clear from the beginning, like with this piece, that it is difficult to figure out what the next step might be. The under-painting had such dynamic marks and mood to it, but it was not finished. Taking it to the next step was really tricky because I didn't want to lose that freshness. Somewhere along the way I lost the focus and that dog ran away from me. After repeated calling and a lot of treats (for the artist in this case...) I got it back. I had to spend about a week without painting, re-focusing, thinking about what the core of this piece was about.

In the end the painting is somewhere in-between: it isn't as fresh and as raw as it was initially, but it is defined enough to feel finished.

I will never be the kind of dog person whose dog is always well-behaved and orderly. I think that obedience is necessary for good dog citizens and for their own safety and well-being; but I also like them to be dogs and have fun. This is so true of my art as well. There are some 'rules' that help make a painting successful, but you have to understand that at some point that sucker will run away from you, chase a seagull down the beach, and find something stinky to roll in before coming back to you.

Title of this piece is "Elwha Maples." Oil on canvas, 36x48". The top image is the under-painting, the bottom is the finished piece.

Storm King

New painting! 36"x60", oil on canvas.

This is from a hike I took a couple of weeks ago at Lake Crescent, one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It's the Washington State version of a fjord. The water is this weird blue; it has a lot of nitrogen which inhibits algae. The true depth of Lake Crescent has never been established; a glacial lake created by an ancient landslide/ dam. And truly magical.

This is Storm King Mountain (does every mountainous state have a peak named Storm King?) reflected on the water.

My biggest challenges in this piece had to do with the reflections on the water. There is a drama and still a subtlety to them that kept me on my toes.

Hope you have some great hikes and paintings going for you as we slowly roll towards summer!
Dawn

Whale Bone Drawing Session

The Marine Science Center in Port Townsend has one of the very few intact orca skeletons in North America, owing to the fact that orca bones sink. This adult female had many health issues, and died on the Dungeness Spit 7 years ago. The remains have been in the process of cleaning since then.

Scientists and volunteers are about to articulate the skeleton. They invited a few artists in to draw individual bones before they are put back into a whole.

As a person who has drawn many bones in her life, I was truly amazed by the beauty in the form of these. What an amazing animal.

Dawn

Irondale Beach

Irondale Beach is a beautiful little spot where Chimacum Creek runs into the bay. It is being remediated by various groups owing to contamination from a very old steel plant that was on the site. Friend Deanna, who is involved with the remediation, gave me a great tour of this unique place on a beautiful day in winter. I caught this magical light just before it disappeared over the hill for the day.

The painting is 18x36 on stretched canvas. The first step is my initial outline with oil paint, basically a drawing with a brush. I gridded this initially to make sure I had the proportion correct; I really wanted this piece to recede to the horizon in a convincing way. The second step is the underpainting, looking at value and composition. The third step shows some local color being introduced, and by the time this is done I see a composition flaw. Towards the right hand side of the canvas here you can see a structure on the horizon; this is the military base Indian Island. Unfortunately this is too far to the edge of the canvas. As the shadows all point this direction it has the effect of taking your eye off the edge of the canvas instead of having a contained motion within the picture plane. So I moved it. You can't see it well in this photo, but there is still a faint structure on the horizon, moved in about 6 inches to the left. This keeps the motion more circular.

One of the many reasons to be a painter: you can move whatever you need to, including military bases, in the quest for good composition! Ah, power....

Happy New Year, and happy painting!
Dawn

Seriously?

So I fought and fought and fought with a trio of paintings this past week. Today I set them aside and began a new painting which painted itself.

My muse, she's a humorist.

So this new work is 16x20 in size and is, as yet, unnamed. I am open to suggestion. Thus far possible names include: Seriously? Was That Really Necessary? and Sigh.

I have no process images of this one as it painted itself. There is a looseness to this one I am hoping to achieve in future paintings.

Sigh.
Dawn

Mount Townsend

Several weeks ago I had about 4000 things to accomplish, so instead I went to the mountains. I hiked Mount Townsend, at least until my fear of heights kicked in (almost at the summit, alas.) It was a beautiful day, a beautiful hike, and it kicked my butt. (20% grade--yowza!)

This is an image from that hike. I took more time with this one than I usually do, and really contemplated each step and what it brought to the work.

In step one I am, as always, looking mostly at value and composition, laying in fields of color.

In the second step you can see the layering in the sky and mountain. At this point I am very enamored with the thick line at the horizon; it emphasizes the horizon in an interesting way.

The third layer shows what that layering looks like drawn down over the entire painting. This stage is technically pretty good. However, I feel I have lost something in this. It lost some interest, part of its spark.

The fourth step shows me working to regain that interest. You can see I re-worked the sky, lightening it towards the horizon plus adding several glazed layers of various colors to add depth. I also added more color to the mountain and the water.

Stage five. Alas, I had to kill my beautiful horizon line, subdue it. It was too bold and was hindering the sense of endless sky and water I was trying to achieve. I also added more rosy-peach color back in, as somewhere along the way I had lost that color of wildflowers.

I am still not satisfied with the foreground, but need to live with it for awhile. Let me know if you can tell me what I need to do to reconcile it!

Happy painting and hiking!
Dawn

Thomas Moran Studies

Top: "Atmospheric Perspective,"(after Moran’s “In the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming”)
oil on canvas, 20"x10"

Middle: "Romantic Sublime," (after Moran's "Grand Canyon in Arizona")
oil on panel, 16"x20"

Bottom: "Isle del Walpe," (after Moran's "Sunset, Pueblo del Walpe")
oil on panel, 10"x8"

Port Townsend Gallery is presenting a Faux Show in the month of October. Each gallery member chooses an artist to focus on, then creates a body of work inspired by that artist.

I have spent some time studying the Hudson River School of American landscape painting the last year. Thus I chose to look at work by Thomas Moran, one of the masters of the romantic landscape.

All of our myths of the West were embodied in the late 19th century. As Rebecca Solnit states, the West was not so much discovered as it was invented. These artists came west with the survey teams and presented some of the first visuals of the continent to the masses back East, all part of the agenda to sell the idea of the west.

The last half of the nineteenth century was a world on the cusp. The world view at the time was that wilderness was boundless, that nature (and God) would provide whatever we asked for. It was, of course, part of our entitlement, our manifest destiny.

There is such a seductive power in these works, and understand that I truly enjoy the romantic school of art. They are beautiful both in aesthetics and in content. The ideals of the time are lovely, sublime, and unattainable.

I wanted to create a body of work that both honors this aesthetic and, at the same time, intentionally pulls the viewer back out of the pastoral landscape. This is the purpose of the text in "Romantic Sublime." In "Isle del Walpe," I used Moran's composition but changed it from a desert landscape to a seascape. The last piece is a work in progress. I intend to add a map element to “Atmospheric Perspective," drawing attention to the journey to the unattainable West.

I would love to hear feedback on this body of work.

Please join us at Port Townsend Gallery for the Faux Show, up through the month of October. The opening reception will be Saturday, October 2nd, from 5:30 to 8:00. 715 Water Street, Port Townsend Washington