How I Paint
had received a couple of emails with questions about my landscape art that is on exhibition at the Wildling Museum in Solvang, Ca that will be on exhibition until September. Mainly they wanted to know my process.
I’m not sure if the people wanted to know the technique for physically creating the pieces, (tools, materials, etc) or the mental process. I’m just going to what may be the most importance to me.
Generally speaking the paintings are created plein air. I take my easel and other supplies and find a nice spot to paint in some relatively private place and set up camp. I am not looking for something specific to paint but I do want to be in an environment without many distractions except for what I see and feel in the outdoors. No studio walls.
Now that I am set up I look around for shapes and design that catches my eye. Again, I am not looking for a specific scene to paint. I don’t look and see a tree or mountains or sky but I am only looking for lines. I am looking for the chaotic black outlines of the different objects and shapes I see. I paint those lines onto the canvas.
Then I start to fill in the blanks- meaning I put paint on the canvas without reference to what I was looking at. I am not copying what I may see by looking up. I am just working from the process of putting paint on canvas where I feel a need to put paint. I do not set up paint colors on a palette. I look at my tubes of paint and decide what color I want to start with. A certain color feels like it should be here, in this spot, on the canvas – and there on the canvas. I put that color down and pick up another color and put it on the canvas in different places. And one color at a time I paint.
Rhythm and Action
Decisions are made during the working process one tube and one color at a time. I do not look at the scenery around me. I could be anywhere painting anything. There is a certain rhythm to the movements and action. I continue on putting color on where I feel it needs to go. I layer paint on top and work it in and push and move it around until It is done. How do I know when it is done? At some point I just don’t want to put anymore paint on that canvas. I’m worn out.
When that happens and I still have more time available to paint I just pick up another piece of canvas and start on another one. And so forth and so forth until the day is done. And then the next day I will get up and do it again. I do this in my studio. I do this in my yard. I do this at the beach. I do this in the foothills. I do this in fields. I do it anywhere and it does not make a lot of difference where I do this as there are black outlines everywhere. My big disappointment is that I do notice I return to certain themes of shapes and colors – and my big challenge to try and change that up.