Why Draw?

Tree Study 5 1/4 x 9 1/4
Vine charcoal on Twinrocker handmade paper

Landscape painters often think they don't need to draw. Or, if they do, they study life drawing but leave the drawing materials in the studio rather than taking them to the field. In the 19th century artists often used drawing as a way to record information which would later be used in studio paintings. Although we think of the 19th century as the time when droves of landscape painters headed outdoors, often they brought their sketchbooks rather than their paints.

Drawing lends itself to both the sketch -what John Constable called "that which you were at the time" -and the more considered study. In both cases the economical time and materials invested in a drawing can bear much fruit.


Study of Mangrove Trees
7 1/2 x 9 3/4
Vine charcoal on Strathmore paper

Thumbnail sketches help us explore compositional ideas, sketches can quickly record a fleeting effect, and studies provide raw material for studio work. I've also come to see recently that my drawings often help me work out the visual shorthand I need to describe something in a painterly way.

My new online class- Drawing & Painting Trees- filled so quickly that I've opened up a second section for those who missed out. Information and registration is here.
Update: 5 spots left!

Reboot

Autumn- Rick's Pool

8 x 12
Vine charcoal on Strathmore paper

Every once in a while you have to shut down and reboot your artistic energy . I've just come off an intense three months in which I completed almost 40 paintings for various shows and events. Although I have a solo show coming up in February at M Gallery in Sarasota, this week I just couldn't pick up a brush. Instead, I made a series of charcoal drawings- some studies for paintings I have in mind to do for the show and some simply for pleasure. I feel better already!

Drawing & Painting Trees

Southwest Corner
7 1/4 x 8 7/8
Vine charcoal on Strathmore 500 paper

For landscape artists, trees are arguably the most important raw material of our craft and art. Their very individual character, their attitude as living beings within the landscape make them a source of endless fascination and challenge for the artist. Artists in the 19^th century routinely sketched and painted studies of these sentinels of nature in order to understand their structure as well as their artistic bearing. These drawings and studies were then used to create larger studio works.

I have a new online class scheduled- Drawing and Painting Trees. I plan to structure it as an online atelier for the study of this most important subject. You can go HERE (scroll down) to read more and to register. Class is limited to 10 students - 3 spots left!

More Inspiration

I was walking back to the house from the studio a few days ago, watching the late light flicker through the trees on the southwest corner of our property. I turned around and saw this- the rising moon. The white oak still holding onto its autumn color provided a beautiful warm note. Of course what the photo didn't pick up was that lovely pinkish hue at the bottom of the sky. And that, of course, is why you have to get out there and see it for yourself.

Finding Inspiration

As I've written here and here, for many years I painted all over the West and routinely sought inspiration in the big views it affords from the Rockies, to the high desert of New Mexico , to the splendor of Big Sur in California. When we moved to northeast Texas in May 2007, the landscape here felt comfortable, much like the north Florida and Georgia landscapes where I spent my early years. What I never expected was to be so utterly and completely captivated by its ordinary charms. As I've described before, this part of Texas is where the prairies of north central Texas meet the piney woods of the South. Its also a very rural, agricultural area which was once dominated by cotton and logging, now by a variety of crops and ranching. There are wide expanses of ranch land, cultivated fields, woods full of pines and oaks, streams and ponds- scattered around gently rolling hills, all in a distinct four season climate. While there is nothing dramatic or majestic about any of it, it is a constant source of inspiration for my work.


Perhaps most surprising of all is how close to home my favorite painting grounds are. In fact, the southwest corner of our property is my favorite place of all-particularly at this time of year. The sun has migrated far enough south that it streams through these trees in late afternoon. Every evening is different and often different minute to minute. I sometimes think I could paint this- just this- forever.

Sunset Pines

Sunset Pines
11 x 14
Available at Galerie Kornye West, Ft. Worth, TX

This is one of several smaller pieces in the Little Gems holiday show at Galerie Kornye West on December 4. If you are in the Metro area, stop in and see me!

Just 4 spots left in Section II of the Painting the Luminous Landscape online class in January. Info and registration here.

Update: Class is FULL

Online Classes & Workshops

Although my online class Painting the Luminous Landscape starting in January is full, I'm opening up a second section of the class (each section is limited to 10 students) because I've got a number of people on a waiting list and others who have expressed interest. The dates are the same as Section I. So, here is the link for information and registration - 6 spots left!
Update: FULL

There is also one spot left in the Advanced Workshop at my studio in April. Here is the link for information and registration (scroll down past info on Florida workshop).

Evening Pines

Evening Pines
24 x 20
Available at Galerie Kornye, Dallas

As I've mentioned before here, this part of Texas is called the Piney Woods. I think its one of the reasons the landscape here resonates with me. There is a pleasing combination of open fields and pastures, ponds and creeks and these tall, elegant pines.

Autumn Light

Autumn Light
24 x 30
Available at Galerie Kornye, Dallas

Every year this time, I have to adjust to the changing light. The thing I notice most is that the light is "harder" - a result of less moisture (humidity) in the air. We've had so much rain this fall, this hasn't really been noticeable until this week. Soon, the moisture returns in the form of lovely winter fog. But, for now, the clarity of the light is striking.

The Gift

Evening's Approach
24 x 48
Private Collection

This week a gallery director called me a mid-career artist. I had to laugh considering that my upcoming birthday on Sunday (it has a big zero on the end and that's all I'm saying!) might not qualify me for being "mid" anything. Needless to say, I've been reflecting a lot this week about my life and my work. I most definitely feel a sense of urgency that didn't exist even a few years ago. But, I am choosing to focus on something else right now. Despite the frustrations and uncertainties of an artist's life, I would not want any other life. Its greatest gift is a sense of perpetual becoming- that there are always new things to learn, new ways to see, and new work to be done.

Dusk

Dusk

12 x 12

Available at Blackheath Gallery, London

I took this image using a tripod but it looks like a Halloween poltergeist got into my studio and was shaking the camera. Really, I don't know why its so blurry! The bad news is I didn't get around to checking it until after the piece had left the studio. Lesson learned.

As of this morning I have one spot left in the online Luminous Landscape class for January. Information and registration here Update :Class is now full. Email me if you would like to be notified about upcoming classes.

Blackheath Gallery Christmas Show & New Galleries

Remains of the Day
10 x 10

This painting and a half dozen others are on their way across the Big Pond to the Christmas show at Blackheath Gallery in London. The show opens November 7.

I am very pleased to say that I am now represented by Galerie Kornye in Dallas and Galerie Kornye West in Ft. Worth. I'll have work in the Holiday open house at the Dallas gallery on November 19 and the Miniatures Show in Ft. Worth which opens December 4.

Also very happy to say that Evening Embers sold at the Albuquerque Museum Miniatures & More gala on October 24!

The Tabernacle Frame Revisited

Twilight Moon framed
Available at Whistle Pik Galleries Christmas Miniatures Holiday Show

Tabernacle frames have been around for a long time. I didn't realize just how long until recently. Many of us are familiar with the Renaissance versions of this frame and even later 18th century and early 20th century styles. But in researching the history of this frame design, I discovered that its development formed the basis of the modern frame. Its a little like the "missing link" between architecture and the modern fine art frame.

Its proper name is an aedicule which means loosely "little house". It has its origins in the 4th century cathedrals which sprung up all over the Roman Empire once Christianity had been sanctioned. Its purpose was to house sacred altarpieces and it was designed to be attached to and part of the architecture surrounding it. Its basic elements- two columns topped with an entablature or pediment- would become the standard design concept of framing. Byzantine and Gothic examples abound. Much later, in the 16th century, the idea of portability was introduced and the form was used to "house" non religious subjects. The detached frame was born. But, craftsman instinctively used the "little house" design concepts when making the earliest frames for easel paintings. Over the centuries, the aedicule form came in and out of fashion and echoed the architectural and design components of the day.

The frame shown above on Twilight Moon is our contemporary version of the tabernacle frame. Its proportion and design echoes the traditional elements but gives a more contemporary, though still traditional look to the frame. The panel is a matte dark maroon surrounded by a distressed gold outer molding with a distressed gold inner lip.

The Mood Makers

Twilight Moon
10 x 10

I just finished teaching the last week of the Magic Hours online class. One of the things I tell students wanting to learn about the Tonalist aesthetic is that mood is an important component of this painting style. And although it might seem difficult to quantify or analyze the elusive concept of mood, it can be translated into the language of painting. Very close values and tightly focused color harmonies are what I call "the mood makers".

Evening Pool

Evening Pool
10 x 12
Sold

This is one of the three smaller pieces I am exhibiting at the Albuquerque Museum Miniatures & More show. The gala opening is on October 24 and I am looking forward to a road trip over to New Mexico. I'll spend a few extra days in Santa Fe after the show.

Shortly after I started this blog over two years ago now, I did a series of small paintings called Rick's Pool. As I explained back then, the word "pool" is used in northeast Texas to describe a pond, which is mostly used to water livestock but often serves as a fishing hole as well. They are a constant source of inspiration for my work.