Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the studio!

Podcasts

Scatter Creek in Winter

Available at my Online Holiday Studio Sale

You have probably noticed that artist podcasts have become increasingly popular over the last few years. I enjoy listening to them in the studio. It gives you can opportunity to hear artists talk first hand about their work, how they make it, and life as an artist.

I have been a guest on a couple of podcasts. My interview with Danny Grant on the Studio Podcast was a really enjoyable experience. Danny was a thoughtful interviewer and we had a great conversation on several topics. In particular, I got to talk about my philosophy of teaching online and also about the importance of my daily walks and memory to my work. So have a listen and i hope you enjoy!

I was also interviewed on the Savvy Painter podcast. With over a million downloads worldwide, this podcast has a big reach! Check it out here.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Visual Thinking

Recently a friend of mine who is a writer said to me "writing is thinking." What she meant is that as we write we often discover the internal structure of what was previously a collection of random ideas and as a result locate the real intention of our work through the act of doing it.

The same can be said for drawing- particularly certain types of drawing. Specifically I am thinking about thumbnails. Thumbnails are visual thinking. For me, thumbs are the place to work out visual ideas, to search for and find the structure of a painting. As such, I invest enough time in them to explore the idea, but not so much time that I try to turn each one into a perfect little drawing, and thus limit the time I have to look around for other ways to express the idea.

Thumbs are thinking visually. That’s all. They are like first drafts of my painting- those first steps toward finding the right structure for my visual idea.

Here are some thumbs from a small sketchbook I often carry with me on walks. It is 5 x7 (important only for understanding the small scale of these thumbs). They certainly are not great drawings and some are not especially good designs. A few of them have since become paintings. One of them  became a monoprint. In most of them I have seriously limited the shapes and values – trying to get down to something essential. A few are more developed. Some are abandoned – a trail I didn’t follow because I lost interest or got a better idea while I was working.

Working out my visual ideas this way has become automatic and my sketchbooks become a rich repository of ideas that I can use (together with memory and imagination) for years to come.

The Power of Selection Through Memory

As many of you know, I primarily work from memory and imagination. Many years ago, I started to explore this way of working, and now it has become second nature to me. It is also part of the method I teach my students. I wrote more about that here and here.

One of the strongest reasons to train your visual memory is the power it has to distill and intensify your experience of the landscape, and as a result of that, to assist you in creating a very personal response to it in your art.  As Carlson says, this helps us to locate the source of our originality. It is our personal response to the landscape we seek to express, rather than a copy of the scene in front of us. Because memory acts as a filter to select certain information while rejecting other information, it is a highly personal tool for art making.

I spent last week in Fredericksburg, Texas with Mallory Agerton, a friend and former student. Mallory completed the Atelier Program in 2015. In fact, she was part of the first group of students that I used as 'guinea pigs' for my memory training exercises. Today, as a professional artist, she works from the drawings she makes in the field and memory (no photography).

We also spent a week together last year at about the same time of the year. On successive evenings we went out just before sunset to observe the landscape. We were both taken with a little creek we found and spent about 20 minutes each night for three evenings looking at it.  We both did drawings of it from memory later.

Here is Mallory's drawing.

And here is mine.

Obviously they are very different. After we made our drawings we talked about what we saw and what we were interested in about the scene. For me, the large tree and its gesture against the sky, the intimate space around the creek and the sliver of water made a big impression. I also wanted to get my drawing dark enough to suggest the failing light. Mallory noticed a smaller tree in front of the big one and the filigree of its branches against the sky. She also wanted to simplify the whole scene into very simple shapes. She depicted it as more open.

When I got back home I painted this little study from memory. The idea that I captured in the drawing was further distilled and sifted again through memory (including remembering the color).

Hill Country Dusk

10 x 9

Of course, there isn't any right or wrong here.  Both Mallory and I responded to what was most interesting and our memories were strongest of the things that interested us most. Those things to a very large extent reflect our personal aesthetics. Memory, if properly trained and used, will help you identify the things you really want to paint--not things that are merely interesting, but the things you find truly compelling.

Moonrise

Spring Moonrise

24 x 24

Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago

Hello All! Yes, it's been a long time. It's not that I haven't been writing (I have) but just elsewhere. But, I have wanted to get back here for a long while, and here I am. Hope some of you are still out there.

Moonrises have been on my mind this week. I am teaching an online class on Nocturnes right now, and since this week is the full moon, it is not only the best time to observe the moonlit landscape but also to observe moonrise and moonset. That's because when the moon is full, it rises at about the same time as sunset, and sets at about the same time as sunrise. The sun in the opposite sky from the moon makes for lots of evocative light and color and also for interesting compositional opportunities.

Moonrise, Flood Tide

24 x 30

Private Collection

The moon and moonlight are full of mystery and mood. At full moonrise, before it is dark, we can feel the day slipping away, giving way to the night. Unfortunately for me, the skies in northeast Texas are too cloudy to enjoy the show. But, if its clear where you are, be sure to watch for moonrise at sunset tonight and moonset at dawn tomorrow!

Moonrise over the Pines

36 x 30

Private Collection