Trying to find myself - again.

Acrylic oc 12x12s

After selling our Comox home, purchasing in Courtenay, spending a two months getting it furnished, creating a new studio etc, we moved on to Ontario in mid September.  We purchased a smaller condo here that we plan to use as our summer home -beginning next year. We are here for two months, again furnishing, creating a small studio, making contact with galleries and, most important, spending time with family and old friends. So I have not painted on a regular basis for months - first time since I started a decade ago.

My little studio is a 10x10 bedroom. Was not sure it was going to work - but it is OK and  I have a garage where I can gessso and do all the messy stuff. So I am back painting - but I am not having an easy time of it. Its been a month and I have never struggled so much.

My small Ontario Studio  10x10 ft

Is it that I have not painted regularly? I know I am having trouble developing Ontario compositions - missing my West Coast mountains and seascapes. But its more than that. My most recent workshop was with Brian Atyeo - great painter and teacher. Spending a week with him probably had more affect on me than any other workshop I have taken. His paintings are indirect - multi layered glazes , scumbles, wipe offs. They are very complex and a challenge to follow and I spent considerable time following the workshop trying to integrate his approach into my work.  I have blogged before about my Post Workshop Blues - the difficulty of finding my own voice after a workshop - but I  have never experienced anything like this.

My new critiquing area - our dinning room - thank goodness for supportive spouses

My previous experience with these difficulties taught me that I have to work my way out of it. Paint small and many. Experiment. Back to the basics - build from a value plan. Limited palettes. Get out the old brushes again - not the ones Brian Atyeo wanted me to try. Pull up some of my old paintings and try to think my way through them. .  Critique my paintings hard. Re-do them trying other things.

I have been knocking off 12x12s and smaller. Every few days I try something larger - but they are too visually busy. Its the move to the larger pieces that is giving me the most trouble. Can't seem to stop banging away with spots of colour hoping they will add up to something. I  think of some of the acrylic painters I admire and how much control they have ....and I cannot seem to contain myself to achieve that control -control that I think I once had :
eg. Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki and Randy Hayashi

I remember Robert Genn, at his last Holly Hock workshop,  telling me he was having difficulty translating his smaller sketches into successful larger pieces . Even the best is challenged at times.

A recent work up from a 12x12 to a 24x24 - Down from Blue Mountain

So I will keep at it and let you know how I make out.

New Plein Air Workshop Blue Mt School of Landscape Painting Ontario June 2016

Pleased to be invited to conduct a four day workshop Preparing for Plein Air at the Blue Mountain School of Landscape Painting in Collingwood/Thornbury Ontario  June 27-30, 2016.

Painting “en plein air” is difficult. It can intimidate even the most experienced painter. This workshop will focus on methods to increase your chance of success and, in turn, your enjoyment.  It is designed for the serious beginner with painting experience and the intermediate level painter wanting further experience.

We begin with a presentation on the fundamentals for creating strong paintings: working with colour, values, shape and form, linear and areal perspective, and composition.  We will build the habit of strong advanced planning. We will cover equipment and supplies.

I will demo in either water-mixable oil or acrylic and we will do exercises together.  Each afternoon you will work on you own with supervision focusing on subject selection, planning and making a strong start. We learn through repetition – for plein air that means many small paintings repeating the process until it becomes a habit - and good painting is built on good habits.