Along the Cumberland

I have been painting along the Cumberland River at Cheatham lake and wildlife management area. The paintings above were done in an area near the dam that is a huge river bottom surrounded by bluffs on all sides. It's gorgeous the way the land lays in between the ridges. As I was painting the fourth generation owner of part of it pulled up to chat and see what I had going and told me that during the Civil War, yankee gunboats would come up the river headed to Nashville and his ancestors lived right on the river in a nice home they had built there. When the boats started coming and going they moved back up in the back of the farm in between the ridges to hide because they thought being on the river with the Union army up and down was too dangerous. When you're standing there painting with all the modern trappings of the lives we lead around you, you forget what has actually transpired on the land you're occupying for that moment and how much it has changed in those few generations. Maybe a hundred and fifty years from now they will tell stories of this "great plein air painter who stood on these acient river banks and cranked off 8x10 masterpieces...."

The Painting Panel Polka

Well, I have switched painting panels again. Sorta.
I used to use the Pintura Panels. From there I went to the Source-Tek Claussen Linen panels and then discovered the Ampersand Gessoboard which I liked quite a bit. For some reason I really enjoyed working with the smooth surface of the Gessoboard. I could lay down a thin coat which would dry rapidly as an undercoat and I could work on that which gave me a real nice look. I started to sell off my Source-Tek stuff and then got caught short this past week and used one. I loved it. I'm so fickle.
I have found that life is all give and take. There are some things about the Gessoboard I can't get with the Source-tek and visa versa. I guess there are no rules to this and in the future will be using a combination of both. That experimentation and variety is what keeps this so interesting anyway. I just hope I don't find another panel I like or I will loose my mind.

Another Week

These are some of the paintings I got done over the course of the week starting with a Chestnut Group/Plein Air Nashville paint out at the Butka farm in Bells Bend on Sunday. The rest were done from Leiper's Fork to Williamsport. I also had the opporutunity to paint with Jim Frazier, Roger D. Brown and Beverly Evans on Tuesday. Since the Door County trip she is officially one of the guys.
Also, the Cumberland Society is starting a blog. We will be posting the things we are involved in and what work we are working on from time to time. We hope it will be a format for a little artistic give and take and to stay in touch with the art community. I know I am looking forward to seeing what the other members post.

The Zorn Palette

I just got in from trying something I have been wanting to do for a while but never made the effort.
The Zorn Palette.
For those of you who may not know, the painter Anders Zorn apparently used a palette that consisted of Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black, and Red, I chose a Cad Red. I am sure for some of his paintings he had many colors involved but I assume a lot of his landscape work was with this palette. If there is anyone out there who knows how to tell a painting with only these colors, let me know. I have looked and I am not able to discern by looking. That statement alone is an indication of how good he was.
When you see a painter's work who is truly a master painter there is an appreciation for their abilities as a painter. But when you actually try to do some of these things, your admiration is magnified a thousand times over. By struggling with the palette of his, my admiration was magnified. A lot. It seems the more I paint, the more I appreciate what these master painters did and are doing. When I say master painters I am not sure how you acquire the designation. I am not talking about the artist who attaches it to their name to pad a resume or make a long impressive bio and can't paint their way out of a wet paper sack. I am talking about the guys who were and are truly masters. You know em' when you see em'.
Before I painted I was a big fan of Sargent. Then I started plein air painting and it took on a whole new level of genius. I can remember standing at the Frist Center here in Nashville in front of a Sargent that had been painted of a figure in the landscape that had been painted outdoors. The technical precision of every value and color and brushstroke may have been lost on me before I became a plein air painter. On this day, it wasn't. The mental capacity necessary to do what I had just seen, to me, made the moon landing look like a trip to the grocery store.
As far as the Zorn Palette, if there is anyone out there who has tips, secrets, or a little history on it, share. It has a very moody, fall-ish/winter look to it that I am sure I will use again. I just don't know how to produce anything that resembles the greens that I am used to here in Middle Tennessee.

Home Again, Home Again.....

I know I have said it before but it bears repeating.......nothing beats a road trip.
Got back from Door County Sunday evening. For the past three days I have felt jet lagged. I know, I drove, but still, there is an exhaustion there that I can't shake. It may be the fact that I am not used to painting that hard for that many days. I averaged four a day for a week and some of the others did better than that.
We found out that Door County is a big onion that you have to peel the layers off. When we came in we had just passed through Sheboygan. Sheboygan was awesome. Big, giant dairy farms everywhere with these huge gorgeous barns about every 100 acres. It is a painters dream so we knew Door County had to really step it up. At first it didn't.
With help from Dawn Whitelaw, who had been before, we started finding these little tucked away places and these century old barns and farms. If you peel the onion and get back in the cracks and crevices of Door County it is beautiful. As you can tell we spent a large portion of time in the interior painting the barns and farms. Met some fantastic people who gave us a bit of history on it all. Had one lady come out to talk to us and she had been born and lived in the same house for 72 years. She is what you would picture Mother Nature looking like at 72. She insisted we take some beets and onions with us so we relented and said yes. Apparently she walked around the house, pulled them out of the dirt and just handed them to us. There was still dirt falling off them when she threw them in the truck. Later that evening we met two couples in Peninsula Park and were able to barter those beets for Mike's Hard Lemonade. Not a bad swap.
The folks in Door County have done a very good job of restricting unchecked development and have kept the area "quaint". It's small little fishing villages and parks along the coast and rural in the interior. For a painting trip there is plenty to keep someone very busy. Also the area around Algoma and Keewaunee is beautiful. We spent a little time down there and we could have spent the whole week and not run out of things to paint from barns and farms to bays and docks and fishing boats and little towns. If you ever get to the area I would suggest going down there at least a day or two. It would be worth it.The art school they have in the top floor of Barnsite gallery would be worth the trip. If you're anywhere near it ask Dick Bell to give you the guided tour. It's impressive.
I guess now, for the next few days, I have to get out of "post trip funk". After a trip like that it's hard to get motivated around here. I usually remind myself I have a mortgage to pay and that generally snaps me right out of it.

ROAD TRIP!

Leaving in the morning for Door County, Wisconsin. Traveling with the rest of the Cumberland Society and a few guests to paint for a week on the little peninsula that is Door County. I have been told by other artists that have been there that it is fabulous with a wide diversity of things to paint.
I will post when I get back in a week.

Frantic Plein Air

I left last night around 5:00 to go painting and rode for two hours looking without getting "motivated" by anything. It was hot and the light seemed flat and blown out so I kept riding. I finally got frustrated and at 7:00 just hit the brakes and jumped out where I happened to be and forced myself to paint.
Not half bad!
I am pleased with this because of the fact I made a painting where I didn't really see one and I did it in about 30 minutes which for me is unbelievable. It's always frantic painting for me at that time of the day due to the speed of the changing light. You can tell by looking at the edges and some of the passages are a bit rough. I started around 7:10 and was cleaned up and back in the truck by 10 till eight so I am guessing around 30-40 minutes paint time and by the time I got back in the truck it was almost dark. It's also a 9x12. Typically because of the speed of the sun at that time of the day I usually paint 8x10 or less because I know I can get it done quicker.
Now I just have to pick out the knats and find a good frame.

Riding Backroads

Painted with Plein Air Nashville on Saturday and with Jason Saunders Sunday. We took a road trip to places I had never been in Tennessee. I really didn't know there were many left but he found a few, mostly west along the TN AL line. There is nothing better than riding backroads and killing a day looking.
We stopped in God knows where and painted the barn with the faded red sides and the yellow flowers in the field you see above. That barn is actually sided with pieces of tin. Old faded tin. To try and make that read as tin, old faded tin, about made me quit painting altogether. What a struggle. All I kept thinking about was,"how would Richard Schmid do this, how would Richard Schmid do this?" Well, I don't know how Richard Schmid would do this. That's why it looks like it does. I think I have mentioned it before but if Richard Schmid would have painted this tin it would not only have looked like it but you would know what it feels like. I think he is the absolute best at taking paint pigment and applying it to a two dimensional surface and visually describing something so well you actually know what that object would feel like or weigh if you could touch it or hold it. I always have a great appreciation for an artist who takes the the time, makes the effort and has the ability to do that.

Grassbed Green

Friday, I spent all day painting and this is all I have to show. I started one that I tried to save over, and over, and never got anything out of it that I was happy with. It had this early morning backlight to it that was gorgeous but I just couldn't get it luminous enough. The trouble areas were grassbeds. When light hits a grassbed it turns this wonderful bright green that I have had trouble with in the past. It's a very bright translucent green that I can't translate to the canvas. Next time I'll take my slingblade and cut the grassbeds out before I paint. There, problem solved.
This painting is on Swan Creek again, about 10 yrds. upstream from the previous post.

The Cutbank on Swan

I have art that I have done in the past that is so bad, to look at it would detach your retina. And I am not afraid to post it.
The watercolor painting is one I did back in '99. I used to carry a watercolor pad and equipment in my turkey vest when I would turkey hunt and if the hunting got slow I would watercolor paint. Or so I thought. I was plein air painting and I had never heard the term at that point. Who knew it would become what it has.
Yesterday afternoon I painted with Jason Saunders and we painted at Swan Creek on the Derryberry property that I have leased to hunt. When I got home with my painting I started trying to remember how many years and how many times I have painted in the creek at this cutbank. Then I remembered I had this painting somewhere, I just had to find it. Ouch, and I did.
That is the same cutbank in both paintings. It is also the same one you will see posted on my website. It has changed quite a bit over the years (so has my skill level) and has moved into the farm maybe 10-20 yrds. but is still my favorite place to paint. It always has some interesting shapes, colors, values, etc., etc. so you can always get a painting there. Plus, no gawkers. I don't mind gawkers because my philosophy is,"gawker today, customer tomorrow." But man, that peace and quiet sure helps the creative process.

Punkins'?

Yep, punkins'.
I went in to Totty's Bend looking for these big dramatic, sweeping landscapes of farm scenes or overlooks and found....punkins'.
As I was driving around a friends farm I passed his garden and the sun bounced off a pumpkin so I pulled over to check it out and found out I really enjoy painting gardens. There is a lot of drawing to get all the different shapes but it was cool weather so I had the time today. He has beans, tomatoes, squash, and pumpkins so I am sure I will have more garden paintings in the future.
Just goes to show you there are paintings everywhere.

Back on the Cumberland

First off, a quick shout out to the new Plein Air Nashville "coffee girl". Thanks for the coffee.
It's amazing how much better you are with a cup of coffee in your hand. If the Indians would have had coffee we would all be sleeping in teepees.
Plein Air Nashville painted on the greenway bridge again this morning and I think the biggest challenge there is going to be getting a different view or different composition each time. It's river upstream and it's the same river downstream. We've been 3 times and I have made it work so far by painting the bridge the first time but I think the next trip will require a bit more creativity to get something unique, especially of the river from the bridge.
Love a good challenge.

Trespassers

I painted in "the bend" this morning and the area I painted used to be notorious for wild camping and partying and fishing and mass numbers of hoodlums. It sits on the Duck River so I assume people thought it was public access. The guy who owns it decided enough was enough after having called the police for the last time and gated it and locked it and made very sure no one was allowed on it. This morning as I was painting he didn't recognize my truck and pulled up along side me with a very determined look and a loaded shotgun. After he realized who it was both he and the shotgun were downgraded to DEFCON 1. We haven't seen each other in a while so it was nice catching up and trying to remember the last time we were all together for something and you just don't realize how fast time is flying until you sit down and do the math. I couldn't remember the last time I saw his kids who are both in college. From this point on I am just going to quit doing the math.

Still Life!

I painted a still life. The first one in about 5 years. It's great! No bugs, rattlesnakes, poison ivy, rednecks, blazing heat, chiggers.....nothing.
We have a group that Jason Saunders rounded up to paint in his studio every Wednesday night. He has this wonderful studio space that he sets up maybe 6-7 different still lifes in the center and you can rotate around the room and paint as many as you want. We had around 12 people there and it was an experience of painting out of my comfort zone. But I can learn to love this still life stuff. Jason has his studio climate controlled by this wonderful invention called Air Conditioning. I didn't have to apply any chemicals to ward off the effects of vermin or deadly UV rays. Nobody approached me in a beat up pickup truck and walked up and said,"Hey, you ever seen that Bob Ross guy on T.V.? Man, he's good." And the best part? THE LIGHT DIDN'T MOVE. Not an inch. The light was the same when I finished as when I started. I could have painted all night and it would have been the same. No ducking behind clouds, no setting, no haze. No moving or changing at all! Sweet!
Yeah, that plein air painting is for chumps. The only issue I will have to deal with is after painting the rugged wild back country of Tennessee for so long I found painting little pink flowers a bit emasculating. But if they sell, I'll paint 'em in a dress and make-up if I have to.

First of July

These are two more from last week. The top one is Duck River where we fished at the camp and the bottom one is the Cumberland River at the greenway bridge at Wave Country off Briley Parkway that I painted with Plein Air Nashville on Saturday. We had a good group show up and the only misfortune was when I dropped my paper towels and they rolled off the bridge and unrolled about 30 ft. to the river. I happened to be able to put my foot on them as they went over the edge so I reeled them back up but I did lose the last two and the cardboard core. I had no idea a roll of paper towels could roll out that far.

Christmas in July

In the new Art of the West magazine there is an article on Matt Smith. Anytime I find a magazine on the newstand of someone I admire I get as excited as if it were Christmas eve. I sat in the parking lot at Davis Kidd with the motor running until I could memorize every stroke, color, value, etc., etc. I bet I used a half a tank of gas sitting there. I know, it wasn't a very "green" thing to do but it was Matt Smith. I mean, come on, Matt Smith. The Polar bears are just gonna have to suck it up a little.
The piece I posted is from last week while my family was away. I have determined I am better with a family than without. I got very little done last two weeks and seemed to have been a bit scattered and unfocused. However, I did find time to do a little fishing so it wasn't a complete bust.
I will post more from last week as soon as I get good photos.

Two A Day?

When my family left for a two week sojourn I thought I would make an attempt to do two paintings a day for two weeks. For the first 4 days I have a grand total of......2. That's right, 2. I did both of those on Tuesday. Since then I have had a bit of transmission trouble, had to have the stitches from my amateur mixed martial arts cagefight victory (see post below) removed, had dinner plans and drove to Shelbyville to see my mom. The heat has also been a factor. In the fall, spring, and winter you can paint at anytime of the day so to get two paintings a day you can take them out anywhere. To get two paintings in this heat you have the window of 7-9:30ish and again at 6-8ish in the evening. If anything comes up in the morning or the evening you have lost that painting for the day. So needless to say everything I have had this week has been morning or evening. But that is typically how I paint anyway, around life.
We'll try again tomorrow.

One More Demo

I am posting another demo because I just happen to have the photos. The other day when I painted the Fog in the Field painting in the post below, Bill Brison was there and Bill took photos. He e-mailed them and I thought since I had them I would post them.
Also, I have the opportunity to have unfettered time to paint over the next two weeks. My family is taking an extended vacation and I will have time to get work done. I have thought about doing something like Marc Hanson did by committing to a number of paintings per day to see if I could get it done. Maybe 2 a day which over a two week period would be good for me. The only thing that I hesitate for right now is the heat. We are expected to have some very hot days over the next few and I become a delicate little flower in the heat. The heat and the fact I have 10 stitches in my forehead right now. Huh, funny, I walked into a door frame in my darkened house about 12:00 last night. I also wish it was a better story but there it is. However, if anybody asks I'm going with a cagefight or a bear attack. Haven't made up my mind yet.

Workshops

Painted with Plein Air Nashville yesterday at the entrance to Cheekwood and I did the big magnolia at the entrance gate you see above. We had three painters and one was actually from Memphis who happened to be in town and came out to paint with us.
This morning, got up and met Bill Brison at the gallery and went down to Watervalley to paint. I wasn't sure if I could get one due to the fog. It was terribly thick and never did burn off very well. On the trip back to the gallery Bill and I discussed workshops and the things we liked and didn't like about some. Teaching a workshop is something I have been contemplating for quite sometime but have never felt I was skilled enough to teach one yet. I don't think it is fair to paying clients who take the workshop if you haven't got a pretty good grasp of the painting fundamentals and an understanding of what you do and are trying to accomplish. But I also feel a sense of responsibility to everyone who helped me in the past, to take what knowledge I have aquired from them and to pass it on to someone who hopefully will also help another fledgling artist in the future. I remember how much it meant to me to have Jason Saunders and some in the Cumberland Society help me along the way and made a mental note then to do the same when I had the opportunity. I have also heard that by teaching a workshop you learn a tremendous amount about yourself and your own work and I am always looking for another way to take it up a notch.