Frustration

I had a student ask me if I ever get frustrated while I'm painting.

"Heh heh, who me?"

I told them yes and I am sure we all do, it's just that I have learned to approach it differently now than when I started. I have learned that if you can see through it, calm down long enough, there is usually a very significant lesson to be learned.

I remember an incident for me about three to four years ago as I was standing in the middle of a vast cornfield trying to paint. It was mid day, sun was bright and it was getting hot, but the biggest issue I had that day, the one that REALLY sent me over the top, was this slimy, slippery quality to my paint application. Wouldn't adhere to the canvas, just slid. I lost it.

Now, I could have picked up my Open M Box and thrown it like a javelin. Or probably gotten pretty good distance with a "shot put" technique but I went with the tried and true "hammer throw" namely because I was clear headed enough at that point to realize the chemicals I had assembled on my palette would spin off harmlessly in an arc away from me. It was pretty good distance too for someone in hunting boots and blue jeans. Had I had on those little tight athletic clothes and shoes they wear there's no telling how far I could have pitched it. Point is, after I calmed down and had that moment of clarity, I saw myself standing pathetically in this vast cornfield on this vast planet and realized how small this all was so I went over, dusted it all off, stood it up and really thought about why I got frustrated. Analyzed it. Really tried to get to the bottom of it. I was using Liquin as a medium at the time so I thought I could try the next painting without it. Maybe that was it. Bingo, it got a little better. Lesson.

So now when I get frustrated I see it as a lesson. There is something there that is causing the frustration and if I keep my wits I might be able to analyze this and figure it out. Another lesson.

They say pain is the body's way of telling you something is wrong. I feel that way about frustration when I paint. I need to analyze what I am doing and try to fix what is causing the "pain". Sometimes it works and others it doesn't but it is much better than flinging an Open M Box across a cornfield.

June in Tennessee

Everybody is in the hay right now in Tennessee. All the hayfields are being cut and rolled so I am again this year making the effort to paint them while I can and once again I will say they are some of the hardest subjects I paint. Trying to get them to look right in perspective, to get them to lay on the ground, to have weight and to draw the ellipses correctly are just a few of the drawing problems. And for whatever reason, for me, they are incredibly difficult to judge and paint the values right. Maybe it's the Benedryl.

I was also invited to paint with Jason Saunders and his students during his workshop. He has developed such a reputation as a teacher and instructor he has people attending from all over the country. Had a lady from Michigan at this one who had driven 9 hrs to be there. In the class I teach, if I get someone from the next county over I get pumped.

Quick Flood Update

I wanted to post one more time about our recent flood. It seems that everywhere I go now to paint I am confronted with "Bridge Out" or "Road Closed" or "Detour" signs. Everywhere. The damage is so widespread it leaves me speechless on most days by the time I get home.

I typically take the Natchez Trace out of Nashville to get to 90% of my painting areas. Leiper's Fork, Fly, Watervalley, Hickman County. There is not one community along the Natchez Trace that has not been gutted. As a plein air painter I spend a lot of time riding the back roads and every low spot or dip in the road or creek or gully I have seen has been completely destroyed. What used to be meandering little creeks are now giant cavernous ravines. And the amount of gravel that has been piled up in yards and on farms is astronomical. Where did all that gravel come from? One of the most shocking sights for me was the Totty's Bend Bridge in Hickman County. I know if you have never seen it it won't have the impact it would for someone familiar but the Totty's Bend Bridge had drift on it! The water actually got over it! I have posted a picture with the river in the distance but I don't think you can tell that that bridge is probably 40 feet from the water! I NEVER thought water could reach that bridge. Yet there it sits, closed, with trash all over it.

I have to say, the road crews have done a very good job getting us back to some sense of normalcy and convenience but I would guess there are areas that will never be the same. It is just a miracle that more people weren't killed.

Classes at Leiper's Creek Gallery

For those interested, I will be teaching a landscape class again at Leiper's Creek Gallery starting June the 17th. It will be conducted mostly outside if the weather co-operates and will be Thursday evenings from 6:00 - 9:00. To sign up contact Kay Keyes Farrar at dkisfarrar@charter.net.

Lindsey Lohan Yellow

I have a color that I can't do anything with. It has the palette personality of Lindsey Lohan. No matter how many chances you give it, it just can't be controlled and doesn't get along with any of the other colors and generally makes a mess out of every situation it is exposed to.

It's Cadmium Yellow.

Anne Blair Brown gave me a little last week and I have tried to use it a couple of times since and for whatever reason, the colors I get with it seem to be muddy, garish. The greens get very yellow ochre or too warm maybe? Not sure if it is a technical issue or the other colors I have on my palette or even a personal matter due to my familiarity with what I use and it being something different. Just can't get anything I like with it. I have also added Alizarin Crimson and have started using it a bit. The thistles above are an example of a color that looks better with the AC than just Cad Scarlet. I am also considering adding a blue of some sort as long as I can find one that doesn't become a "Brittany Spears Blue".

Back in the Groove...But Out of My Comfort Zone

I got some painting done this week. Painted with Cathleen Windham on Tuesday evening in a rain storm and had to fend off hostile donkeys but got the barn above done. Then Anne Blair Brown took me out of my comfort zone this morning. She challenged me to a swap of palettes and technique. I would be Anne Blair Brown for a painting and she would be me. Her palette had a couple of extra colors on it but the biggest issue I had was her painting method. Anne underpaints and she infuses her paintings with a lot of luminosity by the color she uses in her underpainting. When I would try to underpaint I lost my values. Once I got my color down my values were off and as a value painter I just lost it. Came unravelled like a cheap suit. She on the other hand nailed a couple of nice one's with a strictly three color palette. That's either a statement on her ability or my methods.

Ultimately, I think it's good for us as artist's to get out there and try something else from time to time. Out of the comfort zone. If I think about it though, I have been out of my comfort zone every second I have been doing this.

Back in the Saddle Again.....Kinda'

This is the first painting I have done in over a week. The week before I only did demos. I did two for a day long workshop I did for the Chestnut Group and two for the student body at The Webb School in Bell Buckle. I also slipped off with Jean Gauld Jeager after the Chestnut workshop to paint in the Glen Leven garden. For the last two weeks, that's it.

This painting was done with Plein Air Nashville Saturday morning at the Mount Olivet Cemetery and I have to admit I felt a bit rusty, clumsy. There is a "groove" or rhythm to this. You have to do it on a pretty regular basis for it to stay intuitive and less trying and from time to time life will knock you out of your groove. Hopefully this week I can get back into my groove.

Aftermath

The amount of damage caused by our recent flood here in Nashville and surrounding counties is overwhelming. There is debris and mud everywhere you look.

The photos I have posted were the few I took while it was taking place. My first incident started right at the end of the Harding Art Show when I went to my truck to get trash bags to cover my art and as I rounded the corner of the school saw my truck sitting in the artists parking lot in knee deep rising water. I ran, jumped in the water and then wading to the truck got in and drove back through the water and out, the whole time talking to my truck. "Alright, you gotta start. You gotta get us outta here. Let's go sweetheart."I then got my truck parked, ran back in the school and got keys from Helli Luck to get her vehicle out but within 10 minutes the water had risen so high and fast I couldn't get close. The rapidity with which the water jumped up was stunning. And the speed with which it fell was just as stunning. It was all over that evening in about an hour and a half. When that was said and done we lost around 7-8 vehicles in the parking areas.

The next morning was the deluge that created most of the flooding and damage. The street scene is from my driveway early Sunday. After the rain that morning I got out to see how much damage had been done and was stopped by an ocean of flood water right down the street from my house. I knew at that point this was very, very bad. I had never seen anything like it and hope never to again.

Right now, in the aftermath, the worst part for me is driving through these areas every day and seeing the possessions of their lives, from antiques to their children's toys to beds and furniture thrown out in these huge debris piles by the road. HUGE debris piles that contain everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Most don't have flood insurance so I think this catastrophe is just beginning for most and you almost feel guilty for being able to go about you life in the midst of this. Again, I hope I never see anything like this again.

Devastation

As I write this my community and the city I live in sits and soaks in a septic, toxic stew of sewage and god knows what chemical mix after a record "flood" that has engulfed everything around us. I have "flood" in parenthesis because I really don't think that word or any word I can think of does the magnitude of this justice. I saw rushing torrents of water where there should be no water and cars floating and bobbing like corks.

Other than a bit of inconvenience due to power outage and isolation due to our location on the backside of the Harpeth river my family is fine. Unfortunately, a large number of my fellow Tennesseans can't say the same.

When I get phone service back I will take the time to post some of the photos I have and a few more stories.

The Harding Show

Once again it is time for the Harding Academy Art Show. It will be Thursday from 6-9, Friday from 10-9 and Saturday from 10 - 3 so come by and say "hi." Also, the Chestnut Group is having their show in Columbia this weekend right off the square on 7th Street. It will be a great weekend for a little art shopping. Christmas is only 8 months away!

Leiper's Fork

I have to say you never know what to expect when you're in Leiper's Fork.

The class I teach has started meeting outside for a little true plein air work and last Thursday night as we painted, two guys roll out a hot air balloon, heat it up and blast off. All in about 30 minutes. I had no idea you could get one in the air from the bed of a truck in that little time.

There is a very eclectic group of people with varied pasts and interests that reside in the Leiper's fork area. Some of the best musicians and guitar players that have ever played with resumes you wouldn't believe. Celebrities like Faith and Tim, Steve Winwood, Keith and Nicole, (I sat at a table next to them at a Starbucks recently and yes, she is that gorgeous in real life even at seven in the morning. She looks like she is from a galaxy of incredibly beautiful people and she doesn't belong here with the rest of us.) Bo Bice (sorry, I don't watch American Idol so I said "who?") played in town a few weeks ago on a Thursday night and last week as we were watching a balloon take off there was a rumor Robert Plant was at Puckett's. Granted, I got it second hand, but it's Leiper's Fork. Nothing surprises me about that little town.

So if you get the chance, swing through Leiper's Fork. I am sure something there will catch you off guard. And if you see Nicole, tell her I said "hi".

Hunting

I finally found a little time to turkey hunt Saturday morning and actually filled a tag. It was a small turkey but a turkey none the less. Hunting has slowly taken a back seat to everything else I am trying to get done in my life right now especially raising busy kids and painting. I was not aware of how much time, energy and attention painting would require and consume. Nobody warned me. Before I knew it, it had me. Even when I hunt, the painting wheels are turning in my head. "Look how close those values are." "How would I get that color?" "Man I wish I were set up right now." And on and on. I posted the photo of my hunting compadre because if you will notice the sun was rising and casting light on the ridge to the left in unbelievable colors with the fog hanging along the Duck River in the background. I almost threw my gun down and ran screaming back to the truck for my painting gear. The only thing that stopped me was as I was taking this photo, two of the largest turkeys I have heard in awhile were gobbling their heads off about 50 yrds. to the right just over the crest of the hill we are on. I wanted the turkeys to wait until I had finished watching this sun-up or for the sun-up to hang on just a minute until I had dispatched one of these turkeys. Of course neither happened because when you are out there you are just a spectator on Mother Nature's time. You can't stop it or slow it down. Just feel incredibly fortunate for the experience.

The paintings are a couple from the week and the tree line with the chert rock road is from class last Thursday. We got out and did a little plein air painting there in Leiper's Fork and I have to say I was quite proud of the class. It was windy and about 50-55 degrees and they all hung in there and had some real nice paintings for their effort.

April

I spent most of the week painting in the Leiper's Fork area and Thursday morning had the opportunity to paint with Leiper's Creek Gallery owner Lisa Fox. She doesn't get the chance to paint as much as she used to due to the time that the gallery takes so it was good to see her out. I also picked up my first sunburn and tick of the season.

Heads Up!

As I was painting Wednesday the snake in the photo above slithered right up next to me. He was about two feet from my two feet. Had invaded my personal space. As creepy as they look, theoretically they are about harmless as a bag of cotton balls. But, after seeing one, your concentration is shot. You spend an inordinate amount of time checking the ground. Checking the ground. Checking the ground. I was turkey hunting with a friend one time and we were "sneaking up" on one and were crawling along veeeery quietly. I eased up in to position and got settled and then my buddy eased up into position. Unfortunately his position was on the end of a vine that due to some physics equation moved on the other end, my position. Have you ever seen a vine move in the woods? All it needed was a forked tongue. I flinched so bad I pulled muscles and let out a noise like a 6 yr. old girl on Christmas morning. The rest of the hunt I spent checking the ground, checking the ground, checking the ground. I think I even checked the floor board of my truck a couple of times on the way home after that one.

The paintings are from the previous week and the two at the bottom were painted yesterday with the Chestnut Group for a show they are having at the end of April of the historic buildings and areas in Columbia Tennessee. The two you see are of the courthouse and the building in profile is from the old Columbia Military Academy which was one of the premier military schools in the nation at one time. The plaque on the front says it is the old Guard House but its architectural demeanor leads me to believe it was designed to keep something in or something out. Maybe an arsenal or brig. If those walls could talk.

Ode to Biscuits

My youngest daughter loves biscuits. I mean loves biscuits. She will sit down to a pan of biscuits for breakfast and eat them with nothing on them. No jam, jelly, butter, nothing. She had a writing assignment at school recently and this was what they got:

"Ode to Biscuits"

Seeing sunlight

and buzzers sounding,

I saunter to the kitchen for

biscuits

Slippers scuffling

and people humming

everything's alive because of

biscuits

the oven is up and running

burning crisp the bottom

of what's in it

biscuits

my teeth pierce the outside,

crunch! into the gooey inside

it tastes like home,

biscuits

You gotta' love that.

Also, an artist and friend of mine, Erin Jones, will be teaching art classes beginning March 29. It will be a great class for getting going with drawing and oil painting. For more info, check her blog at: erinelizabethjones.blogspot.com.

Home Again, Home Again...

I think I am good for about a week on these painting trips before I start to miss the family. It's not that we do these incredible things together but I just feel better when I am around them. Kinda' like a security blanket I guess. And it doesn't hurt that they are really awesome people.

Above are a few of the paintings I accomplished on the trip to Atlantic Beach. Before we left on Tuesday, Lee Dellinger and her husband Charles Jones had a social at their home and the guest list was Marc Delessio, Jimmy Craig Womble and his lovely wife, and Jason Saunders and myself. Had some great stories. I always ask each artist I meet where they would paint if they only had one place to paint for the rest of their life, where it would be. Marc said Morocco. Yeah, I know, me too. I pictured France, Venice, mountains of Tibet. And believe me, the guy has been everywhere. But that was it for him. I will say this, the way he described it, it has moved up on my list considerably.

The following morning we hit the road and arrived home after a 13 hour drive with a couple of stops. All in a days work for a plein air painter.