“Nature does nothing uselessly.” Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Have you painted the figure? If you have, you know how difficult it is. Our brains are “wired” to recognize the slight differences between people, so even the slightest error in drawing the figure can make the difference in getting an accurate likeness.

What if one ocean wave could see another?  Like us, it could easily recognize the slight differences between waves.  Can you? Waves, trees, clouds–they all have an anatomy of their own, a structure that has repeatable and somewhat predictable, but each with slight variations that make them appear unique.

As artists, just as we need to study anatomy to paint the figure convincingly, we should study the structure of the elements of nature we paint and figure out their own rules. There are few shortcuts. You can get a field guide (eg, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees) and I found one online site field guide that was very detailed (The Virtual Field Herbarium)

| |	© Rosemary Wise

You can see in this illustration above by Rosemary Wise how the basic anatomy of one type of plant is shown. The drawing communictes clearly the components of this plant, their relative size and position.  I’ve drawn similar illustrations of ocean waves, Monterey Cypress and Eucalyptus trees. Draw enough of them and you’ll discover the basic elements.
The next step is to abstract them out to just a few gestural lines.  I recall a video made on the life of Pablo Picasso (and later found this site, which a great series of images of his that show this process–check it out!).  He drew a life-like bull, lots of deetail.  His subsequent drawings contained fewer and fewer lines and detail, until the end he could communicate a bull with just a few gesterual lines.  I followed this approach with Monterey Cypress trees.  I recognized that their tree limbs have a fairly predictable pattern. They grow downard two lengths, then up one length and repeat–and then I had it, a gesture for this tree.  This comes in handy when you’re painting outside with limited time available.  You’re not going to study each branch and paint it as is, you need stored in your memory a gestural stroke that represents that branch, that you can repeat with slight variation in your painting.
In addition to linear structure, it’s also a good idea to draw or paint value studies of common natural elements. I’ve done this with ocean waves quite a bit, learning the value of the shadow side of the wave and how it relates to flat water, and the crest. You’ll aways run across exceptions to the “rules” you’ll discover, but I can say discovering them makes life a lot easier when you’re painting plein air and have 30-90 minutes to capture a scene as it shifts in light from one painting to another.

Virtual Art Academy (my sponsor), is of the same mind, and has a course dedicated to this subject in their “Observation” section. Here’s how the course is described:

This is installment 6 of what I plan to be my top 10 painting observations. Click here to see the others.

I painted a couple of quick studies Saturday while selling my week’s work in Jackson Park.  The crowd was small, but appreciative. I did end up selling two paintings, so not bad.  Unfortunately, I really misjudged how much display space I would have, so ended up under-painting for the event.

Jackson Park Doorway Study, Oil on Linen, 8×6″ 

I hate to be negative (here it comes), but I think I’m getting burned out by these plein air shows.  In the beginning, they were a terrific way to get my name out there, meet other artists, and get basic experience selling, but lately, they seem like a chore.  I also feel I keep painting for show after show, constrained by the location I have to paint, which limits my creative choices. I want to work on a series of paintings of Buena Vista Park, or other ideas which I define and control.  So, I think I’m going to either stop doing these next year, or scale back considerably.

Is this a “step up”?  I’m not sure.  I hope the results show it is   Cheers!

Just a couple of paintings to post that haven’t made up yet. The first painting below was done last night at the sunset “Quick Draw” event. I painted fellow artist Janan L. Shannon. This work will be part of the silent auction fund raiser.

Artist in the Shade - Oil on Linen - 10×8″ (SOLD)

I loved the light on this scene, later afternoon, my favorite time to paint (after a nap, of course I was going for a simple, strong graphic-like design.

Red Box Cars - Oil on Linen - 12×16

I painted this garden in front of a Victorian home on Pacific Avenue this morning for the show on Saturday. Later in the day, I painted for the “QuickDraw” event, but it’s too dark to photograph that painting, so maybe I’ll post it tomorrow. I painted another artist working, a favorite subject

Victorian on Pacific - Oil on Linen - 16×20″ (SOLD)

Painted two “industrial” scenes today, the USS Hornet and a couple of empty cargo containers. I wasn’t able to get a decent photo of the latter tonight, so will post tomorrow.

I’m happy with the painting of the USS Hornet. I wanted to convey the enormity of the ship. Most artists opted to paint form the deck. I checked it out up there, but didn’t find anything that struck me. This will do. I had fun interpreting the various gray, reflected light and shapes. The color of the water (and reflections there) was also complex and interesting. That’s the San Francisco skyline in the background, right.

USS Hornet - Oil on Canvas - 8×10″

The ship has an interesting history. Yes, it played a role in WWII, but I found the NASA history most interesting. Do you remember when the first Apollo mission that landed on the moon (11) fell to earth? The USS Hornet recovered the lunar capsules. I remember the tension at the time…would the ship get to the astronauts in time?  Would they drown?

When they brough the astronauts aboard, they had to endure 21 days of isolation. Do you remember that Airstream they put them in? It’s on the ship! I walked around inside. It had a meeting room, bunk beds, kitchen, bathroom–the works. That’s history. Oh, they had some large moon rocks too, but I just couldn’t get over the Airstream–a childhood memory come to life.

This photo is from the Boston Globe from 1969. Caption reads, “President Nixon greets astronauts in the Isolation Van.” From left to right, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin Jr.

Here I am again, back in another 5 day event!  I had a week “off” (working at Wells Fargo last week), but I think I can use some more.  Nothing I can do about it, so time to press on.

This wasn’t a great day.  I spent a lot of time driving around Alameda, trying to get a feel for the place and find something inspiring to paint. I finally did, although the spot isn’t typical at all of the town.  It’s Bay Farm Island, a smaller island connected to Alameda by a bridge and famous as female aviator Amelia Earhart started many of her flights from the nearby Oakland Airport.  I’m happy with the feel of this one, very fresh. Other than the tops of the grasses, which I defined a bit, almost every stroke is the first I put down.  Over-working a painting muddies it, and the color in this one is fresh because I really pushed it and I didn’t mix other colors on top of the original strokes.
I’m happy to get one of three expected for the show out of the way.  I think tomorrow I’ll paint a Victorian home/garden, which is somewhat more typical.  Enjoy!

Bay Farm Island (Alameda) - Oil on Linen - 12×16″

I’m often asked about my palette, so thought I’d dedicate a post to this for future reference. First, I know many painters (great ones, in fact) believe in a limitted palette. Most that follow that path do so because it ensures color harmony, and it certainly makes packing paints much easier. I’d love to carry three colors plus white, as artist’s like Ken Auster and Kevin Macpherson do. I go back-and-forth on this, but I think an extended, “full spectrum” color palette–the same used by Ovanes Berberian and other colorists, including his mentor Serge Bongart–is best for my needs. I would suggest however that if you’re new to oil painting, start with a limitted palette and branch out from there, once you’ve become familiar with their mixing properties first. Start with Alizarin Crimson, Cadnium Yellow Medium and Ultramarine Blue.

When I use my full color spectrum palette, I don’t cram every color into every painting. That would be difficult to harmonize (unless you add a bit of black to ever cover pile, which does harmonize a painting nicely). I include a wide array of colors because I want a full range of options for any single painting. I will typically paint with a limitted set of colors and ignore the rest for a given work. It may be that a scene is best represented with Sap Green, Alizarin and White. You never know. I look at a scene carefully and pick out major color notes that match to my palette, before I begin.

My palette consists of the following paints, all Classic Artist Oils unless otherwise noted. I buy my paints in either 10oz caulking tubes or quart containers. Much cheaper than the tiny tubes sold in art supply stores.

	Hansa Yellow. This is my cool yellow. I’ve tried Cadnium Yellow Light, but I find it doesn’t have as much punch as this yellow. It’s transparent enought to mix well with any color on your palette. I’ll use it for my lightest light in just about any situation (see samples below).		Cadium Yellow Medium. This is a common warm, light value yellow.
	Yellow Ocrhe. Good medium value cool yellow. As a basic earthtone, a must of course for any landscape painter. I’ll use this color, white and sometimes a tad Cadmium Orange for the light side of clouds.		Hansa Yellow Orange. This is my favorite color. It’s a cool orange. It makes great greens, mixed with either California Blue or Ultramarine Blue. It also mixes really well with Permanet Rose to make great sunset colors.
	Cadmium Orange. Your basic warm orange. Too opaque for my tastes. I’d love it if every color on my palette were transparent–they’re so much easier to mix. I guess I should be a watercolorist. This will probably be the first color I drop from my palette, although I like it there because I can mix it with any of my blues to make a really nice gray.		Fire Red. This is my warm mid-value red. Most artists use Cad Red Light, but I find the tinting strength of this color much better. It’s very powerful. Good to use in flesh tone mixtures (I found this color while studying the figure with Jim Smyth).
	Permanent Rose (Winsor Newton) or Rose Madder (Classic Artist Oils). This Winsor Newton color is dangerously strong. Use with care to create great medium value violets with Cobalt Blue. It’s also great for painting flowers.		Alizarin Crimson. My dark, cool red. I alternate between Classic Artist’s Oils and Gamblin brands. The latter claims to make a permanent pigment. I like to mix it with Sap Green to make my darkest darks. Makes for a nice transparent washes, and you can easily mix warm/cool varieties.
	California Blue. This is a very dark version of Ultramarine Blue. I got the recipe from Brigitte Curt, who I believe got it from Ovanes Berberian. It’s a custom mixture of Phthalo Blue and . Great for making cool transparent darks, and dark greens together with Hanse Yellow Orange.		Ultramarine Blue. The standard dark, warm-valued blue. Has lots of practical uses, but I find that it really tends to kill the life of warmer-toned mixtures. If I’m trying to cool a color, I’m more likely to reach for Cerulean Blue or California Blue.
	Cobalt Blue. This is considered a “true blue” (ie, neither cool nor warm). It’s the most expensive color on my palette, so I only use it carefully–generally in sky colors and to make beuatiful medium value violets with Permanent Rose.		Cerulean Blue. This is usually the truest sky color, particularly along the coast–whereas I find Cobalt Blue more true at higher elevations or places with little humidity.
	Magnesium Blue. This warm blue is by far the most powerful on my palette, second to Permanent Rose. It’s tinting strength is incredible. Use with caution! I rare mix this with anything, other than white of course. If you want to add instant intensity to your sky, add a little of this blue, the same value as a Cobolt Blue and white sky. They vibrate well together.		Virdian Green. My cool green. I tend to only use this in seascapes and citiscapes. It’s just not a terrible “naturual” looking color by itself, except for representing man-made things, like stop lights that read “go”
	Sap Green. I rarely use this color, other than mixing dark transparent underwashes. I will grab a bit to “green up” a color quickly, because as a transparent color, it does mix well and rarely muddies other mixtures.		Mars Black. This is an opaque black, so I don’t use it to mix transparent underwashes. I do use it to tone down colors that are too raw. Of course you can do that by mixing the colors complement, but if you’re plein air painting and racing to capture something, grabbing a little black works more quickly.
	Titanium White. I’ve tried others, like Flake White, but find this white meets my needs just fine.

Here are some examples of how I use my palette. Thanksgiving Day Snow on the right shows my use of Magnesium Blue, vibrating against a Cobalt Blue sky. This painting also uses transparent washes quite a bit, which you can see in the top left (click the image to enlarge). The washes were made with Sap Green, Alizarin Crimson, and California Blue. I like the abstract quality of this painting, the caligraphic brush strokes. I was trying to convey both stillness and life.

The “Peninsula Hillside” painting on the left shows how I use colors like Hansa Yellow Orange (in the trees), with a touch of blue to give it a golden green glow. I’ve also alternated Cerulean and Cobalt Blue in the sky to get that vibration. The trick is to do this without mixing the colors together and creating mud.
I typically mix my lightest lights with Hansa Yellow and Titanium White. The painting “Towards the Sun, Crystal Springs“, which I did facing the late afternoon sun, uses this combination. I also uses in my snow scenes to show the lightest lights of the snow.

Finally, “Jewel by the Bay“, a week-long paint-out locally! I was invited to participate in this Bay Area paint-out last year, but had to decline due to some last-minute travel. I’m 100% set for this one! It starts Monday, and includes about 30 nationally-known plein air artists, most local, many friends.

This is a typical “plein air” event competition, where a group of juried artists paint the same area for a week and hold a show at the end. This show beneftis the Frank Bette Art Center in Alameda. Check out my blog next week, and I should have daily postings. Here’s a run-down of events:

• Artist’s paint in Alameda July 17 through July 20
• Jewel by the Bay” Sunset Quick Draw, Thursday, July 19, 6-8PM at Towata Park ( 3315 Bridgeway Isle, Alameda, CA 94501) , near Harbor Bay Island bridge.
• Grand finale Saturday, July 21: The Frank Bette Plein Air Artists will showcase their artwork at an exciting all day outdoor exhibit at Jackson Park (2430 Encinal Ave, Alameda, CA 94501) 11am-5PM, in downtown Alameda.

See the Frank Bette Center website for more information, including this plein air event page.

We had a good turn out at today’s Verde Artist Guild paint-out, dispite the thick fog.  We all managed to find something to paint, and in fact many of us painted a house across the street from the park, at the corner of Buena Vista East and Dolores.  A long-time resident walking her dog told us the house belong to a former US ambassador, and that he’d purchased several homes on the same street for his children. Nice guy!

Joining today was (left to right), Richard, Christin Coy, Karen, Julia Seelos, New Person (sorry, can’t recall her name!), Cathy Boyer and David Stonesifer.  I managed to paint to small studies below.

Monterey Cyrpess’ in Fog - Oil on Linen - 8×6″

“Looking Down Dolores” - Oil on Linen - 10×8″

My supplies are arriving back from my recent trips (Ovanes Berberian workshop and Telluride Plein Air), so I am finding paintings that hadn’t yet been photographed and posted.

This is an interesting one. It’s near abstract. My focus was on color harmony, not form. Kind of like it–at least it’s something different from my normal work.

Untitled - Oil on Board - 10×8