Monterey Plein Air Convention 2103. Part 2.

I am not used to all this green! "Corral del Cielo" 12"x9"

The second day of the convention was also filled with marketing  boot camp and demos. I must highlight a few. Scott Christensen is one of my favorite landscape artists. As a young man  he played football but a neck injury  left him wanting so he took up painting. And how! I suppose he applied all his sports stamina to his artwork because he is one hell of a landscape artist. His palette was unique and I couldn't get the reasons behind it. I think he uses Vasari colors and a series of greys. I have to do more research on that.He talked about establishing an idea before starting work.
Oh wait, someone already did. Underpaintings. Awesome!

 The dynamic duo of Camile Przewodek and Ned Mueller was very entertaining. Camile is a colorist, and Ned is  a self-proclaimed tonalist. Camile's earnest style contrasted wonderfully with Ned's devil-may-care sense of humor.

Camile's art is intriguing. She is a student of Hensche who in turn studied with Monet so there is a color lineage right there. I've wondered about her philosophy for a while since she is such a popular reference. and gives many workshops around the country. She is a popular teacher with many followers.  She claims admiration for Sorolla, Frank Benson and Isaak Levitan among others.

Her favorite quote from Sargent: "Don't be a landscape painter, or a still-life or a portrait painter. Learn to paint  and paint anything."  ( I know this quote thing gets tired but  quotes are really like easy mantras to keep in mind while painting.) Ok, with that out of the way ...the main point I got from Camile is that she likes to start with bold high-chroma colors, well beyond what one might perceive and then proceed downwards taming the initial explosion into more subtle variations. Easier to start high and then descend. Another distinct characteristic is how wide her palette is with 20 colors plus as opposed to more limited choices in the rest of the speakers.

Camile is not against finishing a painting outdoors. Many artists declared their outdoor studies a total necessity but nothing more than color notes. Among them, Ray Roberts, Jill Carver,  Scott Christensen and Skip Whitcomb. Camile doesn't find it troublesome to return to the same spot twice to "finish" a piece. In that, she is following Monet as well.

Ned Mueller is another proponent of black and white studies to settle the  composition and reduce anxiety. Big shapes first. And never ever think literally but visually. His self-deprecating humor made him fun to hear but his briefly executed demo was great on top of that.

Point Lobos Turmoil. 8"x10'

"Blue Jay and Lupine Meadow" 9"x12" SOLD

And this brings us to yet another amazing demo, the pair of Jill Carver and Ray Roberts. I am a devoted Ray Roberts groupie so I was all ears even though I took a four day workshop last summer with Mr. Roberts in Malibu.  You can read all about it in my previous post. Roberts is on a quest to find interesting shapes and dark patterns whose abstract qualities attract attention.  He has an extensive illustration background in which he was forced to work in extra clear black and white graphics that wouldn't be drowned in print format. This, he says, was excellent training ground. 

His influences are multiple, Assaro, McCaw, Craig Nelson, Clyde Aspevig, Sullivan and co-conspirator Skip Whitcomb.

Ray Roberts starts with the dark shapes first to obtain the interesting high  contrast pattern from the start. He commented on how he doesn't paint the color he sees but the relationships. For example, when painting white water, distinguish between the whites that represent foam(in dark and light) , glistening or just turbulence. All these entities should have distinct colors to differentiate even though in reality they might be much closer in hue and value than what we could paint. 

My notes on the Jill Carver, ray Roberts pairing.

Scott Christensen

Skip Whitcomb

C.W. Mundy. He painted the whole thing upside down until the very end.

Alexey Steele drawing Scott Christensen

James Gurney (Dinotopia) also making a portrait of Scott.

Ned Mueller showing his demo.

Ray Roberts displaying some of his work.

Ray Roberts demo

Ned Mueller

Laguna Plein Air 2011

I had the chance to go see the Laguna Plein Air Festival. I am always amazed at the quality. Here is a selection of the paintings I liked. I know for a fact I didn't see more than 40% of what these artists did but there was enough to feast the yes anyway...So less talk and more pictures.

Jill Carver,  very interesting compositions.

Mark Bryan Taylor. Pictures really don't make justice to his atmospheric prowess.

Calvin Liang, his paintings have a beautiful luminous quality and wonderful color gradations that seem to cover the whole canvas.

Michael Alten, most improved, this guy has been just improving and improving without loosing the muted and subtle qualities.

Michael Obermeyer, always insanely accurate even in complex subjects.

A painter with East Coast sensibilities, Mrs Gavin Brooks.

Carolyn Hesse-Low, a sharp and luminous master.

Ken Auster. Bold strokes.

Debra Huse. Very nice silvery light.

Rolando Macedo, a discovery , very tonal.

Ray Roberts. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Ray Roberts, I think people will think twice before attempting this often painted corner of Laguna Beach , I don't think it can be done any better. 

Ray Roberts, wow. My favorite painting of the show, just the right balance of  color, design, compositional mastery and brushwork. 

Thomas Kitts, abstraction without obstruction. Fantastic painting.

Jeff Horn, simplicity and beauty.

Jeff Horn, the importance of a statement well made.

  I was really impressed, again, by Ray Roberts artwork. It is no wonder he won Best of Show. I probably really need to find a workshop with him. I wish I could create such clean and well managed artwork.

Ribbons, ribbons

After all the October events and having a bit more time in my hands due to vacation, I started reconsidering my painting direction. Armando makes me reconsider it *every day* but that is another story :). When I get in this kind of "funk", I find it useful to go stroll in a museum or a good exhibit to stay enthusiastic and even though I have no ego problems, humble and conscious of the way ahead. I also find it helpful to enter smaller events and socialize with artists and people interested in art.

So

a) I visited the Laguna Plein Air 2009 event and let my jaw drop in front of the Ray Roberts, Calvin Liang, Jennifer McChristian, Greg La Rock, Ken De Waard , Bryan Scott Taylor and J. Budicin masterpieces among others. I also took a peek through the "Pasadena, City of Trees" organized by the California Art Club.

b) I entered some paintings in the San Gabriel Fine Arts Fall show -that is where I got the ribbons in the pictures- as well as the Craftsman Weekend in Pasadena where my gallery Jose Vera had a booth. I also entered the miniature show at the Segil gallery which afforded me the opportunity to talk with Jason Situ and Laura Segil for a while.




Here are Tania Verafiled and myself at the Masonic Temple in Old Pasadena during the Craftsman weekend. My paintings separate us, figuratively speaking.


So many questions bubbling in my head. One is the matter of size. Painting bigger and not in just one session as I usually do. I am not a subscriber of bigger is better but it would be interesting to see a painting through in a larger scale. The other is the question of the physical studio. Part of the reason I don't tackle certain projects is a lack of appropriate space. I need to work on a solution and quickly. And of course the question of "quality". That I don't expect to ever solve.... fortunately.