Analogous Love..

Well, color always does it for me. The brighter the color, the bigger the charge I get. And if the color combo is unexpected, that's the biggest charge of all. Take a look at these cousins, a claret cup, or hedgehog cactus and its first cousin, a strawberry hedgehog, growing right together. Evidently they like the same kind of soil!

The pink ones are strawberry hedgehog, and the red are claret cup or hedgehog cactus

Here's my first little sketch, just a quickie on a 5X7 piece of paper. I used dark colors to pop out the brights. Although I think the brights are good, I don't like the character the dark lends, so decided to do it again.

"Pink and Red," version 1

And try #2 - I zoomed in and used lighter, sunnier colors. I think this one looks much warmer and more feminine. Adding the sticks was a good idea for the texture. I may want to keep trying...

"Pink and Red," version 2

An unexpected source of inspiration

My mom, Ruth Hanson, passed away yesterday. If someone had asked me initially about any influence she may have had on my art, I might have said, "not much." But some hours have passed and I've thought more about my experiences with her. Mom and I shared some interests: history, culture, literature, and perhaps best of all, birds and flowers. Mom taught me the names of birds, plants and flowers, beginning at an early age. I learned to "look up" anything I saw but didn't know the name of. I learned to observe my environment. And I can't think of a single quality more important for an artist.

This one's for you, Mom: "Prickly Beauty."

Steps to Creating from a Photo

Very often, an inspiring sight or idea presents itself when we are far from the studio. We may not even be thinking “painting” when the gorgeous, jaw-dropping sight appears. Our only option might be taking a quickie with the cell phone camera. Probably, any photo we get won’t be studio quality, won’t be composed well, wouldn’t make a great painting just by copying it. So what do we do, when we finally return to the studio and have only that not-so-great digital photo for reference?

The double rainbow that appeared over the Organ Mountains last night was mind-blowing.

But the photo I took with the cell phone is only a reminder of the moment. It couldn't record

the ozone smell in the air, the glowing colors in the rainbow, the gasps I heard from other 

rainbow watchers! There are elements I probably wouldn't want in a painting (like the light pole)

and I wouldn't want to copy the scene directly from the photo - I'll have to think about

what would make a strong composition and how to communicate the excitement I felt at the scene.

• The first thing to do is to look at the photo or photos taken, review them, take yourself back to the moment you touched the photo icon. Remember the surprise, the wonder, the smells, the colors, everything you can dredge up about that moment. What was it about the scene that grabbed you? What made you gasp? Why were you compelled to take a photo? Talk to yourself about the moment. Write down some words, if that helps you solidify your ideas. Mostly, identify what about that scene made you want to paint it? The more you can put this into words, the more you review your emotions, the better you’ll be able to describe it with paint.
•  Second step: Review your photo(s) again for information that supports and describes your exciting idea. What needs to remain? What are the elements that made you gasp?
•  Three: What should be cropped out or discarded? Some things may be obvious: light poles, stop signs, pickup trucks – some of these might be better left out of a landscape painting. It’s all up to you, there is no right or wrong. Only what supports your idea and what does not. You have to put thought into this.
•  Four: How can you arrange those necessary items from step two to make a strong composition? Here’s where the sketch book comes in. You don’t have to get tight and “realistic” with the sketch. I’ve been known to do my sketches with a ball point pen on a napkin or the back side of an envelope. The idea is to get your concept in front of you, move the items around so that they make a strong composition, based on what you’ve learned about composition. Indicate only the main shapes and values.
•  Five: Try out your idea with paint, experimenting with colors and values. Don’t worry yet about details. If you need to make half a dozen little color and value studies, that’s fine. You’ll figure out what works.
•  Six: If you are a “tight” painter, do your drawing and transfer it to the paper. If you’re a looser painter, dive right in. Having done the five steps above, you’ll be much better prepared to get your exciting idea on paper in a way you will be proud to share.