Painting Moving Water

Posted by Maggie

This is another demonstration sequence from my Saturday class sessions at New Mexico Art League.

Our subject last week was how to paint moving water. Thanks to a student who took photos as I began the painting, I have images to post. (Thanks, Lin!)

As I often do, I began the painting with an underpainting of pastel, washed with turpenoid. Working on a white Richeson pastel surface, I knew I'd have plenty of tooth left after an underpainting.

Because this subject was fairly complex in the placement of the groups of rocks, I did a fairly careful and detailed sketch with soft vine charcoal the day before the class. This saved a lot of time for the demonstration itself. I blocked in large shapes of colors with a light layer of pastel, holding the soft pastel sticks on their sides. I washed each color section with turpenoid. The charcoal mingled with the pastel when I turped it, but since the charcoal was applied only in the areas that would be dark values, it didn't matter. Note that I left the area where the foamy white water would be untouched.

After drying the surface with a hair dryer, I had a good value plan for the composition. I painted the sky first, then the distant mountains. This subject is a stream in Scotland, and it was a misty "soft" day with rain coming and going. I wanted to make sure I got the feeling of the atmosphere on that day, so the value and temperature of the sky and distant hills was important.

Because this was a class demonstration about painting moving water, I skipped painting the trees and moved right to the water, so that I could show some important techniques. The water farther back is still, with lovely reflections of the left-hand bank of trees. As the water moves down over the rocks, there's a lot of action and color changes. When I paint moving water, I like to try to "feel" the water movement with my hand, letting the directional strokes of pastel tell the story. Note that some the rocks farther back are partially submerged; having painted them in the underpainting stage made it easy to retain just enough rock showing to explain the movement over that rock ledge.

Highland Stream, 16x20 pastel, ©Maggie Price

After I got the painting home, I studied it for a few days. Something kept bothering me about the rocks on the left. I finally realized they were just too bright, and took the attention away from the water crashing over the rocks. I muted their colors, moving them further into the shadow area. I kept the trees and shrubs simple; I wanted to indicate the presence of dense foliage, but it isn't the subject.

I'm not entirely sure this is finished. Sometimes I have to look at a painting for weeks before I decide to make further changes or decide it's ready to frame. I've found that it's risky to frame a painting too soon—I may end up unframing it to make one more change!

Painting Greens

Posted by Maggie

I've been teaching a class at the New Mexico Art League on Saturdays for the last six weeks. In order to make it work for students with varying schedules, each class day is a stand-alone unit focusing on a particular subject or technique, and people signed up for the sessions with subjects they wanted and dates that would work for them.

A couple of weeks ago, our subject was how to paint greens. Subjects that are predominantly green can be very difficult. It can be tough to make sense of a jumble of foliage, trees, grasses and shrubs. But one thing that works for me is to start with an underpainting using almost any color other than green.

I blocked in the colors loosely on the surface with the sides of soft pastels on a white Richeson Premium Pastel Surface. I tried to keep the shapes big, and to think about value as well as which areas are in sunlight and which in shadow so that my color temperatures were accurate even in the early stages.

Then I washed each color section with turpenoid, using an old synthetic brush and trying to keep my colors clean and separate. I dried the surface with a hair dryer.

Next I began moving into realistic color, using greens, yellow-greens, blue-greens, and so on, paying attention to the value pattern I established on the underpainting.

Back Road, 16x20 pastel, ©Maggie Price

As the painting moved towards completion, more and more greens were worked into the composition, but I tried to retain some of the colors of the underpainting as well. The result is far more exciting color than if I had begun the painting with greens. The variations in color help create depth, interesting shadows, and brilliant light. This painting is 95% completed; it's in my "holding area," where I will look at it over a period of weeks to determine if any further changes are necessary.

Further Adventures in Oil

Posted by Maggie

Satsuma Oranges & Blue Bowl, 8x10 oil on canvas, ©Maggie Price

It's often hard to pass by a display of beautiful fruit, especially in the winter. These Satsuma oranges caught my eye, not because I thought they'd taste good (which they probably will) but because I wanted to paint them. Even the whole pile of oranges in the bin at the store seemed paintable; something about those elegant arches of the leaves was irresistible. I picked out three and set them up on a stand to paint, adding a blue dish to raise one up and give some contrast to the orange. A blue cloth backdrop further enhanced the complementary color arrangement.

I'm still re-learning about oil paints, the types and brands of pigments and solvents. I have been trying to figure out which white I like best. Some whites seem too transparent, but I just got a new one from Jack Richeson & Co. I like their Shiva oil paints in general, but this new white is really great. It's a Titanium-Zinc White, and it's got a lovely texture and opacity. I like it better than the plain Titanium.

A friend of mine had recommended the Shiva color called Asphaltum, which is a wonderful color, a sort of dark umber with a subtle influence of ultramarine. It's a unique color, and I enjoyed using it and will definitely keep it in stock.

While I was cruising the color chart in search of Asphaltum I stumbled upon another interesting-sounding Shiva color called Leaf Green, and ordered it too. It wasn't at all what I expected; I thought it was going to be more green, but it turned out to be that magical mix of green and orange that you find so often in foliage. I used it quite a bit in this painting and can see that it, too, is going to become a standard on my palette.

I had so much fun painting this little study. My goal was to learn more about how to paint still life, so I was pretty relaxed about it and just had fun. I am enjoying working in oils again after so many years painting only in pastel. I think working in pastel taught me a lot about values, and painting regularly taught me a lot about composition and design. Now, I feel that working in oils is teaching me more about color. Mixing colors is fun and using a brush again is a delight. I like everything about the process except cleaning up when I'm done!

WAY Out of My Comfort Zone

Posted by Maggie

I love flowers. In the summer, I have containers and hanging baskets of flowers all over the patio, and there are rosebushes and hollyhocks, wisteria and trumpet vines. I take pictures of flowers when traveling, and never miss a chance to visit a botanic garden.

But I almost never paint them, at least not up close. I've done a few pastel paintings where flowers were incorporated, but I've never painted a vase of flowers. Until now.

One of the other instructors who teaches at the New Mexico Art League, Cynthia Rowland, paints wonderful flowers (and portraits, but I'm not going there yet!) in oils. Yesterday, she gave me a long lesson. I spent the day working on my painting, and could hardly sleep last night because I was eager to get back to it. Of course, since I had to wait for the sun to shine again, as I was using only natural light, it was pretty silly to lie awake thinking about it. But I was excited about the first day's work and looking forward to the next.

While painting in oils is not unfamiliar, changing both the subject and the medium was a push. It was just what I wanted, though, in order to break out of my normal patterns of painting.

Painting flowers from life had its challenges—when I went back to the studio this morning, one of the sunflowers had wilted and could not be coaxed back into position, so I had to revise the composition. I'm used to revising compositions in pastel, and was pleasantly surprised that I could make major changes in oil almost as easily. Next time, I'll remember to take a photo of my set-up in case I have a similar problem.

It's not perfect—I see quite a few things I'd like to change or would do differently if I started over—but in general, I'm very happy with my first attempt at a painting of flowers in oils. I can hardly wait until I can go buy more flowers and try another arrangement.

Sunflowers in Blue Vase, 14x11, oil, ©Maggie Price.

Painting Summer in Winter

Posted by Maggie

It's been cold here in New Mexico, though lacking in snow or rain. Still, one day I decided to warm up a little by painting from a photograph I took in Colorado last summer.

I decided to do something experimental, using the Pastelmat surface. I like this surface, though I'm still getting used to it. I began with a block-in, using only the sides of my pastels, and using very soft pastels throughout.  While I often exaggerate or change colors for an underpainting, in this case I stayed fairly close to the local colors, going a bit darker in some areas than what I intended for the final.

Then I washed over each area of color with alcohol. (In this case, I used ordinary rubbing alcohol. Denatured alcohol is a different thing, and I'll write about that later.)

Moving towards realistic color, I developed the painting, still using only the sides of the pastels, and working until I had covered every part of the painting surface with fresh pastel.


My goal for this painting was to keep it loose and lively, so I tried very hard to limit how much detail I added. It was difficult to define the edges of the trees without going to small strokes, but I continued to use fat soft pastels, hoping that would keep me from getting too detailed.

When I got to this point (above right), I wasn't happy with it. So I took the alcohol and brush and washed the whole thing again. I was careful to keep my colors clean and separate, starting with the lighter values and moving towards the dark at the end. The wash softened edges and mingled color (in spite of my best efforts to keep the colors separated). I liked it better, but felt it needed a fresh layer of pastel to liven it up and remove the muddiness created by the second wash of alcohol. (Left, the painting after the second alcohol wash.)


In the end, I still felt it could be looser, but I liked it. I think it was interesting to use a second wash halfway through the painting, and I may do that again with other paintings in the future.

The final painting, below: Summer Solstice, 12x12, pastel, ©Maggie Price.

Finding Time to Paint

Posted by Maggie

It's embarrassing to start every blog with the admission that it's been too long since I blogged last. So I'm going to skip that and move on.

Since I posted last, we have been away from home more than we've been home. We taught workshops in Scotland (with an extra week there for a vacation, which is pretty rare, since most of our travel involves teaching), in Arkansas, in Spain, in New York City, and in Georgia. We spent Thanksgiving with family in Massachusetts. There were some occasions when we had as few as three days home between trips. It was crazy, hectic, and mostly fun.

Scotland is one of our favorite places in the world. Painting there is wonderful; there are so many subjects everywhere you look. For this workshop we were on the eastern coast, and I fell in love with the harbors and fishing villages. My favorites were Crail and Pittenweem. As always in Scotland, painting outdoors is a challenge. It's often wet, usually cold, and then there are all the usual problems of plein air painting. But it remains one of the places I love most, and love painting.  At left, my partially-completed field study of the harbor at Pittenweem.

At our Georgia workshop, I did one of the demonstrations in oil. As readers of this blog know, I've recently returned to painting in oils, though pastel remains my primary medium.

I chose for my subject one of my favorite spots in Scotland, the village of St. Abbs. Bill and I spent a couple of days there before heading to Anstruther for the workshop. It's a place I hope to return to again and again. I have dozens of photos from this wonderful village and from along the seacoast on the walk we took to St. Abbs Head, and hope to paint many of them, soon!  
Above, St. Abbs Afternoon, 11x14, oil on canvas, ©Maggie Price.

After a whirlwind of activity, we arrived in Spain in October for the workshop there. We've held five previous workshops in the tiny village of Juzcar, which until just a few months ago was an unspoiled, undiscovered white village in the Genal Valley of Andalucia. Shortly before we arrived in 2011, though, Sony Pictures chose Juzcar as the "home of the Smurfs" to promote the smurf movie. With the agreement of the village, they painted the entire village, every single white structure, smurf blue. The village was overrun with overexcited children most days, and we took more day trips to quieter, white villages, to paint. The village was scheduled to be repainted white, but as of this posting, the villagers have voted to remain blue. So in 2012, instead of going to Spain once more, we're offering a workshop in Italy in October. If you'd like to join us, I believe I can promise a smurf-free zone.

I'd like to close by promising to post more often, but the reality is I'm on deadline for my third art instruction book, so who knows how the next couple of months will go. I thank you for reading, though, and wish everyone a wonderful 2012.

Time Is Flying, Must Be Having Fun

Posted by Maggie

I was amazed to notice how long it has been since I posted the last blog. Time has flown by faster than ever this year.

I spent much of the spring getting ready for the IAPS convention. This is such a wonderful event, and the 2011 convention was bigger and better than ever, with more instructors, classes, workshops, and of course, attendees. It occupied most of my waking hours for months and then —poof! It was over. It reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner. You know, you shop and plan and cook for days, and then everyone descends upon the table and suddenly it's all gone!

But it's fun looking back at the convention, and I just posted some great photos on the IAPS web site. Check them out.

After recovering from the convention, I taught a workshop in Santa Fe in July, and then at the end of the month, Bill and I both participated in a plein air paint-out in Ouray, Colorado. The "Paint Out on Main Street" is part of their annual Artist's Alpine Holiday. We chose a painting location just off Main, on the bridge over the river, each of us looking in a different direction. We had fun with the 90-minute painting session, and then to my surprise, my painting received the first place award!

Left, Uncompahgre River Bank, 9x12, ©Maggie Price 2011.
Below left, Untitled, 8x10, ©Bill Canright 2011.

We spent a couple of days in Ouray after the paint-out so that I could do demonstrations for the art association, and we enjoyed the high mountains and the village.

Now I'm working on my teaching schedule for 2012. I'm excited to announce several great workshops are lined up already—in New York City, Oregon, Florida, and France. Details about all these are on my web site, and more will be added later, so check back now and then.

And yes, we are having fun!