I use to be a Bear...

Bear Patrol (under Painting) 12 x 16

At the end of this summer I had the opportunity to attend a special adult training camp for the leaders of our Stake.  The training camp is called Wood Badge.  It was held up in the beautiful and stunning mountains east of Spring City and Mount Pleasant Utah.  We were at Camp Tifie, which is apart of the Mountain Dell Scout Camp.  I spent a week with my wife and many leaders from my Stake camping in tents and learning how to be better leaders and more how to be better people as a whole.  At the beginning of this experience when you first arrive you are given a name tag with a colored dot on the back.  There were for our camp six different colors.  We soon found ourselves divided into six various groups now called patrols.  Each patrol is represented by a different animal.  Beavers, Bobwhites, Eagles, Foxes, Owls, Bears, Buffalo and Antelopes.  Like I said we only had six patrols so no Buffalo or Antelopes in our wood badge course.  Now once you are assigned a patrol you are that patrol for life.  So my wife will always be an Eagle (she says it will be the only way she will ever be an Eagle Scout) and I will always be a Bear.
Well I decided to do a series of wild life paintings based upon the various animal patrols.  So naturally, since I'm a Bear I'm starting with the Bear Patrol.  Then of course next will be the Eagle Patrol, then I'll follow them in patrol order, Beaver through Antelope.

What we see above is just the under painting, painted in two colors, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber.  The whole thing is done quick and rough.  It is to do several things but mostly for me it is to setup the tonal range.   Next as usual I will be painting back to front and top to bottom.  So the sky and distant mountains is the next step.

A Mistake!! What's the World Coming to?

16 X 20 oil on board "The Forbidden Fruit"

Every so often I get asked what do I do when I make a mistake.  I have to chuckle a bit with that.  Because for me my paintings are just numerous assorted layers of mistakes.  Through hard work, lots of patience and wisdom.  I have learned what to continue to work on and what to leave alone with each painting. Over time it becomes a beautiful painting. It is a process of learning and growing.  Mistakes are just evidence of refining work being done.  Over the years I've developed a process of using mistakes to get better at painting.

To use the mistake process you must first know what it is you are trying to do.  Saying that you want to create a beautiful picture isn't enough.  This is a type of goal and the more specific you can get the easier it will be to learn, grow and get better. 

So for example I'm working on Plein Air paintings.  My current goal is I want to paint paintings that are warm and friendly, eye catching, strong tonal and temperature contrasts and simple brush work with an easily defined focal point.

Every time I sit down and paint I'm going over these goals in my head.  I'm making choices based on them.  Also I've learned that once you put down a stroke don't go back and fiddle with too much.  Be confident in your brushstrokes.  If you fiddle with the brushstrokes too much you'll just end up with a muddy over worked tired looking painting. 

Once the painting is done enough, it's time to compare it to your goals.  This is where I perform a kind of autopsy on my painting.  The key to this part is asking questions.  Your brain will in time find the answers.  So start asking.  Why did or didn't it work?  What could I do next time?  What goals did I get close to and why?  What artist that I like are able to achieve the goals I've set successfully? What is the difference between their painting and mine? Then sit back and ponder.  This is just giving you brain time to find the answers.

Once you get an answer then you may want to further refine your goals or go and do another painting, repeating the whole precess again. 

Focal points and Goals

12 X 16 oil on board "Old Saunders Barn"

I read an older and well read article in the 2007 issue of American Artist magazine, titled "Attracting the Viewer's Eye With Skillful Simplicity" by Linda S. Price, about an artist by the name of Doug Higgins and his Plein Air paintings.  I have read this article many times, however this time, my attention was drawn to one thing in particular that he said about one of his objectives of Plein Air paintings.  He said, "[m]y goal is simplicity.  Complexity is easy - anyone can achieve that through thoughtless copying of details.  You need intelligent strategies to keep it simple."  In my case, I think he is right.  I've been somewhat thoughtlessly jumping into Plein Air paintings, assuming that my many years of painting would bring it all together, but they haven't. 
My old mentor, Greg Olsen, was right when he said that until you do something, you won't know what real questions to ask or know what it is that you really want.  I've painted several Plein Air paintings and I'm just now beginning to understand what it is that I really want from them.  Up until now, I've been going out and just, "thoughtless[ly] copying".  Even in my most recent experience, I jumped in and started noodling to early (to noodle is to use a liner brush to make small excessive details). 
I have learned that I need to take a little more time before I start, think about what I want my main focus to be and lay as much of the painting out in my mind as possible.  In essence, I am presetting my goals for the painting, even before I apply the first stroke of color.  Then, as the painting progresses, not losing sight of my original goal.  With that in mind, I hope to take a little time to determine my end goal for the painting and work to hold to it.  My plan is to do another painting of this same farm, from a different angle.  I would like to express my thanks to the owners of the property who have generously allowed me access in my endeavors.

Back to Pen and Ink!

12 x 16 Pen and Ink

I decided to try something that has been kicking around in my head for a while.  I decided to try doing a Pen and Ink drawing in the wood block engraving style and then use this as the tonal under painting.  To get the greys I just used mineral spirits to wash in the area with the most ink.  Doing this step reminded me how much I enjoyed doing Pen and Ink drawings and back to old days of being an illustrator.  Also as an added dimension to this painting is that so much of cowboy and western equipment has engraving decorations on them.

12 x 16 Mixed Medium

Now I've added some color.  The background is painted in with the trees and barn.  Plus I've roughed in the dirt.  I'm trying to paint thin enough that the ink drawing shows through, thus adding to the over-all detail of the painting.

12 x 16 Mixed Medium

Now the fence is painted in and so is the ground and the Bull.  One of the things I'm trying to do with this is that the Pen and Ink drawing was full of precise detail, but the oil painting is loose and painterly.  With here and there a little bit of the ink drawing showing through.  So far I'm loving the effect.  But this is just a 12 x 16 inch painting, recently I had someone inquire about me doing a 4 x 5 foot painting.  Just thinking about putting down that much ink is making me a little nervous.  So we will see.