Way-back Wednesday - Week 3

Time for my final two Way-back Wednesday paintings. Although I'm realizing that by the time my blog posts usually show up in your inbox, it could be the next day. In that case I suppose we can call it a Through-back Thursday promotion. In either case, if you'd like to purchase one of my favorite but slightly older little pastel studies for $85, here are the last two I'm offering...

Uphill Light, 8x10, pastel on mounted sanded paper
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Fading Fast, 8x10, pastel on mounted sanded paper
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Both of these little studies were painted on location in Albuquerque, NM in June 2013 during the week of the IAPS Convention. I'm excited to return there this coming June 2015 and hope to do some more plein air work!

Let it snow!

After spending a week in snowy Minnesota over Thanksgiving and stockpiling my snow scene photos, can you guess what our subject matter was in my December classes at my studio?

Below are my demos from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday classes held this past week.

Last Light on Wyanett Creek, oil, 11x14 (cell phone photo)

Wyanett Creek, oil, 8x10

Snow Glow, pastel, 8x10

All were done with a fairly limited palette, using very similar warm and cool hues in each of the value groups. Both the oil and pastel demos used warm underpaintings. Much of the snow in each of the three paintings is in shadow, which called for mid-range value grey-blues. The warm underpaintings allowed the greyed color to still contrast nicely and have some vibrancy, yet still read accurately in the shadow areas. An early stage of  "Last Light on Wyanett Creek" below shows this warm/cool contrast...

In the two oil demos, tube colors used were cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, cad yellow, yellow ochre, terra rosa, alizarin crimson, transparent oxide red, and titanium white.

Sorry for the bad cell phone pic at the top. I shoot my oil paintings outside, and with the days getting dark so early, I ran out of time today to shoot it on my good camera. There's a little glare in the top right. Need to reshoot. But first, it's on to Christmas cookie baking!



Upcoming Workshops:

PASTEL Workshop - Stevensville, MD - 3-day 

Workshop - February 6, 7 & 8, 2015 (Fri/Sat/Sun)

Demo - Thurs., Feb. 5, 5:30 - 8:30 pm, $45, $55 at door

Chesapeake Fine Art Studio 

609 Thompson Creek Rd.

Stevensville, MD 21666

(about 40 minutes from downtown Baltimore)

$400

www.chesapeakefineartstudio.com

410-200-8019

PASTEL Workshop - Bonita Springs, FL - 3-day 

Feb. 25, 26 & 27, 2015 (Wed/Thurs/Fri)

Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs

26100 Old US 41 Road

Bonita Springs, FL 34135

$350/members; $400/nonmembers

www.artcenterbonita.org

239-495-8989

OIL/PASTEL Workshop - Dahlonega, GA - 2-day 

March 19 & 20, 2015 (Thurs/Fri)

The Art Loft

Dahlonega, GA

www.artloft.net 

$285

To register, visit www.artloft.net.

OIL/PASTEL Workshop - Newport, RI - 3-day

April 24, 25 & 26 (Fri/Sat/Sun)

Newport Art Museum

76 Bellevue Ave.

Newport, RI 02840

$365 NAM members; $420 non members

401-848-2787

www.newportartmuseum.org

See my workshop page on my website for details and complete schedule through 2015, or email me with any questions.
www.barbarajaenicke.com
barbarajaenicke@msn.com

Way-back Wednesday - Week 2

It's 11:30 pm on Wednesday night and I just realized I almost forgot to post this week's Way-back Wednesday post. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm offering two pastel paintings a week for three weeks this month for $85 each. They're older paintings (okay, they're really not so "way back"...only a couple of years old) that are among my favorites but just haven't sold.

Following below are the next two paintings. Next week I'll post the last two.

Rum River Glow Study, 8x10 pastel on mounted sanded paper
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Wintry Dusk, 8x10 pastel on mounted sanded paper
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Way-back Wednesday - Week 1

For artists who sell their work, it's odd sometimes when your favorite pieces don't sell, but other pieces you think are not as strong DO sell. Of course, art is and always will be somewhat subjective. People like what they like.

As older work starts to pile up in my studio, I go through it and sometimes purge some of the pieces I now feel were indeed weak. Like most artists, I have stacks and stacks of paintings that have never been been shown anywhere, and I would never consider attempting to sell them to anyone anywhere. But we all know that those "dud" paintings are necessary in order to eventually produce the ones that do make it out of the studio.

Well, as I'm realizing it's again time to purge some of my small pieces that I normally sell online, I was going through some older work and picked out some of my favorites that have never sold. I'd like to offer a two of these pieces each week for the next three weeks leading up to Christmas at a reduced price. All of the work would be 8x10 or 9x12 pastels from approximately 2 years ago, and available to purchase for $85 each (for either size) plus $12 shipping (and tax for GA residents) through Daily Paintworks/PayPal. And yes, these are among my favorites that I feel don't deserve to go in my "purge" pile!

I'm only promoting this through my blog to my faithful blog readers; not on Facebook or anywhere else. I appreciate all of you who continue to read my blog!

Here are the first two pastel paintings offered for this week:

Freshly Picked, 9x12 pastel on prepared gatorboard
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Holiday Prep III, 9x12 pastel on mounted archival paper
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Keep away from the edge.

Morning Glimmer, oil, 8x10

I taught two classes in oil this week at my studio, and the focus was on painting subject matter with lots of sharp edges and lines. The tendency is to paint this type of subject matter too stiff, and we end up with certain elements within the painting having that 'cut out and pasted on' look.

My students know that I'm all about starting with big connected shapes. And sometimes I'll set things up to include a variety of hard and soft edges as I'm getting my block in started. But for this exercise the challenge was to try and keep all the beginning shapes from having hard edges. (Or at least as little as possible.)

My block in and one further progression step for "Morning Glimmer," my demo from my Friday class, is shown below.

The light coming from behind the trees is more effective when carved out of the big shape rather than drawing in the individual tree trunks and branches. After setting up the three sides of the barn shape in the underpainting, I then chose only the necessary edges to include.

reference photo for Morning Glimmer

Below is my (not quite finished) demo from my Thursday class.

The demos shown on my most recent blog post (especially the oil demo) are also a good examples of blocking in without stiff edges.


Upcoming Workshops:

PASTEL Workshop - Stevensville, MD - 3-day 

Workshop - February 6, 7 & 8, 2015 (Fri/Sat/Sun)

Demo - Thurs., Feb. 5, 5:30 - 8:30 pm, $45, $55 at door

Chesapeake Fine Art Studio 

609 Thompson Creek Rd.

Stevensville, MD 21666

(about 40 minutes from downtown Baltimore)

$400

www.chesapeakefineartstudio.com

410-200-8019

PASTEL Workshop - Bonita Springs, FL - 3-day 

Feb. 25, 26 & 27, 2015 (Wed/Thurs/Fri)

Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs

26100 Old US 41 Road

Bonita Springs, FL 34135

$350/members; $400/nonmembers

www.artcenterbonita.org

239-495-8989

See my workshop page on my website for details and complete schedule through 2015, or email me with any questions.
www.barbarajaenicke.com
barbarajaenicke@msn.com

Wrapping up Composition Boot Camp in Dahlonega.

January Shadows, oil, 8x10

block-in for January Shadows

I spent two very productive days with a group of artists in Dahlonega, GA at The Art Loft this past week. The Art Loft is a well equipped studio in a beautiful area in North Georgia, owned and run by Anita Elder...artist, workshop host, and chef extraordinaire!

The primary skill practiced in this workshop was "thumbnail-to-block-in," composing a thumbnail and blocking in four 8x10 (or 8x8) paintings each day. Block-in only, and no further than that. Although I did let students take one painting a bit further at the end of each day.

I altered this workshop slightly from how I've taught it in the past. I now use timed intervals. This encouraged students to focus only on what was required for the exercise (composing BIG SIMPLIFIED SHAPES) and avoid laboring over the unimportant details we were trying to avoid. The timed exercises worked well, and students seemed to be surprised at how much work they could get done in a short period of time, and a few had those precious light bulbs go off regarding how to simplify busy landscape subject matter...I love it when that happens!

Autumn Light, pastel, 8x10

block-in for Autumn Light

The two pieces show above are my demos from this workshop, shown with the block-in stage for each. (The pastel block-in is shown just one-step further than the underpainting block-in, with the large tree mass given one more layer to begin breaking apart that big shape.)

The thumbnail stage is a BIG DEAL in my Composition Boot Camp! Below are my thumbnails for each of the two demos shown.

I hope to schedule a couple of one-day versions of this workshop at my studio in Roswell, GA in January. Email me if interested at barbarajaenicke@msn.com. I've also had a couple of requests to hold this workshop in other cities, but nothing is firmed up yet on those. I'll post information here on my blog if more are planned.

In the meantime, for those of you here in the Atlanta area, I'm teaching a one-day basic landscape oil painting workshop at the Red Cockerill Gallery in Austell, GA this Saturday, Nov. 15. Details below:

Landscape Oil Painting: The Nuts & Bolts

Nov. 15, 2014 (Sat.), 10 - 5

Red Cockerill Gallery

2845 Cemetery St.

Austell, GA  30106

$130

www.redcockerillgallery.com

Contact Ann Cockerill to register: 770-944-3160 or anncockerill@bellsouth.net

The Fall Foliage Trap

The Aspens Below, pastel, 8x10

We immersed ourselves in autumn color during my classes this month here at my studio. Fall has always been my favorite season, but painting it is usually harder than you think.

I first decide what areas contain the most intense color, and then contrast those areas with duller color. Since sunlit autumn foliage tends to have a dappled effect with many tiny spots of color, you have to work even harder to simplify big chunks of the landscape so that you don't end up attempting to paint every dab of bright color ... a trap that all artists fall into at some point!

For any of you wanting to learn more about my process for simplifying busy landscapes into strong compositions, read on ...

I've had many requests by various artists both locally and out of state to teach my Composition Boot Camp workshop. In this workshop I cover in depth how to "see" your landscape subject matter, and then organize it so that you can SIMPLIFY busy subject matter into a well composed design. It's most definitely a learned skill, and I have students practice very specific exercises repetitively in order to understand it. I have 2-day version of this workshop scheduled next week here in Georgia (see below), which still has a couple of openings, and am considering planning some 1-day versions at my studio in January ... stay tuned for details!

The three pieces shown here were my demos from three different classes held at my studio last week.

Mountaintop Aspens, oil, 10x8

Golden Moment, oil, 10x8

Upcoming Workshops:

COMPOSITION BOOT CAMP/PASTEL & OIL -  Dahlonega, GA
NOV. 6 & 7 (Thurs/Fri)
The Art Loft, Dahlonega, GA
Visit www.artloft.net to register.
Workshop fee - $225

LANDSCAPE OIL PAINTING: THE NUTS & BOLTS - Austell, GA
Nov. 15 (Sat.)
Red Cockerill Gallery
2845 Cemetery St.
Austell, GA 30106
www.redcockerillgallery.com
Contact Ann Cockerill to register: 770-944-3160 or anncockerill@bellsouth.net 
Workshop fee: $130

PASTEL Workshop - Stevensville, MD - 3-day 

Workshop - February 6, 7 & 8, 2015 (Fri/Sat/Sun)

Demo - Thurs., Feb. 5, 5:30 - 8:30 pm, $45, $55 at door

Chesapeake Fine Art Studio 

609 Thompson Creek Rd.

Stevensville, MD 21666

(about 40 minutes from downtown Baltimore)

$400

www.chesapeakefineartstudio.com

410-200-8019

PASTEL Workshop - Bonita Springs, FL - 3-day 

Feb. 25, 26 & 27, 2015 (Wed/Thurs/Fri)

Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs

26100 Old US 41 Road

Bonita Springs, FL 34135

$350/members; $400/nonmembers

www.artcenterbonita.org

239-495-8989

See my workshop page on my website for details and complete schedule through 2015, or email me with any questions.
www.barbarajaenicke.com
barbarajaenicke@msn.com

Getting mileage out of my reference photos.

December Day's Last Light, oil, 14x11

I just returned from teaching an oil painting workshop for a fun, hard working group of artists in Charlotte, NC. Many of the artists in the group also attended a pastel workshop I taught there last year. I could certainly relate to those artists who struggled with the same challenges as I did after working in pastel for many years and then learning a new process to paint in oil.

While color mixing can be a difficult challenge for a pastel artist learning to work in oil, I think it can also give you a better understanding of color, and ultimately help you to make better choices in your pastel work. If you've taken my classes or workshops, you've probably heard me state over and over..."lighter/darker"..."warmer/cooler"...as a way to think through a painting in any medium. And learning how to control the medium in which you work in order to accommodate that thought process is key.

Summer's End, oil, 11x14

The two paintings above were my demos from this workshop in Charlotte.

My family and I have been considering a move to a colder (and hopefully SNOWIER!) climate, but until then, I've needed to reuse many of my snow scene reference photos for my workshop demos. I try not to paint the exact same paintings in multiple classes and workshops. But since I try to include a snow scene demo in just about all of my workshops throughout the year and in many of my local classes, and visit a snowy part of the country normally only once per year, logic has it that I'm going to run out of photos! My solution has been to crop into my existing photos in ways that I hadn't thought of before. Consequently, I've needed to be much more resourceful with my compositions!

The snow scene painted last week in Charlotte was of a particular spot across the street from where I visit each year in Minnesota, and have painted it many times both on location and from my photos. So when preparing for this snow scene demo, I thought I'd find a tighter view of just a portion of the scene that I normally paint, which resulted in "December Day's Last Light," shown at the top of this post. I had to really hunt around through my photos and search for a good composition lurking within a larger view that I've painted before, but I think this recent painting might be my favorite of this location. And I bet if I looked some more through these same photos, I may find even more hidden compositions!

Below are paintings of the same location as in "December Day's Last Light" that I've completed over the past few years in both pastel and oil...

My Composition Boot Camp workshops focus on finding good compositions that are probably lurking somewhere within even your most average photos. For those of you in Georgia, I'm teaching my next one next week in Dahlonega at The Art Loft on Nov. 6 & 7. Visit www.artloft.net for details.


Just for fun...I got a kick out of this sketch of me that one of the ladies in my Charlotte workshop did during one of my demonstrations...Thanks, Verna!