Portrait and Plein Air Studies

Chicago winters tend to be quite gray so the few days I've ventured outside to paint the landscapes have been sunny days. I am really struggling with understanding edges. These are 14"x11" plein air oil studies.
I am still enjoying escaping the cold for the Palette and Chisel where there is always a model to paint. I'm showing two 20"x16" which are more successful than others.

2012 Events

Plein Air Workshop: Effective Outdoor Painting in Oils
(16x20 oil by Karen Phipps)
Location: Taos, New Mexico
Dates: April 26, 27, 28, 29, 2012
Cost: $335.
For Advanced Beginners through Intermediate Oil Painters.

Join award winning artists and popular instructors, Karen Phipps and Susan Hong-Sammons, in this four-day plein air painting workshop. We will be painting in the beautiful setting of Taos. You will learn practical tips for setting up on location, working quickly and directly from nature, all with oil paints. We will cover equipment options to keep your gear simple and pared down, using a limited palette, focusing on big shapes, clean color, compositions, finding a focus and simple value patterns in order to capture the essence of the scene. The goal in this workshop is to learn how to take the scene before us, translate it into a simple and expressive composition, and then paint it quickly, directly, and confidently. After the 3 days of guided painting exercises and daily critiques, we will spend the 4th day painting more independently at a location with the group, followed by an afternoon critique and closing “wrap-up” session.
Compact supply list, syllabus, as well as recommended housing/B&Bs near to painting locations.



The Landscape of Riverside: Works Inspired by Nature
Oil Painters Karen Phipps, Susan Hong-Sammons, Ellie McDonald, photographer Sophia Soluri, and poems by Rachel Noelle will present new works inspired by the local landscape and nature of Riverside at the Riverside Public Library during the months of December and January. The show can be seen in the library's exhibit hall.
















Oil Painting with Expressive Realism
January 25 - March 7, 2012 9:30-1:30
Hinsdale Center for the Arts www.hinsdalearts.org

See the world with an artistic eye. Susan’s approach helps you to break down the process of producing a painting, in the studio, into its core components: design, main masses, mixing accurate color, value, and apply paint effectively all from direct observation. Individual and group critiques generously given daily.
Class supply list available at registration

just a thought to share

"Fall Walk" oil 8"x6" (sold)
Ran out in the afternoon to try to catch the sunshine because who knows how many sunny days we have left!

If it's not happening on my palette, it's definitely not happening on my painting. What I mean is that my palette has to be load with large blobs of paint squished out and lined-up in my prefer order. And then I need to mix up big puddles of my starting values and arrange it on my palette so that my lights stay on one side and darks stay on their side. Also, if my palette becomes disorganized or looks barely touched, nothing good is happening on the canvas. It's as if my palette is an inner-reflection of the paint process. So of course after struggling with a studio piece for days and having to scrape it away repeatedly, I happened to actually see what was going on my palette and saw that absolutely nothing was going on. I needed to squeeze out a lot more fresh paint as I barely had anything left and the puddles of value I had mixed were nearly non-existent. After correctly this problem my painting started to take shape and the idea in my head was becoming visually evident.

2 Values

As always, my primary concern is value and temperature. So last week I spent my time in Scottsdale, under the tutelage of Peggi Kroll Roberts, studying the figure, well actually - value and temperature. We had 5-15 minutes per pose to lay in the basic shapes and say it in two values. One value for the lights and one value for the shadows. I spent the bulk of my time mixing a puddle of paint for my light value and another puddle for my dark value. With the clock running out, I quickly painted the pose. Towards the end of the week I managed to add temperature changes while being careful not to alter my established two values. After the designated time there was often a costume change and always a pose change. Studying the figure in this manner for five days was a great learning experience and I feel I walked away better able to find and simplify the most important shapes, values, and temperature.

yes, more poppies (sold)

More poppies because I'm having fun sloshing lots of thick paint around in my studio. The first is a 8"x8" sort of from my imagination/reference plein air landscapes. The latter is a 24"x24" previous posted but reworked. I think it's stronger now that I simplified the landscape. Also mostly from my imagination. I've never worked this way before and am not sure what promoted me to start. Oddly enough I think it was from painting blue bells earlier this spring as they popped up around my village. I kept the values in mind but changed the color. Also have some sketches in oils and pencil of poppies done years ago in Europe.

Sun Catcher

Normally I don't make New Year's resolutions but this year my hope/resolution is to take a plein air trip to some place like the Grand Tetons. Along with that I hope I can continue to study with David Leffel, and two other landscape and figure artists. Ralph Oberg has been recommended as a great plein air teacher and I love his paintings so I may try to study with him. Maybe putting this in writing will help me to make these goals actually experiences. As my wise friend said, "eventually is a myth, just do it." I think that is my mantra for 2010.

This little painting was started from a quick sketch during open studio. I've been tweaking it in my studio by trying to keep with the originally idea of large masses of simple shapes and value. The lighting was wild. There was natural and spot lights which washed out most of her back and side.

8"x6" Oil on Linen

"Hero's at Zero's" 14"x11" oil

Trying to capture a teenage in paint, from life, is like trying to paint a toddler. They are never still even while watching t.v. But just like sketching with charcoal I find it really rewarding to sketch in oils, although it's hit or miss if the sketch becomes worth saving. Here's another in my blop series.

December 5 from 2-7. If you're near Chicago, come to the Beverly Arts Center for a one day art sale/fundraiser. Karen Phipps and I will be their with paintings as well as painting plein air near or inside the center.

oil sketch

12"x9" Oil on linen mounted on hardboard

This is an oil sketch I did for my class to demonstrate a way to begin using a more alla prima method. I didn't intend on finishing it but now that I see it posted I think I will. I'd like to play up the contrast between the onion skin and the smooth metal surface.

Today is the opening for the Palos Plein Air exhibition at the McCord Gallery in Palos Heights, IL. So if you're in the area, hope you can stop by - www.mccordgallery.org. They will be showing three of my plein air paintings painted in different Palos forest preserves.

Andersonville Arts

Friday night the Plein Air Painters of Chicago had an opening with over 35 paintings of Andersonville, a Chicago neighborhood. The Edgewater Historical Society asked our plein air group to show our paintings. This unique neighborhood was originally mostly Swedish. I have participated in this exhibition for the past few years and yet continually make paintings at this particular intersection. I find each corner so unique in nature and story so that it's been a constant source of information. To date, I've made six paintings of this area and have discovered I'm not yet finished. Today I'm showing just a few of my thoughts and impressions of my corner. Each painting is 12"x9" Oil on Linen and is for sale. Proceeds go to support the Edgewater Historical Society.

"Black Plums"

I have post-ums all over my studio with scribbled reminders. Thought I'd share a few of my favorites. Most are from various art teachers and art friends from the past ten years.

*Paint the light and shadow

*See it, mix it, put it down

*Color temperature is relative to other colors

*A painting always has movement, find it

*Open edges continue, hard edges stop

*Simplify everything into shapes and value

*step back and observe

*fewer values=greater impact

There's so much to think about when your painting. It's nice getting lost in all that.

8"x8" oil on gallery-wrapped linen

"Pond Gazing" (Caldwell Lily Pond, Chicago)

Caldwell Lily Pond is another favorite retreats of mine, not just for painting but for day dreaming too. The textures in this smaller city lily garden always change and the sounds of the city itself is greatly muffled by the thick grasses, shrubs and trees. So this morning I headed here to paint and also, to embarrass myself. I'd been painting about an hour totally focused on my work and enjoying the secluded little nuck I had planted my easel when I heard a group of people approaching, loudly. It was so out of place because people always are so quiet when wandering through these paths. Of course they parked themselves as close to me as possible all the while talking excitedly. Before I knew or even thought about it I "shhhhed" them all in this awful snake-like sound. I was immediately ashamed and apologetic but one can't take back a shhhh. It's just out there. Fortunately after a quiet moment they started to laugh and apologise back and so, all ended well. But I'm still really embarrassed that I did that. They were just so happy and excited to be there together in this beautiful place.

As for the painting, the lily pads are almost all gone. Some remain in almost a skeleton form floating on the surface. But I felt the colors were more varied than in the summer when the lily pads are dark greens and cover the water almost totally. This one is larger, 8"x10." Also painted on oil primed linen mounted on board and created with a palette knife.

Anyone else willing to share an embarrassing plein air moment???

"Tranquillity" (Savanna Oaks Forest Preserve)

Yesterday morning I had planned on returning to the city to finish a street scene but I woke to a beautiful misty fog. So I switched gears mentally and ran to a neighboring forest preserve. I was anxious the fog would burn away before I had a chance to paint. Well, the whole experience was soothing to the soul. I didn't see anyone or hear any traffic and even though the fog was quickly disappearing, within the woods it lay heavy enough for me to paint.
So I like this painting but maybe because I so enjoyed the whole process. I like it because I feel I captured a tranquil mystery that is present with mist as well as a sense of depth to draw you into the painting. 6"x8" oil on linen mounted on board. Once again painted with my favorite palette knife. ($145.)

"Riverside Ramblings"

Today I returned with a friend and fellow plein air artist to one of my favorite paint sites. I've been painting this same area for a couple of years through it's various seasons and changes and many moods. Everytime I come here, it's different and new. It's been interesting to look at paintings from a few years ago and compare them to my present works. I see a drastic change in how I'm explaining/painting the scene. I feel I'm doing less copying what's in front of me and more personal interpretation. Also, I'm really curious about painting something that looks almost like a "nothing" but hopefully the painting will tell the story.
6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival museum board. ($145. framed)

oil sketch (8"x10")

I love teaching and today was the first day of classes. I'm teaching at a new place with mostly new faces, so fun. We made a huge mess, took lots of chances, and made mistakes which resulted in the creation of some really excellent pieces. By the time for my second class I was out of canvases for their demo. So I took a canvas which I intended to plein air paint on tomorrow. I love plein air painting on top of an old palette knife painting because the paint sticks so well. The surface is really texturally which I think at times is quite fun for a palette knife landscape. I never used such a "textural" surface for a still life but since as artists we're visual learners I like to do mini demos as I teach. Here is the result. Maybe the edges are to hard???

sketching and playing with oil paints

I started painting three fishing buddies on a dock because their reflections were beautiful. Unfortunately shortly after I started they packed up and left for the day. I took this as a sign to focus on just sketching some ideas and not worry about going for a full finish. My premise was to focus on the abstract and simple shapes. But of course I couldn't resist getting fussy at the end. I really loved painting today despite the heat and humidity. I know I'm blessed to have such a supportive and encouraging family.

Quebec, Canada

We had a wonderful family trip exploring Quebec and the surrounding area. I most enjoyed exploring their beautiful countryside. The people were probably the warmest I've met on a trip. So much so I now want to learn French. One very new and different painting experience I had in Quebec city was when I decided to join one of their plein air events. I set up with several others in the old part of the city but saw that everyone was painting from a photo or copying a painting they had already painted. Since I don't speak a word of French I had no idea why this was happening. I was the only one painting the street scene. Anyone out there able to shed some light on this???

The above oil paintings are a sampling of some of the plein air pieces I painted and saved. They are 8x6 oil on linen mounted on 8ply museum archival board.

"Lotties"

I'm going on another trip back east so this will be my last post until I return home.

Lottie's is a neighborhood bar in Bucktown. Cityscapes create so many questions. It seems to me the longer I study painting the more questions I discover.

"Quilt Garden Paint-Out" and McCord Gallery Plein Air Exhibition

"Palos Woodlands" 6"x8" oil on Classens Belgium linen mounted on archival museum board

McCord Gallery is hosting a juried plein air exhibition of anything in the Palos Hills, Palos Park, Palos Heights area. They are surrounded by gorgeous forest preserves so that's where this one was painted. I was very much intrigued by how the warm humid air affected the quality of light and shadow.
I'm going to say it in ink, I'm happy with the balance between representationalism and the abstractness of paint application in this one.

Karen painting at the Quilt Garden Plein Air Paint-Out this past weekend.

The wind was very strong every day we painted and knocked us over a few times. We had all kinds of wild weather except for snow so it was a doubly fun experience. Sycamore Fine Art Gallery did an excellent job of organizing this event and I highly recommend all you plein air painters in the neighborhood to join next summer.

once again,...

I worked on a number of landscapes this week and thought these two sums up my efforts. I realized that I am now using a palette knife almost exclusively and I'm not sure why. And why do I keep carrying all those brushes that aren't getting used???

Karen and I are off again on another plein air competition/show, this time in Indiana. wish us luck!

"Off The Vine" (Fruit of the Vine series)

I've been so busy enjoying plein air painting that I haven't worked in my studio in over a month. But here is my first still life of the summer. I love these elongated horizontal formates and red grapes are one of my favorite challenges. Just as with the plein air pieces, I'm trying to find the right balance (for me) between abstract expressionism and classical realism. Hopefully I didn't make the grapes which are in the light too sparkly.
This palette knife oil painting is 10"x20" on gallery-wrapped oil prime linen, $995.

P.S. One of my large oil paintings was selected for the show called "ArtPrize." This international exhibition will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Several different venues will be hosting art work from around the world. The jurors are you, the public. Voting done mostly through Facebook, Twitter, etc with the grand prize of $250,000., wow! Stay tune for more info or go check out their website http://www.artprize.org/. The show opens mid September 2009.