Foggy Haze

"Foggy Morning"
"Haze Abstraction"
I define vacation as painting near an ocean beach minus cell phones and computers which is why I haven't posted anything in a while. My favorite time is early in the morning. I love sharing with just the fewest beachcombers and the gulls. Having just returned from the Jersey shore I am reluctantly getting back into daily life but the memories of those early morning paint sessions has me already planning for my next escape.
The haze, fog, & light presented a great opportunity for more value and temperature studies. All my paintings for this trip were 5"x7" oil on linen mounted on archival museum board. I recommend this surface when traveling. It's extremely light and compact, allowing me to carry what I need in a tiny bag.

value and temperature

"Private Interiors" 6"x8" oil ($138.)
This is a plein air study. I focused on using value for creating a strong and simple composition and the edges. Hopefully the overall affect is a feeling of just starting to enter a wooded area.

"Sunlit Interiors" 24"x30" oil ($1800.)
This is my latest studio painting. My source was a few little plein air pieces previously posted and my imagination. The studies are greenish in color and equally cooler in temperature. So my experiment was to keep the same value but amplify the temperature. Using those concepts I applied my own chose of color and went from the cooler greens to the warmer sun colors. My idea was to try to capture the warmth of a late afternoon day.

Renaissance Fair Plein Aire Event

The procession to the art auction
the art auction,proceeds went to Variety, a children's charity

Bristol Renaissance Fair

I'd like to share a few photos from this past weekend plein air event which took place at the Bristol Renaissance Fair. As a participating artist, I have to say it was one of my most pleasurable plein air experience. Everyone connected with the Bristol Renaissance Fair including the visitors, were happy to be part of the fair experience. Their enthusiasm was infectious. It made painting in the heat and huge crowds easy and very very fun. It isn't everyday that an artist converses with medieval gentle persons about her paintings.
The event concluded with an art auctions. Proceeds went to Variety, a children's charity for physically disabled. The renaissance actors carried all the paintings in a procession through the fair grounds to the large theatre were they continued, in character, to auction "the queens art." Unsold paintings will remain on display until September 6, 2010.
"Banners Way" "Dress Up" "Sweet Meats" oil 6"x8" plus frames (sold)

"Laughter in the Sun" 24"x24" oil

Poppies have become my new favorite investigation since they bloomed in Riverside this past spring. I first started by quick little 5"x7" oil sketches created on the the sidewalks in front of my neighbors front gardens. Now I've been recreating them in various invented compositions in my studio. This is the latest. I wanted the "look at me" impression poppies give to really sing in this piece so I pushed a vista view. Since working larger and larger in my studio, I find I'm going through huge quantities of paint. In the middle of this piece I ran out of Cadmium Reds but mixing Cad. Orange and Alizarin gave me the various reds I needed for the poppies. Once again, created with a palette knife, my best friend. ($1148.)

Mountains in Chicago?

"Private Interiors"
"Along the Grove"
"Mountains in Chicago"
6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival board
This was one of those lovely mornings when all you had to do was turn slightly to see something new to paint. My intention when I set myself in these Savana Oaks forest preserve was to focus on how to paint dense greenery. But it quickly became evident that at what seems to be green leaves and grass is so much more. The dark shadows were very warm and rather orangish. The bright morning light filtering through and back lighting, created rather coolish lime-y appearances.

On the last painting,
I planned on painting over one of my pieces from our winter plein air trip to Sedona when we were either painting in a hail storm or heavy rains. As I started I thought maybe I could leave the mountains and work a meadow into the foreground. I think I should have been more sensitive to the foreground. I may go back and tweak that area so that it looks more meadow-like.
($99. each)

Reeds and Rocks

We're still having spring storms although I guess I should call them summer storms. Although the flooding is a pain the results make interesting subjects to paint. Once again I returned to our rivers edge as my muse but it is the abstract concepts of capturing the dazzling light on moving water, rocks, and weeds that fascinate me and make this painting a very fun challenge. Basically I feel light is relatively cool and shadows are warm (relative to my painting)so why the yellowish highlights on the rocks? They looked yellow although a cool yellow. It's been interesting reading different blogs on this concept of warm shadows and cool lights.
($95. 6"x8" oil w/ palette knife)

"Buttercups" oil 6"x8"

Frederick Olmsted, landscape architect, designed our village in the forest way back when. "Buttercups" was painted in an area he left so that when the Des Plaines River overflows, our little village would be safe. After our recent flooding, buttercups rapidly sprouted up making a beautiful sea of bright yellows.
($178.)

Old Town cathedral

Karen Phipps and I teased we should call the paintings we did this day "Stinky" because we had to stand next to full trash cans and in the alley (the alley was Karen's idea) with "watch out for rats" signs. Needless to say we did lots of mouth breathing and fast painting. We gave ourselves one hour to paint this church because we knew the light would change fast and limiting our time helps us get down to the business of what's necessary.
I thought mine was going to be about the steeple but the painting quickly told me it was about the geometry. I really don't like to think about perspective and all it's rules. Gives me a pain between the brows. Normally I don't care if the perspective isn't perfect. But for this piece I wanted the geometry and perspective to highlight the expressiveness of the design.
(8"x6" oil $149.)

"Forgotten Homestead" 40"x30" oil

"Forgotten Homestead" is a painting about a place that could probably tell a thousand stories if only it could speak. Hopefully my painting is strong enough to fill in some of the gaps. This old farm looked so beautiful half buried in the prairie grass and wild flowers.
Painted with my favorite tools, a palette knife and a #20 round.

For those of you who made the Marion Street Gallery opening, Thank You!!! so much for braving the horrid weather. I hope you enjoyed the live music and variety of art as much as I did. And if you didn't get to the gallery yet, please stop by soon. I will be hanging new paintings to replace the gaps from the opening week sales!

Fields A Blooming

Since everything is in the light and there is very little shadow, I used the bits of darks as my anchors for the lights. I pushed this to my very edge before the piece would dissolve into a total mess. Hopefully I didn't go over and get carried away with all that wet paint into wet paint.
8"x8" palette knife painting in oil ($275.)

"Off the Path"

One of my students asked me if I ever worked from my imagination and I said "no." Never say never because that is exactly what I started doing after that particular conversation last spring. Thank you Afshin. "Off the Path" is a painting I created in my studio although my muse are numerous memories of living and revisiting the northwoods area. Also I have a couple of little 4x6 oil sketches created over the past eight years so it's not 100% invention. But working this way is a leap for me since I've always preferred painting on location and not re-working the painting later in the studio.
"Off the Path" is a 36"x24" palette knife painting. I was really thinking about Leffel's definition of background and spent a lot of time developing my "background" prior to hitting the lights.
This painting will be shown at the Marion Street Gallery, Oak Park, Il.
($2250.+$12s/h)

"Jazz Note"

"Jazz Note" will be among several of my paintings shown at City Art Gallery Greenville in North Carolina. The salon style summer show opens Thursday evening, 6/10/2010. (www.cityartgreenville.com)

"Jazz Note" is an on-going series of night life oil paintings started a few years back. I like playing with the different mood artificial lighting brings to a scene compared to natural light. It is 20"x10" oil on stretched linen.

studying background

Leffel's workshop was divided between figure studies and still life studies. During the 1 1/2 days we had with still lifes I focused on "background." David defines "background" as everything not in the light. This definition simplified things for me and helped me focus on creating a solid support for the "light."

12"x16" oil on Claussen #13ddp linen. Still life studies never to be finished because I got what I wanted from these studies - a better understanding of brush strokes and background.

figure paintings

8"x8"
oil on linen



12"x12"
oil on linen

This past month I've been having fun creating lots of messes in my studio while preparing for a couple of group shows opening in June. Posted is two examples. I ended the month taking David A. Leffel's workshop at the Palette and Chisel. It was another great experience with this master so my next posting will be examples of his demonstrations.

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.

Caldwell Lily Pond

"Lily Pond" Oil on Linen 24"x24"

Over the past four years, Caldwell Lily Pond has become one of my most favorite places to paint in Chicago. I find it amazingly beautiful even in winter although difficult to get into during the off season. This painting is made in my studio using a few plein air paintings made at Caldwell for reference. I decided to pull into the scene and make it a close-up and amped up the color intensity.

etc. again

So I'm really enjoying my little pochade box. Besides being so handy that it can easily fit into any small bag/purse since it's only 5"x7", it gets me out of the studio faster and allows me to paint more inconspicuously while jotting quick color and value notes in oil. The second photo shows the pochade strapped to my leg instead of hand-held. I came home from work and saw the beautiful shadow crossing my neighbors side door and had to try to catch it.

I'm still obsessed with poppies and thought I'd post a few more of my efforts. The close-up is 8"x8." The last painting, but not the last in my poppy series, is my attempt at inventing a flowing and slightly rolling meadow punctuated with mostly poppies. It's 24"x24," love that square format. If you go to my Etsy site you'll see a few more example of my poppy paintings that I favor. (http://www.susanhongsammons.etsy.com/)

"Poppies"

8"x8" oil "Poppies"

I've been working on small plein air oil sketches with the idea that maybe I could then takes those sketches and turn them into something in my studio. This is a studio piece, small again but actually inspired from some sketches of bluebells.

Pochade Box

This week it's finally been warm enough that while plein air painting I have not had to wear long johns, feet and hand warms, wool sweaters, and several other layers but, I still need gloves and a heavy coat. Still with the sun shining sometimes, I was motivated to bring out my little poached box made by fellow plein air painter and part-time carpenter, Denny. This sweet little paint box has a strap on the bottom where I can slip my palm into or, if sitting, strap around my leg. So I tried to escape and do quick little 5"x7" studies and try to catch the spring landscape. Here is a sample of a few I did. Karen and I noticed that even on a sunny day the sky is hazy, not bright blue like we had in Arizona. Is that because in Arizona we were painting in high altitudes??? (Denny also makes wet panel carriers. This one is for my 5x7 panels)

"Etc."

I'm calling today's post "etc" because I thought I'd highlight a few of the things I've been working on these past two weeks. It's still the same as always although I've added card-making to my evening routine. Making cards by cutting the shapes from fabric is ridiculously labor intensive but I find the whole process calming. Either that or it's the red wine I'm sipping while clipping.

This first imagine is from a workshop I'm taking from Romel de la Torrez. I love his very laid back teaching style. We often don't even know when he's arrived. The biggest difference, for me, in his approach is his insistence on large canvas and painting fast. This is 20"x16" which is the smallest he recommends I work. Normally I would bring a 11"x14" so this feels huge. He casually threw out that I should have it all massed in within 20-25 minutes - gulp. But I grabbed the challenge as well as my largest brushes (not palette knives). The 2.5 hours flew and I was happy that I accomplished as much as I did.

Canson's Pastel Paper

22"x30"

vine charcoal and powder

cast study-2.5 hours

This drawing was done with a more "painterly" attitude. I first rubbed in a layer of vine charcoal powder, massed in my darks, and then pulled out lighter values with toilet paper, #4 bristle brush, and lastly for my lightest lights a kneaded eraser.

7"x5" card

"Wishes"

message inside

Wishing you all the great things in life

Happy Birthday!!!

or

"remembering"

Thanks for helping me remember what's important...

And today it's you

Happy Mother's Day

to purchase cards and see more examples - http://www.susanhongsammons.etsy.com/