Wednesday Afternoon, Market Day

Jim told us a story about Leonard Bernstein. The story is that if he missed practice for three days his audience would know the difference, if he missed practice for two days, his manager would know the difference and if he missed it one day, he would know the difference. Isn't this true? We really need to sketch and/or paint every single day to stay on top of our game, just as Leonard Bernstein - who was one of the best musicians of modern day - needed to practice every day. What makes us think we can just jump right in and paint a wonderful painting on occasion? It just makes me realize how difficult this really is. If it were easy, we wouldn't appreciate good art, we'd just expect it.

It's market day, after lunch and Jim is going to paint a demonstration painting for us before we get started. He pointed out to us that when you are trying to figure out which way the sun is going, look at the shadows - notice that the sun is always vertical to the cast shadows of the trees. This helps with our paintings as well, to get a better feel for the light. Another tip - if you trace the shadow with your finger it will point directly to the sun.

In his demo, he begins with the most easily identifiable color and value first, starting to paint the middle darks first. Once you identify this first color/value shape, use it to compare your other color/value shapes. Now he moves to the shadows and does the same thing - by looking around you can find the color that is kinda what you think - what is it most like? Keep it general at this point. When you finish with the darker values, move into the lights (not the highlights and accents but general lights) of the painting. When you start a painting with the large value/color shapes, it is like a 50 cent coin, then as you move into the smaller shapes, think of putting a quarter on top of the 50 cent coin. Later, you paint the smaller shapes, think of a nickel on top of that quarter, and so on, then would come the highlights and accents, the dime. The darks get darker, the lights get lighter. That's why you stay general in color in the beginning. Jim is full of insightful ideas about painting!

Provence, Continued

Wednesday, it's market day in Sault. The village of Sault is the largest of the little villages around here and we went to the market! Our schedule called for shopping at the market in the morning and then lunch at Brigitte and Jim's and then painting this afternoon in the lavender fields. No biggie!? We all met at the Promenade, a park overlooking a beautiful view of the valley. The vendors are all locals, selling everything from straw baskets and leather goods, to organic roast duck and lavender honey from the local bee hives. What a treat. We wondered around and tasted some of the goodies, bought some chicken, duck and fresh organic vegetables for our lunch, and I even bought a little French summer dress for myself. It was good place to buy authentic french linens and pottery and a few gifts for loved ones back home.

This village has held the Wednesday Market in their square every Wednesday since 1550! Seriously! This was a serious market experience.

Lesson One, Simiane la Rotande

We arrived in Simiane after a couple of hours on the road Monday after leaving Avignon. Jim drove my car and gave me a very thorough history and agricultural lesson on the area while we were driving through. We stopped at the top of the hill before heading down into the Luberon Valley to take some pics. Amazing!

We unloaded the three artists who were staying at the B & B and got them settled in (Ellen, Elizabeth and Diane). We were served a nice French dinner by the caretakers of the Inn, Carolyn and Dedieah'. They were set to serve us a total of 6 dinners and all of our breakfasts during the two week workshop. They also made us some wonderful picnic lunches on those days when we were out in the field painting all day. Anyway, they have a wonderful little store with a catering service for the village. The food was amazing. I think they were a little bit offended, as the French are, because some things I just could not eat. Not because I didn't want to, but because of my intolerance of wheat. Eventually, Ellen explained and they were not quite as hurt!

After dinner, it was time to go to Aurel, where Anni and I would be staying. Wow, what a long day! Brigitte and Jim showed us to our rooms in their little house on the hill in the village of Aurel. I had a beautiful room at the top of the stairs complete with a view and all the French antiques that came with it, not to mention the fresh lavender hanging around the room. We quickly unpacked and got our painting and sketching supplies ready for the next day. I was ready for bed!

The next morning we were up and out the door to meet the students in Simiane for our first lesson. Jim gave a lecture about perspective and gave us an exercise to practice, before painting a demo before lunch. After lunch we painted the village.

Division of Space:

Exercise One: Sketch three and only three shapes within your boundaries. Do this to simplify what you are looking at.

Exercise Two:

Draw the buildings again as simply as before, but this time add light and shadow using only 3 values.

The exercise was a good one. He talked about the difference in our motor skills (used to draw) and our visual skills (used to see). Bust and boom- after developing your motor skills at a certain
level, you begin to grow in visual skill. Then you become over whelmed because your eye is seeing more but your drawing (motor) skills are not good (relatively speaking).

Perspective principles: The tactile world is very different than the visual world. Our hand wants to be tactile but we must learn to deal with the visual world.
Far and distant: While drawing compare but don't try to be too accurate. Be consistent with the general principles that we will learn, but no more rules than this. Don't get mechanical.

When he did the painting he said he looks at what he is going to paint and then he chooses his palette colors. He started with a thumbnail sketch, 3 values, very simple. Now he considered what his painting will be about, after which he decides if the painting will be mainly warm or cool, dark or light. He started simply, just like our sketches with only 3 or 4 values. It is not easy to start simply, it seems like we all want to jump right in with the details. He considered the value of the colors he was laying in. He used a lot of color for this demo. He didn't spend more than 30 or 40 minutes, and then it was our turn to paint!

Two Weeks in PROVENCE, FRANCE

Before anything else, I have to give a big thank you to Liz Hoffman, at CWT Vacations. She is a wonderful travel advisor and has spent a lot of time in France. She put a whole package together for me, and it all went so smooth! I would recommend her highly for a trip like this and I will definitely call her for my next trip. lhoffman@cwtvacations.com

Okay, when I landed in Avignon, I taxied over to the hotel. It was a nice little room next to an Old Catholic Church. This was the first church of many that I would hear from for the next two weeks. It was beautiful. It was the beginning of the church bells. The bells in all the churches would ring one bell for each hour on the hour and one ring on the half hour. There was a church in every village in Provence that we visited or stayed in.

I met my friend Anni that evening and we stayed in Avignon the first night, and had plans to meet up with the rest of the group the next day. We were to meet at the train station, rent our cars, and caravan to Aurel and Simiane. Sunday evening we took a stroll through the little city of Avignon as we learned a little bit about the history and took in some sights. We had a wonderful dinner out in the courtyard while listening to live piano music nearby. Their were tons of people walking around enjoying the evening.

On to Avignon, Provence

Sunday morning it was time to say "au revoir Paris". I took a taxi with my giant bags in tow, and headed for the train station. Wow! So many people, so many trains and so many signs, all in French! I was immediately approached by this French gentleman who apparently wanted to help me get to the right train. I wasn't too sure about him and tried to ignore him at first, but in his broken English he convinced me that he could help. Helpless, I agreed and allowed him to take my ticket and inter it into the machine in front of us to validate it. So, he grabs my bags, and started heading for a bench. He sits me down and says, wait here, I come back get you. What else could I do? I was truly grateful at this point, sat down, and gave him a 2 Euro coin. About 40 minutes later he does actually return, grabs my bags, and says, you train here! So he drags my bags, working up a sweat, and puts them on the train! I said merci! and gave him another Euro. He gave me this sad poutty little face, and I gave him two more Euros. Now that I think about it, I should have given him more! I was on the right train, with my bags, and I could have never done it alone. The two bags together probably weighed in at about 80 pounds. The large one held all my art supplies required for the workshop.

I sat on that train, amazed that I had spent those wonderful days in Paris, and yet, my painting adventure was still in front of me! I couldn't wait to see Provence.

Day Four, The Louvre

Last full day in Paris.....at the Louvre! I made plans to meet my fellow artist student and traveler, Ellen. I decided to risk it and take the Metro only because I wanted to try it once before I leave tomorrow. I asked for a little help from the customer service booth, but we couldn't communicate very well, but she got the picture that I wanted to go to the Louvre. She pointed to the gate, a long hallway that seemed to be leading me into a tunnel hallway to... who knows where! I got on the train and got off where I thought she said to, but when I walked up to the ground level I had no idea which way to go. I just started walking thinking I would find a sign to point the way. Finally, I stopped for a cafe' cream and a nice little cafe and asked the waitress, she pointed. Finally, when I knew I should have been there by now, I asked a pedestrian. It's a good thing everybody knows about the Louvre. This time, another pointed finger, through the building arch I was looking at. What do ya know? It was the Louvre. I found my new friend, Ellen at the entrance. I got some great shots of the pyramid.

Day Three in Paris

Friday in Paris, Giverney! A long awaited trip to the gardens of Monet is planned for today. I booked a half day tour with a driver, not wanting to deal with a train. It worked out perfectly in a van with a total of 8 tourists. Very comfortable and fun. We drove about 50 miles and Enre', our tour guide, was very good at sharing a lot of history about the region. The gardens were everything I pictured in my mind that they would be. I got some great pics!

End of Day One - Onto Day Two

My favorite part of that first day was just being.....lost. I did a lot of wondering around not having a strong feeling of knowing where I was or if I was going in the right direction, but I enjoyed the "wondering" so much it didn't seem to matter. No stress. No fear, only underlying excitement of seeing what I was seeing. On the way back from Notre Dame, I noticed that the people in the area where all just very... mellow. They seemed to walk slow, talk in a relaxed manner, and eat and drink at a leisurely pace. It made me feel very relaxed, not in a hurry, and not anxious about anything. I felt comfortable that I would find my way back but I was not worried about when. It was a great feeling!

When I got back to my room I was exhausted, but that's the only reason I didn't stay out longer. It was after 11:00 pm in Paris, and I got the feeling that the night was only getting started.

The next day my goals where to see three sights: The Musee' Marmottan , The Eiffel Tower, and the Musee D'Orsay. I knew these might be rather optimistic goals, since I wasn't quite sure how to get to any of them, but I left the hotel on foot, confident that in any case, I would enjoy myself trying to make it happen. On Thursday, I knew, the D'Orsay stayed open late, until 9:30 pm, so I started out for the Marmottan, because it was the farthest away from my hotel. Monsieur Marmottan was a big fan of Monet and had collected over 40 pieces. His home had since become a museum. I took the wrong bus and ended up on the wrong side of Paris! Oh Well! I just got on the next but in the opposite direction. Finally found the neighborhood and wondered around through a fun little park with I saw the sign. The Museum was an amazing collection of Monet's. No pics allowed, but I snuck in one.

I left there with the intention of getting back to the center of the city to see the Musee' D'Orsay, but I was not in any hurry and was interested in seeing as much as I could see. I wanted to find the Eiffel Tower on the way, but wasn't sure it was going to be easy to get to by bus. I got on the same bus and was enjoying the sights when all of a sudden, there she was! I got off the bus and I was standing right in front of her.

I walked forever taking pics and headed for the D'Orsay. They are said to have a wonderful collection of the Impressionists. It was so much more. Unbelievably beautiful!

Paris, Day One

My trip started out just fine, no problems. I left Sacramento in the morning at 8:30 am and arrived in Paris the next morning, July 1st, at 11:15 loosing 9 hours in the time change. I tried to sleep plenty on the plane and felt okay on arrival, excited to see the city. Taxied to "hotel le Pearl" in a 17th century building near the famous Saint Sulspice Church in the Latin Quarter. It was a great location and a fun place to wonder around. I knew the Luxembourg Gardens were nearby so after a little rest I headed out on foot for these landmarks, and also I wanted to see the Notre Damn de Paris Cathedral which was also walking distance.

I headed out at about 4:00 pm Paris time and successfully toured these beautiful sights, taking pics along the way. It worked out perfect because it was almost sunset when I finally got to the Cathedral. Beautiful! I sat in a little cafe and had a "cafe cream" while watching the people go by.

Day One, July 1st: PARIS

My French Getaway

Got back on Tuesday night, after two days of travel. Trained from Southern France on Monday up to Paris, and flew out on Tuesday, 14 hours of flight. Surprisingly, I feel pretty good. Slept throughout the night (mostly) these last two nights. I'm up early this morning watching the Tour de France, as they are cycling right through the same region in which I've spent the last couple of weeks. Beautiful country, sky's, fields of lavender and warm weather!

I've taken over 23oo photos and now face the task of trying to organize and post the ones I want to share with you. My trip started with five days in Paris, so I will start with those photos first and document my trip so you can follow along! So much to share so I'll be working hard to get it all posted. I'm excited about the photos. For me, this was the trip of a lifetime and I want to share the experience. Originally I was to take the workshop in Provence but since this was my first trip abroad I decided right away that I couldn't go all the way to France and not spend at least a few days in Paris. It all worked out beautifully and was better than my greatest hopes.

More to come...

Ah Provence.....sigh

I'm leaving Tuesday for my trip.....3 weeks in France. I will be painting the French countryside for two weeks after a few days in Paris. Wish I could take you with me! I will keep a log and update the blog when I return and of course post a ton of photos. I'm not taking the laptop so I won't be able to post, not much anyway, while I'm away. I'm planning to put a new show together from the trip as soon as I return. I'm painting with Brigitte Curt and Jim Smyth. Wonderful painters and teachers.
More later.
To learn more about painting in Provence go to http://www.provenceworkshop.com/

Good Reading For Artists, FINE ART VIEWS

Exercise Builds Creative Musclesby Keith Bond
This Post is by Keith Bond, Regular contributing writer for FineArtViews. Find out how you can be a guest author.
Have you ever had those days where you just can't seem to find the creative urge? I have. Some days I look through my stacks of plein air studies and photos trying to find that spark of inspiration. Often I will waste countless hours. Over the years I have found things that have helped me find my absent muse. For me, the most effective is to go outside and paint on location. But this is not always possible or practical.
So how do you find your muse?
I have found that for me, creating often begets creativity. So, if I can just pick up the brush and push some paint around, those creative juices begin to flow again. It sounds simple, but I admit, it is sometimes hard to just jump in. Let me offer a few ideas to get yourself playing around with your art. Little, quick 'studies' or 'exercises' often do the trick. Musicians do exercises as they practice (scales for example). They do this to develop certain techniques as well as to loosen up and get into the groove. Likewise, use little exercises in your art to loosen up and to develop art techniques. Build your creative muscles by exercising often. As a painter, my ideas are geared more for other paintiers. For those of you who use other media, I hope this sparks some ideas of exercises appropriate for your creativity.
There are scores or even hundreds of possibilities. I will list a few that I have done recently and/or are my favorites.
Paint upside down. This is one of my favorites. Turn a photo upside down to paint from. This forces you to look at shapes rather than 'things'. Don't spend long looking for the perfect photo. Remember it is an exercise. Also, don't cheat and turn it right side up while painting. Just focus on copying shapes of color. You will be amazed at your results.
Paint from memory. Again, take a photo or plein air study (you could even do this from life). Study your reference intently for five minutes. Then look away. Again, don't cheat. Put your photo or plein air study where you cannot see it. If you are doing this from life, turn your back on the subject. Paint what you remember. Paint how it made you feel. This will help you develop the ability to paint an emotional interpretation of your subject. Rather than copying the 'things' in the photo or in your still life, you are painting the impression they made upon you. You will paint the characteristics that are most important to you within the subject. Do this one often to develop this skill of memory painting.
Change your color palette. Try using only the primaries and white. Since there are many tube colors that fall within each of the primary colors, you could switch things up and have endless possibilities. Use three different primaries each time. As an example, try using the black in place of blue along with your other two primaries. Or use earth tone primaries: yellow ochre, transparent oxide red (or burnt sienna) and payne's gray along with white. Or use 2 earth tones with one vibrant color. A good friend of mine paints with yellow ochre, cad red light, black and white. Another way to mix up your palette is to randomly select 5 colors (put the tubes in a bag and pull them out at random – I got this idea from Kevin Macpherson's book, Landscape Painting Inside and Out). Or try painting with only the secondary colors (purple, orange, and green, plus white). These exercises will develop your understanding of color. You will realize that you can do amazing things with a very limited palette. I learned a few years ago, that a larger palette actually was a crutch.
Paint from a distance. Take a large brush (a #6 or #8 flat or filbert) and attach it to the end of a stick (18-24 inches long). Then paint a small painting with this elongated brush at arm's length. This will put you several feet away from your painting. You will learn several things. Firstly, you will be unable to put in detail. You will develop the ability to rely on the strength of larger shapes and implied detail. This will help you loosen up and become more painterly. Secondly, you will see the entire canvas at once from this distance. You won't get so caught up in (and thereby overwork) selected areas.
Limit your time. Set the timer for 20 minutes and paint a 6 x 8 from your reference photo or from life. I like to have my students do this from life in my plein air painting workshops. We do about 5 or 6 of these quick sketches in one afternoon. Remember, set the timer and stop when the timer goes off. Your first one or two may be far from successful. But you will learn to see and respond to the most essential elements of the scene. You will learn to overlook the superficial. Details will become unimportant. The feeling or essence of the scene will be more easily captured. By the time you have done 4, 5 or 6, you will be surprised at how much you are able to capture in such a short time.
As mentioned before, there are many more possibilities. Paint with a palette knife, or try a new type of brush, or even a stick. Try new techniques: glazing, dry brush, broken color, blending, etc. Focus on design. The options go on and on.
I have enjoyed doing these little exercises so much, that now I usually begin my day spending 30 minutes doing one, even when I am not lacking for inspiration. Yes, they will help you find your motivation or inspiration. But just as beneficial is the development of skills. The 'health' of your art and creativity will increase if you exercise regularly.
Happy Creating (and exercising),
Keith Bond
PS You will notice that a few of these ideas are also found in Kevin Macpherson's book. In the book, he has a number of great ideas. But, the ideas are not solely his. I have seen many other artists do similar things. Ask around and you will likely come up with many, many more. In fact, if you have a favorite, please share it here for the benefit of all. This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews.com by Clint Watson, a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists, collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art) .

For a complimentary subscription, visit: http://www.fineartviews.com/

June News

We (Wednesday painting class) drove to Half Moon Bay last week and painted the ocean.

It's time for me to share with you my move from my Midtown Studio. This was a tough decision, but a practical one. I've been at the Sacramento Art Complex, sharing a studio space with my friend Allison Carlos. See http://www.allisoncarlos.com/

I made the decision to move out last month, and made the move this past weekend. I have loved my time spent at the complex and also have enjoyed being a part of the group of artists there. I only decided to leave because I don't have time to spend there and was feeling very stretched. Now that I teach at the Capital Art Center on S Street, I will show a few pieces there and continue to teach and also study there. http://www.s12studios.com/

For now, you can view a large collection of my paintings at Gonul's Restaurant 3839 J Street in Sac. 916-457-1155. Great food too!

http://www.jstreetcafe.com/gonul

The Baylands Just Before Sunset

This past Wednesday I finished the demo for my class, then after lunch the class finished up their pieces. We had fun with this one. We are all learning here! This class is very inspiring and we all have such fun. A couple of my students suggested that when I do a demonstration I start with the lay in as I normally would - but then to stop and give the class a chance to reach the same point with the same photo. Then the next week, do the same but this time finish up the piece. I think we all learned more from this process. It gives them a chance to paint while the same image is fresh in their mind, and also they get the chance to paint from the very same photo after they have watched me do it. We've done it a couple of times now, and it seems to work for everybody.
This week we are going on another field trip and anybody is welcome to join us. We are meeting at the Capital Art Center at 1200 S Street in Sacramento at 7:00 am. We are going to paint the ocean in plein air, in the Half Moon Bay area, stay for a nice meal and drive home late in the evening. If you'd like more information about our Wednesday classes call me at 916-952-7914 or ranblaz@hotmail.com.

Class Demo - Baylands

After the trip to the bay area last weekend, I was inspired to do a demo for my art class. This is just the lay in. I took this photo during my stint of classes with Brigitte two years ago. I'll finish the demo on Wednesday and publish it. I had forgotten how beautiful this area is.

Baylands in Palo Alto Plein Air

Last weekend my bud Allison & I went to the bay area to take a plein air class with Brigitte Curt. Brigitte is a wonderful teacher who is leading the workshop in Provence this summer. She and her husband Jim Smyth have a summer home in the hilltop village of Simiane la Rotonde, in Provence. The rest of the year they are teaching and painting in the Palo Alto area. I started working with Brigitte about 4 years ago. I discovered her in one of the local galleries and instantly fell in love with her paintings. It took one phone call and a very good conversation to convince me to make the drive every week to study with her. I did this for two years. I've been wanting to go to Provence and finally, in six weeks, the adventure begins.
Brigitte invited the participants to come to an informational meeting so I needed to go, and because I had to make the drive, decided to take a class during the day. Brigitte allowed Allison and I to join the group. It was beautiful. I had time to do a couple of studies.
Okay, more abut the trip. You must check out the website http://www.provenceworkshops.com/
A trip of a lifetime. I am very blessed! Because this is my first time traveling to Europe and I'm going all the way to France, I made plans to stay in Paris for 5 days, before taking the train down to the south. I will arrive in Avignon, rent a car and meet my group, then drive the hour and a half to the village. This is not city life! It will be the height of the lavendar season so I am taking plenty of Dioxazine paint.
Just a quick note: Join me on June 6th in Sausalito for the quarterly regional California Plein Air paint out. More info at their website at http://www.californiaartclub.org/