Becoming a Better Painter... well... at least trying!

It's kind of a weird thing... this insatiable desire to be a better painter. On one hand, it forces me to regularly step outside my normal artistic self and try new things. On the other, it can be almost self-distrucive by taking time away from production and I can spend weeks without ever producing anything suitable for sale. For me, the fear of failure is nearly paralysing! So working on things I'm not very good at is like pushing a big rock uphill. It's hard. I suppose there is a balance in there somewhere, though I have yet to find it.
So this week I'm up to my elbows in oil paint... something I'm not quite comfortable with, but slowly getting there. These small lanscape studies are mostly an attempt to learn about the paint and how it blends, mixes, and dries. Some are more successful than others, but all are part of the learning process (there's that word again... "process").
As I sit at the easel smearing paint from one end of my shirt to the other (occasionally getting some on the canvas), I often think about how I would define "better painter". Of course I'm the only one who can nail this down as it applies to my own work and I'm sure everyone has an opinion that differs to some degree from mine (maybe getting less paint on me and more on the canvas would be a good start). I used to think it meant learning to paint in a very realistic almost photographic style. I worked for years pushing my art that direction, but as I get older, my tastes are constantly changing. Now the goal is to say more with less. There is still a desire to capture some subjects in a hyper-realistic manner and I'm grateful to have learned these techniques (like accurate drawing!). There will be times when I need to lean on those skills. Still, I find my brushes are gradually getting bigger, my color choices a bit bolder, and I seem to be acquiring an ability to walk away from a painting before it's completely over-rendered. I'm not there yet, but that destination had been programmed into my artist's GPS and I'm on my way... even if I seem to be taking the long way.

Ten years ago, I could not have imagined painting in this style. It wasn't even on my radar. Ten years from now, who knows what I'll be doing... sculpting in bronze? I have no idea. It's a process (see?). It's always said that "it's more about the journey than the destination" and in the case of being an artist, it couldn't be more true. We always have a destination in mind, but things change... so enjoy the journey. It's almost never easy, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

More Small Stuff

These two tiny 4x6 studies ended up being huge successes. Not only did they end up being relatively pleasing to look at, I really learned a lot pushing the paint around on them.
The play between warm light and cool shadow has always been a bit of a mystery to me. It's great when I can make it work, but I'm not always as successful as I'd like. In the heron study, I'm particularly happy with the way the warm and cool hues work together making the harsh lighting seem almost "squint your eyes" bright.

Blending acrylic paint is not exactly the easiest thing I've ever done, but with the help of an "open" medium, it gives me a bit more time to manipulate the edges before the paint sets. It might not seem like much, but it's a big deal when trying to soften objects in the background or lose edges here and there.
Let's hope I can translate all this fun stuff into some larger works!

"A Whiff of Danger"

In keeping with my theme of working toward a more impressionistic style of painting, I began work on a landscape inspired by a trip some years ago to the Tetons in Wyoming. The underpainting was put together quickly with a 1/2" flat brush and relatively thin paint. Once this stage of the painting was complete, I had reservations about going any further. I really liked the freshness of the painting at this point (and it was VERY impressionistic!). That being said, I also know when I feel this way about the underpainting, the finished piece usually turns out to be something special... so I pushed forward.

Block-in underpainting

As I began to work through the next stage of the piece adjusting edges and refining shapes with thicker chunks of paint, I kept feeling like the piece needed a wildlife element. At first I thought something small. Perhaps a magpie or two? But the more I thought about it, the painting was asking for elk... and not just one.
Such a large compositional adjustment at this stage of the painting poses more than a few challenges. My wildlife pieces are mostly designed around the animals themselves, not the other way around. So adding the elk this late in the game was a big risk. Most often, major elements added as an afterthought end up looking like just that... an afterthought.
Finally settling on three elk, I didn't want them to be static. There needed to be some movement and tension. Once I worked out the positioning, another problem became apparent. To keep the spacing and scale of the elk in step with the setting, the lead cow's nose was uncomfortably close the edge of the painting. After pondering this for the better part of the weekend, I resolved the issue by letting the values of her face blend closely with the background foliage.
Finally, the cow stopping to look back before bolting for the next county brings the mood of the piece together as I intended.
 

"A Whiff of Danger" 9x12 acrylic

"Emerald Reflection"

"Emerald Reflection" 8x6 acrylic

As I climb the trail of my career as an artist, I find it interesting to occasionally step back and assess my progress toward becoming a better painter. Of course the trail is not well marked and there are often wrong turns and dead ends, but every once in a while I stumble upon something that works.
My work is leaning a bit toward an impressionistic style while trying to maintain a certain level of believable realism. I certainly don't paint as "photographic" as I used to (check some of my blog posts from a few years ago) and I'm enjoying the additional freedom that comes along with smearing around larger blobs of paint. I'm not saying I'll be splashing paint on a 40x60 canvas with a 2" brush anytime soon, but I feel like this is real progress.
I've also noticed the paint on my finished work is much thicker than it used to be (this is quite evident when sanding down the high spots on a clunker that needs to be painted over!). This thicker paint is allowing my colors to be more juicy and vibrant. It also keeps me from using those tiny brushes I'm so used to!
I love painting small landscape studies like the one above. They allow me to try new things without having all the time and material of a large painting invested.
It's slow progress... but progress nonetheless.

Small Oil Studies

Always hoping for improvement and versatility, I keep working on areas of my art where I feel I'm less than proficient. Two of my biggest weaknesses are painting with oils and painting interesting, yet believable, skies. Yesterday I spent my time in the studio sorting through reference photos and doing small studies. As with all studies, some were more successful than others. I kept them under 2 hours, so I moved thought these rather quickly (at least "quick" for me). It was a good learning experience. Maybe I'll do another study or two today!

Time spent experimenting and learning is time well spent indeed! 

"After the Storm"

It was with a fair amount of trepidation that I began work on this large (20x30) painting. My last attempt at a big one was a 6 week disaster that left me angry and frustrated. Still... I needed to push forward.
After drawing the composition (with white charcoal) on a neutral gray primed board, I started blocking in some of the darks with a thin mixture of warm browns and grays. Working quickly while the paint was still a little wet, I smacked in some of the lighter areas allowing the colors to overlap and blend. This isn't easy with acrylic, but it keeps me working very fast.

Going back over the blocked in areas after the paint was dry, I started to refine things and push the shapes closer to what they would be in the finished painting. This took a considerable amount of time and effort. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to handle the reflections of the trees on the water in the foreground and reworked this part of the painting several times.
After almost a month of steady work, the painting was nearing completion... but there were still a few things bothering me.

The reflection of the large group of trees wasn't doing anything for the painting and I needed to reconsider that entire area again. In fact, nearly all of the stream was going to need repainted. It was close, but not quite right.
That awful clump of snow in the lower right corner was going to need some attention as well. The shape was odd and I needed to think about making it flow into the painting a little better.
So... I put the painting away for almost 2 weeks and worked on another project. Once I got it back on the easel, the solutions became relatively clear and I was able to finish the piece in less than 2 days.

"After the Storm" 20x30 acrylic

Detail from "After the Storm"

When It Doesn't Work

Already this year I've had the discouraging experience of spending over 6 weeks on painting only to realize it just wasn't going to work. All the planning and design work sometimes goes swirling down and out of sight like a wad of dirty toilet paper. The frustration of realizing the painting wasn't going to ever be what I wanted was compounded by knowing I'd wasted so much time trying desperately to make it work. The more time I had invested in the piece, the more I felt I needed to make it work... and the problems seemed to multiply from there.
This is by no means the first time I've thrown a clunker. In most cases, I just put a painting away for a while and come back to it later to reassess and perhaps attempt to save the piece with fresh eyes. Other pieces seem to somehow be flawed from the moment I start putting down paint and are destined to be sanded down and re-gessoed for another try. Then there are the projects that are nothing more than a thorn in my side and the most therapeutic way to deal with them is a large fire in the back yard!
It's not easy to talk about these failures. Sure, we can say things like we learn more from our failures than successes... blah blah blah. I don't buy that. At least not with my paintings. The painting I spoke of at the beginning of this post was a 20x40 mule deer piece I intended to use as my marquee piece at an upcoming show. Failures like this leave me kicking chairs and throwing paint brushes. 6 weeks is a lot of time to spend slaving away with nothing to show for it. I don't seem to learn anything from that!

2 clunkers and 1 new panel, all back to "square one"

So today, while prepping a board for a painting I need to start for a looming deadline, I sanded and gessoed 2 of those damned clunkers that have been leaning against the studio wall. With a fresh new surface and endless possibilities, these failures have been given a chance at new life. It was a good day... and I didn't even have to start a fire.

If It's Not Right... FIX IT!

I've had time the last couple of days to rethink a couple of paintings that just weren't working for me. I'd repainted the elements bothering me on each of these pieces at least twice before now. I just wasn't having much success.
Last night I dug the "Rock Star" painting out of 'naughty painting' corner of the studio and tried to breathe some life into it. Finally, I feel better about this one!

"Rock Star" 12x20 acrylic

 I was never happy with the placement or the rendering of the bird in the earlier versions. There was a magnolia warbler in this painting and later a white-throated sparrow. No matter what I tried, they seemed to be flat and lifeless. Maybe they just didn't want to be there! The chickadee on the other hand, seems content to hang on one of the small vines before flitting off in search of a bug.

YUCK!

 Satisfied I'd cleared a hurdle with the painting above, I decided to push my luck with "Rites of Spring". Again, I'm much happier with the painting now. Thanks to a suggestion from Terry Miller, it became obvious the placement of the turkeys was not quite right.

2nd or 3rd version still not working!

 I really wanted this painting to be more about the landscape than the turkeys. Unfortunately, that damned gobbler kept drawing all the attention!
By moving the turkeys into the dark area at the base of the tall trees, they seem much less intrusive... even though they're considerably larger than in previous versions. I think it works much better now.

"Rites of Spring" 12x20 acrylic

Post #300! Let's Talk More About Drawing...

I suppose it's fitting that I start the new year with yet another post about drawing. There are few things in life I find more enjoyable and almost nothing as important to my career as an artist. On my list of goals for 2014, Goal #23 is "Fill three sketch books!" Even for someone who loves to draw as much as I do, this will be quite an accomplishment.

I also want to test out some new materials for my drawings and studies. Perhaps a water-soluble pen or some watercolor pencils? Still, the core of the exercise is always about the drawing. These new materials will present a bit of a challenge as I will have to give myself permission to fail more than once or twice before I figure out how to incorporate them into my work. That's a struggle for me. Allowing myself to fail from time to time offers up a chance to draw with more freedom, capturing gestures and not worrying about the "finished product." They are after all, just studies. They are for me and no one else needs to see them unless I choose. Still, it's easier said than done.

I also need to do more drawing (and painting) in the field. The challenges of field studies can be daunting... especially when trying to figure these things out on your own. I've been doing more outdoor drawing the past two years than ever before. I hope that trend continues. Again, I have to give myself permission to fail on occasion. It can be frustrating as hell dealing with all the elements over which we have no control, but the rewards are well worth the effort!

With the New Year ahead, many adventures seem to be just beyond the horizon. It's an exciting time to be an artist and I intend to push myself past a few very steep challenges of personal and artistic growth. The drawings are just a small part of this, but are also the foundation upon which all other aspects of my art are built. Yes... they are THAT IMPORTANT!

Happy New Year my friends! I hope it's a good one for us all!

"Old Gray Warrior"

"Old Gray Warrior" 11x14 acrylic

Sometimes I just have to put a painting away for a while and let it rest. Often I reach a sticking point where no matter how hard I try, I just seem to spin my wheels and make absolutely no progress. This was one of those paintings. After several days of productive work, suddenly it seemed as though every brush stroke made the painting worse. It was time to stop for a while and work on other projects. Finally, almost 3 weeks later I was able to look at the piece with fresh eyes and get it back on track. Once it started moving forward again, I was able to finish it up a few sessions later.
I think this one is destined for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, SC.

Sketchbook Pages

Some days I just don't feel like painting. It is however, a rare day when I don't feel like drawing. Here are just a few pages of pencil studies from the past two days. Keep drawing!!!

Problems to Solve

I've been working on a piece titled "Rock Star" for several months and I can't seem to finish it to my satisfaction. It has been one of those paintings that came together very quickly, only to land with a thud at the end. It's spent a large part of the past 6 months leaning against the wall facing the corner... being punished like a rotten child!

The bird... the most important element... has been the sticking point. I've painted in several, only to paint them back out as though they had perched for a second and flown away. I have gone back and forth between a white-throated sparrow and a magnolia warbler... working many poses and gestures... but they feel stiff and lifeless to me. They don't yet feel like they belong in the painting and it frustrates the hell out of me!

So I am going back to the drawing. I may even change the species of bird (again!). I'll keep working until something clicks. It's not so bad. The challenge inspires me.

"Plunge Pool"

"Plunge Pool" 14x11 acrylic

As a painter, the things that excite me, both in the studio and in the field, don't register much significance to my non-artist friends. It's nothing new when, after talking with me, someone wanders away muttering, "I always knew Bortz was nuts." I can't really disagree, but I'm quite happy in my little bubble of insanity.
In this painting, "Plunge Pool", I've achieved a couple of things that, in the past, have largely eluded me. I've been doing some experiments trying to get the natural green tones in my work to be more lifelike. I hit on some mixtures that seem to work well in most situations. Surprisingly enough, there is not a drop of "out of the tube" green paint in this piece. It was all worked out with subtle shifts in mixtures of various yellows and blues.
More importantly, there is an impressionistic quality to this piece not really noticeable in my previous work. Not that I haven't tried. Up to this point, most of my efforts toward this effect have come up miserably short. I like painting with bigger brushes. I'm just not very good at it. Smearing and blending big blobs of paint to get a desired look without a bunch of tiny brush strokes intrigues me. I smile every time I pull it off.
There are usually parts of a painting that are my favorites. This piece had several! I like the way the mossy boulders emerge from the background at the top of composition. It's out of character for me not to render a painting right out to the edges of the board. But here, the lack of detail in that area seems to work, allowing the viewers eye to take in the tumbling water without being distracted by unnecessary detail.

Even in the foreground of the painting, I've managed to paint the stream gravel with more of a suggestive technique rather than detailing every tiny stone. This makes me happy.
Is this a new direction for my art? Perhaps. I think there is a balance between "loose and painterly" and "photographic detail" that I'm constantly searching for. I may have found it with this painting. Now the challenge will be to do it again, prooving to myself this was no accident.

"Flash - Rainbow Trout"

I thought it might be interesting to post some progress shots of my recent "Flash - Rainbow Trout" painting. Above, the preliminary block-in stage helps to establish the large shapes. The paint is pretty thin at this point and I work fast with a large brush. You can see some of the white charcoal outlines around the trout. I wanted to get the drawing correct on this important element at the very beginning. The colors seem pretty wild here and I was a bit concerned with how they would all fit together in the end.

In this image, I've refined the trout quite a bit. It's not quite where it needs to be, but at least it looks like a fish! I've also started to push the dark shape below the trout's head. It's a major element in the painting and the finished product will lean heavily on how well this area is handled.

Now things are really starting to take shape and it's starting to have an "underwater" feel. I've refined the mossy rocks on the bottom with rather large blobs of paint. Close up, the colors seem a bit ridiculous, but in the overall context of the painting, they're beginning to work. The blue swath of color behind the trout helps to give the image some depth.

More refinement and just about done. At this point, I need to set the painting aside for a few days. The rocks on the bottom are feeling a little overworked and I'm not happy with the transition between that blue swath in the middle and the rocks. That needs a bit of attention. Also, the slashes of light along the trout's body need some work. They're close, but not quite believable enough for my liking. The underside of the water's surface, on the other hand, is just about dead on.

"Flash - Rainbow Trout" 15x15 acrylic

FINISHED! I went back in with bigger brushes and simplified many of the shapes in the stream bed. I repainted nearly the entire trout to get the slashes of light to read properly and still have the trout recognizable as a rainbow. Now it's ready for a frame and the McKeever Show in September!

Wood Duck Drake Study

I'm not a big fan of this type of motif... the profile "field guide" pose. It's been done thousands of times and I usually make it a point NOT to paint things like this. The pose itself is pretty boring and the bright over-the-shoulder lighting in the reference photo wasn't really adding much. There are however, some redeeming qualities to this image that made it worth taking on.

"Woodie" 6x8 acrylic

I was immediately drawn to the iridescent feathers on this wood duck's head. I knew it would be a challenge to get this to look "right" and would likely make or break the painting. The subtle transitions between blues, greens, purples, and blacks also give the head some volume and hopefully keep the painting from looking flat.
There were a few issues with the head and neck in the photo I was working from... mostly the outstretched neck with the head upright and alert. This is a problem with a lot of reference photos (especially of waterfowl). Our mere presence is enough to put the birds on edge and they always seem ready to flee. I wanted the duck to appear more relaxed, so I tucked the head down and back a bit, all but eliminating the neck.
The biggest challenge and the main reason I didn't dismiss this image as a potential painting was the patterns reflected on the water around the bird. I knew if I was successful, the water would be a subtle, yet powerful element to the painting few people would notice. If I was not successful, it would be a glaring miscue and EVERYONE would notice.

"Radiant"

"Radiant" 6x8 acrylic

I finally got around to finishing this study I started a week or so ago. Previously, I posted an image of the quick underpainting for this piece and talked about how that process helps move the finished painting in the desired direction. There are a lot of pinks, purples, and blues in the shadows of the owl's "white" plumage. I learned a lot putting paint on this small piece, but that's the point... right?

Importance of a Solid Underpainting

When young artists ask me for advice on painting, the first thing I always tell them is to practice drawing. The second is usually about the importance of patience and the understanding that good paintings take time. Like drawing, a good underpainting is another fundamental building block upon which everything else can be built. When I first started painting, I couldn't conceive any good reason to take the time to paint something only to paint over it again. It seemed redundant, but I was young and had little understanding of how paint works.
Of course it helps to know what you want to accomplish before ever putting down a single dob of paint.

90 minute acrylc underpainting

The small barn owl study featured here (6x8) is a terrific example using a thin underpainting to guide a piece in the desired direction. The purpose for this study is to accurately convey the essence of warm morning sun on the owl's back and head, while capturing the glow filtering through its wing. I want to have a few areas of radiance, especially around the head and upper edge of the wing. It helps to establish those warm tones now, rather than try to put them in later over a dark background. It's not impossible, but much easier to take care of it right at the get-go. This is also the perfect time to assess any drawing problems and correct them.
From here, the tones are close and the rough shapes seem to read pretty well. Now I can start refining with subsequent paint layers and much thicker paint.
Now all I have to do is finish it without screwing it up! Stay tuned.

"Rocky Basin Study"

"Rocky Basin Study" 5x10 acrylic

I don't often do such involved studies, but I wanted to work through some problem areas on this idea in a smaller scale before deciding whether or not to move to a larger panel. I'd originally planned to paint this scene in a 20x40 format. That's quite large for me. I'm glad I did the smaller study, though I'm not quite sure if I'll got quite that big on the final painting.

"Summer Song"

"Summer Song" 14x11 acrylic

As you can see, the great blue heron in the original composition (see previous post) has given way to a pair of smaller birds (rose-breasted grosbeaks). I really wanted this painting to be about the sun-drenched rocks in the middleground... in particular, the warm reflected light on the shaded side of the biggest boulder. The heron seemed to be competing with that idea.
I also kicked around the idea of leaving out the large driftwood stump on the rocks to the right side of the painting. I love the warm hues reflected on the underside of the stump, but worried it wouldn't read well when painted. In the end, I think it worked out nicely and I'm happy I didn't edit it out.
Finally, I may add a unifying wash to the background to help pull that area together a bit, but I haven't made up my mind on that yet.

Visual Poetry

Since the last blog post struck a cord with so many readers, I've decided to continue in a related direction. I've included "in progress" photos to help explain the wandering path some paintings take on their way to completion.

In the previous post, I discussed someone at a show suggesting that my paintings were merely photos with paint smeared over them... an advanced version of "paint by numbers" if you will. The absurdity of that concept makes my head hurt. In the days following that rant, I've found that the practice is actually more common than one might think. Suddenly, I feel like my head is going to explode again!

White charcoal drawing over gray gesso

Yes, painting over a photo will certainly make someone's work "look like a photo," but if you lack the basics in drawing and visual problem solving, there will be no poetry in your work. If you possess these skills (see "Talent... or Skill?" Dec 8, 2011), there's no need to confine yourself to the shackles of strictly recreating a photo. That's not art. It's simply a monotonous exercise with no more challenge than a child's coloring book. Period!

Block-in stage

The actual process of making art is rarely straight forward. No matter how much planning I do (and I do a lot!), there are always unexpected problems that arise along the way. It's the unique solutions to these problems that breathe life into a painting. It's that part of the journey that makes me proud to be an artist and constantly keeps me on my toes.

Just for the sake of making a point, I've started off with a photo of my neutral gray gesso covered panel and the initial white charcoal drawing. The drawing is done with a modified grid transfer method.

Starting to refine shapes

The subsequent images show the painting in various stages of completion. I was pleased with the block-in of approximate tones and hues. It always helps when the early stages of a painting start to take on the intended feel. That keeps me excited and hungry to move forward.

As I start to refine the shapes, I also pay very close attention to contrast. The finished painting will have a relatively high level of contrast, though there will be almost nothing painted completely "black". I rarely use straight "out of the tube" black for anything. Most of the darks in my work are achieved by adjusting a base mixture of burnt umber, ultramarine blue, and a bit of crimson.

Time to rethink a few elements and continue to refine

The painting begins to come together using a method I call "focus squares" (see "The Process of Focus Squares" October 13, 2009). Again, I am happy with the progress, but I'm starting to find a few problem areas... the biggest being the blue heron. I originally planned to have the bird lit up with the warm morning sun against the darker hillside in the background. The more I thought about it, I began to feel the painting would be more interesting if the heron was pushed back into the shadows behind the sun-drenched boulders in the middleground. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....