100 Days of Artwork

Day 67 — Vintage green dessert dish from the 1960’s  

Day 67 — Vintage green dessert dish from the 1960’s  

Local Sacramento artist Wayne Thiebaud said, “You cannot expect your paintings to be delivered to your front door like the morning newspaper, you must climb Mount Olympus and steal it.”

The hard climb up the mountain of art practice is to overcome your doubts, and your discouragement, or even just to overcome the everyday boredom of daily drawing. One must wrestle with their spirit and return from the inner journey with a treasure from Mount Olympus.

Starting the ascent is always easy in the beginning. 100 days of making art will be easy. Right? I paint in my studio at least three to four days a week however, I had to find inner discipline and appreciation of the meditative process of drawing. Initially, my daily sketches were from life but later I started drawing and painting from memory—the light in the window of the old Alhambra in Spain and the curve of the waves of our American River. Some of my best drawings occurred when I worked quickly and effortlessly and just closed my eyes to see the true colors. And to keep it interesting, I used a new material or method every few days: pen and ink, watercolor, pastels, oil on paper, oil on board, acrylics, and cold wax. The larger pieces took several days to complete, but many I finished in under two hours. 

Day 74 — Perrier and Pink Carnations

Day 74 — Perrier and Pink Carnations

Drawing gets easier over time but mastery is a lot more difficult, and as my expectations grew, so did the difficulty. After completing stacks of sketches, canvases, and waters color studies, I have documentation of my climb up the mountain.  I may not have discovered the Mount Olympus of Mr. Thiebaud's epic journey as an artist, but I’m following in the footsteps of his words and his works, and the advice of other masters to draw, draw, and draw some more.

Visit the100dayproject.org to learn more about #the100dayproject. I encourage YOU to start a daily artmaking practice. 

Day 62 — Summer Flowers

Day 62 — Summer Flowers

Reflections on a landscape

Storm in November, American River Parkway, Mixed media on canvas, Plein Air

Storm in November, American River Parkway, Mixed media on canvas, Plein Air

My work does not always mark a particular season or place as much as these paintings reflect my personal views on making art. The landscape provides a story line in which to weave colors and shapes across the paper.

As a landscape painter, I am documenting a location and exploration of materials, but more importantly, I am exploring and reacting to my ever-present need to “keep my hand moving.” I like the surfaces, textures, and colors that come fromm the end of a bush or the broken end of a pastel stick. I am most myself when I have an artist’s tool in my hand and I can demonstrate what I envision a feeling to be through a landscape of color. When I am asked “What do you paint?’ I often answer that I create landscapes, but it is much more than a place I am rendering – I am documenting and inner landscape, or a journal of my days as an artist and a teacher. Instead of the language of sound, I use color. Instead of the rhythm of words, I use shape. All you want to know about me is written in the strokes of these paintings.I like to create Pastel paintings in such a way that the movement of the water or the silhouette of a tree is abstracted into colors and shapes not always seen by the camera lens or even the human eye.

Pastel painting can be a smoothly rendered reality, but it is the broken color that holds the light, the energy, and vitality of a place for me. I often work with Pastels because this medium is the most consistent, convenient, and easily handled material I know. Raw, pure colors, without the mixture of turpentine, or the use of a brush, are directly applied to a textured surface. This makes the material a natural expression of the hand and heart. Slowly, the process and the craft melt together in a non-linear, meditative experience, as the colors are applied one on top to the other.

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