Diary of a painting in progress, July 2015

So the 'Great Marsh' is  a place within Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore that I have not been able to pull myself away from.  I have seen well over 50 bird species in and around the area without even working for it!  I'm finding painting scenes with water slightly intimidating, as I've not had much experience with it. I am, however, stepping into the painting with joy and appreciation for the artist residency, the National Parks system and the wild landscape surrounding me.  

When the artist residency here at the National Lakeshore started, 2 weeks seemed to stretch out before me.....now with only a few days left, I'm feeling it slip away!  Trying to stay in the moment.

marsh in progress, 2, fini!

Here, I'm posting 2 photos of a little (4x6") study of the Great Marsh.  Lots of opportunities for mixing greens!  My plein air studies while I'm here have been in watercolor and ink, on a variety of papers.  This little piece is on Strathmore drawing paper, which allows for the finer lines and details.  That said, I focus on staying loose in my approach to a landscape and in my brushwork.  

Artist Residency at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Days 1-3

I arrived at the National Park Monday afternoon and my ranger buddy, Jeff Manuszak gave me a car tour of the east side of the park, several pieces of property that have been put together over the years since the park became National status in 1966.  There is such a varied habitat here!  Not just sand and sand dunes, though that would be enough to feed your soul!  There are wetlands, fens, upland oak Savannahs that have taken hold of old dunes left behind by glacial retreat, restored tall grass prairie - so much to explore!  

A storm passed through the area Monday night, so I went into charming downtown Chesterton for some supper and this dramatic evening sky is what I saw on my way back to the car.

Following are a few photos of the lake and varied terrain.

8ft. waves coming in from Lake Michigan, July 7, 2015

inland pond, just off Lake Michigan,July 7, 2015

Minoke Prairie, tall grass prairie restored at the Little Calumet River Trail

Collaborating with clay artist Monica Wilson

gold-leafed sparrow on glazed terracotta, copyright Monica Wilson and Valerie Mann, 8 x 8 x 3"

Being an artist can be very solitary.  Spending a lot of time alone, working on my own ideas - it can become a habit to take myself too seriously.  Collaborating is a good antidote to that.  In many other disciplines of the arts, collaboration happens on a daily basis - think dance, music composition and performance, film making, for example.  One of the great things about collaboration is that I have to be able to explain clearly what I'm thinking - what my vision is.

I often think, when I watch a movie like 'The Incredibles' or a really funny comedy sketch by performers like Key and Peele, that it must be have been so fun to be a part of the writing or production team - to bounce all those ideas off one another, laughing and giving each other feedback.  Well, collaboration can be really fun like that - invigorating.  It's exciting to throw ideas out and problem-solve the logistics of making a piece together.  I learn something or expand my idea of what's possible each time Monica and I work together. 

One of the other great things about collaborating is that you can't be too attached to doing things one way - you have to be willing to give and take on projects.  I think it's very healthy to have to negotiate and, when an idea seems too important to compromise, be able to verbalize exactly why..... and then be willing to let it all go.

I've admired Monica's work since I first saw it.  The forms she fabricates in clay are unlikely and fresh - I could see them all as large-scale outdoor sculptures!  The surfaces she makes in her pieces are so raw and delicious!  The subtle things that happen because of the matte finish or the 'imperfect' surface of the clay are visually seductive and essential-feeling.  I make work that deals in subtlety, as well.  Subtle shifts in surface quality, sheen and color interest me.  Many of my pieces play with the precarious balance between 2D and 3D, incorporating shadow and rewarding the careful viewer with little moments of delight and wonder.

Review for 'Invasive Species' show at Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN

detail, Variations within a Species

Mentions my piece in the right-hand column on the first page listed here.  It is actually page 10 in the publication.  You'll need to paste the address in your browser - the link's not working.  Enjoy!

http://www.thebeacher.com/2014/Pages/081414p.html

Why is it so much easier to sell someone else's art? or Why is it easier to toot someone else's horn?

So, Martha's excellent painting not withstanding, and, for that matter, the fact that she was an excellent person and friend, as well, why is it so much easier for me, as an artist, to sell someone else's art and sing their praises than it is my own?  I'll admit, I don't like being the center of attention - think being sung "Happy Birthday".  If I liked performing, I wouldn't have just got up and left during my piano performance at Solo and Ensemble all those years ago.  

But this past couple of weeks, I've coordinated a studio sale for my dear, late friend Martha Keller.  Now, any museum would be lucky to have one of her paintings - especially one on Lake Michigan, or any Great Lake for that matter, but friends, admirers and collectors had a unique opportunity to come to her creative space on the third floor of a building, downtown Ann Arbor, and just be with hundreds of her gorgeous paintings and drawings.  Honestly, it has been a lot of work, but it's been 100% enjoyable to be in her space again and to see and touch her work.  It's been an honor.

How many times in our lives do we get to be with 700 or so pieces of art by the same person? There's not a word to describe - or do justice to describing - how prolific Martha was.  I'll admit, I'm a huge fan of Martha's - have been since we first became friends.  She kept her work so fresh!  So unafraid!  

I think, as an artist, it is easier to talk up a friend's work than my own. (Don't get me wrong, I am a long-time student of art and craftsmanship - I don't talk up for the sake of talking up!)  I know Martha struggled with pieces in the same way I struggle with my work, but I was not emotionally involved with the struggle - I don't see the parts of the paintings she was less than happy with, so I am focused on the finished piece.  

She was such a generous person with her encouragement and spirit!  With Martha, it's the whole package that makes me such an enthusiastic disciple.  I know many people who came to her open studio, and many who weren't able to make it, feel the same way.  And really, her work sells itself.  So I guess all I had to do was set it up and show up with fellow WSG gallery http://wsg-art.com/gallery/members to run the sale and take the payment.

But it was a lot easier than selling my own......

Plein Air Painting in Michigan

Waterworks Rd., Early Fall 1

Plein Air painting, watercolor on archival paper, 9 x 7"

So my artist's residency reminded me how much I love painting and ignited a love for plein air painting that I'd previously not had or made the time to do.  Since I've been home, a week and a half, now, I've made about 8 paintings.  Several from photos I snapped on the way home (it's hard to plein air paint while you're driving 80 on the interstate) and 3 on site.  

Today I'm posting 2 that I made late morning and early afternoon, a few hours ago.  

The next one is shown in stages, as I progress through it.  Also shown is my set-up.

Left painting finished, right one just started

A little further along

I sometimes have a hard time adding to the pieces, because I like the unfinished stages.

Almost!

Done! Waterworks Road, Early Fall 2. This piece is on Indian Village handmade watercolor paper.  Each of the finished paintings here are on different papers and that affects the colors and the way the papers handle the paint.  I love painting on 2 different kinds of paper to keep in interesting and challenging for me.

Day 10, Artist Residency, Homestead National Monument, Nebraska

This week is bringing ramped-up heat.  Had a thunderstorm Sunday night, so the humidity is off the hook!  So I'm finding shady spots to paint from.  This piece took 3 evenings, as the light faded fast and the shadows got too long.  

painting as the light fades, photo by Homestead visitor, Dean Jacobs

Day 9, Artist Residency at Homestead National Monument, NE

Day 9 started with a nice, long bike ride to Pickrell, the town 7 miles north of Beatrice on an old Union Pacific rail bed.  Then came back to make a painting of the tree line to the south of the restored prairie.  Thought I'd post photos of it in progress again.

Osage oranges, a little while later

Osage oranges, a couple of hours into it

finished painting

Day 8, artist residency at Homestead National Monument, NE

Day 8 was my day to give my public presentation.  I didn't want to go the day without getting a painting in, so I decided to look out my bedroom window again and paint the hazy view first thing in the morning.  This time, I've given you several views of the painting in progress.  The presentation went well - met a couple of cool women from Lincoln, whom I'll visit on my way out of state, later in the week. We're going on either an art or nature field trip - maybe both!

....wait for it....

almost!

Done!

Day 7, Artist Residency, Homestead National Monument

So yesterday it rained until about 2:30/3pm here in SE Nebraska.  I thought it might be a lost day for painting landscape and I might have to move indoors to some of the exhibits and draw from the objects there. I decided instead to check out Cedar Creek Pottery, east of town.  It turns out the rainy day forced me to do something that was AWESOME!  Ervin Dixon , the potter, graciously gave me a tour of his studio and I was allowed to just lose myself in his gallery of gorgeousness.  His gallery/studio is in a refurbished, moved a couple of times, old Lutheran church east of Beatrice.   http://www.heritagehighway136.com/pages/central_region/arts_music/gage-cedar-creek-pottery.php#sthash.0icBcMi3.dpbs Not to be missed!  Bring cash or your check book!

I figured the day also called for Mexican brownies, which I made and partly consumed......

But then I looked out my bedroom window and thought, "You know, why not just give it a try?"  and started a painting (the one above). As has been my experience, that is the best way to go out here.  One of the great things about this artist residency is that, for the first time since, probably, I was a kid, I can just lose myself in making.  So here's a little drawing that I lost myself in on a hike the other day:

gorgeous little prairie plant of which I have not yet learned the name

Day 6, Artist Residency at Homestead National Monument, NE

Thursday, I painted for about 7 hours.  Not non-stop -please!  The eyes and brain need a break!  I found ways to be out of the direct sun, so I painted 3 different vantage points.  The painting above was my afternoon painting, which happened in the woods next to the important water source here at Homestead.  When the original homesteader, Daniel Freeman, chose this plot of land, supposedly he had scoped it out as a scout for the Union Army and recognized the varied habitat, with a good creek, a woods (for hunting and building a house), a freight road next to it (to get the crops to market/rail), and the nice, flat land.   

Being here for nearly 2 weeks gives me the time to really lose myself in the landscape, and explore it visually, as well as physically.  I sat down to do the watercolor above and thought, "I don't know.....well....maybe." And I was pleased with it as a study, in the end.  Today's very overcast, so when the sky is brighter, I'll paint that curve in the path again

Meantime, I came across this little guy in the path:

toad in the path

Day 5, Artist Residency, Homestead National Monument, NE

I've been getting out early each morning, while the shadows are still long, and doing what I call silhouette drawings.  The prairie grasses and wildflowers are gorgeous and I can see some of the silhouettes making it into my finished work back in the studio.  The sun is strong out here and I searched out SPF 100 today!  Found some - it was even SPF 110.  I'm heading out early, trying to stay out of the sun in mid-day and heading out again late afternoon to paint in color.

The following painting is giving me a little grief in that, since it's a late afternoon scene, the sun starts to change the light too much for me to finish.  It's 2 days painting for about 1 1/2 hours so far and I'm not feeling it's resolved.

Looking south from center of restored prairie

Then there's the little painting I did looking west toward the woods.  I'm understanding the structure of the land better and dusting off the color theory that Professor Billie Theide so lovingly taught me at University of Illinois all those years ago.  http://art.illinois.edu/people/theide/

Looking west toward woods from visitor's center

Tonight as I'm writing this, we heard 3 barred owls just outside the house - saw one up a tree with the flashlight!  I'd never heard one of them before.  The payoffs of being in the middle of the country!  And don't even get me started on the stars!

Day 4, Artist Residency at Homestead National Monument

Today I got out the door early with sketching stuff so I could record shadows from the plants. Early morning and late afternoon are best for this because of the height of the sun and the way it casts shadows from the plants.  Since I only had monochromatic watercolor mixed and had left my multicolored travel set back at the house, I decided to make a little monochrome watercolor study of the tree line south of the National Monument fields.  

Took the Homestead Trail with the bike again today - this time I went a little farther.  I could see the water tower for the next town north, but realized I forgot my $$ for a snack, so I decided to turn back to Beatrice.  About a mile from the end of the trail, back in town, but in a wooded/grassy area, I came across 2 wild turkey hens with about 10- 12 young ones out for a walk.  

Had a lovely dinner at The Black Crow restaurant here in town - the bread pudding was worth going on a 14-mile bike ride every day! http://www.blackcrowrestaurant.com/ 

Headed out again for a little hike tonight and started another watercolor.  

Losing light at Homestead

Day 3, Artist Residency at Homestead National Monument

Here in Nebraska, the evening skies are really something.  This beauty was waiting in the sky as I emerged from the woods yesterday.  

I spent a lot of time on my feet yesterday, so I decided to head out early and do a few silhouette sketches, then re-group and take my bike into town to explore the Homestead Trail for a bit   http://www.traillink.com/trail/homestead-trail.aspx .  It's a lovely trail over an old Union Pacific railbed.  Goes 40 miles to Lincoln - I didn't go the whole way!  

Made 2 little watercolor studies at Homestead in the late afternoon.  The light's most interesting then: 

Looking West, 6 x 6" left, Looking South,6 x 7" right

Day 2, Artist Residency, Homestead Nat'l Monument

I had to start off the post with the view toward the visitor center last night.  The clouds came rolling in and they were gorgeous, but foretold the lightning and thunderstorms that followed.  

So today I packed up some sketching and watercolor supplies and headed to the canopy outside the visitor's center.  First, I sketched a few plant silhouettes, collecting them for a future project, then I settled in for a couple hours of watercolor studies. The clouds here are spectacular!  The blue skies, too!  

The quiet is something else altogether.  When I'm hiking or drawing in one place for a while, the animals start to forget I'm there and come around.  I scared up a doe at one point today, and she snorted at me for quite awhile, as she headed into the woods.

older fawn in the woods, Homestead National Monument