Intelligent Design: Using a Reference

There's a really nasty misconception floating around out there that in order to be a good artist, you have to be able to paint or draw "from your head" without any kind of reference. Bullpucky. Let's say you want to build a house, so you go about trying to find a decent construction company with only one requirement- They have to be able to build it without a blueprint, or ever having seen a house similar to the one you want.  That's about how much sense this makes. Most people expect and require the construction company to produce a blueprint- one that's well-thought-out, measured, up to code, and hopefully able to produce an efficient and visually pleasing result. So let's say the crew gets to work on that house, and a while later you find out they're a bit behind schedule because one of the walls was built 6" too far from where it was supposed to be. I imagine the first question the foreman asked the workers was, "Did you forget to look at the blueprint?"

If you see a portrait of a face that has a nose sitting too far to one side, unless it's a portrait of a deformed person, you'll be pretty safe to assume that artist didn't use a reference, or didn't pay close enough attention to the one they had. Good artists use imaginary plumblines, and take measurements of angles and proportions to accurately replicate the reference, which could either be something they're looking at in real life, or a photo. The best artists become so proficient at seeing and judging these angles and proportions that they're able to take a mental note and remember them between between strokes or marks on their work, so if you're watching, it might not be obvious what they're doing.  I should clarify that some artists do work without a reference in the brainstorming stage, and in this stage rely on their knowledge of proportion from previous measurements in order to get a rough idea down. But if they plan to create any kind of lifelike illusion, then what they'll be doing next is replicating the shapes that light and shadow form when light meets a physical object. Because the color of light differs in every circumstance, and the texture of the objects alters the light pattern, an artist will always be able to create a more lifelike version if looking at the actual scene, or parts of the scene he or she is planning to replicate.

Does that sound boring? Do you think that takes all the creativity out of art? No way! Since the artist is his own architect, he can change parts of the reference at any time, move things around, enhance certain parts, and even abandon the reference for the parts where it doesn't serve his purpose or vision for what the piece is to look like. And a whole lot of designing decisions can go into the reference in the first place. Maybe you're setting up a still life. As the artist, you decide what's going to be in it, and where everything will be placed, as well as what color of light will illuminate it, and which direction the light will come from. If you're painting a landscape outdoors, well...here's where you lose all control as the lighting changes every 5 seconds, the bugs go swimming in your paint, and the wind blows your easel over. JK. Once in a while things work out just right, but the lack of a consistent reference certainly doesn't make it any easier for the plein air artist! They still need to decide how much of the scene will be included in the painting, and what to emphasize or leave out. There are still so many choices to make that just figuring out what you want this painting to "say" can take a good amount of time and brainpower.

If you still think artists should be able to create the illusion of reality and make it look good without a reference to base it on, I challenge you to find a really good artist who doesn't paint from life or ever use a reference. Good luck!

Jewel Basin

Staying in Jewel Basin for a weekend was a treat and we got to meet lots of great people. One couple said they came from Billings and were thinking about moving to Kalispell because they are liberal (politically) and the people in Billings are so close minded to liberals. I almost laughed out loud but caught myself and politely told them I thought they might find some of the same problem here. We hiked up to the top of Lower Aneas a couple of times, and a billy goat threatened to knock over my easel while I painted the view. When I finished that painting, it was a mixed media piece with about 60 gnats and mosquitoes in it, plus some sticks and leaves. I had so many bites on the back of my neck they all blended together. But it was good practice and I was reminded how easy it is to paint too dark when you're in direct sun.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But I'm always happy if I get the chance to try. And it was nice to come back to camp after my turn to paint and find that James had built a fire and gotten out the food. Food fixes everything. And herbal tea with honey. Mmmm.

Storing Paint for Plein Air Painting

It drives James nuts how fast the oil paint dries out in a Soltek easel (since it's not airtight), and what really gets to me is how it all slides down to one side of the palette when you're hiking if any of the pigments have some extra oil in them, so when you open it you get this big mess of paint soup to deal with. So... my latest attempt to solve this problem has worked out quite nicely so far: Airtight pillboxes.

I just set this, open, between my palette and painting on the Soltek when I'm working and scoop paint out as I need it. No need to put piles of every color on the palette, and that way there's more room to mix paint. I'm liking this a lot.

In the Works

I've slowed down on posting of late, and thought I'd take a minute to give an update on our exciting new plans! While James spends his days in the beautiful foothills near Tetonia, Idaho taking K-12 graders on nature walks and teaching art skills along with plant ID and geology, I'm busy packing all of our junk (over half of it indispensable art supplies) and planning how to remodel our recently acquired truck and camper. In June we'll officially be free for two months to head to the mountains and paint landscapes outdoors in parts of Montana and Idaho, including Glacier Park. Woohoo! Oxygen and sunshine, here we come! I can't wait. Except that I have a ton of work to do before we can go. Like take the roof of the camper off and rebuild it. And stuff. Lol. Here's what our truck looks like:

And the camper looks something like this:

These aren't my photos- It's too dark out to take photos right now so I grabbed these off the internet.
The inside of the camper is a hideous burnt orange, brown, and tan, with nasty old wood paneling and retro linoleum that doesn't match. So it's all coming out. James and I already ripped out the ceiling and insulation, and some of the wall paneling. Tonight I'm working on recovering the seat cushions. I found some upholstery fabric on etsy that I absolutely LOVE and it was only half the price of the fabric I found anywhere else of the same dimensions.

I'm going to paint the walls grey, the trim white, and put in a faux wood floor and countertop- probably dark. I'll post some before and after pics when I get that far. :)

I've also been thinking about how we'll store wet paintings, and am planning to build some sort of wet painting rack above the table. Also, since we're taking two toddlers, I need to build an easily removable railing between the table area and the floor so they don't roll out of bed. Yes, a camper crib. :) Wish me luck!

Painting Outdoors- The Easel

I haven't used a pochade box, but compared to using a french easel, I definitely love the Soltek designed by artist Jim Wilcox! It's fast and easy to set up. I haven't yet solved the problem of the paints sliding around on the palette when I pick it up, but I'm going to try keeping my paints in pillboxes instead of on the palette.

Make Your Own Wire Picture Hanging System For Display Panels

I've actually been trying to figure out how to do this for a long time. The problem was, I didn't know the names of all the little pieces I needed, and it didn't quite work to walk into the local hardware store and say "Um... I'm looking for a little piece of metal that's bent like this and this and has a hole in one end."  But my husband and I just haven't had the funds yet to fork out the $12 or $17 each or whatever it is to buy these wire thingies. With another Christmas show coming up, I started trying to figure it out again. I found some helpful leads on Lori McNee's blog but still spent most of the night hunting for the correct terms for the parts and pieces so I could order them. Here's what I found:

The shipping was free on all of the ebay items. These are enough supplies to make 10 Hanging Wires with grips for 2 paintings on each wire, or 5 Hanging Wires with grips for 4 paintings on each one. With the latter option, you'll have extra wire rope (or "crimp" sleeves and "S" hooks. Either way, you'll also end up with extra wire rope.

Here's how I did it:

1.  Cut the wire rope into 6' or 7' lengths with wire cutters.

2.  Slide a sleeve onto one end, being careful not to fray the wire, if the wire starts to look frayed,   twist it in a clockwise direction and try again. loop the end of the wire around and thread it back into the sleeve again from the other side, and press it down with pliers. Pliers will hold it temporarily, but don't forget step #7.

3. Place the loop you've just made over one end of an "s" hook and use pliers to bend that end of the hook closed.

4. Slide a terminal lug (connector/conductor) onto the other end, the bottom end of the wire with the hole last- toward the bottom. Put as many of these as you want on the wire depending on how many rows of pictures you intend to display in your space.

5. Repeat Step #2 at the bottom end of the wire.

6. Attach carabiners to the terminal lugs.

7. Hit the Crimp sleeves a couple of times with a hammer to secure them. If you don't do this, you're risking having your paintings come crashing down. This step is NOT optional! If the loops are secured tightly, your hanging wire will hold up to 480 lbs. of weight. Not bad!

8. Tighten the screws in the terminal lugs to keep them from jiggling loose and losing them in transportation or setup.

I found out quickly that these get tangled up really fast, so here's a handy solution: lay a few  pieces of plastic wrap down on a flat surface in a row. Then lay the wires all side by side across the plastic (so the "s"hooks are all on a piece, and the middle of all the wires are on another piece, and the end loops of all the wires are on a piece). Then put a strip of packaging tape across  the wires in those places to tape them to the plastic wrap. Now you can coil them up without them getting tangled. Congrats! Now you're ready for your next show, and you didn't pre-spend all of your profits!
One correction on this picture- the "airplane cord" is actually called "aircraft cable." Good luck!

A New Beginning

Wow! I just realized this blog was still here, and I haven't done anything on it since 2010! A lot has happened since then... I got married to a fantastic guy (who is also an artist) woot woot! And we have two beautiful little girls. I have a website - crystalj.net - for my oil paintings, and I'm also in the middle of illustrating my own book. Since this is here, I think I'll just pick it up and start posting work again!