Ann Painter's Studio

Experimenting with Wax Medium

2012-01-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Surface Abstraction
8 x 8 inches, wax medium and oil on linen panel

Several days ago, I went over to visit my friend Annie in her studio which is close to mine. She showed me her latest paintings done Cold Wax Medium and oil paint. The paint was thick and when applied could be painted over with transparent layers or scratched into to make textures and marks. It had never occurred to me that wax and oil could be compatible. I had gone to the art store with questions about how to thicken oil paint and the solution they gave me, (Liquin Impasto) was a toxic failure. But cold wax is a non-toxic way to both thicken and make the paint more or less transparent depending on the ratio of wax to oil paint.

Annie, like many artists working with wax painting, is working on smooth wood panels that are cradled on the bottom for support. I have been enjoying the linen texture on panel surface so decided to continue with that and try cold wax medium on it. This kind of painting is done in layers. The image above represents the first application of color. The drying time is fairly short and so I am looking forward to applying another layer today.

Imagined Landscape

2012-01-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

Imagined Landscape 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Linen

My grandaughter Emilie told me tonight, "there are no mistakes in art. Art is always is good and never bad". Obviously, she has a very enlightened art teacher who encourages her in all forms of art making. this is such a wonderful message to give students from an early age. I imagine all the years of self criticism and not making art that might have been avoided if I had been taught this when I was little,

Today, I gave into whimsy in this painting which I think is different than pure abstraction. It is similar in that I have no idea where I am going when I start but once the theme emerges, I am more focused on some direction. In this case. landscape. This is not a place I have seen. It grew out of the process of painting and playing with colors and shapes. In these paintings principles of design and color play a big part in the process as I go along.

I spent my time in the studio today finishing this piece and then working some more on the large painting that I started last week. I am applying oil paint that is darker than the pastel drawing I did. I am not sure about the direction this painting will take but I am simply doing the next thing and watching to see what might emerge in the process. I am finding that working big after so many small paintings, is very different and fun.

24 x 24 inches, Oil on Linen

There's a Red One and a Blue One......

2012-01-18T18:06:00.001-07:00

24 x 24 inches, Oil Pastel on Stretched Linen

Another day in the studio. I made a commitment to myself to cover the canvas I started yesterday and resolve basic design and color issues before I left the studio today. At one point, two hours into it, I was ready to leave with half the painting still unrealized. Then, I stepped back, saw a new direction and I was off and going again. I am noticing that working larger seems to involve paying greater attention to composition. As I worked on this today, the words of an old folksong about little houses on the hillside...there's a red one and a blue one, a green one and a yellow one, and they're all made out of ticky tacky, and they all look the same. I seem to like the combination of abstract imagery with whimsy in these paintings. Not planned...it just happens.

The next step in the painting is to paint over this underpainting with oil paint. It is likely to change everything and in truth, I hope it does. I will be working with a palette knife which is a new way of applying paint for me. This is not about filling in spaces with oil paint but using the pastel painting as a starting point, not an end in itself.

Abstract, Red and Green

2012-01-17T20:45:00.002-07:00

Abstract, Red and Green, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Linen

Yesterday was a day of rain, snow and sleet in Santa Fe. I decided not to go to the studio and work at home. I didn't have palette knives or a full range of colors available but really liked working with these limitations. The hardest part was painting with a cut up credit card which makes spreading the pigment more difficult. Finished in the studio today and then took the leap to start a large painting, 24 x 24 inches. I had intended to start with acrylics but decided to use oil pastels for the underpainting and then finish with oil paint. More on this over the next several days.

Going Big 24 x 24 inches, Oil on Linen

Color Spots

2012-01-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Color Spots 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Linen

Another in this ongoing journey of intuitive painting with oil pastels. Somehow, this particular painting ended up with several more complex, intensely colored areas within areas. With these paintings, if I feel called to do something or use a certain color, I try not to question it and just go with the impulse before my mind has time to censor or argue it away. This way of working requires trusting that I intuitively know what the painting needs...what the next right thing is. These paintings are all about the journey and not at all about the destination though it is fun when something develops that I like and others enjoy as well. My only goal is to stay as awake and alive as I can in the process.

Blue Square

2012-01-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

Blue Square 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Linen

Funny name I know, but when I looked at this piece after I came home, I noticed the blue square almost in the middle of the composition. I didn't plan a focal point but there you go. As I have said before, I never know where these pieces are going until I get there. It is an exciting way to work...not knowing the destination beyond finishing by the end of the day. My time in the studio today was shortened by a late start but I started this yesterday so I had a head start. As much as the "picture" paintings are fun and whimsical and I love it when they happen by mistake, my real goal is to stay with not knowing and let the painting tell me where it wants to go.

Champ de lavande

2012-01-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

Champ de lavande 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Linen

Several days ago I was asking a friend when lavender season in France. Of course, we have lavender fields here but....well France is French! Anyway, I asked because that lovely French lavender blue showed up in my palette. When I was working on this painting today, I remembered lavender fields and found myself putting them into the piece. So...my whimsical version of a field of lavender. Fun....and I didn't have to fly for hours or spend thousands of dollars. Imagination and memory is a wonderful thing!

Mystery

2012-01-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Mystery 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Linen

There is a church in Chimayo where the dirt below the sanctuary is supposed to have magic healing powers. It is a pilgrimage destination at Easter and artists flock there to paint the old wooden church. As I worked on this painting, something about it reminded me of that place. That is the reason for the cross. This painting became more literal than others, but I like it a lot and had a great time watching it evolve through the afternoon painting session. Mystery refers to the process and the place. I did not think about Chimayo until the painting was almost finished and told me what it was about. I love these kind of surprise endings.

Sacred Spaces

2012-01-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Sacred Spaces 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Masonite

I began this painting at home where I have a limited palette of oil pastels and no palette knives. I ended up cutting a credit card into pieces and used the edges to apply impasto layers of pastel. It was a little harder on my fingers but seemed to work pretty well. I finished it in the studio yesterday afternoon and find that I am really happy with contrasting colors and values. I combined some smaller shapes to make larger ones and continue to feel that the process and imagery is shifting and evolving in ways that please and interest me.

Dreams in the Night

2012-01-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

Dreams in the Night 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Masonite

In this painting, edges softened and in some cases, disappeared. Structures keep showing up in the paintings, no matter how random my starting scribble. They seem to become the anchors and I look for them as I move from shape to shape. Sometimes. I scape color or areas out but not with a particular image in mind. I often dream about houses and know that those dreams are symbolically about me. Could it be that the structures showing up in the paintings are also somehow auto-biographical? If so, I have a very pointy head and odd shape. It is great fun...the process of creating these.

Inside Out

2012-01-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Inside Out 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Masonite

The latest in my ongoing exploration of abstract painting with oil pastels. I had forgotten how much I love this medium. I am using a palette knife to apply the paint by scraping pigment from the sticks so I can get a painterly effect that is similar to what I might get in oil but the process is much more immediate. I continue to dream of going bigger but the smaller size seems to be working for now as I explore and regain my comfort level working from the inside out with no external reference.

When I teach landscape painting I point out the need for a single focal point. Paintings have a top and a bottom, right way to look at them and wrong. I am breaking all the rules with these paintings intentionally. There is no right way to hang them, no top and bottom. I create them by constantly turning the canvas and working from every angle. I want them to be equally successful from every vantage point, like sculpture. There is no focal point. Instead there is a random arrangement of shapes and colors and textures. That is all. No deep meaning. Just whatever comes and feels right.

It was a good day to be at my studio. The sun was out and Santa Fe River was running below my window. Ice and snow is melting creating lots of mud to tip toe around, and I succeeded in creating another painting I like. All is well in my world.

Structure

2012-01-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Spaces 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Masonite

I really have no idea where these things are coming from. I make a random start and then see where it takes me. I have this erroneous idea, or maybe it is egocentric, that every painting will get to the place where it "works" for me. There is a saying..."it works if you work it". So far, with this series, that has been true though it often involves scraping out parts I love and starting over. Of course, there is progression and I would feel unhappy if that were not the case. So I can look at the first piece and see that over the past month, the work is changing in subtle and not so subtle ways.

I have never been the kind of artist who believes that my work had to be this or that. I change mediums and styles as the spirit moves me and believe that is as it should be. I am, by choice, not a "gallery artist" . Consequently, I have the freedom to let myself be moved by my own inner creative sense rather than by what will sell in the market. I see artists in the Canyon Road Galleries, who paint the same thing over and over, year after year, because it sells. After years in advertising, I have no interest in making anything but deeply personal art that pleases me and hopefully others who may see it.

Heartsong for Sati

2011-12-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Heartsong for Sati 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

It seems that something is really shifting. This painting is much more painterly than earlier ones. It was done almost exclusively with a palette knife. In some instances, colors were mixed by combining pastels and then applying the color. The original layer was more complex and quite a lot darker but as I progressed, I found myself scraping a lot more and redefining shapes as I went along. This is definitely the direction I want to be going in. I am beginning to long for paint and bigger sizes. Big internal shifts are happening that I really have no words for and that is a good thing! Off to the studio today for an extended time and no distraction!

California Dreaming

2011-12-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

California Dreaming Oil Pastel on Paper, 6 x 6 inches

Another in this series of new work. I am in California for the holidays. It is great to be able to transport all I need to continue with the work. I did this piece when I arrived and spent time with my painting partner Susan. We took our traditional trip to the art store and I purchased several new shades of light blue, green and purple Sennelier oil pastels. They are buttery and beautiful. Using them with the more brilliant Caran d'Ache still resulted in jewel-like colors but there are subtle areas of color I could not have achieved without them. I felt some melting away of edges in this piece. It will be interesting to see where this goes but I want it to evolve naturally and not be intentional. As soon as my choices become intentional, I know that is not where I want to be.

Life Journey

2011-12-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Life Journey, oil pastel on paper 6 x 6 inches

Yesterday, I was folding laundry. A boring job at best. I turned the TV on which I never do during the day, and there was Jane Fonda talking about her life. She is 75 now and I am not that far behind her. Her thoughts about aging and looking at her life in 3 stages were inspiring to me. I didn't particularly think about that when I worked on this painting today but the title, "Life Journey" came to me when I was finished with it. The shapes and colors are more complex and meander. Some seem to have a path, others are random but all connected in some way.

I started with earth colors thinking that would mute the overall effect. It did not turn out that way. I am using Caran d'Ache oil pastels which I like because the colors are intense so when I started to work over the more muted tones, the colors intensified. Tomorrow I leave for California. It is being hard to travel right now when I am so engaged in this new work but I will bring supplies with me and hope to do some work in between grandchildren and holiday celebrations.

Boundaries

2011-12-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Boundaries, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

This painting, finished today, has been the most fun so far. It became much more painterly as I worked with the shapes and colors, so that in some instances, I created small paintings within the larger one. When I start one of these paintings, I break into the paper with pencil and then begin to intuitively select colors without thinking. If I catch myself thinking, I back away and start again. I rotate the paper as I work trying to create a painting that works from any direction like sculpture. At a certain point, I limit the colors and then work with the intuitively chosen palette to finish the painting.

My grandaughter Emilie, who is 7 and critiques all of my paintings, asked this morning what this was a painting of. She thought it looked like the Eiffel Tower (she is half French). I told her it was an abstract painting that I made up and it was a like a light went on. She said she had learned about abstract painting in art class and she really liked the colors. I feel like I am trying to do what she intuitively knew how to do before she went to school and has now forgotten. It is not an easy thing.

Reaching For Heaven

2011-12-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Reaching for Heaven, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

Generally, I let the painting tell me it's title if there is one. My friend Sheila was painting in my studio when I finished this piece. She looked at it and the title came to her so I let it be. With this piece, I decided to try a colored ground on the paper so I combined Burnt Sienna with Burnt Umber and white gesso. I used Gamblin Gesso which I like best even though I think it is too expensive. I found that the surface with paint in it was a little too slippery and the buff/adobe color made it more difficult to achieve the same kind of intensity with the color. However, the softness that resulted has its own kind of appeal and I ended up liking quite a lot. A lot of what these paintings are about is listening and acting without judgement or thought. Just doing and trusting what happens. It is challenging but also so incredibly freeing.

Foundation

2011-12-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

Foundation, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

I finished this painting after letting it dry overnight so that I could layer more color in. It is more geometric than earlier paintings in this series and I am very happy with the final result.The oil pastel medium creates intense colors that are highly reflective. In other words, they look dull unless they are properly lit. I like bright colors and so this works well for me. I am also finding that I can use them like oil paint and apply areas of thick impasto color with a palette knife which truly makes this feel like painting. I have no ideas where the images are coming from or where I am going until the piece is finished. I am sure that is what is making this such an exciting process.

Listening In

2011-12-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

Listening In, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

This is my fourth attempt at reconnecting and listening to my intuitive inner voice. Years ago when I had no idea how to create an abstract painting, I had an artist friend whose abstract paintings I loved. Each one was more magical and mysterious to me. She had some earlier work hanging in her home from her student years at Cooper Union that were, I thought, also amazing and realistic. I remember asking her why she didn't work that way anymore. She said that if she knew before she began, where she was going with a painting, then "that wasn't it". I have almost always known where I was going with a painting before I started. I draw and study color and work out the composition in advance and then use photo references to make sure the final painting is true to the original inspiration. But that process has begin to feel deadening to me. I decided it was time to jump out of the box and do something very different. New studio...new work, and I am feeling alive in my painting process again. I guess the Ghost Ranch Series is finally finished after 25 paintings.

Back to the Beginning

2011-12-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Back to the Beginning, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

The painting was done on black gessoed BFK with oil pastel. I am returning to this medium quite by accident and beginning to seriously consider continuing with it. I really love the flexibility and spontaneity using it allows me. Today I discovered that if I scrape oil pastel directly onto a palette knife I can get the same effect as using oil paint. Using black paper makes it harder to build up color enough to cover the paper first time through. By tomorrow, the oil pastel will dry enough to apply a second coat in areas where I want a thicker application. I feel alive again, not knowing where I am going but thoroughly enjoying the journey and just letting "whatever" come through me. Magic!

Beginning Again

2011-12-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Finding My Way Back, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

Coming Back, 6 x 6 inches, Oil Pastel on Paper

Both of these paintings were completed today. Instead of jumping right into acrylic, I decided to experiment with oil pastel and see what happened. I got lost in the painting process and am very happy with what happened. As it turns out, I am really liking the effect of oil pastel and may stay with this for a while.

Ready For a Change

2011-12-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have realized for some time that I am feeling bored with my painting. I have held onto this idea of doing 30 small paintings of the Ghost Ranch landscape so tightly, that I could not give myself permission to end it when I felt done with it. This last painting was a big lesson. I pushed myself to finish it and in the process, killed it and my intuitive creative spirit.

Some years ago, I did a workshop which, at that time, was called "The Painting Experience". For me, it was about learning to paint intuitively and trust myself to know what the next thing to do was. There was no destination, only process and the paintings were not to be shown because strengthening the intuitive self requires listening in and feeling safe.

I loved this process so much that I went on to do a year long intensive with Michelle Cassou, the person who developed the process. I had always dreamed of painting abstractly but had no idea where to begin. I had always been a realist. I decided to pursue my dream and took an abstract painting workshop in Mendocino and then a month long painting class at CCAC where all I did was paint abstractly. It was hard but I went on to paint that way for 2 or 3 years. Then, I decided to switch from acrylic to oil paint. I was afraid that it would be too much to learn to use oils and also paint abstractly so I went back to realism and looking outside myself for subject matter. I suppose I have been on that path for the last 7 or 8 years.

I am realizing though that I am longing to reconnect with the magic in painting, to listen and be able to hear that voice inside that knows what the next color or shape should be and is quite capable of knowing when a painting is finished. So...I am getting the acrylics and oil pastels out and starting again, to discover the painter inside myself.

Open Studios 2011

2011-12-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

This was the quietest studio opening I have ever held. It could have been the snowy weather or the cold but I suspect it was also the economy. People are not buying art. Some were out looking which was nice but it didn't seem that anyone was looking seriously. I did get my studio gallery set up and will likely leave some of the paintings up now that the opening is over. This is the only time during the year when these studios are open. I did get to meet some of the other artists here and see their work which was great. I am loving working in community with others and having a studio where all I do when I am here is paint. If I continue to do this 4 or 5 times a week, my painting has to get better. For some reason I am feeling very much at the beginning and there is so much to learn. I am not sure what comes next after the Ghost Ranch series is finished but it really doesn't matter as long as I keep painting. It is the process and not the subject that is important to me. I would like to make a breakthrough to some new place where I feel like the work is coming from inside me rather that reflecting or interpreting what I see outside. I am not "losing" myself in it right now.