Blog

My early art development was primarily in The Provincetown Impressionism School. Values and understanding of dark and light were encouraged through the "art of seeing ". Values and drawing per say were not discussed because the summer school was only concerned about learning to see color.

As a Landscape painter I find the understanding of Notan invaluble for composition and design.

Notan : (Japanese for "dark-light") is an art principle focusing on the balance and interplay of light and dark shapes in a composition, treating them as equally important positive/negative spaces, much like yin-yang. Artists use simplified black and white studies (notan studies) to design strong compositions, focusing on shape relationships and value structure, which can be applied to any medium, from traditional cut-paper designs to  painting. 

Notan is my first consideration for a landscape or still life .  The Notan helps with the design it shows the negative and positive space.

"The Big Darks and the Big Lights" . It's crucial for understanding shapes and simplifying values. You can start with basically one shape and brake it down to four values from there. The Color tells the story after this design is concidered.

The Notan helps support the unity of the painting or drawings structure. If the unity of the painting is equal in its masses than the balance will be off. Creating a very "boring" design.

The above example is about 2/3 dark creating a back lite design . 

This example is 2/3 light mostly front light. This design is what many Impressionist painters use to express sunlight .

I have encouraged students to use the Notanizer app on their phone to determine what element of the picture they are struggling with. The Value Finder helps to separate parts of the dark and light within the picture.  However I discourage them to depend upon using such tools as the answer to making a successful composition. The AI cannot take the place of your personal expression and creativity. Just as you wouldn't depend on a photo  to copy from. Using technology as a reference tool. 

The Notan is most useful to ensure you are able to determine what your focal point will be.

This Notan : might be referred to as three value Notan. I believe it's a bit developed but simple in its organization of  the three values and gives the drama that is needed for a good focal point. 

Still life gives one the widest range for study; a bottle is as serious a subject for portraiture as person. 

This quote from Charles Wester Hawthorne's Hawthorne on Painting , written by students of Hawthorne. 

For the past few Springs I've had the pleasure of conducting  "Art in The Barn"with PAAM, part of the Twenty Summers program in the historical Hawthorne Barn.. Artists for all over Cape Cod and beyond come together to experience painting in that tremendous  North Light studio where  Charles Webster Hawthorne had his Cape School of Art, in Provincetown.

Later Abstract Painter Hans Hoffman used the Barn for his classes. Many artists of note came through the Hawthorne Barn over the many decades.

I start with a short demo in the morning of a still Life and then move on to a portrait in the afternoon. Keeping the instruction similar to Hawthorne's direction set forth in the Hawthorne on Painting book (notes on painting from Hawthorne's Marion Hawthorne and Studen,t Margery Ryerson ).

Hawthorne was a big proponent of Painting first and considering drawing secondly. In this way students would develop faster by thinking color in it's proper relationships.

He challenged students to think of color as spots: meaning, Masses getting them in the right intensity was paramount to good painting. 

By using a Palette knife would give you the feeling of using a new medium.

The idea of painting something ugly like a dishpan and painting it is an beautiful way with color was a constant.

Set something up dark against something light. Have objects of various colors and lengths to compare differences. 

Try to set up the still life with one light source, in order to see light and shade in a clear way;

I always  instruct students in this classic Cape Cod School of Painting to study this way, no matter how many times they have in the past.

 The art of seeing is basically learned through route.

In the start of the study ,the painter puts a note or a spot of color representing each Mass, covering the canvas. It will look like a jigsaw puzzle before it's assembled. This is the best way to understand color relationships.

Understanding of the Masses is crucial to seeing and painting color.  Each Mass is an expanse of color or tone that defines form or shape in general outline rather than in detail.

If the color is out of place, or if the color would be better expressed with another object it should be repainted.  Leaving a small white line between these masses is a good way to correct the color if it's not in the right place.

The development of the color study is just a matter of refining the color masses, and becoming more specific. 

"

The Successful painter os continually painting still lif" Charles Hawthorne 

 Monhegan has long been a destination for artists and art lovers. It has been twenty five years since I first painted on Monhegan.

Last week I traveled to the Island with a friend and fellow artist Stephen LaPierre a Rocky Neck artist. We met up and stayed with Caleb Stone, a Rockport artist and longtime painter on Monhegan Island. 

The season was very much over when we arrived however the weather was great for painting.

I brought a few different easels to paint with. The Island can be rugged so traveling simpler and lighter is a good idea. 

In the mornings we took the golf cart up the hill with all our gear to make it easier to transport. In the Afternoon we used our backpack and traveled by foot. 

I found that canvas paper taped to a board was the best way to painting and  light enough to travel for me.When I return home I can mount them to a board before framing .

Steve and Caleb painted larger in the mornings and used their Anderson Easle to work from.

Caleb's view overlooking the town.

Because Caleb knew the Island so well he was able to bring us to different locations so that there was a variety of painting choices.

This is one of my favorite views of Monhegan Island .

Pochade boxes are used to make painting outdoors more convenient and to organize your equipment into a compact box for traveling.

 The use of a pochade box is very Helpful for getting around the Island. Usually the painter sits and the box is placed in the painters lap.

The pochade box may have a small handheld palette . 

Overall it was a great week and getting to paint with good painters is challenging and rewarding. I learned a lot from the experience. Getting a chance to paint different landscapes teaches you to get out of your comfort zone and makes you more inspired when returning to your own town.

People often ask why do you paint the same scene again and again? I guess to neighbors in particular might find it strange that “there I am again in the same spot I was before. For me every time I stand before nature and paint I experience a different feeling. The seasons change and the colors change. There is a many different light keys that affect the colors. There are a few scenes that inspire me and I see new colors and have a new exchange with the scene each time I paint. There is an inspiring challenge that I find in trying to convey something knew that I didn’t reach in the prior painting of the same scene. 

Take Monet for example he painted several scenes creating a series of many motifs in different Light keys.

"Repetition of a motif is not new having been employed by many painters in the past. Monet knew that painters also returned to motifs which had personal significance to the artist."  - Vivien Russell 

I’m fortunate enough to live in an inspiring art town. However as a Plein air painter painting from life can be challenging at times. A truck pulls into your painting spot for the day obstructing your view. A tree has seemingly been removed over night. The beloved scene that once was made famous by the great artists of the past has been desecrated by condo building. In short there are very few scenes of lanes and views of the water left. 

Really excited to start blogging on my new website. 

Check back when you can to see what I'm up to.