Saturday, November 28, 2009
Painting in Puerto Rico (Vieques, actually)
The story begins with Wynn and Glenn Curry, who invited painters from the Sketch Club to spend a week at Bananas. That's their guesthouse on Vieques, the little island offshore from Puerto Rico that used to be the US Navy's firing range and now is a great tourist destination. Twelve of us accepted that invitation, and we had a fabulous time observing, learning, helping and critiquing each other, and discussing art, technique and process. Most (not including me) painted murals on the walls of the guesthouse - some fabulous creations came from that.
I want to share some of our discussions here, and post work from the other painters, too. The discussions were great, and all the painters did outstanding things. But I'll start with my own work, for this posting. Since this was an opportunity to try new things, and I'd never painted a seascape in oil before....
The view from Vieques. That is Puerto Rico off in the distance.
Oil on canvaspad, 10" x16"
The ocean was beautiful and the color of the water was changing every fifteen minutes which really made it interesting to paint. I used the white scumbles in the lower left corner to set up a Z-composition so your eye could find an interesting path to follow through the painting, picking up from the hillside(s) and then sliding up along the bottom of the biggest cloud.
Painting the view along the Malecon provided a seascape with more "structure."
Oil on canvaspad, 24" x18"
The rocks and the concrete railing provided a good contrast to the water and greenery. But it was tough to get those green palm trees to stand out against the green hillside behind them. I had to come back to it several times to get it to "gel." As it is, it is still a problem in the photo - the actual painting really is much better (But then, internet reproductions are always a sorry compromise when compared to the original paintings).
After those seascapes, I wanted to something that got me away from all those greens and blues. I'd been watching Doris Peltzman create wonders in her flower paintings, and thought that this might be a great way to use a different set of colors. (Doris is known for her flower paintings, and has exhibited widely - she will be showing this coming month at The Artist's Gallery in Philadelphia, and several other places.)
These Canaria were growing through the fence, just two doors down from Bananas.
Oil on canvaspad, 9" x7".
I got chased away while I was painting this. The flowers were growing through a fence in front of a shop, and the owner thought I might be keeping people from going in to buy things. He was unimpressed by my complimenting him on having the most beautiful flowers on the island right in front of his shop. Fortunately, I was able to finish the painting just before he sounded like he would make good on his repeated threat to call the police.
A handful of flowers picked during a fifteen-minute walk through "town."
Oil on canvaspad, 10" x8"
I want to share some of our discussions here, and post work from the other painters, too. The discussions were great, and all the painters did outstanding things. But I'll start with my own work, for this posting. Since this was an opportunity to try new things, and I'd never painted a seascape in oil before....
The view from Vieques. That is Puerto Rico off in the distance.Oil on canvaspad, 10" x16"
Painting the view along the Malecon provided a seascape with more "structure."Oil on canvaspad, 24" x18"
The rocks and the concrete railing provided a good contrast to the water and greenery. But it was tough to get those green palm trees to stand out against the green hillside behind them. I had to come back to it several times to get it to "gel." As it is, it is still a problem in the photo - the actual painting really is much better (But then, internet reproductions are always a sorry compromise when compared to the original paintings).
After those seascapes, I wanted to something that got me away from all those greens and blues. I'd been watching Doris Peltzman create wonders in her flower paintings, and thought that this might be a great way to use a different set of colors. (Doris is known for her flower paintings, and has exhibited widely - she will be showing this coming month at The Artist's Gallery in Philadelphia, and several other places.)
These Canaria were growing through the fence, just two doors down from Bananas.Oil on canvaspad, 9" x7".
I got chased away while I was painting this. The flowers were growing through a fence in front of a shop, and the owner thought I might be keeping people from going in to buy things. He was unimpressed by my complimenting him on having the most beautiful flowers on the island right in front of his shop. Fortunately, I was able to finish the painting just before he sounded like he would make good on his repeated threat to call the police.
A handful of flowers picked during a fifteen-minute walk through "town."Oil on canvaspad, 10" x8"
Doris generously gave us a workshop on her technique(s) for painting flowers. This is my attempt to follow her instructions - but I'll have to admit that I'm not as "loose" in my brushwork as she is, and so I did have to adapt the style to something that comes a little more easily to me.
