Sunrise Stroll

Back in spring as I was packing up and/or discarding my earthly belongings, I had imagined that by fall we would have begun working on a new studio at the new house. "Oh, I'll be up and running by winter," I thought. Well, I may have been a "tad" optimistic as we haven't come close to deciding how or even where we will fashion one.  In light of the constant waffling, we finally decided to rent a little temporary workspace for me, to take the pressure off a bit.

Viola! My little space. It's certainly a far cry from my former studio. It's tiny, it's dark, it's plain...but it's mine (at least temporarily). And I couldn't be happier to be back at work. :-)

What's missing in this picture is, of course, the easel. I will keep things simple (and light) by using my Soltek in here. I have also added a few additional lights to brighten things up a bit and make things a bit easier on the eyes.

To kick off the occasion, I dove into a subject I have been dying to develop since I painted it on location this summer- The Outer Banks of North Carolina. I was especially keen to dive into the concept of the sunrise, having tackled in en plein air in July:

 "Sunrise Stroll" Oil on Linen, 20x24" Contact me to purchase!

 Because I am renting this space and the ventilation is poor, I will only use water miscible oils here. So this, friends, marks another inaugural moment, of sorts--my first studio painting with Royal Talens Cobra water miscible paints.  I have to say, I am loving these paints in the studio. They stay open longer than my traditional oils, which makes it easier to manipulate edges  and build up to lovely, lush texture without having to do it all alla prima.  The only criticism I have at the moment is that the Titanium White in this brand is rather weak. Maybe I just need to get used to the tinting properties of the other paint colors,  but I used  almost half of a 150 ML tube of paint on this one 20x24" painting. (And that's not *much* of an exaggeration.)  Otherwise, though, I am having a great time and am so happy to have a room to call my own to create and leave all of my toys lying about.

Watching the Waves

Here is the last plein air painting I did at the beach last week. It was a quickie, started around 4:30 or so and wrapping up around 6PM. Watching the waves is one of my favorite things to do when I'm at the beach.

"Watching the Waves" Water miscible oils on linen, 8x8" To purchase, please contact me!

What is it about the ocean that calls us so? I guess it is the mystery of it. Or maybe it's the rhythm of the tides? Or maybe it's just that it is the place where we all originated, and it's depths are still unknown. My daughter once asked me, "When does the ocean stop waving?" Exactly! It never does, though it never ceases in changing either.

Incidentally, as I was painting this little vignette of our neighbor with her blue striped umbrella, I was photographed by Hidden Outer Banks!

Check them out. It was perhaps the one time when I actually didn't mind having a picture taken in my bathing suit. ;-)

Morning Surf

Immediately after I wrapped up painting my sunrise painting, I turned to look up the beach toward the pier and noticed how lovely the waves looked lapping up on the curving shoreline. So since I finally felt like I was getting somewhere with these paints, I decided that this would be a back-to-back session, one piece after another. Here' s the beach in early morning, post sunrise, around 8:30 a.m. or so:

"Morning Surf" Oil on Canvas, 9x12" Contact me to purchase!

For this painting and the prior sunrise one I had to lay the paint on pretty thickly to manipulate the edges the way I wanted. Also I found the titanium white and cadmium yellow light were much less intense than what I was used to with my traditional oils, so the highlights were painted very thickly indeed. I hadn't noticed this in my first venture with the Water Soluble oils, but it became much more apparent with these beach paintings because they are pretty high key.  Overall the effect seems to me to be closer to a palette knife painting than one done with a brush, though hog bristle brushes were all that I used.

I really enjoy painting the surf. While I have done it before a number of times  in the studio, these pieces were  my first effort done completely from life. What a rush! I feel like I could spend a lifetime studying just this one subject...I should be so lucky.

Clearing Sky on the Outer Banks

One of my favorite times on the Outer Banks is just after a storm. The sand is a wet, deep, ochre, the surf still churns, but the clouds begin to lift and light up and eventually give way to that brilliant blue sky. This is a painting about just such a moment.

"Clearing Sky on the Outer Banks" Oil on Canvas, 30x24

 

I worked on this off and on last week, though there was lots of "off" time, as my daughter and I enjoyed our final week together in "summer mode" before the start of preschool.  We sent the summer off right, with a trip to the zoo and a good deal of park and pool play as well. With all of the back to school prep though,  the home life has felt a little hectic recently. Nevertheless, we got it all done without (much of) a hitch, though I think we were both ready to return to the more normalized schedule that the fall ushers in. In a way, this painting feels a little like a metaphor for me today. The storms are (for now) behind us, and hopefully we can enjoy a nice stretch of clear skies ahead.

Large Hatteras Island Painting -complete!

Here is the final version of the painting I have been working on for the past week or so:

"To the Sea" Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 30x40" Click here for more info, or contact me to purchase!

I had such a good time painting this piece I didn't want it to end. The  several prior studies I did of this subject (most of them on location) really helped to inform me about color choices and brushwork, and also, more importantly, they brought back the strong emotional connection I have with the subject. I felt like I was on vacation all over again. Don't get me wrong, this was work, too, but it is this kind of view that I see on summer vacations to the Outer Banks  when I step out on the deck in the morning to sip my first cup of coffee. For me it recalls a time to let  all the cares go and just relax!

Progress on the large Hatteras painting

Here are a few progress shots on the Hatteras Island Dunes painting I last blogged about:

Though I am trying hard to address the picture as a whole, it is some kind of work just getting the canvas covered. I have been painting pretty small lately so I am kind of shocked at the amount of paint I'm mixing and using. I think this is especially true because I'm not used to using such an absorbent surface.

In the process of working solely from my painted studies, I've noticed that one of the main reasons I love the smaller alla prima pieces is the amount of broken color in the painting. Color is laid next to color, sometimes within the same stroke, and brush strokes aren't overly licked or blended. The result is that you can achieve a really fresh look with the little ones. It's not impossible to do this with the larger paintings, but you do have to really work wet-into-wet the whole time, and start loading on the paint to get that kind of effect. To have that kind of expectation with a painting of this size may very well be an exercise in futility, especially since I am not able to paint on it every day. On the other hand it is really impossible to replicate stroke-for-stroke what I have done in the smaller studies, as the brush size-to-canvas ratio would mean I'd likely have to turn to using house paint brushes!

So with these "reality checks" in mind, I am still striving to capture that fresh, breezy, beachy essence, even if the nature of this beast is very different from the original. I find myself working more background to foreground on the bigger paintings (rather than strictly dark to light) in order to keep the paint surface workable. Nevertheless, I am saving most of the lightest highlights toward the end because they are the most opaque and have the thickest application.

Hatteras Island W.I.P.

I'm starting something new (and big) today of the Hatteras Island dunes. It's a motif I have been exploring for a while now, though mostly in my field studies.

I'm painting this on a 30x40" gallery wrapped canvas, which is a little more absorbent and has a bit more tooth than my usual stretched linen. Hopefully this won't fight against me too much. I need bigger brushes! I want to keep this loose and fresh, like the plein airs, with not too much detail (but just enough.)

Right now I am referencing an image of my inspiration plein air (now sold) on my monitor,  and a second study painted to scale up to 30x40" that I worked up in the studio. The colors are really off in this snapshot, but you get the idea:

In the second study I tried to recreate the feeling of the original plein air, but  with a few compositional adjustments to the horizon, sky, and beach path.

It feels good to be working on something large. I have avoided it lately because of my sporadic schedule, but things don't seem to be changing much in that area of my life any time soon, so what the heck.

Back at the beach

First I forgot the white paint. Then, there were the fire ants. Next came the wind. "Why exactly do I do this?" I'm thinking to myself. But then I saw the Jolly Roger flapping in the breeze, and I was hooked. So I held on to my hat (and easel) and set to work.

This little 8x8" oil was done from our gazebo on the Outer Banks Dunes, looking out at the neighboring gazebos. The clouds were what attracted me but the Jolly Roger flag was a fun little detail that sealed the deal.

My Facebook page, plus two plein airs from the OBX

It's been such a while since I've provided some blog love, but there's been so much going on this summer that it's been hard to keep up. However I do  have two little plein air pieces I'd like to share, having just returned from a fabulous week on Hatteras Island in North Carolina's Outer Banks:

These are both 8x8 studies done on birch panels, painted from the lower and upper decks of the beach house we rented in Salvo. I only painted on a couple of mornings (it was the hubby's vacation too, after all) but I so love painting there that I look forward to doing more and more of these in time. Here you can see me through the picture window, painting on the deck, while the kiddos finished up their breakfast. You might just be able to make out a cup of coffee on the railing. I had my breakfast delivered easel-side, too! Not a bad way to spend the morning. :-)

I didn't get to paint out on the shore due to either the timing or the wind, but hope to do so when we return to the Outer Banks in about a month. Though the legs are starting to go, I'm still lugging my big old Soltek easel around. However I'm finding it more and more cumbersome for travel. I may have to dust off my little Prochade kit for my next trip, though I will need to get used to the much smaller palette size again, and the fact that it does not stand up well at all to any kind of wind.

This is the first time I have painted on shellacked birch panel, but I really like it. I prepared my own panels with Zinsser Bullseye Shellac, two coats per side, and sanding in between. I have heard about this kind of panel before, but it was most recently recommended by Matt Smith in his workshop that I attended in the Spring, so I was eager to try it after that. I was a little afraid that the shellac would make for too slick a surface, but it was the just right amount of smoothness and tooth. It did take a little preparation, but once the panels were sealed, the wood provided a lovely blonde tone on which to paint...no extra toning needed.

One final note, I have finally created a Fan page on Facebook, on which I plan to update with announcements and goings on. You'll find a link to it in this post and also in the right sidebar. I guess I'm not exactly on the bleeding edge, but at least now I can finally say, "Like us on Facebook"!

Hatteras Island study

I once had a painting of the Outer Banks that I loved; but for whatever reason didn't sell. It was in my inventory for a number of years, so instead of confining it to the bins any longer, I decided to embrace the fact that I still had possession of it. In fact, I decorated my bedroom around it, painting the walls a beautiful soft gray color that perfectly picked up some of the muted tones in the painting. Unbelievably, two weeks after I had my beautiful "new bedroom" complete, I received a call from a collector asking if it was still available. Yes, I sold it. I am trying to run a business, after all. I do have one or two pieces that I am trying to keep for myself, but for the most part, I'm just not one to turn down sales. So what does this have to do with the painting below? No, it's not the "one that got away" (you can see that one here). This piece is one of a few studies I'm working on in preparation for  a large new painting I intend to hang (at least for a little while) in my now repainted bedroom. Well,  I had a nice big gallery wrapped 30x40" canvas, and a nice blank wall, so I figured, why not?

"Hatteras Dunes, Study I" 6x8" Oil on Canvas

This study is based on two different plein air paintings I did on Hatteras Island on recent family vacations. I am largely basing my composition on a piece called "Hatteras Island Dunes II". But because that painting was 8x10" (a 4:5 ratio), I have to make a few compositional changes to format the new piece to a 30x40" gallery wrapped canvas (3:4 ratio).

As you can see in this new composition, I have changed the direction of the sandy path that leads to the beach and rearranged some shrubs somewhat. I also felt like I wanted a bit more sky showing than in the plein air, so I have lowered the horizon a touch to allow for that. For the sky I am loosely referencing both the above mentioned plein air, as well as another plein air piece from last summer, which you can see here.

I don't seem to have any actual photos of these scenes to reference, so my sole references are my plein air paintings. This is a bit different for me as I usually use both a photo source and my painting when I work from plein air to studio. So it will be interesting to see if I can make this fly! My plan is to try at least one more study before launching into the big canvas, but this is a good start.

The dunes, once more

We have stolen away to the beach. Well, that's not entirely accurate, as with a toddler we aren't really "stealing away" anywhere any more. More aptly put: We have loaded the entire contents of our house into the van and 6 hours later unloaded it into the beach house just in time for a total melt down. Our toddler was none too happy either. ;) But somewhere around the 24 hour mark I think we all settled into a groove, and I actually got up yesterday morning and painted.

"Dunes, Early Morning" Oil on Panel, 10" x 8"

This was originally to be a sky painting, but I got drawn into the light on the dunes once more. This was painted from our balcony ( our footpath to the beach is on the left. ) It's a great spot, but east-facing, and in the morning, completely sunlit. I started this around 7:20 a.m. By 9 I was roasting and had to wrap it up. I am mobile blogging so the color is seeming a bit washed out, but you get the general idea here of the morning's attempt. (Updated image)

Postcards from the Outer Banks

This past week we stole away to the North Carolina Outer Banks for a glorious week on Hatteras Island. I had hoped to post while we were away, but I couldn't get my technology straight to do any mobile blogging. But here are two plein air pieces I completed in the early morning hours, just as the sun was coming up over the dunes. The hubby even took on full babysitting duties so that I could paint the view from our deck. What a guy!

"Hatteras Island Dunes I" Oil on Linen, 12"x8"

"Hatteras Island Dunes II" Oil on Linen, 8x10"

Island Illumination

The work-in-progress I wrote about earlier this week is now finished. This is from our last visit to Hatteras Island, in the vicinity of Avon:

"Island Illumination" Oil on Linen, 24x30" For purchasing info and details, click here!

Virginia is a beautiful state, but her winters tend to be predominantly gray and brown; at least that's how Richmond winters are.  Not that there isn't beauty in the subtle shades of gray, but after a while it can wear on my psyche.  I guess as I have gotten older, I have become a bit like certain plants- I can get by with less, but I need a certain amount of sunlight to really thrive.

I suppose this is why I am so often drawn to painting light-filled subjects. It just does my spirit good. And so I am taking a little mental vacation here to a beautiful sunset in one of my all-time favorite places- the Outer Banks of North Carolina (Hatteras Island in particular). In the absence of the realtime experience , I can still transport myself there through painting.

Sunset on the Sound

I did bring my watercolors with me on our recent anniversary trip to Cape Hatteras, but I really didn't do much in the way of painting, save for this quick and light-hearted attempt below (done when we were sitting on the beach).  It just wasn't that kind of trip.

 

In fact, I even forgot to bring my camera, which is a real rarity for me! In a way it was a shame, because the B& B where we stayed had a fantastic vantage point on the sound, and provided us with some of the most beautiful sunsets we'd seen in a while. In another way, taking a real vacation to just "be", without feeling the need to work, was quite nice and very relaxing (though, believe me, there were times when the views were so compelling that the pull was strong!)

Our room had a view, so we'd sit on our balcony each evening and watch the sun set. I never tire of doing this. You can watch the setting sun from the same spot each evening and yet each time the experience is unique. It's the best show in town, and the sky seems to delight itself in its endless variations.

In the end, it's just as well that I left the camera at home, because the large majority of my amateur snapshots fail to capture the depth of color and the subtler transitions from sky to water. If not painting on the spot, the next best thing is to just sit and observe and to try and commit what I see to memory as best I can. So that's what I did. Once we got home, I painted this little watercolor from memory:

"Sunset on the Sound" Watercolor, 7x10"

Plein air painting in Hatteras -"Last Stroll, Twilight"

Well, we're packing up early in the wake of hurricane Hannah. There is no real danger expected here on Hatteras, but since we're losing a beach day and were scheduled to leave by 10 a.m. tomorrow any way, we figured we'd get ahead of whatever storm remains and avoid loading the car in the rain. Makes me all the happier that I stayed late on the beach last night to watch the beautiful show on display in the twilight sky:

Oil on Multimedia Artboard, 6x12" "Last Stroll, Twilight"

This late evening light is my absolute favorite time to be out painting en plein air. The challenge is that the light changes very quickly. So really, I just concerned myself with capturing the essence of the scene- the beautiful warmth of the sky and sand, the soft violet haze that ran along the distant horizon, and the silhouette of the line of beach houses beyond the dunes. What a nice way to end a beautiful week.

Summer Reading

My husband saw this little painting I did of our friends and said "Very Mary Cassat".  Sweet of him to say, and yes, I'd certainly aspire to paint like her! But I think the Cassat reference had more to do with my painting on the beach than anything else. I've often wanted to paint on the shore the way the Impressionists once did, but always felt somewhat restricted due to the total lack of shade and the sensitivity of my fair skin. This year, however, it has been possible because we've borrowed a large 12x12' canopy from our sister and brother-in-law. Otherwise I've had fried in my first 30 minutes on the beach!

The canopy allowed me to set up my easel and caputre this little vignette of our friends Esther and Carrie, engrossed in their summer reading:

"Summer Reading" Oil on Multimedia Artboard, 6x6" (NFS)

This painting was done on Multimedia Artboard. I painted straight on an unprimed surface, and I must say I prefer this surface primed with a layer of gesso for oils. While I was able to build the surface texture up after a bit, I found the board too absorbant without any gesso. Any way, after a bit, it was fun. I felt particularly good about the piece since Esther (the one with the dark hair) got up in the middle of the painting to go surfing.  She was a good sport, but still her vacation wouldn't suffer for my art.

Hatteras Pier

It's been absolutely beautiful here in Hatteras. I've done more relaxing and eating than anything. But after watching a most gorgeous sunrise with my husband, I finally decided to get the paints out yesterday and do a little something down by the Hatteras Pier:

"Hatteras Pier, Morning" Oil on Multimedia ArtBoard 6x12"

This pier looks like it needs some serious repair, but the rickety state of it made for fun painting. Now back to doing nothing! :-)

Vacation time and odds and ends

We're heading to the beach for a week for a little much needed R&R. I'll be bringing my paints and my laptop with me, but I have no idea if I'll have good internet access there for blogging. In any event, this will be a "painting and blogging optional" trip so it may be kind of quiet here on the blog for a few days.  Once we return I'll start the serious packing for the studio move. And not long after, we can hopefully get started on building me a place to eventually move to!  I've been pretty quiet about the potential project of building a home studio lately, because writing about waiting for this or that contractor to call us back with a quote doesn't really make for very interesting writing! But finally, we've gotten some quotes and the survey has been completed. So since we have enough info to feel secure that we can actually build on the proposed site we've just submitted an application for a building permit.

It's been a lot of "hurry up and wait." If we get our permit without  a hitch, I'll share more about the actual plans and process. All I can say right now is that everything I've heard about these things taking a lot longer than expected has definitely been true in my case--especially since we haven't even begun to level the ground.  

Ah well, at least we have had some progress. As for the Outer Banks, the weather looks a little "iffy" right now, but they're calling for sunshine by Monday (I hope!) In any event, while I know I'll be fine no matter what, the best part of this vacation will be taking some time off from worrying about this stuff.

Art auction to benefit the Central Virginia Foodbank

As a way to kick off 2008, I've decided to create auctions for some of my paintings in hopes of raising funds for the CVA Foodbank.  The idea for the auctions was inspired by a couple of things that grabbed my attention almost simultaneously over the holidays. The first was a CNN broadcast I stumbled on while flipping around on the television one late sleepless night. It was a special called "Living Heroes".  I tuned in to see a gentleman named Steve Peifer accepting an award for the incredibly inspiring, selfless work he has done in Kenya, feeding the children in school. Click here to watch the inspiring video.

About a day or two after I saw this program, I noticed Philip Rucker's article in the Washington Post online edition entitled, "Cupboards Are Bare at Food Banks." My first thought was, "Huh? With all of our wealth and resources we are having trouble supplying our country's own food banks?" The article actually focused on the D.C. Capital Area Food Bank needs, but it mentions that many of the nation's food banks are experiencing similar shortages. You can read more about it in the article,  but the bottom line is that the food banks do not have the supplies they once did, and they need people to step up and help.

I got to wondering what was going on in my own local Central Virginia Foodbank. According to the CVA Foodbank's website, in the Metro Richmond area:

"...the poverty rate is more than twice the Virginia average. In fact, in the City of Richmond it’s 38% and in Petersburg it’s 40%, compared to the state average of 17%.. That means right here in our own backyard there are tens of thousands of children who go to bed hungry every day. "

As a citizen of Richmond, I'd have to live under a rock not to know of the poverty concerns we have in the city. But even so, these numbers are startling. And while the pragmatist in me realizes that there will always be inequalities in the world, the idealist wonders,  "Why, given the earth's resources, should there ever be a reason for anyone to go hungry?"

 I've always believed in the adage, "think globally, act locally." And while curbing world hunger seems like an overwhelming task, we all can make a huge difference in our local communities by simple acts of time, food or cash donations. Surprisingly, it doesn't take that much to make a difference. In fact, according to the CVA Foodbank's website, $25 will provide as many as 200 meals.

So to bring all of this back around to the subject of art, (after all, this is an art blog,) I thought it might be nice to see if I could raise some funds for the CVA Foodbank by offering some of my vignettes in auction format.   I have been offering the little watercolor vignette paintings in my gallery and on my website for a little while now, and I've gotten some really nice feedback from collectors who enjoy them. And while I had already set prices for these works at truly introductory rates, for the next 6 months opening bids for these auctioned paintings will be set at the mega-bargain price of 200 meals, or $25 per item. 100% of the proceeds for the sale of these vignettes will be donated to the Central Virginia Foodbank.

It's my hope that each auction will get bids and that far surpass the opening bid. But even if I get just opening amount, it will generate a donation that can provide 200 meals. The CVA Foodbank is already doing some wonderful things for the folks in our area, not the least of which is providing comfort and hope for hungry kids. And, as evidenced in the above mentioned video, relieving hunger clears a pathway to learning, and education can help to provide way out of poverty.

Winning bidders get the artwork, maybe even at a mega bargain price, plus the satisfaction of knowing that their purchase is being donated to help one community's underprivileged children, elderly and families in serious need. Of course, you don't need to bid on artwork to make a difference in your own community. I encourage everyone who is able to get in touch with their own community's food bank and consider offering time, food, or cash. My auctions  are just my own small (and hopefully fun) way of trying to raise some funds and a bit of awareness.

Well, thanks for sticking with me for this rather long explanation! Without further ado, I present my first Central Virginia Foodbank ("CVFB") auction for one of my recent watercolors:

"Open for Business" Original Signed Watercolor & Ink on paper Click here to bid

Update: This auction has ended, but click here to see the current auctions, and consider signing up for our email auction alerts using the link below.

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Video- Tour of Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery

Taking some time over the Thanksgiving holidays to spend with family , so for now I leave you with a little tour of my studio/gallery featuring my last and perhaps one of my favorite shows to date, "Luminosity". The groovy music, by the way is by David Webb.

If you don't see the video player above, clicking this link will take you to the video in a new window.

Happy Thanksgiving!