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Question:  Where to shop for good ideas?

Answer:  Anywhere.

In this post, I'm not speaking about copying ideas for paintings or compositions - but rather about developing your own working methods and organization so that you can spend most of your time actually painting.

I enjoy hearing about other peoples working methods.  You'll develop your own working methods through time and trial and error.  Take what works from others and make it your own.  In my experience this is as true for art as it is in all walks of life.  I don't have just one working method - for those of you who know me that comes as no surprise. However, I do spend more time now planning a painting than I used to - but its taken me 15 years to get to that point.  Time wasted looking for supplies or reference sketches does get old after awhile.

Whenever possible I try to paint the subject on location. I've found that when I refer back to on location works there is so much more in my memory that I was consciously aware of at the time.
When I cannot paint on location, I try to make some quick studies or sketches on location or at least to spend some time getting the feel of a location.

The three sketches below were completed on a camping trip to Houghton Maine years ago.  Most of my on location paintings are done in watercolor - due to ease of transport.

Restless Surf

Oil on Canvas

36" x 36"

I prefer to paint on location, start to finish in one session.  However, that is not always possible.  These trips still provide inspiration for work done in the studio.  The twelve 6" x 6" charcoals below are studies for future paintings.  Some are real locations, others half memory of explorations along the cost from Maine to Cape Cod.   This oil painting started as an elaboration of the sketch in the top left

Coastal Impressions

Charcoal 18" x 24"

I have a notebook I keep handy where I make compositional sketches and make sporadic notes. For this notebook I use pen and ink, because it forces me to focus on only what is essential.  These sketches are purposely incomplete.   I want to leave enough unfinished to allow for creative choices in the completed painting, not simply copying something in a larger format or in a different media.   I record other possible subjects based on the original idea.

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The next step involves sketching on the canvas (sometimes in paint, sometimes in charcoal or pencil).  Again not a complete sketch, just the broad outlines of the composition.  Sometimes I do this before staining the canvas, sometimes after.  In this case I sketched on the white canvas.  Next comes beginning to block in.

Beginning to block in the painting was the source of inspiration for the change in the composition.   The white of the canvas struck me as the waves breaking / receding from the rocks.  It was a much more dynamic composition than my original concept.  I then completed the block utilizing Burnt Sienna and then moved on to complete the painting making subtle changes along the way.

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The first time I'd really heard about "covering the canvas" was in an artists studio in North Conway New Hampshire.  Richard Gordan Packer was the artist.  It was quite cold in the studio we could see our breath!   Mr. Packer was preparing canvases for a painting trip to Massachusetts while kindly answering my questions while letting me watch him paint.

He was explaining his process to me.  He was going to a place where he knew he wanted to paint.  It included wharfs and warehouses, which he blocked in to prepare his canvases for painting on location throughout different times of the day and different weather conditions.  He then told me stories about his travels to Europe and what he'd learned about the villages he painted.  He told me these stories one painting at a time.  As a history buff, I very much enjoyed hearing about his artistic journey and his travels throughout the world and the United States.

The painting on the left was me utilizing leftover paint from another painting.  I hate the thought of wasting paint.  The original idea was a fall scene with reflections in water.  But as the painting progressed I was drawn away from that idea to the forest and meadows I explored and played in while growing up in Westbrook Maine.  Most of those childhood playgrounds are gone.  Long since developed.  But the memories remain.

He kindly let me observe him painting.  So much of what he said was beyond me, at that time, as I had barely begun my artistic journey and I'd not experimented with oil paints.  He spoke fondly about North Conway, when he'd built his house and studio back in the early 1950's.  How he'd worked as a truck driver to continue to pursue his painting career.  Long before the arrival of outlet stores.  Just the beauty and charm of the region and of small village life.  One winter landscape painting caught his attention and he shared the story of snowshoeing to this spot and painting this scene for a friend.

This is a painting of his which is similar to the canvas he was prepping on the day of my visit.  He was actually preparing multiple canvases of the same scene.

Oil Painting by R. G. Packer

I never had the opportunity to connect with Mr. Packer again.  I was unable to connect with Mr. Packer on my next visit to North Conway and shortly afterward I'd learned that he had passed away.  He was so generous with his time and gentle advice on how to get started with painting on location.  I'll always be thankful for that visit.

I remember my mother and her sisters talking about the early days in North Conway.  I always enjoyed our trips to visit my Aunt on Mt. Cranmore.  I even remember the covered bridge which has long since burned down.  Later, my wife and I would enjoy Christmas shopping, walking along the smaller stores on Main Street.

#oilpainting #northconway #newhampshire #maine #westbrook #RGPacker #RichardGordanPacker #arttherapy #fallinnewengland

My wife, then girlfriend, introduced me to Long Island Maine.  It's a small, but beautiful island, formally part of Portland, ME but it has since seceeded and become its own town.  We went out by mailboat and then walked to the other side of the island to a beautiful beach facing the open Atlantic. I found the water there to be very bracing compared to the beaches on the mainland.

There's a lot more history to explore on this island - it was a gathering and refueling point for convoys in World War II but that is a story for another time.

At the far end of the beach beyond the sand dunes and rocks is a beautiful house that has always captured my attention.

Years later, while chaperoning an 8th grade class trip to Long Island I completed the following two sketches for future reference, using the later as reference for the sunset watercolor.

  

These sketches were all filed away for years.  At the time these were painted I didn't really have any developed working method.

Now, from time to time I'll revist sketches when conditions don't allow for painting on location. Below is an example of some small compositional sketches and notes and a quick color study that had an emphasis on the sky as I was quite interested to see what effect different perspectives would have on the mood of the painting.

I'd really like to set up on the beach for a good storm.....

#workingmethods #seriespainting #watercolor #pencil #charcoal #pleinairpainting #Maine #longisland #arttherapy #LongIsland #cascobay

This acrylic was painted on location at Harmon's Beach Sebego Lake, Maine many falls ago.  I can remember the day like it was yesterday.  I used a heavy french easel which I had to prop against a tree to keep it from being knocked over by the strong wind gusts.

It was so cold, that when I finished painting, I couldn't drop the paint brush, I needed to remove it from my right hand with my left.

I was focused on the water and sky, amazed at all the colors that we often think of a simply a grey day.  Like any painting I look at later, there are some things that I would do differently now, but i was and still am pleased with the effort.  I captured things that I could never have imagined because it was painted start to finish on location (en plein air).

When I look at this today, I am transported back to that moment in time.  I can hear the crashing windblown surf, and feel and hear the howl of the wind and the spray from the waves.

If you've never tried painting on location, I'd encourage you to do so.  Don't let people talk you out of painting on location by talking about all the challenges - its still worth it.  I've found that even though some of the effects I'm trying to capture in nature are still beyond me, the mind takes in far more than you are aware of at the time.

For me, sometimes, things go exactly as I hope, or I have happy accidents, and I have a picture ready to frame.  At other times, I use the piece as a reference for a studio work, or I use bits and pieces of what I've painted in other painting compositions.  Others simply are stacked up in the studio. the result of many lessons learned - unlikely to ever see the light of day (or the internet).  Still it is time well spent, in my opinion.

This was my first pass (with leftover paint!) of a coastal scene I've been experimenting with in charcoal and watercolor.  The rocks are a mixture of blues, reds, and yellow's with a dash of white.

This is an example of "playing with paint" which accomplishes more than one purpose.  For starters, I hate to waste paint, so when I do have paint leftover when I finish a subject, I will have canvasses ready to be primed (even if already factory primed).

Secondly, it gives me an opportunity to begin blocking in the composition if I have one already planned out - in this case I did.

Third, it allows me to experiment with compositions.  In this case I raised the heigth of the background peninsula.  I don't like how that changed the flow of the picture, so I'll paint over it.

Fourth - it also allows me to experiment with color mixing on a subject rather than simply as an academic exercise (although it's fine to make color squares as well. - practice is practice.)

#workingmethods #playingwithpaint #paintinginprocess #paintingtips #seascape #arttherapy #RobertKahlerLandscapepainting #colormixing

Riverbank Deep Woods - Oil on Canvas 18" x 24"

Pass #1

At the time that I painted this, I was experimenting with the foreground to get a sense of scale.  I knew it wasn't having the intended effect the moment I painted in the tree and figure, but I just decided to let it set it aside for awhile.

As I studied the painting further, I also came to realize that the foreground composition was distracting the eye from entering the painting.  Which led to pass number 2.

Pass #2

I was pleased with the strengthened composition in pass 2.  It was better, but still not what I wanted it to be.  I worked on bringing up areas of the entire painting - adding highlights throughout as well as more indications of movement in the water.

The remaining adjustments involved adjusting the Pine in the foreground, both height and overlapping to push the other trees and river further back.

Final Pass

#oilpainting #workingmethods #landscapepainting #designtips #lessonslearned #arttherapy #newengland #fallcolor #robertkahlerlandscapepainting  #pushingpaint #impressionism #artforsale

Creativity versus Predictability?

I reject the premise of the question.  It assumes that one can be creative or predictable.  I reject that notion.  While I admit, the idea of an artist so lost in their subject with paintings strewn across the floor oblivious to all but what they are trying to express appeals to me - and when it happens there is little in life that compares to those moments.  None the less, I have found that there are steps you can take to make these moments more and more the rule than the exception.

In this post, I'm discussing the advantages of developing your own working methods and organization so that you can spend most of your time actually creating.

I enjoy hearing about other peoples working methods.  You'll develop your own working methods through time and trial and error.  Take what works from others and make it your own.  In my experience this is as true for art as it is in all walks of life.  I don't have just one working method - for those of you who know me that comes as no surprise. However, I do spend more time now planning a painting than I used to - but its taken me 15 years to get to that point.  Time wasted looking for supplies or reference sketches does get old after awhile.

Whenever possible I try to paint the subject on location. I've found that when I refer back to on location works there is so much more in my memory that I was consciously aware of at the time.  When I cannot paint on location, I try to make some quick studies or sketches on location or at least to spend some time getting the feel of a location.

The three sketches below were completed on a camping trip to Houghton Maine years ago.  Most of my on location paintings are done in watercolor - due to ease of transport.

  

Sharing involves risk.

The first time I decided to share my paintings publicaly in an art show was an experience I'll not soon forget.  I was so enthused - that no one could have talked me out of it.  No one could have convinced me that I wasn't ready for the experience.

Until the person across from me came to set up for the day.  Breathtaking portraits and landscapes seemed determined to leap off of the canvases which barely contained them.  There was a huge crowd around his booth all day.  My work garnered little, if any, interest.  A few casual visitors to the booth outside of family and friends. 

Then it happened.  Two people came back with others in tow to share with each other their feelings that two of my paintings had triggered in them.

One painting was a sunset / landscape completed after a camping trip to Tumbledown Mountain in Maine.  It was a small watercolor.  A gentleman came back with his wife, another artist in the show, and they both simply stared at the painting for quite awhile.  Feeling self conscious I felt the need to make conversation and clearly indicate that I fully realized just how far I had to go as an artist before I showed my work again.

They both shook their heads no.  He pointed at the painting and said "You've got it with that one.  I can feel it."  He said other complimentary things that I can't remember - as I was in shock. Someone liked my work?



The painting above was an attempt to capture the colors and mood of a sunset during a camping trip to Tumbledown Mountain.

The other painting (see below) was a monochrome acrylic based on the riverside mills of my then hometown, Westbrook, Maine.  Two sisters stood and talked with one another about how the painting reminded them of their childhood home in Massachusetts.





The paintings could not have been any more different in medium, color, or mood.  What they did have in common was they were based on my own direct observations of nature and the feelings those experiences evoked in me.

I learned a lot as a result of that first show.  Many practical lessons about framing and showing work - all important but not really the most important lesson learned.  The paintings could not have been any more different in medium, color, or mood.  What they did have in common was they were based on my own direct observations of nature and the feelings those experiences evoked in me.

I was exhausted and encouraged.  By putting my work "out there"  I had managed, in a very very small way, to communicate and to connect with others through my art.  

That's a journey I've been on ever since.https://www.facebook.com/mainepleinairpainter/

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