On the bicycle trail to the right

It has been over a year since I last posted on my blog and it seems that every time I would try to paint something, it never satisfied me enough to keep working at it.  For at least a week I have been playing around with colors, markings, surfaces and just about everything I can find in my studio.  My idea was to abstract one of the favorite references I have taken on our ranch and it was supposed to be and abstract painting, but I've never been able to abstract a real image, I have always had to start off on a blank canvas with no image in my mind, and keep working with the process. Nevertheless, I had fun with this one because I'm not a landscape artist and I had only worked abstracts with oil and palette knife, very seldom with anything figurative. 

Images of the end of the first week

This workshop I have  been writing about is a workshop I took several months ago, but since the teacher would come from Mexico City for one week, during  a three month period, it has taken me some time to organize the work and photograph it.  On the Friday the teacher  left after the first week, it was announced to us that we had to do some homework that consisted of four oils using a very limited palette, plus colors and combinations we did not frequently use.  He gave us the titles of the paintings, and that would be the theme. The first one was "In the middle of the Jungle", followed by a title I had forgotten but had to do with the elements of nature.  The third was " A Rock in my Path" and the fourth was "A Pelican eating a Fish at Sea"  They could be abstract or realistic and mostly from imagination.

A Pelican eating a Fish at Sea

                                                                    

A Rock in my Path

Element of Nature

                 In the Middle of the Jungle                     

More fast excercises with crayon during a recent workshop

Again these exercises had to be done fast and there was no time to correct or try to make the coloring of paper smoother. These were interesting but very confusing when you tried to take advantage of the creases and design made by marking lines at random.  This exercise consisted of making folds in the paper and drawing a line or curve from the crease line to whatever point we wished.  As the paper was folded the previous line was covered making it imposible to know what kind of design was being created. The paper could not be unfolded until all the paper had been used up. Once it was unfolded we were supposed to color portions we found interesting, and try to create an interesting piece.  Another challenge in these exercises was the fact that  we were supposed to use colors  and combinations that we had seldom used or that for some reason we disliked.

As the time for the second exercise started, I tried to be more careful with my choice of creases and lines but time was up, before I could finish it.

This looks like a childs drawing but the only thing that mattered was to be able to use the creases, lines and color in an expressive way without altering any of those creases or lines.  The truth is I had no idea what I was going to do when I had no control over the exercise.  This was the first that to me was a little bit of a nightmare and I think it was expressed in the result.

Finished charcoal and exercises from two recent workshops

 

It has been such a long time since I last posted anything but I had been very busy taking three different workshops and my usual gesture, figure drawing. About two months ago, I finished my charcoal, Pitcher and Peach, which I enjoyed doing very much and it is now showing at the Newberry Gallery in Santa Monica CA. http://newberrygallery.com/.

The following images are exercises done in these workshops I mentioned above, and am only posting as what they are; work done in class with different approaches to spark creativity.

The first workshop I took at the Art Center was  taught by Artist Saul Kaminer from Mexico City, who masters both painting and sculpture. Here is a link of his latest exhibit. http://www.conaculta.gob.mx/fotogaleria.php?id=3402. During the first week of the workshop he asked us to take just plain kraft paper and draw  objects as he called out the names of them. We would close our eyes and draw anywhere on the paper trying to reach the edges of the paper and overlapping the objects over the next object called out. Here are some examples of those exercises. I have used colored paper underneath the exercise to bring out the design and colors used.  In the first exercise we were allowed to use only two color, then three and ending  with four in the last exercise. The paper underneath doesn't count.  We were asked to use crayons and there was no time to improve or think of what the end result would look like.  To finish the exercise we had to cut the paper in an asymmetrical design and cut out portions in some.  The workshop consisted of four weeks everyday, from 10:00AM to 2:00PM, spaced in between by three weeks of homework.

There is more work to show, and I will in the following days hoping to keep up with my blog and start working on some Alla Prima still lifes after I close the chapter on this experience with figurative expressionism and Latin American Art.

Two unfinished pastels

I worked on these Saturday afternoon but I now see that I have to go back and work on more contrast. I also made the mistake of spraying fixative over them to transport back home and it seems that quite a bit of the pastel blew away.

Gesture Drawing

I have been taking a figure drawing class at our new art center, here in town. The class consists of three hours, three times a week, with live model on two days. I have taken three weeks so far, and find it very challenging but worthwhile. We are working with line drawing and fast gesture drawings without looking at the paper, in either case. My main interest in this class is to loosen up a bit and in this way help me in whatever medium I work in. While at my computer today, I got a call from a close friends that loves to talk, fortunately I had my newsprint pad and pen close to me. Before I knew it I had it on my lap and was trying to sketch the sofa in front of me, but quickly found that not thinking of what I was doing and just scribbling, was a much better way to disconnect and just enjoy gesture drawing. I'm sure this could use a lot more work but it is just and exercise, so I will leave it as it is.

Goodbye to a good friend and teacher

Alberto Martinez 1942-2009. Almost 20 years ago I decided to enroll in a drawing class at the Instituto Potosino de Bellas Artes. I was welcomed by an interesting individual with a mustache like that of Dali and a resemblance to him, quite tall with the elegance and the dignity of a Mexican folklore ballet dancer. This was Alberto, a very talented dancer and a prize winning, superb artist. After two weeks of drawing class he told me, that if I was interested in taking his experimental workshop at the Institute, I could draw well enough for his class. ( I realize Experimental Art and Mixed Media Art, can be executed without great skills in drawing.) He was a teacher that taught me how to lose the fear of ruining what I was working on, and to have the courage to experiment and create with the heart and soul. He also taught me to use a great array of different materials you would usually not use together, and maybe some of his teachings could be called a little unorthodox, but they brought great satisfaction when something would cause a unique effect, that would work artwise. At times I would get frustrated and he would say "turn the painting to the wall and look at it in two weeks, if you don't like it then, you cover it with gesso and start all over again." Every Wednesday morning I would still get together with him, and my friend and classmate Vivi, at her house. We would work a little, or just usually chat over a cup of coffee. One of the last things he said to me was that he would like to see and exhibition of mine, consisting of many more of the charcoal pieces I have done under the mentorship of Michael Newberry. This Wednesday Alberto didn't show up, and unfortuantely, news came today that he had passed away yesterday.

Alberto didn't have a website, like niether do many of the well known local artists here do, they sell their work by having solo exhibitions several time a year, and I don't have any work of his to show either.

I made this photo collage of some very old work I did in his class as a tribute to him today, and unfortuantely they are not of the best of many pieces I did have. Those that I don't have, all belong to someone else, and I don't even have photographs of them. Most of these pictures were taken with a 35mm camera and I scanned them today, so I apologize for the unorganized and quick work, but I didn't want this day to go by without my sharing the loss of this dear friend.

Charcoal WIP

I have been working on this charcoal piece for about a month but I realize that it is so highly detailed in the reflexions, that it has kept me from posting other work on my blog. I think this will be the last of very detailed pieces, and I would like to do some much more simple but strong still lifes. I have this thing about finishing the work I have started before starting anything else because the set ups take up the space I need for something else, although it also might be the idea of not getting back to the piece, if I work on another piece. I am seriously going to work on changing that trait in me, and also post more WIPs if I don't finish a piece, soon. This one has quite a bit more work to be done and quite a few corrections. I know Michael Newberry is very busy with the opening of his gallery, so it probably won't be until after that, when he will be able to see this. One question I have in my mind about this charcoal still life is, if it is way to busy with the amount of detail going on in it. The peach is very small for the size of the pitcher, but it is done intentionally because of what it symbolizes next to this myriad of detail. It is also a Mexican peach that is very small, but incredibly juicy a tasteful. This will not be the final peach because I will leave it to the very last, until I find the exact peach to use for the drawing.

Cactus flowers

It has been such a long time since I last posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on art. I have several plein air paintings to edit, a pastel to repeat and I am working on a new charcoal. My intention was to do an easy charcoal so that I could finish it fast, but when I start gathering objects I always end up with something a little more elaborate that what I had in mind. So far I have almost half readable, and I soon plan to post a WIP. I keep discovering things in it that hace a lot to do with the story behind it, making this journey exciting and fun.

In the meantime I will post this picture of some cactus flowers I came across in one of my outings at the ranch. I love this season because all of these exotic plants bloom this time of year and I ask mysel how a plant that can look so vicious and maybe unattractive to some, can offer such gorgeous colors in its flowers.

Bottle and silk satin still life study

When I first set this up, my idea was to paint an almost white painting but when I put the light on the set up, the satin and bottle both took up so many different colors, that it was a little overpowering and confusing. I don't know what suggestions will be made by Michael Newberry yet because this is one of several that I am getting together for our next session. I have tried to stay away from glass because it just seems so much more difficult to convey with paint than it is with graphite or charcoal. So this was a challenge that will seduce me to try painting more glass in oil.

Two unfinished weekend Plein Airs

It has been a long time since I have posted but as you all know I was quite busy. I want to have several other pieces done before sending these to Michael Newberry, getting advice and his opinion, so I will post them as unfinished pieces. I have noticed that if I don't continue in spite of not wanting to post until I am sure of a piece, I tend to lose interest and after being away from Art about a month, I better keep moving.:)

Happy New Year

Today is the 5th of January and I had not had a chance to wish all of you a happy New Year from my blog. Although I know my blog should be about art and not family and work life, but regardless of this, what surrounds the artist, always has an affect of somekind on the art we try to produce. The truth is, my famlily life has been very active in these last few weeks that I really haven't had a chance to produce any art, but I do paint with my eyes as the colors, shapes, shadows of objects come in contact with them.

Beto and I spent our New Year's Eve at the ranch with our son Juan Carlos, his wife Sofia, and our two youngest grandchildren. It was our other two sons turn to share the last day of the year with their laws. We had an early dinner of cheese fondue and cold cuts, retired early and started a normal work day at the ranch. Beto got his irrigation system running and got a good sprinkle in the process of waiting for the camera shutter to click.

I couldn't help but sharing the photo of our youngest grandson Juan Carlos because at three months, he has never tasted anything close to what is on that cracker as his only food is still formula, but you can tell by the expression, his double chin and cheeks that he would enjoy so much getting some of that into his mouth.:)

I hope everyone will have a prosperous and healthy year. In spite of my year being very busy until the middle of February, I will try to paint what time will permit, post my work and read and comment on so many of my favorite blogs. Till then!

Merry Christmas

This post is a little late although it is still Christmas, today. Yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen preparing for our Christmas Eve dinner, that is celebrated in Mexico. This was the first time our three sons and their families were together with us on Christmas Eve, since they married. They usually take turns, one year with us and one the parents of their wives. The mother of my DIL Paola, very generously changed their celebration at noon so they could be with us at night. It will be my turn to do the same, next year.

Our menu was turkey with bread stuffing the way my mom used to make it, cranberry sauce which I can't be without at Christmas, and our Mexican Christmas Eve menu of Bacalao (cod fish) a la Viscaina, white rice and Christmas apple salad. As dessert we had natilla de almendra, turron from Spain, fruit cake and of course all of the nuts and dried fruits.

Our son Luis and his family came over from Aguascalientes where they live, so they were staying with us here at the house, but our son Juan Carlos and wife decided it would be a fun idea for them to spend the night also so that all the small grandkids could rush to our Christmas tree to see if Santa had brought them those long awaited gifts. To watch the excitement was a gift in itself for me.

I wish all of you and your families the best of the Holidays, whatever it be that you celebrate, and my best wishes for this coming year.

Cactus fencing

I was hoping to have a session with Michael before posting any of the recent work I have done, but it hasn't been possible, so I'll take the risk of posting something that might need a lot of correcting.

Robin Neudorfer mentioned in her very interesting and descriptive posts in her blog about the Plein Air workshop in Mexico, the fact that many of the village people in rural Mexico, use cacti to fence in, their houses. It is very true and unfortuantely a custom that is being lost. This type of cacti is so hardy and grows so easily from a prune that they won't be easily extinct. They are a Stenocereus cacti and have branches that come straight up from the stem and can be as tall as a medium size tree. If the branches are cut at the stem this serves as a prune that helps the plant, then branches are lined up on the ground to cut them the same size. After two weeks of laying in the sun to hea the cut part, they are then planted in the ground to use as fencing. If they are close enough together they eventually close the gaps between them and not only protect from intruders, but also make a nice wind barrier.

At the ranch we have a stucco wall surrounding most of the area but we only had a barbed wire fence that did not look very nice, surrounding part of the front and one side so we decided to wall in that area with cactus fencing. We have just recently done this, so I decided I would give it a try to paint the inside of the fencing on one side in my most recent Plein Air painting.

This fencing was possible with the generosity of the people living in the village who contributed with the pruning of their fences and with expertise of one of our faithful workers, Mayo and his father.

Tangerine Season

We have excellent sweet juicy tangerines in San Luis Potosi and I try to keep plenty around while the season lasts. It is one of my favorite fruits and I was lucky enough to rescue one from my husband, to try out another painting, from life. I almost finished it in one session but I was using natural light on it and partially shaded the left side but it began to get dark so I decided to try to finish it today. I'm sure this needs tweaking but after I get a few more paintings done I will send them to Michael Newberry for our next session.

A few wet on wet studies

It has been such a long time since I last posted work. Life gets in the way sometimes but the desire to produce some art, is always there. I have had to find an easier way to produce my art until I decide if I'm going to have back surgery or not.

One of the things I left on my waiting list was trying some Plein Air and putting into practice what I learned from Michael Newberry during the workshop. There is one Plein Air of these three small paintings (12x9.5in.), and two attemps of wet on wet. The interior was really just a study of the white wall to learn how to mix in some colors into the white. I enjoyed doing that very much but didn't plan my composition right and the painting only includes a fourth of the wall, so I'm afraid it doesn't read very well. The onions still life started as an alla prima, but I got interrupted so many times that I was only able to work on it for a while during three days, so by then most of the paint was dry.

This has gotten me back in the swing of painting so I hope I will be posting much more often.

New Grandson

It has been a long time since I last posted in my blog but life has been busy and a little hectic sometimes. Although one very happy incident in my life, was the birth of our new grandson Juan Carlos, born September 18. He is very good little baby so far, and sleeps almost all of the time as most babies do. His sister Sofìa is a sweet little protective sister but was not all that happy today when I got to carry him. She wanted my attention quickly, which is something that flattered me very much since it is usually me who can't get enough of her attention and she had been more of a granpa girl until today. :)

Artwise I have had to slow down due to a herniated disk in my spine but I am excited because Michael Newberry has suggested I use his Plein Air technique using small panels on still life set ups from life. This will be much easier because, in spite of the fact that I will do them in one session I won't be fighting with the light changes until I get enough practice to try them outside or indoors on natural lit subjects. I hope to post these soon!

Close to the final update and workshop

Michael Newberry

Kristin Daly painting on the ranch grounds

Plein Air group watching Michael's 2nd demo

Plein Air group at Mineral de Pozos
Left to right: Sandra Rice, Elizabeth Wepsic, Michael Newberry, Robin Neudorfer, Kristin Daly


In the meantime I also had the pleasure to host Michael Newberry's Plein Air workshop at our ranch in San Luis Potosi. It was an unforgettable experience for me and one that I will cherish dearly. We took two excursions. One to Mineral de Pozos and one to San Miguel Allende. The group painted on the way there and the rest of the time at the ranch. I learned very much from just listening and watching Michael. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish my pieces because I was a little more worried about the hosting and also found that painting wet on wet is not as easy as Michael makes the technique look. Now I will apply what I learned watching and listening as soon as I get the feel of the wet on wet technique, without making mud.

I have really been slow at updatng my blog but life has gotten so busy for me lately. The last time Michael and I discussed my painting there was some minor tweaking needed and I hope to work on that this coming week. This is my last updated picture and I hope that when I post the last update I will finally have an appropriate title for it.

Now for the last stretch.

I haven't been posting frequently on my blog lately but I have had quite a few things that need my attention and my painting has been coming along a little faster I feel, but maybe not as fast as I would like it to. I am sure I will still need to tweak the parts I have worked on, but at least I can post the painting with the color on the peaches now, and I am ready to start what I think will be the hardest part. The tissue paper! I have no idea how I will get it to look translucent but fortunately I have an incredible mentor that shows me how to solve these problems, like magic.

I have also been quite busy getting the ranch house ready for the Michael Newberry Workshop on the 5th of August. This will be another incredible experience for me and a great pleasure to have Michael in our home, and those taking the Plein Air workshop.

A pleasant surprise came this week in an email with a link to Michael Newberry's blog. It will be fun checking frequently for his new work that always shows a variety of Oil Masterpieces, Pastels, Charcoals and Plein Air.

Update on Peaches

I haven't updated my peaches painting on my blog, purposely because I feel that the fact that part of it is in grey scale and part is colored, can confuse the viewer a bit.

This has been a most interesting, intense task. It has been painting literally, inch by inch as Michael Newberry has taught me in the Mentor Program. Doing big studies of difficult areas in pastel or graphite, following my pastel color studies and also doing thumbnail sketches from the set up from different angles. I have to be honest and say I didn't see the sense in doing so much, but I did it and have found that these are tools a realist artist should not work without.

At the moment the Peaches and tissue paper are still in grisaille and the casted shadows on the platter might not make much sense, but once the peaches and tissue paper are colored and the light put in its place I think everything will fall into place. I plan to go a little faster now but still can't possibly know when I will finish it. I imagine there will be a tweaking stage at the end, but what is ahead of me will be done with great pleasure.