My art!

Arriving home from Paris, in late June of 2020, with the knowledge that I wouldn’t be opening my business up again, for some time, made me realize that I’d have to find something to do that was engaging and allowed me to learn. So, I decided that I’d do something I’d always been curious about, I’d learn to paint. When I did my undergraduate degree, the art I focused on was ceramics and photography. Neither of these, it turns out, prepares one to paint! It also turns out that the training I had at FIT to be a fashion designer and to draw fashion models with markers, doesn’t really help either!

Below are my early attempts of drawing Bargue Plates, from Sadie Valerie’s online drawing course, using the Charles Bargue (1826-1883) method. Above, all 4 references photo’s from Upsplash.

I decided to start painting with water oils. I didn’t want the smell of oils in our house and I liked the idea of an easier clean up. (I still have not used oil paint, so I can’t tell you what the difference is but I can see that when water oils dry, they don’t shine the way oil paints do.) My first few attempts at painting were disasters and very quickly, I saw that I needed to go back to basics; before I could paint, I really needed to brush up on my drawing skills. I found a teacher online, Sadie Valerie, who had a number of pre-recordered lessons for purchase and I bought her beginning drawing class. Sadie is a classically trained painter and I had never heard of the method that she uses. I was fascinated and I literally spent a few weeks just trying to draw a “perfect” circle, freehand! My drawing skills came back fairly quickly and definitely improved from what they had once been, with this new method. I tried painting, once again. What I was beginning to understand, is just how vast a subject matter painting is. There are so many pieces to learn. There are the different brushes and brush strokes, how to hold the brush, the pressure of the brush, which brush to choose for the desired effect, different canvases, how to treat the canvas before starting to paint and what to do, when the painting is done. The theory of colour which, in and of itself, is a large body of knowledge, and even though I knew about some of the aspects of colour, I still found it challenging to put tonal variations into colour. There’s perspective, line, edges, how to not over work a painting, how to know when a painting is finished, the list goes on. Part of me felt daunted, overwhelmed but another part of me was thrilled to have something that I could really dive deeply into, during this very strange and frankly sad time of covid.

Below is one of the studies that I did from one of Will Kemp’s, free, online art course.

I’m so fortunate to have wonderful friends who have encouraged me to keep painting and one who came to my rescue in those early days, Tereza, is herself an accomplished political artist and art professor in Boston. She and I made a weekly commitment to connect via zoom for an hour on Friday’s, so that she could see what I was up to, give me a painting lesson and encourage me to keep going. When I whined about not knowing my style, could I actually do this, etc., etc., she would slightly impatiently and sometimes with slight exasperation and always with kindness (and in a way that only a good teacher can muster, all at once), tell me that I know how to do this. “Jen, you really do. You are already doing it.” I’m happy to say, that almost two years later, she and I still connect weekly on zoom and now share our work with each other and now, I whine, about other things!

Below is a painting I did, after doing Charla Maarschalk’s online Bold school course. The reference photo I used, was from Upsplash.

In the beginning I tried all sorts of subject matter; I tried portraits, how hard could they be? Hard. Landscapes, because I’ve taken so many photo’s, so I have plenty of subject matter and how hard could it be? Hard. I wanted to paint roses, they looked really hard to do. They were. Animals? I’ll never want to paint them. Then I tried. Actually it was a very beautiful experience and I got such good feed back on them from friends. Hard? Yes, but also really rewarding. And I fretted, constantly. Am I an artist? Will I be good enough to be an artist? What’s my style? Do I have a style? Will I get a style? How do I get a style? And on and on. But through all my questioning I kept going. I’d finish a course online and then find another to take. I read veraciously, anything I could find about art and process and technique. I felt the weight of being years behind in my knowledge and experience and I realized that the only way to get better at painting was to paint. I discovered Sorella (1863-1923). Do you know his work? You absolutely should. I can’t believe that he is not part of the impressionist group that we all know and love. He was the true painter of light, yes, better than all the rest, in this regard. The good news is that he was famous, well compensated and recognized for his great work, the true painter of light, during his lifetime. There is a collection of his work in The Hispanic Society of American in NYC, that I hope to see this summer.

Below is a lion I painted, that was part of a bonus offering, at the end of Charla’s course. I surprised my self by really enjoying the process and I got really great feedback. The reference photo I used, is from Upsplash. The two pages of faces are from a portrait course I did through ArtProf. It was such a brilliant course. The brown crayon faces where all under 10 minutes and the blue crayon faces with red marker, was from an exercise that required us to draw a face and then put the skull in, to see if we were on track with the position of the facial features.

Here is an exciting discovery; by the summer of 2021, I was starting not to just understand art differently, but I could see art differently. We drove to NYC and when I visited the MET, and was often the only person standing in the impressionist rooms (that still feels like a dream) and looking at those same paintings that I have been so fortunate to see, so many times over the years, I saw them differently. I really understood what I was looking at in terms of the techniques of painting. It was absolutely thrilling. The timed slot that I had that day at the MET, was the earliest one and there were times, sometimes 20 minutes or so, before anyone else walked into the room. It was magical. I realized then, that what ever else happened, I’d always keep painting.

Below is a painting I did, from a photo I took of my daughter, Juliana, when she was just shy of 3 years old. We were visiting an art gallery in Santa Fe. I was surprised and pleased that from some paint particles, I could make metal look like metal and fabric look like fabric!

This August it will be roughly two years of exploring the art of painting. What have I learned? That looking is the most important thing and doing comes second. I’ve learned a lot of the technical aspects of painting, I’ve learned that what inspires me to paint is an emotional connection to a subject, so I can paint anything, so long as I feel that connection. I’ve learned that the ups and downs an artist experiences with the work they are currently doing are normal and that most paintings are a puzzle in the beginning. I’ve learned that even the so called masters continue(d) to make mistakes. I just recently understood, that my style shows up in every painting because only I can place the paint on the canvas in that particular way and the same goes for everyone else. I know that each painting builds on the last and I no longer worry about whether I’m good enough to be an artist. Now, I just paint!

Below is the list of some of the artists that have helped me on this journey and the links to their websites. I hope they can inspire you as well!

Below: This little watercolour landscape painting is from my imagination. The other two show a little bit of the process of watercolour. Reference photo of the woman, is from ArtProf flicker collection. I’m just starting to learn how to use watercolours and I love working with them!

I’ll be back in about month’s time with another blog post about summer travels and maybe even share some “plein air” watercolour sketches (a first for me, since I’ve never painted plein air) from my travels. Be well, thanks for reading and I look forward to working with you, in late July, when I get back!

Artists:

Tereza Swanda - is a political artist and professor. We met at a mommy & me yoga class, when our girls where just month’s old. I’ve been so fortunate to watch Tereza’s career as a political artist grow over the years and I’m so grateful for her continued support. Recently, she helped to raise money for clean drinking water for Ukrainians, with a group of her artist friends, each selling their work(s) and donating all of the profits to the cause. Her website is here Tereza Swanda and for the Ukrainian fund raiser: Raise money for Ukraine

Sadie Valerie’s online atelier - Sadie’s online school was the first one I came across online. I did her beginner drawing course and I loved learning the French Bargue method, that she teaches. Sadie Valeri Atelier

Will Kemp is a very congenial British artist and I found that watching him paint was very helpful. I also did a few of his free online painting studies, the apple was one of them. He has loads of free stuff on his site, so very generous. Will Kemp

Dan Scott is a New Zealand artist. I love Dan’s book recommendations and the way he can analyze a painting. He’s also so generous with the amount of free things, on his website. Dan Scott

Charla Maarschalk trained as a painter of realism but she broke away from that style and paints in a very loose, very colourful style that she calls Bold Style. I tried a few of her online courses, because I love colour, and I love her style, but I find it challenging, even though many have mastered it. She also has a sweet online community. Charla Maarschalk

Clara Lieu is an accomplished artist and former student and professor of RISD. She runs the online art school, ArtProf. I was extremely fortunate to find ArtProf in the winter of ‘21. Clara is a brilliant and passionate art teacher. I love watching her draw or paint, she is so confident in her brushstrokes and mark making. All courses on ArtProf are free and they have everything, I mean everything, you need to become a successful artist! I’ve since taken 2 of her paid for classes and they are absolutely brilliant. She sets the tone for the ArtProf online community in such a way, that all feel welcome and supported. ArtProf Clara Lieu website