I have had a gratifying and surprising time with my online class. As you may know, as students work through the stages, each may submit an image of their work online so that I may then critique it. And so I do, each and every image, providing direction, illumination of the method as best I can. And the other students see and follow along too, often commenting themselves. What is surprising is that, in some ways, the interaction is more personal than in a live workshop, maybe because others are reading the exchange and because the written word requires a degree of exactness and specificity that may be absent in a live workshop. I thought it might be useful to post some of these exchanges for you to see.

First Three Stages: Cecilia’s Hanging Flower

Cecilia: I still am heavy handed with the paint in the Construction stage, and either ends up too light or way too dark. I am still learning to control my brush strokes. In the photo the Underpainting is darker than in the real one, and perhaps it is still too dark. I have left the flower open as I find that the shadows in there feel like they are closer to the white value than to the middle value.

Jerry: Your Composition and Construction are nearly excellent; had you had a little more variety of line in your Construction, as you did in your Composition, I would have said excellent. In your underpainting, you are straying away a bit. Based upon the photo, I would say that the leaves are more dull, not so bright green, ditto with the darks in the flower. 

Composition: Bob’s Vase and Lemons

Bob: Here are the charcoal value separation lines. I whisked off the gesture lines first (some are still visible) because putting in the lightest value separation lines over top of those would be confusing. I also used my Lorraine glass, hopefully to decent effect but … thanks!

Jerry: This is good Bob but next time keep the gesture lines. If the lighter separation lines compete with the gesture lines, no problem. Also the more you do the gesture lines, the more they will be minimal.

Jerry: (Later) I was thinking about your gesture drawing – keep the photo. It was really good. It had lots of feeling. The trick is to sustain or amplify or modulate that feeling throughout the process. And as soon as you go off the tracks, if you do, start over. (In principle!!)  

Construction: Alice’s Three Pears

Jerry: Let’s just focus on the pear on the right and the same thoughts apply to the others. If I just look at your construction of that pear, it looks pretty much as an outline; i.e., there is a line around the entire pear. However, when I look at the pear itself, much of the shadow side melts into the cast shadow. Similarly the light side doesn’t separate evenly around the top. So I would say that in the construction of the pear on the right you are drawing a pear more than you are just responding to value separations.       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alice’s final stage of the three pears is shown above.

Alice: Hi Jerry. Well, here’s the painting attempt. Thank you for your feedback and help–and I won’t do corrections this time!

Jerry: Glorious!   

Underpainting: Frances’ Daffodils

Frances: I was unsure about what color to paint the background, so stopped here. I also photo-cropped the composition which you correctly said was too much in the center. It looks much better in the 9×12 format. Should I try another one or go onto a new composition??

Jerry: Very nice. I like the airiness of it. Now, do not let the canvas come through in the middles or darks (assuming it is a white or light canvas); just the lights. Also, it is hard to tell if your colors are strokes (the green in the left pear) – if so, save that for the painting. Underpaintings are just scumbling application. Anyway, very nice. You could stop here.  

Underpainting: Christine’s Teapot and Pear

Christine: Still don’t have the variety, delicate touch, mystery, color sense that I see in yours.

Jerry: You’re getting better. Leave more open for the lights…the entire left side of the tea pot and more of the pear on the left side. The front part of the spout and the top of the handle. Squint way down. Don’t see objects. Reduce everything to 3 values, leave all lights open. You are scumbling into the lights on the tea pot. Leave them OPEN. Remember, you will get your chance to do the lights. It’s the very last step. You have to be patient and allow the white of the canvas to work for you.  

Painting: Mike’s Flowers

 

 

Mike: Final effort. More Vincent than Claude but I do feel there is a bit of life there. After reading that Turner once tied himself to a mast to experience a storm I realize I don’t have that dedication. If I’m out and about I prefer to wander around and explore rather than stay in one place and paint. How I managed to stay still on your wonderful course I don’t know, perhaps due to the teacher. As the summer proceeds here I’ll do a Monet and paint my garden.

Jerry: Nice painting! I like the way you handled the grass in the back. Also, I think you handled well, what is a complicated set up. I think you could have hit the lights in the flowers a little more. And the vases may be too rich and deep in color. They were in the shade and there are probably more shady colors. Little veils of color that have nothing to do with the ceramic vases themselves. Try to see the chunk of air between you and the vases. Not easy, I know.  

Painting: Frances’ Irises

Jerry: Gorgeous, Frances.

Something to think about going forward: re-read the intro where I talk about descriptive painting vs expressive painting. Flowers are challenging in this way (http://www.fresia.com/philosophy/on-painting-flowers/) – their beauty is “horribly obvious” …. Everyone gets the beauty of flowers so the question then becomes, what do you see that others, non-visual artists, don’t see. A painting of flowers ought not be about the flowers as much as an expression of the subtle colors – or whatever – that move you.

Technical considerations: when you left the lights open in the flowers in the underpainting stage – allow the white canvas to show through in parts, in the painting stage, so that they vibrate with the little pieces of blue or purple – ie, broken color. Open your strokes more so that one can see past the surface layer of the painting stage. In the area of the stems, find the grays or pinks (for example) amid the greens/yellows – using strokes that go against the form (horizontally in this case).

The next step is the hardest – how to get past the facts? How to find notes of rich color amid the atmospheric color. How not to finish so that the painting is brimming with suggestion. How to paint, not the flowers, but the atmosphere between you and the flowers. You are entering advanced territory. I’m impressed with how well you were able to manage a complex subject. Brava!

Frances: Excellent article on painting flowers. Letting go into the world of sensations vs. the world of description feels like Alice going through the looking glass!!

Jerry: Indeed! It really is a paradigm shift.  

 

Paradigm Shift

My job as a teacher is to break the painting process down into its constitutive parts and to lay bare those parts to illuminate the order and relationship of the parts for the students. So teaching has the unfortunate aspect of making an organic process seem mechanical. The required paradigm shift that I mention is this: as one paints, one needs to transition to a realm of wonder and excitement. It’s about expression, not production. Moreover, we are too busy with pleasure to look for results, too anxious to feel the excitement of a new beginning, often, to finish the painting we are working on. Finishing, as are all the other external measures, is like having to make your bed as a kid. If you want to be a painter, learn to dash out of the room before your mother catches you. Your life depends on it. And so does your art.