Class Announcement Feb 16th

First, Here's What We've Been Up To:

Our ongoing class at the Barrington Cultural Arts Center Studio in the Ice House has covered a lot of ground this fall!  The last several classes focused on portraiture and figure painting.  Here are a few examples of the demos from these classes:

Painting the Features

Painting the Form of the Head

Abstracting the Head

Abstracting the Figure

Painting Hair

And Here's What's Next:

Our next set of classes will focus on brushwork and paint application.  Many students have told me that they would love to get back to basics and learn about which brushes to use for different effects, and how to use brushwork to make their paintings more interpretive.  This is my favorite subject!  I can't wait to dive into this new area.

If you'd like to join us, please send me an email to reserve a spot.  Our next class will be on February 16th at the Ice House Mall in Barrington, IL.  We start at 9:30am, and class continues until 3:30 to give everyone plenty of time for painting.  I'd love to see you there!

The Mancini Challenge, continued

"Forgotten Teacup", 9x12"  oil on canvas mounted on board

The second half of the Dailypaintworks challenge was tougher than I thought it would be. After copying a master work, we were to paint an original painting with the master work serving as inspiration.  I set up a still life, put the Mancini copy on my easel for easy reference, and got to work.

I started painting with the Mancini copy in sight for inspiration

My mantra as I painted was, "Lots of paint, Keep it loose".  This part of the challenge was difficult, because now it was up to me to decide which edges I should lose, which highlights to hit the hardest, and what areas I could abstract entirely.  Mancini wasn't making the decisions anymore!

A few hours later

One of the most interesting parts of the challenge to me was that no matter how hard I may try to copy the style of a master, when it comes time to paint my own rendition, the painting won't look like it was painted by Mancini.  My style surfaces, no matter how hard I try to mimic someone else's.  It's my "fingerprint", and while I can absorb the influences of other painters, my paintings will always look pretty much like my own.  And I guess that's not an entirely bad thing!

I learned so much from this challenge.  If you'd like to see what other people painted, here's the link.

"Kelly", 9x12", oil on gessoed canvas

I could title this one "Youth and Idealism", since Kelly is leaving soon to study lions and elephants in their habitat in Africa.  I loved spending a few hours with someone so motivated to make the world a better place.

Starting with a Transparent Wash

"Meditation on Joy"

9x12", oil on canvas mounted on hardboard

The Hildt Gallery, Chicago

I thought I'd try a completely different approach with this little floral abstract painting.  Instead of setting up a floral arrangement to paint from, I thought I'd let the painting "create itself" this time.  

I started the painting with a little bit of paint and a whole lot of Gamsol (a paint solvent) to make my oil paint behave similarly to watercolor paint.  I dropped the different colors on the canvas and let them run together and spill right off the bottom.  All the while, I was observing what parts of the painting were speaking to me.  I wanted to develop the areas I liked with just enough detail without ruining the spontaneity of the abstract underneath.

Little by little, I snuck up on the painting, adding small dashes of color wherever I wanted to.  This was a pretty long, drawn out process.  After every few brush strokes, I stepped back about six feet and asked myself what I should do next.  To me, the process of abstract painting is much more intensive and tiring than painting from a reference.  In abstract painting, it's just you and the painting, without any outside guidance from reality.  

After this painting is mounted and framed, it's off to the Hildt Gallery.

"Early Snow, Colorado", 9x12"

"Early Snow" is a demo piece I painted for my workshop in Huntley a few weeks ago.  I used this painting to show how to simplify complex scenes into three values (light, middle, and dark)to make the job of painting a bit easier.  It was painted entirely using a palette knife, so simplification was very important!

This painting was purchased by one of the students in the class (thank you Marcie).

"The Gathering", 10x8"

It has snowed over a foot here in Illinois, so I thought it was time to paint some flowers to remind myself that spring is still in our future!

For purchase information, please click on Ann Feldman The Gathering.

"A Little Something", 6x8"

Last week, a friend of mine from the Grameen Foundation gave me this little bottle filled with coffee beans from a farm in Colombia.  As we chatted, I thought it would make a nice little painting subject.  I couldn't wait to get it home and put it under the lights!

For purchase information, please click on Ann Feldman "Little Something".

"Les Mandarins", 9x12", Painting in a Secret Garden

Les Mandarins, 9x12"

During our first few days in Limoux, we would stroll by huge cement walls that lined the sidewalk near the river.  Our hosts told us that there were some incredibly beautiful gardens behind those walls, and what a pity it was that we would never see what treasures were there.

And then our fortune changed!  A neighbor couple befriended us one day as we were painting the river behind their house.  They invited us to come to their home a few days hence to paint their garden.  From the elated look on our host's face, this was indeed going to be a rare treat.

Painting "Les Mandarines" in the secret garden

The view from our neighbor's window

 Winding paths led from one garden treat to another

Persimmons weighed down the branches of this tree

How fortunate we were that our neighbors opened their door to us.  We were able to see (and paint!) a secret part of Limoux that very few get to see.

New Work at J Petter Gallery

 "Fruit Lineup", 12x9"

 "Two Oranges", 12x9"

 "Pears With Stacked Bowls", 10x8"

"Red Daisies, Blue Vase",  14x11"

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped off a new batch of paintings to the J. Petter Gallery in Saugatuck, Michigan.  I am so happy to have my work in such a beautiful space.  Each of these pieces is hanging in the gallery now.  If you're in Michigan to do your last minute boating, or peeping at the beautiful leaves, I hope you'll stop in for a wine tasting and an art stroll!

And now it's time to pack my things and head to the south of France!  I'm meeting a group of artist friends for an intensive ten days of painting, indoors and out, led by the world famous Jeff Legg.  I'll have so much to report after painting oversees for the first time.  Just packing an easel and paints has been a learning experience so far.  I will try to post photos and maybe even some paintings while I'm there. A bientot!

"Floral Impressions", 16x20"

It is such great fun to pick flowers from the garden and set them up on the screen porch to paint. I like the way the light filters through the screen and lights up the flowers from behind.  I painted this one several times, destroying what I'd painted when it seemed that things were getting too tight.  I'm hoping the third time's the charm on this one.  Time to put down the paintbrush!

"The Rancher", 12x16" And A Lesson From Carolyn Anderson

"The Rancher", Ann Feldman

Last year, I took a workshop with Carolyn Anderson, a phenomenal impressionist painter.  I've admired her loose, interpretive style of painting for years, so I was thrilled to be able to see how she approaches a painting.  One of the things I came away with was that sometimes a small brush can be used to add some "air" and mystery to a painting.  Seems counterintuitive, since we are often told to reach for the largest brush possible when we try to loosen up our paintings.  

In "The Rancher", I used a #2 filbert brush (which is pretty darned tiny) for the entire painting, using the point to draw and fill in with scratchy strokes, then I used the side of the brush to flatten out the paint in areas such as the hat.  I call this style of painting "Drawing with Paint".  In Carolyn's workshop, once I started with this style, I couldn't stop!  She would come by my easel and encourage me to pick up one of my other brushes to finish the painting, but I wanted to see how far I could go with one brush.  A little is good, so a lot will be great, I thought…

Here is an example of Carolyn's work.  You can see why I have been so taken with her!

"Girl With Curls", Carolyn Anderson

"Resolve", 12x16" And Inspiration from Robert Henri

Last week I taught a workshop at the Northlight Studio in Arlington Heights on painting the portrait with palette knives.  "Resolve" is the painting that I started as a demonstration and finished in the studio.  Portraits have a way of getting very detailed, and the character of the model can start to drain away as we strive for the perfect likeness.  A palette knife in hand will not allow this to happen.  Color and shape have to be laid in boldly.  The final product can be more a piece of art than just a likeness of the model.

An artist must first of all respond to his subject, he must be filled with emotion toward that subject and then he must make his technique so sincere, so translucent that it may be forgotten, the value of the subject shining through it.” 
― Robert Henri, The Art Spirit

Robert Henri (1865-1929) was an American artist and teacher who was extremely prominent in the Ashcan School of American Realism.  His book, "The Art Spirit" is always close at hand in my studio.  I can open that book on any page and find new inspiration to create art, no matter how flat or lost I'm feeling that day.  Here is an example of Henri's work.  It is evident that he is striving to portray the character of his model much more than concentrating solely on a likeness. This painting captures a feeling I think we all can respond to.

"Dutch Girl Laughing" Robert Henri

"Deepa/Palette Knife Portrait", 12x16" And Some Upcoming Events

A few weeks ago, I painted Deepa using only one color (Burnt Sienna).  I brought this painting home and decided to add color to it using a palette knife.  Using the underpainting as my guide, I covered the painting again in thick color.  The process was made easier since my values (darks and lights) and my drawing were already worked out.  It was a bit like putting pieces of a puzzle together, and it was actually pretty fun!

I'll be teaching this method at the Northlight Studio in Arlington Heights IL this coming March 6th.  In other news, I'll be giving a demonstration on Painting Impressionistically for the North Area Arts League on March 3rd at the Woodstock Opera House at 7pm.  Admission is free!  I hope you can be there.

"Lucille, A Reworked Portrait", 16x20"

Old things CAN be new again, sometimes.  I took this old painting that had been hanging around since about 2007 and threw some new paint at it.  As long as I stayed in the correct value range (light to dark), I could add any colors that I wanted into all areas of the painting.  Here is a closeup of the area on her cheek and neck:

I was able to add notes of purple, green, blue, and orange into this area of the model.  Since each of these colors was the correct value, none of them stood out and away from the others.  Sticking with the correct value actually frees us to experiment with color!

"Fractured Still Life With Limes", 6x8"

Another series of my Impressionism Workshops is coming to a close, which means it's time to try our hands at fracturing some paintings!  You can hear a pin drop when everyone is concentrating on this technique.  It isn't easy, but the results can be surprising and fun.

Next week, for our last class, everyone will be bringing in an old painting that just didn't go anywhere.  We will fling some paint at them and see if we can bring them back to life.  I'm looking forward to pulling some duds out of the closet and giving them another go!

"Tuesday Morning", 5x7"

This past month has held a bumper crop of classes and workshops to be taught.  The palette knife painting above was created as a demo for one of my knife painting workshops, and I titled it "Tuesday Morning" simply because that is when it was painted!

Last month's marathon was culminated with a two day Color Theory workshop at Mainstreet in Lake Zurich, IL.  We pared our palettes down to five basic colors plus white, then got to mixing.  People were very surprised to learn that most of the "premixed" paint colors that we buy can be mixed using a simple palette-- including Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and Viridian.  I still don't think they'd believe me if they hadn't mixed all these colors and then some on their own!

The last afternoon of the workshop, participants painted from black and white references and had to choose a color scheme: Monochromatic, Triadic, Complementary, Split Complementary, or Analagous.  Below are some of the paintings they created.  I was so excited to see the beautiful color harmonies they achieved!

"Flower Dance", 16x20"

"All real works of art look as though they were done in joy." - Robert Henri, The Art Spirit.

This past week or so, I've been searching for the joy, to no avail.  Days on end were spent painting, and each day ended with a thorough scraping.  I had nothing to show for my efforts.  I looked at my work at the end of the day, and saw no joy in the painting before me.  Rather than waste more time (and paint) trying to make something joyless look less so, I decided to scrap it all and start again.  And again.  And again.

Today, I pulled out a painting I had started months ago.  I started to fling paint at it with a palette knife, then I scraped through it and started again.  But this time, I'm happy to say, I saw the joy start to creep back in.  Instead of throwing it on the scrap heap, I'll post it in the hopes that you see a bit of joy in it too!

"Aspen Season" 5x7" And thoughts on palette knife painting

This tiny painting was created using only a palette knife.  It can be pretty intimidating to try to paint with a knife and lots of thick, uncontrollable paint, but I've found that if you keep a few things in mind as you paint, the process can be simplified and made a lot less scary.

First, start with a really good "map" underneath your painting.  The drawing below is what I had underneath my painting.  Each area is labeled with an L (for light), M (for middle), or D (for dark).  These are reminders for my values (light vs dark) as I paint.  The sky, yellow trees, and the foreground are labeled "L" because they are the lightest areas of the painting.  Background trees are "D" because they are dark, and the hillside is labeled "M" because it falls in the middle value range.

Once I have my map ready, I start to lay in my paint with my knife.  Another rule that I live by is to paint the areas farthest away and work up to the closest areas.  In this case, the sky is where I started, then I moved to the background trees, then the hill, then the foreground.  The yellow trees and the trunks were the last things to be touched. When I do this, I lay paint on top of paint, and I don't have  to paint around anything.  It also keeps my paint areas fresh and clean.

I hope that you try to paint with a palette knife-- it is a guaranteed way to loosen up your paintings!

For purchase information, please click on "Ann Feldman Aspen Season".

"Abstracted Flowers", 9x12"

I was in the mood this morning to throw some paint around, so I took out my palette knife and went to town.  Is this too much?  Did I go too far?  I confess that this was the most I've enjoyed a painting session in quite some time.  Sometimes a pleasant morning should be the only goal, so I guess in that, I've succeeded.