In the beginning of 2021 I started my artists’ journey. Become a painter. Create art works. Sell some of them. That is the short version. I am tempted to stop here…
But this blog is meant to be the longer version. Here goes…
I always wanted to paint in oil. Landscapes and abstracts in particular. Part of my current artists journey is to paint in oil, which is what I did in 2021. My first paintings were “medium” size, 16 x 20 inches, at the suggestion of “The Artful Souls” YouTube channel by Kyle Buckland. After a half a dozen paintings I stopped not happy with the result. After feeling disappointed I went to painting smaller abstracts on canvas panels in my studio space (corner of a room). Much more my comfort zone, both in size, subject matter and convenience. I do enjoy the visual play and trickery that came out in my abstracts.
As spring and green came on, painting outdoors was calling to me. I went back to painting Plein-Air, smaller this time. Canvas panels and heavy water color paper (all primed with gesso of course) . For me, there was less pressure, time and effort involved with the smaller sizes. I did enjoy painting live outdoors. It’s an experience that has many elements that worked for me. Provided it wasn’t too windy, rainy or hot. To describe it short, I’d say it gave me an empowered feeling and sense of “place”. In general I found liberating. To be fair, there were the frustrating painting sessions where there was less of that. Oh yeah, biting ants don’t help either. For some strange reason they were attracted to the oil paint on my pallet and paint tubes…
I always dreamed of painting clouds. I got my start that summer. They do move around a bit plus change sizes and all that. Painting them live was a challenge. I also painted a dozen or so sunsets. Well, my impressions of sunsets and clouds I should say. If there is such a thing as a photographic memory, I don’t have it. A sunset sky can change so much. More so as the sun gets closer to its’ setting. Sometimes painting the last minutes of a sunset was quite frenetic. Me trying to get any last bits before it was just too dark to paint.
In the fall I decided to invest in some art courses at the Crealde School of Art in Orlando. I took an Oils Painting class and a Landscape Painting class. Taught by Cathy Hempel and Tom Sadler respectively. Both very good artists and teachers. The classes were good not only for learning but showed me what I knew and didn’t know, and what I could paint and couldn’t paint.
