Grey Heron - Adapting to One's Environment

Adapting to One's Environment, 12x16, available

The photo I took for this painting was taken while visiting my son in Kanazawa Japan. He had moved there to teach English a few years after graduating college. This would be around 2006. The city sits between two rivers, so I am not sure which river this is along, but as you can see, it is concrete and granite banking the river. Kanazawa sits along the Sea of Japan on the western coast of Japan. I took the photo from across the river, so the actual image is quite grainy. I had to fill in some areas that did not read well, especially around the eyes.

1. Getting the Shapes in

I sketched the bird in with a crimson colored pencil, which you can see still in this block in as I figure out relationships in shapes and values. My thought was to have the Heron blend into his 'environment,' so I used the same color palette for the granite wall and the bird.

2. Darkening down the wall

Even thought I liked the colors in the granite wall, I decided it needed to be more neutral so I added a darker value of a greyed blue overall. Dry-brushing it on to allow texture. I added a pinkish color to the concrete surface which as up to this point, I had left blank canvas. 

3. Finishing the bird

Now that the surrounding area is where I want it, I start work on finishing the bird. I softened the hard dark blacks and darkened the greys of his feathers. Also added some soft yellows and purples to his neck and head.

All these images were taken in my studio with my iPhone. I find it interesting that the earlier photos look darker than the last. 

Kevin Weckbach at Gallery 1261

I apologize in advance for not getting this out while the show was up. However, it appears to still be up on Gallery 1261's website. I went to the opening two weeks ago and was there early enough to get a chance to talk to Kevin, although not for long. He posed for his girlfriend to take this photo, so I did likewise. For those who don't know, I consider Kevin my mentor. I took his year long master painting class more than once, and though it has been many years since then, his teachings stay with me - at least most of the time.

There are so many good paintings in this show, I am surprised it did not sell out. In my opinion, he is one of the best painters of our time -based on my limited knowledge of all artists of our time. His use of color and his strong values that show up in his paintings are rarely rivaled. He paints so abstractly yet the abstract shapes pull a scene together so succinctly.

The depth!

Detail-so abstract

Detail-the blue of the river! 

Look at the brushwork! The colors!

Detail of water in the light from painting below

look at the color in the shadow side of the snow!

Wow! pure blue. The warm and the cool- no one does it better

Photos don't do justice to the vibrance of Kevin's work.  He continues to inspire me.

Sargent at the Legion of Honor

 

Detail from Landscape below

Detail from Landscape below

Spanish Hills-details above

Stunning light!

A familiar one

I am a late in posting about this exhibit, but there is still a month or so left if you happen to be in or near San Fransisco before May 14th, 2023. I was there last month, working a visit to the Legion of Honor into visiting family. It is funny how I manage to do that! (It was a rainy day or else we would have also taken the trail along the cliffs from the Legion of Honor) This is my third out of state trip to see a John Singer Sargent Exhibit  (two were in NYC and Brooklyn). This one focused only on his time in Spain. https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/sargent-and-spain  He was so prolific there has been very little overlap in going to see his works. Thankfully, he had the ways and means to paint as much as he wanted, and we are all the richer for it. 

Sargent sure had a way with color and light. Some of these paintings positively glowed from across the room. Thankfully the day we went it was busy but not crowded so one could see both close up and from across the room. And take ones time. These are just a few examples of what caught my eye. The landscape was atypical for Sargent in my experience, but so rich in color and nuance. The last three above from the fountain to the girl walking down the street, show the continuity of his palette and how he can make the light around the fountain dance as well as light up the street from a distance or bring to life the Alhambra using very similar color mixes yet achieving very different effects.

The only disappointing aspect of this exhibition was the 'swag' being sold. The postcards chosen for reproduction did nothing for the paintings they represented and usually postcards are the better than what is printed in the books.  I tend to buy coffee mugs as I travel, and the only mug was of one of my least favorite paintings in the show, a pomegranate tree. Even my old iPhone captured the light dancing around the fountain with the beautiful reflected light! This is the third exhibit (Alice Neel at the deYoung Museum in SF and recently here at the Denver Art Museum) I have gone to in the last few years where the quality has decidedly gone down in the Museum gift shops...I can't figure that one out. Cost more, quality sadly lacking. What could possibly be the excuse? I noticed I wasn't the only one walking out without buying anything, not that I believe that to be unusual...