Daily Painting

I went on a whim to the awards ceremony at the Los Altos History Museum Thursday afternoon. I thought it would be good to meet the artists and see the paintings amongst their bustle. I also went for the wine and cheese because the husband gives me a limited 5 oz. nightly pour. I'll admit I was a bit tipsy [empty stomach and sunshine] when the first Honorable Mention was announced: me. Oh little me! My painting of Voyageur du Temps received Honorable Mention in a JURIED show. That felt surreal. I got up, put my [empty] glass of wine under my chair, dropped my keys with a clatter, and made my way to the lady at the microphone. She awarded me a certificate, an envelope, and a ribbon [Honorable Mention] which she said I should hang on my painting. I asked her if I could put the ribbon on the better of my two paintings....everyone laughed, and I walked over to put it on - not De Martini - but Voyageur du Temps. The envelope contained a check. Then a lovely couple from N. Gordon walk...

I am often intimidated by going on my own to do plein air. I like the structure and the ensconced feeling from the people in the Tuesday and Thursday plein air groups. This morning, I skipped the very far drive to Maison du Lac in Los Gatos [plein air with the group], and also skipped Bolly X! I made my own goal - to do plein air painting at the Los Altos History Museum. I braved it, and went on my own. Something about this space takes me back to the mid 1980s - to my grandmother's farmhouse in Punjab. The quiet, rural feel, the tractor, the lazy shadows - a beautiful part of my heart and childhood. I did the little study first, and decided to play up the tractor colors - it really was a bright orange - and subdue everything else and make it a Payne's Gray value study. When I finished that, I realized I had found my color scheme! Payne's Gray, Cerulean, French Ultramarine, with a bit of yellow thrown in here and there for warmth - analogous and complementary to the tracto...

Today, I joined POPs at Woodside Store. I felt I had a breakthrough - I was able to see shapes, and not think about content or meaning. As Paul Valery said: To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees. I did a first wash with a lot of different colors - my medium wash - then added another layer of darks for shadows, and then calligraphy/details with darks. It was a quick sketch + painting - perhaps an hour and a quarter. I almost forgot to save the whites and started painting in the open doorway area before I realized it! Luckily, a tree saved the day. I still need a lighter hand a la Charles Reid - maybe more whites, maybe more incomplete....the husband thinks this is still too pigmented. I am pleased with what happened in my head when I did this painting. Better results will follow if I continue that way of seeing. In Buddhism's walking meditation, they also say to see without trying to interpret. Everything in life is linked. Art is linked to meditation in multiple...

I love household objects and their potential in still life. When I use a pen to draw, something in my mind changes, and I am not concerned about errors, or erasing. My line is confident and the drawing is easy. The paint, too, takes on a looser quality, and there is no masterpiece burden in my mind. Subsequently, I am usually pleased with the result - all because I am not attached to the result. So true in life! Process, not end result. So hard to do..... Jane gave me this lavender when she dropped off her paintings for the Paint the Town exhibit, and my daughter bought the vinegar in Italy when she visited on a school trip. The glass cherries with nail-stems make it to almost all my practice paintings - I love contour drawing their form!

What is the absolute minimum to suggest something? Very, very little. The human brain and eye can quickly discern and complete the details. It is more enriching - leaving the mystery to be solved by the viewer rather than showing every detail. In a few seconds, the  viewer has completed what is implied and suggested - the missing parts of the puzzle - and in that process, has become involved with the creation of the painting. Like a camaraderie with the artist: I'll tell you so much; you figure out the rest. The viewer brings their conditioning, their memories, their culture and values, and their emotions as they complete the missing pieces - in that moment in time. In another moment, they might derive different things from the work of art. All the better - the viewer is fully involved and it becomes a rich experience rather than a fleeting glimpse of objects that leave little to the imagination. They are not just a passive viewer. And I, too, learn something as I leave something ...

I was watching old favorite Bollywood songs on YouTube. This song Zihal-e-miskin showed a folk dancer with musicians against the backdrop of Rajasthan's temples - freeze frame, and watercolor! I did play the song in another window so I was bathed in it visually and acoustically. Who says being a YouTube junkie has no benefits?

"Paint the Town" exhibit opened today at the Los Altos History Museum and runs through October. It shows various artists' depictions of historical buildings near and around Los Altos. I have two paintings up: De Martini Orchards [done plein air] and Voyageur du Temps, both in Los Altos.

This was at Rengstorff House this morning with the SCVWS group - I had never been before. I skipped my exercise class to get there early/on time to try to finish a painting before picking up the kids at 12.20 pm. I did the little value study, then thought about the colors, before I started painting. I would like a lighter hand overall - like the sky and upper right of the painting. Maybe my paints are too opaque and I need to use more water. Or buy new paints!!