March 2025

Winston on the left, Louis on the right

 

I’m really glad I posted about JuJu because the thought of putting myself through that again for March is too much. We miss him terribly. People have asked me about Otis. I’d love to tell you that he was as distraught as we were, but we don’t think that was the case. We were worried that if he was an only child he’d be lonely or become even more spoiled, so we adopted two new babies. Maybe it was not the right call, but the ship has sailed and we’re all doing our best to come to terms with it. Otis has always been a mama’s boy, but I had no idea it was this bad. I really don’t think he’s upset about JuJu. I think he’s upset that he has to share me with anyone.

Let’s talk about art …

Before heading to my workshop with Larry Moore, I read his book, “Fishing for Elephants.” Lots of takeaways! First, it is very reassuring to read his thoughts on drawing because it’s *exactly* what I’ve been teaching in class: the importance of shapes, mark making, obviously value, line quality, contour drawings, blind contour drawings, etc. 

Second, he talks about how to find your authentic voice as an artist. That’s tough, right? Because most artists I know are essentially doing their version of another artist who has had a certain level of success. So for example, you take a workshop with Kathie Odom and then you go paint like Kathie for a while. And then you take a workshop with Jill Carver and paint like Jill for a while. That’s exhausting, confusing and not authentic. 

Why be the second best version of someone else when you can spend time on your own ideas and become the number one YOU. I’m tired - sick and tired - of seeing the same style at every single plein air event. Everybody paints the same way because everybody is going to the same teachers and the same workshops.

Third, he talks about the timeline of an artist. You set out eager to learn and make a list of all the stuff you need to figure out: values, lines, composition, warm vs cool, atmosphere, etc. And you work on that for years. And then you realize that’s just a small part of what you need to learn. You have to figure out who YOU are and how YOU paint. That was a scary realization because there are methodical ways to learn the task part of painting. How do I figure out the vision??  So off I go to Charleston for my workshop with Larry! Abstracting from Nature. It couldn’t be a better fit at a better time.

THE WORKSHOP

I drove to Charleston on Thursday after our new kitten appointment at the vet. Boy, has Charleston blown up. The traffic is awwwwwwful. It’s so noisy and loud and congested and just not at all the way it used to be. I didn’t even go downtown, but my guess is that downtown is even worse. Mt Pleasant was almost unrecognizable. I also drove out to Sullivans and was relieved to see that not much has changed there. 

Friday morning I drove over to Daniel Island (which used to be a boggy marsh back in the 80s and 90s) and walked into the Meyer Vogel gallery for the first day of class. Larry was there, talking about Franz Kline. That’s how you know it’s going to be a good day :) We instantly hit it off. His heroes are my heroes: Joan Mitchell, Philip Guston, Hans Hofmann, David Park, Diebenkorn (duh), de Kooning, and more. We spent the first day knocking out black and white nonobjective thumbnails. I killed it. I think I did 18 of them, but I could’ve done 100. 

Day 2 we advanced to color with a focus on shapes. Lots of discussion about the weight of things - the weight of a small red dot in a sea of yellow, for example. Or the weight of a low horizon/ huge sky compared to a red band at the bottom. Stuff like that. My first few paintings were tight but by the 4th sheet I was ripping em. What I’ve learned is that if I don’t like a part of my painting, I need to get out a big brush and just kill that section then re-evaluate. I was very happy with how things went.

 

While walking to lunch I saw an alligator warning sign, looked down from the boardwalk and found this big fella eyeballing a heron. Big ol gator, right at the edge of the parking lot and sidewalk. These were the original settlers on Daniel Island and they ain’t leavin :)

At night I went back to the hotel and sketched, looked at photos and tried to abstract them. I just wanted to do it over and over and over again so that I was primed for the next day.

Day 3 we got out reference photos and took a stab at abstracting them. I realized that I was still thinking like a traditional landscape painter - gray off the background, etc. NO. That’s not what this was about. Larry said to look at the painting and let it tell you what it needs. Paint the sky yellow. Paint the grass pink. Do some wacky shit. Another key takeaway is that your first ideas are always the most obvious. You gotta throw all that conventional crap out the window and do weird stuff. 

On the afternoon of Day 3 Scott called and said that Otis was not good. The last thing I wanted to do was go home, but I did and it was the right thing to do. After a trip to Peachtree Hills Animal Hospital, he’s on the mend. The doctor called with his lab results and said she’s never seen an 12 year old cat with lab results that spectacular. LOL. Otis officially earned an Emmy for Best Actor in a drama. Only Victor Newman could have played it better.

Larry and I have been chatting. He’s been incredibly generous and helpful. I send him a painting, he gives me feedback, pushing me to push even harder. I have to keep telling myself that it’s not a tree, it’s a long skinny blue rectangle. So if that’s a cool, dark geometric shape, it should be surrounded by light, warm and organic. That’s how you have to think. It’s a shift, but I’m working on it.

Here’s an example: 

I did the painting on the right yesterday and sent it to Larry. He suggested that I go back to my abstract color studies and use my mark making skills and confident (his words) brush strokes to lay down the paint. Then he suggested that I choose some unexpected colors and paint with those colors. By doing this, trees are no longer green, water is no longer blue. Water is actually no longer water, right? it’s just a shift in temperature and shape. Effin’ genius. It feels real, it feels genuine, it feels amazing. I can let the imperfection be the perfection and you know how I feel about that. 

Overall I can tell you that it was one of the best workshops I’ve taken. It is the path to authenticity. So I’ll just keep doing these smaller paintings, in acrylic, on hot press watercolor paper. Dividing the page into halves and fourths. I don’t think I can do enough of them. 

OTHER STUFF

I’m still drawing every day. Some days I sorta phone it in because I’m so busy, but other days I try to be more creative and thoughtful. I did a self portrait the other day because my class asked to do that. Thought it turned out pretty well, actually, so I painted it in acrylic. Definitely want to pursue this self portrait idea more. Larry’s book also made me think about looking back at some of the sketches I’ve done over the years of people waiting (in airports, restaurants, doctors’ offices, etc.) and putting them down in paint. I did my first one of those today and I liked it.

Frank the Fish survived all of the pottery firings and looks AAAAmazing! I absolutely love Frank. I’m signed up for another round of pottery, but then I think I’m going to take a break from it.  

I have a very busy April/May, so I’m trying to do as much as I can to prepare. The Artisans Village in Eatonton asked me to be one of their judges for their big paint out in May. My buddy/neighbor, Barbara, is the other judge. Part of the package is that we also get to lead a workshop that morning. So I’ll be doing an oil workshop and Barbara will be doing watercolor. Our workshops are full with waiting lists, so that’s very exciting. I’ve been working on fine tuning my thoughts, process, etc. so that I can give them as much helpful information as possible. I’ll keep working on it until it’s showtime.

My peony painting was juried into the Southeastern Pastel Society show. Karen Margulis was the judge and I really appreciated her comments during the awards presentation. The key takeaway is this: while I might be able to paint a technically correct vase of peonies, I need to tell a story. The painting that received the best in show award told a story and was beautifully painted. This core idea ties into the readings from Larry’s book. Perfect timing for his workshop for sure. 

There are probably 6-7 paintings in various stages of completion at my studio. I left them unfinished on purpose so that I can incorporate what I’ve learned with Larry. 

APRIL

Will be extremely busy. We have the VHPAP semi annual park paint out this week. Then it’s Open Air Meriwether, then Michelle rolls into town for Olmsted. And of course, I’ll be at Acworth for drawing fundamentals. 

OTIS, WINSTON and LOUIS

No surprise that Winston is named for Winston Churchill. I came up with Louis and I really think it’s appropriate for him for a few reasons. First of all, there’s a little bit of attitude in that name. Second, Prince Louis is a piece of work and so is this little monkey. And we get to sing Louie-Louie-Louie-Louieeeeee. Louie Louie Louie Louiiiiiiiii. Louis is so much like Otis, loves to jump and pounce and is curious about everything. Winston is much more like JuJu, loves to rest and flop on the floor. He watches Louis then tries to copy him. Winston is a purring machine. Just an absolute love bug. 

See you back here in a few weeks!