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This is something that has fascinated me since I began painting. When I enter a gallery, I pay attention to how each painting “reads”.   Stand to the left and move towards the right – try the opposite movement. Does the painting work better from one direction or the other?   If you stand and view from the left and then move to the right, paintings can appear to have a totally different feeling. Much of the time, it seems to read better from left to right. I have wondered if it relates back to how we read in our particular language. English is written left to right on the page – english language readers are used to visually approaching things in this way. Is the opposite true for those whose languages read right to left? I also wonder if it relates to where in the painting the center of interest lies – a very prominent center of interest forces you to read the painting from that viewpoint.

                          Best Left to Right                                                                       Right to Left – follow the road                     

It is also dependent on the visual approach the artist presented. Equalization in a painting keeps the “read” difference to a minimum. Paintings with secondary and tertiary centers of interest also shake this idea up. Portraits directionally read by the eyes, texture commands directional attention to lead the eye and abstract’s movement affect every viewer differently.

I wonder if the directional idea holds for people who are left-handed. I am right-handed and I believe the majority of my work reads better from left to right. Sometimes, I think I would like to place a small card next to one of my paintings –something like - “best viewed angled from the left at a distance of 10 feet”.

I would love to know how others react to this idea!

One of the challenges of critiquing your own work is seeing it in a new light. We try by looking at it in a mirror, giving it a few days or weeks to renew its energy, turning it upside down to see if it works, and giving it a look at oblique angles to see how it reads. Check lists: composition, values, color temperatures, tangent lines, brushwork and zing qualities.

              One of my favorite ways to look at my work in a new light is by magnifying it – a look at how fresh my brushstrokes and paint mixing are in the piece. I use Photoshop Elements  – the levels menu function is particularly helpful and generally all I need for correction purposes of my photos. Then, sometimes I play.

              Magnification of your work is fun and can be quite eye opening. You can see how your paint mixing practices work – using this process has helped me to mix my colors a bit looser so I can see hints of the mixtures in the strokes. Zooming in on the thicker areas of paint allows you to see if you have created under shadows through the paint application and brushwork. Do you have enough of your ground color showing through, or too much? If you painted on a textured surface, has the paint done what you planned in the open areas? I paint a lot on metal surfaces, aluminum and copper and this magnification process helps me to see if the open metal surfaces blend well enough with the paints and /or allow for the shining surface to glow through. This process can also help you see what abstract qualities you have in your work.

Try it – you will learn some important things about your work and it is a more productive time killer than playing Solitaire – AGAIN!

I have now been painting almost 10 years and have been thinking of the premise I had when I first started. I had a theory that every painter seemed to need to create a painting on 10 subjects. It has been a while, but let us examine this idea!

Painting #1 : A Red Barn

                Yes, I started with the red barn – did a pretty good job (at least I thought so at the time) and have painted many red barns since – including two last week during a plein air competition! I love the way the light plays with the colors, especially the champagne light of the winter landscape.

Painting #2: A Lighthouse

                My lighthouse was a squat little thing on an island off of Vancouver Island, B.C.. This was when I discovered that I preferred to put a different spin on some of the “required” painting subjects.

Painting #3: Close up of a cow’s face

                Yes, I did these. That pink nose!

Painting #4:  Hay bales in a field

                Round or square – irresistible! The composition possibilities that rows of hay bales present are intriguing to contemplate. I walked through rows of bales piled high last week and tried to make a painting of the scene at the end of the row. Decided to paint a red barn instead.

Painting #5: Rooster

                I admit, I haven’t done this one yet. I guess I haven’t met the right rooster with attitude!

Painting #6:  Still Life with Fruit

                Enough said

Painting #7:  Fish on a white plate

                I hadn’t planned to do this one, but I was on a painting trip with friends. We had an early heavy snow, so we painted the trout that had been caught the day before. They were frozen and the only white plate we could find was a paper one, but we got it done!

Painting #8:  Old Truck

                Beside a barn, alone in a field, rusted or restored – just a fun painting to try.

Painting #9:  Sailboat with white sails

                I painted mine on a high mountain lake – this always surprises me when there are sailboats on high mountain lakes! I want to try a mass of boats one day.

Painting #10: I simply can’t remember what this one was!

                Suggestions?

     Painting en Plein Air gives the artist so many benefits - a chance to capture those fleeting moments of light and to experience many exciting encounters. Encounters with other artists, the wind, wild animals, domestics, birds, bugs, snakes and sometimes the most entertaining and the most challenging of all - People!

     My composition was blocked in and I was just starting to get my special interest areas delineated  on my painting when a woman stopped beside me and started asking some of the questions we are all so used to: "Are you painting?", "Are those oils?", "Do you live here?", "Do you sell your work?", "How much would that painting sell for?", "Really?", "Are you someone?" and then either - "My Aunt paints" or "Do you know ________?". You can usually predict what is coming! However, this time after many questions she paused, looked at what I was doing for a while and then asked, "Are you making that up?"

     I choked. For just a short pause - and then I showed her which elements I had chosen to use in the composition, which I chose to leave out and why. She seemed nonplussed and left a bit later saying she would be back and that she was sure the painting would be beautiful when it was done. She did come back later and gave it an approval rating, asked where it would be displayed and went on with her day.

     I went back and forth between amusement and contemplation about this encounter. It brought me back to the period about eight years ago when I was transitioning from having spent 20 years as a sculptor to learning the 2-D world of art. After a year of studying books and videos, I was understanding how to get the paint on the canvas and then I went out plein air painting with some friends. It was both exhilarating and frustrating (had to tie my easel to a fence to keep from blowing away!), but the biggest learning experience was checking out the compositions that the other artists created from the same scene. I was extremely upset that they seemed to be painting a scene that wasn't quite there! Finally a friend, Dena Kirk, stopped me to say - "Jenifer, you will learn what to leave out, what to move slightly and what to emphasize - just give it time!"

     So now, I have had time and I find that one of the most enjoyable things about creating a composition is deciding what to leave out, what to move slightly and what to emphasize. And yes, I get to decide, so I realize that yes - I am making it up!

Testing Quick Dry Mediums

I tested different quick dry mediums that I can utilize when doing a quick draw event. I chose some colors that take the longest to dry and those that tend to sink their colors the worst. Usually a quick dry medium will add a little gloss to your dried paint. In this test I used five different liquid and paste mediums and only one of them was a "quick" quick dry - the Holbein Duo quick dry liquid medium. It actually dried a bit too quickly, so if using this medium be a bit on the stingy side. This medium set everything except the titanium white within an hour and the white set to touch within two hours. The closest contender was WN Artisan Quick dry which took a full day to set and not be sticky.

What I learned Today

By Jenifer Cline       8/6/2015

I have been searching for a central subject for beginning my BLOG. Trying to find something different to say with authority has presented a quandary for me --- Authority!!! I believe that I have hit on the correct tactic for me – WHAT I LEARNED TODAY. I am always trying new approaches, products and ideas, so this is a good fit for me.

I have been painting for about 8 years and have always used Solvent Free products. After working as a sculptor for almost 20 years, I was looking for a healthier way to produce my art. Plein Air painting has become a passion and I only reluctantly stay in my studio. It is an easy decision when the wind and snow are blowing about, but living in Colorado you never know what the weather will do from one moment to the next. If one is patient, there is usually an opportunity to paint outdoors at some point in each day.

So – what I learned today. I have been searching for a good way to place a protective layer on my paintings as soon as they are dry to the touch. A painting friend, Scott Ruthven, suggested I try Gamvar as it goes on easily, doesn’t dry too glossy and can be used as soon as the painting is dry to the touch.. If your paint is really thick, wait a bit longer. It can also be removed with Gamsol Another product I have used for this protection is Kamvar spray Retouch varnish, but I even though I wear a mask, sometimes this spray affects me. I was assured that Gamvar is compatible with the solvent free paints and it does work well, you just have to watch it and keep brushing it over the canvas as it will bubble up just a bit for the first 5 minutes. After that time, it settles down and gives a good finish.

We are lucky in this drier climate, our paint sets rather quickly, although sometimes the darks can lose some of their gloss and the color sinks in. The Gamvar seems to take care of this situation and when one is painting in Plein Air events, it is good to have some Gamvar on your side!