I spy... with my big fresnel lens



Fresnel lens housed in

Muckelteo's Lighthouse.

As many people could conclude by now, I fancy painting lighthouses. They are the one thing that I will go out of my way to seek when given the oppertunity. It all began with an imitation lighthouse in my home town. So cute... so small... so-- what? It's not a real lighthouse? Nope the happy harbor to which I reside has a "time capsule" with a blinking light and a sign reminding all those ships that enter to slow em on down. Too funny! So in my quest to find real lighthouses, I have encountered many a structure that neither housed a fresnel lens nor (in some cases) ever graced an ocean's side. Here are a few of those such frauds... but fun to look at.

Time Capsule Lighthouse
Gig Harbor

    This is the said time capsule at the mouth of Gig Harbor... all 15 feet high of the lil guy. Yes he does have a little red flashing light on top. In order to raise money for him folks bought capsules in 1988 to locked away stuff that would be reopened in 25 years. I think since the lighthouse was dedicated in '89 then the capsules should be revealed next year.

I have painted this lighthouse 6 times and 3 of them have sold thus far. As small as the little guy is, it is quite the sight with Mount Ranier standing tall behind him.

If at first you don't succeed, shine, shine again!

 

Chinese lantern study 6x8 oil on canvas

  
 

   Inspired by a new addition to my organic model choices, I was gifted a Chinese Lantern plant of which I was wowed by the color of the fully bloomed plant. After 3 days of awe, I decided to take a break from my sunflowers and try a portrait of the brightly colored plant. My colors weren't quite in the pocket but I decided an orange glaze (after the study dried) would put me in the ballpark for representation. Then I got to thinking...

 

Chinese lantern study#2 11x14 oil on linen



...What about that new collection of color choices on my list for my workshop next week? It had a cadmium orange that I was sure with a little cad yellow lemon might just do the trick. So I experimented around with this new palette of what I would call more warmer colors in order to acquaint myself with the new collection before the workshop. Though dramatically different studies, I did get closer to desired color without having to glaze.- G.A. shining on. 

Sunny days with sunflowers



Sunflower study#1

  In defiance of my missing "sunflower season" I have taken to brightening my days with cut flowers. When I went all around town I could not find a sunflower to save my life. After 3 strikes I found a flourist who tells me, "Oh yes, we have sunflowers. It's the flower of the month." It was like christmas and I was strangly giddy to have found the little guy... so I painted him twice.

Then the florist called as they got a new shipment. I was hoping for the mammoths (I don't think they ever get those) so I stopped by. Sadly they had the same yellow petals with green center sunflowers so I went to another grocery store to my surprise they had two bunches of yellow petals with dark brow centers. This bunch of 5 models costing $1 more then my single florist specimen. They said that they got shipments in weekly but were clueless as to what would be shipped variety wise. I took one of my new models for a paint session on Fox Island and found his dark center right at home with the dramatic light coming in through the old windows of the schoolhouse... alla prima in 2 hours for that model.



Ponce De Leon Lighthouse study

It was incredibly hot painting the lighthouse but I must admit my first red lighthouse. All the grass sections between the buildings had "do not walk on the grass" signs but the sidewalks had ants... which I found out the hard way when doing this study.



Interior stairwell of Lighthouse



The inside of the lighthouse was like a nautilus shell. How ironic I thought considering the oceanic tie/tides...

Summer Art Festival 2013

Spare Thyme serenades the artists... and a few dancers.

   Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a part of this festival in the artist demo tent for Peninsula Art League again this year. It was great fun as we were set up right in front of the sound stage. I thought to bring sketching media and set up the obvious... comedy and tragedy masks on a red velvet cloth. After the first break (and one of my masks blew off it's still life stage) the sun came out and challenged me to swift moving light. I met the challenge by doing a different sketch every hour while chatting with the community about PAL, plein air, the netshed challenge and art, of course. G.A.- sketching to the beat in Spare Thyme.

Comedy mask sketch...
tragedy flew away.

Saltwater State Park

Saltwater State Park 9x12 oil on canvas

   Early this year I began my plein air season (April) at Saltwater State Park. It was cold, windy and finally the rain halted any adhesion of oil to any surface! Yet without the suffering there would not be this effort. Not a bad start to travels for the sake of art. G.A.- celebrating parks' birthday.

Manchester State Park

Weapons storage- Manchester State park

   Who knew that an abandoned building could be so inspiring? Reminding me of a series I did as a photographer "the passage series", again. I was drawn to the whole outside/ inside/ outside aspects of windows within doors and windows in windows. The perfect cloudiness enhanced my shade but soon chased me out when the clouds clears to practically blind me with reflection.- G.A. finding another occupational hazard.

Neither wind or cold, nor the scorch of light...



oil study Bay view state park 9x12



 ...the mail carriers aren't the only devoted souls with a creed! Despite the interstate bridge collapsing into the river less than a week before the event, dozens of us plein air artists descended upon Skaggit county for our paint out. Bay view and Deception State Parks rivaled the cute picturesque town of La Connor for my attention. Painting from 8 am until 9 pm the first day brought brief watercolor sketches and 2 oil studies. The second day yielded a less productive schedule of only one panel between packing and pacing for the long drive home.

Nothing but green

   While painting Dosewallip State Park this weekend a fellow artist asked "Well, how'd it go out there?" when I returned from the morning session. I looked at him exhausted and replied, "Nothing but green!" Twas an overcast day in the park but after driving 90 minutes I was determined to put paint to panel. The river looked blotto with the white sky (and perhaps a little threatening for some rain) so I took the wooded path. Being on the outskirts of the Olympic National Park forest, you can imagine the green and worse the cloudiness saturates the color while lessening the contrast especially under a canopy of trees. Challenged but determined I found an unusual root remaining renewal of a tree among all it's mossy friends; I see glazing in my future! Needless to say the 2nd session that day was along the river.- G.A. challenging myself to discover new ways to mix green.

Dosewallips State Park- morning session

Sneaky little studies

master gardener stuff- 6x8 oil study

   Out of pure guilt for wasteful possessions, I took my original 6x8 pochade box (bought 3 years ago but only used 3x in the 1st year... it was too small) from the cobwebs of the studio shelf. I have come to realize that at times there are events/places that I would like to paint but am not wanting to hoist around "the gear" and do a whole production of a 9x12 (or larger panel) but prefer a quick study... like a sketchbook. So in effort to work faster and paint more, last week I returned to my 6x8 set up and further tweaked the supplies so that it was an all in one carry out... to encourage me to take along oil paints more often/easily.
    I found a tiny turp bucket, sawed off the handles of small paint brushes, rigged a paint carry container within the ponchade and am using nice quality 6x8 loose canvas (like sheets of paper) taped to a lightweight  rigid substrate. Bingo- I'm back in business! While I do still bring a tripod and bolt the box to stand while painting,   this system does have a thumb hole where I may be able to work without a tripod. Furthermore the canvas sheets are maybe $1 for 3 sheets of that size opposed to $6-7 a panel for the 9x12 ampersand gessoboard of which I stopped buying last year when they passed $5. While last year my goal was to have the 9x12 plein air panel be the finished product, this year half of what I work on site are color sketch/references for possible bigger paintings in the future.
   While I am still using the 9x12  gessoboards for the events and client work or distant painting sessions (where I will probably only get one chance to go there and paint), I began this year's plein air season with my local group on the little format and actually got a nice little study. -G.A. painting more and paying less.