Chickamauga Trio Preview

SH-H-H-H! Here's a preview of my commissioned paintings for the new Bank of Chickamauga branch which will open soon (next week?). The "Chickamauga Trio" is finished and at the framer. I apologize for the little bit of glare because I tried to light them with spots in the studio. Each is 36" x 48". The scenes represent the historic area around the town of Chickamauga, Georgia. Chickamauga was the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. A National Battlefield is just north of the city. A house in town was used as a hospital during the war. The streets there are named after civil war generals. The train depot is now a history museum. The original bank is still in use and takes up a corner of town. The town still looks the way it did years ago with the addition of nice streetscaping and parking. It is friendly small town with quaint shops and restaurants.
Lee & Gordon's Mills is located a few miles outside of town. The old mill is used to grind corn into mill and is open on Saturdays. I always thought it should have a water wheel on the outside, but it is underneath the floor.
Let's just hope that the paintings are what they expected! I will let you know how they look after being framed and hung.

Now that they are out of my studio, I am ready to get back to plein air painting for awhile. Wouldn't you know that today was rainy and cold? We went downtown Chattanooga to see the 4 Bridges Art Festival. Thankfully, the artists were in the pavilion. I think there were 150. I truly admire them for being tent artists. That is a hard life on the road with no guarantees of sales and the uncertainty of the weather. This year the festival charged admission and charged for parking. I will be curious to hear how the sales were from some of my friends and also how the money collected will aid the sponsor, The Association for Visual Artists, of which I am a member. Maybe next year I will volunteer to help. I am usually out of town when it happens. Sorry to say, we didn't find anything we couldn't live without, but loved looking.

I am looking forward to the Sketching Callaway workshop coming up next weekend. The mountain laurel, native azaleas, and some early rhododendrons should be in bloom. We will sketch Saturday and Sunday using different media and adding color with watercolor pencils. I also suspect that the huge poppies will be there again in the vegetable garden. Saturday night there will be a concert by the Atlanta Symphony. An extra treat! Here's the contact if you are interested or know someone who might: education@callawaygardens.org.

During June, I will be directing the Visual Arts portion of the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts. I have been writing new curriculum for this year using a different artist as a focus each day. So, here's a quote from one of them that touched me this week:

"It is very hard work to turn out anything that looks like a good painting."
- Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887- 1986

Back to Work!
Durinda

O Canada!

Imagine setting up your easel to paint in a sunken garden with masses of spring flowers and weeping willows cascading over a pond running under a stone bridge. You hear the Canadian national anthem "O Canada" being sung by the wait staff of a restaurant nearby where whiffs of grilled steak permeates the air. It is a comfortable 70 degrees in late March. Life is good!

My adventure in the Artists in the Gardens weekend of Epcot was wonderful. Despite the windy day we had on Saturday, the early Sunday morning rain, and the lack of shade in the afternoons, I had a difficult time choosing what to paint. When I first received my assignment, I thought, "What's in Canada that I would want to paint?" Little did I know that the area is based on the Butchart Gardens in British Columbia. The original sunken gardens were developed in a limestone quarry. Of course the gardens and grass in Epcot were "Mickey" perfect. An ideal setting for a plein air artist, if you can paint and talk to mulitudes of people at the same time. :>) That is really the fun of it all, meeting the guests and talking about your art and art in general. Children are especially curious and ask great questions. I was fortunate to have four paintings go to new owners. I even painted under shelter Sunday when it was pouring down rain!

My "art buds" this year in Canada were Dorothy Gardiner from St Pete and Linda Pence from Gainesville, FL. Both are wonderful artists and old pros at painting en plein air at Epcot. We shared a great host, D.J. Gibson, who normally works in management. He helped with our setups and getting us where we needed to be on time. The three days went quickly and I am so glad that we were able to paint through Sunday this year. Last year, we had stormy weather that called off Sunday afternoon painting. If you have a chance, you should definitely go to WDW during the flower festival months of April and May. You won't be disappointed!

For you painters, I tried out my new Anderson easel that swivels. It has telescoping legs like my Soltek. I think it weighs 7 or 8 pounds and is very easy to put up and carry. It worked great for my watercolors this time because I could lower it and sit down to work, stand and paint upright, or swivel it flat to add detail. The only problem was adding an umbrella. I will have to work on that! I worked on Stratmore's Gemini paper which has a softer tooth than Arches. It took the washes well and worked fine for outdoors where you usually have to really pile on the paint to keep it from disappearing.

Wishing you a season of beauty and good scents!

Durinda

Truth or Dare?

The bank- first layer of color- tilted to cut the glare

The depot- the drawing

The Mill- a start, with darks and lights.

This seemed like the right title for my post today. As an artist, you can portray what you see as closely as possible to the "real" thing, or you can take an inspiration from nature and do your own interpretation. One way is not better than the other way or more important. The question lies within you. What are you wanting to express? What do you want the viewer to see or feel by looking at your painting or drawing?

I guess I was ready to hear what watercolorist Tom Lynch and oil painter David Leffel were saying during their workshops last month. Both said, "Make a painting." I understood that meant put yourself into the work and the viewer will relate to it. So if that means you change a color, you move a tree, you lighten or darken an area to make the work itself better, then do it! It is not a "put see" as Jack Beal says. You are in control of the painting, it is not in control of you.

All that said, I have been working on my three commissioned paintings and still worrying about what I leave out, what I move, what I change to "make a painting." On most occasions, I work with a client about what they want. I change or enhance to please them. I am on my own with these. Since the images are "real" places and things that people will recognize, I want them to resemble the actual thing. But I also see where I can make the overall image "read" better. So how much of the truth do you give the viewer and how much do you dare to change? Think about it in your art if you paint or in your own line of work. How much will I change?

Stay tuned......

I leave for Epcot this Wednesday to paint in the World Showcase for three days. So as they say in WDW,

Have a Magical Day!

Durinda

It's Spring- time for painting outdoors!

I am just getting into the Spirit of Spring after returning home from two months in Florida. How do they know it's spring? Well, I know because it is almost time for my return to WDW's Epcot Artists in the Gardens. The event this year will be March 27, 28 & 29. This will be my third year to get to paint on site in the World Showcase along with twelve or so other artists. This year I will be painting in Canada. I will be taking my watercolors along with mats and bags so the paintings will be ready to go home with someone! It is really fun to be assigned a different country each year. I have been in Italy and the U.K. Having the artists painting in the countries looks very European. We interact with the visitors and are treated to our meals and room. We will be staying in the Wilderness Lodge. I hope we have great weather this year and get lots of painting time. Starting the last week of March and into May, Epcot will be filled with beautiful flowers and garden spots. This is the place to come if you are a garden lover, and who isn't?

Coming up in April will be the Sketching Callaway workshop at another beautiful spot, Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. I taught the workshop last spring in May and we had a great time working in our sketching journals. This year I plan to add tips on drawing buildings or fences in perspective along with the flowers and landscape. Most gardens have some type of structure or rows of plants, so I think it will be helpful to demonstrate. The dates are Saturday and Sunday, April 25 & 26. Registration: education@callawaygardens.org or phone 706-663-5153. All supplies are provided.

It's Springtime, let's get out and paint!

Durinda

Working with a Master

David's painting demo

David's model demo. David starting his painting. My first still life set up.

David and I are all grins

Nancy's portrait by David

Some photos from the week long workshop at Longboat Key with master
artist, David Leffel.

I went back and forth on whether to take it.
I really love his work. I really felt he is a

great American master artist, but was I ready to give up a week of Florida sunshine to paint indoors? Did I feel that I was up to the task of painting with him?

In the end, I was more than happy that I gave up my week outside. David not only is a master artist, he is very personable. Soft spoken, he makes painting seem so effortless. Every stroke has meaning. He just enjoys painting! Some secrets? There are no secrets. There are no tricks. Painting is hard work. You must paint to learn how to paint. No one will love your painting unless you love it first. I could just listen and watch him all day.

You can imagine on the last day how I felt when he came by and told me my jar in my still life was wonderful. I almost cried! I need to shoot my paintings. I have been working all week in the studio on one of three large paintings for a commission due next month! But will try to catch up with my paintings from Florida plus my oil still lifes from the workshop. Before you know it, it will be time to head back to Florida for the Artists in the Gardens in Epcot the last weekend of the month.

Think Spring!

Durinda

Siesta (don't think so) Key Painting Adventures

Painting at Selby Gardens: Back row: Ruth Cox, Myrtle Beach; Sandra Babb, Ringgold Ga,;Jacq Baldini, New York. Front: Jacq's sister and Durinda

Jacq is here to teach a two day workshop. She is president and founder of International Plein Air Painters. We met up to paint on Thursday before her workshop starts. I know they will have a wonderful weekend to paint.

Ruth painting at Spanish Point. Ruth is a signature member of IPAP.

Ruth and Sandra enjoying a break from painting

Sandra painting a boat repair building (don't know what else to call it). These two gals are part of the Southern Ladies Art Conference which gets together in different areas when we can to paint plein air and talk art! Since there were three of us this time, I guess you could say we had a "mini" SLAC. I will miss seeing them in late March at Callaway Gardens because I will be a guest artist again this year at Epcot that week. There I will paint with other SLACers, Linda Blondheim, L. Diane Johnson, and Barbara Perrotti.

Out in Sunny Florida, Painting! This is Katie Cundiff's Plein Air Group which meets on Mondays. Katie is represented by M Gallery in Sarasota: http://mgalleryoffineart.com/artists/dodsoncundiff_katie

Monday Painters at Ringling Museum: Toni, Eileen, Mary Jo, Marjory, and Katie and Durinda. We had a few more but I missed shooting them at the end of the day. Can you tell our study was on trees?

It was so helpful to really study the values and forget the colors for this exercise. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this group of painters and working with Katie. She is not only a wonderful painter, but a very informative instructor. I will miss you gals!






It's been a great week of painting. Now to clean up and prepare for my workshop with David Leffel. Yes, I will be inside :-( but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with such a master artist. At least I know I won't be getting green paint all over me next week! (brown, maybe? ;>)

Wishing you a week of wonders!

Durinda

Celebraties

This is Katie Cundiff painting with a limited palette at the Ringling Museum. Did you know you could make a landscape with just red, yellow, black, and white? So, no excuses about not having the right tube colors.

On Saturday, I painted with the Tom Lynch en plein air watercolor workshop at Marina Jack's in downtown Sarasota. Tom is here for a week of sessions sponsored by Sarasota Art & Frame. You could choose your days and topics. I took part in the Mountains and Mist day on Wednesday also. Tom really gives you a workout with a series of exercises. My "teacher self" was impressed. He also generously gave each of us one of his prints that he signed.

You never know who you will run into while painting en plein air. Ever get that feeling that someone is watching you? Susie Covert and I enjoyed a morning of painting on Lido Key Beach with our new "friends". Lido has some wonderful trees which sounds strange when you think about a beach, but for painters, it is much more interesting than just the flat white sand on the beach.

We also painted with Suncoast Plein Air Florida at a marina on Thursday in the fog! Usually the fog will lift after a while, but this one didn't. Talk about mixing grays! Do not attempt this from a photo! ;>)

So much to paint and so little time!

I also attended a demo this week at M Gallery. Roger Dale Brown from Nashville was in town and showed how he painted in the studio just like he paints outdoors. He uses his computer screen for his image. This scene was in Ocala where he had painted on location and also took some photos. It was interesting to see how he modified the image from the photo to produce a beautiful composition.

With all these new ideas and information, what shall I do today? Hmmmm....paint?

Wishing you a week of new discoveries!

Durinda