Gouache Practice

Gouache Practice, 4x6.5" gouache, Diane Mannion

More Gouache Practice

I've been working with gouache in the studio by doing small sketchbook studies.  Once I'm more comfortable with this medium, will take it outside for field sketching.   Gouache will be useful for quick color thumbnails before working in oils on location; a lot of decisions could be made before painting, hopefully avoiding future mistakes and corrections.

Pencil thumbnail sketch for Gouache Practice.   Added the X to warn myself away from putting things in the center. 

Below are more gouache studies from my sketchbook:

Stump Pass Marina, 4x5" gouache, Diane Mannion

Pencil sketch with notes, plein air... painted Stump Pass Marina later from memory and notes.

Value study after a Marc Hanson workshop exercise I found online.  Painted black and white gouache first, then attempted to match color values.  Tricky!  Scene was inspired by Brian Blood's, Coastal Light.  Not a copy of his work, simply attempted to analyze a master.

My gouache experiment using limited palettes.

 Marc Hanson has done some fabulous gouache paintings!  Both he and James Gurney are the inspiration for my gouache addiction.  Downloaded Gurney's GOUACHE IN THE WILD video and learned a lot!  Will write glowing review later... meanwhile, go get your own copy.

 

Heron in Tidepool

Heron in Tidepool, 16x20"oil, ©Diane Mannion

STOP!

Knowing when to stop working on a painting is tough.  Kept going with this tidepool scene, pushing it farther, then setting it aside and looking at it again.  Finally, this morning... after a few more angry brushstrokes... let it go.  Had to get angry enough to let my imagination loose, then added the finishing touches.  It was as if I let the visual overpower the controlling part of my wee brain.  Hmmm... something to think about on my next masterpiece... don't overthink!

This painting evolved from plein air studies and reference photos on a brilliant morning when bright red and green seaweed washed ashore after a storm.  By noon, it had turned dark brown. 

My plein air studies were the most useful for the values and color.  And of course, the series of photos I shot of this young heron wading through the tidepool while I painted were invaluable.  Had to paint that heron in!  It's as if he knew my painting would not work without him. 

Love it when critters walk into my paintings.  Same thing happened while painting the Gumbo Limbo tree, last post... that squirrel demanded to be painted.

And now for something entirely different:  I'm a huge fan of James Gurney!  His work inspired me to pry open my ancient box of gouache tubes.  And I'm a fool for contests, so shamelessly submitted my very first gouache sketch on his site yesterday.  It was a lot of fun, but gosh, my gouache is awful.  Will experiment further with this medium for sketchbook work. 

 Taqueria, 5x5"gouache sketch #1, Diane Mannion

 Auto-painting on location

Limited palette, red, yellow, blue

First ever gouache sketch!  Used red, yellow, blue, and white.  My main medium is oil and although I also use watercolors, found gouache difficult, BUT can see the possibilities.  Mistakes can be worked over.  Spelled Taqueira wrong first time, ack!

Auto-painted in the car to about halfway, then finished later.  Had to “imagine” the customers… too hot to eat outside in Floridian August.

Inspired, thanks to James Gurney, to do more plein air sketching with gouache!  

Visit his great blog here... James Gurney!

Gumbo Limbo

Gumbo Limbo, 16x20" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Tourist Tree

"Never thought painting a tree would be so difficult," I said.  

"It's not just any tree," John said.  "It's a Gumbo Limbo!"

His words made me redouble my effort.  And Mary Erickson's, from my recent trip to Maine echoed as I worked:  "Go back and observe..."  

After painting and scraping, wiping out and changing,  I was determined to capture the feeling of this particular tree.  A favorite painting spot at the Placida Fishery, it's an ideal place to work from the hatchback of my car, shady and protected from rain showers.  

I did several small plein air studies; this painting is the studio version.  Also relied on photo reference, visual memory, and my illustrator's  imagination.  Allowed myself to overwork as much as I pleased while also letting areas of light and color blur and remain loose.

The gumbo limbo is sometimes called the tourist tree because of it's unique, reddish color resembling the peeling skin of sunburnt tourists.  It's wood is traditionally used for building carousel horses in the US!  It's leaves and resin have been used to treat for gout, and tests are underway for arthritis. 

Also loved by birds and other critters for it's fruit.  While I was painting, a squirrel scampered up and down the tree.  Snapped a reference photo as he posed in a perfect spot!  Painted him in as a finishing touch that pulled the painting together.  BUT he also had to be repainted when John said my first version looked like a pony. 

Blue Moon Tide

Blue Moon Tide, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Nanatuck, Port Clyde, Maine

Part 10...last one!

Painted this the last day.  Mary Erickson had warned us... paint the thing that's changing fastest, usually it's the light and shadows, but in this case it was the tide.  While painting the sky and background, the rocky beach below disappeared.  Maybe the tide rushed in faster because of the Blue Moon?

This was the most difficult of all the week's paintings!  Dove in without a thumbnail sketch and paid dearly for this mistake.  Painted the whole thing over on top of the location study.

Location study which is now under the finished painting... showing how the tide rushed in.

Jane painting nearby

 A major highlight of the whole trip was meeting one of my favorite artists... DON DEMERS!!!
He's the guy sitting on the porch in the photos below. 

THE BLUE MOON

A BLUE MOON rose the last night at Nanatuck. 

My paintings... a good week's work!

Jane Sither took these photos of me painting at Marshall Point Lighthouse.

Thank you, Mary Erickson for organizing this great event!

Nanatuck, Five Star Review

July, 2015
Nanatuck, Port Clyde, Maine
Diane Mannion's One week Visit
Hosted by Master Artist and Mentor, Mary Erickson

Florida to Maine:  Refreshing change of one gorgeous scenic place for another... palm trees for pine,

sand for rocks, humidity for fog, hot for cool temps, shrimp for lobstahhh!

Renewed and made new artist friends... met Don Demers! 
Painted where Wyeths tread! 

Artistic evening camaraderie.  Gentle critiques.  Toasted our day's "catch" in mini-exhibitions. 

Gained technical and business advice.
Gained inspiration and recharged artistic drives!

Lightkeeper's Garden

Lightkeeper's Garden, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Nanatuck, Port Clyde, Maine... Part 8-9

Lightkeeper's Garden, was painted on top of a plein air study done on location at the Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum.  Or perhaps, I should call it a painting started on location then finished later.  (Warning: More ranting and raving about this artistic conundrum below.)

Artist, Beth Bathe had been painted in the background of this scene, then later (after Mary Erickson's gentle critique) I wiped her out (sorry Beth!).  I agreed with Mary, the figure took the focus off the flowers which were the original concept of my painting.

It's impossible to study the brushstrokes in Andrew Wyeth's tempera paintings from six inches away and not be influenced!  Although I had seen NICHOLAS (Wyeth's 32x30" tempera portrait, 1955) many times in reproductions, nothing came close to seeing the original at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland.  Every hair on Nicholas's jacket and head... clearly and patiently defined. 

With all the rush and hustle of the current "plein air" scene, many artists have turned into entertainers turning out quick-draw paintings in two hours.  Rather than viewing these works as studies or sketches, they're slapped, wet into frames and sold "as is."  I know, I'm guilty as charged!

The beauty of plein air painting is the exuberant spontaneity, capturing fleeting light, color, and impressions of a moment in time.  I will continue to dash out two hour studies as the vital reference tools they are!  The change in my thinking about plein air painting is to not worry about "finishing" a painting on location.  Although, once in a while it does happen...

Plein air studies have to be small enough to capture a lot of information in the short amount of time before the light changes.  Larger studies have to be taken back during the same conditions several times.  There's also the problem of wind, even a small gust can turn a canvas into a sail.  The solution for me is to work small and use several references, photos (gasp!), sketches and notes.  Then work in the comfort of my studio...  AND SLOW DOWN! 

Never heard of anyone accusing Wyeth of overworking his paintings...

Another Wyeth story:  Years ago, I was in a crowd of people lined up and led through an exhibition of Wyeth's paintings in New York.  I witnessed a woman telling her friends,  "I know how he painted this, with a stick!" as she scraped her long plastic finger nail across the surface of a Wyeth tempera! 

 Part 9 (or my ninth "polished"sketch during my week in Maine)

 Daylilies, 4x8" oil study, Diane Mannion

 

Field study or first layer of paint

Thank you for your patience, Dear Reader, for scrolling this far down!  I promise, next post, Part 10 will be the last of my week in Maine painting adventure.  But may take me awhile to finish the painting!

GRAMMA

GRAMMA, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Nanatuck, Port Clyde, Maine Part 7

One of my favorite paintings from Port Clyde!  Early morning about 6:30am, found parking space near docks!  This dinghy was right in front of my car and I painted it from that spot.  The colors!  Unfortunately, I had left my thalo blues home, but touched it up later.  And the dinghy's name!  GRAMMA... love it!

Did have a little problem drawing though.  Kept lining it up with the piling and thought I was  standing in the wrong spot before I realized the entire dock was moving.  Floating dock!  As if drawing boats wasn't difficult enough.

While I was painting, a man rowed his dinghy to shore from his sailboat, which was

anchored out in the harbor.  His gorgeous yellow lab jumped in and out of the dinghy fetching a plastic bottle and finally ran up the boat ramp, catching up with his owner.   Great dog!

View of Port Clyde Harbor

GRAMMA IS MY 100TH PAINTING OF 2015!

Lightkeeper's House

Lightkeeper's House, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Marshall Point Lighthouse

Nanatuck Part 6:  This building caused a lot of headaches for a few of us during Mary Erickson's artist's retreat  week at Nanatuck!  I returned twice to correct perspective and color.  Not an easy building to paint!

Left the sky and bottom half loose because it captured the late afternoon color just the way I saw it.  The seagull directly above the house was a happy accident... turned a fingernail smear into a bird rather than painting the sky over again. 

The original lightkeeper's house built in 1858, was struck by lightning and destroyed in June 1895, but was replaced by November 1895.  Photo from the Marshall Point Museum showing the original structure.

The lighthouse as it is now without the covered walkway.

My setup

My thumbnail sketch and underpainting

Raspberry Picker

Raspberry Picker, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Nanatuck Part 5

Foggy and cool Maine morning.  Painted by the Port Clyde Lighthouse.  Loved the yellow daylillies, but a woman picking raspberries and wearing a red shirt walked into the scene and stole the show. 

This is the rough, as it was right off the easel.  Allowed myself to fuss and fiddle later, letting my visual memory polish the painting.

My setup and below, a couple of painting buddies.

 Durinda Cheek wonderful artist and people magnet!

Fran Mangino starting another terrific watercolor.

Snow Shovel

Snow Shovel, 4x8"oil sketch, ©Diane Mannion

Nanatuck Part 4

After living in Florida full time for over twenty years, an artist can get really excited about seeing a snow shovel!  I bet his one leaning against the garage at Nanatuck must have had plenty of use during the last few winters.  It had been a gray and foggy Maine day until sun struck the shovel late in the afternoon, cranked out this sketch (polished later) while waiting for dinner...

Mary's lobster bisque!

My flight, cancelled because of weather, caused me to miss this first dinner at Nanatuck.  Durinda served lobster!  The leftover ones went into Mary's great bisque.  From left: Jane, Kathren, Hollis, Durinda, Mary, Suzi, and Fran.  Hilarious camaraderie around this table every night!

Nanatuck Cabin

Nanatuck Cabin, 4x8" oil, plein air study, ©Diane Mannion

Nanatuck Part 3 

A few of us played tourists one day and visited the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland; a pilgrimage to see Wyeth paintings.  Don Demers said, there should be a weeping bench outside for artists, supplied with tissues; seeing all of the Wyeth's work together, N.C., Andrew, and Jamie is a humbling experience.

Artists like to look closely at paintings to study brushwork and technique; this stuff can't be seen in books or online, but we make museum guards nervous!  Sure enough, a short, elderly guard rushed over waving his arms and said, "No closer than six inches!"  He stuck with us constantly chattering... we longed for hushed silence while worshiping the masters.  

Before we left, the guard left us with a nugget of advice:  McDonald's lobster rolls won a blind taste test.  So while on the way to see Roger Dale Brown's gorgeous show at the Haynes Gallery we happened to be hungry and pulled into Mickie D's to test their lobster rolls.  Not bad at all, but like Mary Erickson said, takes business away from the little guys.   

Durinda Cheek and I took iPhone shots of this sign and were immediately warned by the manager: NO photos allowed in McDonald's!  She was nice enough not to make us delete them.  Who knew!!?!

My painting, Nanatuck Cabin above was the only one for that day, had been averaging two to three (three is my limit before burnout).  The cabin's located on the edge of the Nanatuck property where spiders dropped from pine branches and ants crawled up my legs so had to paint fast. 

Early Bird Light

Early Bird Light, 8x10" oil, ©Diane Mannion

Port Clyde, Maine

Gets light much earlier in Maine than in Florida.  We were up and out by six-thirty in the morning.  Early Birds catch the best light and the best parking spaces.  One problem with Port Clyde is lack of parking!  I painted this from a dock parking space set up behind my car.  The space is so narrow, it's almost impossible to turn around without backing off a rocky ledge.

This is how the painting looked fresh from the easel...before the polished stage above.  Felt my darks were too dark and was not happy with the driveway.  I had been standing in the sun which threw my values off.  Left out a lot of clutter!  That's Fran Mangino on the left, painting a large watercolor.

In the evenings back at Nanatuck, Mary Erickson gave everyone's work a gentle critique.  We learned a lot from these sessions and from each other.  A few glasses of wine enhanced the process.

 

A few snapshots of Port Clyde.  Painting material everywhere!  Many buildings are owned by Linda Bean of LLBean.  Port Clyde is also the site of the last sardine factory in the country which my husband visited about thirty-five years ago.  Unfortunately, it no longer exists.  I was able to purchase a few cans of Port Clyde sardines... imported from Poland!

THEIR BOAT

THEIR BOAT, 4x8" oil, plein air, ©Diane Mannion

Port Clyde, Maine

I was struck by the light on this red and blue boat sitting by an old, weather-beaten house in Port Clyde, Maine.  The owners had passed away but would be pleased to know their boat and flower garden was an inspiration to many artists last week. 

While painting this, I imagined the former owners tending their garden... their boat now sails on waves of grass and flowers... echoed by the wave patterned fence.  Bon voyage.

This is one study of ten I painted during an artist's retreat gently guided by gracious host, mentor, friend and fabulous artist... Mary Erickson.  Over the next few days, as I post each painting, I'll report more details of my amazing week at Nanatuck!