What's Wrong with Pretty?

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

When I look at a pretty painting like this  latest in the Magnolia Series, I wonder what it is that makes me want something different. Two answers come to mind, both weaknesses when it comes to my color choices.  1. I typically use one of two color schemes: analogous (side-by-side on the color wheel) or complementary (opposite on the color wheel).  2. I don't take advantage of neutrals to accentuate my colors. Both of which explain my current emphasis on color relationships. Still, pretty has its place, and this is even better in person.

In the Beginning

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

This is a return to the flower series. Now that you have seen this one, I can admit they are all versions of a magnolia, although perhaps not one you've ever seen. This one - the original - is the only one painted with a brush. If you've never visited the state capitol in WV, where all these flowers were photographed, it's a beautiful, gold-domed structure, visible from the interstate.

Working from Photographs

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

From my flower series, done with a palette knife. This entire series was based on a group of photos I took at the capitol in Charleston, WV, waiting to catch a plane.  The flowers are actually magnolias, though only the first in the series (not yet posted) looks relatively true. This always seems to be the case.  I start mostly realistic, and as the series grows, become more and more abstract until even I am surprised.

Never on Sunday

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

Today's painting is another from the flower series in acrylics. This too was painted using the palette knife.
On the blogging front, I have decided to take a break from postings just on Sundays.  After all, I will still be painting! I am one of those people who never wrote in a diary beyond January 3rd, but I have found I enjoy blogging - probably because it's about my favorite subject: painting. On the painting front, I have narrowed my next painting to 3 possibilities so I am making progress. Sometimes I have to actually start a painting to realize that's not what I want to do right now. Fortunately, these false starts make good backgrounds for something else.

Art in the Movies

Acrylic on masonite, 16x20"  c. Catherine Vines

How cool. A producer from Universal is coming to the house to look at my paintings (he's already seen some pics) for a show he's working on. It will just be background stuff, but I can still claim bragging rights!
This is among the ones I sent him. The flower is from a series I painted using the palette knife. The colors are even prettier in person. I will post more from this series as I work - in my own slow way - on a new painting.

Using Leftover Palette Colors

Oil on canvas, 6" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

I don't really like to finish a painting, even though that's what I work for.  The "what next" dilemma haunts me, and it sometimes takes me days, or even longer to decide where to go.  In this case, my last painting was such an undertaking that I wasn't ready for another tree! Luckily I read an interview of Catherine Kehoe in which she said she used the paints leftover at the end of the day to make a self-portrait.  While this is an amazing neighbor rather than a self-portrait, the idea stands.

Abstract Tree #7

Oil on canvas, 48" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

It's done.  Over the next couple of weeks (or more!) I will make adjustments, but . . . it's done. Yea! and Boo! The "boo" is also because it's done.

Paint Relationships

Oil on canvas, detail, 48" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

I started this current group of photographs based on the idea of light, capturing those clear luminous patches of light within the landscape. The series "Trees as Sculpture" was created with the intent of trying to portray that light.  But then, as always, I fell in love with color and my focus switched to using color schemes to paint from. With this latest tree - nearly finished, yea! - I have concentrated on developing relationships between colors, working my way up and down the value scale. As Ken Kewley says, "The life of a painter is a life of exploring."

Painting from Photographs

Photograph, 2011,  c. Catherine Vines

My tree series is called, "The Tree as Sculpture." In the beginning as I walked my dog, I would photograph trees just because I liked them.  After I better identified what it was that drew me to the trees, I began to be more selective. Since I am primarily a value-driven painter, I started out by trying to reproduce the values - if not the colors - I had captured.  And I worked primarily from photographs.  But at some point, I have to put the photographs away and paint in response to the painting. Like many others, I believe the photograph is only an aid, and only useful to a certain point. Then the painter must take charge.

Painting the Background

Oil on canvas, 36" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

I find backgrounds challenging.  Somewhere I've read to just paint a lot of backgrounds - in other words, practice, practice, practice. In that practicing, I've tried using the complement of the subject matter.  Mimicking the outside shape of the subject in neutral, darker colors. Painting a deeper version of the subject. Sometimes I've used smooth backgrounds (like today) to contrast the rougher interior strokes. Or the opposite: rough against smooth. But to be well done, I believe the painting has to look as if no other background good possibly work as well. So I keep practicing.

Painting a Sunset

Oil on canvas, 36" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

The most beautiful sunset I've ever seen was off the coast of Edmonds, WA (just to the north of Seattle), looking out over the Puget Sound.  Like most such experiences, it was fleeting and for me, impossible to specifically recall. Still, it stays with me, like a melody I can't quite grasp, yet warming me with its glow. More recently I have been reading Loriann Signori as she writes about painting from memory rather than direct observation or a photo. As proof of her point, she is painting the most beautiful pastels.
This, the second tree in my series, is an even more indirect capture in oil of my experience.

Working in a Series

This is the painting that started my current series on trees. All of these paintings are based on trees within a few blocks of my house. I found when looking for a tree to paint, I was most interested in their sculptural quality, the same characteristic I'm working to convey.
I love working in a series. It's so interesting to build on a previous painting, to take that idea and change it up. Format. Size. Medium. Even tools. Today's was created using a palette knife.
But my major requirement for a series is that something catches my imagination, something that I can see possibilities in, something that I want to explore further. With this series I started thinking of painting  portraits of the trees and wanting to capture their individual expressiveness.

Completing a Painting

This is the latest tree in my current series (I'm working on #7 now).  Posting is helping me realize how long I take to complete a painting. I tell myself, "It's finished!" and hang it on the wall. But over time something starts to bug me; then off it comes and back to the easel.  Thus the process starts all over again.  I'm learning to pay attention to those nagging bothers rather than talk myself out of them. But I seem to need time to digest the painting before I can really see it.  Weird, huh?
These color choices are intuitive and very different from my usual.  In this case I had prepainted the background, also an atypical choice, and worked from there. The dark is Gamblin's Torrit Grey from last year, made from their recycled pigments.
The further I get in the series, the looser my brushstrokes become.  Think where I'll be by #15!

Thank you to everyone for your comments on my last post.  It's so nice to have you looking at my work. I hope you'll come back.