THE
JOURNEY SO FAR
Companion
Travelers
•
The Berrien Artists Guild
•
The Pastel Society of New Mexico
•
The Portrait Society of America
•
The American Society of Portrait Artists
•
Plein Air Painters of Chicago (PAPC)
•
Plein Air Painters of Chicago – Southwest (PAPC-SW)
The
group I formed. My current best teachers.
•
Great Lakes Pastel Society
•
Chicago Pastel Society
Lightholders in the
Fog
•
Elizabeth Larrick, Artist, deceased –
were it not for her I would still think
of
my work as private ‘doodling’.
Guides
•
Margaret Gardner –“we
can use arbitrary colors.”
•
Helen Sowa Flynn –“be
bold!”
•
Clayton J. Beck “CJ” –“Stand
back between each brush stroke.
Know
exactly where it is going before you put it down.”
•
Enrique Santana –“You don’t learn
to paint a “thing”.
The
subject is an excuse to paint a painting – la luz.”
Intersections
•
Bob Gerbracht – the man who re-arranged my pastels.
•
Foster Caddell – the perennial smiling artist’s
eye, always helping you to see.
•
Leslie DeMille – the use of red to breathe life
into a face.
•
Gil Dellinger – the possibility of magnificent
large landscapes in pastel.
•
The Art Students’ League – did you know
you can spend a weekend in
New
York immersed in a rotation of the best of faculties? Anytime?
•
Ted Smuskiewicz – the way to wonderful warm rich
oils.
Major Influences
•
Bill Creevy
– "Experiment,
Explore, Experiment, Explore……"
–
“The music of a dream – the way a dream feels and
sounds –
is
what art is about. Art is a printout of the dream.”
– "Artists
are like kids who play in rock and roll bands, or blues players.
They
don't yet
know
about music or notes or anything. They just love
the
music and go out and
buy a guitar; fall in love with the sound;
and
play their asses off till they can play the music that's inside
of them.
They're
self-contained, self-generated and self-realized creative units."
•
Santana
– (You
will learn the most if you) “Just Paint!” ”It
is okay to be self-taught.”
– “Always
– the problem is the wrong color.”
– The
daily habits of the artist’s life are the fertile soil
from which
extraordinary
paintings can emerge.
– “The
best painting I have done is the result of looking at, living
with
and solving
my many mistakes.”
Guiding Principles
•
Paint what captures you
•
If all else fails, paint
Paradoxes for Travelers
•
It's okay to be a realist – yet, when we intentionally
abandon reality
we
are on the path to our deepest personal vision – which is reality at a different level.
•
The best way to produce work which people want, is to not have
to make one’s living painting.
•
When you are ready to throw it away, then you can just play
–
and then – something magical happens.
Lessons Learned
•
Work habits, work habits, work habits…….
Goals
•
To have no goals – To trust….and enter the process.
The Next Steps
•
To Paint More Each Day
•
Work habits, Work habits, Work habits……..
Thank
you for reading this. I hope it becomes clear how very lucky
and
grateful I feel for the wonderful journey this life has been
for
this traveler. I could wish no better for you.
