Don't bullshit yourself.

It is a good lesson this one. Pull up a chair and get the popcorn, the story goes like this........I was spending a few days painting with Richard Robinson. I really enjoyed our last outing and it was his philosophy and attitude towards painting that drew me to visit again. Self -taught with great talent an a LOT of focus, he is a natural teacher and I find, if I actually tune in, he has a lot to say  in a succinct and direct way.

We went off painting and I deferred to his local knowledge of where and what to paint. First off was a wonderful, vaguely derelict shed, on a bit of farmland. Richard saw things that I, obviously, did not and painted a wonderful piece. Click here to see it. A magic painting...it glowed.
I painted the THING. It was dreadful. I could not, for the life of me, find my groove and formulate any kind of plan for the painting. What was the concept...I had no idea.

I was frustrated.....why could I not "see " what he was seeing?

 So, I went off that afternoon and found a spot on the beach that spoke to me and painted...and it was good! And then the bell started to ring, just a little. What was it that made it possible for me to paint well and then paint like a chimp at other times? ( no disrespect to my chimp fans) . I mused over the issue that evening, but hit the sack early...I was tired!

I woke the next morning and met Richard at Waipu Cove beach. He told me to pack light for a tramp across the rocks from Waipu Cove to Langs beach, a fabulous walk across cliffs, rocks and farmlands but edged by the sea.

We had to abandon a few sites due to wasp infestation ( Ha! but they were there first!) and settled on this scene. Richard bounded around like a rock rabbit, taking reference photos and sorting out light issues. I stayed on land and admired the bounding and wondering why I had failed to bring a flask of tea.

We set up and started painting. It became clear to me about 20 minutes into the painting that I was hating what I was doing. I was not concentrating, I was lost. I realise, I had no emotional engagement with the scene. I know what I wanted to paint, I know the feeling, and it was about the sky and the land, not the sea and rocks.  I stopped and took stock.
I looked over to the right, up the hill  and there stood a few young bulls, languidly grazing atop the parched farmland, silhouetted against the sky. Bingo! Thank you universe and thank you bulls!

I must have made some kind of gleeful sound because Richard turned round to find me scrubbing my canvas clean and turning my easel round to paint . I quickly explained that what I wanted to paint  and got on with it.

So, I have come to realise that every artist works differently, sees differently, thinks differently and has their own set of emotional buttons that need to be pushed to find a scene paintable or not.  The technical stuff can all be worked on but the creative and inspirational stuff is all you. I know I have to work on my values and that I shall do, but I am also happy to be secure in knowing that I know why I paint and that when it is an emotional response, I stop thinking about the "thing" I am painting and paint how it feels, the poetry of it.Then the bullshit about everything else stops and you are true to your minds eye vision and translating what you see into poetry on the canvas. 

Tada!

Clifftop bulls
27 x 35 cm
oil on canvas


PS!
Please look here to see what Richard was painting. Amazeballs! He really is such fun to paint with and a very nice person to boot. He is off to the Plein Air conference in Carmel in April and I wish him all the best till next time.

Plein air tuesday at Hamilton Lake

I took the dog to the groomers ( he looked  Keith Richards baaaad! All rattails, yellowed chin-hair and eyes like pissholes in the snow) and I went to the Hamilton Lake for a paint. I know my morning was going to be far more relaxing than his, poor poppet.

This lake is in the middle of town, boasts a wonderful l4.3km path around it for runners,walkers, mums with prams and toddlers on bikes. It also has a great play area for kids , a gazillion ducks to feed, manicured flower gardens, a train you can climb all over and, blessed of all blessedness, a coffee- serving  cafe on site.

So, I set up near the loo's (class act, I am) and painted. I had the great fortune to eavesdrop on a number of parents interacting with their kids(various degrees of hysteria and thank the ex-pope I am not there still). I also had fun chatting to some people who stopped and spoke to me about what I was doing. Many of them expressed a wish to paint too( well, not that very minute, you understand...) and I made it my mission to encourage everyone who said it ,to do something about that wish. JUST DO IT.

Anyway, I painted two paintings, had a coffee and went to fetch the buffed and polished Freddy who now looks David Bowie camp. There is something un-macho about a fluffed dog. He knows it too. His whole demeanour read"whipped and a pansy"when I collected him.

Thank you to everyone who chatted to me or liked the paintings.

Surgeons Row
20 x 40 cm
oil on canvas

Oil on canvas
25 x 30 cm
Palm row

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To the tune Billy Joel's "Piano man"

It's 4 am on a sunday morn
the regular crowd are asleep....

In my 20's, 4 am saw me winding up my evening of  nightclubs/concerts/parties/some mischief . In my 30's, I saw it regularly with  a baby over my shoulder, patiently waiting for a burp or a fart  to appear ( from the baby!) . I swore then I would sleep as much as possible if I ever had the chance.

Well, my 40's have seen me sleeping well until recently, when 4 am has seen me wake , unbidden by anything, and I have marvelled at the clarity of the night sky .I know I should not open my eyes and try go back to sleep, but recently, I have peeked out the windows and spent some time with the night view. It is very,very peaceful.

So this morning, I woke at 4 am, and went painting. I had everything ready at the door, jumped into some warmish clothes and boots, and went out to paint.I wanted to paint the view I spied at nights, across the farmlands towards a distant farmhouse, the crossroads with State Highway 39 and the foothills of the Karamu range.

I loved it. Quiet,still,dark,peaceful.I painted for about 20 minutes when suddenly, the cat appeared silently , rubbed against my leg and I levitated. Quite high, I have to add, with the added benefit of a zombie-like gurgle of fear to add insult to the injury.

After I had reduced my heart rate from a gazillion and coaxed it out of my throat back to it's normal position in my chest, I continued painting. Not 5 minutes later, a possum had some kind of fit in the vines covering the pergola behind me, thrashed around wildly and fell the gravel and sped away into the paddock next door. I was gratified to see the cat companion was as shocked as I was by that particular interuption. We both stared into the dark, trying to gain control of our sphincters and get back to the business of painting. I say we because anthropomorphising makes me feel better about being scared and alone in the dark. So does making up words.

Sunday morning 4 am
20 x 30 cm
oil on archival paper

My camping Plein air adventures

The family went camping at one of New Zealand's fabulous DOC( Dept. of Conservation) campsites in the Coromandel Peninsula, Wentworth Valley. This is our annual "unplug" time...we detach from out technology driven, frantic lives, take stock and enjoy some peacefull family time. No electricity, long drop loo's, tenting,  cooking over a gas fire and living out of a chilly bin make for a very different life to the one we usually have.It was marvellous and I feel so much better but I am also very pleased to come home to some creature comforts!! I actually flushed the loo just for fun and gave my fridge a little cuddle of appreciation on my return.

We camped next to a wonderful stream and my boys spent hours jumping from a rocky outcrop and a few tree branches into the clear but frigid waters below.We ventured to the beach at Whangamata,  hired canoes and paddled up the estuary, we ate fish and chips on the beach, they rode their bikes and I got a paint in once or twice. Everyone was very content, the days had a natural rhythm to them and we all got to do what we all wanted to do. I even read 2 books!

I painted this early one morning as the sun was rising. Charles got up early to go for a mountainbike ride and I took the opportunity to paint this scene. I had to hurry as the light changed very quickly!

Early morning campsite
20 x 28cm
oil on paper

I took lots of photos for future paintings, made lots of notes and Notan sketches and I hope that I will be able to work up some of the photos when it is cold and raining and I feel like a blast of summer. I am really enjoying my plain air painting, but I will tell you more about my adventures next time including the woman who let her dog jump on my oil paint covered palette!!!