Orchard in Spring Impressionist Painting

Orchard in Spring

About This Painting:
Media: acrylic
Size: 8 in X 6 in (20.3 cm X 15.2 cm)

How to Purchase:
This painting is sold

No Eye Has Seen

No Eye Has Seen, acrylic, 20x24

This was a very enjoyable piece to paint, seemed to flow right out of me. I had to crop the bottom of the photo a little because the easel was visible, so the composition actually extends another inch or so at the bottom showing a bit more of the marsh grass on the right and more of the cloud reflection on the left. In person the cloud has more of a luminous yellow glow to it than you can see in the photo, so nicer in person than what you see on the screen. Enjoy!

Flanders Field

Flanders Field, 30x30, oil

Here's a recent oil painting. I really like this large square format, it makes for an interesting composition. This painting will be featured on the cover of the February issue of The Art Guide Magazine. The Art Guide is a regional magazine featuring art, artists and galleries in the CT, RI, MA and NY area. Poppies and fields of poppies have been a recurring theme in my work this year. You can find more of them in my gallery at the Daily Painters site here.

Moon at Sunset

Moon at Sunset, acrylic, 6x8

I'm having a good time with these interactive acrylics. Working on getting a scumbling method down. Scumbling (scrubbing a thin layer of a lighter color over a darker layer that is already dry) is a favorite technique of mine with oil paints but it has the disadvantage of having to wait for the first layer to be dry. With acrylics the first layer is immediately ready which allows this technique to become a major part of the process of the painting. Fun!

Exploring the Seasons in Acrylic

Morning Meadow (spring), 6x8, acrylic

Poppy Morning (summer), 6x8, acrylic

Autumn Leaves (fall), 9x12, acrylic

Frozen Edge (winter), 6x8, acrylic

I've always been intrigued by acrylic paints. They seem very modern, comtemporary, edgy and 20th century. I've seen stunning acrylic paintings and some absolutely horrendous monstrosities. I've seen the most intricatedly detailed and accurate wildlife art, some beautifully expressive impressionist work and some wondefully textured almost sculptural abstact works as well. The colors seem vivid and saturated and the perks of soap and water clean up combined with their quick dry time add to their appeal. On the down side they never seem as full bodied, lush, buttery and rich as oil paints. Quite frankly many brands sem plastic-y and cheap looking. Creating soft atmospheric passages seem to take an entirely different working method than in oils because of the quick dry time so that's both a pro and a con). Lastly, and most unfortunately many collectors seem to prefer oil paintings and prices for acrylics are often lower than for oils. However, I believe that over time that will change.



So what am I doing in this series of new paintings? Well, playing around, experimenting and having fun for starters! I'm using a new type of acrylics, Chroma Interactive. These relatively new paints are meant to stay workable longer, while still drying much quicker than oils, and they definitely don't have that plastic-y look or feel. Combined with some Golden soft-gel and some of the mediums designed to go with these paints I'm getting some very impressive results. I don't know if I love them enough yet to completely abandon oils but I'm going to be doing my small daily paintings with these for the next few months to see if I can really produce acryloic works that ae essentially indistinguishable from my oils. Stay tuned for more results.

Paintings BIG and small

Golden Days, oil, 24x36

Evening Falls, oil, 24x36

Luminary of the Autumn Night Sky, oil, 30x40

Whirl the Seasons Round, oil, 12x16

Beach Path in Winter, oil, 9x12

It's always fun to shake things up a bit and working both large and small is one way to do that. The two small paintings here are not really that small considering that I often work 6x8in. But they are considerably smaller than the first three pieces. Students often ask me whether it's better to work large or small; the answer isn't really one or the other. There are things to be learned and gained from both. Small gives you the advantage of tackling all the major problems of a painting in a single sitting. Composition, value, color, brushwork, as well as painting method can all be addressed in a small work. Each time you work through those challenges you grow a little as an artist. So, a large painting may take you three weeks to finish and you've worked through one set of problems, but if you were painting smaller perhaps you would be able to accomplish six paintings in the same span of time and you would have had the experience of working through six sets of challenges. The more experience you get the better your painting skills become. Painting small allows you to produce many works in a short amount of time and gain experience quickly. This is often helpful for beginners. However, there are limitations to what can be done in a very small work, particularly in the area of expressive brush work and some of the finer points of creating a painting, like edges, subtle shifts in color and value,detail and complexity of composition. More intermediate level painters may find it most beneficial to tackle some larger canvases in order to pursue thise particular elements. And while small works may be little gems, large works tend to have the wow factor and command attention with their sense of presence. If you'd like to push youself a little then gradually change canvas size, either larger or smaller. Once you become comfortable with the next size up or down, go to the next size. Eventually, you'll find that you are comfortable painting any size. Inevitably you will have your favorite sizes and that's fine, but when you get into a rut it's nice to be able to break out a little bit and get the excitement flowing again.

As always these are available for sale. Golden Days and Luminary of the Autumn Night Sky are currently at Gallery at 85 Main Street, Centerbrook, CT. Send me an e-mail for purchase information. jan.blencowe@comcast.net

Also don't forget the HOLIDAY SALE at my website http://www.janblencowe.com/ there's a whole gallery of work on sale 50% off until Jan. 30th, 2008.

Indian Summer Paintings

Autumn Dunes, 8x10, oil

September Beach, 8x10, oil

Butterflies Paradise, 6x8, oil

Oh boy, there is some really amazing color and texture going on out there this time of year. Late summer weeds and wildflowers have burst into bloom, grasses are going to seed, shrubs and bushes are bursting with berries and trees with nuts. The sun, though at a lower angle in the sky, is still bright and casts a warm, mellow shawl over the landscape. I find the dunes to be particularly beautiful at this time of year, sporting reddish and purple grasses. The last painting was a spot that had weeds and flowers in abundant profusion and attracted butterflies by the dozen what an awesome sight!!

INDIAN SUMMER

Emily Dickinson [1830-1886]

These are the days when birds come back,

A very few, a bird or two,

To take a backward look.
These are the days when skies put on

The old, old sophistries of June,

-A blue and gold mistake.
Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee,

Almost thy plausibilityInduces my belief,
Till ranks of seeds their witness bear,

And softly through the altered air

Hurries a timid leaf!
Oh, sacrament of summer days,

Oh, last communion in the haze,

Permit a child to join,
Thy sacred emblems to partake,

Thy consecrated bread to break,

Taste thine immortal wine!

Plein Air Paintings to End Summer and Welcome Autumn

September Field of Trees, oil, 16x20, $500

Path Through the Cedars, oil, 8x10, $200

Headless Scarecrow, oil, 8x10, $200

Some Thoughts on Green

Another summer is coming to an end and that means I've completed another season of studying the color green. Plein air painters often dread this color. It completely dominates the landscape throughout the summer and if not handled correctly the results are a disasterous painting. Ask me how I know this LOL. I keep a little journal with musings about art and life in it. Here's a recent entry anout the color green:

I watch as the clouds form and reform behind the treetops. I study the color of the trees. They're green of course....but no, I look at the green plastic pitcher on the deck. It's bright yellow green. I compare. It's not anywhere to be found in the trees. Only the sunlit grass comes close and even then the red-brown of the earth shows through causing an orange glow beneath the green grass. I look at the deep green of the chair cushions, what we might call forest green, yet I don't see that in the trees either. How is it that this common color of the landscape is so elusive, so un-nameable, and if un-nameable how can I capture it with paint?

How indeed?

Hours of careful observation, and much time spent painting outdoors.

A Late Summer Symphony of Paintings

Marsh Flowers, 9x12, oil

Marsh House, 9x12, oil

Marsh Sunset, 9x12, oil

Here are three paintings done in a series, three days in a row at the same time of day. The first and third are from the same location, the former looking east and the latter looking west towards the sunset. The middle one was done several miles down the road along the Oyster River. These three pieces served as vehicles for some color experiments I'm working on. The idea is called "pigment soup" it's origins are with the early 20th century American painter Edgar Alwin Payne.

This idea is currently being discussed by a group of artists in the online art community www.WetCanvas.com . Simply put, you mix up a color which becomes the basis for the entire painting and each and every subsequent color that you mix contains a bit of the original color. This guarantees an immediate color harmony and gives you the opportunity right at the very beginning of the painting process to decide upon and enact a strategy for creating mood and emotion in your painting. It's this last part that I am especially interested in, creating mood and emotion in a painting. I am no longer content to just "paint what I see". My desire is to paint what I feel and inject a more spiritual component into my work. I want emotions and ideas like longing, joy, awe, lonliness, gratitude, wistfulness, peacefulness, solitude, contemplation, elation, brooding, desire, tranquility, vitality, happiness to come through. More like poetry, less like prose.

Speaking of poetry here's one that is especially appropriate as summer slips away and we long to keep it just a little longer before back to school and autumn 's rainy, chilly weather appears.

Fair Summer Droops
from Summer’s Last Will and Testament by Thomas Nashe (1600)

Fair summer droops, droop men and beasts therefore,

So fair a summer look for nevermore:

All good things vanish less than in a day,

Peace, plenty, pleasure, suddenly decay.

Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year,

The earth is hell when thou leav’st to appear.

What, shall those flowers that decked thy garland erst,

Upon thy grave be wastefully dispersed?

O trees, consume your sap in sorrow’s source,

Streams, turn to tears your tributary course.

Go not yet hence, bright soul of the sad year,

The earth is hell when thou leav’st to appear.

Resting Place Along the River

Resting Place Along the River, 14x18, oil

On a sultry summer day a quiet rest beneath the trees watching the boats passing along the river is a peaceful delight. This spot is the edge of an old cemetary that overlooks the river, a final resting place for many.

Departed To The Judgment
by Emily Dickinson.

Departed to the judgment,

A mighty afternoon;

Great clouds like ushers leaning,

Creation looking on.

The flesh surrendered,

cancelled

The bodiless begun;

Two worlds, like audiences, disperse

And leave the soul alone.

River no.1 Morning

River no.1 Morning

12x36, oil/linen

The summer solstice this year was a perfect day!! To celebrate the longest day of the year, and metaphorically sol invictus, the victory of light over darkness, I went to a plein air paint out. This is a morning painting when the sun was just beginning to peek over the tops of the tallest trees chasing away the cool shadows and mist left over from the night. I was continuously serenaded by songbirds and cooled by a breeze coming off the river. I enjoyed some wonderful food provided by the gallery sponsering the event, the stimulating company of some fellow artists and the glories of the new summer season. I was really intrigued with the shape of this canvas and how it let me unfurl the expansiveness of the river. I ordered three more just like it and I'm planning to do a series of river paintings. The next one will be at sunset. Stay tuned!

Summer Sun

GREAT is the sun, and wide he goes

Through empty heaven without repose;

And in the blue and glowing days

More thick than rain he showers his rays.


Though closer still the blinds we pull

To keep the shady parlour cool,

Yet he will find a chink or two

To slip his golden fingers through.


The dusty attic, spider-clad,

He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;

And through the broken edge of tiles

Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.


Meantime his golden face around

He bares to all the garden ground,

And sheds a warm and glittering look

Among the ivy's inmost nook.


Above the hills, along the blue,

Round the bright air with footing true,

To please the child, to paint the rose,

The gardener of the World, he goes.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

South Cove Morning

South Cove Morning, 14x18, oil

I had the great pleasure of going out and painting with a fellow artist on Monday. What a beautiful morning it was! Clear, warm summer light illuminated the treeline and brought out all the warm rich hues in the water. This lovely spot emanated a sense of peace and tranquility. I'm striving for more emotion, a more personal sense of response to a place in my work and I think I am now comfortable moving in this direction. I feel less bound to the objective realities of the scene and more at liberty to infuse my own inner vision into a landscape. Stay tuned to see how this progresses!

Vision

I have not walked on common ground,

Nor drunk of earthly streams;

A shining figure, mailed and crowned,

Moves softly through my dreams.

He makes the air so keen and strange,

The stars so fiercely bright;

The rocks of time, the tides of change,

Are nothing in his sight.

Death lays no shadow on his smile;

Life is a race fore-run;

Look in his face a little while,

And life and death are one.

Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall

Birdland

Birdland, 14x18, oil

This is the marsh in the evening. At first it seems quiet, until you become aware of all the life and activity there. Birds by the score are coming in to roost for the night. Some are carolling their evensong and some are twittering excitedly. Many are flying throught the marsh catching insects as they go; the epitome of fast food ! This particular marsh is part of a state park and there are birdhouses of several varieties along with nesting platforms to accomodate the avian resdients preferences.

For, lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone;

the flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle

is heard in our land.

Solomon

Plein Air in the Morning

Madison Morning, 6x8, oil

Hammonasset Waterway, 6x6, oil

SOLD

I'm sticking with my commitment to get out Monday-Friday in the mornings to paint. Living along the coast often means that it will be hazy/foggy/overcast in the morning and this is presenting me with some interesting color and lighting situations.

I wanted to mention the passing of a true modern master, Charles Sovek. I had the very good fortune of studying with him during two workshops in 2005. It was an amazing thing to watch him paint with such ease and joyful abandon. His loose colorist paintings have left the world a more beautiful place than when he arived in it. He was a gentle, and generous man, a wonderful teacher and an inspiration. He will be missed!

When Earths Last Picture is Painted

When Earth's last picture is painted

And the tubes are twisted and dried

When the oldest colors have faded

And the youngest critic has died

We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it

Lie down for an aeon or two

'Till the Master of all good workmen

Shall put us to work anew

And those that were good shall be happy

They'll sit in a golden chair

They'll splash at a ten league canvas

With brushes of comet's hair

They'll find real saints to draw from Magdalene, Peter, and Paul

They'll work for an age at a sitting

And never be tired at all.

And only the Master shall praise us.

And only the Master shall blame.

And no one will work for the money.

No one will work for the fame.

But each for the joy of the working,

And each, in his separate star,

Will draw the thing as he sees it.

For the God of things as they are!

Rudyard Kipling

Plein Air on Gray Days

Gray Day Rocks, 6x8, oil, $100 unframed

View Through the Bird Blind, 6x6, $100, unframed

We're in a terrible weather pattern, lots of clouds and then the sun breaks through, and just when you get outside the clouds return! Mother Nature's having some fun with us! The bird blind is a wooden shelter constructed in the marsh with viewing windows so you can observe the birds, waterfowl and wildlife unnoticed, a very cool place to set up and paint! These paintings reflect the gray-ness of the day and the textures of the marsh vegitation and the subtle changes in color of the rocks. Enjoy!

SEAWEED

When descends on the Atlantic
The gigantic
Storm-wind of the equinox,
Landward in his wrath he scourges
The toiling surges,
Laden with seaweed from the rocks:

From Bermuda's reefs; from edges
Of sunken ledges,
In some far-off, bright Azore;
From Bahama, and the dashing,
Silver-flashing
Surges of San Salvador;

From the tumbling surf, that buries
The Orkneyan skerries,
Answering the hoarse Hebrides;
And from wrecks of ships, and drifting
Spars, uplifting
On the desolate, rainy seas;--

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting
Currents of the restless main;
Till in sheltered coves, and reaches
Of sandy beaches,
All have found repose again.

So when storms of wild emotion
Strike the ocean
Of the poet's soul, erelong
From each cave and rocky fastness,
In its vastness,
Floats some fragment of a song:

Front the far-off isles enchanted,
Heaven has planted
With the golden fruit of Truth;
From the flashing surf, whose vision
Gleams Elysian
In the tropic clime of Youth;

From the strong Will, and the Endeavor
That forever
Wrestle with the tides of Fate
From the wreck of Hopes far-scattered,
Tempest-shattered,
Floating waste and desolate;--

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting
Currents of the restless heart;
Till at length in books recorded,
They, like hoarded
Household words, no more depart.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Looking for the Bright Spot

Looking for the Bright Spot, 6x6, oil

Looking for the bright spot on a gray day...kind of like a metaphor for life!

A Grey Day


Grey drizzling mists the moorlands drape,

Rain whitens the dead sea,

From headland dim to sullen cape

Grey sails creep wearily.

I know not how that merchantman

Has found the heart; but 'tis her plan

Seaward her endless course to shape.

Unreal as insects that appall

A drunkard's peevish brain,

O'er the grey deep the dories crawl,

Four-legged, with rowers twain:

Midgets and minims of the earth,

Across old ocean's vasty girth

Toiling--heroic, comical!

I wonder how that merchant's crew

Have ever found the will!

I wonder what the fishers do

To keep them toiling still!

I wonder how the heart of man

Has patience to live out its span,

Or wait until its dreams come true.

William Vaughn Moody

Field Studies Continued

Bold River Afternoon, 6x8, oil

Summerwoods, 6x8, oil

Light from the East, 7x9.5, oil

Morning Sail, 7 x 9.5, oil

It's pouring rain today, but over the past week or so the weather has really been perfect, so here are three new pochades. (That's a French word, derived from the root for pocket, so literally a painting small enough to fit into your pocket!). I'm working on capturing the different qualities of light that occur at different times of day. The first one was begun at 6pm on a very sunny, clear day and the colors just seemed to come alive as the angle of th sun light dropped. The second was painted at 8:00am on a dry sunny morning and the glow in the new foliage of the trees was amazing. The third was begun at about 9:00 am on a sunny but very humid morning, temps were up near 85-90 degrees that morning and the light had a softer more diffused quality to it. This is basically the same scene as Morning Sail (which I posted below)from last week. Not standing in quite the same spot so things are shifted about some but what's really interesting is that although they were painted at the same time of day the weather was different and so was the quality of light. That's what is so fascinating about going back to the same place over and over again, it's never the same painting twice.

Field Studies en Plein Air

Oyster River Evening, 6x8, oil

Beach Path, 6x8, oil

Morning Path, 6x8, oil

Edge of the Woods, 6x8, oil

SOLD

I really enjoy painting small field studies outdoors. It's amazing how much you learn about nature, color, light, the rhythms of the seasons and the turning from night to day when you spend time working directly from nature. Larger studio works may seem grander and have more polish and finish but they can never compete with the intimate and fresh depiction of a scene you get when you work small and quick outdoors.

For your Spirit woven into the Fabric of creation

for the eternal overlapping with time

and the life of the earth interlaced with heaven's vitality

I give you thanks, O God.

For your untamed creativity

your boundless mystery

and your passionate yearnings

planted deep in the soul of every human being

I give you thanks.

Grabt me the grace to reclaom these depths

to uncover this treasure

to liberate these longings

and in being set free in my own spirit

to act for the well-being of the world.

J.Philip Newell

from~A Celtic Benediction~

Each of these field studies is available for purchase, unframed, $100. E-mail me jan.blencowe@comcast.net pay securely with PayPal

Morning Sail

Morning Sail Daily Impressionist Painting

About This Painting:
A lovely summer morning, I thoroughly enjoyed being outside painting this!

Media: oil
Size: 9 in X 7.5 in (22.9 cm X 19.1 cm)
Price: $150 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $150 USD
Or, send me an email

Plein Air Petitescapes

A Very Quiet Morning, 6x8,oil
$100, unframed, contact: jan.blencowe@comcast.net

Morning Dunes, 6x8, oil

$100, unframed, contact: jan.blencowe@comcast.net

I love painting these little field studies, 6x8 inch gems that seem to capture the intimacy and connection I feel with the landscape whenever I paint outdoors. Both of these were painted in the early morning a time of day I find enchanting.

How to Purchase: To pay safely with PayPal visit my daily painting gallery here.

Read Mary Oliver's beautiful and evocative Morning Poem.

Morning Prayer

Let me to-day do something that shall take

A little sadness from the world’s vast store, And may I be so favoured as to make

Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed

Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend; Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, Or sin by silence when I should defend.

However meagre be my worldly wealth, Let me give something that shall aid my kind –A word of courage, or a thought of health, Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.

Let me to-night look back across the span

‘Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say –Because of some good act to beast or man –“The world is better that I lived today.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox