American Artist Guia de Flores

Talking Colors: Pigments brought to life
Email: RembrandtColor@gmail.com
Master your inspiration
~LE OF CONTENTS
Guide to Painting Flowers
6 EDITOR'S NOTE
9 ON THE COVER: PATRICK GORDON
10 PATRICIA TRIBASTONE: REVEALING
THE MYSTERY OF NATURE
by James A. Metcalfe
For this New York artist, pastel is the ideal medium
for creating evocative floral stilllifes.
18 STILL LIFES AS PORTRAITS
by John R. Kemp
In his first public workshop, Mississippi artist Jason
Bouldin showed participants how to capture the
"intangible personality" of a still life subject as though
they were painting a portrait.
2 Guide to Painting Flowers
24 PAT WALKER: STILL LIFES IN
THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA
by John R. Kemp
This painter's rich, bold stilllifes explore abstract
shapes and light in an attempt to create balance,
harmony, and rhythm.
34 GUIDO FRICK: LEARNING
TO PAINT WITH PASSION
by Naomi Ekperigin
German Impressionist painter Guido Frick loves to
capture the landscape of the Western United States,
and during his semiannual painting trips there, he
teaches workshop participants to relax and trust
their eyes and their instincts.
44 OBSERVING CAREFULLY,
THINKING ABSTRACTLY,
PAINTING TRADITIONALLY
by Linda S. Price
For New York City artist Ellen Buselli, painting is
centered on translating what she sees to canvas,
which is why she finds observing and understanding
the nature of color and light so important.
ON THE COVER
10) 44 Make Colors Sing: Modern Masters
Show You How
34
Learn to Paint With Passion
52 Don't Stay Still: How to Create
Dynamic Action in Floral Painting
66 Learn How to Paint a Rose!
COVER IMAGE:
Cantonese Tea Pot With Red Tulips (diptych, detail)
by Patrick Gordon, 2007, oil, 44 x 60. Private collection.
www.ArtistDaily.com
behind the scenes look
SUPER ADVICE ON:
Ughting On abudget?
Learn to Stay In Your Studio
CONTENTS
52 DYNAMIC ACTION IN FLORAL
PAINTING
by James Sulkowski
Dynamic action is an important element in any type
of painting. Here Idiscuss the concept as it relates
to floral composition.
60 PAINTING FLOWERS COMPOSED
OF SMALL PETALS
by Janet Walsh
A large grouping of these flowers is a challenge to
paint. Learn how to discern the different shapes within
the flowers and still create a unified composition.
66 PAINTING ROSES & DELPHINIUMS
by Janet Walsh
After learning how to paint a basic floral still life,
you'll likely want to try your hand at a more involved
arrangement. As I've suggested here, you might
want to practice drawing and painting the shapes of
the flowers first, because the forms are more com-
plicated. Doing this will help you paint with more
confidence, and you will be better able to capture the
effects of light and shadow that will bring your setup
to life on the paper.
70 SKIP STEINWORTH: SETTING THE
STAGE FOR STILL LIFES
by Naomi Ekperigin
This Minnesota artist is known for representational
graphite drawings that depict conventional subjects
in a way that's anything but.
78 INTERPRETING REALITY
THROUGH COLORED PENCIL
PAINTINGS
by Alyona Nickelsen
By following an exacting but creative process, simple
reference photographs can be transformed into
beautiful stilllifes.
84 AN EXPERIENCE WITH
EXPERIMENTATION
by Lori Woodward
A still life comes together through the course of
many decisions-some better than others.
66
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EDITORS NOTE
Celebrating Timeless Art
or more than three centuries, flowers have been a popular and
enduring theme among artists working in all media. For rep-
resentational painters, flowers present a myriad of challenges
that are a joy to overcome and are ideal for learning classical
techniques. With the seemingly endless benefits of painting floral
subjects, we've put together a collection of some of our best articles on
painting floral stilllifes in oil and watercolor, as well as pastel, colored
pencil, and graphite.
We begin with a look at contemporary approaches to this classic
subject matter. On page 18, we revisit Mississippi artist Jason Bouldin's
first public workshop, in which he shows how principles of portraiture
can be applied to stilllifes to create paintings that bring a sense of
personality to inanimate objects. We also explore the pastel floral
paintings of Patricia Tribastone, who seeks to pay homage to the Old
Masters using pure, bold color (page 10).
The subsequent articles contain detailed demonstrations, materials
lists, and tips to help you apply these tenets to your own practice. We
start with Ellen Buselli, a painter who shares how she creates award-
winning stilllifes (page 44). James Sulkowski provides useful diagrams
for those seeking to create more dynamic action in their bouquets (page
52). Janet Walsh and Lori Woodward offer in-depth looks at how they
create delicate and luminous watercolors, from their initial sketches
to the finished paintings (pages 60 and 84, respectively). For those
interested in working with other media, artists Skip Steinworth and
Alyona Nickelsen show how graphite and colored pencil can be used to
create floral stilllifes that are anything but ordinary (pages 70 and 78,
respectively) .
Whether you're a beginner or a professional, a longtime painter
of flowers or someone who's trying the subject for the first time, the
collection of articles in this magazine will provide helpful tips that
you can refer to time and time again. As you practice the techniques
featured here, please share your results with us at www.ArtistDaily.com.
We'd love to hear from you.
Happy painting!
\ _~ ~ bY lLy(ep+
NAOMI EKPERIGIN
Associate Editor
mail@ArtistDaily.com
HIGHLIGHTS
Guide to
Painting Flowers
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On the Cover:
PATRICK GORDON
Cantonese Tea Pot With RedTulips (diptych)
by Patrick Gordon, 2007, oil, 44 x 60. Private collection.
Patrick Gordon has painted flowers for more than 30
years and still finds himself challenged and surprised
by them. Born and raised in Oklahoma and educated at
the University of Tulsa, the artist's preferred medium
was watercolor, and his dense and sumptuous still
lifes earned him several solo shows at New York City's
Fischbach Gallery between 1981 and 1993.
For the last decade, the artist has worked in oil and
added even more elegance and luxury to his stilllifes. In
2003, he moved to New York City, where he returned to
a rigorous 12-hour-a-day painting schedule and began
working on a large scale. With canvases measuring
upward of 7 6 11 -x-48II, the artist practically challenges
viewers to look away. In the diptych Cantonese Tea Pot
With Red Tulips, the bouquet appears almost "hyper-red"
against the decorative pot and gold-leaf frame in the
background. These flowers aren't found in nature, yet
they are almost more beautiful for it.
The artist's most recent show, "Paper or Plastic?
Secrets From Tornado Alley" (on view October 13through
November 12)is his second exhibition at Fischbach
Gallery since he relocated to New York City. Decades of
studying and rendering flowers and flower paper have
made the seemingly innocuous inquiry of "paper or
plastic?" a somewhat loaded question for him. Gordon
finds the crinkles, wrinkles, and folds of paper and plastic
to be an endlessly fascinating subjects. "Flowers are just
so perfect in every stage of their existence," the artist says,
"whether they are in bloom or starting to wilt." As he
continues to find the pleasure and joy in painting flowers,
it seems 12 hours a day may not be enough.
For more information, visit www.psgordon.com or
www.fischbachgallery.com.
www.ArtistDaily.com Guide to Painting Flowers 9
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FOR THIS NEW YORK ARTIST, PASTEL IS THE IDEAL
MEDIUM FOR CREATING EVOCATIVE FLORAL STILL LIFES.
by James A. Metcalfe
10 Guide to Painting Flowers www.ArtistDaily.com
onsidering her affinity
for drawing, her love of
dramatic light and shadow,
and her passion for rich,
sumptuous color, Patricia Tribastone
finds pastel to be the perfect vehicle to
express herself. "Pastel offers such a
broad range of possibilities," the artist
says. "From a delicate drawing to a
richly layered surface filled with pure,
bold color, pastel allows and encour-
ages the artist to express himself or
herself much more freely and with
fewer limitations."
Motivated by the Old Masters-
Leonardo, Vermeer, Rembrandt,
Prud'hon, and Ingres-and their dedi-
cation to their paintings, Tribastone
fears that much of what they taught us
has been forgotten or overlooked today
in favor of newfound freedom to ex-
press ourselves. As she states, "I make
every attempt to learn as much as Ican
about how they worked, as well as the
fundamentals they developed to create
their masterpieces, and Ilike to think
that my artwork, in some small way,
pays homage to the Old Masters."
When it comes to selecting her
subject matter and the visual aspects of
life that most fascinate her, Tribastone
is most drawn to anything that projects
a strong sense of light, shadow, and
color. "I want the viewer to remember
the light, the color, and especially the
sensitivity with which the painting was
created," the artist explains. "Although
feelings can be difficult to capture,
knowing what colors convey certain
emotions and how lines, composition,
light, and balance affect them are very
important. Generally, Iwant to create
a sense of peace, and my goal is also to
create a question in the viewer's mind-
where did these things come from, and
what's in the other part of the room?"
It is this visual concept that is the
starting point for most of the artist's
work. "I am attracted to the way light
plays with its subjects, the way it bends
and bounces, and the surprising places
it lands," she says.
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OPPOSITE PAGE
Pink Blossom
2010, pastel, 30 x 40.
All artwork this article
collection the artist.
L E F T
Purple
Sunflower I
2011, pastel, 20 x 23.
Guide to Painting Flowers 11
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Tribastone usually begins by drawing the composi-
tion and choosing the colors first, steps that often take
her longer than the painting itself "Drawing skills
are essential to my work," she stresses, "and ones that
I practice daily. For some time I relied on formulaic
compositions; recently, however, I have been using
structural compositions based on armatures employed
by the Old Masters. The armature allows me greater
freedom in the placement of my objects. The process
divides the surface area of the painting into horizon-
tal, vertical, diagonal, and circular segments, and by
dividing the surface into thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths,
et cetera, one can place subject matter in harmonious
positions almost without limit. Diagonals then help to
create drama and movement within the composition."
Point of view is another important aspect ofTribastone's
art. "I use traditional methods to view my subjects in
a slightly different way," she explains. "By using light
and color, I can give work with an 'Old Masters feel' a
new look. The classical techniques I use in my paint-
ings start with my choice to paint in a representational
"Mypoint of view is often
straight-on; Ilook directly at
a subject at eye level, which
perhaps best reflects how
Iapproach art and how I
approach life."
style relying heavily on accurate drawing and sound
composition. Whereas our predecessors often had
limitations in terms of subject matter, we are free
today to paint anything we like. Therefore, I can use
Old Master techniques to paint a close-up floral or a
painting of contemporary objects. We also have at our
disposal pigments that were not available in the past,
not to mention the use of a camera to capture light
and fleeting subject matter. I often choose traditional
dark backgrounds but offset the dark with bright, pure
color, as seen in my florals. My point of view is often
straight-on; I look directly at a subject at eye level,
which perhaps best reflects how I approach art and how
I approach life."
Tribastone loves the drama that darks and lights,
colors and shapes can create. She explains, "The darks
and lights in my paintings are usually at the extreme
ends of the value scale, creating as
much contrast as possible." Although
her colors are usually bold, she plans
them to be harmonious rather than
discordant, resulting in drama without
conflict. "The values in a painting
definitely define the drama," she says.
"The extreme lights and darks add to
the feeling of rhythm and movement
and create both mystery and excite-
ment. I use analogous colors often,
generally on the warm side of the color
wheel. In so doing, the bold values are
softened by the harmony of colors."
For example, in her sunflower
paintings series, she chose a harmo-
nious palette of red-orange to yellow-
www.ArtistDaily.com
Purple Orchid II
2010, pastel, 20 x 24.
green. The background is a brown,
which is nothing more than dark
red-orange. "Generally," she explains,
"when I choose my colors, I decide
which color has the purest chroma,
and that color becomes the lead color,
with the others being secondary in
importance. My brushstrokes are not
usually evident, as that is not what I
want the viewer to focus on."
Tribastone, who presently works
on stilllifes, florals, and portraits,
also very much enjoys working on
different views of the landscape. "I
enjoy science and nature," she says,
"and I have never lost my enthusiasm
for looking at it, marveling at it, and
drawing it. Nature amazes me, and
I want to bring that amazement to
those who view my paintings. It is
not the broad landscape that I want
to draw, but rather the colors and
smallest details. In all my work, it is
the quieter, understated aspects that
move me, coupled with a dramatic
way of bringing them to life." *
James A. Metcalfe is afreelance
writer residing in West
Warwick, Rhode Island.
DEMONSTRATION
Purple Sunflowers II
Below) Tribastone takes us step by step through her
process for creating vibrant floral still liies.
1
.. .......... oi
Step 1 Step 2
I begin by taking photographs of my subject from vari-
ous perspectives. My process takes a week to com-
plete, and the flowers change and wilt in that time,
so most of my florals are done from photographs. I
always start by doing a value drawing to determine my
composition and values.
I then draw the outlines of the image on pastel paper
using a medium-dark value pastel pencil. For this piece
I used UArt 400 grit pastel paper adhered to a piece of
foamboard.
2
Value
scale
TRIBASTONE'S
MATERIALS
Surfaces
(anson Mi- Teintes
paper, fine-grit sanded
paper, or UArt paper;
IIFor a rough and textured
look, I use a surface
that I coat with my own
mixture of pumice dust,
acrylic pastel ground,
acrylic paint, and water,"
Tribastone says. IIFor a
smoother surface, I use
UArt paper of varying
grit."
Once I'm satisfied with my initial drawing I choose which color
schemes and corresponding pastels I'll use. My color schemes
are chosen based on the color wheel; this painting will be an
analogous palette with yellow-green, a complementary color to
the red-violet. After I choose a color scheme, I don't deviate
from that.
In choosing my pastels, I pick out at least 3 values of each
color, usually more. Here I have begun to block in the back-
Step 3
www.ArtistDaily.com
Pastels
NuPastels or Holbein,
Rembrandt, Girault, and
Diane Townsend pastels
Other
Lascaux finishing spray
Tribastone's
pastels
ground using harder pastels and then softer ones. I have
made the decision to blend the background, knowing that
the painting would read with too much texture if I didn't
blend. The background is the only area that I will blend with
my fingers; the rest of the painting has no finger blending, in
order to maintain the freshness of the color.
DEMONSTRATION CONTINUED
As I finish more of the flower, I add the
background to other areas. I decided to
create a darker value toward the bot-
tom of the painting to help the viewer
focus on the flowers.
4
Steps 4 & 5 Step 6
In my next step I begin with dark pas-
tels on the leaves in the upper part of
the paper. I usually work from top to
bottom to avoid pastel dust falling on
lower parts of the painting. This pro-
cess works for me because I carefully
plan my painting and my colors, so I
am free to enjoy the act of painting.
After I have worked on the leaves, I
move downward, working on the petals
and then the rest of the flower.
5
Step 7:
The completed
painting
My next step will be to work on the
stems. After I have completed all of
the areas, I take some time (some-
times as long as a week!) to look at the
painting and decide where I may need
to make improvements such as value
changes, edges, or highlights.
www.ArtistDaily.com
THE COMPLETED PAINTING:
Purple Sunflowers II
2011, pastel.
About the Artist
PATRICIA TRIBASTONE-a self-taught artist from Webster, New York, with a B.S.in dietetics-is
a signature member of Pastel Society of America and a member of the Adirondack Pastel Society.
She serves as the president of the Rochester Art Club, a juried-entry organization that has been in
existence since 1877. The artist has won national awards at Pastel Society of America's International
Exhibition; the Northeast National Pastel Exhibition, in Old Forge, New York; and the IIFor Pastels
Only on Cape Cod" exhibition, in Massachusetts. Tribastone has also exhibited with the Connecticut
Pastel Society's national exhibition, as well as with the International Association of Pastel Societies
at the Butler Institute of American Art, in Youngstown, Ohio. The artist currently teaches beginner
oil painting, pastel, and colored pencil at the Art Stop, in Webster, where she is also represented. For
more information, visit www.patriciatribastone.com.
IN HIS FIRST PUBLIC WORKSHOP, MISSISSIPPI ARTIST
JASON BOULDIN SHOWED PARTICIPANTS HOW TO CAPTURE THE
"INTANGIBLE PERSONALITY" OF A STILL LIFE SUBJECT
AS THOUGH THEY WERE PAINTING A PORTRAIT.
by John R. Kemp
, ,
lthough I primarily paint
commissioned portraits,
I also take great delight
in still life and landscape
painting, " said artist-instructor Jason
Bouldin. "And I consider stilllifes and
landscapes to be portraits themselves.
In fact, most of the subject matter
that inspires me has portraiture at its
heart. The essence of portrait painting
is to attempt to capture not only what a
particular subject looks like physically
but also to capture something of the
subject's more intangible personal-
ity. I find this goal of painting to be
true whether the subject is a person,
a landscape, or still life. As a
painter who is attempting to
follow a realist tradition, I am
always trying to achieve a bal-
ance between the tangible and
the intangible. Itis a balance
between the physical and the
spiritual."
It was interesting to
note that Bouldin's portrait
demonstration followed the
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same steps as the still life. Both
began with in-depth explanations
of his painting philosophies, the
materials he uses, his choices in
setting up his palette, and his goals.
Although his process is finely honed,
Bouldin explained that he hates
rules. "Rules, " he said, "get you to a
certain point. I'm for principles rather
than rules. Take your cues from the
subject you are painting, not from
a rule book." He did, however, list
seven elemental choices he follows
in painting: subject, perspective,
light, background or setting, support,
paints, and medium. These are
"Inthe poetry of painting)
stilllifes can have alot of
nobility to them. They can
speak of something that is
natural to who we are and
our natural environment:"
ABOVE
Bouldin talked to students during his demonstration.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Oak Boughs: Debris After Katrina
2005, oil, 19 x 15. Collection the artist.
choices that must be made before
one begins to paint. Other critical
elements to be considered in the
composition include shape, value,
placement, and drawing.
The instructor divides those choices
into two broad categories: strategic
and tactical, or general and specific.
UMyexperience with my own painting
and with other artists is to disregard
the strategic in favor of the
tactical, " he revealed. "That is,
to focus on the specific before
focusing on the foundational.
Everybody loves detail, and
it is often just a detail-the
glint of light off of a glass vase,
the look in a subject's eyes,
or the highlight on a silver
spoon-that compels me to
paint a subject. But this detail
must be put in its proper relationship
within the painting. It's important
to focus on the more strategic goal
of composition. How can the artist
take compositional clues from the
subject? How can the composition
be manipulated after one is into
the painting and thus committed?"
A painter, he said, must "oscillate
between the strategic decisions and
the tactical decisions. Those strategic
decisions are the most important.
The sexy choices are when to put in
those highlights. They won't work if
you don't have a good foundation."
Composition, he emphasized, "is
equal to organization. If you don't
organize, you have chaos."
Stilllifes are enjoyable for Bouldin
because they are a manageable size
and can be done in one sitting.
"In the poetry of painting," he
commented, "still lifes can have a lot
of nobility to them. They can speak of
something that is natural to who we
are and our natural environment. Still
THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT
Bouldin commented on a student's drawing.
The floral arrangement and Bouldin's painting.
Helen Smith and the instructor talked about
the progress of her painting.
2 0 Guide to Painting Flowers
lifes are often seen as mundane, but
that depends upon one's approach. If
you have an honest approach, nothing
can be nobler. It is a response to
the physical with the spiritual, and
the intangible with the tangible.
That's what poets do. They recognize
relationships most people don't see.
"The idea is for the artist to
recognize something in the subject
and to convey that to an audience,"
he continued. "In painting, I step
aside to let the audience see what
I saw. I don't choose the subject. It
chooses me. If I try to find a subject,
I fall on my face. I have to respond to
what I see. The very common things
are often so beautiful." He gave the
example of oak limbs that had fallen
in his yard after Hurricane Katrina
devastated southern Louisiana
and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
He placed the boughs in his house
as a memorial to the storm and
its destruction. Eventually, he felt
"compelled to paint it."
After setting up his subject and
palette, Bouldin began his painting
demonstration with a charcoal sketch,
first with a triangle that represented
the subject's central focus. From
there, he roughed in the placement
of flowers and other elements in the
composition. Because charcoal can
be erased easily, it gives painters
the flexibility to change elements
quickly. "In my compositions," he
explained, "I want balance, but I don't
want boredom. I want resonance and
excitement."
Upon completing the sketch,
Bouldin went back in with a broad,
flat brush and drew over the charcoal
lines with a thin solution of burnt
umber, viridian, and mineral spirits
to re-emphasize proportional
relationships between one element
and another. He then established
values, beginning with the darkest
darks, followed by the middle tones,
and then the lightest lights. As he
roughed in his values, Bouldin told
students to keep three things in mind:
color, value, and temperature. "More
than anything else,"he emphasized,
"value is the most important, followed
by temperature, and then color. If it's
the right value and right temperature,
www.ArtistDaily.com
www.ArtistDaily.com
BOULDIN'S MATERIALS
Palette
The artist uses a homemade board given to him
by his father, Marshall Bouldin III, also a portrait
artist. The younger Bouldin arranges his oil paints
in the order taught to him by his father: He sets
up high and low values of each color side-by-side.
Bouldin uses Winsor & Newton oils in the
following colors:
cadmium green
viridian
cerulean blue
French ultramarine
blue
alizarin crimson
cadmium red
burnt sienna
burnt umber
cadmium orange
yellow ochre
Naples yellow
cadmium lemon
Permalba white
TOP
Bouldin drew his still life subject in charcoal on stretched canvas.
ABOVE
Bouldin's initial drawing.
L E F T
The artist's palette.
it can be a great painting. Color
doesn't matter all that much. When
you squint your eyes to establish
value, the most important things
stand out." Joking somewhat, Bouldin
told his students to talk to themselves
while painting. "It helps you verbalize
what you are trying to do and keeps
you focused." Painting, he said, is
like composing a symphony, writing
a novel, or telling a joke: The artist is
slowly building the plot to the final
punch line or crescendo.
In this very early phase of the
painting, Bouldin explained how he
established his image hierarchy. "The
blossom in front will receive more
attention than those in the back," he
told his students. "It's the focus, and
it brings you into the painting." With
his broad, flat brush he added color
from darks to lights, working on the
entire painting at the same time. To
create strong contrasts among the
flowers , thereby establishing the one
in the foreground as the painting's
focal point, he painted them in darker
values of the same color. Then, with
a NO.2 synthetic brush, he applied
finishing details to complete the
"crescendo"-that final moment
when everything came together. "It's
a matter of the right color, the right
value, and the right shape," he said.
"That's all it is. All of a sudden it
becomes a composition."
Bouldin's approach to portrait
painting is much the same. "Perceiving
has to do with feeling," he said. "In
2 2 Guide to Painting Flowers
LEFT
The demonstration
painting after Bouldin
painted oil colors
over his charcoal
drawing.
BELOW
A display of some of
Bouldin's finished still
life paintings.
OPPOSITE PAGE
"I paint on oversized
canvases or boards
so that I can
determine my final
borders at the end,"
the artist explained.
"If you use a
standard-size canvas,
you paint as the size
of the canvas dictates
rather than let the
subjects dictate size
and space."
a portrait you want likeness but you
also want essence. If you get all the
tangibles right, you get likeness. But
it doesn't tell you anything about the
person. The successful portrait has to
capture the physical and the spiritual.
Perceiving is about personality.
Observing is a physical description. In
making a portrait, you not only have
to look at a person but perceive him or
her. While painting, you take cues from
seeing but you also have to put back
the spiritual. A painting is influenced
by your own perspective and your own
experiences ."
Whether Bouldin paints stilllifes or
portraits, several underlying currents
run through all his work. With deep
spiritual connections to his physical
environment, he talks about his work
in terms of spirituality, music, and
poetry. "Unlike a novel or a symphony,
a painting is a relatively brief work,
more like a short song or poem. All
art attempts to connect the physical
and the spiritual. I try to achieve that
balance, or, as William Faulkner said,
that 'cosmos of my own.'" *
John R. Kemp, the author of numerous
books and magazine articles on the arts,
is the deputy director of the Louisiana
Endowment for the Humanities.
www.ArtistDaily.com
About the Artist
JASON BOULDIN, a native of
Mississippi, is the youngest of
four sons of the renowned por-
trait artist Marshall Bouldin III.
Jason Bouldin graduated from
Harvard University with a B.F.A.
in art history and quickly estab-
lished an impressive career as a
portrait painter. He received the
Grand Prize in the International
Portrait Competition spon-
sored by the Portrait Society of
America; and achieved interna-
tional recognition through his
showings at exhibitions of The
Royal Society of Portrait Painters,
in London, where he has twice
been a finalist for the Carroll
Foundation Award. The artist and
his wife, Dr. Alicia Bouldin, live in
Oxford, Mississippi.
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THIS PAINTER'S RICH, BOLD STILL LIFES
EXPLORE ABSTRACT SHAPES AND LIGHT
IN AN ATTEMPT TO CREATE BALANCE,
HARMONY, AND RHYTHM.
by John R. Kemp
at Walker's century-old cottage in the town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi,
is a living still life. Every room, shelf, table, and windowsill is filled
with curious odds and ends that the artist has collected from junk and
antique shops or simply found in her wanderings through the Delta
and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This house of curiosities and the paint-
ings inspired by them call to mind what Henri Matisse once said about objects
in stilllifes: "Aglass of water with a flower is different from one with a lemon.
The object is an actor [and it] ... must act powerfully on the imagination, and
the artist's feeling, expressing itself through the object, must render it worthy
of interest. Itonly says what one makes it say." Each floral vase, copper pot, and
earthenware pitcher in Walker's colorful menagerie stands anxiously in place
like actors at a Broadway casting call, awaiting their chance to playa role in one
of the artist's still life compositions.
Stand Still
2011, oil on linen, 12 x 16.
Walker's philosophy about painting
is straightforward. In a booklet she
prepares for her workshop students,
she asserts, "Taking a flat surface
and making it dimensional, readable,
and beautiful is matchless in one's
accomplishments." Whether she is
doing a landscape, portrait, or still
life, she prefers to work from life.
"It's easier because you can see and
the implications are obvious," she
explains. UIdon't feel there is any way
to possibly paint from a photograph
as easily as from life. Using a photo as
a reference is sometimes necessary.
However, I feel you will end up with
a better painting if you can complete
the painting from life."
Walker, who returned to Rolling
Fork shortly after Hurricane Katrina
destroyed her home on the Missis-
sippi Gulf Coast, has had a passion
for painting since childhood. Her
skills as a painter, however, were not
innate. "It was a struggle," the artist
says. UIdidn't learn to paint like this
overnight." Her progress was at times
impeded by the fact that the art faculty
at the Mississippi community college
she attended in the late 1960s stressed
Abstract Expressionism and other fads
of the time, while Walker was more
interested in representational painting.
With this art instruction and few
opportunities for art lessons, Walker
taught herself about painting using
art books and painting demonstra-
tions in American Artist. In the early
1990s, she attended a workshop in
Jackson, Mississippi, led by Daniel E.
Greene. He liked her work so much
that he invited her to study with
him at his studio in Brewster, New
York. After a few weeks with Greene,
Walker attended additional work-
shops taught by Cholla, at the Art
League of Houston, in Texas; Kim
English, at the Fechin Art Workshop,
in Taos, New Mexico; and David A.
Leffel, Daniel Gerhartz, and Sher-
rie McGraw, at the Fredericksburg
Artists' School, in Texas. UIwent
after this with passion and tenacity,"
Walker says. uThis has been in me all
my life. I'm the most serious student
you ever met." After Fredericksburg,
Walker moved to Bay St. Louis, on
the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where
she had a pleasant life painting and
learning from artists such as William
Kalwick and Oregon painter Tom
Browning, who came to the coast to
teach. Hurricane Katrina required
that the artist relocate, but she has
never stopped working on her art and
inspiring others.
www.ArtistDaily.com
OPPOSITE PAGE
Touch of Red
2008, oil on linen,
12 x 24. Courtesy Brown's Fine Art,
Jackson, Mississippi.
ABOVE
Made Light
2011, oil on linen,
20 x 16.
Walker enjoys teaching artists of
all skill levels. For more than two
decades, she has conducted workshops
for children and adults and organized
a Students' Art League for children in
her region. Since returning to Roll-
ing Fork she has helped to create an
artists' community, which included
the founding of Artists of Southern
Heritage, a nonprofit artists' guild
dedicated to promoting the work of
Southern artists. "The dream is to
establish a multidimensional cultural
facility with a permanent gallery," the
artist says on the guild's website. "Our
goal is to preserve artists' legacies and
increase the public's awareness of art-
ists' work." A vacant storefront and for-
mer pool hall now serves as Walker's
studio, where she and visiting guest
artists from around the country con-
duct painting workshops.
"I can't give you the soul of an artist,"
she tells workshop participants, "but I
can teach you to paint. I can teach you
enough to enjoy it." And she means it.
Walker's passion for painting is infec-
tious, and her approach to painting
and teaching is organized and disci-
plined. Extensive preparation goes into
her work before she begins to paint. In
her workshop handbook, Walker takes
students through each step of her
creative process. Before starting a still
life, she asks herself seven questions:
"Where is my dark? Where is my
light? Do I have reflected light? What
color is my cast shadow? What color
do I see in my turning point color?
What color is my highlight? Do I have
a double highlight? Learning to paint
depends primarily on learning to see
like a painter. You must observe and
be sensitive to everything, even the
atmosphere around you.
"Take enough time to get your setup
right," Walker continues. "It is impor-
tant that you feel it is gorgeous and
something that you can't wait to start.
If it is not exciting to you, you will not
be able to maintain the energy to com-
plete the painting. You will lose inter-
est, the painting will be mediocre, or
you will never finish." Unlike earlier
still life painters who sought to cre-
ate cryptic vanitas messages in their
compositions, Walker chooses objects
based on "how they feel" together and
overall harmony. "Sometimes it takes
as much time to choose the items and
put the composition together as it does
to paint," she says with a laugh. She
also notes that additional objects can
be added later if the composition is not
working.
Walker advises her students to
think abstractly, which may seem like
an odd suggestion, especially for a
beginning artist who wants to paint
realistically. "It means to not look at
the object or subject and think 'apple,'
'kettle,' or 'face,' but instead look and
www.ArtistDaily.com
ABOVE
Good Will
2010, oil on linen,
10 x 30.
LEFT
Golden Link
NO.2
2011, oil on linen,
11 x 14.
"Learninq to paint depends primarily on learning to see like a
painter. You must observe and be sensitive to everything,
even the atmosphere around you."
observe," she tells her students. "Look
for abstract shapes. Look at how the
light hits an object, the color, the
edges, and the value." Setups, she
says, must have "balance, harmony
and rhythm. They must look natu-
ral." After everything is placed, she
suggests stepping back and looking
through a viewfinder or frame to "see
it as a painting."
Lighting is critical to a successful still
life. In paintings such as Purple and
Green, for example, Walker uses cool
direct light sweeping from left to right.
"I have the light source on the left of
the setup," she explains, "[because] our
brains are programmed to read from
left to right. I also manipulate the light
source to hit hardest on the object I
wish to make the focal point in the
painting." In setting up stilllifes, am-
ple time should go into the placement
of objects, she says. Focal points and
centers of interest should not be in
the middle of the painting. To create
more rhythm and interesting composi-
tions' the artist suggests placing these
points about a third of the way from
the left or right sides of the canvas.
"You want viewers to stay inside the
painting," she says. In many of her
paintings, Walker uses light the way
an orchestra conductor uses a baton-
to control the audience's attention.
Walker paints wet-in-wet almost
exclusively with oils. "I can't get what
www.ArtistDaily.com
L E F T
Purple and Green
2009, oil on linen, 30 x 40.
I'm looking for with anything else
but oils," she says. "I like the way
the paint feels, the way it glides on
canvas like butter. Acrylics dry fast
and can't be moved around as easily.
I can do more with oils." Although
paint brands vary by color, she pre-
fers Winsor &Newton, Grumbach-
er, Daniel E. Greene, and Holbein.
Before painting, Walker lays out
her full palette with colors run-
ning warm to cool, and she places
warms on one side and cools on the
other. "I lay the whole palette out
in the beginning because mentally
you get used to where your paint
is," she explains. "Your hand goes
to the same spot every time." Her
favorite brushes are Richeson 7530
and 7550 and Silver Grand Prix
1003 filbert and fiat, all synthetic
bristles. Her preferred medium is
Winsor & Newton Blending and
Glazing Medium because, as she
says, "it doesn't dry too fast and
doesn't get shiny."
Walker's canvases and boards
are triple primed with paint or
gesso. She tones them with a
mixture of burnt umber or burnt
sienna with ultramarine blue or
cobalt blue. (She does several can-
vases at a time to have ready sur-
faces.) Her next step is to block in
the forms and shapes of objects in
raw umber. "In effect, I'm doing a
value study, setting dark and light
areas," she explains. "I'm also
trying to figure out if my place-
ment is good. If I don't like what
I see, I wipe it off." She also tells
her students to "make sure you
get the darks dark enough. The
dark is what holds the painting
together. The light area should
be seen as one whole piece when
you squint. The eye will naturally
gravitate toward the light first,
and it is what makes the paint-
ing beautiful. The most common
reason one will lose a painting is
Helpful demonstrations Images of original artwork
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J J
that the darks and the lights get too
close to the same value."
Once Walker masses in her shapes
and values, she paints in deep, dark,
and warm backgrounds to give greater
strength and contrast to lighted areas. In
building up the painting, she paints thin
to thick. Dark areas and shadows are
painted evenly and thinly, with brush-
strokes disappearing into
the paint. "If my darks are
too thick, the lights won't
pop out," she says. teldon't
want the background to
compete with focal points
in the painting." She then
asks herself the following
questions: Do I have at least
one-third or two-thirds of
my painting in darks? Do I
have at least one-third or
two-thirds of my painting
in light? Walker believes
the answers to both
questions are important,
because "shadows hold the
painting together.
"An object's true color is in the con-
trasting lighted areas," Walker contin-
ues. "This is where you want to have
the beautiful brushwork and thicker
paint. This is the beauty of the paint-
ing and is what will compel a viewer to
walk across a room to take a closer look
at the piece."
To add dramatic emphasis and a "wet
look" to where light hits objects, Walker
gradually builds up impastos of lighter
paints and thin glazes of Winsor &
Newton Artists' Retouching Varnish.
"If the painting has dried too much
and I see something I feel needs to be
changed," she explains, "the only way
to go back into the painting and create
the look of wet-in-wet is
to apply a thin layer of
retouching varnish on the
entire painting and then
alter whatever is bother-
ing me." The varnish,
she adds, brings back
the glossy appearance of
dried paint, which helps
one more accurately judge
values when applying new
paint. The retouch varnish
also helps new paint adhere
to earlier layers.
When a painting is
finished, Walker waits
about a month for it to dry
www.ArtistDaily.com
BELOW
Casting Kindness
2011, oil on linen, 12 x 40.
OPPOSITE PAGE, BonOM
Sunflowers
2009, oil on linen, 24 x 36. Courtesy Brown's Fine Art,
Jackson, Mississippi.
before applying a thin coat of Winsor
& Newton Conserv-Art Gloss Varnish
mixed with Winsor & Newton
Sansodor at a ratio of 3 parts varnish
to I part thinner.
"It's somuch fun the way the rhythm
bounces around from object to object,"
the artist says as she looks around
her studio at various finished and
unfinished paintings on easels and
on the walls. "Sometimes when Iam
observing the beauty of our world or
just watching people, I thank God for
making me an artist. I believe artists
are the happiest people on earth." *
John R. Kemp is the author of numerous
books and magazine articles on the arts
and is the deputy director of the Louisi-
ana Endowment for the Humanities.
About the Artist
PAT WALKER is a member of Oil Painters of America, Southern Artistry, Artists of
Southern Heritage, the Delta Art Association, Vicksburg Art Association, and the
Mississippi Artists Roster. Her work has received awards from the Joan Mitchell
Foundation, the Mississippi Arts Commission, The Andy Warhol Foundation for
the Visual Arts, and the Contemporary Arts Center, in New Orleans. Walker is
represented by Caboose Art Gallery, in Long Beach, Mississippi; Brown's Fine
Art, in Jackson, Mississippi; The Tin Rooster, in Greensboro, North Carolina, and
Alexandria, Louisiana; Friedman Fine Art, in Savannah, Georgia; and Gabriel Gallery,
in Santa Fe. She has participated in several regional and national juried shows, and
her work is held in private and corporate collections throughout the United States
and Canada. For more information, visit www.patwalker-fields.com.
COMING SOON
J
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Watercolors, Fruit
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Karen Kluglein
in Atlanta
For more info please contact
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Frick advised a student painting a still
life on the first day of the workshop. He
prefers that students paint en plein air
because rapidly changing light forces
them to work quickly and not overthink
their choices.
........... earnzn
it
to
GERMAN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER GUIDO FRICK LOVES
TO CAPTURE THE LANDSCAPE OF THE WESTERN UNITED
STATES, AND DURING HIS SEMIANNUAL PAINTING TRIPS
THERE, HE TEACHES WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS TO RELAX
AND TRUST THEIR EYES AND THEIR INSTINCTS.
by Naomi Ekperigin
rtists who choose to take
a workshop with Guido
Frick want to make a
change. The artist is
known for his use of bold, vigorous
brushwork and the sense of spontane-
ity that his paintings exude, and he
aims for his students to adopt this
same level of freshness-at least for
the duration of their workshop they
study with him. At a New Mexico work-
shop sponsored by the Fredericksburg
Artists' School, in Texas, students
watched Frick "demonstrate how to
combine your visual impressions with
your inner sensitivity to find your own
www.ArtistDaily.com
artistic language, allowing your indi-
vidual personality to be recognizable
in every brushstroke," as the course
description stated. If this was their
goal, participants certainly got what
they were looking for-and more.
"Maybe 50 percent of the truth ex-
ists in the subject you paint," Frick
told participants. "But the other 50
percent comes from within-your
temperament, your emotions, your
creativity, your past, and your pas-
sion. As Sergei Bongart once said,
'There is a tree. When you copy the
tree, you have two trees-but you
don't have a piece of art.'" Frick's
views on the goal of art are deeply
influenced by Bongart, with whom
he studied in the late 1970S and early
1980s. One of the foremost teachers
of the Russian method in the United
States, Bongart stressed the impor-
tance of painting with emotion. "He
literally opened my eyes and taught
me how to see the world with the
eyes of a painter," Frick said. "By that
I mean to see the world in colors,
temperatures, and values, and not be
preoccupied with names, terms, and
labels. His motto became a personal
goal for me: 'Paint bold, vigorous, and
brilliant! rn
Guide to Painting Flowers 3 5
-
Frick passed this lesson on to artists
who did not have the privilege of study-
ing with the Russian master. Although
he acknowledged that his students are
seeking to learn a particular way of
painting, he stressed that what he pro-
vides is an example, not a prescribed
methodology. "Most students think of
'style' as something you can grab in a
weekend workshop, the way you can
grab a skirt or blouse in a department
store," the instructor said. "In my work-
shops, I want them to learn that style is
something that develops like handwrit-
ing-it happens naturally, and it does
not happen overnight. Itonly comes
from painting miles and miles of
empty canvases, the same way hand-
writing forms over years of writing."
He often notices that students lack the
confidence to trust their own individu-
ality' and instead focus on accurately
copying their subject. "Too many
paintings look like they could have
been painted by Mr. Miller as well as
Miss Smith," the artist asserted. "They
appear fiat, dull, boring-where is the
unique personality of the painter?"
Most students who attend Frick's
workshops are beyond a beginner level
and have a grasp of the language of
color. Trusting their instincts is their
biggest challenge.
"I always tell my students, 'Sacrifice
one week of your life, leave your past
as an artist behind, and go with me on
an exploration into unknown territory.
I will be with you, going from easel
to easel, to correct you, advise you,
and keep you on track," he continued.
Guido Frick's
Golden Rules
For more than 15 years, Guido Frick has
reminded his students to loosen up and
paint with passion. Here are some of his
main tenets:
Use your brain before you start
painting, and then switch it off,
letting your emotions take control.
See yourself as the master of your
subject, not its slave.
It took you years to develop your own
handwriting;don't expect to develop
a paintingstyle after one weeklong workshop.
Howyou paint is more important
than what you paint.
Painting is likea race: Ifyou want to
win, you have to save some of your
energy for the finish.
Your best tools are your eyes. You
should rely on them more than any
how-to book.
If you've just finished a good sec-
tion of your painting, leave it alone
and don't try to make it better. It is already
good enough.
"After the workshop, you can go back
to your comfort zone, but give yourself
a chance for this one week.'" With
such words of support, Frick cre-
ated a comfortable environment for
self-discovery, enabling his students
to take risks and work with looser
brushstrokes and bolder color, like the
instructor himself. He then followed
this introduction with a 45-minute
explanation of his technique and
showed numerous samples of his
work, pointing out how he achieved
particular effects. In this first lecture,
the instructor laid out what he called
the "three steps": color, value, and
temperature. "Students often come
to points where they don't know what
to do next. In these moments, their
first thought is that there must be a
www.ArtistDaily.com
formula, a specific way to paint this
tree, or this flower, or this apple,"
explained the artist. tt But there is no
such thing. Assuming the drawing
and composition are fine, there are
only three possible areas in which a
mistake is made: the hue, the value,
or the temperature." The instructor
called these the theoretical steps, and
said he feels these are essential to
understand in order to troubleshoot
and take a painting to the next level.
He followed his explanation with a
demonstration of how these steps are
executed in a painting-in work-
shops the instructor usually takes a
floral still life as his subject.
"When Idemonstrate, Iwant the
students to be able to follow my
three practical steps-the abstract
step, the modeling step, and the
finishing step-which are much
clearer than a discussion of color,
value, and temperature," Frick said.
Before even beginning to paint,
the instructor makes sure he has a
firm grasp of these three concepts.
ttl analyze my subject before I grab
a brush, checking the temperature
differences and the range of values,
determining my focal point, and
making sure the composition is bal-
anced," he explained. "By studying
my subject Icreate a road map so
that when Idecide to paint, Ican
work quickly." After toning the can-
vas (usually 24" x 30") and complet-
ing a graphite drawing, he begins
the first step. "During the abstract
phase, I am blocking in the big color
shapes, but I'm not focusing on
areas of light and dark, and Ihaven't
even begun to think about detail,"
the instructor said. "In this stage the
canvas should be divided into three
to five big shapes-I am pulling
items together, simplifying them,
and focusing on the large masses.
"In the modeling phase, I give
roundness to the subject by adding
some shadow and emphasizing light
areas, but I don't put in the darkest
darks or lightest lights, and there are
still no details," he continued. "At
this point the values are close togeth-
er across the canvas, and the paint-
OPPOSITE PAGE
A Place in the Corner
2007, oil, 30 x 24. Private collection.
ABOVE
Frick worked on a student's canvas,
holding his brush toward the end
so that he could make looser, freer
strokes.
Botanical Workshops:
Martha Kemp
Graphite
Dec. 2) 3) &4) 2011
Rhonda Nass
Graphite &Acrylic
Jan. 27) 28) &29) ~~~~fA
2012
Connie Sayas
Petals and Leaves
in Watercolor
March 23) 24) &25) 2012
Free catalog: www.desertmuseum.org/arts
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" I analyze my subject before I grab abrush, checking the
temperature differences and the range of values, determining
my focal point, and making sure the composition is balanced.
By studying my subject Icreate a road map so that when I
decide to paint, I can work quickly."
ing is developing as a whole at the
same level-like a pyramid. Pyramids
aren't built one side at a time, or the
top and then the bottom-the founda-
tion is established all the way around."
In the final step, the finishing phase,
he adds the highlights and details-all
with a brush that is roughly the same
size as the large one used in the ab-
stract stage. Overall, this first demon-
stration took just under an hour and a
half, and was done entirely outdoors,
with the students seated with a clear
view of Frick's easel.
The instructor always paints en plein
air, whether his subject is a still life
or landscape, and he does not rely on
reference photos. "My greatest passion
is painting outdoors. I am not a studio
painter," Frick said. "To paint out-
doors is totally different than sitting
in a comfortable studio-it is a great
and wonderful challenge, especially
because of the rapid changes that can
take place." The entire five-day work-
shop took place outdoors, with Frick
prepared to paint under a shelter in
case of inclement weather. Over years
of teaching he has found that painting
on location forces students to respond
to changes in the environment and
make decisive choices, which makes
it easier for them to employ the strong
colors and looser brushstrokes that
Frick espouses in his work. "They are
here because they want to get rid of
their tight, tiny brushstrokes ," he said
firmly. "They want to learn to paint
freely, in the style of Sergei Bongart
and myself, and responding directly to
nature is the best way to do this."
After Frick's first demonstration,
students began to work on their own
floral stilllifes en plein air. As they
began to paint, the instructor went
around to each easel, watching them
work and offering advice. "This gives
me the chance to see what level they
are on," he explained, "so that during
the rest of the workshop I can respond
to each student's needs and give them
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OPPOSITE PAGE BELOW
A student looked on as Fresh Cut
Frick painted en plein air. 2007, oil, 24 x 20.
Private collection.
exercises that target areas of difficulty." Some exercises
included a black-and-white study of a subject, to sharpen
their eyes and increase the understanding of value;
painting a collection of five items in the same color fam-
ily, enabling students to learn about temperature; and
timed studies, which forced them to loosen up.
"Let the brush dance!" Frick said to his students over
and over. He had them work on large canvases because,
"that way Ican get them to use a larger brush, which
immediately loosens up their brushstrokes. By working
with a bigger brush, they see that it's pointless to start
their painting with a small detail such as a wormhole, a
flea, or a doorbell; they instead establish bigger shapes
right from the beginning." Frick painted at a distance
from his canvas-and encouraged his students to do the
same-because it keeps the composition as a whole in
view, enabling them to more easily gauge how these
looser, larger brushstrokes are functioning. "When you
finally do jump into the details with a smaller brush,"
the instructor said, "they will not distract from the gen-
eral mood of the painting, because that's already been
established. Ido not seek a response to the fact that I
i s / ' s f
M
the crafter's guide to
taking
great
photos
painted accurately; I want a response
to the mood I've created in my work."
The second half of the workshop
focused on landscapes, and the
instructor began with another 24"_X-
30" demonstration. As with the still
life, the same rules of color, value,
and temperature applied. Frick first
analyzed his subject, becoming a
"master of it," so that when he set
his brush to his canvas, he was fully
aware-and in control of-what he
wanted to express. "There should be
no hesitation, no wondering, (Where
should I go next?'" he said. "With
outdoor painting, you have to go for
it right away, and work quickly to
stay in the mood before time goes by
and the mood changes." Integral to
the success of this method is a clear
understanding of your subject before
painting-an understanding that
Frick believes can only be developed
after years of painting on-site and
engaging in a dialogue with nature.
"Astudent who expects to leave a
workshop with a bunch of complete,
finished paintings has the wrong
expectations and attitude," he said.
"I have had students who, after a
couple of days, are upset-upset with
themselves, with their subject, their
tools, even the direction of the wind.
I always try to remind them that
their masterpiece is still light-years
away.
"To come to a workshop means you
are willing to study," he continued.
"So I remind them to lower their
expectations, and I try to take away
the pressure they put on themselves.
I also remind them that I, too, had
a lousy start and went through mo-
ments of frustration and despera-
tion' and the only way to get through
it is with commitment, strength, and
discipline." With a focus on emotion
and mood, rather than rendering
every detail, Frick encouraged his
students to take risks and experience
their subjects in a new way. Instead
of slavishly following every line and
curve of a subject, they are shown
how to apply bold, confident strokes
www.ArtistDaily.com
OPPOSITE PAGE
Mixed Lilacs
2008, oil, 30 x 30.
Private collection.
that evoke an emotional response
and mirror their own connection to
the subject. Although he acknowl-
edged that students are coming
to learn his style, the root of the
instructor's method is an emotional
connection to the subject, which
can't be re-created, but can be taught.
"People often ask me the name of my
style, and note that Sergei Bongart
was considered a Russian realist,"
Naomi Ekperigin is an associate editor
of American Artist.
Frick said. "This is partly true, but
he was also quite an Expressionist,
and his paintings always reflected
a mood. This is exactly what I try
to get my students to do: have the
courage to express themselves, and
do that as boldly, vigorously, and
brilliantly as possible." *
About the Artist
GUIDO FRICK was born in Konstanz, Germany, and worked for years as a journalist, covering
major sporting events throughout Europe. In his mid-20s, he was in a car accident that caused
hip and leg injuries that left him bedridden. Unable to walk, Frick passed the time with a passion
he had nearly forgotten: painting and drawing. Once he was fully recovered, he began taking
classes at the Art Academy of Konstanz, under Karel Hodr and Hans Sauerbruch. In America, he
studied under Sergei Bongart, where he developed the technique of loose, free brushwork that is
now his signature. He has had numerous solo shows throughout the United States and Europe
and is represented by several galleries, including Renate Fine Art Gallery, in Carmel, California;
Zantman Gallery, in Sun Valley, Idaho; and Red Bird Gallery, in Seaside, Florida. For more infor-
mation on Frick, visit his websites at www.guidofrick.com and www.guidofrick.de.
For even more energetic advice on painting flowers from photos go to: http://mwartfloral.tumblr.com/
DEMONSTRATION
Frick's Steps
Step 1:
The Drawing Step
Frick began by drawing an outline of his sub-
ject in dark oil color on his toned canvas. lilt's
a very simple drawing-I don't need more
than this," he said. "My main goal here is to
make sure there's a good balance between
negative and positive space, and that my
design is correct."
Step 2:
The Abstract Step
Step 3:
The Modeling
Step
The instructor next laid out the big
color shapes, making sure to stay in
a middle key. He used a large, thick
brush, which prevented him from get-
ting too detailed because "to even
think about detail at this point is totally
forbidden," the artist said. "I paint the
way a fencer holds his weapon. I hold
the brush at the very end, with my arm
almost completely outstretched, as
though I were attacking the canvas. I
think I can get away with this because
I've already studied my subject; I've
seen my finished painting before pick-
ing up my brush loaded with color."
The artist had a clear idea
of how the painting would
look when he was done, but
he still ignored the details.
"Here I'm stressing the
shadow areas and the lighter
areas, but I'm still not add-
ing the lightest lights or the
darkest darks," the instructor
said. "l'rn giving roundness
to the subjects and adding
volume."
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4
Step 4: The Finishing Step
In this last step, Frick added the personal touch-
es and energetic brushstrokes that he is known
for. "Hopefully you have saved some breath for
these final moments," he said, "because now you
will need to explode onto the canvas, and pour
all your emotions into the painting." Although
the artist considers this a phase in which details
are added, he often warned students not to go
overboard. "Details are not allowed to distract
from the overall piece," he said. "Your painting
should catch a viewer's eye because of the bril-
liant colors, bold brushstrokes, and mood-not
because you painted the perfect tiny flea on a
dog's back."
www.ArtistDaily.com
FRICK'S
MATERIALS
Palette
Gamblin, Schmincke, and
Classic Artist oil paints
in the following colors:
ivory black
phthalocyanine blue
cobalt blue
cadmium yellow light
cadmium orange
titanium white
cadmium red light
alizarin crimson
Venetian red
or terra rosa
yellow ochre
burnt sienna
Brushes
long-hair DaVinci,
nos. 8 and 12 (for the
abstract step)
short-hair DaVinci,
nos. 8 and 12 (for
adding details and
highlights)
rigger with a long
handle (for the long
lines of branches, twigs,
fences, posts, etc.)
Bob Ross background
brush for toning his
canvas
Mediums
turpentine gum
damar varnish
linseed oil
Surfaces
Unprimed linen and
cotton, to which he
applies two or three
layers of gesso and
stretches himself.
servzng

zn zng
FOR NEW YORK CITY ARTIST ELLEN BUSELLI, PAINTING IS
CENTERED ON TRANSLATING WHAT SHE SEES TO CANVAS,
WHICH IS WHY SHE FINDS OBSERVING AND UNDERSTANDING
THE NATURE OF COLOR AND LIGHT SO IMPORTANT.
by Linda S. Price
ainting is all about
observation," says
still life painter
Ellen Buselli. "The
Hydrangeas,
Pears, and
Grapes
2006, oil on linen,
16 x 15. All artwork
this article private
collection.
light, and shadows remain
the same value and in the
same position all day."
Although she arranges her
setup with care, Buselli pre-
fers to plunge right into her
painting without thumbnail sketches
or value studies. She prepares her
canvases by toning them with a warm
mixture of burnt umber or burnt
sienna and ultramarine blue because
she feels this combination is easy on
the eyes. After the toned canvas is
dry, she roughs in the outline of her
still life setup using an umber and
establishes an initial horizon line and
relative positions of the elements-
which may change as she gets further
along in her painting. The next step
involves massing in the major dark
process involves thinking
abstractly-even if you're
painting traditionally-not looking
at the objects themselves but observ-
ing how light, atmosphere, value,
color, edges, and temperature work
together to give an object its form.
If you're thoughtful about all of the
above, a painting will emerge, and a
two-dimensional surface will become
three-dimensional." Buselli always
observes-and paints-from life in
her studio, admitting that light is one
of the most important elements of her
still life setups. "I paint under north
light," she says. "It's a cooler, indirect
www.ArtistDaily.com
and light shapes, which sets up the
two extremes of values against which
to measure all other brushstrokes.
From this point on, Buselli paints
directly, establishing the right color,
value, and temperature immediately.
"Every new brushstroke depends on
the previous one," she explains. "I
ask myself, 'Is it lighter or darker,
warmer or cooler than what I already
put down?'"
The corners of the background in this still life were lightly painted, allowing the toned background to show through
to create a sense of wear and timelessness.
Buselli gives a lot of thought to her
background because she knows how
strongly it affects the overall painting.
"It must be the right value initially,
otherwise I can't work on the rest of
the painting," she emphasizes. The
artist considers, for instance, that
a translucent background
recedes and lends a sense of
depth, as does a neutral color.
When she wants backgrounds
to look old and textured, as in Old
Master paintings, she prepares
archaic-looking boards that have "that
old fresco decay of Rome" to place
behind her objects. Alternatively, she
uses drapery to achieve the right color,
value, and texture. The artist also has
a collection of platforms-light
or dark, smooth or textured,
stained or painted-on which
to stage her stilllifes.
Classical
Light
2007, oil on
linen, 20 x 21.
Of equal concern to Buselli are the
objects themselves, especially the
vases and pottery she collects on her
travels, in antique shops, or at garage
sales. She especially enjoys painting
her collection of black Pueblo pot-
tery, in part because of its dull shine
that both reflects and absorbs light.
If she wants a painting with drama,
she chooses contrasting objects. Ifher
goal is harmony, she selects objects
www.ArtistDaily.com
BUSELLI'S MATERIALS
Palette
Old Holland and Winsor & Newton
oils-with some from Vasari-in the
following colors:
Naples yellow
cadmium yellow
cadmium orange
yellow ochre
raw sienna
cadmium red
burnt sienna
burnt umber
raw umber
cobalt blue
ultramarine blue
viridian
sap green
alizarin crimson
ivory black
titanium white
Canvas
prepared Belgian linen
Brushes
Jack Richeson & Co. filberts, Nos.
3 through 12; some sable brushes
Medium
Maroger or Liquin
within a common color family and
emphasizes shifts in value and tem-
perature. When choosing flowers for
her signature floral stilllifes, Buselli
opts for those that are in season,
preferring hyacinths in the spring and
peonies in June. "Sunflowers are also
wonderful," she says, "and any kind of
lily-their shapes are so geometric. I
enjoy the large masses of hydrangeas
as well, but you have to be careful not
to put in a lot of details." She's partial
to pale pink roses for their wonderful
translucent petals.
When painting flowers, Buselli
works quickly and spontaneously with
thin paint, trying to capture them
before they fade and allowing the wet
paint to connect the shapes. In opaque
areas-where the light is directly
hitting the objects and bouncing off-
she gradually applies thicker paint but
is careful not to overwork any area.
She works wet-in-wet, dragging her
www.ArtistDaily.com
ABOVE
Old Roman
Glass
2007, oil on
linen, 18 x 15.
L E F T
Hyacinth
(and the
McCoy Pot)
2006, oil on
linen, 12 x 16.
Cast shadows coming forward, as well as strong light emanating from the
leaves and inner space of the flowers, create depth and drama. Objects
up close reach out to the viewer's space and give the subject matter a
strong presence. Hyacinth (and the McCoy Pot) won first place in the oil
category of American Artist's 70
th
Anniversary Competition, and was
featured in the December 2007 issue.
brush to create color unity from one
area of the canvas to another. Her goal
is to keep reworking to a minimum,
so as to retain the spontaneity of her
original brushwork. Sometimes she
sculpts the flowers out of the back-
ground, relying on the negative spaces
to create the form of the bouquet.
Dark-green foliage provides a base for
the flowers to rest on and gives them
weight and a sense of place in much
the way cast shadows do for her pot-
tery and glassware.
Buselli also gives a lot of thought to
composition and the arrangement of
her still life items. "The placement of
objects affects how viewers relate to the
painting," she says. "Objects closer to
the front edge reach into the viewer's
space, creating intimacy and almost a
surreal feeling. When the main flower
in a composition faces forward it can
actually appear animated. Elements
positioned farther away produce more
atmosphere because there's more quiet
space and a sense of serenity and mys-
The lighter areas of the roses were painted with titanium white and alizarin
crimson and warmed up with a touch of cadmium yellow. A little viridian or
cobalt blue makes the flower look cooler as it turns. The shadow areas of the
petals appear violet with the addition of a little more cobalt or ultramarine blue.
tery. Sometimes I use both techniques
in the same painting, positioning some-
thing close to the front edge to grab the
viewer's attention, and then leading him
or her back into the painting."
Details, the artist notes, should be
used sparingly to define an object and
should be concentrated in areas where
the viewer is suppose to focus. It's the
same with sharp edges; they shouldn't
be everywhere, just where the eye
should pause-such as the edge of a
flower. The most intense color should
be reserved for those areas meant to
appear closer to the viewer, as should
the areas of thickest paint. By using
only one colorful or bright object in a
setup, Buselli makes sure the eye will
stop there. In complex setups she's
careful to position the lights to lead
the eye through the picture.
Buselli finds inspiration in the work
of many artists of the past: Henri Fan-
tin-Latour for the sheer beauty of his
floral paintings; Emil Carlsen for his
magical space; Chardin for his strong
yet simple still life compositions;
Walter Murch for the way his isolated
elements emerge from the light;
Giorgio Morandi for his pure, simple
collective masses; and John Singer
Sargent and William Merritt Chase
for their spontaneity and wonderful
brushstrokes. She advises students to
look at the work of other artists, deter-
mine what it is about their work that
attracts them, and then try to figure
out exactly how they achieved that
quality. That's what Buselli does, with
every new discovery and painting lead-
ing to another adventure in observing
and seeing. *
Linda S. Price is an artist, writer, and
editor living on Long Island, New York.
L E F T
Mystic Flowers
2007, oil on linen, 16 x 15.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Blue Hydrangeas
2008, oil on linen, 18 x 15.
www.ArtistDaily.com
www.ArtistDaily.com
OPPOSITE PAGE
Freesias, Plums, and Oranges
2007, oil on linen, 16 x 15.
BELOW
King Hydrangeas in Oriental Vase
2008, oil on linen, 20 x 24.
About the Artist
ELLEN BUSELLI received her B.F.A. from Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, and also studied
at the Tyler School of Art, in Rome, where she got to see firsthand the work of the Old Masters
she loves. Studying with David A. Leffel at the Art Students League of New York, in Manhattan,
however, proved most instrumental in preparing her for the style in which she would eventually
paint. Buselli is a signature member of Oil Painters of America and has won their Best Still Life
award, as well as the Winsor & Newton Award of Excellence and the Silver Brush Award. She is
also a signature member of American Women Artists, and has won their Best in Show award.
Other awards Buselli has received include those from Allied Artists of America, The American
Artists Professional League, and Knickerbocker Artists. She is currently represented by Cheryl
Newby Gallery, on Pawley's Island, South Carolina. The artist maintains a studio in New York City.
For more information, visit www.ellenbuselli.com.
zn ora
DYNAMIC ACTION IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT
IN ANY TYPE OF PAINTING. HERE I DISCUSS THE
CONCEPT AS IT RELATES TO FLORAL COMPOSITION.
by James Sulkowski
paint from nature, from life.
With my subject in front of
me, I can observe the fall of
light upon it, as well as any
atmospheric effects surrounding it. I
can also look for the larger concepts
of form, shape, and movement in my
compositions that will make for an
interesting painting. For example,
if one of my florals is taken out of
focus, a larger shape will gener-
ally emerge. A bouquet of flowers
becomes a spherical shape, or an
egg shape, or even an S-shape; and
although the individual flowers are
important, each is subordinate to the
larger shape, concept, or idea.
Renaissance artists relied on
a few solid, basic compositional
elements-including the cube, the
triangle, and the sphere-and built
their figure compositions, portraits,
www.ArtistDaily.com
and stilllifes on these stable for-
mulas. The Baroque period of the
17
th
century stressed movement in
sweeping diagonals, as well as with
the S-shape design tool. This is the
approach that appeals to me. Dutch
masters, including Jan Davidsz de
Heem (1606-ca. 1684) and Rachel
Ruysch (1664-175), incorporated
these principles into their painting;
studying their work can be enor-
mously helpful.
I like to build a design around a
dynamic action line. In the fol-
lowing examples you will see that
sometimes, like the Dutch masters,
I will make use of the S-or even
a backward S-as in my painting
Valentine Bouquet. Note how in this
painting the eye follows the light.
It moves through the design from
the yellow flowers on the left to the
OPPOSITE PAGE
Valentine Bouquet
1991, oil, 20 x 16.
All artwork this article
private collection unless
otherwise indicated.
ABOVE
Here, a dynamic action
line-in the form of a
backward S-moves
through the design
from the yellow flowers
to the tip of the rose.
ABOVE
Here, a spherical concept is enhanced by "the waterfall effect."
L EF T
Glory of Summer
2001, oil, 20 x 18.
ABOVE
The Baroque diagonal is illustrated here, where flowers radiate
light outward and to the right.
L EF T
Lilacs
2002, oil, 16 x 20.
www.ArtistDaily.com
pink, orange, violet, pink, and then
white flowers, before continuing
down and across the composition to
pick up the stem of the rose that lies
on the table, ending at its tip. The
surrounding flowers echo, or repeat,
in darker colors and tonal values, the
rhythm of the light just described. I
used the tiny daisies and yellow buds
to add sparkle and extra vitality to
this painting.
Another design shape that I use
results in what I call the "waterfall
effect." In Glory of Summer I built a
composition around a spherical con-
cept that I enhanced with a waterfall
of light and shape in the flowers, as
well as in the vines. Here the white
roses draw the eye into the composi-
tion before leading the viewer out
toward the pinks and yellows, and
then eventually to the light and
shadows that pour outward in the
shape of the vines.
In Lilacs the arrangement follows
the dynamic action of the Baroque
diagonal. The cone-shape lilac
stems complement this concept,
which the white flowers enhance.
The flowers radiate light outward
and to the right, in keeping with
my left-hand light source. I placed
www.ArtistDaily.com
ABOVE
The sweeping action in this painting is enhanced by
the incorporation of light.
L E F T
Cascade of Color
2003, oil, 40 x 30. Collection the artist.
Floral composition
should not be static,
dull, or boring.
the cooler violet flowers (made with
a combination of alizarin crimson,
ultramarine blue, and white) on the
far left, which allows them to merge
with the darker violet mixtures of
the shadows. The golden yellows in
the background and foreground add
complementary impact to the design
of the painting.
The action in Cascade of Color
should be easy to discern. In this
work I created a sweeping motion
throughout the composition, which
I enhanced with the incorporation of
light. There are actually three vases
of flowers in the painting, as well as
ABOVE
Rhododendron
2001, oil, 20 x 24.
L E F T
The dynamic action line
traces an S-shape from
the background to the
foremost flowers.
RIGHT
A vortex radiates outward
from the centermost
flower, which contains the
painting's brightest whites.
www.ArtistDaily.com
As I paint, I lay in the middle tones and local colors; and as the
painting develops, Ibuild the lights, as well as the darks.
a grapevine. With the light source
coming from the left, the yellow
and red-violet flowers on the right
stand out brilliantly. The dynamic
action begins on the left with the
grape leaves, leading the eye up and
through the design, before sweeping
down again to focus on the light and
finally on the leaves.
Sometimes I will use more than
one design concept, as in Rhodo-
dendron, which makes use of an
S-curve-as well as a spiral shape.
BELOW
Pink Peonies
2008, oil, 24 x 30.
The dynamic-action line traces the
floral from the background through
the flowers bursting into the light,
before it diminishes in intensity as
it trails off to end in the foreground
leaf. The spiral, or vortex, radiates
outward from the center-most flower,
which contains the brightest whites
of the painting. Once again the light
pattern relates to the overall
design of the composition.
In Hydrangeas and Roses
the dynamic action emanates
from the focus of light, which is also
at the center of the piece. The leaves,
stems, flowers, and twigs are all ar-
ranged in a spiral to create a vibrant
and lively motion. Here again, the
progression of shadow and light in
the background gives added power to
the design.
In all of my paintings I use rich
coloration and backgrounds
that enhance the featured
bouquet by creating depth
through the progressions of
light and shadow. I also pay atten-
tion to lost and found edges, which
are critical to conjuring atmosphere
and a sense of space. As I paint, I lay
in the middle tones and local colors,
and as the painting develops, I build
the lights and the darks. I prefer to
use the full range of the palette, re-
serving the deepest darks as accents
for the final touches-often found in
the center of a floral bouquet.
Floral composition should not be
static, dull, or boring. The painting
concepts I've outlined here allow the
artist great freedoms in creating a
work. Exploring different techniques
of paint application, such as using
thick or thin paint and different
brush sizes, also gives the artist tre-
mendous creative options that yield
results as individual as handwrit-
ing. And of course, all artists should
paint with a loaded brush! *
ABOVE
Action cycles from the center of this piece, yielding a lively
composition.
TOP
Hydrangeas and Roses
2004, oil, 18 x 24.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Basket of Flowers
2009, oil on panel, 24 x 30.
About the Artist
JAMES SULKOWSKI studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia; Carnegie Mellon, in
Pittsburgh; and with Frank Mason at the Arts Students League of New York, in Manhattan. In 1994, Sulkowski
opened the Sulkowski Academy of Fine Arts, in Houston, Pennsylvania, where he taught classical painting; today he
teaches national workshops. He has won many awards, including the Helen DeCozen Award for Best Floral Painting
in the American Artists Professional League 64
th
Grand National, and he is included in The Best of Flower Painting, by
Kathryn Kipp (North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio). For more information on Sulkowski, his workshop schedule, or to
purchase his instructional DVDs, visit www.jamessulkowski.com.
Painting Flowers
Composed of
A LARGE GROUPING OF
THESE FLOWERS IS A
CHALLENGE TO PAINT.
LEARN HOW TO DISCERN
THE DIFFERENT SHAPES
WITHIN THE FLOWERS
AND STILL CREATE A
UNIFIED COMPOSITION.
by Janet Walsh
he tiny shapes and shadows
make flowers with small petals
a challenge, so I recommend
practicing the shapes and
learning to observe the setup closely. If
you are not familiar with a particular
type of flower, hold one in your non-
painting hand against the paper and
draw the flower shapes from various
angles. When you are satisfied with
your shapes, try painting them. Pay par-
ticular attention to the outside shapes,
and try to vary the subtle colors while
you paint them. After the paint has
dried, try adding some negative shapes.
You have the liberty to change whatever
you want to. If you practice this exercise
often, you will find you can use your
brush more than the pencil to capture
the true feeling and character of your
subject. I painted all the examples here
freehand.
OPEN
INDIVIDUAL
PETAL SHAPES
<.
Geranium
I painted this example from the left
to the right with a size 12 round.
Notice the subtle change of shapes,
color, and value, and the red mixture
flowing into the stem.
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NEGATIVE
SHAPES
SECOND WASH
INDIVIDUAL
PETAL SHAPES
Peegee Hydrangea
Hydrangeas consist of many varieties and
colors. I selected one variety that starts
blooming in late spring with white shapes
and changes to a muted red color as fall
approaches. To create a feeling of depth and
to vary the colors, I applied different light
color washes, allowing the paint to dry com-
pletely between these washes. I was careful
to look for the negative shapes in the flower.
WALSH'S
MATERIALS
Palette
cadmium yellow pale
Indian yellow
quinacridone gold
cadmium orange
cadmium scarlet
cadmium red light
Winsor red
alizarin crimson
cobalt violet
Winsor violet
Winsor blue
cobalt blue
Winsor green
Skip's green
light yellow green
viridian
Brushes
sizes 10 and 12 rounds
V 2 " flat
size 4 inexpensive brush
to apply masking fluid
Surfaces
Kilimanjaro 140-lb
cold-pressed watercolor
paper
Arches 140-lb
cold-pressed watercolor
paper
Other Supplies
Incredible White Mask
PETAL SHAPES
TIPS If your paint has stripes, you need to add more water to your mix. If the color is pale, let the
wash dry and then paint another coat on top. After everything has dried, add some small
washes of different colors and shapes here and there to create more texture. Throughout the entire
painting process you should stop often and look at the work from a distance, deciding where to add
darks or make some shapes lighter and where to soften edges. This is a good way to become familiar
with your subject matter. The more you experiment, the more confident you will become.
Wisteria and Lilacs
These are popular flowers and look very
similar; the difference is their shape and the
way they cascade. The wisteria is a delicate
flower that has an elegant droop. The lilac,
by contrast, is more compact. The shapes of
the ends of both of these flowers and their
negative shapes are distinctly different.
PETAL SHAPES
OPEN
Step 1
I lightly sketched the placement of
the flowers, remembering to create
depth by overlapping the shapes,
as well as to vary sizes and shapes.
At the sketching stage I decided to
shorten the flower stems to make
the arrangement look more like a
bouquet.
Step 2
Starting with the color of the flow-
ers, I mixed puddles of various reds
(red-yellow, red-orange, red-violet,
and so on). I mixed more paint than
I thought I would need because I did
not want to stop in the middle of
painting and lose the rhythm. Using
both the tip and the belly of my
brush, I was able to suggest an effect
of texture and spontaneity.
DEMONSTRATION
Geranium in Full Bloom
The challenge with putting this
setup together was to get all the
flowers to fit into the container. I
ended up adding a small potted
plant in the back right-hand corner
(not to be painted) and also added
a few strawberries onto the fore-
ground fabric. This gave me a way
of connecting the flower colors and
the foreground fabric. Although the
flowers in this setup were not exact-
ly where I wanted them, I was able
to group them visually as I painted.
I selected this arrangement of a
large grouping of the same flow-
ers to demonstrate how to become
familiar with the various shapes
and their busy leaves. The red floral
shapes and strawberries seem to
flow from one side of the arrange-
ment to the other, moving the eye
through the painting. The shadow
shapes mirror the arrangement, and
the simple blue background provides
a restful yet interesting shape.
Step 3
(not pictured)
Next, I mixed pools of various blues,
yellows, and greens. I also added a
touch of red into the green mixes as I
painted. The mix of color ranged from
a subtle warm to cool green.
Step 4
(not pictured)
To check the placement of nega-
tive shapes, I laid tracing paper over
the top of my dried painting and
designed the value shapes (at least
two or three values) with a pencil.
I painted them after I was satisfied.
After everything was dry, I started
painting some of the various darker-
value shapes in both the flowers and
the leaves, leaving a lot of the original
color.
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6
Step 5
I drew the container, strawber-
ries, shadow shapes, and fabric. I
checked my drawing from a dis-
tance. To create the small, rough
white spots on the container, I
applied Incredible White Mask with
an inexpensive brush. I could then
paint right over this mask as many
times as necessary.
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THE COMPLETED DEMONSTRATION:
Geranium in Full Bloom
2009, watercolor, 2 8 Y 2 x 2 2 Y 2 . Collection the artist.
Step 6
While the Incredible White Mask
was drying, I mixed all the colors I
would need to paint the container.
I kept these colors separate on
the palette. I began painting the
container from top to bottom,
changing colors as I progressed to
suggest its old age. I made strokes
across the container-not up and
down-and the color value was
darker at the midpoint of the con-
tainer. To create shadows, as well
as the handles and lower half and
bottom of the container, I added a
deeper color.
A small floodlight helped create
a strong cast shadow behind the
flowers. After painting the darker
midtone part of the shadow, I added
one or two washes of the shadow
color. After all the paint dried, I
painted the overall background. In
some areas I added another coat.
To create the white fabric, I used
very light washes of a pale yellow,
blue, and violet. *
by Janet Walsh
fter learning how to paint a basic floral still life, you'lllikely want to try your
hand at a more involved arrangement. As I've suggested here, you might want
to practice drawing and painting the shapes of the flowers first, because the
forms are more complicated. Doing this will help you paint with more confi-
dence, and you will be better able to capture the effects of light and shadow that will bring
your setup to life on the paper.
Exercise: Practice Painting Roses
PHOTOGRAPHS
OF TWO ROSES
SMALL WHITE
SHAPES
Begin the exercise by painting the whole
shape of these roses without adding
details. In my demo, the small white-
tinted shapes usually designate the edges
of a petal. Both shapes were painted at
the same time-moving from the rose
shape to the leaves. Note the variety of
the outside-edge shapes. Most important,
remember that you do not need to paint
every peta I!
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WATERCOLOR
GRAPHIC ROSE
1. Begin by sketching the
rose petals.
2. When you are satisfied
with your sketch,
transfer it to the
watercolor paper.
3. Paint a base color.
Allow the paint to dry.
4. Load a round brush
with a darker color than
the rose. Starting
at one of the inside
edges, paint along its
curve, immediately
switch to your flat
brush, and pull the
paint away from this
edge toward the
outside of the petal
shape. This suggests
how the form of the
petal turns .
THE FINISHED
EXERCISE
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PENCIL
SKETCH
Exercise:
Painting
Delphiniums
The sinuous, multiflowered
branches of the delphinium
can be somewhat befuddling
to paint. For this reason, take
your time drawing and sim-
plifying these shapes on your
paper. Resist the temptation
to paint everything you see.
Begin at the top with violets,
blues, and greens, changing
colors as you move from the
small, delicate buds to the
larger shapes, finishing with
the stem.
THE VARIOUS
SHAPES OF
DELPHINIUMS
DEMONSTRATION
Roses and Delphiniums
Reference
In designing this setup I made the roses the
focal point and the delphinium and foliage less
important. Overlapping these shapes helps to
create the feeling of dimension. I also decided to
use the white of the paper as a background and
not add a container. Last, this arrangement was
designed to be a vignette, meaning the subject
matter does not touch any of the edges of the
paper and has a balanced middle placement.
WALSH'S
MATERIALS
Palette
cadmium yellow pale
Indian yellow
cerulean blue
cobalt blue
Winsor blue
French ultramarine
permanent alizarin
crimson
Surfaces
(anson Montval
140-lb cold-pressed
watercolor paper
Kilimanjaro 140-lb
cold-pressed
watercolor paper
Fabriano Artistico
140-lb cold-pressed
watercolor paper
Brushes
sizes 10 and 12 rounds
3 J 4 " flat
1
Step 1
I lightly sketched the placement of the various subjects.
The two roses were painted before the delphiniums.
Step 2
Next, I went back into the rosebud and added too much
detail. To correct this problem, I washed out a good part of
this detail using a slightly wet natural sponge. I then
considered the painting at a distance.
2
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Step 3
I added negative shapes to a few of the
delphinium buds, as well as a third rose.
I started defining the rose petals (using
the size 10 round brush) with paint that
was slightly darker than the base color.
Then I came in with the flat brush (not
too wet) to move the paint to the edge,
creating the rich and subtle colors and
values in the rose. I considered the addi-
tion of foliage under the single rose, so
I laid some natural foliage on the spot
to see how it would look. I decided to
include it and other pieces as well.
Step 4
At this stage I worked out
the design of the stems on
tracing paper. To transfer the
drawing, I taped the tracing
paper directly on a window,
then taped my painting
over the tracing paper using
matte-finish Magic Tape. I
lightly traced the image onto
the watercolor paper.
Step 5
I painted the stems using a
variety of shapes and soft
greens. *
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THE COMPLETED DEMONSTRATION:
Roses and Delphiniums
2009, watercolor, 20V2 x 16.
Collection the artist.
4
t
_ti
e e Settin
THIS MINNESOTA ARTIST IS KNOWN FOR REPRESENTATIONAL
GRAPHITE DRAWINGS THAT DEPICT CONVENTIONAL
SUBJECTS IN A WAY THAT'S ANYTHING BUT.
by Naomi Ekperigin
, , 've never really thought of myself
as afloral still life artist," says
Skip Steinworth, "but looking
back over the drawings I've done,
I realize that they increasingly fall into
that genre." For the last 20years, the
artist has drawn stilllifes exclusively in
graphite, and over the last decade, flow-
ers have become the dominant subject.
"Most of my earlier stilllifes included
floral arrangements, mainly as a token
nod to tradition in what were other-
wise less traditional combinations of
objects, such as cardboard boxes, cam-
eras, and even lawn sprinklers," he
says. "Over time I realized that some
of the images I most enjoyed drawing
were the plants and flowers." Heeding
his creative voice, Steinworth pared
down his compositions and now has
spent much of his career rendering
the subjects that provide him the most
pleasure, as well as endless creative
and technical challenges.
Itcan be quite tempting to sum up
an artist's body of work in a word or
sentence that makes it easily accessible
to viewers, readers, or collectors. A
glance at Steinworth's oeuvre gives
the impression of a draftsman who
seeks to explore simplicity-after all,
what could be more straightforward
than a black-and-white image of a
flower? Using the most humble of
artistic tools and one of the most
classic subjects, he creates meticulous
renderings that many viewers
often mistake for photographs. But
Steinworth's drawings are more than
the average floral still life. "Perhaps
www.ArtistDaily.com
the most appealing aspect of working
with flowers is the amount of artistic
license I can take with them," the
artist says. "I'm not copying what I
see; I'm drawing a mood. I can get
away with far less adherence to their
literal appearance than with most
other subjects-I can alter the sizes or
shapes to fit my compositional needs."
This flexibility is crucial, because
the artist's compositional needs are
great. In his earlier work, he not only
combined disparate objects but also
utilized an array of tools to manipulate
his subjects. "Even in the initial
OPPOSITE PAGE
Cuttings and
Black Vase
2007, graphite on
mat board,
21 x 27. All
artwork this
article private
collection unless
otherwise
indicated.
L E F T
Hanging
Flower
2008, graphite on
mat board,
31 x 18. Courtesy
Pismo Fine Art
Glass, Aspen,
Colorado.
"I wanted
a textured
background
because it was
so large," the
artist says of
this drawing. "I
wanted it to be
part of the space
itself. It was fun
to completely
invent it and not
have to adhere to
anything."
stages of setting up the arrangements
and taking reference photographs, I
regularly employ everything from hot
glue to wire and alligator clips to prop
up, modify, or reposition objects in
order to achieve what I consider to be
the best composition." In other words,
there's nothing simple about these
stilllifes. Each object-and in many
cases, the shadows the objects cast-is
a player in Steinworth's scenes. He
often aims to create a sense of serenity,
but the blank backgrounds take the
images out of context; with this sense
of stillness comes a feeling brevity,
patience, and even loss. Flowers
illuminated by unknown light sources
could have been left to wilt on a
bedside table or just starting to bloom
on a windowsill. Responses to the
drawings often reveal more about the
viewer than about the artwork itself
While speaking with Steinworth,
the word that comes up most often
is "obsessive." "My artwork is what I
control the best," he says with a laugh.
"When I plan out a composition, I'll
spend hours arranging
objects." After he finds a
setup that he's satisfied
with, Steinworth then
moves on to lighting.
"Lighting is another
way to help me
describe these 0bj ects
thoroughly," he says. "I
use a combination of
natural light, spotlights,
baffles, and reflectors
for both aesthetic effect
and to define the subject
matter."
Steinworth's drawings
take at least six weeks
to complete, and in
many instances, several
months; his subjects are
wilted long before he's
finished drawing them.
The artist overcomes
this challenge by
taking copious notes, hundreds of
photographs, and creating several
sketches. "I get down as much
information as I can, as quickly as I
can," he says. "I also try to commit as
much of it to memory as possible. But
what's so great about flowers is that I
don't need to make every petal exactly
perfect. If it's not what I remember
or what I see in the photograph, I can
change or invent what I need to make
the image fit my vision."
He first draws his composition using
dry-erase marker on tileboard that he
constructs himself ttl began doing
this when the size of my drawings
made it impractical to do life-size
layouts on paper," he explains. "With
this method I can do large-scale line
drawings and make changes quicldy
and easily." After this initial drawing
is firmly in place, Steinworth transfers
it to his drawing surface. Although
he does leave himself room to make
further refinements at this stage, he
rarely does. The hours spent getting to
know his 0bj ects through arranging,
rearranging, and photographing under
"I do shake things up a bit," he
continues. ttl tend to start with my
background first, usually bringing
it close to completion before I draw
the objects." This is due, in part, to
his sure-handedness during the early
drawing process. Because he carefully
considers each line before he puts it
down, Steinworth knows exactly what
he wants the background to look like in
the finished drawing. "If I'm working
on a black background, for instance,
ABOVE
"Peonies are my favorite flowers," Steinworth says.
"They're not that easy to find in Minnesota during the
winter, but we grow them and I round up a bunch of
them in June and do all my recording."
myriad lighting conditions serve
the artist well. He also credits this
decisiveness to his early art training.
During his graduate studies at St.
Cloud State University, in Minnesota,
he couldn't focus on drawing, so he
majored in lithography. "You can't
easily make changes with it," he says
of the printing medium. ttl had to do
very precise line drawings, and I've
retained a lot of the working process I
developed for that medium.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Peonies in Fluted Jar
2007, graphite on mat board, 27 x 22.
I'll bring that about 90percent to
completion and then do a bit of the
foreground," he says. "That'll help me
figure out how much contrast I need to
put into the objects themselves. After
that, I'll work on one area at a time-
exactly the way they tell you not to work
in art school. Mostly, this is because I
need a place to rest my hand so that I
don't smudge the surface. I can put a
sheet of tracing paper under my hand,
but it just isn't the same."
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