Art blog by Ilse T. Hable

Agaves

2011-12-27T17:47:00.000-08:00

There are many kinds of agaves, but for the production of Tequila only the Agave Azul qualifies. And, it has to be grown in Jalisco or a few other surrounding areas to be allowed to be made into the drink that bears the name Tequila.

The Agave Azul grows for approximately 8 years in order to produce a mature core, which is called "piña", or pineapple. The plant is extremely resistant, it can go months without water and then take extreme moisture, which is ideal in a region where it rains almost half a year and the other half is dry.

Agave off shoots are planted one foot apart, in straight rows. The space between rows must be kept weeded so that all the nutrients in the soil will benefit the agave, not other plants.

Volcan de Tequila and the Blue Agave

2011-12-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

The Volcan de Tequila commands the view, all the way from Guadalajara to Tequila and beyond. This volcano is no longer active, its height has already eroded a bit, but the core of its chimney, which is made of the hardest rock, will last for a very long time to come. It can be easily seen in the center of the crater and the locals gave it the nickname "La Tetilla" or "The Nipple".

The last eruption of the Volcan de Tequila was some 200,000 years ago. In an area of about 40 kilometers around the volcano, the rock and ashes expelled during that explosion created the rich soil on which the blue agave grows today, and the blue agave, of course, is the raw ingredient for the famous alcoholic beverage, Tequila.

Water and Boats

2011-10-05T17:29:00.001-07:00

In Mexico you can still find those charming, old fishing boats, paint long rubbed off, barely seaworthy, sometimes made of real wood, mixed in together with more modern boats.

I saw this unassuming scene in the harbor of the port town of San Blas, in the State of Nayarit, during a plein air painting trip with a friend and fellow artist.

Glad I finally got around to painting it!

Panamerican Games 2011

2011-10-05T17:14:00.001-07:00

In just a few days the Panamerican Games 2011 will be inaugurated and athletes from 42 nations will gather in Guadalajara, Mexico, to compete.

People and water are some of my favorite topics, so it seemed obvious that I should paint a swimmer.

Good luck to all competitors and good luck to the people of Guadalajara, who during almost three weeks will have to endure traffic jams on many city streets, because one lane will be set aside for the exclusive use of participants and vehicles that are officially connected with the games.

Puerto Vallarta

2011-09-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I participated in a group art show in the Peter Gray Museum in Puerto Vallarta. During our stay at the Friendly Hola Hotel, we saw this gorgeous sunset, typical and very normal for Puerto Vallarta. The scene was so picture book perfect that I hesitated whether I should paint it or not. I guess, I could not resist after all.

This painting is part of my skies series.

Cumulus Clouds

2011-09-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Again, rain, or almost rain, is the topic of this painting, which is part of my skies series.

During the Rainy Season in the Caribbean, beautiful clouds gather every afternoon, the sky gets dark, almost purple and the contrast between the water, the clouds and the sky is gorgeous. Could not resist, even though nature is the better painter.

Blitz

2011-09-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

Blitz is German for lightning. I think it is a good word, very fast, very descriptive the way it sounds, the "i" conveying light.

While painting this scene, I tried to see it all happening in slow motion, with sparks illuminating way more than the exact path of the flash, but still with the surprise element of a bolt out of the blue. Or, the purple, in this case.

Blitz is part of my skies series.

Downpour

2011-09-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

It feels so good being in a dry place and watching the rain coming down in sheets!

Even though I painted this piece in my studio and from a photograph, it was more like doing a plein air painting, because I have seen and painted such scenes on location so many times. Just this time I didn´t have to pack up in a hurry and run!

"Rain" is part of my skies series.

Rain

2011-09-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

Rain is a fascinating topic.

"Night Rain" belongs to my skies series, even though more than half of it´s space is filled with solid matter. The rain cannot be seen, but felt. It is pitch black night and the moisture in the air refracts every droplet where it meets a street light, the asphalt is glistening in front of car´s headlights and contours get blurred by the blinding play of dark and light.

Just as we move fast in the rain, trying to get home dry and safe, merely paying attention to what´s most important, I painted this picture very quickly, with as little detail as possible.

Teaching Realism

2010-09-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

There are many degrees of realism in art, from almost photographic depictions to very simplified, abstracted, but still recognizable interpretations.

Most of my students know my work before they take my classes, so they expect to be taught how to paint in a more or less realistic style.

However, style cannot be taught, it has to be conquered by years of work.

What I teach is how to get there:

First, an understanding of color and its three properties: Hue, Value and Chroma, and second, how to truely see and observe: How to use what the right brain senses and what our eyes see, to create on the canvas, through a pattern of shapes and colors, the image exactly the way we want it to look.

Knowing or seeing every detail of the subject is not only unnecessary for the painter, but often undesirable. The left, logical side of the brain interferes in such a way that it blocks the right side, which is more creative. What we know (or think we know) gets in the way of real observation and without real observation there is no true realism.

Revolution and Independence

2010-09-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

2010 is the year in which Mexico celebrates 200 years of its Independence form Spain and 100 years since the Revolution.

A lot has changed for the average Mexican citizen in this last century, but less for the indigenous population.

Which may turn out to be good.

The question arises: How much change is desirable, how much modernization can be called progress before it becomes the beginning of the end for the indigenous cultures?

Mexico would not be what it is today if it were not for its history, rich in prehispanic cultures. Mexico must be reminded that it should be proud not only of the temples and pyramids these ancient inhabitants left, but also of the fact, that their descendants are still alive in the indigenous polulation of today. Their old ways of producing arts and crafts are valuable skills to be preserved and, in the long run, this may be more important to the tourism industry of this nation than building more and more developments and golf courses at the beaches, in places where there is no sustainable source of water and where natural eco systems, like mangroves, have to be destroyed to make room for the so called progress.

Water

2010-08-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

I love to go plein air painting in Mexico in the rainy season.
Often, the mornings are sunny and very bright, the rains come in the afternoon or evening.
The water refreshes the colors of the land, the sky, the trees. It fills the lakes, charges the air with negative ions and adorns the sky with beautiful clouds.

Morning Light

2010-06-13T15:31:00.001-07:00

Early next morning we painted the same mountains from a different vantage point.

The sun was strong already, however, even though the field in the foreground is yellow, a warm tone, all colors, especially the sky and the mountains in the distance looked much cooler than the day before.

Sun gets filtered by the atmoshere it travels through, and early morning moisture in the air accounts for the fact that some of the rays get reflected before they can reach our eyes.

Afternoon Light

2010-06-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

I love the hues the sun creates on the landscape during late afternoon hours.

Longer shadows mean more excitement in a painting, as cool shadow colors contrast with those where the heat is still lingering in the the sun drenched landscape.

This scene is in the mountainous region of Mascota, not far form Puerto Vallarta, in western, central Mexico. There are volcanos everywhere.

My painting buddy and I had been searching for a good spot to capture the warm afternoon glow on the mountains, driving up and down a little dirt road, when we happened upon this place. Almost as soon as we had set up, cattle come around the corner, right at us, and they probably wondered what we were doing there. They left soon, of course, but not before we got a few snapshots for future studio paintings.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

And again, it´s time to think about turkeys and pumpkins!

A year ago, during a non-painting-trip to Austria, I saw a field full of pumpkins, ready to be harvested. It looked very pretty and I took some photographs. A week later, quite a few pumpkins remained in the field when early snow surprised the place. Now the view was even more stunning. The sun had melted the snow away on the south side to reveal bright orange dots, randomly strewn over the field.

With winter approaching, it felt like the right time to paint the scene now!

The Right Brain and Plein Air Painting

2009-11-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

As studies have shown, when we give our right brain hemisphere a chance of being active, life is more enjoyable, we become more open minded, creative, at peace, and we experience ouselves as being less judgemental, less critical and less frustrated.

There is no doubt in my mind that plein air painting is a good way of activating one´s right brain. Being exposed to all the sensory stimulations, the beauty of the view, the atmospheric properties of each scene, like sun, wind, rain or fog, sometimes a fragrance, the soft noises of nature, all that gives the artist the opportunity to become part of the landscape, to really understand it´s essence.

In such a state of mind, painting what you see becomes spontaneous and exhilarating and, unlike with studio painting, the memories of each individual experience are going to stay with you.

Atmosphere

2009-11-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

At the end of the rainy season in central Mexico, wildflowers appear just about everywhere. This landscape is in Jalisco, near a quaint little town, called Tapalpa.

Moisture still hangs in the air after one of the last downpours in October, but the sun is coming through to illuminate patches of flowers and the vibrant green of the high grasses.

I have painted years ago in almost the same spot, but every season the flowers form other color patterns and, depending on the atmospheric condition, everything looks different every day.

Quick Oil Sketches

2009-09-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

A San Diego art group invited me
to participate in a session
of figure painting. I accepted, of course, as the human figure has always been one of my favorite topics.

The model posed with her dog and we had about an hour and a half to paint. The experience was a bit of a challenge, since the pooch sat down differently after every break, but I have often considered challenges to be an artist's best friend.
Try limiting your time, reduce the assortment of colors on your palette to the bare minimum, choose an unfamiliar size of canvas, or a model in movement and you will see that, in response to these "obstacles", your attention will be more focused and your concentration heightened.

As far as time constraints are concerned, I feel that a quick, sketchy color note can say more than a perfectly rendered painting.

Beach Paintings

2009-08-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

I love to watch - and of course to paint the waves rolling in at the beach. There is something reassuringly artistic about the fact that such a repetitive action can happen without it's outcome ever looking quite the same.

Not long ago I walked on a beach of the Pacific Ocean, at the Nayarit village of San Pancho in Mexico. A woman of the Huichol tribe, dressed in her brightly colored traditional outfit, was sitting on a pile of sand, looking at the sea. Maybe she was pondering the same thing while her daughter played with a dog nearby.

Color Harmony

2009-05-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

After a long period of time of painting mostly landscapes, I felt itchy to do some figure again.
This nude was painted from a photo I had kept in my "2 paint folder" since a while. It's composition had attracted me from the very beginning and I am planning to do at least four of that theme and shape, 1 meter square, in the near future.
Olga started out with much stronger colors and a much more pure blue background, however, as the painting progressed, I decided to keep the color harmony much closer, in a middle key of chroma and mainly in cool tones with just enough warm reflected light to explain volume and to keep it interesting.
Given the relatively large area of background, I worked with very wide brushes from the hardware store, which gave the surface an unexpectedly beautiful texture.

The dangers of painting commercial themes

2009-04-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

Painting certain themes can be dangerous to one's reputation.
Romantic scenes, cute children and countryside with rustic barns tend to be the popular choice of amateurs and Sunday Painters. And, of the less discerning buyers.
I normally avoid these topics, but sometimes I confront the challenge and see if I can make a good painting, despite the commercial overtones of a view.
This is a street scene in a romantic Mexican village, called Tapalpa, a popular getaway for the people of Guadalajara. In order to pull it off I stuck with muted colors and little detail, as well as a limited range of contrast and color intensity, the opposite of which are the deadly sins, frequently committed by beginners.

Color Relationships

2009-03-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

In landscape painting, being able to express the atmospheric circumstances is desirable. Whether it is rainy, foggy, sunny or dull, all of it can be captured by closely observing the relationship between the colors of the scene before putting it down on canvas or paper.

All three dimensions of color - hue, value and croma, change with changing weather and even with the changing hours of the day.

Light illuminates objects differently according to the angle at which it touches down. That affects the hue or color we see.

Shadows will appear darker when the sun is stronger, less contrasting when the light is weak. The result is a constantly changing value relationship between the elements of the composition, one of the difficulties in plein air painting and the reason most plein air painters work small.

The intensity of the color depends on the waether too, particles in the air may create duller colors or a stunning, red sunset. After a rain colors look fresher, pollution or fog will put a veil around colors, and so on.

So, watch out if someone claims to be the "painter of light", it's no more than a catchy phrase. You can't paint light, just the effects it has on the natural world.

Realism

2009-02-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

Not all realism is alike.

Since so called realistic, as well as impressionistic painting requires abstraction from reality, no two dimensional work can ever be totally "real", not even photorealism. The painter has a choice as to how much he or she wants to (or can) adhere to the scene at hand.

For me, realism is not about slaving over detail, nor is it about sticking to the correct number of trees, waves or rocks in nature, but it is about conveying the overall impression I get from the scene: The movement, the light, the texture of things, the temperatur and if possible the joy of being part of it all.

When is a painting finished?

2009-02-04T06:12:00.001-08:00

Knowing when to stop is always an issue and sometimes a problem with painters. You get so involved and fascinated by the process of creating and refining the image, that it is hard to quit at the right time. Who hasn't ruined a painting by overworking it?
A good painting should be good at any stage, right after the block-in, half done and at the end.
Some paintings look better when they remain sketch-like, others when they have more detail. The personal preference of the painter and the viewer have, of course, a lot to do with the way of judging this, but my rule of thumb is the following:
A painting can be considered finished when no additional time spent working on it will improve it.

Mexican Pacific

2009-01-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how long I have not posted anything. I have painted a lot though in that time, but have been slow photographing the new pieces. Here's one, it's called Playa Los Cocos.

The moment I saw the evening light on that scene, I knew I had to paint it. Colors and shadows were changing rapidly and I had to come back to finish the painting the following evening.

Capturing the angle and temperature of the light is extremely important for a successful landscape painting, all the shapes and colors depend on those two qualities. It makes me feel warm just looking at this scene of the Mexican Pacific coast - kind of nice, now that the temperatures have dropped!

August Rains

2008-09-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

August is wet in Mexico. You´ll never know when it will be sunny or raining, but you´ll get plenty of both, depending on what path storms and hurricanes decide to take.
I painted this plein air piece from a balcony of a friend´s house in Tapalpa, in Central Mexico. The clouds hurried across the sky and the shadow patterns on the ground changed rapidly. Luckily I had a previously stained linen panel with me, which made the painting go much faster.

Yet Another Seascape

2008-08-28T07:57:00.001-07:00

Here´s another one.
Different beach, different view point.

In this scene I loved the fact that the ocean, though in constant motion, gives a feeling of tranquility and, because of the repetitiveness and predictability of it´s movements, a sense of permanence.

Another Seascape

2008-08-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

My best client loves seascapes.
This one is not sold yet and I would not mind keeping it for myself. I have been to this beach dozens of times and on every occasion I find a new view that I simply have to paint. I can´t keep up!

Seascapes

2008-08-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of decades ago I was reluctant to paint seascapes. It seemed dangerous ground, not because I did not know how to paint one, but because so many hobby painters love this theme. (Along with reclining nudes and children´s portraits.)
And I did not want to be thrown in with the wrong group.

But no topic should be too intimidating nor too banal for a serious painter. In the end it´s what you make of it and I learned that among buyers, there is a taste for both good and bad interpretations. So, who´s to say?

Black

2008-07-24T16:24:00.001-07:00

Black, just like white, is not a color.

Colors have three dimensions:
Hue, value and chroma.
Black is undoubtedly a hue.
As far as value goes, it is the darkest of all values on the scale, but it cannot vary in value like colors can. As soon as it is a bit lighter, it is not black any more.
And chroma, or intensity is fixed too, there is no blacker than black.

In painting, black has to be treated with a lot of respect. First of all, black easily dirties other colors. Also, black objects show a variety of color and values where the light hits them and it is important to look carefully to determine the hue of those colors. The most illuminated spot on a black object can be lighter than the darkest shadow on a white object.
I hardly ever use black (I believe there is still some paint in the one and only tube of black I ever bought), but rather mix the colors to interprete black with the three darkest transparent colors on the palette: Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue and Viridian Green. Real Black is only needed in the deepest of all accents, where no direct, nor reflected light hits the object.

White - is it a Color?

2008-07-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

No, it isn´t.

Many years ago, when I studied oil painting with Sebastian Capella, I learned that White and Black are not colors.
Let me explain:
Color has three dimensions, hue, value and croma.
Hue, as in the tone like red, yellow, blue, etc.;
Value, referring to the degree of light or dark on a scale between black and white;
And Croma, as in intensity or purity of the color.

White fits within the first dimension, it does have a name, so it qualifies as a hue, but it does not have any variation in value, nor in croma. White will always be the lightest on the value scale and there is no more than one intensity - white is white.

Any color, added to another one, will change that color´s hue. For example, if you add red to yellow you get orange, blue to yellow makes green, and so on.
White, added to any other color does not change that color´s hue, it will only affect its value and diminish its intensity.

I don´t use pure white when painting a white object, pure white is rarely found in nature, there is always a hint of another hue present. Shadows and reflected colors will show us the white object in a lovely variety of colors! It´s only our brain which reads them as white.

Painting versus Photography

2008-07-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Even though photography and painting (or sculpting) have a lot in common with respect to the perceptive mind of the artist, I believe each of the two art forms has a different ideal or purpose.
Photographers capture the beauty of one moment in time, even when this moment depicts a subject in motion. A painter, who´s work takes a few hours to do, witnesses the subject matter over a longer period of time, and interprets a personal impression of it. This impression should be charged with the painter´s emotions and will give not only a more or less accurate account of the scene, depending on the style, but also a glimpse of the artist´s character.
For me painting in a realistic way does not mean trying to compete with what a a photographer can do, that would be a waste of time, as the camera can deliver so much more precision.

Rosa

2008-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is another painting I made of Rosa. It was done in a single session and I believe I painted over an old canvas. I am always happy with the rough brush work that results from doing that and, because there is already color on the canvas, the painting goes so much faster.
The windows of our studio looked like those of a factory, hence the title.

Models

2008-06-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Rosa used to be one of my favorite models. I remember clearly when she came to my group for the first time, shy and worried that she would have to model in the nude. She had recently immigrated to the US from the Middle East and was still steeped in the traditions of her country. As it turned out, after she modeled for us countless times fully clothed, one day she decided that there was nothing wrong with modeling nude.
Every model has a unique way of projecting her - or his - personality to the artist. Some gorgeous looking models turn out to be absolutely boring, other, less perfect figures surprise with a lot of spunk and personality. In Rosa´s case, I was always most interested in her face.

Movement

2008-06-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

There are various ways of expressing movement which go beyond the photographically correct depiction of a scene.
Paintings and drawings are by nature still objects, so, if action is depicted, the artist has to convince the viewer that movement is actually happening.
The great master Auguste Rodin once defined movement as the "transition from one attitude to another". He advocated what he called "progressive development of movement" , meaning that he liked to depict successive phases of an action in the same sculpture, condensing the action of several moments into a single figure.
For me, distortion is a good way of expressing movement.
In my example of the horse jumping over the hurdle, the head of the horse has already cleared the obstacle, moving away from us, the hind legs, however, are just about to move into our field of vision and their muscles are in the moment of greatest activity. I made the exaggeration in size intuitively but I like the result, as it helps to create the illusion of movement.

Clouds

2008-06-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

The rainy season is about to start in central Mexico. For about five months straight, there will be a downpour every afternoon. Some days it may rain lightly all day long, but most of the time there is sunshine in the mornings and precipitation starts around 4 or 5PM.
The landscape turns green within days after the first rains and the moisture in the air creates beautiful atmospheric layers.
This is a great season for plein air painting, especially if you like to do clouds. The light can get very interesting in those last moments before the clouds burst and since oil does not mix with water, I don´t worry if the rain catches up with me.
As long as the car is near!

Pelicans

2008-05-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

At the river mouth of Rio Tomatlan, just south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, pelicans are ever present. They are excellent fishers, dropping themselves from high above into the sea, folding their wings and making a slight turn just before they hit the water. They hardly miss the fish they are after and carry it off in their expandable lower beak.
But why work if you can get food for free? Fishermen who gut their catch right at the river´s edge are very popular with the birds and have to be careful, or the pelicans might take their fish as well as the entrails.

Trees

2008-05-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Trees are amazing living things.
They provide humans and animals with oxygen, they absorb all kinds of pollution and improve the climate. Their roots anchor the soil to prevent erosion and desertification, in winter their decomposing leaves make nutritious, new soil. They give shelter to birds and other animals. Some trees have roots capable of desalinating ocean water. Managed sustainably, their wood provides us with excellent building material. Even dead trees still work for our benefit, enriching the ground in preparation for new vegetation.
These are just some of the wonders trees do for us, yet sadly, we humans don´t care for them the way we should. I guess we still have not woken up to the fact that trees offer extremely high benefits for extremely low cost. And that life on this planet could not be possible without them.
Now, lets compare that with what cars do for us. !?! But, oh yes, we do take good care of those.
At some point I might paint a whole series of different trees, but then, there are so many other themes, that it might have to wait a bit.

What Are You Painting?

2008-05-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

When I do plein air work, inevitably someone comes up to me and asks: What are you painting? Or, even better, what are you doing?
Well, its nice that people find the process of creating a painting interesting, but for the artist, concentration is gone at this point.
I normally don't paint and talk at the same time, so I take visitors as an opportunity for a little break and tell the inquirers that I am painting the scene in front of me, but that I am barely starting, and if they came back in an hour, they would see more. With some luck I am finished by that time.
I made this painting at the river mouth of La Ticla, at the Mexican Pacific coast. Lots of white birds played and looked for food in the shallow water. A recent storm had uprooted a tree and the current of the river had brought it down to the ocean where it got stuck between two sand banks. Could not leave such a scene unpainted!

Life Drawings

2008-05-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

My Friday life drawing group prefers female models, but sometimes we get male models to pose for us.
Over time, those who did not feel comfortable with quick gesture drawing dropped out of the group and the remaining artists opted for more one minute poses at the beginning of each session. I love those quick ones, they get you going, loosen your hand.
This drawing was probably done from one of the long poses, which last 10 or 15 minutes.

From my Ethnic Series

2008-05-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

When I visited Oaxaca for the first time in the early seventies, the markets were still held in the streets and the ware was spread out on the ground.

There was a street where baskets were sold, another one for clay pots, toys, flowers, crafts, etc., only some food was sold in an indoor market. Women (mostly) were busy arranging, weighing or unpacking whatever they sold and some of them were still wearing their traditional outfits.

If you go today, you´ll need to get a cab to the outskirts of town where you´ll find a market with regular booths, where everything is sold in one place. I bet it´s more comfortable for the people who work in it, but from the artistic point of view, the change was for the worse and one gets the feeling the merchants are banned from the touristic areas in the center of Oaxaca. There´s no longer a reason to proudly wear ethnic clothing, as hardly any tourists venture to the edges of town. A similarly unfortunate decision was made by the local government when they banned artisans from the center square during the Guelaguetza festivities. They too were relocated in an artificially created market in a remote area. I wonder whether the officials in charge of tourism ever ask tourists what they like to see when they come to Oaxaca.

Middle Key of Contrast

2008-05-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

In this painting I used a middle key of contrast.
The colors are neither very dark nor very light in value, keeping the range wide, but without using the extreme dark values 1 and 2 nor the very lightest one, corresponding to 9 on the value scale. Even though it can be, the choice of key of contrast is not often a deliberate one for me. I just respond the scene in front of me.
On this particular occasion, some friends and I were on a plein air painting trip in New Mexico, and this rural scene caught my eye. The time of day was late in the afternoon, color in general looked rich and the cast shadows were glowing. What a privilege to be a painter!

Low Key of Contrast

2008-05-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

In my last post I spoke about high key of contrast. Here´s an example for a low key of contrast painting.
The day was mildly sunny, with a lot of early morning moisture floating in the air, which softened the contours of all the shapes.
On a scale of 9 values between black and white, black being 1 and white being 9, the colors in this plein air painting would correspond to no more than three values: 6,7 and 8, with just a touch of a darker or lighter accent here or there.

High Key of Contrast

2008-05-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Any painting, abstract or representational, can be done in a high, middle or low key of contrast.
There is no advantage or quality issue connected to either of the three, it is mainly a question of personal preference , but in landscape painting, choosing one over the other can be due to the light situation of the scene.
In this example, the sun was very strong and almost directly overhead. Seen from my vantage point, the scene was back lit. I remember struggling with the discomfort of heat and strained eyes, standing there in the open, dry landscape, but I managed to establish the main features and high key of contrast between illuminated areas and areas in shade as well as cast shadows, before packing. The finishing touches I did in my studio.

Shade or Shadow?

2008-05-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

When I teach color theory, I always explain to the students, that in art there is an important difference between shade and shadow.
When light falls on an object, it illuminates the side that is facing the light. The other sides of the object, which are not pointing towards the source of this light, are in shade.
The object will, in turn, cast a shadow onto the surface which is underneath or behind it.
The change between an area in light and an area in shade can be soft and gradual if the object is rounded (like the forehead), or abrupt if it has corners or pronounced plane changes (like the violin).
Cast shadows have sharp edges close to the object that casts the shadow (like the cast shadow of the bow on the violinist´s arm) and softer edges the farther away from the light source the shadow gets (like in the case of the cast shadow of the arm and violin on the red curtain).
The handling of the brush strokes, using soft and hard edges, has to be according to that principle in order to give a realistic impression.

Black Clay

2008-05-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

One more from my Ethnic Series.
There is a village in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, which is famous for the production of black pottery. Its name is San Bartolo Coyotepéc. Contrary to what people might believe, the clay is no different from any other, it is the process which produces the black color: The pieces are fired very slowly and at low temperatures, in a kiln which is completely devoid of oxygen. After firing, the surface of each object is burnished - rubbed with a quartz stone until shiny. Most of the pots have rounded bottoms, and are to be displayed on a wreath of wicker. They look very attractive, but you can´t use them with water because the firing at low temperature does not make them impermeable.

Ethnic Series 2

2008-05-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Another painting in the ethnic series.
Women carry more than their fair share of the burden in Mexico and many other developing countries of the world. I don´t want to jump on the feminist band wagon here, but it is worth mentioning. Mexico´s culture is still a male dominated one, especially noticeable in rural areas.
Women who have many children, few modern inventions to make life easier, and little in the way of income, necessarily have a hard life in a place where it is seen as weakness for a man to help at home.
This young woman is preparing tortillas. She has the corn dough or "masa" sitting in front of her on the "metate", a volcanic stone. Next to her is the hot "comal", on which she bakes the tortillas, turning them twice in the process while the man in her life stands in the background, hands in his pockets.

Ethnic Series

2008-04-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

I am working on a series of ethnic Mexican scenes for a possible exhibition in my native Austria a year from now. Europeans seem to be very interested in the folklore of this country.
Due to its diversity in indigenous cultures, Mexico is extremely rich in native crafts and folk art: textiles, pottery, basket weaving, masks, jewelery, embroidery, wood carvings, rugs, hand painted decorative items, hammocks, toys, mouth blown glass - you name it, they have it.
This woman is a Huichol Indian. The Huicholes traditionally live in the Sierra Madre Occidental, where the States of Durango, Zacatecas, Nayarit and Jalisco meet. They were the only indigenous tribes that were not defeated by the Spaniards during the conquest and they continued to live in relative isolation until very recently. In the last ten years, more and more Huichol people have come to the cities to offer their beautiful and very popular yarn paintings, jewelery and other decorative items, which they cover with intricate designs in colorful beads. Their work has been shown in museums in the United States and other countries and they are now internationally famous.

Resisting Kitsch - Or Not

2008-04-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

I have stayed away from sunsets for the first twenty years as a painter, in order to avoid kitsch.
This one is my second ever and the first one I like. I think it works, probably because I simplified a lot, which is always a good idea. Or maybe it is because I just finished it!
I had been painting the whole day today, first blocking in a portrait for a commission I have been putting off, then finishing a seascape, also commissioned and finally, even though I was tired, I felt like doing something fast and fresh before quitting. I had a lot of color on my palette and a previously stretched 15"x15" linen ready to go. A couple of years ago I had painted at this location but resisted the sunset. Now the photograph of it was exactly what I was looking for.

Rodin on Portrait Painting

2008-04-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

My husband keeps telling me, I should paint more portraits, he feels they are my best work. I don´t know if they are, what I do know is, that I feel happier painting outdoor scenes.
Portraits are a triple challenge because, besides getting the features exactly in the right place (likeness), and having to penetrate deeply into the consciousness of others (character), you have to please the subject of your painting.
I love what Rodin said, and I quote again from the book I mentioned a few posts ago:
"But the greatest difficulties for the artist who models a bust or who paints a portrait do not come from the work which he executes. They come from the client for whom he works."
A few lines below he continues:
"It is very seldom that a man sees himself as he is, and even if he knows himself, he does not wish the artist to present him as he is."
To that I might add another aspect: People know their faces mostly from their mirror image, not the way others see them. Since no one´s face is totally symmetrical, their real appearance looks a little wrong to them.
I have done portraits of married couples and it did not surprise me that he liked hers very much and she was very pleased with his. Their own likenesses, they thought, were a bit off.
I am glad that, in the case of Teresa´s portrait, both husband and wife were happy.

Plein Air painting

2008-04-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

I made this little PA painting from one of the terraces at the Villa Amor resort in Sayulita, Mexico.
It was a particularly sparkling day, the sun was hot and high, and after years of visiting that beach, I knew the light was special and I had to capture it quickly before it changed.
I have a series of 8x10 s of Sayulita beaches hanging at home, painted in all kinds of light and weather. Makes me want to go back!

Skin

2008-04-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

Painting skin is fascinating.
I was lucky enough to have my eyes opened by the great Spanish painter and teacher Sebastian Capella, who carried forward the legacy of Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida. Sorolla brought skin alive through the use of color.
Like any other surface, skin can have many colors, depending on the quality of the primary light source (warm sun, cool stage light, etc.) and whether there is any reflected light bouncing off nearby colorful objects.
We are used to seeing color in everything, but when asked to reproduce what we see, the left side of our brain tells us a different story: Certain things are supposed to be a certain color. Skies are blue and skin is skin color, for example. Not for me, thank goodness.

Handmade Amate Paper

2008-04-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

I made the drawing of this horse on a handmade mexican paper, called "papel amate".
Since prehispanic times, the indigenous people of Mexico used to make paper out of a variety of natural fibers. Papel amate can be made from the bark of several types of ficus trees: The macerated bark is placed on a wooden board and beaten repeatedly with a volcanic stone until the fiber releases a sticky substance which holds the resulting pulp together. It is pounded flat and arranged into the shape of sheets, which have uneven edges. Then it is air dried.
The paper has a beautiful, irregular surface and the color can be from very light beige to dark brown.
In the Mexican states of Puebla, Guerrero and Morelos, this paper is used for either monochrome or very colorful, naive paintings, depicting traditional events like weddings, harvests, rodeos etc..

Abstraction vs. Realism

2008-04-17T06:54:00.001-07:00

There is no right or wrong in art. Both representational and non representational art can be good or bad. Good art, at least for me, is one which creates a response in the viewer which is similar to the artists own initial impression or intent in relation to the subject matter.
Even though I paint representationally, I am always using a certain degree of abstraction. Nature is three dimensional and my canvas has only two dimensions, so, by definition, I need to abstract. How much I want to stick to what I see or how far I want to simplify is up to me and they way I feel that day. Sometimes I enjoy playing around with both abstraction and figure in a painting. It is just a matter of shapes and colors put together in a harmonious way.

Music and Visual Arts

2008-04-16T10:36:00.001-07:00

I believe music and visual arts have a lot in common and many artistic people have a sensibility for both.
I went to high school in Vienna, Austria, and I still regret the fact, that at a certain age we had to choose between art education and music. I chose visual arts, but would have loved to continue with classes about music as well.
Both art forms can express moods and atmosphere so well, both can evoke emotions in the audience (as can language, I guess, but I never got much into writing).
Recently, when I started teaching a course in color theory, I found myself using a lot of comparisons and referring to technical parallels between the two.
Both art and music benefit from contrast between economy and variety, rhythm and calm, a strong statement and an element of surprise. Accents make the work come alive but the general layout of the composition is more important than the detail.
In any case, I feel it is best not to say it all, but to leave a little room for the pleasure of interpretation.

Children in Portraiture

2008-04-15T20:18:00.003-07:00

A few years ago I was commissioned to paint the portraits of two sisters. Children won´t hold still for you, so I worked from a family snapshot for one and a studio photograph for the other. I knew the kids quite well, as they lived across the street from me. Otherwise I would have had to ask for a whole bunch of photographs to get to know them better - I do the same when I have to paint a portrait of an adult whom I don´t know well and who cannot sit for me.
And being familiar with their personality was very helpful.
The older sister, the blond girl, was very outgoing and full of spunk, her little sister rather sweet and shy. Their mother left the choice of backgrounds up to me and was quite happy with the prickly cacti in back the older and the soft meadow behind the younger child.

Trends in Art

2008-04-14T09:26:00.001-07:00

Art is not exempt from fashion.
Every time has its preferences and trends and, most people, with few exceptions, follow them.
The last century has seen its share of abstract or non representational art, some of it exceptional, some of it bad, some hardly art at all, but as long as it is in fashion, everything goes.
Now it looks like realism begins to have a comeback.
Recently, work which is shocking, offensive, violent, or which otherwise causes raised eyebrows is being favored by the critics.
Novelty at all cost - but is it art?
I choose to paint representationally, because I feel attracted to the (often hidden) beauty nature has to offer. There is plenty of tragedy and ugliness in the daily news, I don´t need to contribute to that. Besides, I am convinced that it is within the human condition to crave beauty.

Rodin on Drawing

2008-04-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

I have a model and a bunch of artists over to may studio every Friday.
We put on some classical music, turn on the spotlight and set the timer to 1 minute. Everyone works with frenzied speed and concentration to capture these quick poses as best he or she can. Next are 2 minute and 5 minute poses, like the one in this example.
More than a warm up, they bring out the best in us. Not only do the models strike more interesting poses than when they have to hold it for 10 or 15 minutes, but the artist has no time for, what Rodin called "..the inexpressive minutiae of execution and false nobility of gesture which please the ignorant."
Quick drawing does not give you time to be afraid of mistakes or to worry about style. And that is good. The purpose is not to create masterpieces but to practice; to grow as an artist and to keep in shape. Says Rodin: "Craft is only a means, but the artist who neglects it will never attain his end, ............. in short, no sudden inspiration can replace the long toil which is indispensable to give the eye a true knowledge of form and of proportion and to render the hand obedient to the commands of feeling."
I feel so lucky that my profession as a painter allows me to enjoy every minute of this "long toil"! Well, almost every minute, with the exception of washing my brushes...............

Rodin on Beauty

2008-04-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

Santa Teresita is a - well, how should I say it politely - pretty ugly part of Guadalajara. But that does not mean that beauty cannot be found there.
I had been invited to participate in a water color show and, even though I am an oil painter, I accepted.
My aim was to stay away as far as possible from the artificially sweetened, the pretty, from what´s commonly perceived as beautiful. I looked around for a subject that the other participants would not consider worthy. I found it in the tangle of telephone cables and electrical wires strung between the roofless houses of this part of town.
And I could not help remembering a passage I read in a wonderful book, called "On Art and Artists", published by Philosophical Library, New York, which is a summary of interviews given by the great Auguste Rodin, in which he says - and I quote: "..... In short, Beauty is everywhere. It is not she that is lacking to our eye, but our eyes which fail to perceive her. Beauty is character and expression." In another chapter he offers this: "There is nothing ugly in art except that which is without character,....... And that which is considered ugly in nature often presents more character than that which is termed beautiful......"
I recommend this book to everyone who does creative work.

Distance

2008-04-10T12:22:00.001-07:00

Painting in a realistic, or impressionistic way is nothing more than interpreting what the eye sees and what the mind perceives in one´s own, personal way, creating a two dimensional illusion of a three dimensional reality on paper or canvas.
The illusion of distance or depth of
field can be achieved in a variety of ways: Objects become smaller, contours less sharp, and color and its temperature change too.
Atmosphere acts like a series of veils which "hang" between the foreground and what can be seen far away. The farther the distance, the thicker the accumulated layers of veils. Shapes behind these atmospheric layers will therefore look less defined and cooler in color than what´s up close.

Purple

2008-04-09T14:36:00.001-07:00

The modern aniline violet was discovered by accident in the XIXth century. A British student who was working on a remedy against malaria, tried to produce a synthetic substitute for quinine. He invented a beautiful purple instead.

In México, in the area around Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast, purple was made for centuries from an excretion of the púrpura, a sea snail. When squeezed, the animal produces a liquid which can be used to dye thread. The curious thing is that the thread first turns white, then changes its color to green, followed by yellow before it finally becomes purple.
A similar mollusk from the Mediterranean was used in the Middle East to produce another shade of violet. The difference was that its excretion had to be mixed with urine and lime in order to fix the color.

Green

2008-04-06T10:18:00.005-07:00

In past centuries, artists had all kinds of difficulties with green pigments. First, none of them were permanent, second, most were either weak or toxic. Of course, greens could, and always can be made by mixing blue and yellow, but there were also other sources in nature:

In ancient China, a greenish earth was used to make porcelain, but it was very pale in color. Malachite was ground to obtain a beautiful tone of green, but it could not be ground finely, or it would loose its color. Suspending copper over a bath of vinegar would produce a patina of another green, however it was corrosive and short lived.

In the late XVIIIth century, Scheele, a swedish chemist, experimented with arsenic, when he accidentally produced a wonderful, but highly poisonous green. He knew about the toxicity, but was advised not to disclose it, as not to jeopardize the potential economic success. It became known as Scheele-Green and was indeed immediately very well received by society. Textiles, carpets and wall papers in green became the latest must have in fashion.
By the way, Napoleon, who was exiled in Santa Helena and lived in a room decorated with Scheele-Green wallpaper, died in 1821. It was later determined, that his body was preserved like a mommy because he died of arsenic poisoning.

Yellow

2008-04-06T09:40:00.001-07:00

Before synthetic colors were invented, yellow pigments came from the strangest and most diverse sources: Concentrated cow urine, ox gall, minerals, tree resins and saffron, among others.
Yellow is a primary color, as is red and blue, and when mixing it with the latter, green is obtained.
The hue of any color, when mixed with yellow, becomes warmer in temperature.

Red

2008-04-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Red pigments have an interesting history.
Up to the XIIIth century few people knew that the most beautiful reds were made from an insect which lives primarily on the nopal cactus in America and in the bark of a tree in Asia. The fact that the intense crimson red, used for cloth as well as for paint, was obtained by squishing thousands of bugs, was kept a secret for obvious reasons - it was not very appetizing. The name crimson, carmesí in Spanish, Karmesinrot in German and carmine in English, has its roots in the persian word "kermes"- the name for the bug.
The facts about another ancient source of red are not much better, at least not for the health of those who produced it: Vermillion was made by mixing mercury and sulfur, both highly toxic.
As was Lead- or Minium red: It was obtained by heating toxic lead white.
Apart from their repulsive or toxic ingredients, none of these reds were permanent.
What a relief that today´s artists don´t have to deal with any of that!

Blue

2008-04-02T19:59:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I finished this harbor scene.
While I was painting it, I remember thinking what a pleasure it was, being able to mix these precious blues, not having to worry where the pigment came from nor how much of it I could use.
A few centuries ago artists were dependent upon shipments of Lapizlázuli from Afghanistan, or Cobalt from Iran. If they could afford them. Lapizlázuli was rather expensive especially if you wanted the really deep tone. Cobalt, which is found in the presence of arsenic, had the disadvantage of being poisonous. The third option for old masters was a blue found in copper mines: azurite. It was less expensive, but also less permanent and less beautiful.
By the way, today´s most basic tube color "Ultramarine Blue" got its name from the fact that the pigment had to be brought from "beyond the sea" (ultra mare), not from the comparison with the deep blue color of the ocean.

Oaxaca, La Calenda

2008-04-01T21:54:00.001-07:00

On the Saturdays preceding the Guelaguetza dance festivals (see my blog from March 30), a procession of all delegations walks through the streets of Oaxaca, everyone in their colorful costumes and with musicians playing tunes from their region.
At the head of the procession, known as the "Calenda", are two drummers, dressed in white. Long before the start of the event people line the sides of the road to get a good view and a chance for a good photograph.

Fog at Trinidad Bay

2008-03-31T21:48:00.001-07:00

Light and shadow are normally my best tools when I am painting. But on this trip to northern California I was hoping for something else: fog.
My daughters were studying in Arcata, at Humboldt University at the time and they had told me that on most days it was either raining or foggy. Well, it looked like it would not be either during my visit. However, as the last day approached, I had my wish granted. My painting buddy and I set out for Trinidad beach early in the morning and put on all the clothes we had - it was cold, the ocean agitated and the fog thick. After hiking north along the beach, looking for the ideal spot, visibility started getting better and we set up our easels and painted two pictures each.
I worked with a very limited palette, just white, cad yellow pale, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and green. It´s the ideal set up for traveling, less bulk, light and really all you need.

Mexico: La Guelaguetza

2008-03-30T09:53:00.001-07:00

Twice every year, in July, Oaxaca presents it´s internationally famous dance festival, La Guelaguetza, part of the "Lunes del Cerro" (Mondays of the Hill) festivities.
Guelaguetza is a Zapotec word, meaning "to participate and cooperate at the same time". It is a gift that demands reciprocity.
Ethnic groups from all seven regions of the State of Oaxaca gather in the capital to make their offerings to the city. Performers of each group, dressed in their gala outfits, present a regional dance to the rhythm of their music. At the end they offer their "guelaguetza" of products typical of their region, to the public.

This painting is from my series of ethnic Mexican scenes, it shows dancers from the region of Pochutla, performing at the Guelaguetza.

Georgia O´Keefe´s Mountains

2008-03-29T09:49:00.001-07:00

What an interesting, inspiring landscape Georgia O´Keefe chose to paint! The mountains in Ghost Ranch and near Santa Fe offer a feast for the eye, both in color and in shapes. No wonder that so many artists settle down in New Mexico.
During a trip with like minded artists I did a series of plein air paintings in the area and I can´t wait to go back and paint there again.

Reclining nude, pen and art marker

2008-03-28T19:59:00.001-07:00

The human form might well be the most timeless subject in art. Like many artists before me, I enjoy drawing the nude model as I would enjoy drawing a tree in winter - the beauty of its shape apparent and unobstructed. Every angle revealing another line, another plane, another shape.

Painting in Maruata

2008-03-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

There is nothing that compares to the feeling of creating a drawing or painting.
A fleeting moment becomes permanently saved the way the artist perceived it, capturing the light, the mood of the scene as well as the reaction of the artist to the subject matter.
I painted this picture standing in the hot sun of the Mexcian Pacific coast at one of Michoacan´s most beautiful beaches, Maruata, and I was looking inland towards the small lagoon. While painting, I listened to the water that comes in regular intervals through the nearby blow hole and my feet were periodically cooled by it.

Standing Nude, charcoal

2008-03-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Figure drawing is the best exercise for the painter. The human body offers an inexhaustible variety of form, lines and shapes. I enjoy working from the live model, with poses ranging from one minute to 15 minutes in length. Most of the time I use charcoal or pen and art marker.