Winter, 2003

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Winter, 2003

February 28, 2003

I was out in the park today and worked on the "Dancing Ladies" again. Sharon named them that last year and today a passerby said, "Oh, they look like they are dancing." I told her that's their name, "The Dancing Laidies." The reason for the deep blueness in the piece is that I wanted to convey the impression of the trees in the rain, dreaming of spring. If you take a close look you will see that there is a large blue shadow behind the trees. It looks a bit odd. The reason that happened in this first sketch is that the light changed while I was working. The sun is always moving and shadows are always changing. I put in the left background early on then got engrossed in the trees and the interlacing branches, by the time I got to the background behind the trees the sun had moved and everything was in shadow. I had to stop for the day and will pick up another day.

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March 1, 2003

I went back to the site and made only minor corrections in the shadow areas. Notice the deepm deep blue behind the trees now has highlights in the foliage. Working on site is a grand adventure in light and changing light. The angle of the sun is changing day by day and on any given day, minute by minute. The sun won't wait, and the light won't wait. To finish this piece I had to get back out into the park at about the same time of day within a few days of the beginning sketch. Painting the light is not something that can wait until the evening. The sun sets. Duh! It's a wonderful meditation in the idea of Present Moment, Wonderful Moment, and The Time is Right Now (not later).

I snapped a photo of the location at the start of painting and it's interesting to compare. You can see I took some liberties with color, making the shadows blue instead of black. I go back and forth between blue and purple in the shadow areas. Black is just too flat. When I do use black, I inevitably put purple on top of it so that it has a stronger impact.

A plein air problem and one of the reasons Van Gogh and the others worked at such a feaverish pace is that ay by day, the light is never the same, shadows change minute by minute. It's an amazing experience to be focused on painting a background and then move to the foreground and then when I go back to look into the background i will see a tree in rust gold highlights suddenly appear as the sun reveals it out of shadow. It feels like a revelation takes place and I am in a kind of alterred state anyway from concentrating and focusing and rendering. I get so excited some times and there is just no way I can actually put everything into a painting that I see. The pure joy of looking, seeing and experiencing the moving and changing light on a subject outside creates a feeling of intimate communion with a place and the natural spirit that exists around all growing things.

March 1, 2003 (cont.)

After doing the highight corrections in the first piece I started a second rendering. I didn't have much time because it was getting later in the day. You can see the extending dark blue shadow growoing behind the trees. I worked much more quickly on the piece and it does have a more Van Gogh look to it. I know Van Gogh worked at a feaverish pace. The speed of rendering may be what gave his work the quality it has.

The weather was very warm and sunny and people were out anticipating spring and just lounging on the new grass

March 11

The first blooms of the season

I took a hike down the hill on the 16th. The blossoms had not changed mch. But, oh, what I found! The gardeners have been busy and if you note the blue in the right bottom corner under the trees, that's supposed to be a lake and it's quite a steep incline down to it - they have put in cherry trees all the way down to the lake and there must be at least 30 new baby trees peppering the entire hillside. Nothing was in bloom down the hill. I must get back there next week and check the progress of the blossoms. The trees blossom for about two weeks and that's all. It's always a great anticipation in the spring time to catch them. Early blossoms are delicate. Full blossoms are incredible. Can you imagine, a 100 foot (atleast) hillside covered in cherry trees for a good 1/4 mile? That's what it's going to be. (Stay tuend!)