Her Thoughts – Page 26

Knowing when to stop

fhoffman October 17, 2014 Uncategorized

Tower Point - Stormy Morning Oil, 8" x 10" October, 2014 — Tower Point – Stormy Morning
Oil, 8″ x 10″
October, 2014

Life is getting more interesting!

My husband has been infected with my plein air painting bug. We both love making art and combining it with little road trips and being in the out-of-doors, watching weather go by… is heaven. What this means is that almost all we talk and think about is how, when and where we can paint! Never “why”. The “why” is obvious when you see the smile on our faces, hear the glee in our voices and notice that everything we own now has specs of oil paint on it! The car, my purse, the sheets! Even my nightie. Oh my.

I digress.

When I’ve done plein air watercolour painting in the past, I didn’t have to worry about knowing when to stop because watercolour is such an immediate medium. And I tend to lean to the simple. But with oil painting I am finding it difficult not to overwork a painting – or at least to let some of the early groundwork show through in the finished piece. I absolutely love those early stages of blocking in and figuring out the light and composition. Some of those early marks are most beautiful and loose. And I want to keep more of them.

Last time we went out (Tower Point – Stormy Morning), it was a blustery day, to say the least. We were forced to work very quickly, which lent itself to a few beautiful and intuitive marks and yet I pushed the painting too far when I took it back into the studio (rain and oil paint don’t make good bedfellows). I started out that day with a mantra of: Long, loose strokes, simple forms. Mantras keep me on track. So next time my mantra surely will be: Get it down and let it be.

To that end, I am incredibly inspired by two painters these days. Roos Schuring and Robert Lemler. I don’t even have to say why… click on those links and you will understand. IF, that is… you understand the beauty of knowing when to stop.

Where will we paint next?!

Practicing Practice

fhoffman September 29, 2014 Painting

I’ve managed to free up Mondays through the fall for making art. Today’s Monday began with a glowing pink and orange sunrise which made way for our standard fall showers. We need the rain and it is the perfect studio weather. I am learning how to paint again.

I’ve never focused on landscape painting this intensely before and am finding it quite a challenge. The confidence I have with other mediums and subject matter slips away and I find myself doubting this direction. However, I want to paint landscapes. Well. So I continue.

What I really want to do is to paint landscapes en plein air. But for now, for the fall, I practice in the studio, prepare and gather tools for launching myself outdoors and watch the environment around me with an eye for light, value and composition. Learning to paint is one thing. Developing a personal style is another. The studio wall will house the paintings which show some progression, so I don’t get too discouraged. I am determined.

First Love

fhoffman September 2, 2014 Uncategorized

After art school I had the pleasure of sharing a studio with a couple other graduates. We had an amazing loft space in pre-gentrification Gastown in Vancouver with high-ceilings, exposed brick walls, 24/7 access… ah, those were the days. I had plenty of free time to make art while working a job (versus a career) but with the limited income to match, of course. During that time I created a series of large-scale figurative oil paintings. Walking in to that space, smelling the oils and turps and knowing I could relax in to the time and art process was heavenly. The social and critical aspect of that time is something I miss.

Since then I haven’t really sunk myself into working with oils until now. These days I carve out chunks of my holiday time to focus on creating art (but I do have the income to match!). This summer I took a week to delve back into oils; choosing and setting up a limited palette, getting my small space organized for painting (vs. sculpting) and choosing imagery. I also spent time looking at the work of other artists for inspiration, including the amazing skill of Jim McVicker. He. Is. Amazing.

I’m not yet prepared to do oils en plein air, so studio work was in order. The other part of my holidays was filled with the joy of exploring Maui, therefore I had a lot of landscape images to choose from. The 4 pieces I created each show my progress to once again feeling comfortable with oils and sinking my teeth into landscape painting (see below). I am very excited about this direction and though I can be fickle with my mediums, I intend to stay with this for at least the fall. 🙂

While life and space and some of the smells have changed (mineral spirits vs. turps), the feeling, challenge and pleasure of working in oils has returned. I always receive useful feedback from my artist-husband Andrew, but I am going to figure out how to get away from work to join a local plein air group once a week to create some spontaneous pieces and have that social and critical aspect again. Until then, let’s paint!