What is your gut telling you?

"I like what I like.  I can't tell you why, I just do."  That was my Dad's oft repeated saying about Art.  He was a huge fan of Norman Rockwell and one of his favorite books was a book of Poetry illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.  Dad liked a 3d painting of mountains and a lodge in Japan, it was given to him as a present from an inn keeper in Japan and was always up in the house.   The styles could not have been any more different but he liked them all the same.

I do find that the different mediums I work with all inform one another.  For instance, I find working in pen and ink makes me think further about composition and design as the medium is so direct and unforgiving.  I know that I've barely scratched the surface of Pen and Ink.

I enjoy studying the many moods of the ocean.  The power of the waves.  The color and the shapes in the rock and in the surf, the reflections of the sun and moon, the mist, sea fog and foam, and , the movement of the waves create constantly shifting and new fascinations to me.  This is all purely the visual and doesn't even take into account the impact of the sounds and smells of the ocean.

The same composition of rocks and beach or a cove could literally be painted daily or throughout the day and every painting would be different.   Claude Monet studied the effects of light on subjects in series such as haystacks, Rouen Cathederal, Houses of Parliament and more.  The same subject in different light and atmospheric conditions held his interest (not to mention ours for more than a century) because the challenges presented and, therefore the subjects themselves were, in fact, different.  Sometimes subtle differences, sometimes dramatic differences.  

I remember reading a note from Winslow Homer describing one of his paintings to the dealer, describing in great detail the lighting effect of the clouds being 15 minutes before sunset and how different the lighting would be 15 minutes after sunset.  It's not something that the casual observer would even notice, but master artists such as Homer and Monet could never be described as casual observers of the world around them.

It's interesting to note that even people with little to no interest in art can, if they are familiar with the subject matter, can "tell" if a realistic picture "rings true" with their expereience.  They may not be able to describe what is right or wrong with a picture but their "gut" will let them know if something "isn't quite right." 

Acrylic

Acrylic is my second choice for on location painting.  It dries incredibly quickly - which can create some challenges but it allows for many of the same properties I mentioned about watercolor.  The primary advantage I find in acrylics is that areas can be quickly painted over and it can also show brushstrokes which can add greatly to the feeling of movement within a painting.

Pen and Ink - Breakers Two

I'm not sure what started me on this particular exploration of pen and ink but I do find it quite enjoyable.  I work in a variety of media: Watercolor, Charcoal, Acrylic, Oil, Pencil, and most recently Gouache, and Mixed Media experiments.  I'll write more about the differnt media in subsequent posts.

Charcoal 

Charcoal is probably the medium I enjoy working with the most.  I love its flexibility and the acutal feel of working with Charcoal.  It's a medium that can be worked with very rapidly and can create both fluid compositions as well as highly detailed drawings with very wide ranging tonal values.  Charcoal can also be layered and built up over time should one choose to do so.

Watercolor

Watercolor is another medium I enjoy very much.  It's my first choice for painting on location.  I find watercolor is able to capture so many of the effects found in nature very quickly - which is especially important as the light is constantly changing.  I also believe watercolor to be far more flexible than the common public perception.  While its true that its important to plan your lightest lights and darkest darks - beyond that I find it to be a very maliable medim.  I personally prefer transparent watercolor and "untouched" watercolors done in one session - but thats simply a personal preference.

Oil Painting

As of this writing, I've only done a couple of oil paintings on location.  I find it challenging to store the wet paintings while on the move.  I haven't really taken the time to explore what exists for this beyond the paintbox itself nor have I taken the time to try to invent something due to the ease of working with watercolor.  I enjoy working with Oil Paint in the studio, but have done little of it so far.  I currently use water soluble oils as I don't really have a ventilation set up for oils.

Show Me - Oil over Acrylic Base

24" by 36"

Gouache 

I've just begun working with gouache so I have very little experience to comment on.  I've just begun experimenting with this medium, having experimented with working gouache over charcoal drawing and to add a few highlights to abandoned watercolors.  I think there certainly are possibilities.

Gouache over Charcoal - New Hampshire Memories

12" x 18"

Mixed Media -Experiment -  Abandoning worry about what "could happen" is incredibly freeing.  I had a charcoal sketch that I'd set aside long ago.  Never quite satisfied with it.  I decided to experiment by  putting watercolor over the drawing.  Below is the result.

Mixed Media - 12" x 18"

This process helped me work out different compositions.  Although the "look" is different I ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

So much for waiting

Well I said I'd set this aside, and I did for less than 24 hours.  This represents a few finishing touches which I think improve the overall composition and painting.  The wildflowers on the middle ground actually reflect what was on location (albeit on a hill that would have been out of view to the right referencing this paper).

Here is a side by side view.

 To the right was the original pass at the subject.  It appears darker here for some reason.





Below is the updated version with a few touch ups in the sky, mid ground, and foreground.

Onto the next painting.

Lisbon Farm in Summer #2

Acrylic on Canvas Board 18" x 24"

This is my latest painting.  I am going to set it aside for now - I'm probably done with it, but I want to get some distance from it before making a final decision.  

I work in watercolor, oil, and acrylic in addition to charcoal.  In most cases, I don't decide on what medium to paint with prior to discovering a subject.  In this case, I decided to paint an acrylic before choosing a subject.   I hadn't painted an acrylic or a larger subject in quite awhile.  I decided to pursue another interpretation of my last on location painting.

I also wanted to experiment again with a toned canvas again.  The few times I've done this in the past, it definitely helped create a stronger sense of color harmony and tied the pictures together. 

In the past I've tried ochre's or sienna's.  In this case I decided to utilize ultramarine blue as a base tone.  As I was covering the canvas, I added more intensity to the ultramarine toward the bottom of the canvas to try to add a sense of weight and substance to the foreground and a sense of space and atmosphere to the sky.

Acrylics dry so quickly that I was able to start working on the subject without delay.  Below is a photo of the first few passes at the background of the painting.

Exploring Harpswell

I spent Friday morning exploring Harpswell and South Harpswell.

My first stop was at the driveway entrance to the former home and studio of Stephen Etnier.
The land is no longer in family hands , the house and studio are long gone (which is another story all together).  However, the area surrounding the grounds of the studio is striking.  Farmland, spruce forests, wild ponds, and working houses of lobster and fishermen with boats large and small, for working and for pleasure.  The road was serpentine and very narrow.  That, and the fact that I was an uninvited guest, I didn't stay long.

Here is a photograph of "Old Cove" house and studio from the dock (uncredited - StevenEtnier.com)  I could understand why Steven Etnier chose this place to build his home and studio.  I must admit that I imagined seeing his good friend Andrew Wyeth visiting captivated by the endless subjects to paint at every turn.

My second stop was a subtly marked parking area (a Maine tradition) alongside a cove.  There was a picnic table and access to the water a short walk across the street.  It was a low tide with small waves lapping against a beach of tiny rocks - nothing like the cliffs pictured above.  Maine and New England are filled with these unadvertised hidden gems.  They are well worth the effort to find. 

From the parking lot, there was an easy hike, just over a mile, through a spruce forest to another cove with a similar pebbled beach with one large difference.   It was largely covered by snails that hadn't burrowed into the sand yet.  The walk reminded me of childhood days.  Walking along the towpath through the pine forests along the remnants of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal near my childhood home in Westbrook.

Large pines with thick roots snaking across the ground.  Evidence of the wind surrounds you murmuring through the pines.  You can see the treetops swaying, the patterns of light shifting silently on the ground, the creaks and pops of pines swaying in the wind,  yet the air remains very still inside thick stands of pine.  There were numerous deadfalls, trees toppled by the wind, caught by their neighbors before they reached the ground.  Those trees still standing had many gnarled dead branches - unable to reach the shafts of sunlight soon enough to support life -  create abstract patterns on the rust colored floor, low ferns, branches and tree trunks.

This Pen and Ink is an impression of the entrance to the forest path as well as some of the interesting scenery on the way to the beach. 

Summertime Opening Night - River Arts

Robert Kahler landscape paintings

5 mins · 

Lisbon Farm, Watercolor This painting was accepted into the Juried exibition "Summertime" at River Arts Gallery in Damriscotta Maine. The opening of the show is tomorrow evening. It's going to be a busy night... Art Show then back to Lisbon for the Moxie Festival Fireworks!!

https://robertkahlerlandscapepaintings.blogspot.com/2018/06/lisbon-farm-charcoal.html

Inspiration in the studio - Bill Maudlin

Bill Maudlin 1921-2003

Long before I ever had an interest in drawing and painting, other than the normal interest that most children seem to have, my grandmother gave me a present of "The Brass Ring" by Bill Maudlin (1921-2003).  It was in 1972 - I was seven years old.  Far too young to read and understand the book - but I loved the cartoons and "read" the book again and again over the years.  I have no idea what possessed my Nana to get this book for me - but I'm so glad that she did!

Although I also had no sense of the horrors of war nor any of the amazement that someone involved in combat could express the feelings and emotions of the "average" "Willie and Joe ( combat infantry)" through cartoons.  However,  I did have an appreciation for his sense of humor even then.    These are a couple of my favorite.  I've had a number of cars like the jeep on the right below.

I've not read any other of Bill Mauldin's books, but will certainly do so, nor have I studied his cartoons from an artistic sense - at least not consciously.  Non the less, he's been an inspiration to me.  The Brass Ring is one of the most worn books in my collection - and I rarely read a book more than once.  This book covers Bill Maudlin's early years in Arizona through the end of WW II.

I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in World War Two and in the arts.

One of his most famous cartoons was of Lincoln mourning the assassination of John F. Kennedy

Artists in Studio - Charles LaSalle

I find artist studios fascinating (not that I've been too many in person).  I was looking through some photos of Charlie La Salle at work in his studio in Scottsdale AZ @ 1958 and I found my eye eventually drawn away from the large oil Charlie was working on to the tantalizing glimpses of other paintings and artifacts that Charlie had around his studio.  I wondered about the stories behind each of them.  One of the pictures is below along with a painting by Charlie of his neighbor and one of his closest friends in Arizona - Larry "speed" Richardson.

I also wonder how (or if) an artist's studio reflects the artist, their personality, their working methods.  I think the artists studio must be a reflection of the artist - whether consciously or not.

I then took a quick look around my studio and noticed some of the items that I had around me for inspiration - ranging from mementos from family, close loved ones, as well as professional artists, some of whom took some of their incredibly valuable time to meet and to encourage me on my journey as well as a few I knew only through some of their books and artwork.  The artists that I'll be posting about in the near future include the nationally and internationally known artists:  Charles LaSalle, Robert George Harris, John Stobart, Bill Maudlin, Aiden Lassell Ripley, and Walt Disney.

I'll also be sharing more about those artists that I've been lucky enough to know and love in person and who have enriched my life immeasurably including Aiden LaSalle, Ed LaSalle, Cathy Kahler, and my wife Julie.

Charles LaSalle (Lassell) 1894-1958 - Scottsdale AZ - 1958

Charles LaSalle - A portrait of his neighbor and friend - Speed Richardson

Prints of this were published by Arizona Highways in the 1970's

According to newspaper articles from the 40's as well as interviews with Charlies surviving friends and co-workers his studio was always neat and well organized.  Without a doubt, some of this was necessary for him to be able to juggle the responsibilities of meeting multiple deadlines for illustration work - as he was one of the top contributors to many national magazines (Saturday Evening Post, Liberty, Colliers and many more)  from the 1920's through the 1950's as well as for national advertising accounts for Ford, General Electric, United Airlines and more.  If he'd been disorganized in this sense, despite his clear talent, he would not have been able to meet the necessary deadlines and this would have undoubtedly reduced the high demand for his work.

Some artists prefer to work alone and go to great lengths not to be disturbed. Charlie was not one of those artists.  Charlie moved to New York and shared a studio in the Beaux Art Studio with his life long friend and fellow illustrator Harold Anderson. While this may have started out as a cost saving strategy, the two later shared a studio in Westport Connecticut when they were both highly successful and nationally known.   Socializing was a huge part of the illustration business, but for Charlie it was very much part of his personality.  Gregarious seems to be understatement when used to describe Charlie and his fascination with people and life in general.  He enjoyed company in his studio, friends and family were always welcome.  Jazz music was likely to be playing.  His studio was filled with props related to the subjects he was painting and he would talk while working.  He would also go out of his way to help younger artists get started in the business or with any challenges they were facing with their artwork as he had been helped in his early days by the likes of N.C. Wyeth and Harvey Dunn. Charlie worked in oils, casein, gouache, charcoal, and watercolor.

Charlie moved to Scottsdale Arizona in the early 50's for health reasons and his work focused on his life long passion for the West.   He'd suffered a heart attack and he'd hoped the move would grant him another ten years with his wife and daughters.  Sadly, that was not to be the case.  Charlie suffered a second heart attack while he was painting in his studio in December of 1958.  He was conscious and alert when the ambulance arrived, but he passed away before reaching the hospital.

Charlie died seven years before I was born, but he has been and continues to be an inspiration to me.  More about that at another time.