1/100 and a "Sonnet for the Red Onion"

1 "Sonnet for the Red Onion", 8x8 oil painting on board, ©Laura Gable

Have you ever tried to find a small red onion? The grocery store didn't offer me any the day of my search, so this giant about 6 inches in diameter was chosen. I like the mild flavor, especially in Greek alads. But also a treat is to capture one in oil paint. The background was giving me fits and I was not happy with the harsh straight lines that delineate the flat from the upright planes. Ah so a perfect solution was found - to obliterate these planes altogether. Using these bright colors at full capacity with a few areas softened with the addition of white, it became a playful story for a studied still life.

And more about the 100 piece personal challenge in a few posts to come.

100 in 100 explained

What is the 100 in 100 Challenge? 
A self-challenge I adopted on August 2nd to create 100 paintings in 100 days. Ideally that would mean doing a painting a day, though I do allow myself a few exceptions. Most of the painting is done on 8x8 or 12x12 Ampersand gessoboards. The purpose of this challenge is to create a more definite habit of creating art. The end of the challenge coincides with my annual Open Studio on November 10th and 11th. These paintings will be displayed together then and will be for sale in my studio. So please won't you make it a point to come by and visit to see these little gems up close and personal. I would love to show you around.

Comments are welcomed here on this blog!

The Tri City Artists Open Studio Tour, in it's 9th year, is featuring 16 artists in 15 studios. A driving tour about the greater Tri-Cities region with an opportunity to peek into the artist's secret lair, living room, or studio. Some artists rent studio space but most of the studios are home studios, making this a once a year opportunity to visit some of them. Admission is free. See you soon.

Sketch for "Well Worn"

Sketch for "Well Worn" ©Laura Gable

It's always fun to go back through the sketchbooks and see where the planning happened for a current painting ... even if it was over 2 years ago. :-) Now if only the effort could be more consistent. Not all the sketches end up as paintings ... and conversely, not all the paintings start out with sketches. (See the earlier post for Well Worn.)

Randomosity

"Randomosity" acrylic inks on 6x6 clayboard, © Laura Gable, SOLD

Ampersand has a wonderful product called Claybord. It is a very smooth surface and very absorbent. It feels a bit like a smooth venetian plaster, though I don't believe it contains any marble.

Color was important after I'd been working a while with the black inked scratchboards. So tinting the clayboard seemed just the ticket. The FW acrylic inks were the perfect surface treatment. Once dried, the inked surface was scratched a bit. Acrylic ink was added more opaquely in the top layers, then lifted in places as they started to dry. I was happy with the color results. The blues have such a comforting sky-like color. Often when I add blue to a painting, it's like breath has been added to the piece. The painting somehow can breath. In plein air painting, we say that it has an airy quality.

I enjoyed the movement and flow of this piece. In the midst of all the movement there's the underlying framework which adds balance. Like our overcommitted lives, perhaps? Eat healthy and take care of yourself in order to take on the day and all the firehose of information that comes into our lives.

 Enjoy!

"Well Worn"

"Well Worn" 6x6" oil painting on board, ©Laura Gable

When I visited my folks in Nebraska recently, I was taken with their simple, ordinary ways which makes them who they are. I've always liked the way my Dad sets aside his old boots in this same little spot in the bathroom next to his sink. Inside there's a pair of his white socks all rolled up and tucked away. Everything's together and ready for the next wearing. 

I recall my Grandpa wore similar boots back in the 60's. I'm sure he tucked them away in the same manner as my Dad does. In almost every memory of him, he was wearing these big boots. He shuffled when he walked, and had a heavy step. You could always hear him coming and with a booming voice as he entered the room.

So for today, a melancholy small painting to share, and a sweet reminiscence of these two great men.

Scratch Board Art

5x7" Scratch board Art: "Stately" with acrylic ink (SOLD); "Visionary";

"Rooted in Possibility" with acrylic ink (SOLD); "Breaking Open"

Scratch board is an amazing product from Ampersand, available at many art supplies stores. I get mine locally at Hobby Lobby when they are in stock, or order them online at Dick Blick or Daniel Smith. Ampersand also has a nice website, detailing some of their paintable surface products. http://www.ampersand.com

It is a clay coated Masonite board covered with a thin layer of black India ink. The white clay is revealed with even the slightest scratching on the surface. Kits with a variety of tools and inks are also available, but my tool of choice is a carpenter's awl shaped like a pencil. (Which surprisingly and accidentally made it through airport security in my purse one time). It has a nice weight and fits into my hand well. I found it at the hardware store. The ones with the fat bulb like tops are difficult for me to hold, as they are unevenly weighted.

Once you decide on a design, it is drawn onto the board with white colored pencil or regular pencil, or if feeling adventurous -- just start scratching without a guide. Graphite paper can also be used to transfer the image. It is very forgiving, especially if you use a light touch and don't dig too far down into the clay material. 

For the coloring, I purchased the FW Acrylic Inks at Daniel Smith. He sells sets with various colors. The iridescent colors are very nice and add that glittery touch without being too overbearing and shiny. Just a light coating is perfect, and most of the color goes where the black has been scratched away. Sometimes many layers of scratch followed by ink are necessary to achieve the look. Final coating is with an acrylic varnish. I like to mix the gloss and matte together to create a satin like shine. 

Hope you enjoy these fun little images. Photographing them can be challenging, but I will post a few more that I did using watercolor and gouache.

Nested Home

"Nested Home" oil painting on 6x6 canvas. SOLD

The holidays of Summer take us back to our roots where we have built a nest made up of our heritage, our families, and our friend-families. And a celebration of our Nation's independence is fitting.... of course shared with these loved ones. Enjoy your celebration.

This little painting was done on a black gessoed canvas. The "bice" blue was added for the background. It's a slightly greyed blue that denotes our lovely magnificent skies. Sometimes depending on the overcast quality of the sky, it can be greyed even more using a smattering of cadmium orange. Quite versatile, it can also be lightened with white or brightened with other blues for sunnier days.

The little egg rests alone in this colorful nest, and so the question arises as to where the other eggs might be. Rare it is for a bird to lay only one egg. We currently have a robin's nest on our back pergola--full of 4 active and healthy hatchlings. Their little heads now poke up beyond the perimeter and their necks seem made of elastic when the parents arrive with meals of wiggly worms. Every 10 minutes or so they feed, and continue through most of the day. Seeing how much they consume, it's no wonder they grow so quickly. It's usually only 2 weeks once born that they depart the nest. 

Peek

"Peek", oil painting on 6x6 short cradled panel, ©Laura Gable

Who lurks behind the mask,

the visage glowing beyond

the bright ember of ones existence.

Inquisitive and pondering, 

our essence lives on.

A recent portrait study didn't go so well. The mini-portrait, though containing all the elements of the photographed face, just didn't hold a likeness. That can be a challenge when working commissions... certainly. I admit I've not had many portrait commissions and did I mention they are challenging. The family I worked with was very delightful though, and they were the best of clients. I'll post the finished pieces later.

Rather than waste a painting that went "bad" I slapped a few more strokes of color on and around, saving the favorite part of the original design ... this one good eye. And now, quite accidentally I see a face-like image grow out of these abstract strokes. The lower right resembles a grotesque nose, perhaps? H-m-m maybe this is how Picasso arrived at his fractured face series of paintings ???

UPDATE 2013: This painting has been modified and I will post an updated image soon.

Grape Fest

This sweet oil painting, sized 12x12 square on a cradled Masonite board, is currently on display at the newly opened Canoe Ridge Tasting Room. I have 6 paintings on display there. A couple of my artist friends also have art on display.

Perched high upon a ridge overlooking the Columbia River Gorge the tasting room feels a bit more like an art gallery with a wine service inside. Floor to ceiling windows grace one side of the room, casting glorious light onto the artwork hung on an interesting metal wave wall inside. Their official opening is July 1st, so won't you come out and see this lovely location? I hear the wine is quite good, also. They are a subsidiary of Chateau St Michelle winery.

"Grape Fest", 12"x12" oil painting on cradled masonite board, ©Laura Gable, .

Per Wine Press Northwest:
"For the first time since the 1990s, Washington's oldest winery will have a tasting room in Eastern Washington.

Chateau Ste. Michelle will open a tasting room at its Canoe Ridge Estate facility west of Paterson beginning Sunday. The facility - where all of Ste. Michelle's red wines are made - was built nearly 20 years ago but has never been open to the public. Beginning Sunday and going through Oct. 15, it will be opened from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

The tasting room is on Highway 14, just east of Crow Butte Park, about 15 minutes west of Columbia Crest.

Ste. Michelle used to have a tasting room in Grandview, but it closed in 1990.

This gives the state's largest wine producer six tasting rooms east of the Cascades. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates owns Columbia Crest (Paterson), Snoqualmie Vineyards (Prosser), Northstar (Walla Walla) and Spring Valley Vineyards (Walla Walla), and it co-owns Col Solare (Red Mountain) with Marchese Antinori of Italy."

Metamorphosis

She emerges eternal from the cocoon of the past, not knowing that she was fully bound by these constraints. Her glorious wings unfurl and a new found joy bursts forth as she rises above the turmoil of her past. The updrafts of wisdom and insight carry her to new and glorious heights she never knew were possible. Truth and clarity are her new companions.

"Metamorphosis" 12x24, oil on canvas

These insightful paintings are so much fun. Enjoying the painting process, and play of colors across the canvas - no rules, no firm preconceived direction. Just a focus on flow and movement. What experiences have you had with these sorts of "liminal" pieces of artwork you have created?

Artist in Repose

"Artist in Repose" a pastel drawing on black paper, 8x10

We have several opportunities here locally to draw figures. There are 2 artist groups that get together frequently, and the local gallery hosts nude figure sessions year-round, except summers. My favorite sessions are the rare opportunity to take the figure outside under the shade of the trees. The skin tones change dramatically. I've just sketched them, but am looking forward to an opportunity to paint these figures in oils soon.

This sketch was done inside, however, awhile back. Our model didn't show up, so one of the artists said she would pose for us. She had a migrane, so it actually was a bit of a respite for her. I know the nose isn't quite rendered correctly, but I do love the glow I got on her shadow side cheek and the reflected green on her chin. It has sort of a Degas quality.

One of my earliest teachers, Jan Kunz, taught me that the skin tones are cooler on the forehead and chin since there is less flesh over the bone. And so that would make the cheeks and nose warmer since they are more fleshy. Jan was an amazing teacher. She taught a group of 30 students here and juried one of the last exhibitions of the Eastern Washington Watercolor Society. I was recently contacted by her daughter who owns Creative Catalyst Productions, an art teaching video company. She shared that Jan is now celebrating her 90th birthday. What an amazing accomplishment for such an accomplished artist.

Backlit Lollipop Trees

"Backlit Lollipop Trees" ©Laura Gable, oil on 11x14 stretched linen

It's all experimenting, really. Isn't it? My friend who owns the antique store on the corner gave me this sweet little stretched linen "canvas" ... so again I did a bit of experimenting with the hazy subtle forest in the background and the glowing trunks with just that skiff of light on their edges. The foliage on the foreground trees ended up looking a bit Dr-Seussian and reminds me of those Lollipop trees we all painted in grade school.

The plein air artists who write these insightful art books ask us to return to painting these sorts of trees, or a version thereof. In an effort to get the eye back to seeing it as a mass of varying tones rather than just a bunch of leaves. If we were to paint all those little leaves, it would surely make the eyes cross. Though I admit in the past, I've been known to do so. Though I may have been a lot younger. ;-)

Spiritual Series

"Though I Walk in Fear"   -   "I am Led to the Still Waters"   -   "My Soul is Restored"
a triptycht for client on 8"x24" cradled gessobord, painted in oils. ©Laura Gable

I've just recently completed this series of paintings for a client. She wanted me to use the influences of Van Gogh and Monet in the art, and base themes and titles from the 23rd Psalm. The paintings are a progression of her life's path, and her spiritual devotion.

The first, is a fearful and troublesome painting. "Though I Walk in Fear" represents a time of being lost and alone, stumbling through the moonlight with foreboding shapes and deep valleys all around.

Realizing that we are never alone and finding some solace in life and seeing peace return, is the theme of the second painting, "I am Led to the Still Waters. We are led to this beautiful oasis where our soul can become nourished.

In the final piece, the peace and love we all seek has been found... at this point we realize, "My Soul is at Restored."  A restful and serene place, where one can see the beautiful sunset again.

It was a fun journey, and creating these pieces was a process in itself. When the final painting was completed, this sense of peace and restoration came to me as well. Knowing the "feeling" she wanted in each painting was a wonderful guiding force and allowed me to interject this into the brush strokes and then into the finished piece. So hopefully this comes across in the finished pieces of artwork.

Red Mountain

"Red Mountain Revelry" 6x6 oil on gessobord. ©Laura Gable

If you were to drive out Sunset Road on the far west end of the small village of West Richland, Washington, you would find a lovely array of angular fields filled with multiple rows of vines. Vines of all variety of grapes, who's distinction is difficult to see with the subtle green shades of the spring and summer. As cooler weather approaches, and the various leaves turn their lovely autumn shades, you can see vast fields of reds next to patches of varying shades of gold and ochre. It's quite a sight to behold. With the gently sloping protection of Red Mountain, this nestled area of vineyards and tasting rooms really is quite a magical and serene at any time of year.