Michael Chesley Johnson - Afternoon Delight

"Cobscook Bay Afternoon" 5x7, pastel

Now and then, when you find the stress of painting too much, you need to go visit a friend. Take your painting gear, so you can paint while you chat. There's nothing like it! While the verbal half of the mind is engaged, the artistic half can have a field day. I went out to visit my friends who were camping at Cobscook Bay, where I set up in the shade with a cool breeze and a folding chair to sit in. I chose pastel rather than oil because there's just a lot less fuss with pastel. All that, plus a glass of wine - what a perfect afternoon!

Michael Chesley Johnson
www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com - http://mchesleyjohnson.blogspot.com

Libby Caldwell - Angel

16" x 20", Oil on Panel, $550

The mood I wanted for this piece was simple, classic, and calm. I chose 2 colors: raw umber and french ultramarine, and kept the paint thin and quite brushy. No re-working of any areas as it was painted on a slightly absorbent ground, giving me the fresco effect I was looking for.

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Carol Marine - "Vibracolor Apples"

Carol Marine - "Vibracolor Apples" - 6x6in. - nfs

Recently I did an experiment with color where I put down random colors instead of the ones I saw. What I found is that as long as I kept the values accurate, I could make the colors whatever I wanted! This is something I had been wanting to try for a quite a while but something in me just couldn't let go of "reality".

Michael Chesley Johnson - Late Summer Hues

As we get closer to the end of summer, the color of things change. Reds begin to show in the deciduous trees, and yellows begin to show in the grasses. On Campobello Island, where I live in the Canadian Maritimes, the marsh grasses have already started to change. A decidedly yellow cast has appeared, but still some subtle greens show. Here's a little sketch I did in oil yesterday to capture this transistional time. If you click to enlarge and then look at the grasses below the large tree shapes on the left, you'll see what I mean.

"Late Summer Grasses" 5x7, oil/panel

Michael Chesley Johnson MPAC PSA PSNM

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Libby Caldwell - Edge of the Garden

Oil on Canvas, 18" x 24"
As this painting evolved I painted out areas of background and foreground accentuating the figure. I wouldn't usually eliminate distance in a painting, but in this case I used the dark area as a sharp contrast against the sunlit flowers.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Painting Fog

On foggy days, what subject is best? Well, you certainly don't want to try painting a broad vista! When we have fog, I look for something colorful, like a boat or building, or a close-up view of the natural landscape. Even on the foggiest days, the world right at your feet often features a great deal of warm, exciting color.

Yesterday, we had persistent fog, so I took the workshop out to Herring Cove, where I knew there'd be some good color in the grasses. I did these two small paintings, playing with the composition but keeping the same palette for each.

Michael Chesley Johnson - www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

Betsey Nelson-The Look Back

Betsey Nelson-The Look Back 10x8 oil on canvas $475
Sometimes simple subject matter makes the best paintings. The less said in the painting and the better said is important.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Sketching in the Field

Most of us don't sketch as much as we should. In a recent newsletter, Canadian artist Robert Genn remarked that he doesn't sketch anymore. (Read it here.) I, too, rarely find time to sketch. Time is so taken up with painting and the business of painting. But when I teach outdoor workshops, I always have my sketchbook with me. Partly, it's for doing thumbnail sketches in preparation for painting. But when the workshop is small, I often have time between visiting students at their easels to do a little drawing, too. I also find it useful to illustrate concepts for individual students when they're having some difficulty.

Above is one page from my sketchbook.

After a Dusty Rain

Oil on canvas 18x24

This is from a spot on the South Rim where I found myself in the rain after a day of painting. I ended up waiting and waiting to see if the sun was going to make that one last appearance where it shoots a beam of light up the canyon from under the clouds. Just long enough in this case to get a couple photos to interprete.

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Michael Chesley Johnson - Color Studies from Photos

Most of you know how I dislike to paint from photos. However, when I'm forced to do so because of the weather, I like to use a little trick to spice up the color.

Below is a grid of four small color pastel studies I did based on a photo. (These images are from an exercise I did with a student yesterday; you can click on the image to see it larger.) The top left photo (#1) shows a sketch that I did in full-color directly from the photo. This is how most of us, I suspect, paint from photos. I tried to analyze the color as best I could. It was OK, but the color is a bit ho-hum.

In order to find a process that would make the color more exciting, I stepped back a bit to basics. First, in #2, I did a simple value sketch in four values. Next, in #3, I analyzed my value sketch and selected cool colors for the two dark values and warm colors for the two light values. I purposely selected colors that I didn't see in the photo. Finally, in #4, I made a copy of #3 and then used the colors I did see (the "local color") to layer over these. In my mind, #4 has richer, more interesting color than what is happening in the cut-and-dried #1.

To be sure, this is a gimmick - but sometimes coffee and rock-and-roll just aren't enough to liven up a rainy studio day!

Morning Greys

Oil on canvas 12x16 $250

I'm exploring more greys and earth tones lately and feeling good about the atmospherics. This started as a plein air study and was taken further back in the studio.

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Betsey Nelson - Parade Day

Betsey Nelson - Parade Day 10x8 $400

This a piece where the thought was more on color and flow than on subject.
Design should be the end all be all in painting.

Carol Marine - "Good Times Roll"

Carol Marine - "Good Times Roll" - 6x6in. - sold

This is the sort of thing I did when I first started painting small still life studies. Before I started buying panels, I was cutting up small peices of pre-primed canvas and taping them to a larger peice of plywood. I threw most of them away. I think that's a great, cheap way to paint when you're starting out and/or just want to experiment without feeling the weight of expensive materials and the fear of failure that comes along with it.

Michael Chesley Johnson - More Boats

"The Lucy B" 12x16, oil/canvas

Rainy weather drives us outdoor painters into the studio. When I'm in the studio, I sometimes find working from a single photo to be a dull exercise. I like to liven things up a bit by combining photos. Here are two photos I used for "The Lucy B," above. Can you spot the two elements I pulled from each?

Betsey Nelson - End Of The Day

Betsey Nelson-End Of The Day 7x5 $230
After a day of doing larger paintings it is nice to just quickly do a nice fluid small painting.
The thing is to keep it simple but strong.