31 Paintings in 31 Days NAMI Fundraiser

My New Studio

It's official, Sky Ranch Studio is open.  We had a party in September to celebrate its completion and I started teaching classes there in October.  This has been crazy wonderful year!

Up until October, I had two studios.  One I used as a show studio in Sebastopol.  It was a room I rented for eleven years and it was in a beautiful Victorian home almost in the center of Sebastopol. I had done so because my other studio was a working one on my families ranch.  It was a partial basement with cinder block walls and old cabinets.  There were amazing views outside but no wall space to display .

Then in January I was given a gift or as I like to call it, "I won the studio lottery".  My father offered to turn the shop next to my home into a new studio.  He is a Studebaker man with an large car collection. The shop housed up to 9 cars at that time.

And then it happened.  Over the next seven months the once bat filled Studebaker shop transformed into a fabulous studio with gallery rooms.

I have always been a joyful person and feel blessed and sometimes even a little guilty that such an amazing place like that is mine.  Why "Sky Ranch Studio"?  When I was three, my mother and father purchased this piece of land from my grandparents and built a cabin on it.  My grandfather named it "Sky Ranch"

               

31 Paintings in 31 Days

 On New Years day I committed myself to painting a painting a day from life for 31 days. This was a challenge that I had always wanted to try but had never gotten myself to do.  Then a fellow artist and Strada Easel designer set up a challenge where we checked in every day on Facebook. I was game.

This challenge was one amazing adventure as January turned out to be a stormy month full of flooding and falling trees. To make it more complicated, I house/dog sat for three of the weeks in addition to my teaching painting classes several days a week.

Armed with bullheaded stubbornness, I persevered through the month of January. Sometimes I painted in the rain or icy cold wind while other nights I would burn the midnight oil after teaching all day.

This experience was very validating.  I rediscovered why I first became a plein air painter and fell in love with it.  I found that in extreme conditions, I am still able to paint a decent painting and it forced me out of my comfort zone.  I explored areas I would have never done so without this challenge and made new friends who were also participating.

Below is the accumulation of those 31 days.

From Here to There

In my studio I have hundreds of photo references.  My photos are not precious, they are a leaping off point.  They give me a a light and shadow pattern and remind me why I was excited about that subject matter that day I snapped the shot.  In fact, I am always a little disappointed with the photo reference because so many values get flattened through the process of development.

When getting ready for a composition from a photo, my first thoughts are about elimination of unnecessary subjects.  I ask myself what drew me to this image and do a mental exercise of removing objects to see if it is stronger or weaker. I love negative spaces around objects and look at them as their own windows into smaller scenes.

If my composition includes vertical lines such as telephone poles, fences and in this case awning support, I look at ways to push or pull their angles to create interest. When laying out the composition, I look for bad tangents where objects meet at awkward points and I am careful not to unconsciously line up objects in rows. Originally I painted the tree trunk centered directly over the bike.

Composition always takes the most time.  Even when I am painting on location under the gun of changing light, if my composition is off, I will erase the whole thing and start over.  This lets me keep my paintings fresh in color since I am not later trying to paint over mistakes resulting in mud.

How to Make a Paint Out Successful

Just returned from a glorious week of nonstop painting in Mendocino.  This was my second year to participate in MOPO (Mendocino Open Paint Out). A few people have asked why I do paint outs.   For me, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. It is adventure every time I pack my trunk full of paint supplies and set out.

A typical paint out begins weeks ahead. Applications are do months in advance.  Deciding on frame sizes and canvases, ordering supplies online, canceling classes I teach and working out housing are all part of the preparation.

I always plan to arrive two days early so that I have one full day to scout out painting locations.  Then I make a plan.  My paintings are large for plein air so the small windows of changing light time means I arrange to return to the same location at least twice. After running around frantically the first day taking a hundred pictures, I allow myself some relaxed time to sort them out and crop on my phone to sizes of canvases and decide on a strategy.

My strategy is usually divided up the day into three painting locations.   A morning painting, an afternoon and an evening. In Mendocino I only had one evening painting.  That beautiful glowing light had such a short window that it took extra visits to finish.

                                "Main Street" oil 16" x 20"

Every time I do a paint out I come away with memories of very special moments. One of my favorites from this last visit was after finishing up my Russian Gulch bridge was meeting a couple of wayward travelers. We sat in the parking lot watching the amazing sunset and swapping stories.  One of the travelers had driven up in a classic old red and white VW van.  He was on a journey traveling with his great great niece retracing his wild 1960s days.  While the other traveler, was on a abalone mission, traveling up the coast from Santa Barbara.

                          
                                                                                           "Tranquility" oil 15" x 30"

                                                            

There are also so many special moments, painting plein air offers.  There are those magical moments when light shifts and more beauty is revealed. Then there is that whole immersion experience where while painting you are experiencing most of your senses and trying to infuse them into the feeling of the painting. Even with all the wind, bugs on my canvas, challenging weather conditions,  painting plein air is amazing and well worth it.

    "Weller House Tower" oil 15" x 30"

                                "Safe Harbor" oil 24" x 24"

"Swan Song"  oil 8" x 10"                                       

Helpful Hint- When taking pictures always take multiple angles from multiple sides. Both my 

"Main Street" painting and the above Packard were unexpected compositions decided on from my      

  photo references later. When first discovering them, I thought I knew which angles and sides I wanted, but since I always make myself shoot extra images on all sides I later discovered stronger                   compositions from other angles.

  

Helpful Hints- Always give yourself plenty of time from framing and cleaning up edges on the day the paintings are due. I am always surprised at how much time this takes and will usually make a point of not painting on location the last day.

Breakthrough

Recently I had a breakthrough with my portrait painting. What the catalyst was I have no idea but there was a turning point about three weeks ago.  And because I have kept the weekly succession of portraits, it was clear a barrier had been broken. They suddenly went from flat to intricate and full of form.  The only explanation I could come up with was consistency. Every week I paint a portrait from a model for fun. There are weeks when I am tired, rushed or plain lazy and I think I would rather skip a session.  But I know that once I am there I will fall into a beautiful trance of painting. That consistency has allowed me to hone my ability to get the structure faster and give me time to explore pushing colors and edges.

This was painted at a local cafe with dim light I find I push colors much more. Still wet so sorry for the glare.






Below was a painting I almost did not do but was happy I stuck it out. I was fun playing with abstract brush work on the blouse and I was challenged by the black lipstick.

 Above I was experimenting with painting over old landscapes.





To the left was one that I seem to have a breakthrough with form and found myself able to work on smaller details. This was from last week.

This was an older but interesting one. It was painted in almost no light.

The face is a landscape full of intricate beauty and the subtle shadows of unexpected color.  Wendy Brayton

Transitions

This painting was created from several photos that I snapped of a young family on a train ride in Santa Cruz.  It was their hats that first drew my attention followed by that lovely negative space between the mother's gaze and son's. It went through numerous transitions as I first included the solid diagonal bench behind and dark wooded background.  It evolved to a park bench with sunshine and foliage.  I love working from images and also love using them as a jumping off point. At the end I made a slide show showing the stages and below is my Youtube link for video.

Three Rules for a Strong Composition

I am rather a straightforward painter. I do not use fancy equipment or expensive brushes and have a limited palette.  One of my painting strengths, has been to create strong exciting compositions.  So these are some of my Sunday musings on that subject.

1. Always have a wide assortment of sizes and shapes of canvases.
You should never compromise an inspired view to be compressed onto the wrong sized surface.  There was a reason that the image spoke to you and your job is to translate that inspiration.  Different sizes of canvases tell different stories.  Small are intimate, large expansive, long can be flowing.

Last fall, I did several camping scenes.  In one I used a vertical 12" x 24".  This allowed me to capture a slice showing the sweeping height of the trees and also the details of the campers below.

2. Do not be afraid to eliminate the unnecessary!
Recently my father said to me has he was impressed how I was able to streamline complicated scenes and take out the unnecessary.  I had to stop a moment and think about this because it had become such a natural part of my painting process.

In this step, go back to what inspired you to paint the scene then look at all the subjects throughout the scene and decide if they strengthen the view or take away from it.  That telephone pole is not always necessary!

3. Do not be afraid to move and rearrange subject matter you are painting.
 One of my all time favorite artists, Wayne Thiebaud, is wonderful at pushing angles and edges.  His San Francisco cityscapes tilt the streets into unfathomable inclines and boy are they exciting!

In many paintings there are rhythms to be found and odd tangents to eliminate. Too rhythmic can become stagnant and bad tangents can lead a viewer's gaze the wrong direction. An example of a bad rhythm could be a fence line, removing a few posts or tilting a couple can create some nice tension or open up areas for the eye to travel through.

An example of a bad tangent can be when two objects touch at their corners and draws the viewer's attention to that vertex. An example could be a corner of a sign touching the corner of a roof line.

Then there is the fun part of pushing reality be it in color or perspective. That hill might just need to swoop a little higher or that car might need more extreme foreshortening. "The world is but a canvas to our imagination" as Henry David Thoreau so beautifully put. It is your unique vision you are sharing and the image or scene is just a jumping off point.

                                                                                              

Holiday Art Sale

Getting ready for my second annual art sale.  This year several of my artist friends are joining me at my Sebastopol Art Studio. Great art and there is something for everybody! 

En Plein Air Again

After grad school, which I spent the majority of my time painting late nights in my studio, I found myself struggling with getting myself outside painting.  Plein air painting was what originally made me want to be a painter. It was the adventure of not knowing what I was going to paint and all the discoveries that came from the exploration of new territories. It made me see light and color with "new" eyes.

Then there was that exhilaration of racing time and capturing a moment. Those paintings, unlike my studio ones, bring me right back to that day's experience where almost all my senses are engaged.  Happy to report that I am plein air painting once again with a small group of painting buddies. The above was painted last month in Tomales.

An Amazing two Months, Got my Mojo Back

The last two months flew by following a turbulent year, and I am happy to report I found my groove again. This fall, I recommitted to trying some plein air competitions.  It has been awhile.  Grad school followed by a job change along with family and jc classes, I was overwhelmed. So I started slow, and entered a Mendocino one and Capitola.
 They were wonderful!  I got to explore the west cost North and South and met to really kind and generous people.  Plus I got paint ten hour days!
 Here are a few paintings from the events.

Catch Up from September

The 2015 Great Petaluma Paint Out was a success.  We had over thirty amazing artists turn out and create some beautiful artwork around Petaluma.  Thank you to all the businesses that contributed including: the Three Twins Ice Cream, Aqus Cafe, Dempsey's, Powell's Sweet Shoppe, RileyStreet Art Supply, and Basin Street Properties.

The Great Petaluma Paint Out is Coming

With only ten days left, I spent the morning making cold calls for extra prizes for the artists. Looking forward to seeing Petaluma inspired art on Saturday September 26th.   Even if you do not paint, come join the celebration of art at the 3:00 at the Theater District Courtyard.  You can vote on your favorite painting then dance the evening away to the French Gypsy Funk placyed by the awesome Brothers Gadjo of Djiin.

Get ready to paint the town.  Artists are invited to come sign up for this one day painting event "The Great Petaluma Paint Out".  Artists of all levels and mediums paint around the downtown turning basin then gather in the theater district courtyard for prizes, live music and hors d'oeuvres. Those interested in participating please email me at braytonart@yahoo.com.

Seeing Green

 During my final review for my masters one of the people on the review panel said they did not like the color green in one of my paintings.  I remember feeling offended but later when I went home and thought about his response and then spent time checking out his artwork, I realized that he lived in San Francisco and his paintings were a reflection of the colors of his world not mine.
   Sonoma County dazzles in its winter cloak of emerald green sprinkled with golden mustard flowers and then mixed with the rich aroma of damp earth. For me, this world of spectacular greens is the most inspiring time of the year to paint. I actually wait with anticipation, each year, for the first rains to wash over our brown hills.  Then like magic, that green velvet returns and its beauty is breathtaking!

Holiday Open Studio

Every Year, I have wanted to have a Holiday Open Studio but was never able to pull it off until this year. Another personal goal, was to start some way of connecting my art to those who give support to the mentally ill. As many artists do, I have been juggling multiple jobs and for the past eight plus years having been a grade school art teacher, teaching adults in my studio along with being an artist.  At my Holiday Open Studio, I am raffling a cow painting with the proceeds going to NAMI. This past month, I even managed to create my first calendars, created new cards and am working on prints. I even have next years date set and am working on concepts how to expand my raffle to include more prizes. Hope to see you there!

My Sunday Tapestry

  Life is an amazing journey. Recently I heard it described as a "tapestry" with all those wonderful moments woven in with the tragic ones. For me, this struck a chord. I have known for awhile that it is the sorrowful moments that let one appreciate joy and visa versa.  I sit this Sunday morning writing to you, surrounded by my three dogs in our office that was once my childhood bedroom. Today is a good day with the most amazing sunrise this morning and unbelievable views from our livingroom picture window.  I am thankful.

  My becoming an artist was a decision that arrived later in life.  Married with three children, a family member became ill. Ill not in a way most people would assume.  It is an illness that is not acknowledged enough or understood.  We sure did not understand it and went many years searching and learning.  The illness I am talking about is mental illness. It is painful, scary and unpredictable.

    During that period we discovered NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which provided vital information and support to our family.  I have always wanted to thank NAMI and this year decided to raffle a painting with all proceeds going towards them.

  Today is a good day.  The family member who is ill at is also doing well and we are thankful. And it was from that dark period that I emerged as an artist.   When everything was unraveling and I had hit rock bottom, it was time for a change.   Taking inventory of my life, I realized that the most joyful moments came from creating art and I was in place where I needed that joy for balance.   The above painting is titled "Joy" and raffled proceeds are going to NAMI.

Last Weekend of Sonoma County Art Trails