As a developing artist, I have immersed myself in the journey of painting this year. This year has been a particularly exciting journey of meeting and working with some of the best master artists in the United States today. Here in the Monterey Bay area of California, two world class events took place this fall (2011), Weekend with the Masters and the American Impressionist Society Conference.
In September, Weekend With The Masters was held in Monterey and such masters as Richard Schmid, Daniel Gerhartz, Rose Frantzen, Nancy Guzik, Quang Ho, Daniel Smith, and many more, (26 masters in all). For four days, each conducted demonstrations, held technical lectures and instructed small groups for the day. Hundreds of artists from around the country participated in both events.
In October, the American Impressionist Society held their annual conference in Carmel, CA. I volunteered one week of time (prior to the event) receiving, unboxing and hanging more than 250 exquisite entries for this prestigious event at the host gallery, Windsong Gallery, Carmel. Following my help I studied landscape painting for five days with Scott Christensen, a nationally known landscape artist. Under his guidance, we painted along the pristine coastlands of Carmel and Big Sur. While the locations were exhilarating, landscape painting can be very challenging with the continuously changing light and shifting weather conditions (such as dense fog breaking way to clear skies, then shifting wind gusts and spraying surf). What I know (and learned) is that the most fun is when I am one with nature placing color notes to convey the experience in all of these changing atmospheric conditions. It takes 100 paintings to develop a higher level of technical ability. In the months ahead, you will see each of the '100 Series' plein air paintings along the Monterey Bay. At the end you will see the progress from the first to the final paintings and read interesting technical insights on improving.
As my journey continues, I will post links to some of the best technical notes posted on the web today. I will also be sharing my successes and 'learning opportunities' as they are available. So stay tuned for a year in the life of a developing artist and all the challenges and opportunities along the way.
Happy Painting!
Susan Hogan Girard
