From my Notebooks: Complete, or Almost

Sometimes it isn't easy to decide just when a picture is complete.  The season changes, or the Muse goes a new way and you come across pictures you had forgotten you never finished.  But there are other works that are "complete" in the first few strokes and you just know this canvas will cooperate say what you mean.  In August I sent out a drawing called “Study for Pillars” in one of my newsletters.  You might recognize it. Today I am showing you the finished painting “Pillars.”  At least I am almost sure it is finished.  It was completed down by Flat Creek here in Black Mountain. I thought I would share it with you today, so you could see part of my process. 

.       





.       

This weekend I attended a workshop at the Penland School of Crafts for Professional Development.  The Workshop was lead by Creative Capital, a non-profit organization started in New York in 2001 after the NEA stopped giving individual grants to artists.  It was started as an experiment in funding that grew into an organization that is creating community for working artists and providing excellent business tools for artists in an area they are traditionally weak.  The workshop at Penland was underwritten and the artists who participated were only responsible for the cost of their food during this weekend intensive.  We spent time talking about several different topics: Strategic Planning, Promoting our Work, and Funding our work.  There were 23 artists who participated: blacksmiths, ceramic artists, installation artist, painters, sculptors, quilters, and glass artists. 

I am still processing so much of what I learned but I've begun the Strategic Planning Process for my work.  I am currently in the process of writing down short and long term goals.  So many things are clearer! I plan to make slight adjustments in my trajectory which will lead to different outcomes with my work in years to come.    I plan to launch a national campaign to find partnerships with new galleries and private and corporate dealers who will build value in the work I have already completed and provide support for new works to come. 
Above Image: Pouzilhac, France Oil on Linen 16x31 © Rebecca  N King

From my Notebooks: ON TREES

Trees are infinitely varied in their texture, species, proportions, and moods.  There are different schools of thought when it comes to handling trees in the landscape.  Modern painters sometimes have a tendency to paint trees that are flimsy in comparison to their predecessors.  In their search for the dappling light and shimmer of life in the leaves they forget to appreciate the massive solidity of the oak tree in contrast to the wispy transience of the river birch or the willow.   There is a careful line to walk in painting trees.  They must have all of their gigantic, silent, full grown glory and yet all the pulsing life of cyclical growth that they see day in and day out season after season bare against the wind and elements.   It is not such an easy thing to capture; trees are soft and pliable out at the tips where they flutter and flip their leaves in the wind, and yet hard and rough in their boughs and trunk. There are many different things to say about one tree, let alone a hillside of them.  Painting here in Western North Carolina, trees are very often the chief subject.  Even if you set up to paint the mountain you must deal somehow with the tree masses that live on them and that likely crowd your easel.  When I went to the Highlands of Scotland to paint, I was visually shocked by the absence of trees on the jagged crags and hillocks. Having grown so accustomed to their presence here I was at a loss with out them. What a sign of how the English so used up the country! And isn't it interesting that people from the lowlands of the Carolinas and surrounding states flock to the Mountains for the peace and quiet of living on these forested hills.

Thank God for all of Nature, and today especially for trees!  Thanks for reading and sharing these ideas with anyone you like.  If this inspires any new ideas on Nature and Trees in your mind please let me know what you are thinking.  


 

 











ODE TO REMBRANDT'S ETCHINGS....

I don't do etchings yet, but some of my recent pen and ink drawings may eventually nudge me in that direction.  Pen and Ink doesn't have the exact same quality as etching, but it is a great place to start for experimentation, working out ideas, and working to capture the essence of a subject.   Ink drawings can go a long way toward enlightening the artist about tree forms and values that might otherwise be overlooked when working solely in color.  Ink drawings also tend to have their own charm and mystery quite unlike other kinds of drawing in that the artist is limited in the number of ways to explain what he is seeing.  Hatching, crosshatching, subtle whispering lines, and staccato marks all do their part to say what is needed. 

REFLECTIONS...

 Water is one of the most illusive and mysterious elements in outdoor painting.  It is interesting to consider how the water in the air changes the way we see everything.  On a misty summer morning many trees that are familiar to us may seem larger, farther away or strangely foreboding. But on a cool fall morning, all the water may be less hanging in the air and more in the streams and clouds, and everything is illuminated to a crisp.  Water in mass is particularly challenging, and yet it is perfect at giving trees that might be less interesting without it a peculiar dignity and voluminous mass.  When you start to consider the unifying element of water in a landscape you begin to gain an even greater appreciation for how Nature works.  The clouds hover over the waters of the earth and through their cycling all life lives in between.  So when painting a copse of tree hanging over a pond, it is not merely the copse you are aiming for but to share a minute glimpse of the whole thing.  That particular tree over that particular pond tells many tales.  To see more paintings with water check out some newly added paintings in the Western North Carolina file on my website www.rebeccanking.com.  Go to "Paintings and Drawings" and "Western North Carolina" to see more.