Home Bio HartNews Archives & Writings Artist/Vacation Casitas Jan's Workshops Paintings & Prints Orders

Contact Jan

Jan's Adventure 
J a n   H a r t 's

HartNews©

Volume 08 Issue 2

 
S u m m e r , 2 0 0 8
 

   

Welcome to HartNews, Volume 08, Issue 2!


So...What is HartNews? HartNews is my attempt to write about life and watercolor from where I see it. As a teacher, I enjoy passing on some of the things I think about or do in watercolor. As a fellow human, I wish to pass on some of the things that inspire me - or make me laugh!. I've included you in this issue - you who are painters, friends, former guests and/or family - some of you without your expressed permission. So…please reply and ask to be removed from this mailing list if you'd rather not get HartNews editions - or just delete me! Originally, I intended to make HartNews a monthly event. Now, more realistically, I see it as a quarterly or bi-annual publication. If you have something you'd like add or say, just email me! and please feel free to pass this on to your friends... If you'd like to see the back issues - just check the Archives above - more demos, etc. - and don't forget to Bookmark this issue!
Pigment swatch - mix of Ultramarine Turquoise with Quinacridone Burnt Orange plus Quin. Gold  

 

For a great green, try a mix of Ultramarine Turquoise (Daniel Smith) and Quinacridone Burnt Orange (PO 48) or Burnt Sienna. You can push it toward the orange or toward the blue green - and mixing it on the paper works perfectly. Add in a bit of Quinacridone Gold and you have allowed the sun to warm the leaf tips! Just so you know - Ultramarine Turquoise is a convenience mix of Phthalo Green and Ultramarine Blue (PG 7, PB 29) & you can mix it yourself!

 

  

To Costa Rica

Last issue I told you that I purchased a little Tico house just north of San Isidro de El General in the southern inland area of Costa Rica. Son, Tim and I are heading there in a couple days to get a better look at the place, begin preparations to move and start the plans at that end. At this end I am having Studio Sales and sorting through a lifetime of belongings to lighten my load and life. And I will be leaving my wonderful home, hopefully in December. I need to sell Ranchito San Pedro to someone who will appreciate it.....or - I could consider renting it to the right person.

........

The lovely and simple Tico house I am purchasing overlooking San Isidro de El General

In the meantime, I will be completing all my scheduled workshops for 2008. Please take a look!

 

 

Jan's northern New Mexico home, studio and rental casitas

for sale or lease

 

  

In this Issue:

Please click where you'd like to go..

To Costa Rica

Costa Rica Workshop - January 30 -February 8, 2009

Artist Spotlight meet Laura Starrett

Workshop Report

Comment on Blue River

There's still space for 4 more painters!

Costa Rica Workshop

January 30 - February 8, 2009

There are 4 spaces left for a really wonderful workshop adventure in a most memorable place! You will have never seen or lived in a place like this! Sombra de la Lapa (Shade of the Macaw) is a placed created by two special artists on the Osa Penninsula that National Geographic Magazine terms "the most biologically intense place on the planet" In one 24 hour period I saw toucans, macaws, monkeys, butterflies galore and too many hummingbirds to count and the most beautiful flowers! Come with me to paint them. My son, Jonathan will be helping to teach using watercolor and pastel and artist, host Mike Cranford will contribute in acrylics! So - the medium isn't important! Your eyes and excitement are! Maximum number of participants = 12. $2495, 9 days, all demos, instruction, meals & transportation & some great adventures once you are in Costa Rica except 2 meals (1 at beginning & 1 at end). Price goes to $2550 after August 15.

and - take a look at our accommodations and the brand new treehouse in progress!

 

Here is the main house - so open that toucans have flown through!

   
   

Here is Mike & Rebecca's elegant, world class treehouse that is with but not attached to the 80 year old guanacaste tree! Imagine sleeping 40 ft up in a tree!

Click here to see the exciting building of the Treehouse on U-Tube.

 

The resident pair of Scarlet Macaws fly overhead.

 

 
 

Here, (upper right) one of the rooms is about to receive its roof. All the materials used are from the jungle - naturally downed trees, etc. Recently a troup of monkeys were watched playing in the top most room! Top left - Mike rescues a sleepy sloth that fell out of the tree into the back yard. He was returned to his home unhurt.....why does he look green? Mosses grow on this very slow creature.

   

 

 

    
   

Update - My book is up for an award!

The Watercolor Artist's Guide to Exceptional Color

Published by Walter Foster books, it is all about color and pigments - color schemes, color use by artists, color values, pigments, color relationships and the watercolor processes that allow the colors and pigments to work to their max in paintings.

 

 

The book is still selling well and now up for an award in the UK - Practical Art Book of the Year 2008. It doesn't look the same as the book shown on the left below and has a different title.

  • Encyclopaedia of Colour for Watercolour Artists

    Author: Jan Hart
    Publisher: Search Press
    Search Press writes: "This book is as informative as it is refreshing and original. The overall idea is that you should be able to build a balanced palette to suit a wide variety of subjects."

If you've read my book and like it, I'd love to have your vote! You can vote by clicking this link. www.acaward.com

I still sell signed copies from my studio - just send a check for $30 to the address below and I'll sign and ship to your mailing address.

P.O. Box 1849, Española, NM 87532

(You can get it a lot cheaper on Amazon.com - & there are even used ones! But they aren't signed.)

AND...it has been translated and published in French and Italian! I'm hoping for Spanish next.

 

A Favorite Quote

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.


::: Pablo Picasso :::

 

    
 

 

    

 

 

Artist Spotlight

    

On-Line Sale of Paintings continues. All proceeds will help me build a studio for workshops in Costa Rica....

There are a lot left - take a look! If you buy one from the collection below, take 30% off . Email me here

 

     

introducing

Laura Starrett

http://lauraswatercolors.blogspot.com/

Introducing friend and fellow artist, Laura Starrett who maintains a Blog that will both inspire and thrill you. She has been doing her blog since 2006 and I can guarantee that if you allow yourself some time to surf around in Laura's blog and those others she recommends, you will be amazed - and inspired! Laura's work is refreshing and so luscious! She catches the subject in the midst of a breeze!

Be inspired!

Laura, painting on a windy day in Chimayô.....

I am almost ready to start my own blog!

Almost.

 

    

 

Butterfly

 

  

 

Chinle

    
       

African Man

 

 

Raoul & Baby

   
     

 

 

The sale began March 15 and there are still many paintings left! Take a look! All proceeds now go toward my Costa Rica Teaching Studio

 

    
   

 

Workshop Report

 

So - how about a Demo....

Just at sunset the oranges and pinks in the sky washed the blue water lavender. It was so quiet. So still. A single bird stood on the shallow sandbar.

 

    

 

Lewes, Delaware

June, 2009

In June I taught and participated in a wonderfully intimate workshop of talented women in the Washington DC area. We were graciously hosted by participant Shelby Conley at her home and the home of a friend of hers - in Lewes, Delaware. We painted shells & sea coast & horseshoe crabs illuminated by the setting sun!

   

I decided to use only the three non-staining and transparent paints - Rose Madder Genuine (WN), Aureolin Yellow and Cobalt Blue and one brush - a 1" flat wash brush. Mixed together they create a translucent gray - but applied in layers, the create a deep glow known as "optical mixing".

1. I began with a wet into wet application of the yellows & pinks leaving the horizon line dry.

2. After drying completely, I deepened the sky with RMG nearest the horizon and some more RMG over the yellow. I then put a glazed layer of cobalt blue over the distant water. I like working in areas so I can take care.

3. Dry completely. I continued to paint AROUND the Sandbar that I wished to remain lightest. At this stage I paint "indications" - painted notations that I intend to come back to for finishing. I don't worry about ragged edges. The point is to get it on the paper. I'm now at ADOLESCENCE meaning I've painted all over but it has to grow up, I stand back to look at it.

4. Dry as usual. I feel I've lost some of the yellow in the water so I add it back in now. I also add yellow to the sky. Now for the finishing touches.

5. Dry as usual. Section by section I apply horizontal strokes of RMG or Cobalt Blue, depending upon what is needed. For the gentle wave crests I use pure Cobalt Blue. Now I can use a rigger for some detail in the waves, etc.

   
1 2
   

Here we are for one of our deliciously prepared gourmet lunches! (photo by Carol Schleicher, not shown)

 

        
      3   4    

 

Ranchito San Pedro, Española, NM

"On the Trail of O'Keeffe in northern New Mexico"

May 2008

 

      
5   6    
Son, Jonathan and I co-taught this Spring workshop! We had a terrific time traipsing through the landscape and haunts of Georgia O'Keeffe - searching for that special photo or place to paint! So much to see & do! And a energetic group that got more painting done than any of us could believe!
     
   

 

6. Some more details in the wet sand. I decide to make the sky darker on the right and apply some cobalt blue. Mistake. The blue looks more neutral than lavender as I'd hoped.

7. After it dries completely again, I apply clear water to the sky and lift off some of the dark with a clean paper towel. Now I am back to the warm sky shades again. A couple of tiny rocks in the foreground and its finished! The size of this demo? 7" x 10.5". One big thing to keep in mind - leave a bit of the underlying layer untouched when you glaze. It is wonderful to see the underlying colors play against the top.

   

The Chama River, viewed from the side of the road

  

7

"Sand Bar on Lewes Beach" . Jan Hart

 

 

on Glazing

Think of glazing as a single (1) very thin layer of wet transparent paint that you apply very carefully over a completely dry surface. A light touch is important - almost as if the paper has to pull the liquid paint off the edge of the brush. For best results, use a flat, soft brush - i.e. squirrel, etc. and don't go over the same place twice while it is still wet. If the glaze isn't strong enough, allow the area to dry completely (not cool to the back of your finger) and then re-glaze.

   
Blue River, Georgia O'Keeffe  

 

Comments on "Blue River" by Georgia O'Keeffe (left)

 

It is interesting to view the painting, "Blue River" by Georgia O'Keeffe and then to visit the place where she painted it. There is a pull off among the red rocks that overlooks the Chama River. One can see how Ms. O'Keeffe trimmed and stretched and simplified the cluttered landscape to design a graceful depiction of the moving, blue river below. First she elongated the view with an accentuated vertical format. Instead of covering the distant eroded red hillsides with the thousands of piñon trees that are present, she applied a graceful green to accent the sculpted erosion channels. Instead of the complicated distant purplish mountains, she placed a simple blue reference to their presence. Instead of the close up individual trees - the cottonwoods and the piñons - she referenced a few within a contextual carpet of green. Her focus was the river. While you are there you can almost see the whitewater at the turn of the river. O'Keeffe chose to elaborate, in shades of lavender blue, the flow of the river and she placed a partially visible sand bar near the bottom to help unify the painting. And last - instead of including the foremost trees and bushes near the viewing area, she simply ran the river off the paper. The painting is named "Blue River" after all.

So much that Georgia O'Keeffe can teach us through her works.
   

Jan's 2008 Workshops & a glimpse of 2009

 
 

Have you ever thought of relocating to northern New Mexico? This is an incredible place and I have a house & studio for sale...or possibly for rent!

 

Time to talk...

 

  

 

Here is what is available @ Ranchito San Pedro, Jan's place for 2008 .... For greater detail, go to Jan's Workshop page.

 

August 1,2,3,4. Color in the Landscape

September 26,27,28,29. Painting the Colors of Fall (5 spaces left)

October 10 -17. On the Trail of Georgia O'Keeffe in northern New Mexico

2008 Out of Town Workshops

August 25,26,27,28,29 White Rock, B.C.

Sept. 12,13,14 Flagstaff, Arizona

2009

January 30 - February 8 - 9 day painting workshop/adventure on the Osa Peninsula, @ Sombra de la Lapa, Costa Rica. Email me.

the rest of the year.....

I'll be looking for teaching opportunities in the states and will consider any offers. Email me if you have a watercolor group or association that would enjoy a 4 or 5 day workshop. I'll come!

 
  
           
   

 

What's Going on at Ranchito San Pedro?

     

 

Sadly we had to say good bye to Polly, our sweet kitty and friend. In the end it was too hard for her to eat and she let me know that it was time. She had been my father's kitty in Oregon and came to live with us in New Mexico after he died in 1999. Livvie, her dog caretaker, was exceptionally sad - but looks forward to another kitty someday.

The rest of us are doing well in spite of realtor visits, garage-studio sales and workshops on top of workshops.

I'm checking into how to move my 2 dogs and 4 parrots to Costa Rica. I cannot take my chickens and pigeons.

 

Here is Polly sitting quietly with Sage, who generally keeps an eye on everyone.