J a n H a r t 's
Volume 04, Issue 4
F a l l , 2004
Welcome to HartNews, Volume 04, Issue 4!
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 event. 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!
In Jan's Studio
Fall is filled with workshops and teaching....
- In Jan's Studio. Current works by Jan & others, etc
- Jan's Demo -painting a cottonwood in full autumn colors
- Quote of the Season by Edgar Degas
- Need a Website? Check this out!
- News with Jan & Carol and critters at the Ranchito and beyond
- On the Horizon - Upcoming Workshops with Jan- in and around New Mexico - and even Costa Rica!
- Letters from Española - -a reprint of one of my first letter back to the Northwest from Española, 1993. this one dated Nov 1, 1993. I'd been in Española for almost 2 months.
Ghost Ranch inspires those who come each Spring & Fall - like these series by Marian Shirin (above) and Ana Dynan (below)
Bigfork, Montana in October was wonderful and busy - with the juried National show to judge, the 4 day workshop to do and magnificent fall colors to see! Hello to all the wonderful folks in Montana!
and my Fall Ranchito San Pedro workshop - topping it all off. (See the demo below)
Quote of the Season
"Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things."
Edgar Degas
I so believe this to be true. I have experienced it as a painter and seen it in my students. Sometimes, during a workshop, everything goes silent for awhile as everyone is painting quietly. I love to look around the room and find those students who are lost in their processes. They are intent, sure, absorbed and not looking at their reference materials but following an unseen directive from within. Later, when we are in critique, I and everyone else can see the proof. The inner wisdom shows and often the student will express wonder and not be able to say much except "I got lost and I didn't know what i was doing." The wonder of the not knowing is that it happens not by being asked for, but by being allowed.
Painting A Cottonwood in Full Autumn Color....
This
This is my favorite tree! Every fall I drive out to see and experience its beauty. This fall I introduced it to my Fall workshop and classes in an effort to understand a way to paint its fullness, beauty and essence.
As usual, I began with a value/composition sketch in order to preview the process and improve composition. I included a value bar to help me understand the pathways of light and darks. I noted the direction of the sun light with an arrow, and named the painting according to my feelings about this tree.
"Fall Thunder" came to mind.....like the sound of the fall color explosion in the Española Valley!
#1
#1 I began by selecting my palette - and in this exercise, I asked my students to choose 6 pigments to use - 2 from each Pigment Type. I selected the following, for the reasons expressed....
- Staining Pigments.
- Carbazole Violet.(Daniel Smith)I selected this Daniel Smith pigment because it is very very dark, which I would need for the trunk, etc - and complementary to the yellows
- Green Gold, (Daniel Smith). Selected because of its rich color which would be analogous to the yellows I already had in mind. Also, its shooting capacities would be wonderful in the wet washes.
- Sedimentary/Opaque Pigments.
- Nickel Azo Yellow (Daniel Smith). This is a wonderfully intense yellow with shooting capabilities that moves other pigments and creates great textures in the washes.
- Venetian Red (Daniel Smith). I selected Venetian Red on a whim, needing another sedimentary warm tone and hoped it would prove interesting.
- Transparent, Non-Staining Pigments.
- Cobalt Blue. I selected this pigment for its glazing capabilities, which I knew I'd need in the shaded areas and for some cast shadows. Its pure transparency makes it the most used pigment in my palette.
- Cobalt Violet. I know. I probably should have chosen Rose Madder Genuine to back up the reddish warm tones - but I cannot resist this strange & wonderful pigment - which is transparent as well as causing sedimentation, creating unexpected textures
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And I begin with an underwash of Aureolin Yellow (I decided that it was an exception to the 6 pigments). After it is dry, I begin - with one thing fully in mind - I'm going to begin by painting around the lighted parts of the tree. Why? So I can preserve the lights and accentuate the contrasts. I use all 6 pigments - mixing and allowing them to move together in the wet washes. I'm careful to preserve the lights in the tree branches as well as the road. This is the place to experiment and find out about the pibments - what they do with each other in the washes. Play.
#2
#3
#4
#5
After a week or so of looking at it whenever I walked into my studio - and getting critiques from my students and colleagues, I tend to the places that bother me. Finishing requires a lot of looking a just a few strokes of well placed color notes and a touch of lifting. I often lift a passage that appears too hard edged - to delight the eye.
After i've played with wet washes and all the pigments, I decide to put in some darks - for a full value range. I subdue the intensity of the Carbazole Violet with a bit of Nickel Azo (complement) and paint in some of the darkest darks. I mix in just a little Venetian Red with the Cobalt blue in the foreground road shadows to pull them forward. And I make sure that my darks are not all in one place - but are situated around the painting to help tie it together.
to see Jonathan's entire site, go to http://www.jonathandowens.com/
A well-designed web site certainly helps open doors. A prospective buyer can see what you have; a Gallery Director can check on your latest works; your name gets better recognized; you gain both accessibility and professional status. I have personally benefited directly and unexpectedly from my web site. Here's the rub. How do you go about getting one?
My Web Site Story. Three years ago I began looking. I started by searching the Internet for other artists' web sites. What I found was disheartening. Very few artist sites looked good and worked well. Some were so busy, visually, I left in confusion. Others were "too cute" and didn't project the professionalism I wanted. And some had birds flying, flowers opening but took so long to open that my patience ran out. So...I called up a few web designers I found in the Yellow Pages. One told me the charge would be somewhere between $1500 and $2000. Another said that it'd be a lot cheaper but that it might be hard to change anything once it was done. And others never called back. Finally, I decided to build my own which amounted to 3 books, 6 months and many tears - but finally - a site that has worked, more or less for the past 3 years. From it I've sold a few paintings, booked my artist cabins and received a lot of compliments! And when someone asks me, "Do you have a web site?" - I can answer "Yes!"
Recently, my son Jonathan, who advised me on my site development, has begun to design web sites for artists. He began with his own, which you can see by clicking here.
Jonathan Owens' Qualifications.
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B.A. degree in Graphic Design from Cornish College of the Arts. As a graduate, Jonathan understands good visual design.
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Pastel Artist. As a working artist, Jonathan is very particular about the way visual art is viewed and presented.
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Computer Experience. Jonathan was first introduced to Computer design at Cornish and has continued since his graduation in 1996.
Jonathan Owens, Web site Design
Introductory Rate $500 for a Basic Artist Web site.
What you get
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A site specifically designed to highlight and promote you and your work.
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Home page plus 3 main pages that include Gallery page (with 12 thumbnails of your work with blowups of each image), Bio/Statement page, Contact page.
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All graphics optimized for high speed downloading time and search engine ranking plus submission to a few of the largest search engines - i.e. Yahoo, MSN, Google.
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Help registering a domain name.
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Help hosting your site with Cybermesa, which is a top notch host for customer care and reliability.
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Additional pages at $75 / page beyond 4.
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Additional images at $15 / image for scanning and placement time.
Special Note.
Jonathan and I are planning a Mother/Son Painting Exhibition in Seattle in Fall, 2004. More details later.....
Caruso Moves in. We just couldn't resist his lovely song and named this special canary Caruso, which seemed to fit. He started out living at my house where Sage found him quite interesting. The other parrots found him noisy. Finally he moved to Carol's place where life improved radically. He got a mate, Pinkie and we're hoping for baby canaries in January.
Meanwhile, Flash, the rescued abused Red Belied Parrot that Carol painstakenly (with emphasis on painful bites) tamed has come to live at my place where he seems most happy. He is starting to talk, enjoys the other parrots here and is slowly learning to trust. He got his name, "Flasher" from his rather ordinary grey "overcoat" which, when glimpsed from the front exhibits brilliant orange chest & underwings over bright chartreuse legs & undertail.
Carol's Rescued Goldfinches. Here they are barely sporting their new feathers with their tummy's full! These babies were brought into the Wildlife Center where Carol is now working part time in the ICU. They were barely out of the egg and no one expected them to survive. But they did and are now wintering over in a roomy cage at Carol's with the two canaries, Caruso and Pinkie. (Canaries are finches, too - and they are all great friends.) In the Spring they will join other wild Goldfinches in the area.
Gimpy the Barn Owl. One of Carol's favorite ICU patients is a Barn Owl whose pelvis was crushed under, of all things - a falling barn. The Veterinarian determined that there was nothing to do but to try to rehabilitate. So Carol set about figuring out how to exercise Gimpy's legs if he couldn't stand up .Gimpy is now happily exercising in a makeshift hanging harness fashioned from WalMart's baby clothes which allow him to practice using his legs and building his muscles! He will stay at the Wildlife Center and live with two other owls since he cannot be returned to the wild.
This is without question one of my favorite pictures of Carol. Her hands. They do so much good in this world.
Livvie, the Welcome Dog! Livvie continues her favorite job, welcoming visiting dog to Ranchito San Pedro cabins. Here she is with Pluto, whose humans came to take a break before heading back to professorships at Oklahoma U. Livvie has yet to meet a dog she doesn't like - and Pluto was especially favored with his pom pom tail!
Take a look at the cabins on my website here and check vacancies, too! Remember - no extra charge for your pet! We've had a really full year for which we are most grateful! And some very happy guests!
Workshops, etc. with Jan & Carol
Our Costa Rica Travel Painting workshop is coming up early in 2005! We've got 13 student-travelers with Leslie Anderson acting as trip coordinator and translator and me as painting and sketching instructor. Leslie lives in Costa Rica and is an experienced workshop coordinator and all around great person!
I'm super excited about the adventure - and Leslie and I are talking about doing another trip next year as well as one to Portugal, where her father lives!
Stay tuned - and let me know if you are interested in Costa Rica or Portugal and I'll put you on the list to contact when plans become more firm....
If you'd like to know more about our Costa Rica trip, just click here.
Jan's
Scheduled Workshops in and around New Mexico
2005
All of the workshops that I have planned for 2005 are shown on the Workshop page of my website which you can see here.
- March, 2005 Spring Workshop in Española, New Mexico
- May, 2005 Spring Ghost Ranch Workshop @ Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
- July, 2005 Summer Workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona
- September, 2005 Fall Ghost Ranch workshop @ Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
- October, 2005 Fall Workshop in Española, New Mexico
Another letter I wrote from Española - back to my Seattle friends and family...
Route 1, Box 482
Espanola, New Mexico 87532
November 1, 1993
Dear ones,
Wednesday, 10/27. This morning I decided to try a walk down Guachupangue - my street that is mis-labeled Guachupanque. (I've tried to find out what the word means, and while I thought it was guachupanque it appeared that the spanish translation could be "solitary pancake". But now that I know its spelled with the "g", the Tewa language of the Santa Clara Indian's translation is "string of mud". I made a note to get some mud boots). anyway - I've been wanting to find a place to walk - so I decided to start with my own street. This is definitely not an easy thing to do here. I think there are roughly 16 houses in varying distances from the road along Guachupangue. And each house has at least one dog - but often more than one. And no dogs are caged or tied. The dogs all barked but didn't follow or threaten me if I walked in the center of the street. But then there was the hazard of cars - fast cars. In case you didn't know, according to every tour book I've read , Espanola is the "lowrider capitol of the world". And those cars are fast as well as low - and always with black tinted windows that hide a driver. So, the walk was fine and safe from dogs if I walked in the street and safe from cars if I walked on the edge. Next time I think I'll try the arroyo. I made it home without any trouble but when I walked back past Teresa's house to borrow a ladder from Mary and Roger, Teresa's little white pesky dog took a bite out of my pants leg.
The mix of cultures here provides for some interesting encounters. I was told to use the term Hispanic to speak of anyone who is of either Mexican or Spanish heritage and Native American or Indian for all Indians here. Anglo has to then cover the rest of the population mix, including Asian-Americans. And what about African Americans? Now, I may think I have it straight, but last week when I was shopping at Hacienda Home Center, I asked an employee who appeared to either be Hispanic or Native American about finding full spectrum fluorescent lights. He said he thought I ought to talk to Joe. I asked where I could find Joe and he pointed to an information area and said, "Joe's the American guy". I said, "What?" and he laughed. Then he added, "really, I think Joe's a half-breed, too." Hm. I'm finding it often difficult or at least it is tricky to deal with the differences in cultures and cultural expectations. I find stereotypical thinking to be basically unhelpful and yet I certainly have to watch for it in myself, too. The best that I am doing now is to find people of differing cultural heritages to talk with, learn from and be with. And I think I am fortunate to live in an area where I'm surrounded by the opportunities. I'm slowly finding people. My friend Patricia Sanchez is quite open, helpful and good hearted. And she gives me a wonderful view into small town Hispanic life and family. And Gloria has introduced me to a wonderful San Ildefonso Pueblo woman who has been her friend for 25 years. Dora has asked me to pay a visit to her home in the pueblo. It is expected that I will call her and come by when I can. Then I may be invited to one of her Pueblo's feast celebrations. I have much to learn. And maybe much to teach, too. And that is probably true of us all.
The weather. We got our first snow of the season! On Friday, the 29th I drove up to Los Alamos to do some shrink wrapping before my show, and the snow was definitely sticking - and it was beautiful! In Santa Fe the juniper and pinon covered hills looked like they'd been dusted with powdered sugar. Espanola was cold and under siege from south winds, but the change in the air was invigorating! I spent some time in Wal-Mart (ugh) buying socks, long johns and turtle neck sweaters - things I haven't had need for in years! Now I'm searching for very thin glove liners and boot liners so I can paint outdoors. My friend Kate and I tried it a few days ago when it was in the low 30's - and my fingers got numb. But when the sun came out we recovered. That was until the San Ildefonso tribal police officer came to check on our permits to paint on reservation land. Kate had hers. I was sent off to the governor's office to get mine. Another lesson.
The next morning I woke to a light layer of snow outside. And a yellow sky! I'm really looking forward to the winter colors and painting outdoors.
La Galeria had it's first Open House Show this weekend. Gloria really had the gallery looking great with new lighting to show off the paintings by me and another watercolor artist. The adobe steps and shelves provided lovely places to display the traditional red and black Santa Clara clay pots, some silver jewelry, sculptures and some silk scarves. The fire in the kiva fireplace crackled and about 50 people came by, most of whom I met at the Espanola Arts Festival. But also I got to meet some of the people I'd only talked to by phone before. All new friends. But my one older friend, Chris (from U of O) came up from Albuquerque and we all had a good time. The opening was not quite as lively as the ones I remember at Windows Gallery - but it was a good start. And, I sold two paintings - and that's a terrific start! Now if I can find some teaching jobs. I'm applying at Northern New Mexico Community College here in Espanola as well as Santa Fe Community College and the College of Santa Fe. It's definitely hard to get started in a brand new place, but ....I'm hanging in there.
The heating saga continues. When I moved in almost two months ago, there was a gas heater waiting to be installed in my studio. Last winter the heat in the studio hadn't measured over 49 degrees so Gloria and Teresa agreed that supplementary heating was needed. At that time the only hitch was getting it installed. Teresa, the land lady wanted it to wait until her son, Louie, also known as "crazy Louie", could do it - which would be after he got out of jail. He finally got out and Teresa said he'd be over any day. After "manana" exhausted my patience for 3 weeks, Gloria and I announced we would hire someone to do it and subtract it from the rent. Gloria also checked with the gas company to see if it was even legal for Louie to do it. It was. Espanola has no codes to cover such things. Suddenly Louie appeared, all smiles and spent a day breaking a hole through the 2 foot thick adobe wall for the gas line. With a sledge hammer. At the end of the day he smiled and said he'd be back the next day to put in the vent and it'd be all done. That was seven days ago. No sign of Louie. But his brother, Andreas came by to say that the stove is not needed at all. He was sure that we just needed to turn up the heat and close some of the vents in the front of the house. So, we did that and even measured the temperature in the studio all weekend - and the highest it got was 57 degrees. So now Teresa says that Andreas will come to put the vent in this week. Not trusting her word, I've got some professionals hired for Wednesday - and we'll see who gets here first. On Friday I have a workshop scheduled - so something has to happen!!! Ice watercolor? News Flash - Good sense or lack of know how has prevailed. Andreas doesn't want to do it and I've got the go ahead to have some licensed people do it.
Well, dear friends and family - the local dogs are still stealing Gloria's pots and pans and life goes on. I miss you still, yet I'm slowly feeling like I belong here, too. At least I'm not in a state of shock anymore, and my days are increasingly busy. My living area and the studio look terrific now, and just as soon as I get some heat I'll be ready for company!!! Life and living continue on here as I know they are for you, too. And only about 3 weeks until Thanksgiving, when I'll be back in Seattle and then on down to Grants Pass with my sons and family!
Love, Jan