Now Watch Judith Reidy Create a Portrait

Initial Block In

2nd defining further.....

working on the shirt...simplify

Refining The underpainting or
Imprimatura

Watch for more further development of the portrait....

Would you like to learn to paint portrait... try studying painting with Judith Reidy at Raven Art School.

Some New Fun Paintings

Painting with Grumbacher has been given me new challenges and stretched my painting and teaching.

Greg La Rock Plein Air Workshop at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County

Greg LaRock,

National Award Winning Plein Air Artist
from Southern Californina

As many of you may know I spent the earlier part of the month, September 12-16 up in Door County at a Plein Air Workshop with Greg La Rock at the Peninsula School of Art. It was a tremendous opportunity.

I would like to begin by sharing with you a slide show of Photos I took as Greg did a demo for the group of students. Greg was a great instructor, clear yet flexible in teaching. What interested me the most was his ability to talk through his thinking while he was painting, allowing us to "hear" him "weighing his choices" as he buildt his painting. I found being able to hear him "weigh out his choices" extremely insightful. I heard him think through what he wanted to make out as the over arching story in his painting...how he wanted to identify and keep his focal point as he built his painting. I heard as he created his plan and watched how he used the preliminary drawing to begin to flesh out his plan. I saw how he evaluated the foreground, middle ground and background values, temperature and colors to keep within their "space" while maintaining his focal point.

I wish I had an audio to accompany these slides. I certainly don't want to give you the impression that Greg style of teaching insisted on one right solution to building a plein air landscape painting. It would be better to say he gave students some framework and tools to use when they made choices when planning and building a Plein Air landscape painting. He encouraged every student to discover their personal response to the landscape before them and then create a story that would capture and hold their audience. If I painter wanted the viewer to focus on particular aspect of the landscape or days light, as an instructor Greg gave us the evaluation tools to begin to make the design and technical choices to do so. We talked about everything from conception of idea, to design on the canvas to brush handling and mediums that would facilitate what we were after.
I hope you enjoy Greg LaRocks demo.


If the images are too small click and you will be able to see them larger.

A Few of Judith Reidy's Images from "Remembering the Land" Exhibition

Just a few of the images by Judith Reidy
from
"Remembering the Land"
Exhibition

It was a great show.
pictures of reception forthcoming.

Selecting a New Apprentice

Travels of Jord by Judith Reidy

I have an idea. I am looking for an apprentice to train and work. This apprentice would observe me paint and learn to paint as well in exchange for labor. The tasks of the apprentice would be to observe me place paint on my pallet after they brought me a cup of freshly prepared latte. Throughout the day they would bring me ice water in a glass and adjust the fan on hot days. They would be taught to build canvas stretchers and stretch canvas. They could then make my stretchers and theirs. They could gesso the canvases. They can drive out to the mill and purchase frames or parts for frames and assemble them, remembering to pick up the glass and matts as well. They would take my business calls and take down messages from me for correspondence which they would prepare and send on my behalf. They could prepare lunch and supper and bring it to us for our meal.

If I wanted another chair they would get it. ....and maybe something for my feet. which might get tired since I would be standing and painting most of the day.

At the end of the day we could share a glass of wine or a beer and sit on the porch.

After 5 to 10 years depending on their progress, I would certify them as a master painter and begin bringing up my next waiting apprentice.


How about it?

Survey Avante Garde

A conversation with Professor Marjorie Perloff Tuesday, May 9, 2006, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm about the European Avant Garde on Standford University's KZSU - 90.1 "Entitled Opinions" http://french-italian.stanford.edu/opinions/z

Life as a Painter

I have been rising early and starting to paint around 3:30- 4 AM every morning, before everyone else is up and the phone is ringing. I can say I have been painting 3+ hours. I then stop for breakfast and rest my hand and arm, (working large in pastel can be very physical). I enjoy conversation, do a few household chores, brew a good cup of freshly ground coffee, and return to my painting. By 11 am, I have been painting about 7 hours. I am ready for a walk and lunch. It is a wonderful feeling, to know that I can paint more or do whatever else needs to be done or I wish to do, knowing that I have a good day of painting in already. I seem to enjoy the rest of the day more.

I have been listening to Entitled Opinions and the literature under discussion while I paint. I look forward to my conversations with many of you either on Facebook or in person peppering the balance of the day.

Response to Robert Genn's Newsletter Post Regarding Creativity and Fundamentalism

Robert,

I wish I had time to write a treatise in response to the article in your newsletter, Creativity and Fundamentalism. I currently am a creative artist who in the past graduated from UW- Milwaukee with a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree. In my final years of college I "returned" to God. As I married shortly thereafter and started a family, I began homeschooling. It was one of the most creative activities of my life, hanging in trees reading poems, hunting out woodland flowers and drawing them, building forts and dressing up like Athenian heroes. What ever we read as a family, I found my four children pretending and extending. They named all our trees and gave them life stories. They built whatever was needed to make their world come alive.

Today they are grown, or still in college with advance degrees having traveled continents and lived in diverse places among diverse people. They are not all artists but they create artfully and see with fresh eyes in their pastimes. They write, they shoot photos, they use their hands and their minds in their life work. They are invaluable in their respective jobs because they are able to look at the world in different ways. They are not hindered by peer pressure and mob thought, yet they love and respect their fellowman because God has taught them to love their neighbor. They are not perfect by any stretch, but I am proud of their courage.

They are creative, yet responsible...and kind...yet not easily manipulated.

I don't believe in creative divergent thinking without boundaries. Ah, some will say, there is the rub of her fundamentalist religion that smashes REAL creative thinking.

My reply is: do we really want a society without boundaries? More accurately can we survive a world without boundaries? Do we want to define creative freedom as the place to think or imagine and physically build something...anything? I don't think so. Do we really want a place where slashing murder or verbal abuse are just another alternative or divergent pattern of thought turned into "creative" action? How far is too far?

Rigidity is character trait of any cultural group. The boundaries that define rigidity move, but are just as rigid and unyielding. Have culture group A or B define the boundaries of fundamentalism and the fundamentalist attitude regarding man as a creative being; the answers would demonstrate the simple cultural rigidity of both that limits their understanding.

A fundamentalist premise is God created the universe from nothing and we are created in God's image and likeness. Hence...conclusion, we are creative beings. That is our lineage.

A fundamentalist premise is God is moral being and we are created in God's image and likeness. Hence, conclusion, we are moral beings. That is our lineage.

As a fundamentalist, those are boundaries. I am created, I did not create myself from nothing. I am not God, but I am made in God's image. I am most certainly a creative and moral being.

I am not random chance happening. Get serious, imagine what would it really be like to live in a totally random world at the end this sentence?

Judith Reidy


Dawn in the Mist
by Judith Reidy

Judith Reidy's Website:www.judithreidy.com

Blog Art Thoughts with Judith Reidy
Blog Article: Time and Strength Slip Through our Fingers
Blog Article: Introducing From Dust to Dust

Judith Reidy Homes and Businesses