Just Landed from Door County Adventure

This years Door County Plein Air Festival  proved a real adventure.
Painted in heat and rain....

met and enjoyed wonderful new art friends
and made and sold some wonderful art.  See this painting installed at the Linger a lovely new coffee shop in Fish Creek.

Flower Shop Painting Demo by Judith Reidy

Flower Shop by Judith Reidy

   Now this was a lot of fun.  I made this painting as a demo right inside my New Berlin Michaels Arts and Crafts store.  The flower lady, Sandy, in the back ground was happy to have this painting of her in the flower shop.  Hope you enjoy the fun.

See these Pieces at Rivers End Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Combining the use of the Plumbline and Contour Drawing

Now your art lesson for this week is…drum roll...drum roll…

Do you know about citing a figure using a plumb line or a straight edge?

If you hold a straight pen in front of you between you and what you are drawing, you can site an object comparing its edge and shape and angle to the straight edge.

You hold the straight edge vertically

•    You need to look for the center line.
•    You need to look for the objects edges relation to the straights edge

 You hold a straight edge horizontally

•     Look for the lines relation to the center line…it angle it proportion space
•      Compare the horizontal edges to the horizontal straight edge

Hold the straight edge diagonally

•     Look for the angle relation
•     Look for the edge relation

With these positions, look for points on the straight edge and plot and mark distances between points.

Citing and plotting is more of an L-mode practice with only some R-mode elements.  Once the lines are plotted and points are placed in proper proportional relations, blind contour is used to connect the points.  After goodly time of practice with blind contour the line between the plotted points flows smoothly from what you see to the drawing instrument on the paper.  In blind contour you train more than your hand; you train your arm and shoulder and your mind and eye to work together.

Most people who begin drawing will attempt proportional measuring in some form, but few practice blind contour consistently.  Consequently their drawing line lacks fluidity and naturalness.

I hope I have created some drawing paper for you.  Next lesson I think I will talk to you about notan structure.  Wow isn’t that thrilling! 

Riversedge Mist by Judith Reidy at the Cederburg Plein Air Event

Riveredge Mist
by Judith Reidy
oil
8 x 10 inches unframed
14 x 16 inched framed in a gold Plein Air Frame
available at the Cederburg Culture Center for Auction and Retail
Starting bid $75
Retail $200
call the cultural center for details.

It was a rainy day at the Riveredge Nature Center out side of Newburg, WI where the Cederburg Plein Air Event began its days of painting, quick paints and sundry other activities. See this link for more details.
I painted two paintings this rainy Wednesday. One from a bird stand the other, this one, from the porch at the rear of the center. It is really an impression of the day.

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?

Tonight is the Night for One Vision

Tonight, Saturday, October 17,
"Ten Poets, Ten Painters, One Vision"
Program
at the Raven Gallery
in Pewaukee at 7pm

I am disclosing more of the image of my painting now.
My painting "Leaves" will be completely revealed at the exhibition this evening.

Join us!

Judith Reidy in One Vision at the Raven Gallery

Our gathering should provide an enriching and interesting evening this Saturday, October 17, 2009, at the Raven Gallery: the spot light being the reading of the poems by the poets and the presentation of the accompanying paintings.

Hope to see you there.

Reflections with One Vision- Portraiture

I had some reflections on a wonderful discussion panel this past Friday evening at the Charles Allis Art Museum on which Graeme Reid, Michael Foster, Kattie Musloff and her dear 87 year model where members.

Though I have been a landscape painter most of my career as a painter, I have a fascination with figure work and portraiture for the very reasons they discussed that night.

Particularly, I was attracted to how Katie made her models part of her life. So often as painters we are loners who paint forms or respond to forms as if they were inanimate and we are the ones who give them life in our art. Perhaps, that is what Graeme was referring , when he asked about "objectivity" as a necessity for an artist.

I do at times appreciate when artists take a dis-interesting object and infuse it with life; i.e. paint something ugly beautifully. Nevertheless, while, I, as did the panel, recognize the need for an artist to have an objective technical understanding of the painting before him and in some measure an objective view of what painting is about in general, I often fail to be intrigued by the commonly clinical-like-view that is respected among my contemporary artists when discussing their work "objectively" or mechanically.

What appealed to me in Katie's work was the personal response and respect she maintains for and toward her models... who often become her friends. You may ask what does that have to do with painting or making great art.

In Katie's personal engagement with her models she is able sensitively to begin to connect with the humanity of her model/friends not through a mechanical process but through the her own body kinetically, perceptively and personally in drawing and painting responding to the humanity and life in her subjects before her.

I think that is what made Rembrandt great. Not only was his mind able to connect psychologically with the humanity or soul of his subject, his hand was able to kinetically capture not just the physical likeness but more significantly articulate/capture the soul or humanity before him. That is not objective, but subjective response at its best. His sensibilities matched by his skill, touch a chord that resonates over time and communicates only in the way great art does in truth. This phenomena is the attraction in making paintings and why painting and drawing will never die.

As for myself and my drawings of my mother, I found my line drawings to be very much a kinetic response to my feelings for her and about her. They go beyond a mere likeness. I felt a connection to her moods and her dilemma as an aging woman. I felt elegance and brokenness. I connected in my body with her in my physical response of making art.

What I like about my opportunity with the Lake Country Ten Artist Ten Poets One Vision Project is being able to share my painting “Leaves” based on my drawings of my mother in collaboration and response to my poet, Paula Anderson who has similar sensibilities in writing. In this project, I feel the joy and exhilaration of meaningful human connection as well as the pleasure of kinetic response in painting.

I hope you can join us this Saturday, October 17, at 7 pm at the Raven Gallery in Pewaukee, WI

Judith

Painting 24/40 of the 40 Consecutive Painting a Day Challenge - Illuminating an Apple

Illuminating an Apple
6" x 7 3/4"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

This was a fun way to end the day.

Painting 21/40 of the 40 Consecutive Day Painting a Day Challenge - Some Years Later

Some Years Later

6" x 7.5"
Watercolor on Paper
$50 print
Original not for Sale

Back several years ago, I took an advanced drawing and anatomy class with Stephan Samerjan (now retired) at UW- Milwaukee. I was inspired by the volume of work he demanded of us, the freedom he gave us to explore and the conversations and class critiques in a fresh way.

I had begun doing a series of line drawings of my mother catching her various moods with a few strokes. It was like writing poetry sketches, fluid yet sharp and clear catching a life of their own. I have talked about expanding that figurative series with color. But because I have always done landscape painting and even Plein Air landscape painting once the magic of the classes influence passed, I fell back into my old habits of doing landscape imagery. Yet the desire to return and expand the exploration of the figure remained with me. Now the last week's busyness forced me to do what I always wanted to do all along. Now I am making expressions with the figure.

This one is of my son now.

19/40 Painting of 40 Consecutive Days of a Paintng a Day - Mrs. Mendon

Mrs. Mendon
6" x 7"
Watercolor on Paper
$50

Today was the big Graduation Party for my son, an all day affair.
Yet, I did manage to do this watercolor painting of Mrs. Mendon.
I truly enjoy the expressive line and fluidity of the painted forms.

18/40 of the the 40 Consecutive Painting Day Challenge - Schoetz Park

Schoetz Park
7.75" x 5"
Watercolor on Paper
$50

Slight overcast day at the pond at Schoetz.

Painting No 5/40 of the Painting a Day 40 Day Challenge - Fred Bell with Eye Slits, Land West of Monches Farm, Fred Bell Concentrating

Fred Bell with Eye Slits
7 3/4" x 6"
Watercolor
$45
to purchase contact the artist

Land West of Monches Farm
7 1/4" x 5 1/4"
Watercolor
$45
to purchase contact the artist

Fred Bell Concentrating
6" x 7 3/4"
Watercolor
$45
to purchase contact the artist

Today was a fun day, the 5th day of the 40 day Painting a Day Challenge.
A friend of mine and fellow painter Fred Bell and I went out to Monches Farm near Colgate Wisconsin to a attend a Plein Air painting day organized by the Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association WIPAPAP this Saturday,

May 23rd: Monches Perennial Farm!

see WIPAPA's blog posting here
It was an Ireland looking morning with a gentle mist.
We saw at least 15 Plein Air painters scattered around the grounds hidden under umbrellas and plastic sheets covering them and their work.
Even though Fred and I got a late start, arriving later than the others, we found a covered potting house with open sides from which we painted, protected from the drizzle.
Currently reading the Letter of Vincent Van Gogh, I decided to draw with ink and do washes in watercolor on paper soaked in a bath of water. I felt I was keeping in the spirit of the wet day.
I have been thinking of doing these figurative pieces of my art friends for sometime.
So here you have it, the famous "Fred Bell with Eye Slits".
When Fred went wandering off, I worked on a landscape piece of a scene to the west. I liked working in watercolor because I felt it captured the rain. However, because of the moisture in the air the pieces were slow in drying, creating a very lovely fluid effect.
The last painting of "Fred Concentrating" is indicative of his focus while painting.

Fred and I enjoy painting together from time to time.
If you go to Fred's blog site you can see the painting he made today.

What do you think of our projects for a day?
They were a delightful change of pace.

There are two common misnomers about Monet. The first is that, as an Impressionist, Monet's paintings were done spontaneously. In fact, Monet studied his subjects intently, planned his paintings, and worked hard to achieve his results. He often painted a series of the same subject to capture the changing effects of the light, swapping canvases as the day progressed.

The second is that all of Monet's his paintings were done on location. In fact, many were painted or finished back in his studio. Monet is quoted as saying: "Whether my cathedral views, my views of London and other canvases are painted from life or not is nobody's business and of no importance whatsoever." ¹

^see

Palettes and Techniques of the Impressionist Masters: Claude Monet

I want to thank

• Stacy Williams-Ng, a fine artist and reviewer

• Jerry Luterman, a photographer, who took time taking great photos

• and Milwaukee Home and Fine Living Magazine for...
  

Feature Story for February 2009 about Judith Reidy's Mist Paintings

How does Judith work? What is her inspiration?

click on Picture to see article
or read below

Judith Reidy’s Visions in the Mist

Review by Stacy William - Ng

in February 2009 Issue of MILWAUKEE HOME and FINE LIVING

JUDITH REIDY IS A SOFT-SPOKEN, THOUGHTFUL artist whose intelligence and dedication to her work sparkle through her like flecks of pink light in her misty landscapes. She compares her recent work to investigating a mystery. Judith’s pieces are completed after hours of observation, studying the gradations of color as they fluctuate in the atmosphere. In warm weather, she will work in watercolors in the open air. In winter, she creates “studio works,” relying on memory, supported by photos and color studies. Her final depiction tells a story of how subtle tonal changes took place in the scene over a period of time.

Her pastels of misty Ireland are truly astounding. According to Judith, who visited Ireland last year, “I had become interested in mists here, when I was going up to Crystal Ridge here in Wisconsin, I would go early in the morning, looking due east, and there were these mists that captured my imagination.” When she went to visit her daughter overseas later in the year, the mystical (and misty) scenes of Inishowen Peninsula were a perfect subject matter. “I sat at the window for 13 days, looking at the Bay, studying light, and painting. It was magical.”

One thing that struck Judith while in Ireland was their view of the sky. “I was at the 60th latitude, and I wondered why the sky never achieved the pink that we see here, at about the 44th. I did some research on it and apparently northern European skies get more yellows and whites than North American skies, which show more violets and pinks. In that sense we have light that’s more like what you see in French master landscapes, which would have been created at similar latitudes to ours.”

Judith Reidy is part of a two-person show with Cynthia Son, currently on view at the Griffin Gallery in Oconomowoc. The show will be up through the end of February.

STACEY WILLIAMS-NG

The mists and skies of Ireland inspired local artist Judith Reidy (above) during her travel, and she captures their beauty in her artwork.

February 2009 Issue of - MILWAUKEE HOME and FINE LIVING page13

Check back each month for articles selected from Milwaukee Home & Fine Living

Legacy of Life Endured in the Light of Lightweight PR

November 17, 2008

I have not made many thoughtful entries in this particular blog as well as my other blogs recenty, partly because life has taken hold of me and driven me to pursue other avenues of communication.

I am trying to be practical and pursue marketing my artwork and my arts administration opportunities, while I paint on deadlines for exhibition's where I intend to sell my work. I arrange exhibitions for other artists and serve as a website facilitator for a gallery while at the same time I am starting an entirely new business this fall which is in itself an exciting adventure. In addition, I have a son who as a senior in high school needs my chauffeuring to his events like football practice, games until he positions himself to acquire his driver's license.etc.

Part of me is very glad I am dizzyingly busy. So busy, I cannot feel the separation of growing children as acutely. My life had been my children, my family. Discussion and activism in geopolitical issues or developing a body of artwork and even building my new company hold a measure of importance in my life. They, I understand have their particular unique fascination, but I recognize that they do not nor cannot occupy the same place in my heart and dreams as do the people in my family, my kin. Even as I have tried to fill my life with these other things, my longing for my family being a community one in spirit and heart has never diminished. The pain of my family’s growing diaspora gnaws at my soul, draining the life from me. The more I do to bring things together the more acutely aware I am of my family member’s desire to be removed from one another, their home and their roots, their parents. Perhaps this is just an inevitable but passing transition into adulthood for them. But I wonder if it is in fact what I have come to see it as that fruit of the fickle reward of wealth, education and upward mobility, the dream of the American way. Little did we know how much we cast aside when we set our children on the American path of success when we should have inculcated love and tenderness toward one another rather than ambition and adventure.

How does this relate to my art? My technical art skill has improved greatly over the years.. My art imagery has not drawn its ideas from my family as much as from the dream of community lived in the light of truth and love.

I am afraid to place my mind’s eye on the pain of separation for hours on end while I focus on meticulously painting of a “telling story of separation and fracture.” Besides who wants to buy a painting of a “telling a story of separation and fracture?”

Besides for mental survival, I favor keeping my heart and mind on “hope” of renewal and restoration. Neverthless, I prefer living in the truth of the moment rather than making life's reality with mere good PR of putting on a happy face.

Lately I think I may have a new opportunity to “tell the truth in a life story full of pathos amidst hope,” now that my mother, who is in her declining mid eighty’s, has come to stay with me for an extended visit. I see I can compassionately tell a story of separation and fracture.” Somehow, this story, which is so real before me in its human frailty, is striking with hope and beauty because I can be a part of her life at this time. I can laugh and cry and with her and she with me.

I will, in the next months, begin drawing and painting her and her aging friends and surviving brother, etching lines in a legacy of friendship and endurance that I have been privileged to experience through the life of my mother, whom my children have called “Grandma.”

Judith