Day 26 :: DUSK :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

DUSK
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

at The Drawing Room, Marion, MA 

When I ask what painting subjects people would like to see, the response is often twilight skies and night scenes, and that is a tall order. Painting night and unusual light may be the last subject painters can call their own. Before cameras, artists were the recorders of light and history. With no imperative to record what is seen in a time when we are overwhelmed with visual imagery, dusk, dawn, twilight, and night are still open to wide artistic interpretation. For me, the camera can't quite capture the essence of unusual light. 

In class I often mention that the best reference for me to work from is a terrible photo and my own sketches and notes. When the photo is a crisp and accurate representation of what I'd like to paint, I feel compelled to recreate exactly what I see and become a human photocopy machine. 

References at the times of day that light is tricky for a camera -- dusk, dawn, twilight, night, etc. -- are often the best of photos to work from to make good paintings. The photos are grainy and dark. The color is exaggerated or underwhelming. It's all about interpretation, and that is when artists get to show off their creativity. 

As I've mentioned before, our neighborhood includes a fantastic field which has been featured in six of my prior #30in30 paintings. As September comes to a close, the light continues to change and darkness comes earlier. Our late summer sunset walks are now at dusk and twilight, even when we start them earlier. The color has changed and the greens are browning. I was struck by the colors during a walk in the field. Purple seemed everywhere.

As homes in the neighborhood turn on their lights, there is a new flicker in the landscape. You'll see that first beacon in the distant tree line. When I saw it, I knew I had my next painting subject!

Thanks for reading!  -kmw

Day 12 :: FEELS LIKE FALL :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

FEELS LIKE FALL
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

at The Drawing Room, Marion, MA

We live near a special field, as I've posted about before in posts from Day 5 and Day 6. It's such an inspiring place to say the least.
     The sky is big and uninterrupted.
     The grasses grow and are hayed.
     The light is gorgeous each season.

The light has started to change with the seasons. When I was there recently, after the field was partially hayed, the smell was intoxicating and the colors had altered. While the grasses were green there was a tinge of rusty orange. The treetops are drying and the foliage is just starting....

Here is my attempt at catching this first glimpse of a new season. I painted it softly on an archival suede board to help with the fuzzy atmospheric feeling of the day. 

Day 4 :: LATE IN THE DAY :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

LATE IN THE DAY
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping
(Some day I'll figure out how to center the "Buy Now" button.)

Tim asked me what the purpose of #30in30 was and I told him it's to set a discipline of daily painting and, with daily exercise, to expand my artistic repertoire.

Holding true to this aim, I've been struggling with green in so many aspects for so long.
     *Green in shadow versus green in sunlight.
     *Green that's in the foreground and greens in the background.
     *Green that's muddy versus green that is intense.
Green causes problems especially in summer when everything is green.

For a big birthday present a few years ago my family gave me the Terry Ludwig set of 90 greens. Ninety! You'd think if you have 90 greens you'd have them all. Not me. I found I was always wanting a variation of the color that wasn't available. Eventually I figured it wasn't the selection but the user. I wasn't using green to its best effect.

This painting is a study in green in sunlight and in shadow. It's from a field near my home near where the town school buses are stored. This field is beautiful all times of the year, and it's a place that I find intimidating for it's simplicity -- gorgeous field, a stone wall, the sky, tall grasses. When a composition is simple, it doesn't allow for hiding a weak result in the architecture of a farmhouse or the dancing light and shadow on clouds. As an artist you're exposed and it's rough.

This painting went through some rough spells. Apply pastel. Keep applying more pastel. Wipe that all off. Do it again. Wipe it off again. Start over. Here's where I ended up. I love it. It's better in person. I need a better camera or the real Photoshop not Photoshop Elements.

Thanks for reading. We'll see what I paint for tomorrow. -kmw

Foray into oils

Pastels are wonderful artist tools. The pigment in your hand can be wielded with aplomb, leaving streaks and strokes on the surface. Each stroke is clean and so telling. I love working with them. Often, though, I talk to people of oils and their luminous surface quality - so very beautiful. On our family vacation I brought oils and my pastels.

©2013 Kim Morin Weineck
FOUR STUDIES
original oils, each 6x6"

The pastel I worked on during vacation is still in process, but these four oils I can post now. They were fun to play with. It had been TOO LONG since I played with these buttery paints. All of these paintings need to be revisited and tweaked for various reasons, but I figured I'd show them now.

Value, color, design, composition -- with oil I have to remind myself to SLOW DOWN. It takes longer for me to develop all of the formal elements of a painting. Perhaps I'm a little out of practice (and that is something I'll correct!)

Can't wait to get back at the oils again soon!
Thanks for reading!! -kmw

Warm Welcome

While walking with the girls during the Independence Day holiday, we passed this Patriotic vignette which called to me immediately. It's call could not be silenced: "Paint me!"

©2013 Kim Morin Weineck
WARM WELCOME
original pastel, 7x5"

And so I did. This study worked up quickly, thank goodness. It had to be 95 degrees from my easel.

Hope you're enjoying your July :)
Thanks for reading! -kmw

On display at Gallery9

In prior posts I'd mentioned that I had done some new work for a show. Here are some photos of it framed, on display, and ready to go! 

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
NO 1 SABLE MOP
original watercolor, 3x11" unframed
available framed $75

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
The Line Up
original watercolors, 3x11" unframed
available framed $75 each

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck  the collection of watercolors unframed 

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
7 pastel originals 6x6" unframed
available 10x10" framed $125

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
4 original oils

More is on display at the gallery including works in textile collage by Julie Vecchio, the gallery owner. 

For photos of additional work, see this post on my blog or check my Facebook page.

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Two new pastels

Summer is my productive time, and I've made a pact with myself to finish pieces I start.

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
BLUE MARSH WATER
original pastel, 21x28.5"

These two are a little different for me as I've completed small versions of them in the past but now they are bigger and the colors are different.

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
THE DRIVE HOME
original pastel, 16x24"

As I've been working in this new larger scale, I've been using up pastels left and right! With all the pastels I own I've also made a pact with myself to use what I have and see what happens.

The result of a "limited" palette is an exploration in new tones. It's been such fun!

Thanks for reading!
~kmw

Processing the day trips

The past few day trips have given me lots of visual input for future paintings. I've been looking at recent photos and sketches and processing how I'll use what I've seen and learned.

These photos from First Encounter Beach in Eastham, MA are inspiring to me. How would I paint these grasses? Green is an intimidating color, to say the very least about green.

This photo of the beach is great on it's own - those umbrellas are such an array of color on the sand. Of course I like it because of how it captures Pippa matching Tim's striding posture. Pretty amusing how heredity manifests.

I've a file of paintings I look at periodically. Here are some that pertain to what I'm writing about in this post.

This painting, Rain on the Other Side by Kate Huntington is great. What a beach crowd! Oh, that I had the money to buy something of hers!

And here's Light Beyond the Marsh by Donald Demers. That's how to paint light, isn't it?

How about this little gem by Frank Gardner called Little House in Wellfleet? I think we drove by this house on our trip! A wonderful example of quick, perfect decisions. The darks are rich. The lights are luminous. The brushstrokes are active. Like I said, a little gem.

So now I just need the time to paint. In the meantime, I'm processing all the visual input awaiting the resultant output. We'll see how that goes!

Thanks for reading!
kmw

Officially summer

It's officially summer -- my favorite! Being outside painting while my girls play in the yard is a pure delight.

©Kim Morin Weineck - MARSH CEDARS on easel

Lately I've been productive, too. Today I was outside working for around an hour when the rain started. Drat. As my neighbor pointed out, now we don't have to water our gardens! Time to take care of other things...like my blog!

©2011 Kim Morin Weineck
MARSH CEDARS
original pastel, 16x12"

Here are two recent works, both 12x9" and both in pastel. I am experimenting with new techniques. The verdict is still out on whether I like the results. Seems fussy. Finding the balance between fussy and loose is my goal. We'll see how I do this summer with that!

©2011 Kim Morin Weineck
MARSH VIEW
original pastel, 16x12"

On a personal note, last week I lost my dear grandmother, who quietly passed in her sleep in her own bed at the wonderful age of 93. I discovered some delightful photos while looking for some for a photo board to be displayed at the wake.


Finally I'm getting the courage up to do some figurative work. Between some of the gems I found and my own two young girlies in day-to-day silliness, I have no dearth of material!

Professionally I'm thinking about ways to increase traffic to my facebook page, Kim Morin Weineck's Art. I think a giveaway is in order. More on this soon.

Thanks for reading!
kmw