Charles Muench Workshop

by Armand Cabrera

                                Bend in the River            12 x 16                   Oil on Linen


I wanted to share a great opportunity with everyone. My friend Charles Muench is teaching a workshop in the Sierras this June and there are a couple of spots still available.  Charles is a highly collected and award winning artist. His solo shows have been sellouts for the last few years and he lives in the Sierras and paints in all four seasons outdoors there.

                                     Mount Ritter            36 x 30                Oil on Linen


Charles awards include an Award of Excellence from the Oil Painters of America in 1999, the Gold Medal at the San Louis Obispo Plein Air competition in 2002, Artist Choice in 2003 at Telluride Plein Air, Best of Show at Telluride Plein Air in 2006, Best of Show at the Crystal Cove Invitational in 2007,  First Place at the Joan Irvine Smith Heritage Exhibition 2008, The Collectors Choice Award at Maynard Dixon Country Show in 2005 and 2008, The Edgar Payne Award for best landscape at the California Art Club Gold Medal Show in 2010, and the Southwest Art Magazine Award of Excellence at the California Art Club Gold Medal Show in 2011, and the Irvine Museum Purchase Award at the California Gold Medal Exhibition 2012.

Hope Valley Spring Workshop

Four Day Workshop Painting the Eastern Sierra

Spring time in Hope Valley.

June 9th – June 12th

$485.00

Not only is Hope Valley one of the most beautiful places in all of the Sierra, it is also one of the most accessible. Easy walking to great scenery!

Wildflowers, snow capped peaks, and the meandering West Carson River.

Accommodations are available in Markleeville, Hope Valley, and Woodfords.

Charles will make the most of each day- demonstrations, painting, critique, and taking in the gestalt of a group of artists painting together.

E-mail Charles for deposit and reservation information, materials list, accommodations, and any questions you might have.

For more information, click here to visit Charles' website:

                         CHARLESMUENCH.COM

Spring Wildflowers in Hope Valley.

Spring snow-melt demonstration.

If you are looking for a chance to study painting with a contemporary master in a spectacular setting I highly recommend this workshop.  

Round Valley Spring   20 x 30   Oil on Linen

FREE PAINTING DEMONSTRATION

Bull Run Bluebells              16x20                       Oil on Linen

I will be conducting a painting demonstration  For the McLean Project for the Arts at the McLean  Community Center this coming Friday April 27 from 10:45Am to 1:30 PM. The demonstration is open to the public.

 

The address For the McLean Community Center is 

1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, Virginia.

info@mpaart.org

 I will start and finish a large oil painting from a small sketch painted outdoors. If you are in the area come on by and watch and ask questions about the painting process or the business side of being a professional artist. Last time we had quite a turnout with over 75 people showing up.

Bluebells demo

by
Armand Cabrera

The bluebells are starting to peak around the Piedmont here and I had to get out and paint them while they last. They usually come and go in about 10 to 15 days. My two favorite spots are at the old stone bridge at Bull Run in The Manassas Battlefield and Riverbend Park on the Potomac in Great Falls. The Bull Run patch is much smaller than Riverbend Park but provides an intimate setting within the trees along the river. The painting time for this 16x20 was two hours.


In this scene everything is backlit, the sun is low in the sky and is moving from left to right as the sun sets. In a scene like this it is important to lock in shadow patterns and stick to them from the beginning as they will change in a matter of minutes.

I establish my horizon line and big anchor points first in the correct tone and color.

My goal is to cover the entire canvas in the first few minutes to get the color and value relationships that will be constantly shifting later as I paint. While I am willing to incorporate some changes that occur later it is important not to deviate too much or the strong sense of light and shadow is ruined.

Once I have the big shapes established, I start adding elements by designing them into the scene not just trying to copy their placement.

I want to use the colors of the bluebells and there leaves and the game trail that is leading away from me to weave back through the painting breaking up the verticals of the trees and the angles of their cast shadows.

I continue to add elements and refine the larger masses of the painting.

At this point the light has changed enough that I focus on the painting looking up occasionally for information from nature to resolve any passages that haven’t been resolved to my satisfaction.

The finished painting, Bull Run Bluebells 16x20 Oil on Linen

A hierarchy of Forms

By
Armand Cabrera


A hierarchy of forms is an important step in representational painting. Keeping the big forms apparent after the application of details is necessary for a successful painting. Primary, secondary and tertiary forms must preserve their relative importance.

The idea for Primary forms is a simple one. At its root all forms have a base structure that shows the effects of the overall light and shape without any details. Painting this correctly gives a sense of volume and weight to everything. Seeing this imposed construction on natural objects helps nail down this effect from the very beginning of a painting or drawing and locks in the big idea for the image quickly. Often times this is overlooked for the details of an element which can ruin the significance of the object in the overall scene.



To quote Harvey Dunn, “You must make the main thing in your picture appear most important. If anyone tells me my hat is more important than my head –by God I’m taking off my hat.”

Secondary forms complement the primary form but never obscure it. An example in landscape painting would be a hillside of trees seen from a distance. The shape of the hill would be the primary form and the trees the secondary forms enhancing the character of the hill but not confusing its overall shape. It must always read as a hill. The way you would paint the light falling on the hill would be paramount and you would always subordinate the details of the trees to that effect.

Tertiary forms would be the individual trees on the hillside; you may choose to add enough details to some of these to create interest for the viewer but again they should always compliment the larger forms not obliterate them.This idea applies to anything- portraits, still life, figures or landscapes and is an essential tool in preserving the sense of solidity in your pictures.

Making a Mark

By
Armand Cabrera

Robert Henri

Brush strokes carry a message whether you will it or not. The stroke is just like the artist at the time he makes it. All the certainties, all the uncertainties, all the bigness of his spirit and all the littleness are in it. ----- Robert Henri

Joaquin Sorolla

Painting at its best is communication. A successful painting communicates to others on a personal level. The artist, to be effective, must share something of themselves to make that happen. Their art must carry truth in it. Many times people confuse the truth of a thing with its outward appearance but that is just illusion. The truth of a thing is the whole thing. Not just its how it looks to the eye, but also its character, how it makes you feel. The artist in observing the motif decides to express themselves by capturing it in paint.

N.C. Wyeth

An artist must be sensitive enough to discern the whole and to infuse his paintings with the most important aspects of the thing. This not only takes the skill to paint but the openness to understand and make decisions about the subject depicted. There is facility and thoughtfulness and insight. It is opinion manifest through their ability as an artist and it is hard work. It shuns the superficiality of affectation and artistic mimesis.

Hovsep Pushman

There is a lot of technique being thrown around nowadays. Illustrators and artists are hiding behind technology and routine copying and photographic collage. This slick surface work, lacking any personality except in the most superficial way is completely devoid of the hand of the maker. In my opinion this is artistic cowardice. To remove the artist and their opinion is to remove the art from the craft of painting. Anyone, given enough time and effort can be taught the mechanics of image making but the mechanics alone do not produce a work of art. Art can be anything and take many styles but for it to be meaningful it must always carry the mark of the artist. All great art has an individual point of view.

Dennis Miller Bunker

 

The great artists and illustrators knew this and poured their thoughts and emotions into their work at every level. They infused their work with beauty, power, passion and care in spite of personal challenges, deadlines or outside influences. These artists left a bit of themselves for all to see and in doing so made their mark on the world of art.

Harvey Dunn

There are ten thousand people in the United States who can paint and draw to beat the band. You have never heard of them and you never will. They have thoroughly mastered their craft and that is all they have—their craft… Merely knowing your craft will never be enough to make a picture… If you ever amount to anything at all, it will be because you are true to that deep desire or ideal which made you seek artistic expression in pictures---Harvey Dunn

   Isaac Levitan

Can anything be more tragic than to feel the infinite beauty of your surroundings, to read natures innermost secrets and, conscious of your own helplessness, to be incapable of expressing those powerful emotions? ----- Isaac Levitan

Howard Pyle

Project your mind into your subject till you actually live in it. Throw your heart into the picture and jump in after it….Art is not a transcript or a copy. Art is the expression of those beauties and emotions that stir the human soul. ----- Howard Pyle

Weaving

by Armand Cabrera

When you plan your color and values carefully you can employ them to great effect with what I call weaving. Just like weaving a cloth, ¬the color and values are woven into the painting with intent creating a strong abstract composition. This is not the same thing as toning your canvas and allowing color to peak through the brush work in a haphazard way. Weaving uses the intelligence and creativity of the painter in service of an idea to introduce structure irrespective of subject. It is a powerful and effective design tool. This is why thumbnails and color comps created before the details and subject are overlaid onto the design are important. You cannot rely on motif and subject only to carry your painting. A good painting must have a good plan for all of the elements.


Below are some examples; I’ve varied the subject matter to show that any type of painting can incorporate the idea of weaving.

 Dean Cornwell

 John Carlson

 Aldro Hibbard

Joaquín Sorolla

 John Singer Sargent

 Emile Carlsen

 Jane Peterson



Translating the Idea

by
Armand Cabrera


I constantly see people in my classes and workshops struggling to find the right approach to painting from life. In my demos I try to stress the importance of good drawing and accurate color and value relationships. These tools allow you to make the marks you want to make when and how you want to make them. This is facility but facility only gets you so far. Many people think if they can just copy what they see the painting will be successful. The problem is you can’t copy, ever. What you can do, once you have the facility to make the marks you want is translate what you see into an intended arrangement of shapes.


Translating is the key to a successful painting from life. Everything you do, no matter how tightly or expressively you paint when working from life, is always translating.

Translating is turning 3 dimensional objects into 2 dimensional marks on your painting surface. What separates the more successful artists is the ability to only use the information that enhances the painting and doesn’t detract. This is easier said than done.

Everything is relative- color, value, shape and edges. All must be used in service of an idea that you hold in your mind for the finished painting. Translation requires more thought and ability than copying which is why so many artists struggle with painting from life successfully. You must understand that you are trying to fool the eye for the viewer and at the same time be aware of the marks you make and how they relate to the whole as just marks of color and value. It is this last part that gives the viewer the emotional response to your work. This is especially true for outdoor work.

When you paint outdoors you are always keying the color and value. Keying is limiting the range of color and value available to you in pigment and observed in nature. It is your exaggeration and sublimation of the information presented by you in an intelligent way that leads to a finished painting with clear intent.





No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition. Claude Monet

Barrel Oak Middleburg Demo

by

Armand Cabrera

Yesterday I spent the afternoon painting a demo in the Barrel Oak Gallery in Middleburg. If you haven’t been to the gallery yet and you are in Virginia please come on by, taste some fine Virginia Wine and view the art. I have 60 paintings on display.

I started with a small field sketch from autumn last year. The sketch was painted in one of my favorite areas of Virginia on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains near the town of Etlan.

The demo painting is 20x24 on linen panel. I followed the same procedure I do for most of my paintings by establishing a drawing with my brush and then blocking in the larger masses and refining those into smaller shapes . I’m careful to preserve the light and shadow in the painting and not let the details detract the big effect. The complete working time was about four hours.

 8x10 field Study

 

   Autumn near Etlan 20x24 oil on linen

Drawing Through the Form

By
Armand Cabrera



Many painters get stuck on contour and see only 2d shapes instead of drawing and painting the solidity of the forms they are trying to translate to canvas. When an artist sees everything as a flat shape they tend to ignore the visual clues that help give it more dimensions. You can teach yourself to see the form of a thing by doing what we call drawing through the form when sketching.

Drawing through the form uses construction lines to further enhance the 3d effect of an object and to set its depth clearly in your mind so you can then translate it to your canvas. It uses perspective, geometry and basic shapes to build your subject with. It is a constructive approach but can be used as an observational approach also.

It’s a good idea to practice sketching like this at all times until you automatically visualize everything you see this way. Some people prefer to start with red pencil or blue pencil to separate the construction lines from their refined final drawing. Doing this allows you to pick out what’s important to you.

Illustrators and production artists are aware of this approach because many times they are inventing scenes and characters from their imaginations but there is no reason for gallery painters not to use this tool also. Many problems can be avoided by paying attention to volume when drawing a landscape, figurative or still life picture.
(images from top to bottom Will Pogany, Peter Helck, Armand Cabrera all images are copyright to their respective owners)