A Dutch Workshop !
4-12 September 2014...get ready!
This
workshop will consist of nine days, including five days of painting,
one day for a museum visit, and two free days. The two free days (on
which you may sight-see, paint, or do whatever else may appeal), and the
museum day (where I will accompany the class to talk about the work
we'll see), will be scheduled once we are in Holland. This will enable
us to have some flexibility with the weather.
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| Cornelis Vreedenbergh |
The
specific locations within Holland have not yet been decided, but will
be shortly. It is my hope that we will paint both in villages and in the
countryside. We may also paint one day in town.
Royal
Talens, the maker of Rembrandt oil colors, has suggested that they
would be interested in being of assistance to us in Holland. Their U.S.
rep, Kyle Richardson, has mentioned some interesting things which we
will discuss further.
As of now, we have a quorum for the trip, with a small number of additional places available. Please let me know immediately if you would like to join us.
 |
| Cornelis Vreedenbergh |
My workshops are different from some in terms of arrangements. The tuition fee of $790.00 covers only tuition. In order to be registered, you must send a deposit of $395.00 at the time of registration.
This deposit will be non-refundable after 1 June 2014. The balance of tuition ($395.00) is due not later than 15 June 2014.
Checks
should be made to Donald Jurney, and sent to Donald Jurney, 9 Strong
Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. Your registration will be promptly
acknowledged by email.
Note
28Jan2014---The workshop is filling. Please communicate immediately if you wish to join.
 |
| W. C. Keith (American) |
Transportation to and from the Netherlands, car rental, accommodations, meals,
travel insurance, and other incidentals are the responsibility of each
student.
 |
| Anton Mauve |
Many
students combine workshop trips with other travel and we've found that
allowing students to make their own reservations for transportation is
best. Likewise, students seem to have different ideas about what they
would prefer in terms of lodging, etc. Thus it's proven most
satisfactory for students to suit their own needs. If you should wish to share a room with another student, let me know and I will put you in touch.
 |
| Claude Monet |
I will be sending out some accommodation ideas and links to registrants in the near future.
 |
| Willem Tholen |
Regarding
car rentals: public transportation in the Netherlands is very good. Our
inter-city travel will be done by train. But for local travel into the
countryside, cars will, regrettably, be required. If you would like to
share car rental expense with other students, please let me know and I
will put you in touch.
 |
| Johannes Vermeer |
At the moment, Icelandic Air is offering a fare of $925, roundtrip, Boston to Amsterdam, via Keflavik.
 |
| P. J. C. Gabriel |
Lodging
prices cover a large range. It's possible that Royal Talens will be
able to get a special rate for us. I will notify registrants as soon as
this is determined.
Materials lists, equipment lists, etc., will be sent to registrants as soon as their deposits have been received.
I
look forward to painting with you in September! Please don't hesitate
to write if you should have any questions (dbjurney@verizon.net)
What's Happened Since Then,
and a REMINDER...
Before Christmas, I left you with this image, the then-current state of the the painting that changed its orientation and its subject.
It's had its moment or two on the easel since then, mostly occupied with adding rocks, ledges and working on the water and sky. Here's where it is at the moment. I couldn't get the color right, and I'm in a hurry, But this will give you some idea.
(That's the sun).
The detail, below, will give a sense of the color (tho' not so purple). You'll see that it was pre-sun.
On the subject of monkeying with old paintings, here's one I fiddled with today. It was, originally, as flat as a pancake. Today it seems to have gone out West. In fact, a follower on Instagram, who should know, says it reminds him of central Utah in August. Who knew?! It's a phone shot----sorry! (24x30").
December 20th found Todd, Nick, Tom Bailey, and me out painting at Maudslay.
I came away with this 20x16". A good time.
Most important, though, is a
REMINDER
about the new 3-Part Demonstration. It starts this Friday (10 January) and continues for the next two Fridays (17 & 24 January).
The class runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and is held in the building where my studio is located: 14 Cedar Street, Amesbury, MA
It will be held in Studio # 101, on the first floor. The cost is $60.00 per session. If you need a scholarship, let me know.
For those of you not familiar with the class, I paint a painting in three sessions, from my imagination. This week's canvas is 50" x 60". As I go along, I tell you about why I'm making the choices I make, and show the various routes I take to find a painting on the blank canvas. It's a lot of fun.
Non-artists, who have an interest in the creative process, are encouraged to come. Last session, we had six or eight "lay" people.
Time is fleeting! If you'd like to come for some or for all, let me know as soon as possible: dbjurney@verizon.net
See you then!
A Fresh Start
This is a quick post about what happened in the studio today.
I pulled out of the cupboard a 20x25" canvas that I began at the Vermont Workshop in June 2012. Since that time it's been languishing around the studio, but it was brought into service this autumn for a session of the Dead Paintings Society. I re-worked it some, changing it several times in the process, for whatever educational benefit it might have.
Today, casting about for a surface on which to paint, and not wanting to stretch a canvas, I decided that the Vermont painting needed to give its life for ART.
Although I failed to take a photo before I started, there's enough here to bring back painful memories for any of my students who were there.
I flipped it into a vertical.
And added the yellow ochre, baryte yellow, and secret yellow sky and its reflection.
What I was most after was a mood. Most of you know I like to keep the painting entirely in play until my imagination is fired by something within the rectangle.
Above, you will see that I continued the reflection, and added a temporary "shoreline" so I would have a reference point.
At this stage, I've put in a bit more color, and made some streaks in the sky. I've wiped out the area in the lower left, thinking about putting in a near shoreline or bank.
Now there is some more activity in the sky and a reflection in the water. The distant hill is more filled in, as is its reflection.
Finally, I filled in the hillside and its reflection, and built a rocky foreground.
This is where I stopped. I'm not sure what will ultimately be the "subject" of the picture in a conventional sense. For me, the subject will be the mood.
Try this at home.
Thinking of N.C.
Thinking of N. C. Wyeth led me to paint a whole 25x20" canvas today. I pulled the canvas out of the never-will-be-finished pile. It was a start from one of last summer's Battis Farm workshops.
I turned it vertically, and set about painting a view that would have some of the strong, dramatic contrasts that are such a feature of the elder Wyeth's work.
My original intention was to create a landscape into which I could put the figures for "Chapter Two: The Ambush".
As it turned out, the painting is smaller in scale than I wanted, and the painting had a mind of its own.
It still has some little bits to be dealt with, but I'm very pleased with this five hours' work. I'll sleep well tonight.
Trying to Catch up
Well, if you follow the blog with any regularity, you'll know I've been AWOL. Seems it started with the beginning of the three-part demonstration. We had 22 students, both painters and lay people. It was quite an adventure, and it's my intention to post about it one day.
Further to that subject, I've been asked when the next one will be. I've scheduled it for the 10th, 17th & 24th of January (9 a.m.-1 p.m. each day). You may sign up for fewer than three sessions, but I think you'd benefit the most from all three. Because Sarajean is recuperating this month, you should register with me, instead: dbjurney@verizon.net. We will have even more interested non-artists this time, so feel free to spread the word to those who might enjoy it.
We'll need the 3-part as an antidote to the cruel blasts of winter (if you're like me, the creativity slows. Let's jump start it!)
My thanks to all who wrote about the difference the demos made to their own ideas and to their work. It's very heartening to me to hear of these epiphanies, and it certainly made my time recovering in the sanatorium easier.
I also have been essaying some other paintings. First, I painted, almost straight out, a 30x24 anticipating February. I wanted to capture the complete hush that falls across the landscape when it begins to snow. Here's the result (a rather poor phone shot, overlit at the top----oh, well).
I also played around with a 12x14" piece of canvas, taped to a board. It turned out to be a squall.
I have become a devotee of Instagram. It's an easy way to post some photos quickly, and to just as quickly get some feedback from artists I know all across the country and even beyond. It's easy to sign up. For me it's fun because I'm in touch with a number of my confederates at Arcadia Contemporary.
Here's a photo which the director of Arcadia's satellite space at The Four Seasons Hotel in New York posted on Instagram. Seems the cleaner was momentarily beguiled.
I posted a photo of a drawing I own. I bought the drawing at a vide-grenier (tag sale) when we lived in France. It was in the midst of a pile of miscellaneous, printed papers. The sign said 2 euros. So I casually paid the vendor and made off with my treasure.
Anyway, as I was saying, I posted a phone shot of the drawing on instagram, trying to get a sense of the date of the the uniform and the rifle. Several people managed to place the soldier and his rifle at the time of the Crimean war.
One of the new painters I've met on Instagram is Jon Hayes. I suggested to Jon that we try to make paintings of him, utilizing the drawing of our long-dead fellow artist. For most of a week we've been posting our progress back and forth, and receiving comments from other artists. All in all, it's been great fun (though somewhat harrowing because of my lack of figure skills). Here's the drawing (about 20" x 12"):
Jon did a very credible job of his study. Perhaps because I'm a landscape painter, I felt impelled to put him in a setting. I imagined his location (somewhere in the Crimea!) and set about making a painting that tried to borrow from my first hero, N. C. Wyeth). It has much wrong with it, but it does have an 'atmosphere'. This is its current state (25"x20"):
The inclusion of another figure, some landscape (a distant estuary? Can he see the Russian Fleet?) and the moon, begin to give it a certain feeling that I like. I can see curling up with my book, anxious to find out what's next.
In fact, Jon and I have agreed to try a painting illustrating another event. We've called it "Chapter Two: The Ambush". This time we don't have a drawing to help us from our 19th c. artist friend. We each will interpret the where and what for ourselves. Wish us luck.
Penultimately, two students have been badgering me (yes, that's the correct word) to do some sessions which are just critiques. I've said that I'd consider it. If you should want to be involved in these, and can withstand my withering comments(!), let me know. I'll pass your interest on to Gloria and Pat who are organizing it.
Finally, there are those who'd like to have a weekly painting class, in which you paint(!), to get us through the winter. If you're someone who'd like to do that, please write to me at dbjurney@verizon.net
Cheers.
Announcing...
A Three-part Demonstration
A number or artists have asked if I would do a demonstration, starting with a blank canvas and continuing to a finished one.
In response to this, I've tentatively scheduled a three-part demonstration for 8, 15 & 22 November---all Fridays. The sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be a fifteen minute break at 11:00 a.m.
Because my studio gets somewhat congested for The Dead Paintings Society, I've made arrangements for a larger space in my studio building for these sessions.
Part of the advantage to having a larger space is being able to also have those who may not paint but who'd like to know more about the process, how I make choices in color, composition and subject.
I've chosen a 36" x 42" canvas for this class. The large size will make it easier to demonstrate a number of techniques and to follow a more complex pictorial strategy.
And, of course, the longer time will enable me to show much more of my process.
So please think about coming, and do share this with anyone you know who might find it interesting. It's also posted on Instagram and on Facebook (which you could share, please!)
If you're interested in coming, please write Sarajean Graham at sarajean.graham@comcast.net
Hope to see you!
D
p.s. Sometime this evening, the 50,000th visitor will visit this blog. Thank you!
A Wee Bit of Press
Thanks to the eagle eye of WWB, I found out about this just-published bit of press, following the Armory show in New York.
It's from Antiques and The Arts Weekly, October 25, 2013, page 59.
Does this mean I was clever--- or merely that the passersby weren't paying attention?
Regardless, I'm blushing.
