Tuesday, February 18, 2014
CAC 2nd Winter Art Symposium Inspires and Illuminates
Monday, March 25, 2013
CAC Quarterly Paint-Out for Bay Area Chapter is Largest Turnout Ever
Discussing paintings with Bryan Mark Taylor, Doug Morgan and Kim Lordier |
Monday, October 29, 2012
4th Annual CAC Retreat at Marconi Conference Center
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
WhiskeyTown National Recreation Area – Artist in Residence
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
NOCTURNE - A Kevin Courter Workshop
This past weekend Christin and I were fortunate to be part of a three day workshop atl'Atelier aux Couleurs: The Art Academy in Petaluma with the gifted artist Kevin Courter. The workshop was titled “NOCTURNES” because he often paints with this low-light theme in mind. While most people would consider his approach tonal… he thinks his nocturnes are far less muted than most tonal painters because he uses more intense colors in the backgrounds and skies.
His approach is quite unique and begins with a monochromatic under-painting by mixing dark transparent colors to create the foundation of the painting. Using Q-Tips, he pulls of delicate amounts of paint from the masses to indicate the highlights and shape of the trees, marshes, etc. He spends quite a long amount of time on this process and considers it crucial to be successful at this stage or the painting will often not work out. It’s almost as if he was using a scratch-board process. He begins applying color. He mixes in a large puddle and pulls all of his colors from here using very subtle shifts. It’s crucial to have a compressed palette in nocturnes because the night light flattens the color temperature.
I don’t take many workshops, but I believe that by occasionally exposing myself to the techniques, methods and thought processes great painters… these things will absorb into my knowledge base and merge into my process however it should. It is tempting to try and copy his paintings and style… but I consider this counter-productive. Simply watching and absorbing his demos was a treat. He is a very generous painter/teacher and I have a newfound appreciation for his work (which I always liked anyway). There were many other wonderful artists in attendance and the paintings that were created were put up on the holding shelves during the three days… in the end, there were so many fantastic creations that it was even difficult to pick out the original Courters’.
Here are the three paintings I created at the workshop. I'm pleased with all of them.
Refuge Moon - 12x12 oil - by Richard Lindenberg
Moonlit Cypress - 12x9 oil - by Richard Lindenberg
Bodega Bay Moon - 8x16 oil - by Richard Lindenberg
Thursday, February 9, 2012
A Day in Paradise Near the Sonoma Coast
It has been an unseasonably warm winter here in Northern California with very little rain. Although this isn't good for the ranchers or our water supply... it's been great for me as a plein air landscape painter. I've been out a lot in the last couple of months and have many new paintings created in a time when normally I'm locked in my studio painting larger pieces.
Yesterday, I started the day visiting Graton Gallery outside Sebastapol, CA where they are holding their annual invitational show. I was invited this year and submitted two paintings but had not seen the show yet. While there, I asked for a local place to paint and they steered me to Coleman Valley Rd., just outside Occidental, CA. It meanders through a valley where I discovered a classic whitewashed old ranch house that lit up in the morning sun. I couldn't resist it and pulled over to paint. Beautiful light.
After eating a bit of lunch... I continued on and the road moved up and out of the valley to the ridgeline that meandered out to the Sea. Along the way I was stopped by the CHP to wait for a film crew that was making a commercial with a bicyclist riding along the road. After they let me pass, I found a spot on the hilltop overlooking an enormous valley that went down to the ocean. The late light was just starting to turn colors, so I did my block in and continued to add color and light while the sun dropped lower in the sky. Loved the spot and the painting.
Reflecting on this magnificent day, I felt a deep connection with painting and the land... I felt alive and blessed and wanted to share this.