"Vents"

As sometimes happens when painting plein air, my recent Plein Air Workshop was visited by rain.  As a result, this work which began as a class demo was done while I was sheltered just inside a door to the back deck of the Media Barn at Taraden Bed & Breakfast.   The view was of  the next barn over and the massive vents lining the roof peak.

Selecting a good subject for a plein air painting involves seeing the big picture rather than the detail and simplifying from the overwhelming amount of subject matter.  In this case, my low – relative to the peak of the next barn – point of view, the swirling storm clouds in the sky and the interesting angles of the barn roof caught my attention.  The rain slick roof was reflective of  both the light and of the vents.

Although plein air paintings can be relatively accurate depictions of the artists surroundings,  it is generally my way to take liberties with color for most of my plein air paintings.  This one is no exception.  For the most part the scene in reality was a study in gray and green.  The sky, the vents themselves, and the sides of the white barn were all some shade of gray.  The barn trim and the one element of greenery – the tree at far left – were green.  Knowing that I would want to inject color, I took my cue from the vents, the tops of which were heavily weathered and corroded.  Thinking of corrosion as rust, I decided to include a heavy dose of orange  and related colors into the composition along with the local color greens.   With those two colors included, it was a conscious decision to create the painting based on a triad of secondaries — green, orange & violet – with the subtle violets infused into the grays.  The result is both harmonious and contrasting in a balanced way.

An interesting thing to note about the subject barn is that it was the studio for the noted abstract painter and one of the best known color field artists, Ken Noland – see his official website here, and his Wikipedia entry here.   The barn itself is very large and served Mr. Noland very well in the creation of the large works he was known for.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"Repair & Refit"

After participating in Arts Fest Beverly this past Saturday, I spent two days painting “en plein air” in the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts.   Cape Ann is one of my favorite places to paint – it features quaint New England coastal villages; rocky and rugged north eastern coastlines; picturesque inlets and harbors; and dramatic panoramas of open ocean.

Manchester-by-the-Sea is one of those quaint villages – picturesque and paintable.  Surprising, I guess, that I chose subjects that are not so quaint.  “Repair & Refit” is a painting of a sailer, up on the blocks for repair.  This was painted in the afternoon with light coming from high in the sky.  I liked the look and feel of this large boat being supported by relatively small, by comparision, metal stands.   The top-lighting was also casting a sliver of a shadow under the boat – another attraction of the scene.

In the morning, prior to painting this scene in the boat yard, I painted the MBTA drawbridge over the inlet to the Manchester harbor.   At the time I arrived and began looking for subjects,  the bridge was up.  I sketched and started painting.  In just a short time, I could hear the first train from Boston in the distance and the bridge was lowered and stayed down while I finished the painting.

"Manchester Draw"

The attraction of this subject was the contrast between the heavy, industrial and obviously man-made bridge and control tower, and the buildings in the background, with the peaceful calm of the harbor.  The background buildings are the Manchester Marine boatyard where I painted the “Repair & Refit”, above.

On Monday morning, I returned to an old haunt – Rocky Neck, in Gloucester MA.  Rocky Neck is home to one of the oldest artist colonies in the country and is still home to many artists and galleries.  Edward Hopper spent several summers in Gloucester, mostly painting buildings, factories and railyards.  His famous watercolor, “The Mansard Roof” is a depiction of one of the homes on Rocky Neck – noted on the map of Rocky Neck at the link above – note, I don’t encourage wandering around the home since it is private property.

Normally I paint harbor or ocean scenes when I am here.  This time, the light striking one of the homes caught my eye and I ended up with the painting below.

"East Gloucester Rental"

The home seems actually divided into rental spaces, thus the name.  This work was rather quickly done, with large areas of color and value laid in with a large round brush, all at once and detail minimized.

In exploring the area, I stumbled on the Coolidge Reservation.  It is a beautiful nature preserve located between Manchester and Gloucester along Rt 127.  More information about the reservation is located at the link above.  There was much that could have been painted.  Pressed for time, I chose to do a quick painting looking west and southwest from the area know as Ocean Lawn.  This spot, which includes a long lawn that slopes down toward the ocean from the high point on the reservation has fabulous views of the coastline to the west and southwest, and of the open ocean to the south.   The day I was there, the sky was mottled with cumulus clouds that created light reflections on the calmer surface of the water.

"Ocean Lawn South"

The focus of the painting is the partly cloudy sky and the subtle reflections, divided by the coastline receding into the distance. I am certain to return to the Coolidge Reservation for more painting in the future.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Park McCullogh View

I have three Plein Air Painting workshops scheduled in the upcoming months – Saturday & Sunday, July 10 & 11, Saturday & Sunday, September 25 & 26, Saturday & Sunday, October 16 & 17 – all three meet from 10am to 4pm each day.

Plein Air painting developed in the late 18th century and was popularized by artists such as John Constable &  Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot in the early 19th century.  Most artists painting en plein air in that day were driven to depict nature in true fidelity and through observable fact. The plein air movement continued into the late 19th century and was carried on by the Impressionists of that time.

Enjoy the unique experience of painting “en plein air” and learn the skills and techniques needed to quickly capture light effects and to make plein air paintings successful. Each class begins with a short instructor demo focusing on the key skills of selecting and simplifying the subject, composing the painting, and mixing and applying the right colors. For the rest of the day, the class works on their own paintings with help and guidance from the instructor. Indoor studio space is available in case of bad weather.

Class meets on the grounds of the Taraden Bed & Breakfast,  and will paint in various locations in around the quintessential Vermont community of North Bennington. Class fee – $150 for each weekend long class.

2010 Class Schedule 2010 Class Registration Form Plein Air Painting Supplies & Equipment Plein Air Painting Tips

Suggested Materials

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"Cranford Remembers"

An intense few days of plein air painting and a surprising amount of difficulty finding public wireless networks in the town kept me from posting any updates about the event during the four days.

In any case, I completed eight paintings in three days.  The painting above was completed on Saturday during the “Quick Draw” competition.  The Qhick Draw requires that the artist complete a plein air painting in 2 hours.  This painting is of the 9/11 Memorial erected to remember six residents of the town who lost their lives in the World Trade Center. I was drawn to this view, behind and to the left of the monument for the sweeping curve of the overhead element and the way the shade and shadows played on this, the “unlit” side of the memorial.

Although this work did not sell during the event, it is on exhibit and available for purchase at the Artists Framer, 17 North Ave East, Cranford, NJ.

I’ll post more of the Cranford works in the coming week.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"River Valley"

4″ x 11″

Private Collection

With out going into a lot of detail about why, part of my painting process often leaves me with odd shaped leftover pieces of paper.  Many of them are in this “panoramic” format where one dimension is more than twice as long as the other.   The shape is well suited for a panoramic view of a landscape scene.    The scene depicted in “River Valley” is not any where in particular, but rather it is a made up location designed mostly to allow the depiction of deep, lush wooded hillsides and a sparkling, reflective river flowing through.

The summer landscape can be difficult to paint since there is an overwhelming amount of green.   In this case, I decided to focus on the look of deep, cool shade and shadow areas on the hillsides by pushing the color toward blue.  The sense of summer green is there but is subordinate to the blues.   Surrounded by so much dark and low intensity color, the ribbon of sparkling river stands out as a visual pathway through the painting and into the distance.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"Time Gone By"" Back to Basics"

The North Adams Artists Co-op gallery opens a new exhibit called “Back to Basics” next Thursday, May 27.  The Opening Reception is Thursday, May 27th, 2010 from 5 to 8pm and is open to the public. The exhibit runs May 27 – June 20, 2010.
The theme of the exhibit allows the artist to show work that may go in a few directions: simplification is obvious but the artist may also choose to go back to his/her beginnings, as an artist. We all have arrived at our current art/state through a series of progressive steps…so perhaps, the work for this exhibition re-examines where we came from, literally or figuratively.

Three of my works will be on view; “Time Gone By” shown above as well as “Common Old Man” and “Hoosick Falls”, below.

"Common Old Man"

"Hoosick Falls"

The NAACO Gallery is located at 33 Main Street, North Adams, Massachusetts, and is open Monday,  Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 11am – 6pm and Sunday from 12pm – 4pm.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"Equinox Road"

This painting was posted shortly after it was completed in April 2008.  In that post, I talk about this work being metaphorical and composed just to communicate the way I sense the change of season between winter and spring – more about this painting can be found here.  A large cool shadow area covers most of the bottom third of the painting. Below are some other newer and older works that feature similar compositions.

"Deep Autumn"

"Winter Light"

"Cape Time"

"October Blues"

So, how come?  Why does this compositional convention show up so often in my landscape paintings.  The answer I gave during the demo is true – it works well as a compositional tool.  Beyond that, I have an affinity for the play of light in nature.  In a painting, the only way to convey light is to contrast it with shadow or shade – meaning that there must be some variety of darker values near the lights.   As I alluded in the earlier post, and as I try hard to convey to students in my classes, the composition of value shapes is what provides structural strength (or weakness) to a painting.  Personally, I like a solid visual step at the bottom edge of a painting, which is the reason that I so often include it in my work.   What would Sigmund Freud think?  Something deep, dark and troubling no doubt!    I prefer to think it’s just my best efforts at good composition. That said, perhaps I’ll mix things up in work to come – stay tuned!

"Park-McCullough View"

"Breaking Light"

"Afternoon Farm"

"Golden Afternoon"

"Rural Route"

Contact me if you have an interest in these or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"Side Street"

12″ x 20″

This painting began as a demonstration painting created for the residents of Equinox Village in Manchester Vermont.   The scene is adapted from pencil sketches done on Cape Cod in the early 1990′s.    Though the sketches are older, the sense of place from that July morning has stayed with me.  Although the Cape is a popular vacation area in the summer, and has all the things that go with that, the backroads and village streets away from the tourist areas are as quaint as one would expect.  The original sketches were created on a July morning, with bright sun already raking the streets, creating dramatic shade and shadow in contrast to streets, yards, fences and homes washed in brilliant light.

The challenge for this painting was two-fold: first, painting for an audience presents its own challenges in trying to balance speech – explaining techniques, color choices and thinking – while maintaining a focus on the work in progress; Second, balancing the many shade and shadow areas with the sun-struck portions of the painting.   Speaking while painting I managed.  More difficult was getting the shade and shadow areas just dark enough to convey the point without creating the sense of a “black-hole”.  The bottom half of the painting – edge of a building to the left, its small side yard, the large expanse of street, a white picket fence line, and the yard with tree to the right, are all shadow.  Since the main focus of the painting is the white cottage home in the upper center-right, the value difference between this large area and the brightly lit street that leads to the house needed to be minimized.   Low intensity color in the mid-value range accomplish the sense of shadow without creating too much contrast.  Detail is also kept to a minimum in this area – in fact there is not much detail in any area of the painting – only the illusion of it.

My audience commented on the choice of color for the secondary house, the red-orange one, in the upper left.  True, it was somewhat of a dangerous or – can I say it – daring choice.   Yet it was a conscious to add that color in that location in order to help draw the eye into the background  where the focal point is placed.  The painting is dominated by cool color – green, mostly, with cool blues and violets as well.  The introduction of the warmer hues provides movement, contrast and relief from the overall cool dominance.  Red, as the complement of green, adds a glow that helps convey the sense of bright sunlight ” bounced” from lit surfaces into the shady areas.   By the way, this red color is a low intensity red that looks brighter because of its placement in an environment that is saturated in its complement. The color itself is a hue called “Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet” produced by Daniel Smith Artists Materials.  It is a deep, cool, gray red,  and is a favorite color of mine. It mixes quite well with a range of blues to produce transparent grays and gray-violets.

In addition to the red house, a number of warm areas were introduced into the painting to support the sense of bounced light and to keep the eye moving through the painting.  The extreme foreground fence post had a good bit of warm grey-orange on the foreground face.  From there, one can find touches of warmth in all of the fence lines as well as in the doorway of the focal point house, in the tree trunks and in the cast shadows.

I have made several paintings out of these sketches, all very similar in composition.  Below is another version done some years ago.

"Cottage"

11″ x 15″

Private collection

This version takes a similar perspective of looking up the street toward a house catching the raking light of a summer day.   Notice the differences in the two paintings in terms of color choices, point of view &  value range

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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The Better Bennington Corp’s annual downtown art event will take place on Friday, March19th and Saturday, March 20th, in the 210 South Street Building <link to Google map> in downtown Bennington.  One hundred works of art by local and regional artists will be exhibited and offered for sale for  $100.00 each.

The first One Hundred for $100 event was a blockbuster success, with enthusiastic crowds and a number of artists work selling out.  A special feature this year will be an exclusive preview of the exhibit from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m., with champagne, special hors d’oeuvres, and smooth jazz by  Blueprint. Tickets for the preview event are $15/person.  At 6:00 p.m., the doors will open to the public and the artwork will be available for sale.   The proceeds of the event benefit the non-profit Better Bennington Corporation as well as the artists,  who receive 80% the purchase price for their artwork.

Three of my small works -”Barn Snowscape”, pictured above, “Woods Edge – Afternoon” & “Snow Cover Landscape”, both pictured below – are included in the exhibit.

After 6pm Friday the 19th, admission is free.  For more information please call the Better Bennington Corporation at 802-442-5758 or visit www.betterbennington.com.

"Snow Cover Landscape"

"Woods Edge Afternoon"

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Park McCullough View

Myself, along with 31 other nationally known fine artists will be descending on Cranford, NJ to PAINT THE TOWN! The artists will transform Cranford into a town-sized outdoor painting studio for three days.  The event culminates in a grand finale show and sale of all artwork.  All participating artists are accomplished and jury-selected artists and will be creating  original oil, acrylic, pastel and watercolor paintings at locations throughout our area.

The public is welcome to watch and visit the artists who will be painting in the town parks, along the river, in select private gardens, and at historic sites and in the downtown.

Plein air painting events are extremly popular and fast growing art experiences – you’re invited to join me and the other artists at this premier event.  The event begins Wednesday June 9th and continues through Sunday June 13th.

This Event is hosted by Jersey Central Art Studios, the Cranford Chamber of Commerce, and the Cranford Downtown Management Corporation.