Artsbridge 14th Annual Juried Show

"Spring on the Delaware Canal"
16x20 oil on panel

This painting was accepted into the Artsbridge 14th Annual Juried Show, which runs June 7 - June 29, at:

RiverRun Gallery
Laceworks
287 South Main Street (Rt 29)
Lambertville, NJ 08530

gallery hours: daily from 12 noon – 5:00 pm, except Tuesdays
Opening reception: Saturday June 7 from 6 to 9 pm.

The painting is a larger studio version of a plein air piece that I did last spring on the Delaware Canal near Phillips Mill, Pa. Hope you can stop by and see the show.

My work on PaintMap

PaintMap is a new web site where artists can upload artwork and set the exact location of the painting on a Google Map. Way in the back of my mind, I thought it would be really nice to add something like this to my own website someday but I'm sure that would have been a lot of work, and thanks to the people at PaintMap, now I don't have to!

It's still a pretty new service but once it catches on and more artists from around the world add their artwork, it will be a really fascinating way of exploring the world through paintings. It seems perfect for landscape painters.

My paintings can be found there at joekaz.paintmap.com - I won't put all of my paintings there but I will try to add those that cover the widest geographical range (although my range is pretty small).

The Evolution of a Painting

Last month I did a plein air painting on the South Branch of the Raritan River. I liked how it turned out but felt compelled to try a couple of different versions of that scene and I ended up with 4 different paintings. I find this is a good exercise to do once in a while - taking the same scene and painting it again with a different attitude. You've already got the composition worked out, so you can concentrate on trying different techniques and see where it takes you.

First is the original painting that I did on location:

"April on the South Branch"
8x10 oil on panel

---

In this second version, I tried a much looser approach. I used a very minimal palette and mixed most of the colors right on the canvas as opposed to premixing them on my palette. This is a fun way to paint! Just scrape down if the paint buildup starts getting to thick:

"April on the South Branch II"
8x10 oil on canvas

---

Third, I wanted to try painting 100% with palette knives. I didn't use a brush at all, not even for the initial sketching and blocking in. This sure saves time on cleanup since it takes just a few seconds to wipe the knives clean. But I ended up with too many hard edges in the painting. I do like this version but I think my more successful works of late use a balance of brushwork and knife-work, each being used for what it's best suited. Or, maybe I just need more practice with the knife:

"April on the South Branch III"
8x10 oil on canvas

---

The fourth and final(?) version is a larger painting - 24x30 inches. I used the palette knife in the rocky areas on both banks of the river but decided the rest was better done with brushes. And I stuck with the limited palette again:

"April on the South Branch IV"
24x30 oil on canvas

Which got me thinking... in my plein air painting, I haven't done anything larger than 11x14 in a long time. Doing smaller paintings on location is usually easier for a number of reasons, but I really should try something larger. Probably not as big as 24x30, but... stay tuned...

Awesome!

"May at Round Valley"
11x14 oil on canvas panel

From the spot I painted this, the water was about 20 feet below me on the left. Two kayakers were paddling by and I overheard:

"What's he doing?" he said.
"I think he's painting!" she said, "HEY! Are you painting?"
"Yes!" I replied.
"AWESOME!" she said as she paddled away.

A couple of weeks ago, I was painting along the Raritan River and a canoeist shouted out "Awesome!" when he saw that I was painting. I think paddlers need to expand their vocabulary a bit! Just kidding of course. My brother, John Kazimierczyk, is a pretty well known whitewater racer / boat builder and always seems to hold a national title in one racing class or another. He supports himself by designing and building canoes and kayaks from his home in the wilds of New Hampshire. Now how awesome is that?! If you're in the market for a canoe or kayak, or want whitewater canoing lessons, check out his website Millbrook Boats.

The above painting was done at Round Valley Reservoir, near Lebanon, NJ. It's at a spot just around the bend in this painting I did here last year:

"Pine Tree Trail"
11"x14" oil on linen panel

The Process of Creating

Here's a quote from Judy Dunn's blog Artrepreneur that's worth repeating. It's good advice for artists, whether you're just starting out or you've been in the game a long time:

The process of creating is precious. Protect it from the critics. The product is just product. It is not precious. It is not us. Let the critics come out and have their say when you are ready to pause. Listen. Notice. See it as a way to learn and grow. And then thank your critics for their input, and tell them to go back in their closet. And get back to having fun creating, testing, playing, experimenting..... Own the process. It is sacred. And control the critics, their words can be valuable tools or deadly weapons.

I think that's really great advice. Every critic has their own opinion, whether it's your mom, or an arts reporter from Art in America. You can listen to them, but don't forget that your opinion counts too. Be true to yourself, follow your own path, and enjoy the process! I think Robert Henri was talking about the same thing when he said:

The goal is not making art. It is living a life. Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art. Art is a result. It is a trace of those who have led their lives.

The product is not us, but it is a reflection of us - and that's only true if we follow our own path rather than trying to please critics. The important thing is to live your life, and enjoy the process.

A Plein Air Painter's Checklist

"Otto's Barns"
11x14 oil on panel

I don't know of anyone at this farm is actually named Otto, but it's across the street from a place called Otto's Farm Park and it sounded like good name for a painting.

I'm enjoying painting outdoors on location again, now that the weather is so nice, and thought it might be interesting to share my checklist - the list I check carefully before leaving the house to go paint somewhere:

Paintbox items
paintbox	It's hard to forget this, but it may as well be on the list. I have a few different boxes to use, the EasyL from Artwork Essentials is my current favorite.
tripod	One of my paint boxes has a built in tripod, but 2 others mount on a separate tripod - just a sturdy camera tripod
umbrella kit	I used to paint without one, but since I got an umbrella that mounts on my paintbox tripod, I can't live without it. If the sun shines directly on your your painting or palette, it's very difficult to work. Dappled sunlight hitting your canvas is even worse. The umbrella from Artwork Essentials is really nice and well thought out.
palette	Built in to 2 of my paintboxes, but a separate item with another box.
paint: big tube of white warm & cool blue warm & cool red warm & cool yellow transparent oxide red a few others for variety	I paint with a pretty limited palette and just carry a few essential colors plus a few extras. White plus 2 reds, 2 yellows and 2 blues is what I consider essential - with these you can mix almost any color. But other colors have their place too. I often start a painting by blocking in with transparent oxide red - a beautiful red earth color which has a transparency I can't get by mixing my other colors. I love to use this color for underpainting. I also like sap green, dioxazine purple and yellow ocher.
turpentine or mineral spirits	for cleanup and for thinning the initial coats of paint
a painting medium	I mostly use the standard mix of linseed oil and tups, but have been trying out some faster drying alkyd mediums like Gamblin's Galkyd and Neo-Meglip.
palette cups	to hold the turps and medium
canvases or panels	something to paint on!
double ended push-pins	to separate canvases when carrying them around - I'll explain this more some other time.
brushes	Once I drove 30 miles and set up to paint, only to find I left all of my brushes at home. That's the day I started this checklist.
palette knives
pencil & charcoal	for the initial sketch
rags & paper towels	oil painting can be messy
short rope	On windy days, a bit of rope or cord can be very useful for securing your gear. Canvases and sun umbrellas make very good wind-catchers!
small pliers	for stubborn paint caps
small carpenters level	I like to insure that my paintbox and canvas are perfectly level. When painting buildings and other man-made structures, I can sight along the top of my box or canvas to judge angles. It helps me to get the drawing down accurately.
small adjustable carpenters bevel	No, I don't do carpentry out in the field, but I find this tool can be useful when drawing structures with complicated angles. Holding the bevel in front of me, I can set it to the angle of a complicated roof line, then transfer that angle to my canvas. I don't use a bevel very often, but sometimes it can really help.
sketchbook	Doing thumbnail sketches first is a good way to decide how you're going to paint something.
plastic bags for dirty rags	oil painting can be messy
small plastic baggies	To wrap around wet paintbrushes when packing up. I'll clean the brushes back home.
Miscellaneous Items
camera and spare battery	I like to record the scene that I'm painting and get more reference photos of the area for later studio paintings.
penknife	Comes in handy for many things out in the field
wide brimmed hat
sunscreen
water bottle	For drinking, not for painting
food	I rarely take anything to eat along with me, but I do keep this on the list.
cell phone
wear socks	I often don't when at home, but when romping through the woods, socks helps prevent poison ivy.
wear a non-white shirt	Wet paint is very reflective, and a white shirt can cause a lot of glare on your canvas and make it very difficult to paint - especially if the sun is hitting your shirt. Same with bright colored shirts. Dark blue is good, a neutral gray is best I think.

That may look like a big list, but it all fits into a small backpack that's easy to carry around. And there's nothing worse than setting up to paint somewhere far from home, only to find you forgot something essential.

April on the South Branch

Well now that the weather is warmer, I finally got back outdoors with my paintbox. Here's one I did last weekend - it's on the South Branch of the Raritan River near Three Bridges, NJ:

"April on the South Branch"
8x10 oil on panel

It's funny, even though I've been painting in the studio all winter, I feel pretty rusty painting en plein air. In the studio, all your supplies are nicely laid out and organized (relatively speaking). Out in the field, you carry a pretty minimal paint kit, and setting up your spot to paint isn't always so simple. Here there was a rocky cliff to my right, and very little flat ground to stand on so I placed a big flat rock in the river, and painted with one foot on that rock, the other on solid ground. This was pretty near the spot where I setup:

Besides finding a more comfortable spot to stand, there's a certain rhythm of work you develop when painting outdoors: packing your supplies and not forgetting anything important, choosing your locations, setting up your easel and laying out supplies, working in the confined space of your portable paintbox, painting quickly since the light changes so fast, chatting with canoeists as they paddle by (one thought my painting was awesome!) and a myriad of other things that add to the challenge.

I'll be painting outdoors primarily now so it will all come back to me, but that painting on the South Branch might be the last one with bare trees for a while because it's greening up very quickly around here. With the April showers here this week it almost seems like you can watch the buds opening, things are turning green so fast. Spring has definitely arrived!

Pinot to Picasso - Vintage 2008

The Arts Council of Princeton is having their annual fund raiser Pinot to Picasso this Friday, April 25. It's a wine tasting / art auction to raise money for the Arts Council. Local artists donate paintings which will be raffled off in a tombola style lottery. This is the painting I donated - it's a scene at Coventry Farm, on Elm Road, just outside of Princeton, NJ:

"Coventry Farm Boardwalk"
8x10 oil on panel

Tickets to the event are still available, details are on the Arts Council of Princeton's website. And I just love that title, Pinot to Picasso - Vintage 2008!