Small Works / Color Studies – March 2020

There are times I think the sky is daring me to paint it.

As if it is saying there’s no way you can catch me.

I am too wild.

Untamed Sky, oil on panel, 5x7 inches, Jim Serrett

Thunderstorms where heavy this afternoon and there was a controlled burn in the Shawnee Forest. 

I’ve been told either one can cause a sky like this. 

Rather brooding and ominous but interesting.

Yellow Sky, oil on panel, 5x7 inches, Jim Serrett

The morning haze is being burned away and the sun is warming the day.

The world is wide-awake.

Lake View – mid-morning, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

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Website - jimserrett.com 
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Small Works / Color Studies – Love the Process

Painting has been a major part of my life for decades. I am not sure what it would be like without it?
Even when the results sucked, if I am engaged with the exploration, I am always rewarded.
My sage advice.  Appreciate the journey. Love the process of painting.

These are some studies from the end of fall.  December Pochades 2019

A favorite spot to paint, we launch our kayaks and explore the lake from here.
I think it is one of the most beautiful lakes in Southern Illinois. It is a Zen place for us.

Boat Dock Road - Cedar Lake, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Enormous numbers of Egrets this year along the Mississippi. I guess because of the flooded fields. I think there's a beautiful, elegant simplicity to watching them hunt in shallow waters, moving slowly with the neck extended searching or standing motionless until the prey comes within striking distance.

White Egrets - Old State Rte 3, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Probably the last day of fall colors before the rains. The beautiful changes are eye candy.

Late Fall Walk, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim

Website - jimserrett.com
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Small Works / Color Studies – June

It is like watching a parade of giants floating above the lake. I am small again.

Cloud Parade, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Lately the storms have been both dangerous and beautiful.

Nature is full of contradictions.

Sometimes the rain can be sad and happy.

What’s That - Big Rain, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

I painted this from my imagination, it is play... but also, memory and design training.

Everyone should learn to dream trees.

I Dream Trees, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Glass can be the most fun thing to paint, so many abstract passages, reflections and transparencies...  I will never bore of painting glass.

Blue and Clear Bottle, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

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Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Small Works / Color Studies – Spring

I love watching the rain on the horizon it is an endless abstraction of form, light and color.

Fast-moving storm crossing the Mississippi into Illinois.

Fast Storm, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Really interesting formations, I’m guessing Nimbostratus clouds and some front meeting?

Spring Convergence, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

There is incredible subtle energy in nature, if you take a moment to observe.

These clouds moved along the with the flow of the Mississippi river almost in synchronized harmony.

River of Clouds, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

These trees are just off my deck, I have probably drawn them or painted them a dozen times.

I will probably draw them or paint them a dozen times more.  😊

Trees Outback, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

I will never tire of the beauty and transformation of a sunset.

Sunset Over the Lake, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

In early spring there is this amazing transformation of color, it is my favorite time of year, when the earth tones of Winter and the greening of Spring collide.

The Greening, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

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Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Small Works for the Holidays

Some of my Original Color Studies, and Pochade Box Paintings will be at the Art Guild of Paducah

over the Holidays. These 5 x 7-inch oil studies and sketches are on 3/8 hardwood panel ready to hang.

Great Holiday gift for the art lover.

Art Guild of Paducah

A.M. Field, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Cloud Dance, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Fall Sunset Trees, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Harvest Clouds, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Just Past Mile Marker 27, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

November Field, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Mile Marker 27, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Riverview, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

Lovers Lane Sunset, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, Jim Serrett

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Website - jimserrett.com
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Grey Sunset

Grey is never colorless,
color is about comparable chromatic relationships.
Say that three times fast.


Grey Sunset, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, © Jim Serrett

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Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Even in Front of Nature One Must Compose.

Nearly all of my work begins with some type of preliminary sketch, either a thumbnail drawing in a sketchbook or oil study in my Pochade Box. Lately I have been spending a great deal of time sketching, gathering information outdoors and drawing from my imagination. Creating small rough abstract sketches to work out composition and design elements. 

Mainly I am using pen and ink with watercolor. I like the ink because you don’t fiddle with it as much as say a pencil sketch, you just have to lay it down with some speed and confidence. It is very permanent mark making and you simply/humbly live with what you put down and move along. Over that I wash in some color, do some crosshatching and try to capture the value and mass pattern. I call them my scribbles; and that is what they are, quick notations of design ideas based on nature.

They are exercises in capturing what I see in front of me from direct observation (the Art of Seeing) but also it is about the simple pleasure of drawing.

I look for a strong arrangement of dark and light patterns, the Japanese use the word Notan which means the "dark-light" harmony.  But a notan is also as much about shape/form, positive/negative, figure/ground relationships. It is why it is such a strong abstract design tool. I like to think of it as being the ying-yang of composition. Ever walk into a gallery full of art and be instantly attracted to a particular piece, drawn to it from across the room? Our eyes are drawn to the strong arrangements of shapes and patterns. As you learn to use this design tool you will recognize it in paintings and drawings of master artists.

Slow down mentally and take a long look at your subject, carefully choose the center of interest or theme of the piece, what it is about, what has drawn you to this motif and design outwards from that point. Simplify and edit down the elements by making them subordinate to that central idea. That is the key to good composition.

It is fun working out compositions and concepts, playing with the elements and ideas based on the anatomy of the landscape. Let them evolve and "brainstorm" many studies, before you know it you will have sketchbooks full of Composition Thumbnails which are a library of knowledge and imagination to work from.

“Even in front of nature one must compose.” ~ Edgar Degas

Color Studies:

Last Light, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in, Jim Serrett

Over the Horizon, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in, Jim Serrett

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Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Links:

Notan is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark as they are placed next to the other in art and imagery.

Ying and Yang

No.7 of 30 After the Rain

After the Rain, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches (12.7 cm x 17.8 cm)

Available on ebay,

Click Here to Bid 

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Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Palapa Party !

I’ve got to tell you, there is no better way to boycott winter than to find a little patch of sand along the Caribbean Sea to occupy and just park it. Watch the sunrise, watch the sunset, cold cerveza and do it all again. Palapa party!

Punta Nizuc Reef Cancun Mexico - I could sit there (or lounge) all day and fill my Moleskine journals with sketches and never run out of things to draw or paint. I have said this a thousand times, so it does seem redundant, but the sea along the Caribbean in Cancun is one of the most beautiful in the world, just amazing. I could paint it forever, exploring and studying the colors, all the deep violets and endless cerulean blues.

There is no better way to recharge than fresh air and fresh scenery. For me to just scribble and doodle in a sketchbook in such a serene place, that is the best of all worlds. I carried a couple of sketchbooks, a 3.5x5.5-inch pocket Moleskine, a 5.5x8.5-inch Strathmore Watercolor Journal and a small watercolor pad. I had my old Winsor & Newton Field Box Set but used mostly a Lukas 1862 Artists Watercolors set, it had a color palette that seemed perfect for the sea and sky. I used a Rotring art pen loaded with Noddlers ink, both of which I really enjoyed drawing with. And of course a couple of Pitt Pens and a clutch pencil.

Of course we had to find Mayan ruins to explore and we snorkeled until my lips cracked. I think my wife is really a mermaid and swims like a fish. What I really appreciate is her patience with me when I am sketching on location, especially in El Rey where she had to combat the giant iguanas.

Just another beautiful sunrise in paradise. 

Royal Resort - Royal Islander, Cancun Mexico

El Rey Ruins (Zona Arqueologica El Rey)

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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Standing by Peaceful Waters

There are places we all go to escape, places that just let our minds wander freely at ease. Places that become part of our own psyche. For me those places are the lakes we hike and kayak through the seasons. Every time I stand next to a lake at sunset I find a inner calm. I have found peaceful waters.

Water is essential for life and is the major component of our bodies and the earth. It is tied to the spirit and mind of humans, in forms I am sure we may never understand. But we know, we are drawn to it. Be it seaside, lake or stream we have a deep connection to water.

I think that at the bank of every lake and in every sunset there is a story. I always wonder what this place was like 50 years ago, 100 years ago or before mankind found this place, what it was like in it's primitive state, what stories this place could tell? 

John Prine tells a story about an Indian tribe that finds two babies in the woods, they name two lakes after them, Lake Marie and Lake Elizabeth.  He precedes to tell the story of those lakes and the things that happened around them, colored by time and perception as well. Have a listen.

[Chorus]
We were standing
Standing by peaceful waters
Standing by peaceful waters
Whoa wah oh wha oh
Whoa wah oh wha oh


John Prine - website

All three pochade's are 5 x 7 inches on canvas panel, check my  Etsy Store  for availability.

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Website - jimserrett.com 
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Spring Equinox

For us here in the lower Mid-west the winter has certainly been cold, but nothing like the bone chilling, snow thumping other parts of the country have received this year. No words sound as good as winter is gone and spring has come. But I will say that I have enjoyed the palette colors of winter this season, there is something about the tones of red and yellow earth under a dramatic sky. The landscape freed of its foliage exhibits a unique anatomy and rhythm, a hidden depth and perspective accented with the bared lace of trees.

A major part of being an artist is seeing things through different eyes; observing nature in ways others might overlook, and draw attention to the beauty of simple things. When we accomplish/connect with that, we can create a shared visual experience or artistic vision that can be more compelling and authentic than reality itself.

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks”

                                                                                                           - John Muir

Above art work:

Spring Equinox oil on panel 8 x 10 in

Spring Equinox oil sketch 5 x 7 in

Links:

Spring Equinox – Vernal Equinox

John Muir

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Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Lake Murphysboro

This little plein air piece has been hanging around the studio since last fall. I was after the sunset back-lighting the mass of trees, contrasted against the reflection of colors bouncing off the water. I just thought posting it might warm us all up.

Lake Murphysboro  oil on panel 8 x 10 in © Jim Serrett

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To see more of my work, please visit my website or my blogs.

If you are interested in purchasing any of my paintings you see here on this blog,

please contact me or visit my online store.

Website - jimserrett.com 
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The Last Gleam

I have been painting a lot of sunsets lately, there is something about the magical hour just before the sun disappears over the horizon that has fascinated people for eons. For good reason, when you get the bounce of light, the last gleam, under the floating clouds it can be incredible and mystical. I wanted to capture that random sense of order, the character of the light and convey that feeling into the painting.

The Last Gleam, oil on panel, 9 x 12 in, © Jim Serrett

"Paint a little less of the facts, and a little more of the spirit."

  Link --Harvey Thomas Dunn (1884-1952)

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Sunsets and Training the Visual Memory

The dynamic horizon at sunrise or sunset is the hardest to capture, you have either to chase the light with the brush or prepare yourself for the event. My approach has been both, to do pencil sketches and color studies on location, to use them, and my memory of the experience to create/finish pieces in the studio. The library of information I gather from observation helps me understand what I am seeing and hopefully interpret it in a meaningful way.  As I remember and conceptualize the landscape I attempt to make informed decisions, based on my observed details and the nuances of nature. However I try to be as truthful to the experience as possible, to keep in my mind’s eye that which inspired me in the first place. 

Waxing philosophical, I believe our brains are conscious of almost every experience in our life and every encounter we have, and that stored among those billions of neurons in the brain are endless images and impressions. That it is not only possible to train ones visual memory but a necessity for the artist to do so. Up until maybe the later part of the nineteenth century memory exercises of some type were part of most academic art educations. If it be as simple as practicing blind contour drawing or copying prints of sculptures as in the Beaux-Arts tradition. They recognized the importance of a highly trained visual memory as a skill an artist used in companionship with the direct study of nature. 

There are some fascinating books floating around on the subject. TheTraining of the Memory in Art and the Education of the Artist by HoraceLecoq de Boisbaudran is an interesting read and more current Memory Training for Painters by Richard Lack is well worth downloading. Also a book I have mention several times on my blogs, and on my highly recommended reading list, Harold Speed "The Practice and Science of Drawing" 1913. This is a link to his chapter The Visual Memory.  “Let us assume that you have found a subject that moves you and that, being too fleeting to draw on the spot, you wish to commit to memory. Drink a full enjoyment of it, let it soak in, for the recollection of this will be of the utmost use to you afterwards in guiding your memory-drawing.”  Page 262 Harold Speed

I see memory training as another tool in my tool box helping me interpret what I see in front of me.

Technically I've been able to slowly build glazes of color to explore those atmospheric effects I am after and was the initial inspiration.

I love this quote by Edgar Degas on the subject, “If I were to open an academy I would have a five story building. The model would pose on the ground floor with the first year students. The most advanced students would work on the fifth floor." I can imagine the advanced students dashing up and down flights of stair as they study the model and dart back to their easels to make their marks.

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Images:

Jim Serrett, Lake Murphysboro Sunset, oil on panel 5 x 7 in

Jim Serrett, Perseids Sunset, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in

Graphite Sketch on toned paper. 

Sketchbook page

Links:

Memory Training For Painters by Richard Lack from the Classical Realism Quarterly 1990

Download pdf Here

The Training of the Memory in Art and the Education of the Artist

Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran – Author

Find it here on Internet Archive. Org

"The Practice and Science of Drawing" by Harold Speed

Available ebook here at Project Gutenberg

Information about:

Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1802-1897)

Harold Speed (1872-1957)

Richard F. Lack (1928-2009)

Beaux-Arts - École des Beaux-Arts

Lake Murphysboro State Park