Girl in the Red Kayak

Anyone who follows my work or my blogs knows that most of my landscapes and waterscapes come from our exploration of the local lakes by kayak.  Linda and I paddle the lakes in the Shawnee National Forrest area often and have grown especially fond of Cedar Lake. It has some of the most beautiful, secluded and peaceful areas to paddle.

The Lake has become a muse for my plein air work and it is one of those places you can go a thousand times and never tire of. The lake is large enough to turn into a good vigorous paddle or you can just slowly explore the necks and fingers. Either way you can always find an adventure along its banks.

More important is that it has grown to hold a special place in our hearts.

There is a communion with nature when you are quietly floating on the surface of the lake, and it gives us sustenance. “Fuel for the soul”, as sappy as it sounds is a real thing or it can be. Those moments are real when we stop and just see, and feel and be present.

The lake has given awareness and inspiration, a connection to the spirit of the land that I may never have known if I never stopped to pay attention and experience the moment. 

And when I close my eyes and imagine I see the lake in my mind’s eye, as I have painted it.

The Girl in the Red Kayak

Oil on panel, 11 x 14 inches

"Gratitude is the heart's memory." (French Proverb)

Links:

Shawnee National Forest – Cedar Lake

Cedar Lake (Illinois)

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

The Long View

This has been a busy spring, lots of art activities going on, exhibitions and shows in several local communities which I am participating in. So it’s been a lot of framing and organizing of work, between that and the turbulent weather we are having here, there has not been much brush time.

Did get this little study done, I like these long views across the plowed fields, very typical Southern Illinois scenery this time of year. It is also a pretty good metaphor for me to keep in mind, when placing your work out there to exhibit you need to see the long view. Like everybody else I get impatient about the goals I want to achieve, I tell myself my skills need to be at this level, my sales at that and so on and on. The reality is that with all of this stuff, - the journey to success is not a sprint, but a marathon.           

To find a good pace and take the long view.

The Long View, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches, © Jim Serrett Studio

“It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.”

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

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Silent Clouds – Floating Shadows

I cannot think of a time when I did not find clouds fascinating, as a kid I could spend hours finding images in them. Many lazy summer days were spent laying on the backyard lawn looking for a triceratops or a pirate ship. Today, I admit they still occupy hours of my imagination.

Now I am a bit more analytical about clouds, certainly more interested in their formation and pattern then what animal or thing I see in them.  The type of cloud is important, I make an attempt to name them cumulus, stratus or cirrus. I feel that if the naturalistic observation is truthful, then it is easier to express what you see, think and feel about what is in front of you.

If I study the clouds with that intent - the personality of them tends to come forward. It’s funny how they can be like lead actors in a drama, for they set the mood and temperament. They can be broody or cheerful, dramatic or calm, the entire passing attitude of a day or painting can be changed by a cloud.

These particular clouds had a stillness and mesmerizing silence to them, their shadows moved across the lake in a medley of patterns like a liquid kaleidoscope.  Time seemed to slow or even move backwards somehow, I became closer to that little boy laying in the lawn looking for a triceratops or a pirate ship.

"What amazes me about landscape, landscape recalls you into a mindful mode of stillness, solitude, and silence where you can truly receive time." - John O'Donohue

Silent Clouds – Floating Shadows, oil on board, 9 x 12 inches © jim serrett

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Links:

Cloud Appreciation Society

Poet and philosopher - John O'Donohue

Pareidolia ( parr-i-doh-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists

Website - jimserrett.com 
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Perfect Day

The weather this summer has been a bear, just too wet and too dang hot. So my long list of projects only has a few items checked off. The old fence will have to hang on one more winter. We did get in some kayaking and some plein air painting but mostly I did a great deal of sketching. Floating and bobbing around in my kayak with a watercolor kit is a pretty interesting thing to do and a fun way to spend a day.

The piece above was done in the studio based on a series of sketches from the lake. We have probably kayaked around this point a couple of dozen times and have I sketched it undoubtedly as many. So I started this painting with a particular image in mind about this place and the feeling I wanted it to convey.

To help create a sense of depth and light I worked into glazes of oil color. Pushing and pulling the light effect and hopefully captured the end of a perfect day.

Perfect Day oil on panel 9 x 12 inches ©jimserrett

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
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Further on Down the Road II

This is a pastoral scene I trek through several times a month. During the summer there always seems to be a flotilla of clouds sailing slowly across the sky. When I think of the dog days of summer this image always comes to my mind.
   

I really wanted to capture that summer atmosphere and felt that a studio piece was the best way to do that. I created the painting from a pochade study, some watercolor sketches and my memories of this place. 

Further on Down the Road II, oil on panel 9 x 12 inches © Jim Serrett

Oil color alla-prima study 5 x 7 inches

One of the characteristics of oil painting I enjoy most is the ability to create transparent, semi-transparent and opaque layers of paint. Manipulating those qualities can give an image a lot of texture and depth. I like the variation of greens you get with glazes and scumbling effects. You start playing around with the color green differently when you work in thin layers and use it to unify passages. Building up paint in layers of glazes and scumbles provides a arsenal of effects that can create atmosphere in a landscape painting.

Sketchbook watercolor study.

Sketchbook thumbnails.

I truly enjoy working through an idea with the process of creating thumbnails and roughs. Relying on observations made over time and my memory of the place, it becomes layers of thought, that for me, reach a higher level of understanding and refinement.

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
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Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Campers Point

I think I have sketched this location now at least three different times throughout the year. It is always interesting how things change season to season. I wanted to capture the early fall colors with the late day cast of warm sun. Several glazes were used to build up the luminosity with Liquin to speed it along. This one was a good learning exercise about using transparent paint on location.

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim

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

Rim Rock Trail Oil Sketches

 Sketches from Rim Rock Trail.

Clouds at Rim Rock Trail,  5x7,  oil on panel
This work is available – click here for purchase information

We have been having some usually warm weather lately. And seemed like the perfect opportunity to hit this trail.

Rim Rock Trail is in the Shawnee National Forest about nine miles east of the Garden of the Gods. While not as well known as Garden of the Gods, Rim Rock /Pounds Hollow Recreational Area  is just as scenic and a unique hiking experience.

 

 The Rim Rock trail meanders along a prehistoric Native American wall, winds along the rim with impressive overlooks and vistas leading to a large observation platform. From there you can descend down into the rocks through narrow passageways among massive cliffs and huge boulders. On the lower trail you can explore Ox Lot Cave, immense sandstone canyons and hike on to Pounds Hollow Lake or work back along the base of the bluffs to the parking lot - trail head.

The bare trees offer a great view of the bluffs and one gets a understanding of why this area was called “the pounds” by early settlers meaning “some sort of enclosure". And why early Native Americans used it as a fort.

 

 The rock formations and geology offer endless compositions and inspirations for a painting. However, what really caught my attention were the cloud formations moving across the rim of the bluffs with the winter trees along the horizon. There was a real sense of vastness and grander looking up and across the canyon that I wanted to capture. Inside of which you could not escape the feeling of being in a special and primitive place.

Rim Rock Ridge,  5x7,  oil on panel
This work is available – click here for purchase information

Overall, Rim Rock is just a spectacular piece of nature and a truly amazing trail.

A artist could find inspiration for a thousand paintings in just this one location.

We finished up this trip by stopping at the Garden of the Gods for a world class sunset.

Spectacular

 

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better". 
                                                ~Albert Einstein

Check out the links below for more info.

Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim 

 

Trail notes from Gary Marks at Shawnee Hills Outdoors.com

Directions to Rim Rock by Illinois Sierra Club

Map from the US Forest Service

Shawnee Forest: Illinois Hidden Gem

Cedar Lake Quick Studies

These small studies force you to “Keep It Simple” and concentrate on shape, color and composition. In the end simplification is about creating the feeling of the place without actually providing a lot of detail in the painting.

Suggesting a subject with a series of abstract marks is challenging and provides a great opportunity to explore and experiment. And I think you can learn as much from these small 4x6 thumbnail paintings as larger studio works.

Using one large No 6 or 8 bristle brush will force you to work on brushwork by varying the pressure and angle, using the width, broad end, flat edge and corners of the brush.

I like to refer to this as the brush dance, but it is probably closer to ballet or fencing.

 

Small studies will help you think abstractly and develop your color sense. The results can be the inspiration  for a larger studio painting or they can stand on their own merit.

Either way there is no better teacher than pushing paint around.

Cedar Lake is a 1,750 – acre (7.0km) reservoir in Southern Illinois located at the edge of the Shawnee National Forest, southwest of Carbondale. 


Although the primary purpose of Cedar Lake is to provide water to the residents of Carbondale, this scenic reservoir provides recreational opportunities to visitors beyond Jackson County. Because the Shawnee National Forest borders the southern portion of Cedar Lake, about half of its 30-mile shoreline is owned by the U.S. Forest Service. Hardwood forests, cedar trees, and sandstone bluffs line the shoreline.

 With 100 foot sandstone bluffs rising directly out of the water and abundant wildlife viewing opportunities, it is our favorite lake to kayak in Southern Illinois.

 

This is a pretty rare scene; a copper head, easily over two foot long in the water below the rock cliffs. It seemed to be hunting the small fingers of the bluff, we watched it for sometime before we lost track of her.

Oddly enough when we arrived at the swimming hole everyone was a bit apprehensive about diving in.

Have a great day, make great art.  Jim Serrett


Links:
The Shawnee Forest Illinois Hidden Gem
The Shawnee National Forest

Squaring Up - Pochade to Studio

Studio painting from plein air reference.

When you translate a Pochade into a larger work you must also translate the “feeling” or inspiration of that piece. For works that go from Pochade to studio I must have a strong connection to the work, something familiar, memorable and really linked to my senses, emotions and intellect, if I am going to express that “sense of place”.

For me the true power of any good landscape is the ability to capture and convey the immediacy and drama of the scene to the audience. I felt if I could stay true to the mood and energy of the study it would be good candidate for a studio piece. Without that I would only be reproducing a statement I have already made.

 I liked the composition and elements of the study, “The Cliffs of the Dawn at Isla Mujeres” but I felt there was so much more that could be said with this image. Isla Mujeres is a corral island and the cliffs are carved by wind and wave over centuries. The effects of light and water on the cliffs are very unique. The dry corral under the Caribbean sun turns nearly bone white, while the wet corral picks up warm yellowish tones all contrasted by the deep warm shadow areas below the cliffs. I wanted to emphasize some of those nuances and subtle effects that I could only suggest this in the Pochade.

Click image to enlarge.

Squaring up is probably the simplest and most accurate method to enlarge an image. From your original sketch select a larger canvas within the same proportion and ratio. In my case the Pochade is 8x10 inches; my studio canvas is 24x30 inches, 3 times the original size. To transfer the design to the larger canvas the Pochade is grided at one inch squares and the studio canvas at 3 inch squares.

If you’re not enlarging at a 1:1 ratio use an architects ruler, a very handy tool for scaling drawings, it will give a variety of scales to use.

I often outline the sketch with tracing paper and grid it, this time I just made a black and white copy of the Pochade and did my grid on top of it. I squared up the large canvas, and gave it a, “imprimatura” wash with a mix of Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna to provide a nice warm undertone.

With the Pochade as reference and the squared up B/W copy, it is just a matter of placing inside each corresponding grid as little or as much information I think I will need to create the larger work. Looking at the pattern of light and dark loosely sketch the image. Some areas will have contour lines to suggest form while others washes of broad tone to suggest shadows.

The canvas sketch, although loose was very accurate to the Pochade. Having my design strongly stated, the structure and pattern established, I could concentrate on the color lay in. I did not want to just transcribe and copy the Pochade. But recapture the mood and its atmosphere. I needed to keep the energy of the original sketch alive. The rest of the painting process was a combination of direct and indirect methods, with most areas done “alla prima” or wet into wet in one sitting. Keeping the brushwork loose and painterly I think helped produce within the studio piece what originally inspired me at Isla Mujeres.

In fact maybe I should go larger again?
Hmmm.

Enjoy, Jim

Shawnee National Forest - Camel Rock

Camel Rock, oil on panel, 8x10

The Shawnee National Forest is one of my favorite places to hike and sketch.

If you travel into the Mid West a person is immediately struck by the vast flatness of the region, great for corn farmers, not very inspiring for artists. As you wind your way through Illinois ”The Prairie State”, to it’s southern tip, the landscape takes on some dramatic changes. Here eons ago, great glaciers stopped and deposited their debris, then add in some massive geological events and you find yourself inside an entirely different landscape called the Shawnee National Forest.

The Shawnee is 284,000 acres of forest, wetlands, swamps, bluffs, and canyons with unique rock formations. A great destination for camper, backpackers, hikers, rock climbers, horse back riders and the adventuress Pochade Box Artist.

The park contains eight National Natural Landmarks, all worth seeing. However my favorite (and muse) has been The Garden of the Gods Wilderness Area, noted for its main canyon, spectacular views and towering rock formations with names like, Monkey Face, Anvil Rock, Devils Smokestack and Camel Rock.

We have made many trips to hike and sketch the area. And the rock formation called Camel Rock has become an obsession of mine to paint. My intentions are that once I complete a series of Pochades, I will produce a large studio piece of this landscape.

Our last outing was late last summer and as usual we ran into other outdoor enthusiasts, hikers and photographers. Unknown to us one of the photographers was working on a project sponsored by a local University to document the Shawnee. Which published a book titled, “The Shawnee Forest – Illinois’ Hidden Gem” and set up a multi-media website journaling and documenting the beauty of this unique forest.  We purchased a few books as holiday gifts for friends and to our surprise found ourselves inside its pages.
I am working on this oil sketch of the Camel Rock and Linda snapping photos. A great giggle for us, considering how special this place is to us, and a nice way to end/start the year.
 It’s also inspirational for me when my philosophy of synchronicity works.

Enjoy Jim.

 For more information check out these links.

Shawnee National Forest
The Shawnee Forest - Illinois' Hidden Gem  the multimedia website
Photographer Bobby Samart  a must see... great work.
And for the backpacker/hiker
The Unofficial Shawnee Trail Guide

December Pochades

Clouds 7"x9" Oil on canvas panel

I am trying to keep these sketches simple without being too impressionistic.
Just thinking about the arrangement of shapes, natures real colors, and values. I looked for subjects that had good contrast and then look for the different color shifts in the shadows and lights.

These cold days are not the best to be outside paintings but winter gives us such obvious light and shade patterns its hard for a painter to resist.

December Sunset 7"x9" Oil on canvas panel

The sun sets so quickly in these short December days, that the light and shadows change constantly. I intentionally took advantage of this back lit scene
to avoid the changing light. And capture a bit of a winter sun on a cold day.

Big Boy Down 8"x10" Oil on panel

The last big storm here brought down this eighty foot tall Hack berry tree in our back acre. Barely missing our little garden shed. What a loss this tree is but a very interesting design pattern.

Enjoy Jim

'Anyone could paint that'

Those crazy looking hay bails always attract my attention but I never thought they would be a great subject matter, just too clique. This is a oil sketch that I started with a red ochre underpainting..
Which all got me to thinking about a article on artfagcity.com
by Paddy Johnson, titled , 'Anyone could paint that' and 7 other myths about art.., well worth the read.
Enjoy Jim

June Pochade Stimulus

"While there were "only" 345,000 jobs lost last month--as compared to 504,000 in April--the report doesn't account for the upcoming job losses as well as the ripple effect that will result from the GM bankruptcy. Nor does it reflect the severe budget shortfalls states continue to face. It did, however, reveal a continued collapse of wage growth, the highest unemployment rate in 25 years,...." The Nation



While the economy tanks, we artist just move along about the same. We are all starving anyway.
So here is my end of May stimulus plan, “Get out and paint some sketches”.
I went a bit larger with these pieces, up to 9x12 panels. In hopes I would not feel like I was picking at them as I have on some of the smaller ones.



The first piece I approached much as I would a studio piece. I started with a red earth underpainting to establish my sketch. And built color layers on top of it. Certainly a more thought out and planned approach.
The second work I just tried to respond to color and light in an abstract way. Working wet paint into wet paint, alla-prima.
A good sketch is an exploration, it is not so much about a finished work for me but a source and learning experience. Is it not wonderful when you see and feel your self improve? Kind of one of those "eureka" moments that every artist appreciates.
I had a professor that refer to this as "The Crack in the Cosmic Egg", taken from a book of the same title about the creative experience and process.
The crack is the critical mass we arrive at during deep thinking and creative efforts.
Which propels our understanding foreword.
The payoff is a deeper connection with our self and our work.
And certainly a new level for our art and a stimulus for ideas and possible studio pieces
Enjoy, Jim

A little better Weather.

There is certainly some green going on.

But here it has been two days of dry weather for every five days of rain.

But did get a few more oil sketches between rain events.

All three 7"x9" Oil painting on panel

Enjoy Jim