Barn on a Hill, Spring

 © Robin Edmundson, 'Barn, Hill, Spring', watercolor, 8 x 6 inches.  Framed $125.

Sometimes I have a vision in my head of what I want to paint, so I paint it and it turns out that I only need one part of if after all.   This is a small crop of a much larger experiment.   Love this. 

Bean Fields, Tulip

 ©Robin Edmundson, 'Bean Fields. Tulip Indiana, Fall', watercolor, 8 x 11 inches.  Framed $300

I've got my eye on this scene for a larger version.  I love the light here.   It's a beautiful piece of property that shines in every season.  

Grey Sky, Grey Barn

 

© Robin Edmundson, 'Grey Barn, Grey Sky', watercolor, 16 x 20 inches.  Framed $575.

The open prairie landscape seems like it goes on forever under a sky that goes on forever.   I had a friend from Nebraska in grad school who said he loved going home.  He'd get out of the car, take that first big deep breath and feel himself expand to fill the landscape.   

What a beautiful feeling.

Morning Mist

 ©Robin Edmundson, 'Morning Mist on the Water', watercolor 9 x 12 inches.  $300, framed

I've been studying the art of Richard Mayhew and Donald Holden.  They both had a gift for seeing the essence of the landscape and the discipline to leave out anything that was unnecessary.  

This is something that I'm working on.  It's extraordinarily rewarding, but I confess that it is *hard* for me not to fuss and fiddle. 

I've heard people say about some of that type of work that, 'Anyone could do that!', because it looks so simple, so easy.  Doing a few simple layers, might look 'easy' [it's not],  but I've realized that what is really hard is the stopping, the *not doing more*.   Not anyone could stop at that.  That's where the discipline lies.

I was so in love the with the first wash here that I knew it was a perfect chance to practice.   I looked at that first layer for days until just the right strategy surfaced and I gently proceeded.    

Still, I fussed.  I think it could have been simplified further.  

Course Review - Ian Roberts' 'Brushwork & Color' Course

Earlier this month, I finished a Brushwork & Color painting class with Ian Roberts.  It was transformational.

There were a few challenges:

• Ian is an oil painter and all the demos were in oil.  I am a watercolorist, not interested in working with oil.
• We had a specific set of primaries to use.
• I am an inveterate comparer of my work to others'.  This does not go well for me. 
• I wanted to stay caught up despite a number of other things going on:  big house projects, kids dealing with covid & college/job stresses, my own job, etc. 

Some of my aha! moments:

• A good Standard Operating Procedure will get you a decent painting regardless of whether you're having a bad day or a bad attitude.  Follow the SOP.  
• Green in bright sunlight can be represented by a number of colors that aren't actually very green.
• Start by thinking about the focal area; let the rest fall into place after that.
• You can't ignore backgrounds.
• Sometimes the 6th version is when you get it.
• Value studies are very enjoyable.  I don't need an excuse to do them.   [I feel a series of value studies in purple coming on....]
• I'm better at still life than I think I am.
• It is perfectly acceptable to mix all the colors I need to get a color/effect, despite the watercolor 'rule' to never mix more than 2 or 3. 
• Purple vines are freaking awesome. [I already knew that.]
• Evening light goes really pink.
• I know my watercolor pigments well and have an excellent grounding in color theory.  I can trust my choices in primaries that are appropriate for watercolor. 
• It is possible to paint flowers in large simple masses and have it work
• Consider everyone's piece on its own merit, not on how closely it matches the ref photo.  Look for the genius in their work.
• Goal:  Sing the song on the paper, with gusto, my way.   It doesn't matter how everyone else is painting the same scene.

Now that the course is over, I'm formulating my goal for the next few months.  It will probably have something to do with working through my own reference photos and seeing if some of the bad ones can be salvaged.  [Seriously,  Ian had us working with nothing but greeeeeeen ref photos that had good bones, and showed us ways of tweaking them to make them really interesting.  I am sure I can find ways to do that with my own ref photos.]

Here is some of my work from the course: 

Value Study

Muting Color: Still Life with Squash

Muting Color Exercise 2

Limited Palette: Purple/Blue instead of greens.

Painting Light 1

Painting Light 2

Poppy Field

Daisies

Five Haybales: Afternoon

© Robin Edmundson, 'Five Haybales, Afternoon', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.   $375.

Another in the 'Five Haybales' series.   This was the original 'light' intended for the composition.   I'm kind of loving those puffy afternoon clouds.  

Five Bales: A series

© Robin Edmundson, 'Five Bales, Dawn', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.  $375.

Once in a while, I explore the same composition a bunch of times with different colors, different lights.  Working in a series with a strong composition lets me focus on other things than the shapes and composition; it frees me up to explore a lot of other things.  

In this series, I painted these five haybales in different light/times of day.  It was a lot of fun.  Over the next few days, I'll show you my favorites.

This first one started out with a 'What if I started with a wash of neutral gray?'   It quickly developed into a sunrise/dawn scene and I just went with it.  I walk at sunrise a lot in the summer and the light is very familiar to me.  

Impression - Fall Day

©Robin Edmundson, 'Impression - Fall Day', watercolor, 12 x 16 inches. 
Unframed $300

In 1873, Claude Monet painted a sunrise scene that he titled, 'Impression-Sunrise'.  The critics hated it.  It was the painting that gave the Impressionist movement its name.

His painting has always been a favorite of mine.  I love its subtleties.  He didn't try to say it all.  He simplified.  He made mood more important than accuracy. 

I pull up photos of the painting every so often to study his choices.  What he left out.  What he put in.  The colors he didn't use.  The colors he did use.  Where his focal point is.  Where the lines are.  How he communicated space and atmosphere. 

And then I close my eyes and let my mind's eye take me to a scene I've observed recently around here.  I focus on the feeling, the space, the atmosphere.  I exaggerate the colors.  I play with texture. I use a brush in a new way.  I practice the all-powerful Value.

The piece above is the latest one I've been working on.   I painted the initial washes, then let it sit for a few days, then decided how to emphasize the focal points and how to bridge them.  I added texture, then more, then more. 

And I stopped before it was an overworked mess.   I'm still practicing that. 

I could crop it into a square - and it would be beautiful - but it hasn't decided if it wants to be cropped or not and I'm kind of loving the greens on the far right.

I love that I managed to communicate [and then preserve] the impression of the day.  The bright colors, the clear air, the leaves falling.  This is the kind of creative practice that I love.

Bottoms

©Robin Edmundson, 'Where the Ironweed meets Helianthus and Goldenrod', watercolor, 18 x 24 inches. 
Framed to 24 x 30 inches.   $750

The bottomlands are where the muck is. They are the flood plains. Where the creeks overflow.  Where the flood debris collects.  Where the silt get dumped.  Where damp things molder and decay.

Many times during the year, the bottoms are impassable - soft, muddy, wet.

But when late summer comes and they are mostly dried out, they explode with color. It's easy to wax poetic this time of year - these areas are ridiculously gorgeous.  Fields full of purple ironweed and goldenrod.  Acres of helianthus and Queen Anne's lace.   The roadsides are blue with lobelia and blue mist flower.  Jewelweed sparkles orange and yellow in the shade.

And on cooler mornings, when the mist rises off the ponds, the colors sparkle with dew and we know how lucky we are to live here.

Workshop with Judy Mudd

A couple of weeks ago, I took a workshop on cityscapes with Judy Mudd, who came up from Louisville for the day to teach us a bunch of tips and tricks.   As always, she was friendly and engaging and full of knowledge and encouragement.

This is what I painted that day.  Cities are not my native habitat, so this was an exercise in architecture and in light & shadow.  I'll take what I learned and use it to paint more of my favorite rural subjects.

I had a lot of fun learning how Judy does people and cars and I was happy to be able to practice in this piece.

I've taken workshops with Judy before and as always we had a great time.  If you get a chance to take a class from her, do.   Her 2 or 3 day classes taught in Berea, Kentucky are wonderful!

You can see Judy's award-winning work HERE.

Goose Pond, February Fields - Plein Air

© Robin Edmundson, 'Goose Pond, February Fields - Plein Air', watercolor, 9 x 12 inches.

I went to Goose Pond again a few days ago and was so happy that the sun was shining this time.  Also, there were thousands and thousands of sandhill cranes that kept flying over.   I love that.   

My goal for these plein air sessions is to be able to focus enough to quickly find a composition from the vast landscape, get the drawing and painting going and to finish within 2 1/2 hours.   I did this one in under 2 hours and am pretty happy with the composition.   Practice, practice, practice!

My Indiana Home Magazine

My Indiana Home magazine has used some of my artwork in the spring issue!

At first they planned to use a couple of pieces in the calendar section.

During planning,  their needs changed and when I got my copies of the magazine this week, they had given me this little blurb and featured one of my paintings of spring fields instead. 

That works for me!  Here is the text:

'Robin Edmundson has been painting the rural landscapes of Indiana since 2014. Having spent most of her life in Indiana, Edmundson now lives on 40 acres near Solsberry, in Greene County and spends a lot of her time focusing on the landscape around her.

After spending many years photographing and blogging about her life in rural Indiana, Edmundson felt she still couldn't capture the landscape the way she wanted, so she tried a new medium. She studied color theory for years and she applied her knowledge to creating beautiful watercolor paintings featuring Indiana landscapes.  The ultimate goal of her paintings is to celebrate the people and places involved in everyday rural life.'

© Robin Edmundson,'Henbit Fields #2', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.

This is the painting featured.

More information about this piece HERE.

Blue & Orange

© Robin Edmundson, 'Split Roof - blue & orange', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.   $375, framed to 18 x 22 inches.

A couple of weeks ago I posted some other studies of this barn.   I should probably paint it from a different angle, but I really like this one. 

One of the things I study about painting is how to paint the same thing in different light, seasons and space.  I practice a lot. 

Another of the things I study about painting is color.  I love color!  Luckily, I have a good instinct for this, and all my years dyeing yarn have paid off.   Blue and orange is one of my favorite combinations [but you probably knew that already.]

Five Silver Silos

© Robin Edmundson, 'Five Silver Silos', watercolor, 18 x 24 inches.  Framed.  $650.

This is my newest piece.   It's hanging right now at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage if you'd like to go see it in person.

Silver silos are a thing out here in Indiana.   We see them everywhere.  The new ones are all the same size, in neat rows and connected at the tops.   On older farms, where they added them slowly, they are different sizes and usually require a portable elevator to move the grain.  I love them because they glow and you can see them for long distances at all times of the day and they reflect the light in wonderful ways.

Work In Progress - Bean Harvest

© Robin Edmundson, 'Bean Harvest', watercolor.  18 x 24 inches.  

This is a current work in progress.   It might be done, but I want to let it simmer for a bit.   I got the idea from a photo I took of a bean harvest last year on the highway near Worthington, Indiana.   I had a big wide view.   Two combines and a tractor with a trailer full of beans.   And lots of dust in the air.

I did an initial draft and got some expert feedback from someone who had actually driven one of those things.   He approves of this version.

The Mailman Always Brings Treats

© Robin Edmundson, 'The mailman always brings treats', watercolor, framed 27 x 33 inches.  $650

Finished!  

I got stuck on this one at one point and put it up for my critique group to look at.  I thought it needed some vultures and I got some great ideas from the group about the birds on the wire, too.  In the end, I did both because when I covered up either set on the transparency I tried it out on first, I missed it.   Plus, I regularly see that many birds hanging out all over the place here, so it felt natural.

It's at the framer now getting all dressed up for the Big Show in August and September.

Red Barn

© Robin Edmundson, 'Red barn, cornfields', 18 x 22 inches framed. 

Usually the barns out here are set close-ish to the house, but occasionally, you'll see one up on a hill all lonely.   Often these were old tobacco barns or hay barns.  The doors on both sides allow for equipment to be pulled all the way in and unloaded, then driven out again.    I love it when both sets of doors are open.

This piece is 18 x 22 inches framed.  $350.   It will be hanging in my show in August and September.

Color Experiments: Anatomy of a Series, Part 2

Check out my last post for full details on how this series started. 

The last draft of this painting was this one.

© Robin Edmundson, 'Solsberry Pond #2', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches, unframed.

The next step was to paint the landscape again using the colors from this yarn:  

I used a lot of French ultramarine blue and dioxazene violet.   I love those colors!

© Robin Edmundson, 'Solsberry Pond #3', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches, unframed. 

There are a lot of things I like about this painting, but I wanted to try one more time to see what would happen if I softened the darks a bit, added more orange and tried out a couple of other different things.  

© Robin Edmundson, 'Solsberry Pond #4', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches, unframed.

Of the four, which one do you like best?  

I will be doing more work like this.  It was a lot of fun to tweak a landscape to the colors I've been dyeing with for the last 20 years.  

This series will be on display and for sale at The Vault at Gallery Mortgage from August 4 - September 29, 2017.  Bloomington, Indiana. 

Color Experiments: Anatomy of a Series, Part 1

One of my artistic goals lately has been to paint my landscapes using colors from my hand-dyed yarns.   It's been a great way to think about things differently and to punch up a ho-hum landscape.

Plus, it's been so much fun using colors that I've been using in my dye shop for decades in a whole new way.

Here is my photo inspiration - A local pond off the highway.  Now remember, I am in no way trying to paint a photorealistic copy of the reference photo.   That's what photographs are for.   I'm going to try to paint that landscape in a new way.

Here is my yarn inspiration:

This is my fine bamboo yarn in the colorway, Vineyard.   I've been wanting to use these colors in a landscape for a while.   

The first thing I did was paint the reference pretty close to what's actually there.   I like to really focus on the lights and darks and large shapes.   

© Robin Edmundson, 'Solsberry Pond #1', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches, unframed. 

In the next draft, I softened out some of the colors and played with the shapes, still trying to get a feel for the light and composition.  That's a lot of foreground, so I shortened it up a bit.

© Robin Edmundson, 'Solsberry Pond #2', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches, unframed.

Not a bad start.   In the next post, I'll show you #3 and #4, with the colors from the yarn.  

Blue Shadows

This is a view of a farm on Highway 157 in Greene County, Indiana.   I love all those white buildings and was so happy we were able to get some pictures this month.   It was high on my list of subjects to paint.

So paint it I did.   This was enormously satisfying.   It only took one draft to get the winter feeling right.   I am looking forward to painting this farm again in different seasons.

Limited palette:  burnt umber, raw umber, cobalt blue, Fr ultramarine blue.