ZION: A Fall Artist-in-Residence Experience

ZION: A Fall Artist-in-Residence Experience (cover)

The new book has finally been submitted to the printer. (Yea!)

This is a hardbound, premium-quality, signed, limited edition art book. It measures 8.5"x11" and is intended for anyone who would like to have high resolution reproductions of all of my Zion series paintings in one volume - or for anyone who has wanted to own my artwork but been unable previously to afford an original.

The volume contains 79 images, with 54 in full color. It also contains a number of black & white compositional studies, and several step-by-step demonstrations of my working process.

If you'd like to own a copy, email me (artist@earnestward.com) for further details and availability. (It would also make a great holiday gift for special art-lovers and national park enthusiasts!)

Coming Soon!

Coming soon - a new series of step-by-step demonstration videos and instructional workshops to supplement the video snapshots I've recently begun posting. 

The step-by-step demos will generally run no more than 3 minutes with minimal text and voice-over. The narrated "full-length" workshops may run up to 1 hour but will likely be posted in 15-minute installments (allowing you to refresh your cup of coffee before starting a new chapter), and may include PDF materials lists.

Techniques and materials will be covered in shorter videos. Longer videos will cover journaling (nature and travel), drawing, and painting, with works covered from beginning to end. And we'll be doing a mix - alternating studio works with on-location plain air. (Watch for visits to some exciting destinations just as soon as we can put the pandemic in our rearview mirror.)

So, bare with me as I get the video studio back up to speed (and work out a few bugs - like remembering to turn off the metronome "click" in the audio track.) Watch for regular "test videos" to be announced here and - depending on their length and format - posted to my Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram/IGTV channels. And join me for the new art adventures.

Oh! If there are particular topics, techniques, or subjects you'd like to see covered - please let me know by leaving a suggestion in the Comments.

Thanks!

Video Snapshots

I've begun creating and posting a series if short videos (I call them "Video Snapshots.") to my Instagram account recently. Each video runs 13-60 seconds in length and provides a step-by-step insight into my working process on a painting or drawing (or, in some cases, a scrolled pan of an elongated drawing or journal entry.)

To date I've posted 7 snapshots. (If you don't currently have an Instagram account, you can view the first 6 on my DrawntoAdventure YouTube channel.) And, going forward, I'll try to post a new short to Instagram every 3-4 days.

Once I have a steady following I hope to expand the offering by adding slightly longer (up to 10 minutes) IGTV demo and instructional videos to the mix. 

So, take a look. And, if you like what you see be sure to "follow" me on Instagram.

Oh, if you have an idea for my future videos (Want to see instructional videos? Demos? Studio work? Plein air? Painting? Drawings? Journaling?) let me know in the comments below and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks!

Art in the Age of Covid

 Like so many others, I've been experiencing an increasing level of stress since the onslaught of the global health crisis. Thanks to the internet and 24/7 news feed (which was SO accurately described by one observer as the "Doomsday Scroll"), we are all bombarded during our every waking hour by a steady stream of political, social, and health crisis that most of us are powerless to resolve.

So, I've decided to join the growing number of people who are choosing to focus on the things that we do have some control over. I've deleted the news feed apps from my phone, stopped reading newspapers, stopped listening to radio talk shows, and stopped watching broadcast TV.

Instead, I've turned my attention to making art, fly fishing, and riding my bike (which frequently gets me to places where I can make art, or fly fish, or both.)

And - with this post - I'm renewing blog posting on a regular basis in hopes that these posts may prove helpful to others who are seeking a healthy, stress-free alternative to the current day-to-day grind.

I invite you to get comfortable, dust off your pens & pencils, get out your paints, and let's get started. 

To get things rolling (and get some rust out of the system), I decided to complete a couple of paintings from my Zion National Park series. First was In the Shadows (First Snow), 12"x12", oils on panel (above), followed by Along the River/Zion Canyon from the Temple, 9"x16", oils on panel (below). (And, if you'd like to see more works from this series, please visit my website gallery at http://www.earnestward.com/Earnest_Ward/Zion_NP.html )

In future posts I will share additional works, discuss art supplies & materials, offer suggestions on a variety of subjects and techniques, and demonstrate helpful step-by-step art-making processes.

As always, thanks for letting me share. And I hope to see you next time.

Oh, and if you'd like more frequent updates on what I'm up to, please follow me on Instagram! (https://www.instagram.com/earnestwardartist/ )

First Light (Grotto House and Red Arch Mountain)

First Light #1, 9"x12", oils on Gessobord

During my stay in Zion NP my very busy daytime schedule (combined with the dry high desert air) usually meant that I was in bed by 8:30 and up by 5:30 (enjoying a pre-dawn breakfast, filling my water bottles and backpack, and planning another day of trail hikes, sketching and painting.)

Except in the area immediately around the Zion Inn most nights in the canyon were pitch black.

But not always.

During the full moon I stayed up to capture the amazing chiaroscuro effects of the canyon walls and floor bathed in moonlight (see the "Complementary Colors, Moonbeams and Shadows" post below.) and then stayed on to watch in fascination as the eastern sky brightened, the last stars faded, and the canyon's colors slowly awoke.

This week's post is the first of two attempts I made to capture the scene in oils. (I hope you like it.)

Signed, Sealed and Delivered!

Down Canyon from the Temple, 12"x9", Gamblin oils on 

Gessobord, gilded plein air frame 

Zion National Park Artists-in-Residence get an extraordinary deal from the National Park Service.

AiRs get to spend one month in the park: living in the Grotto House; exploring the trails, canyons, mesas of this geological wonder; getting to know the region's flora and fauna; and interacting with both local residents and visitors from around the globe.

And, in exchange, all the Park Service asks of visual artist residence is: two public presentations during the residency; and (within six months of completing the residency) one work of art inspired by the Zion National Park experience and a digital portfolio of all works created during the residency and the six month period following.

A few weeks ago I was informed that the selection committee had chosen Down Canyon from the Temple. And, after mounting the work in a gilded plein air frame, I had the folks at the UPS Store pack and deliver it to its new home in Utah.

Sketching in Oils as Place-based Journaling (Zion Update 3.0 Step-by-Step)

As any plein air artist can attest, sketching outdoors is a race against time. On anything but an overcast day shadows and highlights are fleeting and ever-changing. If I am lucky I may have an hour and thirty minutes, maybe 2 hours, to capture the lighting of a particular time and place. And sometimes -- having just caught sight of a serendipitous, and oh so fleeting, visual moment -- I may have only a tenth of that... or less. 

when Karen Doherty (at Exaclair USA) first introduced me to Bloc Rhodia notebooks I couldn't think of 

a practical application for gridded paper; but now that I'm painting plein air again it's become my very 

favorite comp tool (tip: a wide rubber band will hold the folded pages open "gads-free" while painting)

To speed up the painting process I frequently begin with a sketch in pencil or pen -- focusing on rendering the key shapes, shadows and overlapping plains while making mental notes about hue/temperature/intensity options for the background, middle ground and foreground.  

by pre-toning the panel with Gamblin Yellow Ochre I am able to quickly 

establish an accurate sense of the major forms and spacial plains 

After completing the compositional study I start blocking in the shadow areas on a middle-toned panel. (And if, for any reason, the sketching process is disrupted at this point I already have a recognizable, albeit rough, visual -- and far more personal experience -- of this particular time and place.)

detailing and nuance are now added to the middle ground, water and sky

Next I begin to introduce lighter areas (while still reserving my lightest lights for the end -- when my observations are most accurate) and refine the primary shapes.

highlights are introduced into the foreground cliff tops and face

At this stage the painting is still rough -- but I have finalized the composition; finished blocking in the major color and value areas; and have more or less defined background, middle ground and foreground. 

initial detailing in the middle ground

Pacific Cove, 6"x8", Gamblin oils on Ampersand Gessobord

The final stage (the sprint to finish before the original shadow patterns fade into memory) is fine tuning, adding select detailing (some in the middle ground, but primarily in the foreground), and polishing off a few of the rough edges. (Some "roughness" can add a very desirable sense of spontaneity, vigor and vivaciousness to a sketch though. So I avoid overworking the piece by adhering to the 90-120 minute allocation.)

And, if I intend to use the sketch as a study for a larger work in the studio later (or if I just want a more complete record of place, time and experience) I will frequently make notes -- about the weather, time of day, season, and the sights, sounds and smells of the local, even what I was thinking and feeling at that particular moment -- in white Gelly Roll pen on the back of the panel.