Back on the Beach~Halona Cove

Because of the stunningly clear weather we’ve enjoyed recently, I’ve made my way back down to a subject that is always in the back of my mind, Halona Cove. I’ve worked here before,  and often, but  am always happy to return…and hopefully get a bit closer to capturing that sense of absolute awe that I feel here.  That the neighbor island of Molokai was clearly visible was an added attraction.

FYI, this is also known locally as Eternity Beach  (due to the famous 50’s film “From Here to Eternity”, with Burt Lancaster and Debra Kerr memorably rolling passionately in the surf at this very spot).

Of course that has nothing to do with my own interest in the subject…I’m motivated by the beauty, power, and brilliance that is packed into this tiny cove.  I might also add “joy”, because it’s a delightful place for those who make the trek down into this canyon-like inlet.  The visitors here, whether locals or visitors, are in a unique place and know it. So I want the work to contain some of that.  The brilliant water, the jagged and dark lava combined with dazzling sunlight, create some remarkable visuals.

Making It Happen in the Moment

I began with a watercolor, which occupied two sessions on an especially clear set of days. The drawing of the figures and general composition came quickly. The actual painting took two sessions because of the fleeting light effect. Once the shadow of massive Koko Crater begins to fall on the beach, it’s dark shadow almost rushes  across the scene in a dramatic fashion, highlighting  the various  areas of the painting but momentarily.

DSC_0009

Sunday Afternoon, Halona Cove  Watercolor on Arches Cold Press  10.5 x 14″

This turned out just as I’d hoped, and from here I decided that I had a handle on a new oil painting, which is what comes next.

Sunday Afternoon, Halona Cove available for purchase here

 

 

12/13/13 Watercolor Wednesday

Scouring around  familiar places looking for a fresh subject-interest is one of my least favorite aspects of painting.

I dislike it so much that I think I’m actually somewhat opposed to it…because I’ve learned that such a search is really about my own frame of mind more than a lack in my surroundings. It’s fatigue, and in a way it’s a lack of gratitude, too.

There’s a beauty to be found almost everywhere…and I know how that reads, but I don’t mean that in a flippant way. I think it’s true.  But I have to have the eyes to see, or appreciate,  the familiar in a fresh way, and that’s not something that’s available on demand.

However, I’ve been at it long enough now that I know there are ways to work through it, and yesterday was one of the days where I managed to do just that.

So, here’s my offering. I hope it’s pleasing!

The Wild Side ll

 

The Wild Side, December

11×14″ watercolor and sundry techniques

 

 

12/11/13 A Portrait Sketch in Pastel

This is a two session pastel head that I managed to get completed last night in our final “Drawing and Painting the Portrait Head” class at the Honolulu Museum of Art School.  The first night was an hour or two of placement of shapes and color, the second session was just moving forward with the whole piece.

Tom, our subject, was new to sitting for portraits, and did a fine job.  I’ve found that a model must, perhaps above any other quality, possess some sort of inner life….an intellectual, spiritual dimension to their character that they can exist in during the long and tedious process of sitting.  People who require external stimulation to focus on simply won’t be able to do the work for long.

Tom Ciletti

This was the first pastel I’ve done in a while.  I used Lascaux pastel ground on a piece of rag mat board, which I then toned with gouache…just  stuff lying about my studio! The work was done with my Girault setup and some  Stabilo pastel pencils for the smaller passages on the features.  I wanted the informal sort of look that I got, nothing fussed over too much, except the drawing (i.e.placement of shapes) and color choices, which I pushed forward as best I could.

 

 

 

 

12/04/13 A Small Portrait Head

If you are at all interested in painting people, you probably will understand what I’m about to write.

Walking into a party last August, I was by chance reintroduced to this gentleman, Dr. Paul Brennan and his wife Dorothy. I will admit, and you’ll likely understand,  that upon first seeing Paul again from across the room, the painter-part of me immediately took to conniving and scheming about asking this fellow to sit for a portrait of some sort. How embarrassingly crass of me. I fought it successfully for a bit , but after getting reacquainted over a friendly conversation  with the two of them, I took the plunge and inquired (with understandably high hopes) as to whether he would be interested in sitting for my portrait class.  Thankfully he was willing and available, and in November we had the happy privilege of working with him for five three-hour sessions at the Honolulu Museum School of Art.

 

 

Paul Brennan

Dr. Brennan Oil on stretched linen, 14 x 11″

Though I worked on this while teaching, which means rather sporadically, it was still a pleasure to tackle this distinguished, noble character. With his vast interests and wealth of life experiences, Paul kept all of us entertained as we chipped away at our studies.

Simply painting a head adequately is challenge enough, and the skills in painting and problem -solving are acquired slowly and require honing. My own emphasis in this particular piece, which is only 14 x 11″, was to try to get at the truth of the subject’s color and to state the color notes as succinctly as I could, using the brush and knife as directly and expressively as possible, working towards surface interest and texture as well as light, shade, and color. I’ve been interested in some of the heads painted by artists such as George Clausen, where the verity of the likeness is equal with the knowledge that  you ‘re looking at pieces of paint. I find that to be a very rich experience.

Such little assignments within the task of painting the head keep me and the students on our toes and looking ahead to the next sitting.

 

My Interview in the Honolulu Museum of Art Blog

I was recently invited to field some questions on art and my teaching philosophy by Clarke Reilly over at the Honolulu Museum of Art for their blog.

Clarke was able to drop by one of our Life Drawing sessions and take some photos, and we had a chance to get reacquainted. We’d first met when I was painting in the Palm Courtyard at the Museum, and she was kind enough to look me up again for this project.  As for the interview, Clarke’s questions were very good, the kind I’d hoped to be asked (!), and I really enjoyed putting together my responses.

You can have a look and read here:

Clarke Reilly/Honolulu Museum of Art Blog

 

Students in Mark Norseth's Life Drawing Studio class sketch a live model.

A Studio Solution to a Plein-air Problem


Responding to a surprising  improvement

While working outdoors on a watercolor, I ran into a situation…a scene before me greatly improved as I was working by the unexpected addition of a pair of figures that were not part of the original concept.

Since I’d already begun applying paint to the piece, these characters couldn’t simply be added into the composition.  But I knew their addition would  make such a vast improvement that I couldn’t just let the opportunity pass me by.  I decided to make a completely new painting, but I knew that there would be no time to do so directly and at the location.

So, my first step was to sketch these two figures hastily in my sketchbook. These guys, who happened by and were now sitting only yards away, weren’t likely to cheerfully respond to a request that they pose for me, so I dashed them off rather secretly…their silhouette and relative position to the horizon…so I could place them into a new composition and have them be the correct size. I then made some mental notes, watching how they interacted, their posture, gestures, and so forth.

kaimanu sketchbook                     The sketchbook drawings

This accomplished, I was free to leave the location with a plan to start a new painting  in my studio the next day, relying on my incomplete painting, the new figures in the sketchbook, and hopefully some luck.

A Studio solution to a Plein Air problem

I have a background that includes having worked as an illustrator.  Illustrators are pragmatic artist/craftsmen and  accustomed to solving problems efficiently. They’ve developed a large playbook of applied techniques and one of the great tools of the trade is the use of tracing paper for refining and transferring drawings.

To shape the quick sketchbook notations into viable figures that would hold up in my painting, I would need to refine them from memory and a certain amount of invention. That’s where tracing paper came in….I created overlays of the rough drawings, gradually adding details from memory, refining and retracing until I had two figures of the correct size that expressed what I was after in the painting.  Because I did so on tracing paper, that stage of  work was all done without touching the delicate watercolor surface, which does not enjoy erasure and revision.

After a couple hours work, the elements of the entire composition were  combined on tracing paper and were ready to be transferred to the quarter sheet of watercolor paper for painting.

WC graphite

For this I used a simple graphite transfer sheet(above) that one can easily make themselves with graphite, a piece of tracing paper, and perhaps a bit of rubbing alcohol to liquify the graphite on the transfer sheet.  I placed  my graphite transfer sheet (graphite side down) between the securely positioned tracing paper drawing and the watercolor paper, and traced with a ballpoint pen over the original drawing.

kaimanu dwng 1a

The tracing paper cartoon positioned over the watercolor sheet. The transfer has already been accomplished, and is visible beneath the tracing paper, which has been moved aside slightly to reveal the transfer.

The next step was to fold back the tracing paper and strengthen the graphite transfer with the usual pencil work.  One can flip the cartoon back into position if anything hasn’t transferred.

Kaimanu dwng 2

The transfer on watercolor paper, strengthened with my customary pencil work

At this point I have a pristine sheet of watercolor paper with the drawing positioned exactly as needed, with all of the figures worked out adequately, and without any erasure damage to the watercolor paper.

I then resumed my normal painting sequence, beginning with the figures because of their difficulty, and moving outward and around from there.  I’m referring to the prior painting from the location for color and some details.

Kaimanu dwng 3

 

Kaimanu 4

And on it went!

 

 

A Different Light -New Work by Mark Norseth July 27-August 29

Part of my absence from the blog over the last  month or so has been due to creating a new body of small works for this show.  All watercolor.

Here are some of my favorites-

Remnant

 Remnant, Nu’uanu  was painted directly in one go, and in that respect I think it’s the most successful painting.   This grand old house is empty of occupants and so far I have been unsuccessful in learning much about it. I love painting white objects struck by sunlight, and that was probably the original motivation to stop and look the place over. I think the strength of the painting is the full value range, bright light to strong darks, and that horizontal of red surrounded by greens of all sorts, making a compelling motif.

I was standing in the driveway and peering through an iron gate while painting this, with a couple lanes of busy highway traffic (The Pali Highway) only a matter of yards behind me.  I often work this way it seems!  If you live on Oahu and travel the Pali, you’ve undoubtedly passed this old classic and probably not realized what was behind the hedge. If anyone has any information on the house, I’d appreciate knowing about it.

Kamaina

Kamaina is actually the name of this very busy beach in Waikiki.  I’ve spent a lot of time around here and have painted several variations of this theme.  The light and shadow are very stimulating, there is  a lot going on and painting  that requires a very quick approach that seems almost reckless at times.  The figures were never really there for more than a few minutes and so were devised  from some very rapid sketches done while I was visiting the area. I have a post -in-waiting on how I was able to do that.

Natatorium-Late Day

Natatorium-Late Afternoon  was painted from location originally but didn’t turn out, and this is probably the third version I attempted, mostly  a studio piece from the original sketches and  imagination.  The architecture was drawn at the location, something I enjoy attempting simply because of the sheer difficulty (and my obstinance) and color added from a small color sketch.  It’s only a stone’s throw from the location of Kaimana.  There’s serious talk of demolition of this old monument, but a lot of the attraction for me is the elegant architectural style and quality of light here at day’s end.

 

Plumeria and Palms-study

Plumeria and Palms  has the full-on vibrancy of color and impact of light which is it’s sole reason for being.  Painted up at Chaminade University, I also attempted a larger version that is unresolved at this point.

 

Waikiki-promenade

 

Waikiki-Promenade is another of the small study-paintings, about 7 x 10″, that  like Plumeria and Palms  I find fully satisfying as-is. This was painted entirely on sight, but over two evenings due to the fickleness of the light effect. It’s a delightful place to be at the close of the day, a lot of happy people simply enjoying their lives in this beautiful place.  I personally think a small painting of joyful elements is a very fine thing to have in a corner of a home…we need reminding of how good life sometimes can be, do we not?

 

Evening, Windward Side

Evening- Windward Oahu is a labor of love for me….this place is very close to home, and I have continual access to it for painting purposes.  I have rarely, if ever, have done it perfect justice. It’s simplicity  is deceiving…this sort of painting seems to work best when pulled together in an unstudied and direct manner, and that doesn’t always work.  Watercolor paint doesn’t dry quickly in the evening, and so timing is everything.

It’s the same ingredients, tree shapes, colors, figures, but never the same combination twice.  So, I keep painting here, trying to change the emphasis or get closer with the  color of the light, knowing that like everything in life, one day will be the last time. That reality gives me a bit of urgency, not to take the opportunity for granted.

Walt Disney on Robert Henri

Artist Frank Serrano posted this on Facebook, and I can’t resist putting it up here on my blog.

Walt Disney speaks on Robert Henri’s ” The Art Spirit”.

I vividly recall seeing this short film somewhere in grade school, which for myself was over forty years back. Of course I hadn’t read Robert Henri’s  book “The Art Spirit” at that point, but certainly have since.  I didn’t realize that I’d adopted the notion of painting “ideas, not pictures” from that source, either, but I surely have.

Walt Disney was a giant, and a very good one at that.