I'M AN ART INSTRUCTION VIDEO JUNKIE

Looking at my video library last weekend I came to realize just how many videos I've purchased over the years and how much knowledge I've garnered through the efforts of the many fine artists who have shared their time, talent, insights and methods. 

Each video represents countless hours of time spent by these artists developing and refining their craft over many years to the point where their reputation among collectors, galleries and fellow painters is unquestionable. I admire each and every artist in my collection and I have the pleasure of knowing most of them on a personal and professional level.

As I thumbed through the collection of DVDs I realized there are several videos I have watched multiple times and, truth be known, when I've struggled with a painting there are a few I reach to for divine inspiration. I thought it would be fun to share my collection and jot down my thoughts on what makes many of them worth having in your collection as well.

First my collection, not in any particular order:

"Three Landscapes" Scott Christensen by Liliedahl Video

"Painting Large Landscapes" Scott Christensen by Liliedahl Video

"Solitary Profession" Scott Christensen by Tony Pro Productions

"Establishing a Key That Reads" Scott Christensen by Fisher Creative

"Composing" Scott Christensen by Fisher Creative

"Painting Into Direct Sunlight" John Lasater, IV by John Lasater, IV

"Social Media REVEALED" Lori McNee & Eric Rhoads, Streamline Video

"Capturing the Moment in Oils" David Curtis by APV Films

"Painting on Location" Frank Serrano by Reel Memories Video

"The Woodland Interior Landscape" Roger Dale Brown by R. D. Brown

"Winter Over the San Juans" Matt Smith by Oak Creek Productions

"The Sonoran Desert" Matt Smith by Oak Creek Productions

"June" Richard Schmid by Stove Prairie Press

"November" Richard Schmid by Stove Prairie Press

"Richard Schmid Paints the Landscape" by Stove Prairie Press

"Bold Brushstrokes & Confident Color" Lori Putnam by Liliedahl Video

"Vermont Sugar Shack" Mark Boedges" by Mark Boedges

"The Oil Landscape" Bob Rohm by Artist Productions

"European Street Scene" John Michael Carter by Liliedahl Video

"Lilies" Daniel Keys by Liliedahl Video

"Hydrangeas & Oranges" Daniel Keys by Liliedahl Video

"Gesture Portraits" Jeffrey Watts by Liliedahl Video

"Studio Painting Secrets" Brian Blood by Liliedahl Video

"Overview" Kathryn Stats by Liliedahl Video

"Reflections" Gabor Svagrik by TAA productions

"The Power of Green" Gabor Svagrik by TAA Productions

"Painting the American Landscape" Matt Smith, Jean LaGassick and Ken

Backhaus by PBS Television

"Painting the American Landsacape" Charles Sovek, Ron Rencher & Frank LaLumia  by PBS Television

"Seaside" Kathryn Stats by Liliedahl Video

"From Plein Air to Studio" Keith Bond by Keith Bond

"White Pine" Richard Schmid by Stone Prairie Press

"Painting the Effects of Light" Jason Sacran by Jason Sacran

"Light in the Landscape" David Curtis by APV Films

"Energy and Movement" Randall Sexton by Streamline Video

FIRST PURCHASE: "Painting Large Landscapes" by Scott Christensen. I am primarily a plein air painter so painting larger than 9" x 12" is a real challenge. I have taken two workshops with Scott and he would do large landscapes from small field studies. Watching him complete a 30" x 40" painting in a couple of hours blew my mind. This video has been instrumental in helping me get out of my comfort zone and tackle large paintings with confidence.

MOST RECENT PURCHASE: "The Woodland Interior Landscape" Roger Dale Brown by Roger Dale Brown.

Watching this one for the third time now. Roger's color sense is completely foreign to me but it is what draws me to his work. Watching him construct this complex subject into a well designed trip into the forest is worth the time.

PURCHASED IN LAST SIX MONTHS: "Energy and Movement" by Randall Sexton, "The Woodland Interior Landscape" by Roger Dale Brown, "Studio Painting Secrets" by Brian Blood, "Painting Into Direct Sunlight" by John Lasater, IV, "Vermont Sugar Shack" by Mark Boedges, "Painting the Effects of Light" by Jason Sacran and "Social Media Revealed" by Lori McNee and Eric Rhoads

MOST WATCHED: Probably a tie between "The Sonoran Desert" by Matt Smith, "Three Landscapes" by Scott Christensen and "Richard Schimd Paints the Landscape" by Richard Schmid. My approach to plein air work and palette is very similar to the way Matt Smith works so his videos really strike a cord with me. I can only imagine what its like to paint like Richard Schmid so I don't even try and Scott is a modern master I can watch paint every day. In my opinion these three videos should be in everybody's library.

MOST IMPORTANT: "Social Media Revealed" by Lori McNee and Eric Rhoads. Chock full of vital information for anyone utilizing social media either as a platform to connect and share your paintings to the more complex concepts of using social media as a marketing tool. Lori does an excellent job of breaking down the pros and cons of each media platform and Eric is always good about asking the questions we all want answers to.

MOST ENTERTAINING: "Painting the American Landscape" with Matt Smith, Jean LaGassick, Frank LaLumia, Ken Backhaus, Charles Sovek and Ron Rencher. Broadcast by PBS these two videos feature several of my favorite artists painting in Alaska and the West. Hard to forget Matt, Jean and Ken getting run off their painting location by a bear. Good interviews with the artists, nice demos by each and excellent production quality.

MOST INSPIRATIONAL: "A Light Touch" David Curtis and "Bold Brushstrokes and Confident Color" Lori Putnam. If you are not familiar with English painter David Curtis you are missing out. Equally gifted in oils or watercolor, David tackles the most complex subjects with ease. His ability to mix a color and put it down in exactly the right place using exactly the right color at exactly the right temperature is amazing to watch. Bold, direct and confident. Something I aspire to and achieve occasionally.

I found Lori's video inspirational because she paints in a way I can only imagine. Loose and controlled at the same time. She has total command from beginning to end. Her rise in popularity has been fun to watch and watching her paint is a true pleasure.

MOST INFORMATIVE: "Studio Painting Secrets" by Brian Blood, "Social Media Revealed" by Lori McNee and Eric Rhoads and "Gesture Portraits" by Jeffrey Watts. Brian's video is top notch. He covers all the bases discussing design, color, application of paint, color mixing...you name it, he talked about it and demonstrates it in a painting of Point Lobos, one of my favorite painting locations. His painting style is a lot like his personality, direct and to the point.

Jeffrey Watts video, the first of two, is the perfect blend of demonstration and teaching. His discussion of different color palettes and paint surfaces is invaluable information for the beginner or seasoned painter. The demos are terrific. You can tell Jeffrey is a seasoned teacher.

BEST VALUE: Gabor Svagrik's video series of five landscape videos is a treasure of information at about $50 each. Unfortunately I don't think you can get these any more. Now he has a new series of downloadable videos that include the original set. These are a must for anyone wanting to learn to paint with a limited palette.

BEST PRODUCTION QUALITY: Anything done by Liliedahl Video

WISH LIST: Jill Carver, Bill Anton, Clyde Aspevig, Skip Whitcomb, John Burton, James Richards, Joshua Been, Joshua Clare, Anne Blair Brown and a still life video from Richard Schmid.

Up Next: How to get the most out of an art instruction video

HOLIDAY ART SALE

The Holiday Art Sale is in full swing. The sale ends at midnight Saturday, December 12th. Ending the sale on the 12th guarantees delivery by Christmas. There are a few things you should know about the sale:

- Purchases are made from my website. Review the     sale below then go to my website to make your         purchase. On the home page click the "Holiday Art     Sale" tab.

www.rustyjonesart.com     

- Prices on artwork sold UNFRAMED, but I include 
  a small wooden stand with each sale.

- If you choose to frame the painting I recommend
  the frames at www.kingofframe.com. Best prices
  and customer service is the best. 

SAMPLES OF FRAMED ART

- Payment made through PayPal ONLY.

- Shipments guaranteed within five days upon receipt of  

  payment. Payment by check delays shipment until your

  check clears the bank.

- Returns accepted up to January 1, 2016. 

HOLIDAY ART SALE PREVIEW

"April Along the Bear's Tooth"

9" x 12"

$350

"Bear Lake Log Jam"
9" x 12"
$350

"Canyon Entrance"

9" x 12"

$350

"Clear Lake Cove"

9" x 12"

$350

"Coastline Formations"

9" x 12"

$350

"Edge of Moran"

9" x 12"

$350

"First Big Snow"

10" x 12"

$400

"First Methodist"

9" x 12"

$350

 "Ghost Ranch Bluff"
9" x 12"
$350

"Hilltop View"

9" x 12"

$350

"Study in Contrasts"

8" x 10"

SOLD

"Leaning But Standing'

9' x 12"

$350

"Living on the Edge of Paradise"

9" x 12"

$350

"Ranch House"

9" x 12"

$350

"Rocky Mountain Runoff"

9" x 12"

$350

"Sprinkling of Blue"

9" x 12"

$350

"Trailside Aspens"

9" x 12"

SOLD

"Winter Range"

9" x 12"

$350

"Hill Country Two Lane"

9" x 12"

$350

"Hay Bale Field Study"

9" x 12"

$350

COLLECTORS COVEY MINIATURE SHOW 2015

November 13, 2015

Meet the Artists, Show and Sale

6:30-8:00 pm

www.collectorscovey.com

Next Friday night is one of my favorite of the year. It marks the opening reception and sale for the annual Collectors Covey Miniature Show. It is a fixed price sale with many of the participating artists in attendance. For many it is the one time a year they get to visit about the previous year's adventures.

In addition to the fixed price sale there will be a live auction of John P. Cowan's "Wrong Side" a 27" x 40" original watercolor.

My experience over the past five years I've been in this show is if you want to see the show in its full glory you need to be there on Friday night because most of the show will sell opening night and the buyers go home with their newly purchased gems.

I have three pieces in the show. All three are field studies completed on location. Okay, there was little studio time spent on them to make them gallery worthy, but for the most part what you get is what I saw and painted.

"Into the Vallery"  
9" x 12"   oil/linen

$1,100

"Golden Pond"

9" x 12"  oil/linen
$1,100

"Mountaintop Hillside"
9" x 12"  oil/linen
$1,100

Other artists in the show are a who's who in the world of wildlife and landscape art including sculptures. Some of the artists featured include John B. Cowan, William Alther, Ken Carlson, Julie Chapman, Len Chimel, Calvin Carter, Chase Almond, Bruce Peil, Matt Smith, John Dearman, Mark Haworth, Frank Serrano, Luke Frazier, Brian Grimm, Dan Meltz, George Northrup, Bernard Vetter, Tracy Avant, Andrea Almond, Greg Beecham, Kay Northrup, Julie Jeppsen, Chuck Rawle and Sherry Sander.

Hope to see you there.

NOTAN SKETCH VS. IPHONE6

"Notan" is a Japanese term referring to exploring the harmony between light and dark. Artists use Notan sketches to explore the composition elements of a scene and the relationship of major shapes. A good Notan drawing simplifies a scene into three values...dark, light and halftone. It also acts as a memory and planning tool that helps the artist focus on essential elements of a scene, draw simple shapes and record important elements should the scene change as weather and sunlight alter a scene.

I was first introduced to the importance of the Notan sketch in a workshop I took with Skip Whitcomb. Skip starts every painting session with two or three quick sketches of the scene. The process takes him about thirty minutes. As part of the workshop Skip required students to do at least three sketches before starting a painting. Since that time I have come across many artists that rely on the Notan sketch process and for years it has been my practice as well.

The advantage of a Notan sketch over a camera is the camera records everything in the scene indiscriminately leaving nothing to the imagination. That being said I have come to prefer the camera over the sketch as the smart phone increasingly takes over every aspect of our life. Using the photo app in my iPhone has reduced the time to produce a Notan to a matter minutes rather than a block of time that cuts into painting time.

I recently took the opportunity to produce a Notan sketch and a Notan photo to decide once and for all what my routine was going to be going forward. Below are my results.

South of Monterrey on the way to Big Sur is this amazing scene, painted by many. On the day of my painting the fog was rolling in and out all day constantly changing the light. The scene was so captivating it was hard to decide what to leave in and what to take out. It was the perfect time for a Notan sketch so by the time I put brush to canvas most of the major decisions would have already been made.

Like many plein air painters my "go to" format is the horizontal on a 9" x 12" or 12" x 16" panel. I also like the long, narrow horizontal format I use frequently in Texas due to the lack of mountains or anything taller than a fence post. My first inclination was the long horizontal as seen in my Notan which took about ten minutes.

Just for kicks my second sketch was a square format and my third sketch was my usual horizontal.

The whole process took longer than expected because of the fog that would come in and obscure the distant cliffs that I wanted to include in my painting so all total it took almost forty minutes to get the sketches done.

Simultaneously when the sun was just like I wanted, I took a single photo with my iPhone and as the fog destroyed my scene, I quickly opened the photo app
to look at the scene in different formats.

I first looked at the long, horizontal format, cropped it accordingly and saved the image for future reference.

Then I cropped the same photo in the more typical horizontal for a 9" x 12" painting. Again I saved it for later.

Then I used the halftone filter to give me a Notan photo of my scene. The whole process took less than ten minutes which is an important consideration when the goal was to produce four paintings this day.

"On the Way to Big Sur"  9" x 12"  oi/linen

When it came time to paint, the fog became unavoidable. In the end I gave in and included it in my painting, but the Notan exercise was well worth the effort.

Below is another example of sketch versus photo Notan.

I'm a sucker for old farm houses and this one is a favorite. I quickly produced two Notan sketches.

The long horizontal.

The standard format. Then I created Notan photos.

The long horizontal

The standard format.

The halftone Notan.

The painting.

"Historical"  12" x 16"  oil/linen

There is something that makes me feel more "artistic" drawing Notan sketches before beginning a painting. But at the end of the day, for me at least, its all about evaluating the scene for composition and values and the iPhone provides me the quickest means to an end while also providing me a permanent record. In less than ten minutes I can produce several Notan photos with complete halftone evaluations of my scene and I think it gives me a clearer understanding before I begin to paint.