Yosemite workshop
It started with a ride from Fresno airport thru Oakhurst and then thru the winding road to the valley. From my past experience I had some ginger tablet which I kept on chewing.(Motion sickness fear) We were five instructors –Steve Quiller, John Salminen, Don Getz, Barbara Nechis and myself. What a great group of artists and friends!! With the exception of John whose group of abstract painting were confined in class room, we all had a new group of students every day. Weather was fantastic and the valley still had some colors left. Highlight was the full moon. Think of Ansel Adams! Yes, the moon was rising and I could see it thru my window. We had a day for scouting painting spots and getting acquainted with the place. Being there for the second time really helped. Steve and I decided to go for plein air painting . The evening was get together and Patty Allen gave us some down to earth advice and our daily agenda. Lars Karlsson, the awesome photographer volunteered to take photographs while we give demos. He shot some pretty candid pictures too!
Rosy glow as the sun was setting and the moon was rising behind the half dome. This was one of our favorite spot for painting. I called it “Quiller Point”. Then there was “Das Hill” and “ Getz Meadow” , and we personalized some of these painting spots.
1. Action
2. Breaking the Rules was not my idea!!
(See the featured article in “Watercolor Magazine”, winter issue.
3. I wonder what was going on in their minds.
4. ….while watching the demo.
Then came the show time
5. Started out this way at the Cathedral Beach
6. Ended up this way.
7. There were moments of consultation , contemplation and trepidation.
But then there were rewards of cocktail hour at the end of the day before we start the critique in the evening which usually stretched to a second visit to the bar to adjust our attitudes for the next day.
Last day was questions and answers and five of us were on hot seats.
Some more paintings of Yosemite
The Findhorn Farm Workshop in October 2009
“A Barn is a Barn is a Barn.”- Robert E. Wood
“Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.”- Jonathon Swift from ‘The Gulliver’s Travels”
“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”- Booker T. Washington
Most artists I know have at one time or another painted barns- on paper of course! What is there in a barn that artists are so attracted to? Is it nostalgia, or is it the weather beaten old structure that stands to tell the history? I believe it’s the nostalgia that got me started. However, there is something about the simplicity of the shape of the barn that delights the painter. He can put down some basic shapes without too much trouble and not get involved with the intricacies of foliage of trees and other landscape forms. There is a quiet dignity in each of these wooden structures. The modern metal buildings don’t do much for me. Chicago Tribune reporter William Sladick wrote, “In many ways, we in the city tend to make things more complicated than they actually are. That may be the draw these farms have for me- the simplicity of the way of life.”
All this thinking about barns comes from my yearly workshop at Findhorn Farm in Wisconsin- a favorite place of mine for almost a decade. Each year I greatly look forward to it. I don’t know what it is that I like-the wet grass with cool crisp air or the smell of the chopped woods –pine, spruce and oak. Nature is in its full glory in October, and it has almost become a ritual. Away from the crowds and the noise except the ‘cowrious’ moohs coming for a drink in the creek that flows thru the farm.
Sometimes rain, sometimes warm sunshine, snow, or freeze-we’ve had it all. My friend, Sonny, is always busy throwing one more log into that pot belly stove in the farmhouse or making hot chocolate for us. Once in a while he manages to take a quick nap in the lazyboy when we are all working outside. In the evening we have the critique in the motel with pizza, wine and beer. This is when I splurge with greasy diet (brat, beer, cheese in Wisconsin). We don’t get chai or latte- just plain hot cider and chocolate. Reedsburg doesn’t have Starbucks or WalMart. It started raining on the third day. We took shelter in the farmhouse-a bit cozy but enough room for us. The group is small. Discussions are lively and informal. And alas, those barns. Red beauties on the landscape. I shall look forward to seeing them again next year.
Ambiance
Rehearsal
Conducting
Performance/ A Paint along
Finale
Happy Painting!!!
On a wet day a wet in wet is the obvious choice
Other plein air paintings of Findhorn Farm
Ratindra Das: On Control of the medium.
Besides materials like pigments and brushes, an artist paints with beliefs and personal convictions. Much too often for watercolorists we read about ‘how to control this, or control that.’ Really, however, we work with a theme or an idea. During the painting process I wait for the moment when the medium takes over, and I relinquish control. My friend and teacher, Cheng-Khee Chee, said, “Let the medium obey its own natural laws.” I am only a guide until there begins a dialog with the medium. At that point there is no separation between the artist and the medium. Images percolate through conscious mind to the subconscious level and there they set up shop! Meditation is the self-disciplined process of exploring deeper levels of our individual capacity and awareness. Some of the discipline used to learn how to meditate is applicable to creative activities. Through meditative activity we learn how to sharpen and focus our inner vision or the “mind’s eye.” Art of all forms is an expression of spirit.
A true artist transcends the technical virtuosity and reaches out for the deepest subconscious level to get the most because that’s where the creative power comes from. The artist listens to his muses. Creativity is the process of bringing into existence something that has not been previously done or seen. Phil Dike said, “The flight of the creative process, like the flight of birds, is unpredictable. Whenever art becomes predictable, it is something apart from art.”
Styles come and go, but learning to find yourself is a search and a continuous process. I always strive to make a perfect painting, but hope the hell I never get it, for that will be the last day of my life as an artist.
Ratindra Das is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society and holds Master status in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and a signature member of five other national watercolor societies. His instructional DVD workshop, Painting a Personal Reality is currently available.
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